COFFEE
Starbucks to raise prices in certain regions
NEW YORK — Starbucks said Tuesday it is raising some prices regionally as it faces rising ingredient costs.
The coffee chain is raising prices about 1 percent in the Northeast and Sunbelt regions. Starbucks wouldn’t disclose all of the states in which it’s raising prices, but the regions include New York, Washington, D.C., and most Southern states. They exclude California and Florida.
Other cities where it will raise prices include Boston, Atlanta, Dallas and Albuquerque, N.M.
The price for a “tall” coffee will go up 10 cents in the regions, and the chain will raise prices on about six other beverages. But beverages that are “grande,” the next size up, won’t change.
Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson says the prices reflect competition in certain markets and higher costs for coffee, fuel and other commodities.
The last across-the-board price increase was in 2007.
OIL SPILL
BP says it’s entitled to payment from Halliburton
NEW ORLEANS — BP is reiterating claims first made in April that it is entitled to payment from contractor Halliburton Energy Services for expenses and lost profits resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon offshore oil well disaster.
BP’s latest filing was made Monday in federal court in New Orleans, where complex litigation involving various companies involved in the disaster is playing out.
BP has accused Houston-based Halliburton of botching the cement job meant to seal the well. Halliburton says BP is trying to saddle Halliburton with far more than its share of the legal burden.
In Monday’s filing, BP said Halliburton has made inaccurate statements about BP’s legal claims. And BP, quoting from its own filing made last April, emphasized it is seeking damages from Halliburton, including costs and expenses for oil cleanup and remediation, lost profits and other costs.
EUROPE
Lithuania plans to adopt euro in 2014
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuania is still determined to introduce the embattled euro currency in two years, a government official said Tuesday, despite skepticism by the Baltic country’s president.
The center-right government was doing everything possible to join the eurozone in 2014, its previously stated goal, said Virgis Valentinavicius, an adviser to Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.
“The most important thing are stable finances” to meet the standards of the EU, “and the prime minister is sure that our country will meet them,” said Mr. Valentinavicius.
“We can only hope that EU will solve the problems of common currency by that time,” he added.
In an interview published Monday in the Veidas magazine, however, President Dalia Grybauskaite expressed doubt that Lithuania would be ready, saying “2014 was unrealistic.” She did not elaborate.
• From wire dispatches and staff reports
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