LONDON (AP) -- Oil company BP PLC on Tuesday unveiled plans to speed up cost-cutting and restructuring, including shedding 5,000 jobs, as it seeks to improve competitiveness with industry peers after reporting disappointing annual net profits.

BP aims to shake off the remnants of a turbulent year in which it lost its chief executive and was fined millions of pounds for environmental crimes and fraud.

"We are absolutely determined to transform our downstream business as a whole," said BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward. "It will not happen overnight, but we believe that the performance gap with our competitors can be progressively narrowed in the next few years."

The London-based company reported a 53 percent rise in fourth quarter net profit to $4.4 billion, as soaring oil prices underpinned an 29 percent rise in revenue to $81.5 billion.

However, over the full year net profit fell 5.5 percent to $20.8 billion, despite a 6.2 percent rise in revenue to $291.4 billion.

In contrast, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, last week reported a 23 percent rise in full-year earnings to a record $31.3 billion while Exxon Mobil posted the largest ever annual profit by a

China is urbanizing. Oil platforms are going up in the world's oceans. And Brazilian automakers are ramping up for a growing middle class.

The world's steel producers are trying to keep up.

Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (NYSE:SID - News), Brazil's third-largest steel producer, is stepping up to the challenge.

The Rio de Janeiro company expects to spend $6 billion over the next six years to add new steel mills. The new mills will add 9 million tons to its current crude steel capacity of 5.6 million tons a year.

It's also investing in its mines and ports to increase its iron ore export capacity.

But even as global demand rises, CSN is looking first to its expanding domestic market. About three-quarters of sales are within Brazil.

In addition to expanding its core steel and mining business, CSN is building a cement plant to supply booming Brazilian construction markets.

"The middle class is growing, and the consumption is growing as well," said Jose Marcos Treiger, head of

Come 2010, Roth IRAs may become the retirement plan of choice for all Americans. That year, Uncle Sam will lift the income limits on Roth IRA conversions that have precluded taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income of $100,000 or more to convert their traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

What's more, the government will even allow taxpayers the chance to report their conversions on their 2011 and 2012 tax returns, in effect giving Americans the ability to delay full payment of any tax due until 2013.

Roth IRAs, unlike traditional IRAs, are funded with after-tax dollars. And withdrawals from Roth IRAs, unlike traditional IRAs, are tax-free under certain conditions (after five years and after age 591/2). As with traditional IRAs, the money inside Roth IRAs grows tax-free. But one big difference between Roth IRAs and traditional IRAs is this: Roth IRA owners don't have to worry about required minimum distributions.

Now, pundits are forever debating whether Roth IRAs are a good deal or not.

But in general, the wags say that taxpayers who qualify and who think they will be in a higher tax bracket when they are retired should consider Roth IRAs. Others experts who advocate for something called tax diversification say taxpayers should consider Roth IRAs if only because it gives them the ability to take

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lingering hopes that the U.S. economy might avert a recession withered Tuesday after the nation's service sector -- its banks, travel companies, contractors and stores, among others -- shrank for the first time in five years.

It was unwelcome news for many investors, who were beginning to believe that the Federal Reserve might engineer a way out of the worst economic slowdown since 1991. Stocks tumbled, with the Dow Jones industrial average losing 370 points, its biggest point drop since August.

Much of the talk was not about whether there would be a recession, but about how bad it might be.

"The number's so terrible it's almost beyond belief, especially among the optimists," said Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. "I think the writing's on the wall. More and more economists are talking about recession, and whether it'll be a severe or mild one."

The January reading from the Institute of Supply Management "was about as big a shock as you can probably get," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Commerce Bancorp.

Anderson said he believes January may end up being the official start of a recession. Many businesses