Sharp is in talks with Lenovo about selling the LCD TV assembly plant in Nanking and also about tying up with the Chinese company in its other subsidiaries there, two industry sources familiar with the discussion told Reuters. Sharp said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that it had not announced any talks. The talks were first reported in the Nikkei business daily in Japan. ATTRACTIVE TO AUTOMAKERS The rise of the U.S. crossover market began in the mid-1990s and built on the popularity of Toyota Motor Corp's RAV4 and Honda's CR-V compacts. Now, the segment accounts for 29.4 percent of U.S. auto sales, up from 26.4 percent myfavoritelouboutin in 2009, according data firm TrueCar.com, and ranges from small, economical entries to expensive, high-performance variants. These models are critical to automakers as they strive to meet federal standards that call for a sharp rise in fuel economy by 2025. But crossovers are also attractive because they often fetch premium prices, thus offering higher margins than the more conventional models on which they are based. "When you think about it, a crossover is just a hatchback," said Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics, an automotive consulting firm. "The difference in cost to build the two is not that great." The group also said its fighters had rigged explosives around the site and any attempt to free the hostages would lead to a "tragic end." The large numbers of gunmen and hostages involved pose serious problems for any rescue operation. Smaller hostage-taking incidents have been common in the Sahara and financial gain plays a part in the actions of groups whose members mingle extremist religious aims with traditional smuggling and other pursuits in the lawless, borderless region. Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the raid was led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and recently set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local al Qaeda leaders. The stock has dropped 18 percent since January 7 when one of its batteries exploded in a parked Japan Airlines 787 at Boston Logan International Airport - one of several recent mishaps that have plagued the new lightweight, fuel-efficient jetliner. Richard Aboulafia, a senior analyst with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia, said the grounding would send jitters through investor circles, but was probably associated with Boeing's decision to build 50 planes before the 787 model entered service, rather than a more serious issue of plane design. Even before the attack in Algeria, security experts had warned that the multinational coachoutlethandbags2013 intervention in Mali could provoke a jihadist backlash against France and the West, and African allies. The conflict in Mali also raised concerns across mostly Muslim West Africa of a radicalization of Islam in the region. Many inhabitants of northern Mali have welcomed the French attacks against Islamists who have imposed a harsh form of sharia law, cutting off hands and feet for crimes, and destroyed the ancient city of Timbuktu's famed shrines.