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ARCHIVES NEWS Business News History Archives BUSINESS ARCHIVES |
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- "Parmalat
slipped past loosened laws: After U.S. scandals,
accommodation trumped regulation." ... "After the scandals that erupted
at Enron and other U.S. corporations, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley
bill in an attempt to prevent such corporate abuses. In much of Europe,
regulations have been tightened in hope of avoiding similar problems."
... "But Italy has reacted to its own business disasters in an entirely
different way. Led by Silvio Berlusconi, the nation's prime minister and
perhaps its leading business executive as well, Italy has acted to remove
criminal penalties for accounting fraud and, in the past week, has rewritten
its bankruptcy laws to accommodate the spectacular failure of Parmalat,
the giant dairy and food-processing company controlled by the Tanzi family."
-By John Tagliabue -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 
- "Electronic
voting firm acknowledges hacker break-in." ... "A
Bellevue, Wash., company developing security technology for electronic
voting suffered an embarrassing hacker break-in that executives think was
tied to the rancorous debate over the safety of casting ballots online."
... "VoteHere confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating
a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal
computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have
copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually
to disclose publicly." -By Ted Bridis
-AP via -USATODAY
- 
Christmas
News
- "China
Cracks Down on Unofficial Worship: China Promotes
Christmas Commerce While Cracking Down on Unofficial Worship, Detaining
Activists." ... "The Christmas carol "Deck the Halls" blares over the speakers
of the warehouse store as the toddler lunges for a plastic Santa. His mother
grabs him by the seat of his pants and hauls him back." ... "It's a classic
Christmas shopping moment in the unlikely setting of central China though
one that is becoming more common as Chinese, few of whom are Christians,
adopt the holiday as a festive time to shop." ... "But for members of China's
unofficial Christian congregations, this is a season of fear as communist
authorities crack down on unauthorized worship, detaining activists and
bulldozing churches." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Christmas
News
- "Last
Christmas Shopping Weekend Disappoints." ... "The
critical last weekend before Christmas didn't deliver the sale bonanza
merchants were hoping for, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT,
news)
announcing that last-minute buying showed "some improvement" but wasn't
enough to offset weak business in the early part of the month." ... "In
the past few years, the Saturday before Christmas has been the busiest
day of the season. Last year, the Monday before Christmas was the second-biggest
sales day." -AP
via -Quicken.com
- "Last
Lord
of the Rings film sets a box office record."
... "The final instalment of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
sold $246m worth of tickets worldwide between Wednesday and yesterday,
the highest total takings over the first five days of any motion picture."
... "The strong box office performance of The Return of the King
provides a welcome boost for Time Warner, the media conglomerate that owns
New Line Cinema, the film's distributor, and raises hopes that it could
become only the second film after Titanic to gross more than $1bn during
its run." -By Simon London
-FT.com
- "'Rings'
Shows Trend Toward Global Premieres." ... "From Singapore
to Stockholm to New York to Mexico City, fans lined up this weekend to
see the final cinematic episode of the J. R. R. Tolkien trilogy, "The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," part of a growing global
moviegoing phenomenon." ... "By opening in 28 countries in its first five
days, "The Return of the King," made by New Line Cinema, raked in $246
million — an astonishing sum, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars — from
fans eager to revisit the world of hobbits and orcs." -By
Sharon Waxman -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- 
- 
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
faces new antitrust battle." ... "A new front in
the Microsoft antitrust wars was opened on Thursday as rival software maker
RealNetworks accused the company of illegally trying to monopolise the
market for digital media software and said it would seek damages of more
than $1bn." -By Richard Waters and Scott Morrison
-FT.com
- 
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- "Iraq
Debt Relief Backing Rises, Hard Work Remains." ...
"The Paris Club of creditor states can agree a debt relief deal for Iraq
quickly but the agreement can be signed only when the country has an internationally
recognized leadership, the Paris Club's president said on Thursday." ...
"Increasing hopes that a deal will be reached, Britain said during a European
tour by U.S. special envoy James Baker that it backed the idea of a substantial
reduction in debts estimated at $120 billion." ... "The British comment
echoed similar political pledges made this week by France, Germany and
Italy after talks with Baker, who was visiting Britain and Russia on Thursday."
(1, 2)
-By Brian Love -Reuters
- 
- Consumer
News
- "Calpers
files lawsuit against NYSE." ... "The largest U.S.
public pension fund is taking the unprecedented step of suing the New York
Stock Exchange, alleging the embattled exchange condoned fraudulent practices
by specialist trading firms that cost investors at least $155-million (U.S.)."
... "The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers), which
has assets of $148-billion (U.S.), filed the suit in U.S. court yesterday,
and is asking other investors to join it in a class action." -By
Shawn McCarthy -GlobeAndMail
- 
-
"US
Airways pilots union wants CEO, CFO out." ... "Pilots
union leaders at US Airways on Tuesday called for the removal of airline
CEO David Siegel and Chief Financial Officer Neal Cohen. Management's "failed
business strategies," not high labor costs, are behind the airline's continued
losses since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, union leaders
charged." -By Daniel Reed
-USATODAY
-
- 
- 
- 
- "Bush:
Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge: Bush Says U.S.
Expects Halliburton to Repay Money if Company Overcharged for Gasoline
in Iraq." ... "President Bush said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney's
former company should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline
delivered in Iraq under a controversial prewar contract." ... "Pentagon
auditors say the company charged up to $61 million too much for delivering
gasoline to Iraqi citizens under a no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated
oil industry. Halliburton denies overcharging."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Supreme
Court upholds 'soft money' ban." ... "A sharply divided
Supreme Court upheld key features of the nation's new law intended to lessen
the influence of money in politics, ruling Wednesday that the government
may ban unlimited donations to political parties." ... "Those donations,
called "soft money," had become a mainstay of modern political campaigns,
used to rally voters to the polls and to pay for sharply worded television
ads." ... "The new rules have been in force during the early stages of
preparation for the 2004 elections for president and Congress."
-AP via -CNN
- ELECTION
2004 - "Campaign
Finance Law's Key Parts Upheld." ... "The U.S. Supreme
Court on Wednesday upheld the two key parts of landmark campaign finance
law designed to curb the influence of money in politics, a ruling affecting
the 2004 and future presidential and congressional elections." -By
James Vicini -Reuters
via -Wired
-
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-
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-
-
- "Pentagon
Bars Three Nations From Iraq Bids." ... "The Pentagon
has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6
billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting
to protect "the essential security interests of the United States."" ...
"The directive, issued Friday by Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense
secretary, represents the most substantive retaliation to date by the Bush
administration against American allies who opposed its decision to go to
war in Iraq." ... "Under the guidelines, only companies from the United
States, Iraq and 61 countries designated "coalition partners" will be allowed
to bid on the contracts. France, Germany and Russia are not on the list."
(1, 2)
-By Douglas Jehl -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
-
- "Iraq
delays hand Cheney firm $1bn: ·Key contract
decisions postponed again. ·Blair drawn into row over lack of 'level
playing fields'." ... "Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run
by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction
work in Iraq by the US government without having to compete for it, thanks
to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition." ... "The
cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, rather than being fixed
at the outset, because the scope of the damage was unknown. The USACE described
the contract as a 'bridge to competition', but original plans to award
the work competitively in August have repeatedly slipped. So far, $1.7bn
has been made available to Halliburton for the work." -By
Oliver Morgan -Observer.co.uk
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Bush
Names Baker Envoy on Iraqi Debt: President Bush Names
Ex-Secretary of State James A. Baker III Envoy on Addressing Iraq Debt."
... "President Bush on Friday called on a longtime family troubleshooter,
former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, to oversee the job of getting
Iraq out from under its crushing $125 billion debt." ... "As the president's
personal envoy on the issue, Baker will tackle a major problem in the rebuilding
of Iraq. Iraq's debt carries annual servicing charges of $7 billion to
$8 billion." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
-
-
- "White
House Seeks to Soften Mercury Rules." ... "The Bush
administration is working to undo regulations that would force power plants
to sharply reduce mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants, according
to a government document and interviews with officials." ... "The Nov.
26 document makes the case that the Environmental Protection Agency, under
President Bill Clinton, misread the Clean Air Act's requirements and that
there are less onerous ways to reduce the emissions." -By
Eric Pianin -WashingtonPost
-
- 
-
- "Bush
Is Urged to Maintain Import Tariffs for Steel." ...
"President Bush got a taste of the treacherous nature of trade politics
on Tuesday, hearing last-ditch pleas from some of his own supporters not
to proceed with plans to lift tariffs protecting the steel industry from
international competition." ... "What was supposed to be a quick trip here,
to a town once proudly known as Steel City, turned instead into a series
of low-key but high-stakes confrontations over the prospect that Mr. Bush
will soon announce a decision to cut off the tariffs, potentially hurting
steel makers, their employees and suppliers in Pennsylvania and other industrial
states like West Virginia and Ohio that are closely divided politically."
-By Richard W. Stevenson contributions by Elizabeth
Becker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "Pentagon
freezes Boeing contract: The US military has put
an $18bn deal to buy Boeing tanker aircraft on hold." ... "The Defence
Department said the deal would be frozen pending an inquiry into Boeing's
links with a former Pentagon procurement official." ... "The official,
Darleen Druyun, discussed a possible job with Boeing before she had disqualified
herself from government service." ... "Ms Druyun was involved in the Pentagon's
decision to award the tanker contract to Boeing."
-BBC/News
- "Google
stops accepting ads from unlicensed pharmacies."
... "Google Inc. has stopped accepting advertisements from unlicensed pharmacies,
joining other popular sites that have bowed to pressure to limit access
to the drugs, such as Vicodin." ... "The crackdown on unlicensed pharmacies
comes as regulators and Congress intensify their focus on third parties
- Web sites, credit companies and shipping companies - that make it easier
for illicit operators to sell potentially dangerous drugs." -By
Michael Liedtke -AP
via -Miami/Herald
ELECTION
2004 - "Economic
news isn't so bright in key states." ... "When unexpectedly
good job numbers suggested the long U.S. economic slump was finally over,
it looked as if Democrats would lose one of the weapons they had planned
to use to unseat President Bush next year. But persistently weak job markets
in a handful of crucial states still pose a serious threat to Republicans."
-By Peronet Despeignes
-USATODAY
-
-
- WalMart
- "The
Wal-Mart You Don't Know." ... "The giant retailer's
low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure
can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs
overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?" ...
"Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer. It's the world's largest
company--bigger than ExxonMobil, General Motors, and General Electric.
The scale can be hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sold $244.5 billion worth of
goods last year. It sells in three months what number-two retailer Home
Depot sells in a year. And in its own category of general merchandise and
groceries, Wal-Mart no longer has any real rivals. It does more business
than Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Safeway, and Kroger combined. "Clearly,"
says Edward Fox, head of Southern Methodist University's J.C. Penney Center
for Retailing Excellence, "Wal-Mart is more powerful than any retailer
has ever been." It is, in fact, so big and so furtively powerful as to
have become an entirely different order of corporate being." ... "Wal-Mart
wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices
to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer
has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change,
the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after
year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000
suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the
power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in
the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles
to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor
of outsourcing products from overseas." -By Charles
Fishman with contributions by Andrew Moesel Issue
77 -FastCompany.com
- "Boeing
CEO Condit resigns From Staff and wire reports."
... "Boeing (BA)
Chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigned unexpectedly only days after the
huge aerospace manufacturer fired two other Boeing officials for an alleged
ethics breach." ... "The departure of Condit, 62, follows last week's firing
of Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears for discussing job possibilities
with Darleen Druyun while Druyun was still working as a top Air Force procurement
official and was helping Boeing win support for a major Air Force contract."
-USATODAY
-
- 
- "Battle
lines are drawn in Chrysler's 'takeover' case." ...
"When Kirk Kerkorian (pictured) steps into the witness box on Monday or
Tuesday, the billionaire casino magnate will make an extraordinary claim:
Daimler-Benz, Germany's oldest carmaker, tricked him into selling his stake
in Chrysler, one of the biggest names in US automobile making, on the cheap."
... "He is seeking $1.2bn in damages, with a possibility of $3bn in punitive
damages." -By James Mackintosh
-FT.com
- "Editorial:
Big spenders/Bush & Co. remortgage nation." ...
"Someone recently called President Bush "the mother of all big spenders."
It wasn't Howard Dean or any of the other Democratic presidential candidates.
It wasn't a Democratic member of Congress. It was fiscal analysts for the
conservative-libertarian Cato Institute." ... "Right now the total accumulated
federal debt stands at $6.9 trillion. Over the next decade, Bush's policies,
if not adjusted by either raising taxes or cutting spending, or both, will
almost double that debt. Goldman Sachs, a prominent Wall Street"
-StarTribune
- "Economy seen
growing faster: Third-quarter GDP expands at 8.2%
rate, strongest since ’84." ... "The economy roared ahead at an astounding
8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace in nearly
two decades and a much stronger performance than previously thought. It
raises hope that a long spell of lackluster business activity is finally
over." ... "The 8.2 percent growth rate —more than double the 3.3 percent
pace registered in the second quarter —represented the best showing since
the first quarter of 1984, when the economy surged at a 9 percent pace."
-AP via -MSNBC
- 
- "US
regulators shoot to kill in fund probe." ... "Federal
regulators are to close down Securities Trust, an Arizona-based company
accused of mutual fund fraud, in the first action of its kind against a
tainted institution." -FT.com
-
- 
- "Protesters,
Miami police clash during free-trade demonstrations."
... "Police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas and used batons,
plastic shields, concussion grenades and stun guns in clashes Thursday
with hundreds of demonstrators protesting talks aimed at creating a hemisphere-wide
free-trade zone." ... "The clashes took place before and after a march
by 8,000 to 10,000 union members." -By Ken Thomas
-AP via -SFGate.com
- -
-
- "The
Wal-Mart You Don't Know: The giant retailer's low
prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can
crush companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas.
Are we shopping our way to the unemployment line?" ... "The retailer has
a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the
price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after
year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000
suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the
power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in
the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles
to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor
of outsourcing products from overseas." ... "Of course, U.S. companies
have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a
retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate
the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China. Wal-Mart,
which in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American,"
has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone, buying
some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. That's nearly 10% of all Chinese
exports to the United States." -By Charles Fishman
200312Issue
77 -FastCompany.com
-
-
- "Trade
gap widens as imports at record high; jobless claims up."
... "Record imports widened the U.S. trade deficit in September and last
week's jobless claims stayed at a level suggesting an improving labor market,
according to government reports Thursday that offered more signs the economy
has turned a corner." ... "The latest snapshot of the country's trade activity
showed that the trade gap grew 4.4% to $41.3 billion in September, the
Commerce Department reported Thursday. September's trade deficit was slightly
larger than the $40.2 billion shortfall that economists were forecasting."
-USATODAY
- 
- "Dipping
into books online: Is it stealing? Amazon.com
says its new 'Search Inside the Book' feature has boosted sales. But authors
worry that people will read just what they need and not buy the book."
... "Late last month, Amazon.com opened a whole new portal to the world
of books. The cyberretailer's new "Search Inside the Book" feature makes
the entire content of books available -free - to anyone with a high-speed
internet connection and a credit card." ... "Now, Web surfers can unearth,
read, and even print recipes, travel tips, or anything else mentioned in
the 120,000 books whose publishers have let Amazon make their texts fully
searchable." -By John C. Ryan
-CSMonitor
- "Government
allows telephone customers to transfer numbers from home to cell phones."
... "Federal regulators approved rules Monday making it easier for consumers
to go totally wireless by allowing them to transfer their home number to
their cell phone." ... "These rules, which come on top of plans to allow
people to keep their cell number when they change wireless companies, are
aimed at boosting competition in the telecommunications industry." -By
Jonathan D. Salant -AP
via -SFGate.com
- 
- "Sony
and Bertelsmann Announce Plans for Merging Music Units."
... "Bertelsmann A.G. and the Sony
Corporation said today that they had signed a preliminary agreement
to combine their music divisions in a joint venture, becoming the latest
dance partners in an industry roundelay that reflects the turbulent economics
of recorded music." ... "The nonbinding letter of intent signed by Bertelsmann
of Germany and Sony of Japan envisions a 50-50 venture to be called Sony
BMG. It would be the world's second-largest music company, after Vivendi's
Universal Music Group, with 25 percent of the global market and a stable
of stars ranging from Elvis Presley and the Dixie Chicks to the cellist
Yo-Yo Ma." (1, 2)
-By Mark Landler -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Kremlin seemingly
in disarray over Yukos: Putin undercuts aide who
threatened oil exploration licenses." ... "A flurry of mixed signals and
seeming disarray over the Yukos crisis continued to envelop the Russian
government Wednesday, as President Vladimir Putin disavowed a suggestion
by one of his top ministers that some of the company's coveted petroleum
exploration licenses may be withdrawn." ... "If such steps were to be taken,
the government could in theory seize the oil fields and devalue the stock
of Yukos, whose chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is being held in
jail on accusations of tax evasion and fraud." -By
Seth Mydans and Erin E. Arvedlund -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
- Microsoft
News - "Probable
last gasp on Microsoft antitrust case still matters."
... "On Tuesday, an appeals court in Washington heard arguments that the
so-called ``remedies'' for what everyone agrees were illegal acts were
not adequate to punish the crime or prevent its recurrence. The state of
Massachusetts and two technology trade organizations asked the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to tell U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
to stiffen her order that, by virtually all accounts, has led to almost
no change of behavior on Microsoft's part." ... "Robert Bork, formerly
a judge on that appeals court, argued on behalf of the trade groups, calling
the infamous settlement with the Justice Department ``utterly inadequate,''
according to news reports." -By Dan Gillmor
-MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- "US
workers see hard times: High-tech firms tout
outsourcing as crucial to survival." ... ["The White Collar Job Migration."]
... "In the next generation of high-tech companies, entrepreneurs and venture
capitalists are making the outsourcing of jobs overseas part of their business
plans from the start. Ruthlessly, perhaps, they see outsourcing as the
latest innovation in an industry built on innovation." ... "To the surprise
of white-collar programmers who thought themselves immune, many of their
jobs have turned into ``grunt labor'' positions exported to India, China,
Russia, and other countries and filled with skilled but less expensive
workers. IBM Corp., Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., EMC Corp., and other
high-tech leaders have set up software design and maintenance centers in
India, and scores of other large companies have farmed programming work
to Indian consultancies." -By Chris Gaither
-Boston/Globe
- 
- "Russian
stocks plunge after Yukos arrest By Ivar Simensen."
... "The Moscow stock market plunged more than 10 per cent on Monday after
the arrest of the head of Yukos, the oil major, prompted fears about investing
in the country - just one week after the market hit an all-time high."
... "The arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Yukos chief executive, on
Saturday morning and the seven charges brought against him by the Kremlin,
ranging from tax fraud to theft against the state, rattled investor sentiment."
-By Ivar Simensen -FT.com
- "Google
considers online auction of IPO shares." ... "Google
is considering holding a massive online auction of shares early next year
in an initial public offering that investment bankers predict could value
the internet search-engine company at more than $15bn." ... "An electronic
auction would be designed to prevent a recurrence of the sort of financial
scandals that have engulfed Wall Street since the collapse of the dotcom
bubble, according to a person close to the company." ... "It could also
slash the underwriting fees paid to investment banks, the person added,
and in the process help to break Wall Street's hold on the lucrative IPO
business." -By Richard Waters
-FT.com
-
- "A
Young Hacker Buys Options, Borrowing an Investor's Identity."
... "A Pennsylvania youth has been accused of a complex scheme to unload
worthless stock options by hacking into another investment account and
using it to buy the securities from him." ... "According to court filings
yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors
in Boston, Van Dinh, 19, a college student, used a singular blend of computer
crime, securities fraud and identity theft to dump stock options in Cisco
Systems last July, about a week before they were scheduled to expire
and cost Mr. Dinh as much as $100,000." -By John Schwartz
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
-
- Tucson
News - "Limits
of disability act tested: The high court considers
Wednesday whether a former addict should be afforded employment protections."
... "Would a company that refuses to rehire somebody who says he's overcome
his drug and alcohol addiction be guilty of violating the Americans With
Disabilities Act (ADA)?" ... "That is the question the US Supreme Court
takes up Wednesday in an Arizona case with major implications for companies
with zero-tolerance hiring and firing policies." ... "The case stems from
a lawsuit filed by Joel Hernandez, a 25-year employee of the Hughes Missile
Systems Company in Tucson." -By Warren Richey
-CSMonitor
- "Appeals
Court OKs Do Not Call Registry: Federal Appeals
Court OKs Do Not Call Registry Pending Court Challenge." ... "The 10th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham's
order barring the FTC from enforcing the law."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "ITV
merger gets go-ahead: Granada and Carlton can
keep their advertising sales divisions." ... "The £4bn merger between
Granada and Carlton TV, effectively creating a single ITV company, has
been given the go-ahead by the government." ... "The merged ITV will control
more than half of the commercial TV advertising market, but will have to
sell airtime at guaranteed price levels to allay advertisers' fears that
an ITV giant that controls 11 of the 15 regional companies would fix prices."
... "Creating a single ITV across England and Wales is a landmark in the
48-year history of the network, and will allow it to take on the BBC and
commercial rivals such as BSkyB." -By Chris Tryhorn
-Guardian.co.uk/media
-
-
- "Panel
Fires Shot Across FCC's Bow: Stevens Amendment
Maintains Cap on TV Networks' Size." ... "The Senate Appropriations Committee
dealt another potential setback to the Federal Communications Commission's
new media ownership rules yesterday, adding an amendment to a spending
bill that would prevent the agency from raising its cap on the size of
large broadcast television networks." ... "The Senate action follows similar
action by the House in July, in defiance of a threatened presidential veto.
It comes one day after a federal appeals court issued an emergency stay
preventing the new rules from taking effect until the court hears briefings
and conducts a review of the rules' merits." -By Frank
Ahrens -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Costly
aircraft lease stirs ire in Congress: Air Force
says deal for in-flight refuelers makes sense. Critics see $5.7 billion
giveaway to Boeing." ... "At issue is a replacement for the Air Force's
aging KC-135 aerial tankers, those gas stations in the sky that enable
bombers and fighters to attack targets halfway around the world (Afghanistan,
for example) and return home without having to land." ... "Boeing and the
Air Force are pushing a deal to convert 100 of the aircraft company's 767-model
airliners into tankers. The controversy starts with an agreement to lease
- rather than buy - the big jets." -By Brad Knickerbocker
-CSMonitor
- 
- "Oil
prices rise after Iraq pipeline sabotage." ... "World
oil prices came under pressure today after saboteurs blew up a vital oil
pipeline in northern Iraq for a second time." ... "The pipeline, from Iraq's
Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, reopened last Wednesday
for the first time since US and British troops toppled Saddam Hussein.
However, just two days later, it was shut down again after a bomb attack."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
Vows To Crush The Mouse That Roared." ... "A federal
jury ruled that Microsoft should pay tiny Eolas Technologies and the University
of California $521 million for infringing on their patent for sending software
applications over the Internet. But Microsoft, as is its habit, insists
that the jury verdict is not the end of the story but the beginning, that
it did nothing wrong and even if it did that the remedy is out of whack
with the wrong. This is what Microsoft often says after losing a trial
and before the inevitable appeals." -By Dan Ackman
-Forbes
- 
-
- "Merrill
Lynch rocked by $43m embezzlement claim: Wall
Street bank's former chief energy trader under investigation over offshore
cash." ... "Merrill Lynch was plunged into fresh controversy yesterday
when allegations emerged that a former energy trader had embezzled $43m
(£28m) from the firm." ... "The former chief energy trader, Daniel
Gordon, is being investigated by US and Canadian authorities for allegedly
disguising a payment made in 2000 to Falcon Energy Holdings, an offshore
company he controlled, as an insurance contract to cover power shortages."
-David Teather -Guardian.co.uk
Karl
Rove - 
Gordon
Smith - 
Environmental
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Science
- Politics
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River
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Animals
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Agricultural
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Corporation
- Government
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Hatch
Act - Law
- 2002
Election - 
WVa
- California
- Portland
- 
Oregon
- "Oregon
Water Saga Illuminates Rove's Methods With Agencies."
... "In a darkened conference room, [Republican President Bush] White House
political strategist Karl Rove was making an unusual address to 50 top
managers at the U.S. [United States] Interior Department. Flashing color
slides, he spoke of poll results, critical constituencies -- and water
levels in the Klamath River basin." [The Klamath River runs from Oregon
into California] ... "At the time of the meeting, in January 2002, Mr.
Rove had just returned from accompanying [Republican] President Bush on
a trip to Oregon, where they visited with a Republican senator facing re-election
[2002]. Republican leaders there wanted to support their agricultural base
by diverting water from the river basin to nearby farms, and Mr. Rove signaled
that the administration did, too." ... "Three months later, Interior Secretary
Gale Norton stood with [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith in
Klamath Falls and opened the irrigation-system head gates that increased
the water supply to 220,000 acres of farmland -- a policy shift that continues
to stir bitter criticism from environmentalists and Indian tribes." ...
"Though Mr. Rove's clout within the administration often is celebrated,
this episode offers a rare window into how he works behind the scenes to
get things done. One of them is with periodic visits to cabinet departments.
Over the past two years Mr. Rove or his top aide, Kenneth Mehlman -- now
manager of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign -- have visited nearly every
agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data
and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial
races that could be affected by regulatory action." ... "On [January] Jan.
5, Mr. Rove accompanied the president to an appearance in Portland [Oregon]
with Mr. Smith. The president signaled his desire to accommodate agricultural
interests, saying "We'll do everything we can to make sure water is available
for those who farm."" ... "The next day, Mr. Rove made sure that commitment
didn't fall through the cracks. He visited the 50 Interior managers attending
a department retreat at a Fish and Wildlife Service conference center in
Shepherdstown, W.Va. [West Virginia] In a PowerPoint presentation Mr. Rove
also uses when soliciting Republican donors, he brought up the Klamath
and made clear that the administration was siding with agricultural interests."
...
"His remarks weren't entirely welcome -- especially by officials grappling
with the competing arguments made by environmentalists, who wanted river
levels high to protect endangered salmon, and Indian tribes, who depend
on the salmon for their livelihoods. Neil McCaleb, then an assistant Interior
secretary, recalls the "chilling effect" of Mr. Rove's remarks. Wayne Smith,
then with the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, says Mr. Rove reminded
the managers of the need to "support our base."" [note: the Hatch Act prohibits
political activities in federal offices.] ... "A National Marine Fisheries
Service biologist, Michael Kelly, has asked for protection under federal
"whistle-blower" laws, saying he was subjected to political pressure to
go along with the low-water plan and ordered to ignore scientific evidence
casting doubt on the plan. This month, a federal judge ruled the administration
violated the Endangered Species Act in the way it justified the water diversion."
-By Tom Hamburger -WallStreetJournal
via -OregonWild.org
-
-
- 
- "Air
Force punishes Boeing by taking 7 contracts." ...
"Handing down some of the harshest penalties ever against a defense contractor,
the U.S. Air Force on Thursday stripped Boeing (BA) of seven rocket-launch
contracts and also indefinitely suspended Boeing's rocket defense units
from competing for military contracts." ... "The penalties cap a yearlong
Air Force probe into allegations that Boeing, the nation's No. 2 defense
contractor after Lockheed Martin, used thousands of pages of stolen Lockheed
documents in 1998 to beat its rival for contracts to build a military satellite-launch
rocket." -By Edward Iwata
-USATODAY
-
- 
- 
- "U.S.
sanctions Chinese company for sales to Iran." ...
"The United States has imposed sanctions on one Chinese company and extended
sanctions on five companies from China and North Korea for sensitive arms
sales to Iran, the State Department said on Thursday." -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
- "Fed trims
key rate to lowest in 45 years: Central bank
signals it remains worried over weak growth." ... "Seeking to deal a death
blow to the long U.S. economic downturn, the Federal Reserve cut short-term
interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point Wednesday, taking rates
to their lowest level since 1958." ... "The reduction was smaller than
a half-point cut the Fed had considered, and officials said in a statement
that the U.S. economy appeared to be improving." ... "But the central bank
signaled that it remained worried the weak growth of the last three years
had a small chance of turning into deflation, a sustained decline in prices
that can cause wages to fall and debts to become effectively larger." -By
David Leonhardt -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- "The
MP3 Economy: How labels and artists divvy up
your MP3 dollar." ... "The Artist's Cut: Twelve percent is
average, but successful bands often hammer out better contracts. In many
major-label contracts, charges for "packaging" and promotional copies are
subtracted from the artist's cut, leaving the talent with a measly 8 percent."
-By Nancy Einhart 200306
Ed. -Business2.0
-
-
- "Judge:
Millions of CD buyers owed money: A judge has
approved a settlement agreement in a music antitrust lawsuit that will
result in more than 3.5 million consumers receiving nearly $13 each." ...
"The lawsuit, signed by the attorneys general of 43 states and territories
and consolidated in Portland in October 2000, accused major record labels
and large music retailers facing competition from discounters like Target
and Wal-Mart of conspiring to set minimum music prices." ... "The defendants
-- Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Distribution, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic
Corp., Universal Music Group and Bertelsmann Music Group, and retailers
Tower Records, Musicland Stores and Transworld Entertainment -- deny any
wrongdoing. Attorneys representing the companies declined to testify in
court." -AP
via -CNN
-
- "Few
People Likely to Escape Higher Taxes: As States
Craft Budget Plans, Few People Likely to Escape Higher Taxes or Fees."
... "Fines, fees, surcharges, taxes: Whatever you call it, the bottom line
is that cash-strapped states are seeking billions of new dollars from their
citizens, enough to potentially double the load of new taxes this year
and erase much of the windfall American taxpayers enjoyed in the 1990s."
... "An Associated Press analysis of budget work in all 50 states found
many are trying to target their tax hikes or increase fees allowing politicians
to make claims that they did not raise income taxes. But those states that
have raised across-the-board taxes such as income, sales or property taxes
will get more money." ... "The targets? Smokers, drinkers, gamblers. Drivers
and traffic offenders. Businesess small and large."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Martha
Stewart indicted on securities fraud, obstruction of justice and conspiracy
charges." ... "Martha Stewart, the exemplar of "good
things" who built an empire as an icon of tasteful living, was indicted
Wednesday on securities fraud and obstruction of justice charges that could
result in a prison term." ... "The indictment also charged Stewart with
conspiracy and making false statements and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic,
with perjury and obstruction of justice." ... "Stewart and Bacanovic pleaded
innocent before a federal judge to all charges." -By
Erin McClam -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Iraq ill equipped
to exploit oil: Industry is hobbled by absence
of rules for foreign activity." ... "An enormous reservoir of petroleum
almost certainly lies beneath the Majnoon oil field, a blank expanse of
pale sand near the Iranian border. Under Saddam Hussein, Majnoon was the
linchpin of an ambitious plan to expand Iraq’s
oil industry." ... "But even though the United Nations lifted the sanctions
that barred most exports of Iraqi oil for more than a decade, considerable
barriers remain. No government exists to sanction contracts, develop new
fields or determine whether old deals are still valid. No codes are in
place for foreign investment. Data about the Majnoon oil are scarce, and
key export facilities are battered by years of war and neglect." -By
Peter S. Goodman -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
- "Curbs
eased on media ownership: FCC clears way for
more TV, newspaper ties." ... "The Federal Communications Commission yesterday
eased its longstanding restrictions on media ownership, in a landmark decision
that cited the proliferation of Internet and cable news outlets as factors
that had made the old limitations obsolete." ... "On a 3-2 vote that split
along partisan lines, the Republican-controlled FCC lifted a ban on companies
owning a newspaper and television station in the largest 80 percent of
US media markets. And it raised the cap on TV station ownership to allow
companies such as News Corp.'s Fox TV, Viacom Inc., and Disney ABC to own
stations reaching 45 percent of Americans, up from 35 percent." ... "The
FCC vote also will allow companies to own as many as three TV stations
in the largest markets." -By Peter J. Howe -Boston/Globe
-
- "Online
divorce grows in popularity, despite skepticism."
... "Offering a simpler and cheaper path to divorce, an ever-growing array
of dot-coms, computer-savvy lawyers and state court officials are encouraging
unhappily married Americans to arrange their breakups online." ... "For
fees ranging from $50 to $300 - a small fraction of what most lawyers charge
even for an uncontested divorce - couples are being provided with the appropriate
forms and varying degrees of help completing them." -By
David Crary -AP
via -StarTribune.com
- "Bush signs
$350 billion tax cut." ... "The bill signing in the
East Room for the third-largest tax cut in the nation’s history came a
day after Bush — with no comment or ceremony — signed a bill allowing the
federal government to borrow as much as $7.4 trillion." ... "The $984 billion
increase in the federal debt limit is the largest on record, and it will
go in part to help pay for the new tax cuts that the Republican-run Congress
passed on close votes at Bush’s behest." -MS-NBC
with David Gregory and AP
-
-
- "The
little TiVo that could: Can it survive cable's attack?."
... "[TiVo CEO Michael] Ramsay talks as though his tiny San Jose, Calif.-based
upstart is about much more than powering a better VCR offering
far more control and flexibility in finding, storing and replaying TV shows
on digital video recorders, or DVRs." ... ""We felt from Day 1 that what
we're doing goes beyond DVRs," Ramsay says. "We're revolutionizing TV.""
... "... to many of the company's 624,000 subscribers, the "TiVolution"
— as some of the cultlike followers call it — is not so far-fetched. Their
ranks are expected to hit 1 million by year's end as devotees spread the
word of how the computerlike devices changed their lives — or at least
that part devoted to watching TV. With nearly half of the DVR service market,
TiVo has outlasted rivals both big and small. Last year, Microsoft quit
producing boxes for its UltimateTV DVR service. This year, Sonicblue collapsed
after Hollywood pummeled its ReplayTV service with copyright lawsuits.
D&M Holdings, maker of Denon and Marantz electronics, bought ReplayTV
last month in a bankruptcy auction." -By David Lieberman
-USATODAY
- 
-
-
- "Halliburton
contract goes beyond extinguishing oil fires." ...
"An emergency contract the Bush administration gave to Halliburton Co.
to extinguish Iraqi oil fires also gave the firm a more lucrative role
in getting the country's oil system up and running, documents showed Tuesday."
... "A congressional critic of the Houston company, formerly run by Vice
President Dick Cheney, said the administration was hiding the expanded
role." -AP
via -USATODAY