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Blessed by a U.S. Official, China Will Buy 4 Nuclear Reactors
HONG KONG — China will buy four Westinghouse nuclear reactors in a deal that shows the continued attractiveness of American technology, but may also stir worries in Washington that the United States is selling its competitive advantage one industry at a time. Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman of the United States and Ma Kai, the minister of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, signed a memorandum of understanding for the reactors in Beijing on Saturday. The deal calls for the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation to buy the reactors from Westinghouse Electric, which the Toshiba Corporation, based in Tokyo, bought earlier this year. Neither side announced a value for the reactors. But outside analysts have suggested the total price tag may be $5 billion to $8 billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/b...a83a37de61d7&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
 
Eli Lilly Said to Play Down Risk of Top Pill
The drug maker Eli Lilly has engaged in a decade-long effort to play down the health risks of Zyprexa, its best-selling medication for schizophrenia, according to hundreds of internal Lilly documents and e-mail messages among top company managers. James B. Gottstein, a lawyer who represents the mentally ill, said the documents about Zyprexa’s side effects raised public health issues. The documents, given to The Times by a lawyer representing mentally ill patients, show that Lilly executives kept important information from doctors about Zyprexa’s links to obesity and its tendency to raise blood sugar — both known risk factors for diabetes. Critics, including the American Diabetes Association, have argued that Zyprexa, introduced in 1996, is more likely to cause diabetes than other widely used schizophrenia drugs. Lilly has consistently denied such a link, and did so again on Friday in a written response to questions about the documents. The company defended Zyprexa’s safety, and said the documents had been taken out of context.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/b...546d2b430b91&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
 
Drug Files Show Maker Promoted Unapproved Use
Eli Lilly encouraged primary care physicians to use Zyprexa, a powerful drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, in patients who did not have either condition, according to internal Lilly marketing materials. The marketing documents, given to The New York Times by a lawyer representing mentally ill patients, detail a multiyear promotional campaign that Lilly began in Orlando, Fla., in late 2000. In the campaign, called Viva Zyprexa, Lilly told its sales representatives to suggest that doctors prescribe Zyprexa to older patients with symptoms of dementia. A Lilly executive said that she could not comment on specific documents but that the company had never promoted Zyprexa for off-label uses and that it always showed the marketing materials used by its sales representatives to the Food and Drug Administration, as required by law. Zyprexa is not approved to treat dementia or dementia-related psychosis, and in fact carries a prominent warning from the F.D.A. that it increases the risk of death in older patients with dementia-related psychosis. Federal laws bar drug makers from promoting prescription drugs for conditions for which they have not been approved — a practice known as off-label prescription — although doctors can prescribe drugs to any patient they wish. Yet in 1999 and 2000 Lilly considered ways to convince primary care doctors that they should use Zyprexa on their patients. In one document, an unnamed Lilly marketing executive wrote that these doctors “do treat dementia” but “do not treat bipolar; schizophrenia is handled by psychiatrists.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/business/18drug.html?em&ex=1166590800&en=28418dc86157c22c&ei=5087
 
Verizon, partners to build US-China optical cable
NEW YORK - Verizon Communications Inc. and five Asian partners plan to build an underwater optical cable between the United States and China to meet rising demand for high-speed Internet access. The cable, almost half the distance around the world, will have about 60 times the capacity of existing lines between the United States and China, and be capable of supporting the equivalent of 62 million phone calls simultaneously, Verizon said on Monday. Most existing cables between the two countries go through Japan, slowing service.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=OBR&Date=20061218&ID=6285738
 
Broadband Wireless Network Speeds Into Flagstaff, Arizona
CHANDLER, Arizona - Customers in Flagstaff, can now access the latest high-speed business and entertainment services on their wireless phones, laptop computers and other wireless devices thanks to Verizon Wireless. The new capabilities come with the expansion of the company's Evolution- Data Optimized (EV-DO) network, enabling both its BroadbandAccess and V CAST services. Customers in Flagstaff now have access to the same high-speed Verizon Wireless services that have been available in metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson, and launched earlier this month in Prescott, Payson and Casa Grande.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?feed=PR&date=20061218&id=6286372
 
Pfizer boosts dividend in wake of drug failure
NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. boosted its quarterly dividend 21 percent after the surprise failure of its most important experimental drug caused a sell- off in its shares, and gave its new chief executive additional duties as chairman. The world's largest drugmaker, which increased its first- quarter dividend to 29 cents from 24 cents, said CEO Jeffrey Kindler would officially become chairman on Tuesday. Company shares fell almost 11 percent on December 4 after Pfizer halted development of torcetrapib, a drug meant to raise "good" cholesterol, due to deaths in clinical trials. Analysts predicted Pfizer would shore up shaken investor confidence by raising its dividend and accelerating cost cutting. The increased dividend would translate to an annual of almost 4.5 percent, one of the highest in the industry, thereby an additional incentive for some investors to hang onto the stock. Pfizer, whose shares had fallen 40 percent since McKinnell became CEO in 2001, had been counting on torcetrapib to garner annual sales of $10 billion or more soon after its cholesterol fighter Lipitor loses patent protection in 2010. Lipitor is the world's top selling prescription medicine, with annual sales of about $13 billion. But drugs typically lose more than 80 percent of their revenue soon after going off patent. With the expected savior drug now scrapped and few other big drugs on the horizon despite the company's annual $7 billion research budget, analysts have said Pfizer will need to buy other drugmakers, or their products, to remain competitive once Lipitor sales dry up.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=OBR&Date=20061218&ID=6286425
 
Busch drops out of race for NASCAR sponsorship
Busch's long-running title sponsorship of NASCAR's No. 2 series will come to an end after the 2007 season, officials from Anheuser-Busch and NASCAR confirmed, and the price is going up. With ESPN taking over as the sole broadcaster of Busch Series races in 2007 and NASCAR attempting to raise the profile of the series, industry sources estimate that the asking price on the deal could push $30 million a year, about three times what Busch was paying.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=ACBJ&Date=20061218&ID=6286668
 
FCC commissioner McDowell opts not to vote on AT&T-BellSouth merger
The proposed $80 billion merger between AT&T Inc.-BellSouth Corp. remained at a standstill. Robert M. McDowell, the Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission who had previously recused himself from voting on the megamerger, released a statement Monday indicating he will not break the deadlock. The five-member commission remains the only regulatory body that stands in the way of San Antonio-based AT&T's buyout of BellSouth in Atlanta. The deal already has been approved by the Justice Department and 18 states.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=ACBJ&Date=20061218&ID=6286667
 
Bush signs India nuclear pact
President George W. Bush signed an agreement to allow civil nuclear co-operation with India for the first time in three decades, calling it a "foundation for a new strategic partnership". But India's prime minister warned he would not accept some of the conditions imposed on the deal by the US Congress. In a speech to the Indian parliament, Manmohan Singh said India would not accept "extraneous" conditions.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=FT&Date=20061218&ID=6286057

Hmmm, first reactors in China, now a strategic partnership in India. :notrust:
 
So Cal Ed signs biggest U.S. wind contract
LOS ANGELES - Electric utility Southern California Edison and Australian-based Allco Finance Group Ltd. have signed the biggest contract for wind power in U.S. history, the two companies said on Thursday. The pact is to generate at least 1,500 megawatts of wind power on more than 50 square miles in the windy Tehachapi region in southern California, with the first new windmills expected to begin spinning in 2011. The new turbines would generate twice the power of the biggest U.S. wind farm, the Horse Hallow Wind Farm in Texas, said Christine Real de Azua of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/061221/utilities_edisonintl.html?.v=1
 
I have a Sister that lives in windy Tehachapi. They had a generator installed about 9 or 10 years ago. The other night her husband said his electric bill is never over $15 a month and some months the electric company sends him a check. Great deal if you have the wind to spin the sails.!
 
F.D.A. Says Food From Cloned Animals Is Safe
After years of delay, the Food and Drug Administration tentatively concluded today that milk and meat from some cloned farm animals are safe to eat. That finding, hailed by cloning companies and some livestock producers but criticized by consumer groups, could make the United States the first country to allow products from cloned livestock to be sold in grocery stores.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/b...f1ac5088928e&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
 
ABN Amro to cut 900 North American jobs
NEW YORK - ABN Amro Bank NV, the biggest Dutch bank and parent of Chicago's LaSalle Bank Corp., on Thursday announced plans to cut about 900 North American jobs by the middle of 2007 to reduce costs amid growing competition. The cuts will total 5 percent of the North American work force, and occur across nearly all areas of the bank and at all major locations.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061228/bs_nm/abnamro_jobs_dc_3
 
Fivetears said:
F.D.A. Says Food From Cloned Animals Is Safe
After years of delay, the Food and Drug Administration tentatively concluded today that milk and meat from some cloned farm animals are safe to eat. That finding, hailed by cloning companies and some livestock producers but criticized by consumer groups, could make the United States the first country to allow products from cloned livestock to be sold in grocery stores.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/b...f1ac5088928e&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
Click to expand...

cool...next is soylent green :)
 
Fivetears said:
F.D.A. Says Food From Cloned Animals Is Safe
After years of delay, the Food and Drug Administration tentatively concluded today that milk and meat from some cloned farm animals are safe to eat.
Click to expand...


I hope they pick a good cow to clone; it would be a bummer to eat the same tough, chewy steak for the rest of my years. :D
 
AT&T Offers Concessions in Merger Deal
AT&T Inc. has offered a new set of concessions that are expected to satisfy the two Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission and lead to approval of the company's $85 billion buyout of BellSouth Corp. Final approval still requires a vote of the commissioners, which can happen at any time via computer. The proposed deal is the largest telecommunications merger in U.S. history.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061228/att_bellsouth.html?.v=7
 
Department-Store Operator J.C. Penney Fires Chief Operating Officer Catherine West
PLANO, Texas - Department-store operator J.C. Penney Co. said Thursday it fired its chief operating officer but gave no reason for the move. Catherine West, 47, who also held the title of executive vice president, had been COO since July. She had no retail experience before joining Penney. A two-sentence news release from Penney Thursday gave no explanation for West's firing, and the company declined to make Chairman and Chief Executive Myron E. Ullman III available for comment.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061228/penney_coo.html?.v=12
 
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