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The Federal Communications Commission has restarted its review of Comcast’s plan to take control of NBC Universal after the companies provided additional details about their businesses.
Comcast Corp. is seeking FCC and Justice Department approval to acquire a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. Federal regulators are expected to approve the deal with conditions. Get the full story »
The Department of Transportation has analyzed dozens of black boxes in Toyota vehicles involved in accidents blamed on unintended acceleration, finding the throttles were open and the brakes were not engaged, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
That suggests that drivers of the speeding cars were stepping on the accelerator rather than the brakes. The vehicles investigated came from a sample in which the drivers said they were braking but failed to stop the car before crashing, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the findings. Get the full story »
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus Tuesday said he expects the Senate to extend middle-income tax cuts before they expire by the end of the year.
But Baucus said lawmakers were still weighing the details, including tax rates for dividends and families earning more than $250,000 a year. But he added that “clearly we will want to extend the middle income tax cuts at the very least.” Get the full story »
GlaxoSmithKline Plc insisted its diabetes pill Avandia was safe as U.S. advisers began a two-day meeting to consider whether the medicine is too dangerous to stay on the market.
The scientific experts assembled by the Food and Drug Administration are sorting through sharply conflicting data on whether Avandia causes heart attacks. Get the full story »
U.S. job openings slipped in May, but the hiring rate climbed to its highest level in nearly two years, government data showed Tuesday.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, dipped to 3.21 million from 3.30 million in April, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Get the full story »
Government-backed loans to the nation’s small businesses dropped sharply last month after a key federal program ran out of money.
The reduction in lending comes as officials are scrambling to find a way to stimulate the small-business sector. On Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said loosening credit to small businesses should be a priority for banks and policymakers.
Boosting credit to struggling small businesses is vital to keep a tepid U.S. recovery on track but wary banks can’t be forced to lend from their bountiful reserves, Federal Reserve officials said Monday.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke underlined the need for companies — many working their way back to health from the deep recession — to be able to get loans when they need them to expand and to hire. Get the full story »
The sweeping legislation that grew out of Toyota Motor Corp.’s sudden-acceleration crisis — heralded as the most important auto safety bill in a decade — has been scaled back significantly in the face of auto industry opposition.
The bill originally gave federal officials the power to levy unlimited fines against automakers for safety violations, which regulators said could have resulted in multibillion-dollar penalties. But the House version now caps fines at $200 million.
Federal bank regulators have agreed to give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. unlimited authority to investigate banks, clarifying the agency’s power that was in question during the financial crisis.
The FDIC’s board on Monday approved the agreement between the insurance agency and regulators at the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department. It clearly spells out the FDIC’s authority to make special examinations of banks. It was approved 5-0. Get the full story »
An unnamed drug maker has applied for U.S. regulatory approval to sell a generic version of Allergan Inc.’s eyelash-enhancing drug Latisse before its patent protection expires.
Latisse, approved in late 2008 with $73.3 million in sales last year, has market exclusivity until late 2011. But the Food and Drug Administration disclosed last week that a company filed an application in May to market a copycat version by challenging Allergan’s patent for the drug. The FDA didn’t identify the applicant of the generic drug. Get the full story »
European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. will offer prices below its previous ones in order to win a contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with new aerial refueling tankers, German daily Financial Times Deutschland reports Monday, citing industry sources. Get the full story »
From TheHill.com | Illinois Democratic Reps. Bobby Rush, Danny Davis, Jesse Jackson Jr. and Jan Schakowsky have asked the Treasury Department to tap remaining TARP funds to help ShoreBank.
U.S. biotech giant Monsanto Co. agreed Thursday to pay a $2.5 million fine for misbranding its cotton-seed products, the largest civil penalty ever enforced under a federal act that controls the sale and use of pesticides.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Monsanto distributed cotton-seed products that contained a genetically engineered pesticide banned from 10 counties in Texas for fear pests would become resistant to it.
Monsanto was required to label the products with an explanation of the ban. Get the full story »
From Bloomberg News | The U.S. government no longer has a stake in Riverwoods-based Discover Financial Services after the company bought back a warrant issued to the U.S. Treasury Department’s bank-bailout program for $172 million. The 10-year warrant conveyed the right to buy 20.5 million common shares and helped it gain access to $1.2 billion in federal rescue funds.
