Mon, 21 May 2012
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Drop in jobless rate points to modest improvement
The job market is lurching toward improvement. It just has a long way to go. The outlook for jobs became a bit less bleak Friday when the government released January’s unemployment rate showing an unexpected decline from 10 percent to 9.7 percent. It was the first drop in seven months. Still, the government now estimates
What a 9.7 percent unemployment rate means
Despite economists’ expectations that the unemployment rate would climb well into the economic recovery, the percentage of unemployed, job-seeking Americans fell 0.3 percentage point in January to 9.7 percent, its lowest point since August. The unemployment rate is calculated through a separate survey from the payroll count, which found the nation’s employers still reluctant to
FDA concerned dissolvable tobacco appeals to kids
Published on 10 Feb, 2010 at 11:44 in Health | Viewed 79 views times | No Comments
The Food and Drug Administration is saying in letters to two tobacco companies that flavored, dissolvable tobacco products — that the agency compares with candy and says contain a lot of nicotine — could be particularly appealing to kids and young adults. The FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products wrote to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., maker
S.Korea court says automakers not to blame for asthma
Published on 10 Feb, 2010 at 11:42 in Health | Viewed 82 views times | No Comments
A court ruled Wednesday that South Korea’s government and five main automakers are not responsible for respiratory diseases allegedly caused by air pollution. A group of 23 patients suffering from asthma or other respiratory diseases brought the rare lawsuit in February 2007, claiming 30 million won (26,000 dollars) in damages for each plaintiff. They claimed
Merck reps banned from US AIDS clinics over drug costs
Published on 10 Feb, 2010 at 11:41 in Health | Viewed 91 views times | No Comments
The largest US HIV/AIDS health care provider on Monday accused Merck Pharmaceuticals of price-gouging its AIDS treatment Isentress and banned the drug giant’s sales reps from its clinics in protest. “We’ve banned representatives from Merck Pharmaceuticals from calling on our physicians in our clinics, which is a common marketing strategy. We are instituting this ban
US swine flu epidemic shows signs of being over
Is the U.S. swine flu epidemic over? Federal health officials won’t go so far as to say that, but on Friday they reported for the fourth week in a row that no states had widespread flu activity. U.S. cases have been declining since October. An official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says
5 new accidents involving Toyota Prius confirmed: report
Published on 10 Feb, 2010 at 11:38 in Business | Viewed 137 views times | No Comments
The Japanese government has confirmed five new accidents involving Toyota Motor’s Prius hybrids and will urge the troubled car giant to investigate the cases, a newspaper reported Saturday. The Transport Ministry has received some 80 complaints in February about malfunctions in the brake system of the latest model of the flagship Prius, the Tokyo Shimbun
Beazer Homes posts a $48 million profit for Q1
Published on 10 Feb, 2010 at 11:36 in Business | Viewed 173 views times | No Comments
Homebuyers spurred by low interest rates and government incentives helped lift Beazer Homes USA Inc.’s sales in the last three months of 2009, but the builder only turned a profit because of a hefty tax gain. Management said Friday it expects to reel in more home shoppers this year, but stopped short of forecasting a
WA among states weighing sale of liquor business
Published on 10 Feb, 2010 at 11:34 in Business | Viewed 115 views times | No Comments
Thousands of cases of whiskey, vodka and rum zip along three miles of conveyor belts inside a massive distribution center in industrial south Seattle, the sole location for shipping booze to liquor stores across Washington state. The 250,000-square-foot warehouse is the nexus from which all of the state’s liquor is imported, processed, and moved out
Toyota chief apologizes for massive global recalls
Toyota’s president emerged from seclusion Friday to apologize and address criticism that the automaker mishandled a crisis over sticking gas pedals. Yet he stopped short of ordering a recall for the company’s iconic Prius hybrid for braking problems. Akio Toyoda, appointed to the top job at Toyota Motor Corp. last June, promised to beef up