Bloomberg:- The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department’s searches of passengers’ bags on city subways.
- Sharp will raise production of liquid crystal displays used in televisions by 20% over the next year at its Kameyama plant, by making additional investments and changing its factory layout to speed up output.
- Dell probably raised second-quarter shipments in China by about 30%.
- Wal-Mart Stores said July sales rose 4.4% as grocery buying and fewer clearance sales helped the gain.
- The Bank of England reduced its benchmark interest rate for the first time in more than two years after the UK economy grew in the second quarter at the slowest pace since 1993.
- Crude oil in NY is approaching the record of $62.50/bbl. as below-normal gas inventories increased speculation that fuel consumption will outpace refinery production.
- US retailers including Neiman Marcus and JC Penney posted 3.6% sales gains in July for stores open at least a year.
Wall Street Journal:- A prolonged drought in the US Midwest, the worst since 1998, is shrinking anticipated harvest estimates for corn and soybeans and slowing commercial shipping on some of the nation’s busiest waterways.
- Adidas-Salomon AG’s planned $3.8 billion acquisition of Reebok International may help the company realize its goal of broadening the appeal of its footwear to urban consumers.
- Nokia Oyj designer Frank Nuovo has reverted to classic design for the company’s stainless steel 8800 model cell phone to counter growing competition from Motorola.
- The European Union, the world’s second largest clothing importer, agreed to lift emergency quotas set on Chinese-made sweaters and allow millions of products awaiting customs clearance to be delivered.
- Medicare has decided to start paying hospitals for the use of the Genentech drug that dissolves stroke patients’ blood clots.
- Sony is selling PictureStation kiosks to hospitals and craft stores as it, Eastman Kodak and Fuji Photo Film seek to gain from demand for digital picture printing.
- The US government is offering drives of hybrid cars, which run on a combination of electricity and gasoline power, benefits such as tax breaks and free parking.
NY Times:- Some US companies with no experience in the phone business are selling mobile phone services.
- Yahoo! is testing a search engine that will seek out music for users by looking through 50 million music, voice and other audio files.
LA Times:- Bain Capital LLC and MacGregor Golf made an offer to buy Callaway Golf for as much as $1.24 billion in cash.
Washington Post:- The International Association of Chiefs of Police, representing the heads of police departments worldwide, have issued a new recommendation saying that officers facing a suicide bomber should shoot the suspect in the head.
