Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ announcement that he will shut the private station, Radio Caracas Television, violates rules of due process and defies the presumption of innocence, said Marcel Granier, the company’s chairman.
- President Bush equated Iran, which does billions of dollars in trade with European countries, with the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Hezbollah, a militant organization that warred with Israel over the summer, is a terrorist group “second only to al-Qaeda in the American lives it has taken,” Bush said. Hezbollah isn’t listed as a terrorist group by the European Union.
- The NFL and its players’ union agreed to increase weekly drug tests to 10 from seven per team and added an endurance-builder linked to cyclists and skiers to the list of banned substances.
- Corning Inc.(GLW) posted a fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as sales of glass for television sets rose. The shares are soaring 13%, the most in 2 years.
- AT&T shares surged the most in six months after the company’s Cingular Wireless unit added a record 2.4 million mobile-phone subscribers in the fourth quarter.

Wall Street Journal:
- Coca-Cola Co.(KO) will introduce new beverage coolers that it says use less energy as part of a plan to highlight its interest in the environment.

NY Times:
- Former President Jimmy Carter defended his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” in his first major public speech on criticism the work has received. He told the audience at Brandeis Univ. that he apologized for an “improper and stupid” sentence in the book that suggests Palestinians shouldn’t end suicide bombings against Israelis and other acts of terrorism until Israel withdraws from the territories. The book led 14 members of the Carter Center’s advisory board to resign.

AP:
- The North Carolina State Bar charged prosecutor Mike Nifong with new ethics violations stemming from his pursuit of a rape case against three Duke University lacrosse players. Nifong, district attorney for Durham County, is accused of withholding DNA evidence and making misleading statements to the court.

El Universal:
- Venezuelan President Chavez ousted Food Minister Erika Farias amid growing food shortages and discontent with the state-subsidized Mercal supermarkets.

El Nacional:
- State-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, South America’s largest oil company, plans to more than triple gas prices in coming weeks to end subsidies that cost it $1 billion a year.

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