The World Bank's fund for aid to the world's poorest nations will increase to $34 billion over the next three years, up from $23 billion over the past three years, under an agreement announced by Geoffrey B. Lamb, a top World Bank official. Meeting at the U.S. Treasury, representatives of the world's richest nations agreed to replenishing the International Development Association, the World Bank arm that gives grants and no-interest loans to 81 impoverished countries. The agreement envisions that about 30 percent of the aid will be in the form of grants, up from 19 percent.
Ex-Advertising Executives Convicted
Two former executives at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide were convicted of scheming to overbill the U.S. government for work they did on an anti-drug media campaign by inflating the number of hours Ogilvy employees worked on the contract, according to a court official. A jury in federal court in New York found Thomas Early and Shona Seifert, both former senior partners at the advertising firm, guilty of conspiracy and nine counts of fraud.
A worker bolts on a duct at the Boeing plant in Wichita. Boeing announced an agreement to sell its commercial aircraft plants in Kansas and Oklahoma to Onex, a Toronto-based investment group, for $900 million cash and the assumption of $300 million in liabilities. The deal includes long-term agreements for Onex to provide Boeing with parts on four of Boeing's existing planes and the new 787 Dreamliner. Separately, Boeing announced the sale of its Rocketdyne rocket engine subsidiary to United Technologies for about $700 million cash.
(John Lok -- AP)
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A U.S. appeals panel challenged new Federal Communications Commission rules that go into effect July 1 requiring certain video devices to have technology to prevent copying digital television programs and distributing them over the Internet, questioning the FCC's authority over broadcasts after they have been beamed into households. Consumer groups have said the rules will drive up prices of digital television devices and prevent people from legally recording programs. But one judge on the panel questioned whether consumers can challenge the FCC's rules in court.
President Bush will nominate John C. Dugan, a lawyer specializing in financial institution regulation issues in the D.C. office of Covington & Burling, to be U.S. comptroller of the currency, the administration said. Dugan served as assistant secretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department under the administration of President George H.W. Bush and Republican general counsel to the Senate Banking Committee, according to a profile on the law firm's Web site.
American Airlines and Continental Airlines won U.S. permission to begin passenger flights to China this year and next, the Transportation Department said. The tentative order would leave Delta as the only one of the five largest U.S. passenger carriers without flights to China.
Winn-Dixie Stores, which has struggled to compete with Wal-Mart Supercenters and other grocery chains, said it and 23 of its U.S. subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy reorganization late Monday. Winn-Dixie also said it has secured $800 million in credit, subject to court approval, from Wachovia Bank. It said that 920 Winn-Dixie stores remain open but that it will seek court approval to terminate the leases of two warehouses and about 150 previously closed stores. It also plans to sell all remaining manufacturing operations.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slipped in February to 104.0, down from a revised 105.1 in January but up from 88.5 a year ago.
A HealthSouth vice president testified at the fraud trial of founder Richard M. Scrushy that she lost a promotion in 1999 because she rejected requests to make changes to the company's books. Diana Henze's testimony didn't directly implicate Scrushy, who is charged with directing a $2.7 billion accounting fraud.
A survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project said about one-third of the 52 million Americans who use instant message services have received unsolicited commercial messages, known as "spim," through the services at least once. The results are based on a nationwide poll conducted by telephone from Jan. 13 to Feb. 9 that did not include children under 18.
T-bill rates rose. The discount rate on three-month Treasury bills auctioned yesterday rose to 2.615 percent from 2.54 percent last week. Rates on six-month bills increased to 2.85 percent from 2.76 percent. The actual return to investors was 2.669 percent for three-month bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,933.90, and 2.932 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,855.92. Separately, the Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, rose to 3.05 percent last week from 2.96 percent the previous week.
NASD fined two of its members for giving preferred treatment to select mutual funds in exchange for commissions or payments. It fined Quick & Reilly $570,000 and Piper Jaffray $275,000 for operating programs favoring certain mutual funds in return for commissions and other payments. The firms neither admitted nor denied the charges.
Electronic Data Systems, which manages computer systems for other companies, will close 17 of its 42 U.S. call centers, as well as four of its 12 in Europe, by the end of next year and shift work to India to cut costs.
The Supreme Court refused to hear arguments from Maytag's Amana appliance unit that it should overturn as unconstitutionally excessive a $10 million punitive damage award -- on top of $2.1 million in compensatory damages -- for defrauding Eden Electrical.
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether slaughterhouse workers should be paid for the time it takes to change from street clothing to protective gear and walk to their work stations.
