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NIGERIA
Judge Delays Pfizer Hearings
Lawyers for a northern Nigeria state seeking $2 billion in damages from Pfizer over allegations of wrongdoing in a decade-old drug study failed to show up for the first court proceedings, and the case was postponed. The judge hearing the case launched by the state of Kano said criminal proceedings lodged against company officers now would begin July 4, while a related civil case seeking the monetary damages would begin July 9.
Pfizer, the world's largest drug manufacturer, has denied any wrongdoing. A federal court in Manhattan dismissed a 2001 lawsuit by disabled Nigerians who allegedly took part in the study, but the case is under appeal.
BRITAIN
Virgin Atlantic Plans Business-Class Airline
Virgin Atlantic Airways, the British carrier controlled by investor Richard Branson, plans to start a business-class airline that would increase competition for higher-fare travelers. The carrier would fly under the Virgin brand from cities including Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, London and Zurich nonstop to New York and other destinations.
The new carrier would compete for corporate travelers with British Airways and other traditional airlines and with Silverjet, MaxJet, Eos and other new business-class carriers.
RUSSIA
Exxon Mobil Project Helps Oil Output Rise
Russia, the world's largest oil producer this year, pumped 1.9 percent more crude in May than it did in May 2006 as Exxon Mobil's Sakhalin-1 project steeply increased production. Russia produced 9.81 million barrels of oil a day in May, according to preliminary data from CDU TEK, the Energy Ministry's information center. Output was little changed from April.
Sakhalin-1, in which Exxon owns 30 percent and state-run Rosneft owns 20 percent, produced 229,000 barrels of oil a day in the period, compared with 39,000 barrels a year earlier. That was a 2.7 percent increase from April.
Compiled from reports by Washington Post staff writers, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News.
