National Briefing

INTERNET

Comcast Pressured Over Porn

New York's attorney general notified Comcast that the state will take legal action if the company -- the nation's second-largest Internet service provider -- doesn't agree to eliminate access to child pornography.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants major Internet providers to agree on steps to remove newsgroups that contain child pornography and purge their servers of Web sites that contain child porn. New York has already reached such agreements with AT&T, AOL, Verizon Communications, Sprint Nextel and Time Warner Cable.

Comcast said in an e-mailed statement that it joined with other cable operators and 48 state attorneys general to sign a separate agreement on child-pornography prevention last week and that it anticipated signing Cuomo's code of conduct as well.

AUTOMOTIVE

Ford Expands Buyouts

Ford is giving hourly workers at 17 facilities another round of buyout and early retirement offers in an ongoing effort to match production with slumping sales. The Dearborn automaker said the buyout offers begin July 28 at facilities in Michigan and Ohio, including plants that have temporarily shut down or eliminated shifts. They include truck and sport-utility vehicle assembly plants, and stamping and parts operations.

Earlier this year, Ford announced corporate-wide buyout and early retirement offers for U.S. hourly workers. But only 4,200 took the offers, far below what the company had wanted.

MORTGAGE FINANCE

FDIC Sued Over Subprime Loans

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures U.S. bank deposits, made subprime mortgage loans to borrowers in 2001 and 2002 that violated guidelines, according to a lawsuit by Beal Bank.

The FDIC made the loans after it took over Superior Bank as conservator in 2001 and operated its subprime mortgage business, according to court documents. Beal Bank sued in 2002, saying about a quarter of the 5,315 loans it bought from the regulator were defective.