Copyright 2000 The Detroit News, Inc.
The Detroit
News
April 7, 2000, Friday
SECTION: Business; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 802 words
HEADLINE:
Nation/World Briefs
BODY:
Verdict
Magazine defamed Isuzu, jury finds
LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles
Federal Court jury found Thursday that Consumer Reports magazine made false
statements in an article claiming that the 1995-96 Isuzu Trooper was dangerously
unsafe but refused to award damages to the Japanese automaker.
The jury
deliberated for four days after a two month trial in which Isuzu Motors Inc.
sought $242 million in damages in a product defamation suit.
The jury found that eight of 17 statements at issue in the case were false but
only one statement showed reckless disregard for the truth.
Both sides
claimed victory in the trial that was watched closely by the auto industry and
freedom of the press advocates.
Internet
House Republicans back
no taxes on Net
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans rushed Thursday to
embrace a federal commission's report urging that taxes not block growth of the
Internet and that lawmakers repeal the 102-year-old telephone
tax while extending a moratorium on new Internet taxes.
"I
heartily endorse the majority proposals," said Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va., chairman
of the full Commerce Committee.
Republicans on a House Commerce
subcommittee praised the chairman of the 19-member Advisory Commission on
Electronic Commerce, Gov. Jim Gilmore, R-Va., for achieving a majority view even
though its report largely fell short of the two-thirds vote needed for a formal
recommendation to Congress.
Several of the proposals have already been
introduced as bills in Congress and have strong bipartisan support, especially
repealing the telephone tax.
Satellite TV
Companies find conditions on programs
WASHINGTON -- -- Satellite
television companies that won the right to add local TV stations now find those
signals could come with conditions forcing popular sports and entertainment
programing off the systems.
EchoStar Communications Corp. and General
Motors Corp.'s DirecTV, the two largest companies with about 12 million
customers, started selling local TV channels last December. Now, they are
fighting sports leagues, local stations and the cable industry as the Federal
Communications Commission, at the direction of Congress, writes rules that will
protect sports and local programing rights.
EchoStar warns that if the
rules, due by November, aren't carefully written, it could be forced to drop
so-called superstations -- KTLA-Los Angeles, KWGN-Denver, WPIX and WWOR-New York
and WSBK-Boston -- from their system. The channels show sports not available on
local stations and reruns of old series.
Airlines
Air France
suspends rule on English
PARIS -- Air France has backed down from a
recent directive that had ordered pilots of the French national airline to speak
English with air traffic control at Paris' Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.
The decision to suspend the rule was made after consulting air-traffic
controllers, pilots and government officials, an Air France spokeswoman said
Thursday. Air France said the rule could be re-imposed. The airline said it
wanted first to study the effects of the order for what it called a "trial
period."
The rule, in effect since March 23, was part of what company
officials called "prevention and safety of flights." It had drawn criticism from
French language purists and government officials, notably because it forced
pilots and air traffic controllers to speak in a second language.
Rail
Gulf Railway Ltd. charged with fraud
FORT MYERS, Fla. --
Southwest Florida's only freight railroad and its owner have been charged with
defrauding the state of more than $580,000 meant for safety
improvements.
Gordon H. Fay and his Seminole Gulf Railway Ltd. were
charged with two counts of racketeering and nine counts of grand theft. Fay, 60,
was arrested and later released on $180,000 bail.
Brian
Albritton, Fay's attorney, said Fay is innocent and that the railroad will
continue to operate normally.
Fay was accused of stealing
$585,577 given the railroad by the Florida Department of
Transportation by either not making promised improvements at seven rail
crossings, or by using cheaper material than authorized and not returning the
extra money, authorities said.
Acquisitions
Caterpillar buys
marine diesel firm
PEORIA, Ill. -- Caterpillar Inc. has acquired Sabre
Engines Ltd., a family-owned British company that specializes in manufacturing
high-performance marine diesel engines. Terms were not disclosed.
The
deal lets Caterpillar offer smaller marine diesel engines to complement its own
line of 27 larger models, company officials said.
"The benefit to our
customers and the marine industry is that boat builders will be able to
one-stop-shop a wider horsepower range for Caterpillar marine power systems,"
said Douglas Oberhelman, vice-president of the engine products division.
LOAD-DATE: April 7, 2000 
