WHP CBS 21: Business News

Stocks a bit lower as investors wait for the Fed

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:42:08 -0400

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting lower on Wall Street as investors hold back ahead of a policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 10 points, or 0.1 percent, at 15,307 at midday Eastern Daylight Time Wednesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down two points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,649. Telecommunications stocks fell the most in index, 0.9 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index edged down four points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,478.

The Fed is winding up a two-day policy meeting. Traders hope the bank will clarify when it plans to slow down its bond-buying program.

Men's Wearhouse fell 84 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $36.63 after the company's board dismissed its founder and executive chairman, George Zimmer.

Ousted founder of Men's Wearhouse fights back

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:41:10 -0400

NEW YORK (AP) — George Zimmer, the ousted founder and executive chairman of Men's Wearhouse, said Wednesday he was dismissed after he and the company's board disagreed about how it should look.

In a statement released to CNBC following his termination, Zimmer says he expressed concerns to the board over the company's direction and that the board "inappropriately has chosen to silence my concerns," by firing him.

The AP could not immediately reach Zimmer for comment.

In a release issued early Wednesday, Men's Wearhouse declined to say the reason for Zimmer's dismissal. The firing came the day the company had scheduled its annual shareholders meeting, which it postponed.

Zimmer has for decades been the public face of the company, known for commercials saying, "You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it."

Porsche tops in annual survey of vehicle quality

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:40:25 -0400

DETROIT (AP) — Porsche is the top performer in an annual survey of new vehicle quality.

J.D. Power questioned more than 83,000 U.S. car owners about problems with their 2013 vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership.

In the results released Wednesday, Porsche, GMC, Lexus, Infiniti and Chevrolet owners reported the fewest problems. The worst performing brands were Scion, Fiat, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Mini.

The top complaints this year involved voice recognition systems that didn't understand commands and Bluetooth systems that didn't connect to drivers' phones. Wind noise was also a big complaint.

Honda had the top-performing small car and small SUV, with the Honda Civic and Honda CR-V. The highest-ranking midsize car was the Toyota Camry.

Chevrolet had the best pickups, with the Avalanche and Silverado.

World Food Prize goes to three biotech scientists

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:39:28 -0400

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — This year's World Food Prize is going to a Belgian scientist and two researchers in the United States for their innovations that brought the world genetically modified crops.

The prize organizers say the technology that allows for the stable transfer of genes into plant cells has improved yields, resistance to insects and disease, and tolerance of extreme climate variations.

Sharing the prize are Marc Van Montagu of Belgium; Mary-Dell Chilton, a researcher at biotechnology company Syngenta; and Robert Fraley, chief technology officer at Monsanto.

Van Montagu and Chilton independently developed the technology in the 1980s. Fraley genetically engineered the first herbicide-resistant soybeans, meaning farmers can spray their fields to kill weeds while leaving their soybean plants intact.

DOJ broke rules in phone records seizure, AP chief says

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:38:54 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of The Associated Press said Wednesday the Justice Department violated its own rules when it secretly seized records for thousands of phone calls to and from AP journalists, as part of a leak investigation.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said the seizure was excessively broad, and the department failed to notify AP in advance of the subpoena as normally required.

He said the seizure has stifled trusted sources not just for AP reporters but for other news organizations, too.

The records were obtained by the government as part of an investigation into who leaked information about a foiled plot in Yemen to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner.

Swiss lawmakers reject deal on banking secrecy

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:29:30 -0400

GENEVA (AP) — Switzerland's lower house of parliament has for the second time rejected a government proposal on relaxing Swiss banking secrecy laws, a move that would have helped the country's banks avoid facing U.S. criminal charges for shielding tax cheats.

Switzerland's National Council, by a vote of 123-63 with four abstentions, Wednesday put to rest the proposal from Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and the rest of the Swiss Cabinet.

The government had presented the proposal as a way for Swiss banks to cut deals and turn over confidential client data to U.S. prosecutors without breaking Switzerland's strict client secrecy laws.

In spite of the upper chamber of the Swiss parliament twice backing the proposal, the lower house has twice balked at the measure this week, calling it unclear and overly submissive.

British supreme court overturns sanctions on Iran bank

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:21:01 -0400

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Supreme Court has eliminated sanctions against an Iranian bank, which was penalized over its alleged links to the nation's nuclear weapons program.

Bank Mellat, a privately owned commercial bank, was seeking to overturn a 2009 order by the British Treasury barring it from operating in the country. That order, made under counterterrorism laws, shut the bank out of the British financial sector because it allegedly helped finance Tehran's nuclear program.

The bank had denied the allegation and argued the order was unlawful.

Britain's Supreme Court agreed, saying in a ruling Wednesday that the order was "arbitrary and irrational."

The panel of justices also said their earlier decision to hear some evidence in the case in secret had been unnecessary.

CSX sues truck driver in Baltimore-area derailment

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:42:55 -0400

BALTIMORE (AP) — CSX is suing a garbage truck driver and his company for negligence in the explosive derailment of a freight train near Baltimore.

CSX Transportation Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., filed the complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

It alleges that John Alban Jr. caused the derailment May 28 by failing to stop at a railroad crossing. The complaint says Alban and his company, Alban Waste LLC, were familiar with the crossing because the business is located near the tracks.

The National Transportation Safety Board said last week that stop signs at the crossing were faded and displaced.

Virginia newspaper removes 'Democrat' from name

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:40:30 -0400

WARRENTON, Va. (AP) — A newspaper in Virginia is removing the word "Democrat" from its name because of the nation's increasingly divisive politics.

In an editorial published Wednesday, The Fauquier Times-Democrat announced it would from now on be known simply as the Fauquier Times.

The editorial said having the word "Democrat" in the newspaper's name in such partisan political times "is no longer a very astute business decision."

The newspaper is located in Warrenton, about 45 miles outside of Washington, D.C. It is published twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The newspaper traces its roots back nearly 200 years to the Palladium of Liberty, which began publishing in 1817.

In 1905, the newspaper became the Fauquier Democrat. In 1989, it changed its name to the Fauquier Times-Democrat to more closely identify with the Times Community News, the family-owned chain that owned the paper.

Google asks FISA court to lift gag order

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:52:07 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google is asking the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to lift its long-standing gag order on how often the company is asked to turn over data about its customers to the federal government.

Claiming that it has a First Amendment right to free speech, Google filed a motion Tuesday asking that it be allowed to disclose the number of data requests that come from secret orders approved by the court.

Google is among nine Internet companies identified earlier this month as complicit in a broad Internet surveillance program, called PRISM, that's run by the National Security Agency. Revelation of the program's details by a former NSA employee has sparked a national debate about the privacy of Americans' communications from government monitoring.