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Vioxx settlement heats up law fight
LANSING (AP) More than 1,000 Michigan residents could end up getting part of a $4.85 billion national settlement if they or their loved ones took the painkiller Vioxx. But that hasn't squelched a firestorm over the state's unique 1995 law shielding pharmaceutical makers from product liability lawsuits over drugs such as Vioxx. Michigan's law is the toughest in the country, allowing legal damages only if plaintiffs prove a company withheld or misrepresented information about a drug that would cause the Food and Drug Administration to not give or to withdraw its approval. That law seemed to pose an insurmountable barrier for Michigan residents who wanted to file claims that Vioxx had harmed them or a family member. But some took a chance on suing Vioxx manufacturer Merck & Co.
Chrysler Expands CPO Program to Encompass More Dealers
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — As new-vehicle sales are expected to dip industry-wide in 2008, certified pre-owned sales are becoming increasingly important to dealers and automakers. In response to this, Chrysler officially announced late last week that it is extending its CPO program to encompass more of its dealers. All qualifying U.S. Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers can be authorized for the program, whereas previously, only Five Star dealers were eligible, the automaker explained. "We are pleased to announce the extension of our certified pre-owned vehicle program to all qualifying Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge U.S. dealers," commented Darryl Jackson, Chrysler vice president of U.S. sales. "Opening the program to all of our dealers is a win-win situation, in which dealers can introduce certified shoppers to the best assortment of pre-owned Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles available, and customers are invited to experience the Chrysler brand family of vehicles at a great value," Jackson continued.
Donna Karan's Urban Zen
This includes, books, jewellery, artwork, essential oils and music, sourced from around the globe and housed not in a glossy, superbrand emporium, but in an understated, raw concrete space. A percentage of all sales funds Karans most recent initiative, also called Urban Zen, founded with her partner-in-zen, Sonja Nuttall. Karan says that the initiative was born out of frustration that so much was missing from traditional Western practices of medicine. While powerful science and pharmaceuticals are of course vital in curing disease, Karan noticed there was a distinct lack of healing of the heart and the spirit. We must treat the patient with the same passions with which we fight the disease, Karan insists. Her vigour in spreading this message has included not only setting up seminars and training staff but she has converted her husbands studio into a well-being centre and retail outlet with personally selected products including clothing, jewellery, home furnishings, CDs, books, perfumes and art where a percentage of the proceeds all go towards the project.
Have you heard the one about the Alexandrian police band ...
Indeed, and justifiably so when you consider that she's a professional TV-serial writer herself. Her previous works include Wagh El-Qamar (Face of the Moon), starring screen legend Faten Hamama and Shams Youm Gedid (The Sun of a New Day) starring Nelly Karim, among numerous other small screen classics. .
Ghosts, legends, defunct companies
Welcome, readers, to our first ever Halloween-flavored installment of Ask the Readers. Once again, I'm turning to you for hard-to-find answers to questions I've received. Some are pretty routine -- apple shopping, dish washing, pie baking -- but some are downright weird! We've got a ghost, a violet ray machine, a spooky house and a Monkey Man. If you, or your fellow readers, can answer these questions we'll be in for a spooky column next week, just in time for Halloween. (See the end of the column for details about sending in your answers.) Q: Does anyone know anything about the possible haunting of Valentine House, halfway between Rocky Mount and Ferrum? There was only a pile of bricks there where the house used to stand when I was a kid in the '60s.
Rail Transport 1991-2000
A fight flared up around Baltic Bank (OR owned 49.7% of the bank's shares), because Eurosib, which owned 24.5% of Baltic Bank's shares, had not repaid bank loans of $1.4 million and 55 billion rubles.
On May 14, Aleksandr Kuznetsov became head of the October Railway.
On May 27, the All-Russian Rate Convention and Conference of Railway Transport Service Users and Employees began. The "Support Agency" as railway men themselves called it, nevertheless became history: at the convention, Nikolai Aksensenko made the first announcement about the creation of private operating companies.
In July, President Yeltsin rescinded the decree " On the Creation of a High-Speed St. Petersburg-Moscow Main Passenger Line." The project departed this life, leaving Russian taxpayers with debts of $500 million.
Bank robbed in Gulf Shores
A man who told a teller he had a gun held up the BankTrust branch in Gulf Shores on Wednesday afternoon, according to FBI reports. The bank at 1700 Gulf Shores Parkway was robbed about 2 p.m., said Special Agent Angela Tobon, FBI spokeswoman. Tobon said the man walked into the bank, handed the teller a note and demanded money. "No weapon was displayed, but he did say he had one," Tobon said, adding that no one was injured. The man walked out of the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash. Investigators were looking for a late-model red Chevrolet pickup truck with Georgia license plates, Tobon said. There were reports of a truck of that description traveling north on Alabama 59, according to police radio alerts in Gulf Shores and Foley.
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