LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The housing market has found a bottom, and we’re bouncing along here.”
Thomas Simons,
an economist at Jefferies Group Inc.
Article, 1D
Deutsche Bahn targets London rails
Deutsche Bahn AG signed a cooperation agreement Tuesday with the owner of the high-speed train track connecting London with the Channel Tunnel, paving the way for direct rail services between the U.K. and Germany.
The pact with High Speed 1 Ltd. is the first part of a process that could allow Deutsche Bahn to run new ICE3 trains through the tunnel by 2013 in competition with Eurostar Group Ltd., which operates from London to Paris and Brussels.
“We can now focus on joint working to ensure all safety, technical and commercial requirements are met prior to operation,” Ulrich Homburg, Deutsche Bahn’s board member for passenger services, said in an e-mailed statement.
Deutsche Bahn, seeking authorization from the French and British governments to run passenger trains through the 30-mile subsea link operated by Groupe Eurotunnel SA, plans to open routes to cities in western Germany, the statement said.
Eurostar is controlled by French state rail operator Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Frangais. Berlin-based Deutsche Bahn is also state owned.
ThermoEnergy to team with Contego
Little Rock-based ThermoEnergy Corp. has formed an alliance with Contego Systems of Newark, N.J., where Contego will use ThermoEnergy’s aircraft de-icing recovery system, the companies said Tuesday.
Contego provides aircraft de-icing services to more than 30 airline companies at major airports in the United States.
Once the de-icing process is completed, Contego collects the excess fluid from the ground using specialized vacuum equipment.
Using ThermoEnergy’s recovery system will allow Contego to recover and recycle glycol from the collected fluid.
ThermoEnergy lost $7.6 million through the first six months of the year and has had financial troubles since its founding in 1988.
Ex-Murphy chief nets $3.82 million
Claiborne Deming, former chief executive of Murphy Oil Corp. netted $3.82 million by selling shares of common stock in the company on Monday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Deming exercised an option to acquire 87,316 shares for $21.17 a share Monday, and sold them for $60.52 each the same day.
Also on Monday, Deming exercised an option to buy 9,314 shares at $19.43 each and sold them for $60.52 the same day.
FDA told modified fish need labels
WASHINGTON - Consumer advocates urged the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to ensure that salmon engineered to grow twice as fast as the conventional variety are labeled in the grocery store as genetically modified.
The FDA conducted a hearing on how the salmon, if approved for sale by the agency, should be labeled. According to federal rules, the fish would not be labeled as genetically modified if the agency decides it has the same material makeup as conventional salmon.
Consumer advocates say it is the public’s right to know that genetic modification has occurred. AquaBounty, the company that has developed the fish and is applying to the FDA to market it, says that genetically modified salmon have the same flavor, texture, color and odor as the conventional fish.
The Atlantic salmon engineered by AquaBounty has an added a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon that allows the fish to produce growth hormone all year long. The engineers were able to keep the hormone active by using another gene from an eel-like fish, an ocean pout, that acts like an “on switch” for the hormone, which conventional salmon produce only some of the time.
In his testimony, Ron Stotish, the CEO of AquaBounty, told the FDA, “This fish is an Atlantic salmon.”
It is unclear when the FDA will make a final decision on approval of the fish or the labeling. The labeling hearing comes a day after a hearing on the science of the fish.
Hyundai opens 1st Russia auto plant
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. on Tuesday opened its first plant in Russia, a facility near St. Petersburg that will produce as many as 150,000 cars a year.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Hyundai’s Chairman Chung Mong-koo inaugurated the plant outside the country’s second-largest city and took a brief ride in a sedan it will produce.
South Korea’s largest automaker has invested about $654 million in the facility that will have the highest share of locally produced components among the foreign carmakers in Russia. Several Korean companies have opened plants in a nearby industrial park to produce components for Hyundai’s venture.
“It’s the first full-cycle foreign auto plant in Russia,” Chung said at the opening ceremony.
Putin, who has urged foreign automakers to produce a larger number of components in Russia, praised Hyundai for its contribution to Russia’s modernization. “That will help transfer modern technologies and create new well-paid jobs,” he said during the opening.
The plant will produce a small sedan and, later, a hatchback.
Business, Pages 26 on 09/22/2010