AGRICULTURE

Food costs soar compared with '07

St. Louis —- The cost of crops and livestock is up 16 percent this year compared with last year, driven higher by rising costs for feedstock and fuel. A U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Thursday shows that prices for farm products rose 1.9 percent in June alone. The annual report measures the price that farmers receive for their goods, not the ultimate price that consumers pay.

AUTOMOTIVE

GM: Several buyers covet Hummer

Detroit —- General Motors Corp. says several outside parties are interested in buying its Hummer brand, known for its huge, rugged vehicles that come with poor fuel economy. Company spokesman Tom Wilkinson would not comment on reports that GM is talking with Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. "We're talking to a number of parties that are interested in Hummer," Wilkinson said Thursday. "We can't comment on negotiations at this point."

Chrysler works on new alliances

Chrysler LLC is "aggressively" working on new models and alliances with other automakers and may introduce new vehicles next year, according to Chief Executive Robert Nardelli. "If we are successful with some of our discussions relative to alliances or platforms, you very well could see some new platforms, some new vehicles out next year," Nardelli said Thursday at a dealership opening in Sterling Heights, Mich. Chrysler derived three-quarters of its sales from trucks and SUVs in 2007.

DEALS

Canadian cigarette maker sold

Philip Morris International Inc. announced Thursday that it is buying Canadian cigarette maker Rothmans for about $1.95 billion. Philip Morris International said it will launch a public tender offer to buy all the shares of Rothmans for $29.28 each. The price is a 17 percent premium to Rothmans' 20-day volume-weighted average trading price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Bristol-Myers bids for ImClone

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. on Thursday offered $4.5 billion in cash for its cancer drug partner, biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc., saying the two are "a natural fit." ImClone's board is stuying the proposal, which offers its stockholders $60 per share, a 30 percent premium to New York-based ImClone's closing price of $46.44 Wednesday. New York-based Bristol-Myers already owns about 17 percent of ImClone. The two companies have been partners since September 2001 in developing Erbitux, which is approved for treating advanced colorectal cancer and head and neck cancers.

EDS shareholders approve buyout

Plano, Texas —- Electronic Data Systems Corp. said Thursday that its shareholders approved the acquisition of the company by Hewlett-Packard Co.

FINANCIAL

Venezuela plans to nationalize bank

Caracas, Venezuela —- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that he intends to nationalize the Bank of Venezuela, which is owned by the Santander banking group of Spain. "We are going to take back the Bank of Venezuela to put it at the service of the Venezuelans," Chavez said in a televised address. Chavez said he made the decision to nationalize after learning that Santander had begun to make contacts with a local bank to sell the institution. He said the local bank asked for authorization from the government, but that he, "as the head of state," nixed the sale. "Now sell it to the government," Chavez said.

FOOD / BEVERAGE

Key brands sag at SABMiller

Milwaukee —- SABMiller saw North American sales of key brands such as Miller Lite fall 2 percent in its fiscal first quarter and worldwide consumption drop as consumers pulled back on spending in some countries, the brewer said Thursday. The London-based company, parent of Miller brands in North America, said worldwide lager consumption fell 1.6 percent from existing businesses in the three-month period ended in June. Chief Executive Graham Mackay said the decline compared with 13 percent growth in the same period in 2007. Meanwhile, MillerCoors is ending testing of craft versions of Miller Lite.

LEGAL

Jim Brown sues over video game

Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc. were sued by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, who accused the companies of using an electronic football game character based on him without his permission. Brown, who left the National Football League to become an actor, seeks a court order stopping the Sony Corp. unit and Electronic Arts from using his likeness. The character, part of the "Real Old School Teams and Players" series, is a muscular, African-American running back wearing the number 32 jersey, Brown said in a complaint filed Wednesday in state court in New York. Brown, who was number 32 for the Cleveland Browns, said in the complaint that he "never signed away any rights that would allow his likeness to be used."

REAL ESTATE

Freddie strives for mortgage workouts

Freddie Mac is doubling the amount of money it pays loan servicers for each successful mortgage workout, among other measures to keep struggling borrowers out of foreclosure, it said Thursday. The mortgage financier is also giving more time to negotiate workouts in states with fast foreclosure processes and will reimburse servicers for door-to-door outreach. Freddie will pay $500 for each repayment plan and $800 for each loan modification on Freddie-owned mortgages. Servicers will receive $2,200 for each short sale where Freddie accepts less than the full amount owed on the mortgage. In some states, the government-sponsored entity will give up to 10 months from the due date of the last payment to find sustainable workouts for strapped borrowers. These states, including Georgia, allow a lender to foreclose in less than 10 months.

Mortgage rates decline slightly

Washington —- Rates on 30-year mortgages, which shot up last week to the highest level in nearly a year, dropped slightly following passage of a housing rescue bill. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the nationwide average for 30-year mortgages dipped to 6.52 percent from 6.63 percent last week. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.07 percent from 6.18 percent. Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages also dropped to 6.07 percent, down from 6.16 percent last week. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages declined to 5.27 percent from 5.49 percent.

REGULATORY

Mass. accuses Merrill of fraud

Massachusetts security regulators accused Merrill Lynch of fraud Thursday for allegedly promoting the sale of auction-rate securities when they knew the investments were becoming increasingly unstable. Merrill Lynch denied it defrauded investors. Meanwhile, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said the committee will hold a hearing in September to find out what went wrong in the collapse of the auction-rate securities market.

Longtime Atlanta attorney joins SEC

Luis Aguilar, a former partner at law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta, was sworn in Thursday as a Democratic member of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Aguilar's experience "will be invaluable as we move forward with our busy agenda," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a statement. The arrival of Aguilar, 54, fills the second of two Democratic seats that had been vacant on the five-member commission since January.

U.S. again No. 1 for patents

Geneva —- The United States is again the favored destination for patent inventions after 43 years in which Japan and the Soviet Union held the lead, a United Nations report said Thursday. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received nearly a quarter of the 1.76 million patents filed worldwide in 2006 —- the latest year for which figures are available —- according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. The Soviet Union briefly overtook the U.S. in 1964 at a time when technology was seen as the key to winning the space race. By 1970 Japan eclipsed both the superpowers, holding its lead until 2005.

TRADE

Lead-toy ban passes Senate

Washington —- The Senate on Thursday passed and sent to the White House legislation that bans lead from children's toys and seeks to ensure that chemicals posing possible health problems will not end up on toys and articles that kids chew on and play with. The Senate voted 89-3 for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The House passed the bill Wednesday, a reflection of the national outcry over a rash of recalls of toys and children's products. President Bush is expected to sign the bill.

TRANSPORTATION

Northwest to add fuel surcharge

Northwest Airlines Corp., which plans to merge with Delta Air Lines Inc., plans to add an $80 round-trip fuel surcharge starting Jan. 10 on about 7,000 routes to blunt record energy costs. The new prices will affect routes that didn't previously have a fuel surcharge in place, Northwest spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo-Shannon said Thursday.

Panel OKs ban on in-flight cell use

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday approved by voice vote a bill that would make the current government bans on cellphone use during flights permanent. The committee's action comes as the European Union is moving to allow airline passengers to talk on their cellphones during flight. Some U.S. airlines are experimenting with in-flight Internet access. And some lawmakers worry that domestic airlines might try to get the cellphone ban lifted so they can charge passengers extra to sit in no-phone sections. "I do believe this is important that we don't make what is already a crowded and difficult environment for the traveling public and flight attendants" worse by allowing cellphone use in-flight, said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), sponsor of the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG UP) Act. But Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said there are a lot of annoying things on airplanes, including children with dirty diapers and noisy MP3 players, but that doesn't mean they should be banned.

WORKPLACE

Bill would help wage-bias suits

Legislation that would make it easier for women to win lawsuits alleging wage discrimination was approved by the House on Thursday. The measure, approved 247-178, lifts a cap on punitive and compensatory damages in such lawsuits and restricts the range of defenses an employer can use when disputing claims of pay discrepancies. In addition, employers would be prohibited from penalizing workers for sharing salary information. "It's about women being shortchanged," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). The vote sends the measure to the Senate, where Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has proposed similar legislation.