ADVERTISING

Gillette covets video game players

Cincinnati —- Gillette has teamed up with EA Sports to expand its sports marketing into video gaming. Golfer Tiger Woods, a veteran of marketing for both businesses, helps tee off the partnership as part of an upcoming global online sports games competition that gives winners a chance to play head-to-head against real-life sports stars. Gillette and EA Sports officials say the partnership will include joint retail promotions, print and TV advertising, and a heavy online presence. They say they’re both targeting young men through sports and want to build their businesses in markets around the world.

AUTOMOTIVE

GM downplays electric car race

Joliet, Ill. —- General Motors’ top product executive says the race between GM and Toyota to produce a rechargeable car is meaningless because the companies’ vehicles are so different. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz says Toyota’s plug-in hybrid has a much shorter electric range than the Chevrolet Volt and must use a gasoline engine to go any farther. Toyota’s president pledged on Thursday to bring his company’s plug-in hybrid to market in 2009, while the Volt is due in showrooms in late 2010. But Lutz says he expects Toyota’s plug-in will debut in controlled fleets and not in large numbers. He says GM will have production versions of the Volt working in a large test fleet in late 2009.

FINANCIAL

30-year mortgage rates decline again

Washington —- Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for the second straight week, declining to the lowest level in more than a month. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 6.40 percent this week, from 6.47 percent last week. Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 5.93 percent from 6 percent last week. Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.03 percent, up from 5.99 percent last week. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages also edged up slightly to 5.33 percent, from 5.29 percent.

MANUFACTURING

Deere to invest in U.S., Brazil plants

Moline, Ill. —- Deere & Co. said Thursday that it will invest nearly $180 million in U.S. and Brazil plant expansions to meet rising global demand for its tractors and other farm machinery. The expansions come amid high prices for crops driven by rising wealth in nations such as China and India that has lifted food demand, as well as extreme weather that has hurt yields around the globe.

Six retailers pull bassinets

Washington —- Six major retailers are pulling from their shelves Simplicity bassinets linked to the deaths of two babies after the company refused to recall the product. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Us, Kmart, Big Lots, Target and J.C. Penney have recalled the “close-sleeper/bedside sleeper” made by the Reading, Pa., company because the products pose a strangulation hazard. The product safety commission says SFCA, the company that purchased the assets of Simplicity Inc., has refused to recall the products.

REAL ESTATE

FHA-insured loans to carry higher fees

Washington —- Borrowers who take out government-insured mortgages will have to pay higher fees under new rules announced this week. Effective Oct. 1, the Federal Housing Administration will raise its mortgage insurance fee to 1.75 percent for a new mortgages and many refinanced loans. That’s up from 1.5 percent. For a borrower with a $200,000 loan, that means a fee of $3,500, up from $3,000. The government agency, which backs loans to borrowers with poor credit or those making low down payments, has seen its share of the mortgage market grow dramatically over the past year, after the collapse of subprime lending to borrowers with poor credit.

REGULATORY

Stryker resists federal probe

Washington —- In an unusually aggressive move, Stryker Corp. is resisting an ongoing federal investigation into whether the company illegally pushed sales of its replacement knees and hips. Stryker says government investigators have issued “oppressive” demands for internal memos on how the company develops, markets and sells its products. According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court of New Jersey, Stryker has turned over more than 300,000 pages to the Department of Health and Services in response to two subpoenas issued this year. Federal inspectors are probing whether the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based company billed the government’s Medicare program for false expenses and whether the company paid surgeons kickbacks to use its products, according to Stryker’s complaint.

Google to proceed with Yahoo tie-in

Google Inc., facing U.S. government scrutiny of its advertising partnership with Yahoo Inc., will proceed with the agreement by early October, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said. “We are going to move forward,” Schmidt said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Denver. “We are in the process of talking to the government. They’ve not indicated one way or the other how they’re dealing with us.” Yahoo is seeking to boost its cash flow by showing Google ads, which command a higher price, along with promotions it sells on its own. Google and Yahoo, the Nos. 1 and 2 Internet search engines, initially said they would give the Justice Department 3 1/2 months to review the partnership, even though they said it wasn’t legally necessary.

Corporate fraud guidelines changed

The Justice Department has issued new guidelines to rein in prosecutors pursuing corporate fraud cases, bowing to pressure from Congress. The changes bar the government from demanding that companies turn over confidential legal materials to win leniency in plea deals. The revisions, announced by Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, also prevent prosecutors from penalizing companies that pay attorney fees for employees under investigation. The shift is a victory for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bar Association and other groups that have spent more than three years arguing that the Justice Department tactics violated employees’ constitutional rights and gave prosecutors unfair leverage to force settlements with companies.

TECHNOLOGY

Apple to fix flaw in iPhone software

Apple Inc. is readying a software update for the iPhone, fixing a security flaw in the device that gives unauthorized access to contacts and e-mails. “We are aware of this bug,” Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock said Thursday in an e-mailed statement. She declined to say when the update would be available. Customers can avoid the problem by changing settings, Bowcock said.

Comcast to limit data transfers

Comcast Corp., the nation’s second-largest Internet service provider, on Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month. On Oct. 1, the cable company will update its user agreement to say that users will be allowed 250 gigabytes of traffic per month, the company announced on its Web site. Comcast has already reserved the right to cut off subscribers who use too much bandwidth each month, without specifying exactly what constitutes excessive use.

TRANSPORTATION

Air Canada unit to ditch life vests

Toronto —- An official with Air Canada’s regional carrier Jazz says the airline is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel. Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said Thursday that Transport Canada regulations allow airlines to use floatation devices instead of life vests —- provided the planes remain within 50 miles of shore. Safety cards in the seat pockets of Jazz aircraft now direct passengers to use the seat cushions as floatation devices. Jazz planes fly over the Great Lakes and along the Eastern seaboard from Halifax to Boston to New York.

Law clears way for sale of Alitalia

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government on Thursday revised its main bankruptcy law to clear the way for the sale of unprofitable state-owned airline Alitalia SpA to private investors. The move will allow Alitalia’s board to ask for protection from creditors when it meets to approve first-half results. The government plans to sell the company’s profitable assets to a group of investors that may include Air France-KLM Group and liquidate the rest, Transport Minister Altero Matteoli said. Air France has confirmed its interest in taking a minority stake “alongside other investors.” Alitalia has lost more than 3 billion euros ($4.4 billion) in the past seven years and has been losing more than 1 million euros a day this year.

FAA delays auction for airport slots

Minneapolis —- The Federal Aviation Administration is delaying a slot auction planned for next week after running into fierce opposition from airlines and the New York-area airports. The airlines had asked the FAA’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition to halt the auction planned for Wednesday for two slots at Newark’s Liberty Airport. They would have been the first of several auctions the FAA says are needed to reduce congestion at the three airports run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The ruling on Thursday doesn’t address the merits of airline opposition to the auction, but says there’s no harm in waiting.

UTILITIES / ENERGY

Industries fight polar bear rule

Washington —- Five industry groups have sued the Interior Department over a rule to protect the polar bear that they say unfairly singles out business operations in Alaska for their contribution to global warming. Groups representing the oil and gas, mining and manufacturing industries asked a federal judge Wednesday to ensure that laws designed to protect the bear, which was recently designated a threatened species, are not used to block projects that release heat-trapping gases in the state. The American Petroleum Institute was joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Mining Association, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Iron and Steel Institute in the lawsuit, which explicitly challenges three words —- “except in Alaska” —- that appear in a 62-page rule issued in May.