AGRICULTURE

Meatpackers win appeals ruling

Washington —- The Bush administration can prohibit meatpackers from testing their animals for mad cow disease, a federal appeals court said Friday. The dispute pits the Agriculture Department, which tests about 1 percent of cows for the potentially deadly disease, against a Kansas meatpacker that wants to test all its animals. Larger meatpackers opposed such testing. If Creekstone Farms Premium Beef began advertising that its cows have all been tested, other companies fear they, too, will have to conduct the expensive tests. The Bush administration says the low level of testing reflects the rareness of the disease.

AUTOMOTIVE

GM to cut more white-collar jobs

Detroit —- General Motors Corp. has started to offer early retirement packages to selected white-collar workers as part of a plan to cut 15 percent of its salaried jobs in the U.S. and Canada. GM spokesman Dan Flores said Friday that the offers will be made to workers in areas where the company is seeking to trim its work force. GM would not release details of the packages, how many workers will get the offers, or what areas the company will target for reductions.

GM to recall 944,000 vehicles

Washington —- General Motors Corp. said Friday that it is recalling 944,000 vehicles because of a problem with a windshield wiper fluid system that could lead to a fire. More than 850,000 sport utility vehicles, trucks and passenger cars in the United States and nearly 100,000 vehicles in Canada, Mexico and the Middle East are involved in the recall, the company said. GM said the recall includes the 2008 Buick Enclave, 2006-08 Buick Lucerne, 2006-08 Cadillac DTS, 2007-08 Cadillac Escalade, 2007-08 Cadillac Escalade ESV, 2007-08 Cadillac Escalade EXT, 07-2008 Chevrolet Avalanche, Silverado, Tahoe and Suburban, 2007-08 GMC Acadia, Sierra, Yukon and Yukon XL, 2006-08 Hummer H2 and 2007-08 Saturn Outlook.

Ford health care trust approved

Ford Motor Co. has won court approval of an agreement that lets the second-biggest U.S. automaker shift retiree health care obligations to a union-run trust. U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland in Detroit issued an order Friday allowing creation of the Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA. Ford reached an accord on the fund with the United Auto Workers union last year. Cleland’s action means that all three U.S. automakers can proceed with the funds, which will take responsibility for union retirees’ medical bills in 2010.

DEALS

Microsoft to buy search site

Microsoft Corp., seeking to catch Google Inc. in the Internet search market, has agreed to buy Greenfield Online Inc. for $486 million to add Web sites that help consumers find product reviews and compare prices. Greenfield shareholders will get $17.50 a share in cash, Microsoft said Friday in a statement. Greenfield, which runs the Ciao shopping sites in Europe, ended a takeover agreement with Quadrangle Group LLC for $15.50 a share this week to pursue the higher offer. Microsoft, which handles about 9 percent of Web searches in the United States, has an even lower share abroad.

FINANCIAL

Bank data breach hits 12 million

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said Friday that computer tapes lost in February may have contained data on as many as 12 million people, almost triple the number originally estimated by the company. BNY Mellon disclosed the new estimate earlier this week to comply with a May subpoena by Connecticut regulators asking for more information, company spokesman Kevin Heine said. The subpoena followed the New York-based company’s announcement that data was lost on more than 4 million people, including depositors of People’s United Bank of Bridgeport, Conn. BNY Mellon, the world’s largest custodian of assets, said it’s notifying those affected and offering them identity theft protection, including two years of free credit monitoring from Experian Group Ltd. It now also requires all confidential data be transferred electronically when feasible.

LEGAL

Vanguard sued over Net gambling

Executives at the Vanguard Group, the second-biggest U.S. manager of stock and bond mutual funds, illegally invested client assets in companies running Internet gambling businesses banned in the United States, according to a lawsuit. In a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in New York, investors in two different Vanguard-managed funds claim the firm’s chief investment officer, George Sauter, portfolio manager Duane Kelly and eight trustees violated U.S. racketeering laws and breached their fiduciary duties to investors by acquiring stock in the Web-based businesses. “Defendants caused the funds to become owners of illegal gambling businesses,” according to the complaint. The plaintiffs seek class-action status on behalf of all similarly situated investors, plus unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

REAL ESTATE

Delinquent loans pile up higher

Newly delinquent mortgage borrowers outnumbered people who caught up on their overdue payments by almost 2-to-1 in July, according to an industry trade group. Last month 68,831 homeowners with privately insured mortgages became more than 60 days late on payments, compared with 39,229 who got back on track, a report Friday from the Washington-based Mortgage Insurance Companies of America said. Mortgage insurance pays lenders when homeowners default.

TECHNOLOGY

GameStop names chief executive

GameStop Corp., the world’s largest video game retailer, named Daniel DeMatteo chief executive as the company separated its top positions. Richard Fontaine will remain chairman. Fontaine, 66, has been GameStop’s chairman and CEO since the company was founded in 1996. He will focus on the international division and acquisition opportunities, Grapevine, Texas-based GameStop said Friday in a statement.

Napster willing to consider sale

Napster Inc., the Internet music pioneer facing a challenge from dissident shareholders, said it is willing to consider a sale and is working with UBS Investment Bank as an adviser. The board, fighting off investors seeking three board seats and a sale of the company, will evaluate all options to increase the stock price, the Los Angeles-based company said Friday in a statement. Napster made the case for keeping the incumbents in a letter to investors. The dissidents have offered no specific plans other than to suggest a review of Napster’s business, the company said.

TRADE

Russia bans some U.S. chickens

Russia, the top market for U.S. chicken exports, will start banning imports from 19 plants on Monday. While U.S. producers say these bans won’t have much impact, they wonder if there are more bans to come —- which could further dampen an already weak industry. Companies affected, including Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat producer, are vowing to right any wrongs, if need be. Plants affected include at least two owned by Tyson, two from Sanderson Farms Inc., the nation’s fourth-largest chicken producer, and a Jennie-O Turkey plant owned by Hormel Foods Inc. Mike Cockrell, chief financial officer of Laurel, Miss.-based Sanderson Farms, says Russia has banned U.S. poultry before, sometimes during times of political tension. “It appears chicken is still being used as a political tool,” he said.

TRANSPORTATION

Alitalia files for bankruptcy

Italy’s national airline Alitalia has filed for bankruptcy protection, taking the first step in reshaping what has been a failing company. Alitalia said in a statement Friday that its board had asked the government to appoint an administrator and had declared insolvency to a Rome court.

Canadian airline closes suddenly

London —- Thousands of passengers scrambled to rearrange travel plans Friday after the sudden collapse of trans-Atlantic budget airline Zoom, amid concerns that hundreds would not get their money back. The Ottawa-based carrier suspended all flights Thursday, citing high fuel prices. Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority advised passengers to fly on other airlines and apply to their credit card companies for reimbursement. While passengers who reserved their flights by credit card or as part of a package holiday are all but guaranteed a refund, there is no such protection for those who paid by cash or check.

YRC Worldwide to cut back

YRC Worldwide Inc., the biggest U.S. trucking company by sales, is eliminating “a couple hundred” nonunion jobs as freight demand declines, Chief Executive Bill Zollars said Friday. YRC will make the cuts across the country from its work force of about 60,000 “to make sure our infrastructure is commensurate with the business volumes,” Zollars said in a phone interview. YRC, which returned to profitability in the second quarter after two consecutive losses, has shuffled management, pared jobs and closed trucking terminals this year as it carries less freight.

WORKPLACE

Starbucks rehires union organizers

A barista who said he was fired from Starbucks Corp. for helping to organize fellow workers into a union has been given his job back. In a preliminary reinstatement agreement dated Aug. 14 obtained by The Associated Press, Starbucks said its firing of employee Erik Forman was “ill-considered and should be reversed.” Forman said he will start back to work Sunday at the same Mall of America location in Minnesota that he was fired from in July. When he worked there, Forman said he had been talking to employees at his own store and at other stores in the area about joining the Industrial Workers of the World union.