Post office expects $18B annual loss without cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Postal Service is warning it will lose as much as $18.2 billion each year by 2015 if Congress doesn't give it leeway to eliminate Saturday mail delivery and make other service cuts. In a letter to Congress, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe describes a five-year business plan that reiterates the mail agency's proposals to switch to five-day delivery, close up to 252 mail-processing centers and 3,700 local post offices and slow delivery of first-class mail. He says the proposals would allow the agency to save $20 billion a year by 2015 and repay its $12.9 billion debt to the Treasury. In contrast, he says unless Congress acts soon, the Postal Service will incur significant annual losses and become a "long-term burden to the American taxpayer."
   AP-WF-02-16-12 2134GMT

Posted 11:43 AM EST on February 17, 2012

BC-US-Earns-Nordstrom,105
NEW YORK (AP) -- Upscale department store operator Nordstrom Inc. is reporting that its fourth-quarter profit rose 1.7 percent as its affluent shoppers continued to spend. The company said late Thursday that it earned $236 million, or $1.11 per share, in the quarter that ended Jan. 28. That compares with $232 million, or $1.04 per share, a year earlier. Sales, excluding credit card revenue, rose 12.5 percent to $3.17 billion from $2.82 billion. Analysts expected $1.10 per share on revenue of $3.17 billion, according to FactSet. The important retail metric of revenue at stores open at least a year climbed 7.1 percent. The department store is based in Seattle.
   AP-WF-02-16-12 2140GMT

Posted 11:42 AM EST on February 17, 2012

Industry bickers over how to catch fake drugs
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- The news this week that a fake version of the cancer medicine Avastin has made its way into the United States highlights a longtime concern: There are few safegaurds to make sure fake drugs can be spotted before they make it to your doctor's office. For more than a decade, public safety advocates have called for a tracking system that would enable everyone from manufacturers to wholesalers to doctors to verify the authenticity of prescription drugs. But bickering between those parties over the cost and scope have stalled the effort. The FDA is expected to issue a proposal for the technology behind a tracing system later this year. But in the meantime the U.S. system continues to be vulnerable to counterfeits.
   AP-WF-02-16-12 2243GMT

Posted 11:40 AM EST on February 17, 2012

China faces conflict of law, business in iPad row
BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese officials face a choice in Apple's dispute with a local company over the iPad trademark -- side with a struggling entity that a court says owns the name or with a global brand that has created thousands of jobs in China. Experts say that means Beijing's political priorities rather than the courts will settle the dispute if it escalates. Shenzhen Proview Technology has asked regulators to seize iPads in China in a possible prelude to pressing Apple Inc. for a payout. There have been seizures in some cities but no sign of action by national-level authorities. Proview has a strong case under Chinese trademark law. But that could change if Beijing decides to intervene to avoid disrupting iPad sales or exports from factories in southern China.
   AP-WF-02-17-12 1235GMT

Posted 11:37 AM EST on February 17, 2012

FDA raises safety concerns for Vivus diet pill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal health officials continue to voice safety concerns over an experimental diet pill from drugmaker Vivus Inc., which will make its second attempt to convince experts of the drugs' safety next week. The Food and Drug Administration previously rejected the diet pill Qnexa in October 2010. Now Vivus has resubmitted the drug with additional follow-up information, hoping for a more favorable review. But in documents posted online Friday, the FDA reiterated concerns about two safety issues: Potential heart problems and birth defects in women who become pregnant while taking the drug. On Wednesday the FDA will ask an outside panel of experts whether Qnexa appears safe and effective. The group's recommendation is not binding, and the FDA is expected to make its final decision in April.
   AP-WF-02-17-12 1348GMT

Posted 11:35 AM EST on February 17, 2012