Nearly 900 students trapped by China earthquake; 107 dead

A powerful earthquake trapped nearly 900 students in central China on Monday after their school collapsed and at least 107 people were killed across several provinces, state media reported.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck central China, but sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that four of the dead were ninth-grade students killed when their high school collapsed. Photos showed heavy cranes trying to remove rubble from the ruined school. Xinhua did not say how many of …

www.illinoisbiz.biz

"Hi, we're from government and we're here to help." It's a linethat brings laughter or abject fear from business owners. But thissite operated by the state's Department of Commerce and EconomicOpportunity offers good advice and …

Go with the merger flow

Some people are worried about the wave of mergers that has been sweeping the globe in recent years. I am not. Unless you are a share

holder of a company making an acquisition, there is really no cause for concern. These mergers reflect the natural evolution of the industrial fabric.

Two basic causes. A major cause of the merger phenomenon was the emergence of a new breed of company the global corporation prompted by the development of a truly international operating environment for businesses. Some corporate leaders are taking advantage of this reality to build vast transborder industrial complexes. Their main objective in the acquisition process is to acquire interests in …

Belgium to pump euro1.5 billion into insurer Ethias

Belgium is planning to shore up struggling insurer Ethias with a euro1.5 billion (US$2 billion) capital increase, the prime minister said Monday _ the third financial company the government has been forced to rescue.

Premier Yves Leterme said the details of the plan would be worked out later in the day but confirmed that in "principle an agreement was reached" for the Belgian federal government and two regional states _ Flanders and Wallonia _ to inject the money into Ethias.

The company went public last week about its need for cash, a week after it helped bail out Belgian-French lender Dexia along with other shareholders and the Belgian, French …

US warns some patients cannot process Plavix

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is adding its strongest warning to the label for Plavix after reports that some patients cannot process the blood thinning drug.

The FDA says certain patients with a genetic variation cannot metabolize the drug, putting them at increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

Patients can determine if they don't respond to Plavix by taking a …

The Ticker

HONEY-ROASTED PEANUTS ON SOUTHWEST

Southwest Airlines, which celebrates peanuts as an on-board snackand a reminder of its low fares, is a two-flavor carrier again. Themost profitable U.S. airline has resumed serving honey-roastedpeanuts following a two-year absence, after the price fell to thesame as the dry-roasted variety. The move restores its practice ofswitching varieties in alternate years.

MORE MOTO FOR ICAHN

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn (left), who's seeking a positionon Motorola Inc.'s board, boosted his stake in the mobile phonemaker to 2.9 percent. Icahn and his affiliated entities increasedtheir control through purchase and options from 2.7 …

Reagan shooter wants more time outside hospital

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan is asking to spend more time outside a Washington mental hospital, but a government lawyer says John Hinckley's request is premature and that he recently lied to cover up the fact he looked at books on Reagan and presidential assassinations.

A jury found Hinckley was insane when he shot and wounded Reagan outside a Washington hotel in 1981, but doctors say his mental illness has been in remission for years. On Wednesday, a federal judge began hearing arguments that Hinckley should be allowed to visit his mother's Virginia home for stretches of approximately three weeks and eventually transition to living …