Dec 23 Watch Toy Wars The toy business has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Many traditional department stores no longer sell toys and this Christmas season many specialty toy stores are struggling to compete against discount stores such as Wal-Mart. Continue watching
Dec 19 Appeals Court Rejects Industry Attempts to Identify Music Downloaders A federal appeals court ruled against the recording industry's attempts to force the nation's Internet providers to identify subscribers suspected of illegally swapping music online, marking a major setback to the industry's anti-piracy efforts. Continue reading
Dec 19 Watch Halliburton Under Scrutiny After weeks of Democratic criticism that Vice President Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton has been overcharging the U.S. military for fuel in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported that Pentagon auditors are accusing the company of refusing to relinquish key… Continue watching
Dec 19 Watch Debt Mission for Iraq Iraq may sit atop the world's second-largest oil reserves, but the country owes more than $220 billion in Gulf War reparations and foreign debt. Margaret Warner discusses efforts to reduce the Iraqi debt with German diplomat Klaus-Peter Gottwald and Robert… Continue watching
Dec 17 U.S., Four Central American Countries Reach Free Trade Deal The United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua announced Wednesday they reached an agreement on a free-trade deal after a final marathon negotiating session. Continue reading
Dec 16 U.S., France, Germany Agree to Help Ease Iraq’s Debts U.S. special envoy James Baker, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder agreed Tuesday that international creditors should find a way to ease Iraq's foreign debts in 2004. Continue reading
Dec 16 Watch Jobs on the Move Cost-conscious American companies are increasingly moving high-paying service-sector jobs overseas. Paul Solman reports that this practice, called "outsourcing," has moved many jobs to India. Continue watching
Dec 12 Iraq Contract Policy Complicates Planned Debt Talks After the U.S. decision to bar Iraq war opponents from competing for contracts, Russia has said it may not restructure $8 billion in Iraqi debt despite planned U.S. talks with Moscow and other countries to alleviate the country's large debt… Continue reading
Dec 11 Watch Surging Stocks The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 10,000 for the first time since May 2002 based on strong retail sales and indications that federal interest rates won't rise any time soon. Jim Lehrer gets perspective on the market's performance from… Continue watching
Dec 01 Boeing Chief Resigns Amid Defense Contract Ethics Scandal Boeing Co. chairman and chief executive Phil Condit unexpectedly resigned Monday amid scandals involving unethical conduct in its military contracting practices that have harmed the aviation giant's business prospects. Continue reading