Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld questioned Tuesday whether the Air Force should go ahead with a multibillion-dollar lease deal with the Boeing Co. after the company announced the firing of two senior executives, including one linked to the lease negotiations. He said he had asked senior staff members to look into the issue, noting Pentagon lawyers would be consulted. Boeing fired chief financial officer Mike Sears and former Air Force official Darleen Druyun, saying her hiring was negotiated at a time that she was in a position to influence the tanker deal. Sears, also a member of the board of directors for Sprint Corp., voluntarily stepped down from that position on Tuesday.
The Boeing Co. Tuesday said it received a federal income-tax refund and related interest from the Internal Revenue Service of about $1.1 billion. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the refund and interest are related to a partial settlement of tax years 1992 to 1997 with the IRS and will further strengthen the Chicago jet builder’s cash balances. Boeing estimated it will increase fourth-quarter net income by about $700 million, or 87 cents a share. Boeing shares closed Tuesday at $38.26, down 63 cents, or 1.6 percent.
Pickets warmed themselves over scrap-wood fires while waiting for talks to resume in the first major strike in the British Columbia coastal forest industry since 1986. Leaders of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada, representing about 8,000 workers, went on strike last week when talks broke down.
The economy in the third quarter galloped ahead faster than an initial estimate, which was already the fastest pace in nearly two decades. That burst, along with a surge in consumer confidence, raised hopes for the recovery’s staying power. Gross domestic product increased at a 8.2 percent annual rate in the July-to-September quarter, even better than the 7.2 percent rate estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
U.S. sales of new cars and trucks are expected to rise in November from last month and a year ago, thanks to hefty showroom bargains, which are likely to continue for the remainder of the year. “The pickup from the slowdown in October reflects an increase in incentives late in the month just in time for the long Thanksgiving weekend,” Merrill Lynch analyst John Casesa said
Herald wire services
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