Design work on the Boeing Co.’s ultralong-range 777-200LR has passed the halfway point, the company said Wednesday. Assembly work on the jet is expected to start in October. When it enters service in 2006, it will be the world’s longest-range passenger plane, capable of carrying up to 301 passengers farther than 10,600 miles – enough to fly nonstop between Singapore and New York. Boeing says the plane will use 20 percent less fuel per passenger than the Airbus A340-500, which recently completed a record-breaking nonstop flight from Singapore to Los Angeles.
President Bush distanced himself Wednesday from White House predictions that the economy will add 2.6 million jobs this year, the second embarrassing economic retreat in a week and new fuel for Democratic criticism. The jobs controversy came on the heels of White House economist N. Gregory Mankiw’s assertion that outsourcing American jobs overseas was good for the U.S. economy in the long run. Bush, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans quickly disavowed Mankiw’s remarks, and the economist had to apologize for a “lack of clarity.” Jobs are a sensitive political issue for Bush as he fights to keep his own job for a second term.
Martha Stewart’s lawyer showed jurors a slew of 2-year-old news reports Wednesday that speculated that the domestic entrepreneur sold ImClone Systems stock on insider information, and even was romantically linked to its now-jailed CEO. The evidence was designed to show that Stewart was simply trying to discredit inaccurate reports and was making smart business decisions in summer 2002 when she issued statements saying her ImClone sale was proper. Stewart was never charged with criminal insider trading, and she has denied having any romantic relationship with fallen ImClone founder Sam Waksal.
German-U.S. automaker DaimlerChrysler said Wednesday it would extend chief executive Juergen Schrempp’s contract another three years to 2008, and named a new finance chief as part of a series of top management changes. The company’s supervisory board – equivalent to a U.S. board of directors – named the head of the company’s services division, Bodo Uebber, as its new chief financial officer. He will keep his current job when he replaces the retiring Manfred Gentz on Dec. 16. Additionally, the firm said Chrysler division manufacturing executive Thomas LaSorda would move up to chief operating officer there.
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