♦ Drivers Of Tropical Deforestation Are Changing, Say Scientists

Rhett Butler of Mongabay.com, a tropical-forest Web site, and Laurance argue that the sharp increase in deforestation by big corporations provides environmental lobby groups with clear, identifiable targets that can be pressured to be more responsive to environmental concerns.	1 vote

♦ Stocks lower on oil, financial sector losses

NEW YORK — Stocks pulled back Tuesday as oil prices rebounded and losses from JPMorgan Chase raised more concerns about the financial sector. Oil rose after BP said it shut down an oil pipeline that runs through Georgia as a precautionary measure due to the fighting between Georgian and Russian troops. Light, sweet crude rose 26 cents to $114.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.	1 vote

♦ 14 Tons of Frozen Scaly Anteaters Seized in Indonesia

Last week Indonesian police seized 14 tons of frozen Malayan pangolinsa kind of scaly anteaterbound for China and arrested more than a dozen suspected smugglers, conservationists announced Tuesday. The July 30 warehouse raid in Palembang on the island of Sumatra is the latest sign of China's skyrocketing demand for pangolin meat, blood, and scales. (Watch a video of a pangolin in the wild.	1 vote

♦ Bank of America subpoenaed over sale of securities

NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America (BAC) revealed Thursday that it has received subpoenas and requests for information from various state and federal regulators regarding its sale of auction-rate securities. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission...	1 vote

♦ Yahoo CEO Yang sees one direction: Forward

Yahoo's Jerry Yang, here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, took over as CEO last year to try to turn the tech giant around. June 18, 2007:Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang replaces Terry Semel as CEO. Jan. 31, 2008: Roy Bostock named Yahoo chairman. Feb. 1:After two years of talks and speculation, Microsoft makes unsolicited offer to buy Yahoo for $31 a share, or $44.6 billion.	1 vote

♦ Cash-strapped states quicker to seize unused accounts

Cash all checks for dividends, wages and insurance settlements without delay. Respond to requests for confirmation of account balances and stockholder proxies. If you have a safe deposit box, record its number, bank name and address, and give the extra key to a trusted person. Prepare and file a will, detailing the disposition of your assets.	1 vote

♦ KKR to go public on NYSE via fund takeover

NEW YORK — Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which gained fame by taking RJ Reynolds private two decades ago, will go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a takeover of its Amsterdam-listed investment fund KKR Private Equity Investors.	1 vote

♦ Ask an Expert: Don't fall into the buggy-whip mentality

A: There is no doubt everyone is feeling the pinch of the economic downturn these days and woe to the business that doesn't react in accordance with the times. Back at the turn of the 20th century, the automobile was a newfangled contraption. But even so, it was apparent almost immediately that it was also a revolutionary item that was here to stay. That is one reason why...	1 vote

♦ Ask an Expert: Who are your picks as top entrepreneurs?

So here we are in the middle of summer and change is needed. The daily grind, the normal hours, the regular column — they just don't cut it during these long days! Luckily, I was just sent a copy of Success magazine. If you haven't seen Success lately, you should really check it out. New, improved, slick, easy to read, full of great ideas, and even containing a CD of interviews...	1 vote

♦ NH accuses UBS of misleading student lender

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire securities regulators are accusing a branch of UBS (UBS) of misleading the state's largest issuer of student loans. Regulators released their civil complaint against UBS Securities Thursday morning. The company has been the longtime financial adviser and underwriter to New Hampshire Education Loan Corporation.	1 vote

♦ Sony profit tumbles, Matsushita shows big gains

TOKYO — Sony (SNE) posted a bigger-than-expected 47% fall in quarterly profit and cut its outlook, hurt by its struggling mobile phone joint venture with Sweden's Ericsson, while rival Matsushita (MC) nearly doubled its profit on rising flat-TV sales. Sony lowered its net profit forecast for the year to March by 17%...	1 vote

♦ Nicholson named Enterprise Rent-A-Car president

ST. LOUIS (AP) — For only the fourth time in its 51-year history, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has a new president. Pamela Nicholson on Monday was named president of the St. Louis-based rental car company. She succeeds Donald Ross, who continues as vice chairman. Enterprise is a privately held company owned by the Taylor family. It has nearly 75...	1 vote

♦ Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac shares plummet again

Freddie Mac over 6 months. WASHINGTON (AP) — Shares of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) continued their plunge Wednesday as investors are increasingly convinced that the stocks will drop to zero if the government bails out the troubled companies. Fannie Mae's chief executive tried to reassure investors that no bailout is imminent.	1 vote

♦ Chrysler to stop leasing vehicles

DETROIT (Reuters) — Chrysler's financial arm said Friday it would stop offering vehicle leases to U.S. consumers, a sharp break in strategy in response to plunging resale prices for gas-guzzling trucks and tighter credit. Porter said the move by the unit of the No. 3 U.S. automaker, which is controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management...	1 vote

♦ Small Talk: Tackle summer to-do list and be ready for fall

NEW YORK — The last few weeks of summer can be a useful time for small business owners whose companies are going through a slow period — they have a chance to tackle some of those tasks they've been putting off. Some owners use summer downtime for big projects like writing an employee handbook, while others cross off more mundane items from their to-do lists...	1 vote

♦ Tightrope: Are cellphones safe? Entrepreneurs need to know

When Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UPMC Cancer Centers, issued an advisory to the faculty and staff about the health risks from use of cellphones, I got worried. Every entrepreneur I know uses a cellphone. In fact most of us have allowed cellphones to become our office away from the office.	1 vote

♦ Car stereo sales hit a distressing low note

IRVING, Texas — The iPod generation is taking some of the thump-thump out of car audio sales. While younger owners add accessories to improve their cars' looks, such as flashy rims and performance tires, fewer are opting for better sound inside. This year, spending on aftermarket car stereo systems is expected to slip 28% from 2006, the Consumer Electronics Association reports.	1 vote

♦ Unemployment claims rise to 455,000 in most recent week

WASHINGTON — The number of people signing up for jobless benefits has climbed to its highest point in more than six years as companies cut back, adjusting to the faltering economy. The Labor Department said Thursday that new applications for unemployment insurance rose a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 455,000 for the week ended Aug. 2. That is the highest level since March 2002.	1 vote

♦ Fry Me Kangaroo Brown, Sport

A paper in the journal Conservation Letters says reducing cattle and sheep populations and increasing the kangaroo numbers to 175 million by 2020 would lower greenhouse gas emissions by 16 megatonnes, or 3 percent of Australia's total emissions. The paper's lead author, George Wilson, says a proposal to reduce sheep and cattle numbers on the rangelands by 30 percent should be considered.	1 vote

♦ Ad spending forecast to shift more to direct marketing

Media growth expectations vs. growth in the past five years. NEW YORK — Consumers will foot more of the bill for the media they want over the next five years as advertisers shift their spending from traditional media to direct marketing, according to the latest edition of private-equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson's Communications Industry Forecast. The annual report...	1 vote