■ Airliners
Dreamliner renamed `787'
The Boeing Co officially renamed the 7E7 Dreamliner the "787," the next model designation in the series, the aerospace giant said on Friday. The formal designation came the same day that Chinese airlines signed an agreement with Boeing to order 60 of the new fuel-efficient jetliners. The aircraft has a list price of US$120 million. "Incorporating the 8 at the time of the China order is also significant because in many Asian cultures the number 8 represents good luck and prosperity," Alan Mulally, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement. Boeing shares fell US$1.05, or 2.1 percent, to close at US$49.92 on the New York Stock Exchange.
■ Fraud
Nina Wang charged over will
Asia's richest woman, Nina Wang, appeared in a Hong Kong court on Friday charged with forging her late husband's will in the latest twist to a 15-year saga. Nina Wang, the eccentric, pig-tailed chairwoman of property company Chinachem, who has a personal fortune of more than US$2 billion, appeared in Hong Kong's Eastern Magistrates Court on Friday. She was charged with forging the will of her tycoon husband Teddy, who was kidnapped 15 years ago and has never been seen since. He was declared legally dead in 1999, although his body was never found. Wang, who was arrested by the Commercial Crime Bureau, was charged with forging a will which left her husband's US$130 million fortune to her. After a brief appearance, Nina Wang was released on bail of US$7 million. No plea was taken at Friday's hearing.
■ Pharmaceuticals
Merck patent invalidated
A US federal court invalidated the patent for a blockbuster osteoporosis drug made by Merck & Co on Friday, sending Merck shares plunging but offering patients with the brittle-bone disease the possibility of cheaper pills in a few years. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington invalidated the patent for the once-a-week version of Merck's Fosamax, which dominates the market for osteoporosis drugs. Under the ruling, generic competition could begin as soon as early 2008, instead of 2018. Fosamax is Merck's No. 2 moneyspinner. The company already is beleaguered by its voluntary withdrawal of arthritis blockbuster Vioxx, which is expected to cost the company billions of dollars to settle lawsuits by patients claiming it caused heart attacks and strokes.
■ Automakers
Mitsubishi secures bailout
Mitsubishi Motors said on Friday it has secured ?540 billion (US$5.2 billion) in emergency financing from several sister companies in the latest of a string of multibillion-dollar bailouts for the struggling company. The package comes less than eight months after the company received a US$4.6 billion bailout that at the time was billed as its last chance for a turnaround. The company warned on Friday that it expected a loss of US$4.58 billion for the year ending in March, almost twice its previous estimate. Mitsubishi needs cash to develop new cars and finance its operations amid tumbling sales after a recall scandal in Japan and marketing blunders in the US. The infusion of money announced on Friday includes the sale of 270 billion worth of new shares to the same three Mitsubishi companies that financed most of the earlier plan -- the industrial equipment maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the trading company Mitsubishi Corp. and the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group.
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