NW Airlines, mechanics to talk
Northwest Airlines Corp. and its striking mechanics said on Tuesday that they will meet, although neither side described the talks as negotiations.
Northwest mechanics, cleaners and custodians have been on strike since Aug. 20, although Northwest has kept flying without them. The last round of talks broke off on Sept. 11. Northwest filed for bankruptcy two days later.
A hot line for the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association said the union negotiating committee and the airline agreed to meet “for the purpose of reviewing where the parties stand on the open issues related to the current strike, and to determine whether the open issues can be resolved.”
Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the sides will meet Thursday “to review the status of bargaining and what options remain, if any, for resolution” of the strike.
Microsoft releases security patches
Microsoft Corp. released nine security patches Tuesday, including one for a flaw that could allow an attacker to create an outbreak similar to the Sasser worm that crippled computers worldwide.
The flaw in Microsoft’s dominant Windows operating system was one of three that the Redmond software company said warranted its highest rating of “critical.” All of them could allow an attacker to take complete control of another person’s computer without that person’s permission.
Microsoft also released six less critical updates for its Windows operating system, including one that also affects the company’s Exchange Server product.
Sasser snarled hundreds of thousands of computers, costing millions of dollars in damage.
Merck cites heart safety precautions
Atlantic City, N.J. A Merck & Co. doctor on Tuesday told a jury hearing a lawsuit by a Vioxx user that the drugmaker extensively studied the pain reliever’s safety — including its heart safety — both before and after the drug won federal approval in 1999.
Dr. Alise Reicin, vice president of clinical research at Merck Research Labs, told the jury that Merck did multiple studies of Vioxx’s possible risks, and determined the medicine caused no more cardiovascular risk than dummy pills or other painkillers.
Reicin’s testimony comes after a Columbus Day holiday and after Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee disallowed the testimony given by the Whitehouse Station-based drugmaker’s first witness, Dr. Briggs Morrison, on Friday. When Higbee — with the jury out of the room — ruled Morrison’s testimony would be withdrawn because he was not expert on some Vioxx safety studies, Merck attorney Diane Sullivan argued noisily with the judge.
On Tuesday, Merck attorney Stephen Raber questioned Reicin about why, when a March 2001 in-house study suggested Vioxx users suffered five times as many heart attacks as users of naproxen, Merck did not pull Vioxx from the market.
Delphi bankruptcy financing OK’d
New York A judge approved $950 million in financing on Tuesday for auto supplier Delphi Corp., which is expected to consolidate or divest a significant portion of its U.S. plants during its stay in bankruptcy court.
The debtor-in-possession loan, assembled by a large consortium of lenders led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., will help the company to operate during its bankruptcy, which is expected to end in early 2007.