Business Briefs

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Published: June 24, 2009

NATION

White House plans loans to help build green cars

DEARBORN, Mich. — Cultivating the next generation of fuel-efficient vehicles, the Obama administration said Tuesday it would lend $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co. and about $2.1 billion to Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. in a government-industry partnership to build green cars. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the three automakers would be the first beneficiaries of a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles. The loans to Ford will help the company upgrade factories in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio to produce 13 fuel-efficient vehicles. Nissan will receive loans of $1.6 billion to retool its plant in Smyrna, Tenn., to build electric vehicles and construct a battery manufacturing plant. Tesla will get $465 million in loans to build electric vehicles and electric-drive powertrains in California.

Broccoli-snake head case goes unsolved in N.Y.

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. — The case of the severed snake head in a dish of a broccoli at an upstate New York restaurant may go unsolved. A diner said he found the snake head on May 3 while eating at a T.G.I. Friday’s in Clifton Park, north of Albany. Laboratory tests showed the head hadn’t been cooked, indicating it was added to the broccoli at the restaurant. The Carrollton,

Texas-based company asked New York State Police to investigate. State police say they can’t determine how the snake wound up in the dish and that the investigation has been closed.

Intel, Nokia join forces in technology race

Intel Corp. and Nokia Corp. said Tuesday they’re joining forces to build better technology for smart phones and other mobile Internet devices. The deal will help Intel penetrate the smart phone market, an area Intel sees as crucial for growth. Intel now makes smaller, lower-power chips for devices such as "netbooks” — stripped-down laptops that do less and cost less. The company wants its chips used in other devices that act as computers, such as smart phones made by Nokia. Nokia gets Intel’s agreement to license modem technology from Nokia and build it into future Intel chips.

Lawmaker awaits word on GM’s auto plant

DETROIT — A Michigan congressman says General Motors Corp. could decide as early as this week where it

will build a new line of small cars.

Rep. Gary Peters, whose district includes one of the three factories in the running, presented letters to GM Tuesday signed by 20,000 people hoping the automaker will choose its Orion Township plant near Pontiac. Elizabeth Lowery, GM’s vice president of environment, energy and safety policy, accepted the letters at GM’s downtown Detroit headquarters. GM has said it will announce by the end of June which one of its existing factories in Spring Hill, Tenn.; Janesville, Wis.; and Orion Township will make the car. The Orion Township and Spring Hill plants are scheduled to go on standby later this year, while Janesville already is closed.

MySpace will cut 300 job from its overseas crew

LOS ANGELES — Social-networking site MySpace said Tuesday it plans to cut 300 jobs, or two-thirds of its overseas work force, in an effort to rein in costs and focus on countries where it has many users and better business opportunities. The move comes a week after the News Corp. unit said it would cut 420 jobs in the U.S., or nearly 30 percent of its domestic work force. Combined, the cuts will reduce My- Space’s employee base by nearly 40 percent to about 1,150.

Debt collection company accused of threat calls

NEW YORK — New York authorities say they’ve shut down a debt collection company that was falsely telling people they’d be thrown in jail if they didn’t pay immediately. State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says the Buffalo firm routinely broke the law by having its collectors impersonate law enforcement officials. In reality, the company was run by ex-convicts. It did nationwide business under several names, including Final Claims Asset Locators. Owner Tobias Boyland was arrested Tuesday after investigators serving a search warrant discovered a loaded pistol. A judge issued a temporary order closing the company’s doors. The company was the subject of an expose on "Dateline NBC” in March.

FROM WIRE REPORTS