Young Negotiators

Q I recently heard that a cousin’s son is attending our state university free, with a state-funded scholarship for brilliant students. His parents are millionaires and could easily pay the boy’s college expenses themselves.

The environmental fervor sweeping college campuses has reached beyond the push to recycle plastics and offer organic food and is transforming the curriculum, permeating classrooms, academic majors and expensive new research institutes.

Fund managers around the world have become an awfully gloomy bunch. Peering into the future, they detect a gathering tide of declining profits, higher interest rates and rising inflation, according to this month’s Merrill Lynch survey of asset allocations and market expectations.

The airline industry and embassies of 34 countries, including the members of the European Union, are urging the U.S. government to withdraw a plan that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the United States, starting in August…

Many seniors sell their life-insurance policies to raise cash. When you (or a family member who may own the policy on your life) sell the insurance, the buyer becomes the owner and beneficiary. On your death, this stranger stops paying premiums and collects the death benefit.

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Only three survivors have been found after a ferry carrying 749 people capsized near the island of Sibuyan, according to a Philippines Coast Guard official. The death toll from Typhoon Fengshen — which stirred up seas in the region when it hit early Saturday — has climbed to at least 120, according to the Red Cross.

Days after both men reversed course on major issues, the presidential campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain spent much of Sunday’s talk-show circuit working to ensure accusations of “flip-flopping” don’t stick.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has announced that he will not participate in this week’s presidential runoff because “a free and fair election is impossible.” The move hands victory to current president Robert Mugabe, a government minister tells CNN.

A Nigerian rebel movement blamed for an number of recent attacks on the African country’s oil industry announced a unilateral truce Sunday after an appeal for negotiations by tribal leaders.

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WARRINGTON, Pa., June 19, 2008 — Discovery Laboratories, Inc. held a teleconference on June 18, 2008 with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to discuss Discovery Labs’ approach to addressing key remaining items identified in the May 1, 2008 Approvable Letter to potentially gain U.S. marketing approval of SURFAXIN for the prevention of Respiratory Distress Syndrome in premature infants.

LAKE FOREST, Calif., June 19, 2008 — Apria Healthcare Group Inc. , a leading home healthcare services company, today announced it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with an affiliate of The Blackstone Group in a transaction valued at approximately $1.6 billion.

Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian raised his stake in Ford Motor Co to 6.5 percent this week and said he was willing to support the automaker’s turnaround with an infusion of additional capital.

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ANAHEIM, Calif.—-Today, CrocsRx™, the medical division of Crocs, Inc. , revealed a new, sleeker addition to its therapeutic collection, the Silver Fox. Combining Crocs’ legendary comfort with fashion-forward sensibility, this classic mary jane style includes a 1 1/4 inch heel.

Apple’s device made users change their thinking about data on the go.