More than 240 members of Congress have signed a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick supporting U.S. efforts to end continued European government subsidies to Airbus.

"We are solidly behind your efforts to stop Europe's unfair subsidies," the letter said. "We are determined to see this case through to the end."

Last month, after complaints by Boeing about government aid to its rival, the U.S. filed an unfair-trade-practices case with the World Trade Organization. The European Union filed a countersuit alleging that Boeing receives illegal support.

The bipartisan letter was drawn up by U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island, and retiring U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue.

Weyerhaeuser

Canada court rules on logging, tribes

Provincial governments in Canada must consult with Native tribes before awarding rights to natural resources on disputed public land, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday in a case involving Weyerhaeuser.

The 7-0 decision partly upholds a 2002 British Columbia Court of Appeal ruling that both the provincial government and the company should have consulted with the Haida tribe over a license to log parts of the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Leaving the government obligation in place may create an obstacle for companies such as Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser because it does much of its harvesting in Canada on public land. Mitch Taylor, the federal government's lead lawyer on the case, said it also may prompt provinces and Native tribes to resolve land claims faster.

"What the Supreme Court of Canada has said is that so long as governments follow a process in getting to their decisions, they can make decisions and the decisions will stick," said Anne Giardini, an attorney for Weyerhaeuser.
Microsoft

Division extends Overture contract

Microsoft's MSN division said yesterday that it has extended its contract with Overture Services, a subsidiary of Yahoo!, to provide search results to MSN sites in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. The previous agreement ended in June 2005. MSN is building its own search engine and is testing a version online.

The contract extension suggests that although Microsoft plans to roll out its search engine early next year, it will continue to use Overture to provide advertising-related search results. MSN declined yesterday to discuss plans to build an advertising platform for its search engine.

T-Mobile USA

Announcement due on Maine call center

Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA, a subsidiary of the German telephone company Deutsche Telekom, plans to announce today that it is opening a 700-person call center in Oakland, Maine.

The call center will be T-Mobile's 16th. The 77,000-square-foot facility will open in spring 2005 with 90 workers starting at a time. The center will take incoming phone calls from customers seeking information on a variety of issues, including billing or service questions.

Airbus parent EADS cools talk about Thales merger

PARIS ¡ª Airbus parent EADS said yesterday it is not planning an alliance with defense group Thales, dampening speculation the French government-backed deal was imminent.

Philippe Camus, co-chief executive of European Aeronautic Defence & Space, made the comments at a meeting with fund managers in Paris, a company spokeswoman said.

"He said that a consolidation between EADS and Thales was not on the agenda," she said. Senior managers would nevertheless continue to pay close attention to any changes to Thales' ownership, she added.

The French government holds 15 percent of EADS and almost one-third of Paris-based Thales.

A merger between EADS and Thales would create a new European defense giant with $52 billion in annual revenue, more than the $50.5 billion in revenue Boeing had in 2003.

Compiled from Seattle Times staff and Bloomberg News

Disney

Robust TV results drive rise in profit

Strong results from its cable channels and ABC Television network drove higher revenue and profit at Walt Disney Co. in the fourth quarter, overcoming a steep drop in profits at its film studio.

The media conglomerate reported net income of $516 million, or 25 cents a share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with income of $415 million, or 20 cents a share in the same quarter last year.

The results easily beat expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, who had been looking for earnings of 18 cents a share. Revenue increased to $7.54 billion, compared with $7.01 billion in the same period last year.

Disney stock fell 19 cents to $26.37.

Disney

President would like to succeed Eisner

Walt Disney Co. President Robert Iger said he wants to be chief executive officer of Disney, the world's second-largest media company, when Michael Eisner steps down in 2006.

"I'd like to be CEO of Disney," Iger said in an interview. "This is a company I've been with for 30 years, actually starting at ABC."

Iger said he knows the company well and has worked in every one of Disney's businesses. A decision to name Iger to the chief-executive position would be made by the Disney board.

"The board is in the middle of a deliberate and thorough procedure," Iger said. "I've spoken to board members about it, but I don't want to discuss the nature of the conversations."

Google

Growth-rate warning causes slip in shares

Shares of Google slipped nearly 3 percent yesterday after the world's most popular Internet search engine warned for the second time in a week that its fourth-quarter revenue growth rate is likely to slow from previous quarters.

In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said that its sequential growth rate would probably decline in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter because of intensifying competition and an "inevitable" slowdown as the business gets bigger. Its sequential revenue growth rate was 7.5 percent in the second quarter versus the first quarter and 15.1 percent in the third quarter compared with second quarter.

Sirius

Satellite radio picks veteran as CEO

Mel Karmazin, the former president of media conglomerate Viacom, is joining Sirius Satellite Radio as chief executive officer, replacing Joseph Clayton, who is staying on as chairman, the company announced yesterday.

Karmazin, a radio-business veteran, left Viacom in June after locking horns with Sumner Redstone, the tenacious CEO of the giant media company.

The announcement comes just one month after Sirius snagged another big-time media name: radio shock jock Howard Stern, who worked for Karmazin for many years at Infinity Broadcasting, now a Viacom division.

IRS

High-income filers are being watched

Attention all those making more than $100,000: The Internal Revenue Service is watching you more closely.

The agency has been ramping up its examinations of high-income filers, which it defines as households with incomes of more than $100,000, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said yesterday. The examination rate has jumped to 1.47 percent of all returns filed for the 2004 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, up 86 percent from fiscal year 2001.

Those earning less than $100,000 had a rate of only 0.70 percent, though this has risen by 56 percent since fiscal year 2000. More than 1 million individual returns were examined this year for the first time in five years. The rate for all individuals was 0.77 percent.