BUSINESS BRIEFS
Key interest rate expected to stay at all-time low
Advertiser news services
WASHINGTON — With the country stuck in a painful recession, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep its key interest rate at an all-time low this week and examine other unconventional ways to lift the economy.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are battling a three-headed economic monster: crises in the housing, credit and financial markets that — taken together — haven't been seen since the 1930s.
The Federal Open Market Committee — the central bank's main policymaking group — opens a two-day meeting tomorrow to assess economic and financial conditions, review the effectiveness of programs already in place to deal with the trio of crises and examine new relief options going forward.
2 MEDIA GIANTS IN CONTENT BATTLE
BOSTON — On one side is GateHouse Media, one of the nation's largest publishers of community newspapers. On the other is The New York Times Co., the parent company of The Boston Globe and its http://www.Boston.com Web site.
The two publishers square off in federal court this week in a case that is being closely watched by journalists, bloggers and Internet users.
GateHouse filed a copyright infringement lawsuit last month, claiming that the Globe's new community Web sites use online material from GateHouse without permission.
GateHouse alleges that http://www.Boston.com offers links that send readers directly to stories published on GateHouse Web sites — bypassing ads posted on home pages that help fund its operation and creating confusion on the source of the original reporting.
News organizations and bloggers say the case could have far-reaching implications for determining how much content one news organization or Web site can use from another.
KUWAIT, RUSSIA IN OIL, GAS DEAL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An investment firm in Kuwait is forming a pair of joint-venture companies with Russia's OAO Gazprom, the Persian Gulf oil producer's official news agency reported yesterday.
Noor Financial Investment Co. will join with the Russian oil and gas giant's Gazprom Geofizika subsidiary to form one venture in Russia and another in Kuwait, the Kuwait News Agency reported.
Both ventures will provide oil and gas production and repair and maintenance services.
Gazprom will own 51 percent of the Russian company, and Noor will hold the rest, the report said. In Kuwait, Noor will have a 51 percent stake. Gazprom will hold 29 percent and Cyprus-based Cilantro Holding will own the remainder.
