Verizon announced the preliminary results of its shareholder vote Thurs., including the approval of each of its 13 dirs. up for election to one-year terms. Shareholders also ratified Ernst & Young as Verizon’s independent auditor and approved a resolution requesting that dir. nominees be elected by the majority of votes cast at an annual meeting.

Square Enix’s sequel Kingdom Hearts II, in its 5th week, was the top-rented videogame in the U.S., according to preliminary Home Video Essentials data by Rentrak for the week ended April 30. The Godfather for PS2 from Electronic Arts (EA) -- the previous week’s #1 game -- dropped to #2 in its 6th week. Tomb Raider: Legend for PS2 from Eidos was again #3 in its 3rd week, EA’s Black for PS2 was again #4 in its 9th week, Midway’s NBA Ballers: Phenom for PS2 was again #5 in its 4th week and the Xbox version of Legend was #6 again… In its first week available, EA’s FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 for multiple platforms was the #1-selling game in the U.K., according to ChartTrack data for the week ended April 29. Tomb Raider: Legend -- the previous week’s top seller -- slipped to #2 in its 4th week. The only other new game in the top 10 was NCsoft’s Guild Wars: Factions for PC at #7.

Though 12 data security bills are pending in Congress, none is likely to replace the raft of sector-specific laws on data security and privacy, such as the Fair & Accurate Credit Transactions Act and Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act, FTC Dir.-Bureau of Consumer Protection Lydia Parnes said Thurs. Speaking to the Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conference in D.C., she said: “I don’t see [those laws] getting back in the box in any way,” but a minimum national standard across all sectors “would certainly be a good start” on improving areas left unaddressed by sector- specific laws. Parnes also said the FTC just reached a $4.1 million settlement with an alleged spammer.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated a new shipper review for the countervailing (CV) duty order on certain welded carbon steel standard pipe from Turkey, with respect to the following company and review period:

A N.Y. woman, with the support of the EMR Policy Institute, filed a lawsuit seeking to block the June advanced wireless services auction. The lawsuit charges that the auction should be blocked because the FCC never prepared an environmental impact study (EIS) on the effects of long-term exposure to low-intensity radiation, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The suit was filed by Maria Gonzalez, a nurse and mother of 2 in Astoria, Queens. It seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction, as well as a writ of mandamus to require an EIS.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a press release announcing that it is taking significant steps to enhance security by checking the backgrounds of port workers. DHS has also posted the transcript of a press conference with DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and other security officials regarding this initiative. Both of these documents are highlighted below.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated a new shipper review of the antidumping (AD) duty order on stainless steel bar from Germany with respect to the following company, which is both the producer and exporter, and review period:

New Games: The PS2 version of The Godfather from Electronic Arts (EA) was, in its 5th week, again the top- rented videogame in the U.S., according to preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended April 16… EA said it extended a partnership with FIFA, making EA worldwide exclusive FIFA licensee for soccer action simulation, manager and arcade-style games across all console platforms, PC, handheld platforms, mobile phones and online formats. No terms disclosed. The announcement came as EA said it shipped 2006 FIFA World Cup in N. America, Europe and Asia on multiple platforms including Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS. It said a PSP version will follow in May.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message announcing that the April 20, 2006 end-of-day statement processing job abended due to a logic problem. As a result, final statements that were due to be routed to the trade were not generated. The generation and routing of preliminary statements were not affected. CBP anticipated that this situation would be corrected and final statements for payments received on April 20, 2006 would be generated by close of business on April 21, 2006. (Adm: 06-0489, dated 04/21/06, available at http://www.brokerpower.com/cgi-bin/adminsearch/admmsg.view.pl?article=2006/2006-0489.ADM)

The N.Y. PSC opened a general review of its telecom service quality and consumer protection rules, along with outage reporting and service-blocking regulations. The PSC said its intent is to standardize and simplify its requirements and standards. The new docket (06-C-0481) is an outgrowth of the PSC’s recent adoption of more lenient pricing rules for large incumbent carriers. The PSC said it seeks to shift its quality rules from a customer focus to a focus on network reliability. It said that competition has diminished the importance of many traditional service quality indicators, but others remain important as vital indicators of network reliability. It said that it will also be asking carriers to describe their current consumer protection policies, end-user blocking policies and outage reporting policies. The PSC said it hopes to develop preliminary drafts of new quality and consumer regulations by Aug.