The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty new shipper review of brake rotors from China for the review period of April 1, 2004 through September 30, 2004.

The Washington File reports that a preliminary decision by a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel on the U.S. challenge of the European Union (EU) moratorium on approvals for crops derived from biotechnology is expected around February 1st. According to the Washington File, Argentina and Canada also joined the U.S. in challenging the EU moratorium. (Washington File Pub 01/26/06, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=January&x=20060126123445AKllennoCcM0.5482599&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html.)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice stating that it is rescinding the antidumping (AD) duty new shipper review of honey from Argentina with respect to the following company, which is an exporter of subject merchandise:

Take-Two Interactive’s woes continued as the company disclosed in an SEC filing after market close Wed. that Barbara Kaczynski resigned Jan. 19 as chair of its audit committee and from its board and corporate governance committee. The company also reported final results for its 4th quarter and fiscal year ended Oct. 31 that were unchanged from the preliminary results announced early this month (CED Jan 9 p8). The resignation came only one day after the company said it asked the SEC for a 15-day extension in the filing of its 10-K annual report as it worked to fix serious accounting flaws (CED Jan 19 p2). Kaczynski didn’t indicate in a letter to Take-Two why she resigned. But the company included in the filing a subsequent letter from her attorney, Bruce Baird, in which he pointed to the company’s mounting troubles over the past year. “During Ms. Kaczynski’s tenure as a board member and chair of the audit committee, several matters requiring the board’s attention caused Ms. Kaczynski concern,” Baird said. “These matters included Take Two’s discovery of illicit images depicted in its Grand Theft Auto videogame, the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Take-Two following that discovery, and various SEC inquiries directed at Take-Two and its employees.” He added that, “more recently, in connection with preparation of the 10-K and its late filing, Ms. Kaczynski’s concerns have risen significantly because of what she views as an increasingly unhealthy relationship between senior management and the board of directors -- in her experience, management’s interactions with the board were characterized by a lack of cooperation and respect.” She also “felt that management failed to keep the board informed of important issues facing the company or failed to do so in a timely fashion,” Baird said. The discovery of controversial “Hot Coffee” sexual content in discs of the hit game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas led to the Entertainment Software Rating Board changing the game’s rating from Mature to Adults Only (CED July 22 p7, July 21 p4). As a result, most major retailers pulled the game from their shelves until Take-Two released an edited version of the title once again rated M. Board member Todd Emmel is serving as acting audit committee chmn. now and Take-Two said it added ex-DMX Music Chmn. Michael Malone to its board to replace Kaczynski. Board member Robert Flug was also named non-exec. chmn. of the board on an interim basis. Take-Two’s board, therefore, remained at 7 members, it said. Harris Nesbitt analyst Edward Williams said in a research note “Take-Two continues to plod along with some difficulty as the management and board of directors attempt to steer the company through the challenging waters of a platform transition that have been made more difficult by poor decisions (or poor judgment) made by some employees at Take-Two.” But he said the company’s current low valuation as a result of the challenges provides “an opportunity for the stock to appreciate as the developers deliver what should be a good product lineup in 2006 and beyond.” Take-Two also said a recent fire damaged the Manhattan offices of its 2K Games, Global Star and Joytech N. America divisions. Although no employees were hurt in the fire, the company said it “temporarily relocated all of these employees” to its nearby hq “due to the significant damage sustained to these leased offices.” The employees are made up mostly of marketing and administrative personnel, along with a small number of product testing personnel, Take-Two said. The company said it was “still determining the overall financial and operational impact of the fire [but] does not expect any significant effect on its business.” The company said it expects to file its 10-K report by the close of business Feb. 1. Take-Two shares closed 4.1% lower at $17.03 in Thurs. trading.

Charter added 18% more broadband subscribers last quarter than a year earlier. The firm gained 76,400 customers, it said in a SEC filing outlining a plan to sell debt. That exceeded UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff’s forecast by 18%. Still, the increase was less than the previous quarter, when Charter added almost 100,000 broadband customers. It had more than 2 million Sept. 30. The firm, set to sell $400 million in senior notes, said a preliminary review showed Q4 revenue rose as much as 5.4% to $1.35 billion. Cash flow fell as much as 3.7%. Sales and cash flow were lower than Bourkoff had expected, he wrote in an investor bulletin. Charter has more than $10 billion in debt.

The PS2 version of Need for Speed Most Wanted from Electronic Arts (EA), in its 10th week available, was again the top-rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 22. But the Xbox version of the game fell to #9 from #3 the previous week. It was the only top 10 game SKU not for PS2. EA had one other game in the top 10: The PS2 version of Madden NFL 06 at #2, up 2 in its 24th week. Activision and Take-Two Interactive each had 2 SKUs in the top 10 -- all for PS2. Activision’s were Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland at #6 (up 6 in its 14th week) and Gun at #10 (down 3, 11th week). Take-Two’s were Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at #5 (up 13, 65th week) and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition at #8 (up 16, 41st week). Rounding out the top 10 were LucasArts Entertainment’s Star Wars Battlefront II at #3 (down one, 12th week), THQ’s WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw 2006 at #4 (up 2, 10th week) and 50 Cent: Bulletproof from Vivendi Universal Games (VUG) at #7 (down 2, 9th week). Separately, VUG said it had sold more than one million units of the latter game since its global release in Nov… Most Wanted was also -- in its 9th week -- again the best-selling game in the U.K., according to the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Assn.’s Chart Track data for the week ended Jan. 21. EA had 2 other games in the top 10: The Sims 2 at #3 (down one, 35th week) and FIFA 06 at #5 again in its 17th week. There were no new releases in the top 10. The only other publisher with more than one title in the top 10 was Activision, with 2: Call of Duty 2 at #9 (up 6, 9th week) and Gun at #10 (up 2, 11th week). Rounding out the top 10 were Ubisoft’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong at #2 (up 2, 10th week), Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 5 at #4 (down one, 14th week), Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for PSP at #6 again in its 12th week, Battlefront II at #7 (up 6 , 13th week) and SmackDown! Vs. Raw 2006 at #8 (up 2, 11th week).

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has ordered an investigation (D/N 06-01) of nine household goods moving companies (respondents) to determine whether they violated the 1984 Shipping Act and the FMC's regulations by operating as non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) in the U.S. trades without obtaining licenses from the FMC, without providing proof of financial responsibility, without publishing an electronic tariff, and by failing to establish, observe, and enforce just and reasonable regulations and practices relating to or connected with receiving, handling, storing, or delivering property, etc.

Tiger Telematics’ struggling Gizmondo Europe subsidiary filed for bankruptcy protection with the U.K.’s High Court at the close of business Fri., the company revealed in an SEC filing Mon. A large reduction in staffing is expected, but the company said “the action does not affect any other subsidiary of the company including its United States operations and sales under Gizmondo USA.”

A privacy watchdog group Thurs. sued the Justice Dept. under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), demanding it immediately disclose information on the Bush Administration’s warrantless domestic surveillance program. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) asked U.S. Dist. Court, D.C., for a preliminary injunction requiring relevant material be released within 20 working days of the Thurs. filing. President Bush said DoJ has had a key role in authorizing, implementing and overseeing National Security Agency (NSA) e-spying. Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales and other DoJ officials have tried to justify the program and its legality, EPIC said. In its filing, the group said the debate “cannot be based solely upon information that the Administration voluntarily chooses to disseminate.” On Dec. 16, EPIC sent FOIA requests to 4 DOJ components, hours after the NSA program was outed. The agency told EPIC its requests warranted priority treatment but has failed to comply with the usual FOIA time limit of 20 working days, the group said. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to start hearings on the issue amid calls for an independent counsel, EPIC Open Govt. Project Dir. Marcia Hofmann said: “The debate is happening now. Now is the time that the public needs to be fully informed, not several months from now.”

With CE products quickly emerging as growth category for hard drives, suppliers are moving to increase storage capacities, a Consumer Electronics Daily survey has found.