New Games: The Xbox 360 version of Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was again the top- rented videogame in the U.S. its second week available, according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended May 11. The PS3 SKU was again No. 2. Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii was again No. 3 its third week available. Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Army of Two from Electronic Arts, both for 360, were again Nos. 4 and 5… Gameloft signed a deal with the National Basketball Association to develop and publish two NBA games for mobile phones. The first will be NBA Smash!, an arcade- style two-on-two street basketball game to be released this month. A second NBA game, a five-on-five simulation style title, will follow in September, Gameloft said. The other terms weren’t disclosed… Disney Interactive Studios launched its previously-announced “DGamer” online community in North America for DS, in connection with the release of the DS version of its game The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Gamers can now use their DS handhelds to interact with each other while on the go through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and online through the DGamer Web site, Disney said. The integrated service will be offered at no additional cost on subsequent DS titles from Disney, and DGamer will be available in other international regions “by 2009,” it said. The Narnia game is also shipping for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2 and PC. The DS, PS2 and PC versions each cost $29.99, and the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 versions cost $49.99 each.
The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty administrative review of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Canada for the period of October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has posted to its Web site monthly reports containing official March 2008 trade data from the Census Department for U.S. imports and exports of textiles and apparel:
The International Trade Administration has initiated antidumping duty investigations to determine whether imports of citric acid and certain citrate salts from China and Canada are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value, and a countervailing duty investigation to determine whether manufacturers, producers, or exporters of subject merchandise in China receive countervailable subsidies.
The International Trade Administration has made preliminary affirmative antidumping duty determinations that lightweight thermal paper (LWTP) from China and Germany is being, or is likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
A federal court ruled the city of Anacortes, Wash., violated federal law in denying T-Mobile a special use permit to build a wireless tower because its land-use ordinance imposed onerous requirements for obtaining a tower permit and gave the city unlimited ground for rejections based on esthetics and other subjective factors. The U.S. District Court, Seattle, ordered the city to grant T-Mobile’s tower permit (Case 07-1644RAJ). T-Mobile said the city ordinance imposed unreasonable conditions such as requiring eight separate preliminary steps for tower applications and requiring that towers be compatible with “the character and appearance of the vicinity” without defining what that phrase meant. T-Mobile said the city’s ordinance granted local officials an unfettered degree of discretion over subjective criteria that went beyond what the Telecom Act intended and therefore was preempted. The city said its tower application requirements were necessary for protection of the public safety and welfare, and were therefore exempt from Telecom Act preemption. But the court said the city failed to show why its onerous permitting process and overly broad discretion on tower applications were necessary to protect the public. It said the regulations acted to create a barrier to wireless service that must be preempted.
The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty new shipper review of canned pineapple fruit from Thailand for the period of July 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006.
Blockbuster proceeded Friday with a bid to buy Circuit City as the CE chain agreed after months of persuasion to open its books for due diligence. But the proposed $6 a share offer was panned by analysts as bad for both struggling chains.
In April 2008, the Government Accountability Office testified before a House Subcommittee1 that recent Food and Drug Administration initiatives could strengthen its foreign drug inspection program, but do not fully address the weaknesses that GAO previously identified in 2007 testimony.
The International Trade Administration frequently issues notices on antidumping and countervailing duty orders, investigations, etc. which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued, neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period, etc.