AK Steel adds one to list of layoffs

AK Steel said Thursday it will lay off one additional hourly worker at its Middletown Works effective with the work schedule beginning Sunday. That brings to 69 the number of hourly workers laid off at the Middletown mill over the last month.

Last week the company laid off 23 workers and said it would cut 10 more after they train others.

Despite a rebound in profits, the flat-rolled carbon, electric and stainless steel maker says it needs to reduce its hourly workforce by 20 percent to stay competitive with lower-cost rivals. The independent union representing about 3,000 hourly employees at Middletown has refused to reopen contract talks with the company.

Leading indicators down another month

NEW YORK - A closely watched measure of future economic activity fell in July for the second consecutive month, reinforcing evidence that the nation's financial recovery is slackening.

The Conference Board said Thursday its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators dropped by 0.3 percent in July to 116.0, following a revised decline of 0.1 percent in June. Last month was the first time in more than a year that the index had lost ground.

The index is closely followed because it is designed to forecast the economy's health over the coming three to six months.

US Airways union says deal may be near

ARLINGTON, Va. - Union leaders representing US Airways pilots said Thursday that a new labor agreement could be struck soon, telling their rank and file a new deal is "our last opportunity to control the fate of our airline and our careers."

US Airways Group Inc. has said that new labor deals with unions are necessary to avoid a second trip into bankruptcy and possible liquidation. Though the airline has warned that bankruptcy looms if deals are not reached by at least Sept. 30, progress has been slow.

Unilever may combine three UK companies

Unilever, the world's largest maker of food and soap, is considering merging its three United Kingdom operating companies in a move that would likely lead to job cuts, a spokesman said.

No final decisions have been made, Unilever spokesman Trevor Gorin said. He couldn't say how many of the 2,000 office jobs may be lost if the company were to combine its Lever Faberge, Unilever BestFoods and frozen-food and ice-cream units. 

Lilly lung-cancer drug OK'd for common form

INDIANAPOLIS - Eli Lilly & Co., developer of the Prozac antidepressant, won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its Alimta medicine for treating the most common form of lung cancer.

The FDA first cleared Alimta in February for a rare asbestos- related lung cancer. The new approval is for people whose non-small-cell lung cancer has progresse` after an earlier treatment, Lilly said.

The wider use may help Alimta sales rise to $628 million by 2008, Prudential Securities analyst Tim Anderson has said in a report. Lilly is counting on newer medicines such as Alimta and its Cymbalta antidepressant to make up for sales lost to U.S. generic competition for Prozac.

File-sharing programs not liable for swaps

SAN FRANCISCO - The makers of two leading file-sharing programs are not legally liable for the songs, movies and other copyright works swapped online by their users, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday in a stinging blow to the entertainment industry.

Among other reasons, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Grokster Ltd. and StreamCast Networks Inc., unlike the original Napster, were not liable because they don't have central servers pointing users to copyright material.

Cincom tops $100M for 19th straight year

Cincom Systems Inc., the privately held Springdale software company, recently marked its 19th consecutive year with revenues of more than $100 million. Founder Tom Nies said the company achieved the milestone despite a tough economy and turbulence in the technology sector. While the company doesn't disclose results, Nies said the last three years have been the best three in the company's history.

Enquirer staff and wire reports