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News In Brief

MIDDAY UPDATE: Sustainable jobs and cell phones

Katharine Crnko Oct 27, 2010

This week on Marketplace we’ll be following sustainable jobs. Today, we learned about the fastest growing industry in the job field: biomedical engineering. This job caters to the needs of aging baby boomers and modern technological advances. Be sure to check out Marketplace’s cool new tool Future-Job-o-Matic for the skinny on your career!

After investigations by the FDA, GlaxoSmithKline will pay $750 million in fines for manufacturing defective medication, including the antidepressant Paxil.

Before today, people who turned to debt settlement services to deal with financial problems and setbacks had to pay a fee for the services rendered, even if no advancements were made on their case. Now, those fees cannot be enforced, which could be a problem for smaller debt settlement services.

What is one thing almost 93 percent of Americans have that politicians want more control of? Cell phones. Today we discussed the extra taxes some states are trying to change, and how far people are willing to go to tax your favorite gadget.

Many companies would love to be a part of China’s industrial market, but China requires companies to register patents in China before companies can go into production, effectively divulging company secrets. Europe wants to convince Beijing to allow more foreign companies to bid on Chinese government contracts, without giving away any secrets.

Tired of taking off your shoes and belt at the airport? So is British Airways CEO, who also is tired of keeping up with the U.S. stringent security lines. With advances in technology, is the annoyance of stripping down at the airport really with the humiliation?

Today we heard from the Fed, who may actually pump less new money into the economy than previously thought, according to the Wall Street Journal. Why?

Halloween is right around the corner. Do you have your costume? Surprisingly, most people are willing to spend more money on a costume, despite financial difficulties. Eve Troeh reports on why spooky festivities make for a recession-friendly holiday.

And finally. MySpace finally surrendered to Facebook, saying MySpace will refocus towards entertainment, including movies, music and television, and away from connecting with friends and sharing photos. This left us wondering, “What’s MySpace?”

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