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Mid-day Update

PODCAST: S&P head to step down, Biden gives Chinese restaurant a boost

Daryl Paranada Aug 23, 2011

Here are today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and from around the web.

Germany’s foreign minister called Tuesday for the U.N. Security Council to quickly pass a new resolution that would unblock billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets.

Medtronic posted quarterly earnings in line with analyst targets, as sales of its diabetes products, heart stents and other devices countered challenges for its important implantable heart and spine products.

H.J. Heinz reported quarterly profit Tuesday that beat analysts expectations, boosted by growth in emerging markets.

The head of S&P is stepping down, just weeks after the firm downgraded America’s credit rating. Deven Sharma will be replaced next month by Douglas Peterson, who is currently the chief operating officer of Citigroup’s main banking division.

The Swiss Bank UBS is laying off about 3,500 workers — about half of them in the investment banking division. This follows last week’s news that Bank of America will cut 3,500 jobs.

Hurricane Irene continues to gather steam as it heads toward Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. It’s expected to become a dangerous category three storm today.

You’ve heard of the Michelle Obama sales bump that clothing stores get every time the first lady wears a new outfit? Well how about the Joe Biden bump? The vice president was in Beijing last week and he stopped into a family-owned noodle shop for lunch. And ever since then, diners have been lining up for as long as an hour to get a table at the restaurant. They’re asking for the Biden special, which includes steamed meat buns and noodles topped with soy bean paste.

Kellogg’s is complaining a Mayan cultural heritage group stole its logo. The Maya Archaeology Initiative uses a toucan as part of its trademark. Kellogg’s says it’s too reminiscent of Froot Loops cereal front man Toucan Sam. Hey, maybe this could set a precedent and Little Ceasar’s could finally make its case against Ancient Rome.

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