Nation briefs 01/07/03

Online sales strong during holiday shopping season

NEW YORK -- Online sales this holiday season turned out to be robust, according to several preliminary reports released Monday, providing a bright spot in an otherwise mediocre shopping season.

The double-digit increases at Internet retailers far outstripped the slim gains reported by brick-and-mortar stores.

"Compared to an anemic holiday season" at stores, "this was a terrific holiday season for online retailers," said Ken Cassar, an analyst at Jupiter Research.

But Cassar warned that free shipping was an important driver of online sales, and he said he is worried about companies' profits.

Jupiter Research announced Monday that e-commerce sales will exceed its original forecast of $13.1 billion, or a gain of more than 17 percent from the year-ago period. Now, Jupiter Research is expecting an increase of 20 percent to 24 percent for the 2002 holiday season, which ran from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. Final figures are expected in March.

New arthritis drug offered free to some on Medicare

WASHINGTON -- A new drug for rheumatoid arthritis is now available for free to Medicare-enrolled senior citizens who lack prescription drug coverage.

Abbott Laboratories launched the program Monday for its drug Humira, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration just last month.

Under the program, Medicare beneficiaries without prescription drug coverage can receive Humira at no cost until a Medicare drug benefit is approved by Congress.

Medicare does not have a prescription drug benefit, although some seniors enrolled in Medicare HMOs have some drug coverage. The issue of a Medicare drug benefit is expected to dominate the new session of Congress.

New steps considered for Clean Water Act

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is considering new rules for enforcing the Clean Water Act that will greatly change how the government regulates pollution of small waterways and destruction of some isolated wetlands.

The proposal to change the scope of the federal law protecting waterways is likely to elicit fierce debate over how best to manage hundreds of thousands of miles of small streams, tributaries and wetlands that are isolated or not connected to a larger body of water.

Details of the proposal being developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and expected to be made public as early as this week, could not be learned Monday.

Bush had no reaction to smallpox vaccination

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has shown no ill effects from a smallpox vaccination he received more than two weeks ago, a spokesman said Monday.

On Dec. 13, Bush directed as many as 500,000 U.S. troops to get smallpox vaccinations as part of an effort to guard against bioterrorism. He promised to get the shot himself, though he said his family would not because the risk of a domestic attack did not justify it.

He was given the inoculation on Dec. 21, before leaving the White House for a holiday respite at Camp David and at his ranch in Texas.

Experts estimate that 15 out of every 1 million people vaccinated for the first time will face life-threatening complications, and one or two will die. Reactions are less common for those being revaccinated, as Bush was.

AT&T to eliminate 3,500 jobs due to losses

NEW YORK -- AT&T Corp. said Monday it will eliminate 3,500 jobs in its business services division and take $1.5 billion in fourth-quarter charges, mainly because of losses on investments in its Latin America subsidiary.

The job cuts represent nearly 5 percent of the telephone company's work force.

AT&T said that slightly more than half of the employees affected are in management, and that most of the cuts will be accomplished in the first half of 2003 through layoffs and voluntary measures.

AT&T said the job cuts were made possible by improved operations and automation and were not indicative of the outlook for the business division.

-- From wire reports