Nation briefs 7/21/05

Eastman Kodak targets 10,000 more job cuts

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday it is cutting as many as 10,000 more jobs as the company that turned picture-taking into a hobby for the masses navigates a tough transition from film to digital photography. The transition to a world without film is forcing an extreme makeover at the world's biggest maker of the product. Its new job cuts, on top of 12,000 to 15,000 targeted 18 months ago, coincided with the disclosure of a second-quarter loss, and its stock dipped more than 8 percent.

More than 3,400 airspace violations since 9/11

WASHINGTON -- Pilots flew into restricted airspace 3,400 times across the country in the three years following the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a congressional report that says the government needs to better coordinate its response to such violations. The Federal Aviation Administration, the North American Aerospace Defence Command and the Transportation Security Administration are responsible for making sure pilots don't fly where they shouldn't. Committee Chairman Tom Davis said it's essential for agencies that oversee the skies to work together.

No heart studies done on Vioxx prior to its release

ANGLETON, Texas -- Merck & Co. didn't do any significant studies on whether Vioxx could cause heart attacks or other serious cardiovascular problems before the popular painkiller went on the market in 1999, the company's top epidemiologist testified Wednesday. Nancy Santanello, head of Merck's epidemiology department and the company's corporate face at the nation's first Vioxx-related lawsuit to go to trial, said nothing in Merck's database before the drug went on the market in 1999 indicated it could cause heart attacks. In 2002 Merck canceled a study intended to focus on Vioxx's effects on the heart.

NASA aims for Tuesday launch of space shuttle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA will try to launch Discovery on the first shuttle mission in more than two years next Tuesday, after tracing last week's fuel gauge failure to, most likely, an electrical grounding problem lurking inside the spacecraft. Shuttle program manager Bill Parsons said the only way to thoroughly check the system is to fuel Discovery and have all its equipment running. In what would be an almost certainly controversial move in the wake of the 2003 Columbia tragedy, NASA may also proceed with the liftoff if the fuel gauge problem recurs but is considered well understood.

-- From wire reports