Debate on the bill
>> woke, phoebes. the future of $145 billion corporate tax bill in congress got a lot cloudser today. a fight over a new bush administration overtime rules derailed the planned vote on the tax measure in the senate. the bill’s primary aim subpoena to remove a u.s. export tax break the world trade organization ruled illegal. that ruling allowed the european union to start levying as much as $4 billion in sanction sanction on the u.s. the legislation would replace the tax break with other changes, including a 3% reduction on corporate taxes paid by manufacturers. democrats pushed to add an amendment that would block overtime rule changes favored by the white house. a change the full senate has already approved once. in response, republicans tried to end debate on the bill and prevent the overtime amendment from coming up. they failed to get the 60 votes needed.
>> every day that we delay action on this bill is another day that american jobs are at risk and every day of delay is inexcusable.
>> telling eight million americans they’re going to lose their overtime is not right and so all we’re suggesting todayed is to give us a vote.
>> the e.u. is promised to increase the tariffs by 1% every month if the u.s. fails to remove the export tax break. turning to asia now. malaysia’s y.t.l. is among companys that may bid for the overseas power assets of edison international. bloomberg’s ron madison standing by in our tokyo bureau with the details on that. ron?
>> that’s right, matt. a little news from your old stomping grounds. it’s malaysia’s third largest builder and third largest power producer. it is considering bidding for assets that may be worth $7 billion, including debt. people familiar with the matter say japan trading company is a potential bidder there. while london-based international power saying it is interested in australian’s assets, edison’s holdings include plants in australia and europe. it is joining some of its rivals such as c.m.s. in cutting debt that resulted from the collapse of energy trading in the wake of the enron bankruptcy back in 2001 and the sale is now a chance for global power producers to acquire assets that generate higher profits than those at home. some of the bidders have said that they’re interested in edison’s australian and new zealand asset as well. bankers estimate those are worth some $2.7 billion. matt?
>> ok. also bhb billiton gets an offer frustrates canadian diamond mine. why so much interest there?
>> well, the mine in question, matt, that you’re talk about is called the akati mine and applies 6% of the world’s diamonds by value. israel’s d.g.i. group of company says it’s offered to buy the mine, though it didn’t say how much it is going to offer for that. b.h.p. now coming out and saying it is not interested in selling is. d.g.ism and b.h.p. rejected a similar offer to buy it last year. it approached the australian miner because of speculation some executives would support a sale. d.g.i. says it form add group with $2 billion to spend on diamond mines and other die mon assets around the wompleds matt?
>> ok. ron madison in tokyo, thank you very much. always a pleasure to get the latest from the asian-pac and a pleasure to get it from you. american airlines, delta and other major carriers have been adding planes and routes to counter competition from low-cost airlines and cutting fares as the low-cost carriers expand into their markets . that competition on price and capacity may benefit travelers, but one money manager says it may hurt investors. he expects the big airlines to leaded the industry in posting losses this year rather than profiting from growing travel demand. another analyst says the six largest high cost airlines can protect market share by increasing capacity, but he says it will be unprofitable capacity, fuel costs also another wild cards for the airlines. well a boycott could hit the world’s biggest beer festival. that’s right. we’ll have the details of this story up next.
>> roy disney is asking for the number of shares voted by walt disney employees that did not back michael eisner’s re-election to the board. through his attorney, the former wall disney director said that the no votes for eisner by participants in disney’s 401-k plan are rumored to be in excess of 70% of shares health. roy disney and ex-director stanley gold are campaigning to oust eisner as c.e.o. eisner failed to receive the backing of 43% of voting shareholders for his re-election and relinquish the title of chairman to former u.s. senator george mitchell who is now chairman. time for a check on today’s world and national news. let’s bring back nicole with the very latest there.
>> thank you, matt. former white house terrorism adviser richard clarke apologized to americans who lost loved ones on 9-11. his apology came during testimony before an independent commission investigating events leading up to the attack.
