The Liberal Democrats had appealed to the Scottish Secretary to change the law and reclassify Scottish notes, which are currently not officially legal tender anywhere in the United Kingdom. They are accepted generally as payment but do not have the legal backing that Bank of England ones enjoy.The term legal tender is only used in contract law and provides protection in limited cases where debtors have paid debts using "legal tender".In every other way, the legal tender of a banknote does not affect its use. But the Lib Dems say there have been instances when traders in England have refused Scottish notes, claiming they were not "legal tender" and this could not happen if the notes were given the same legal backing as Bank of England ones.Malcolm Bruce (Gordon) said at Commons question time: "It is high time that Scottish banknotes were legally acceptable throughout the UK."He told Mr Browne: "If dollars and euros are acceptable to traders, surely Scottish notes should be.

Is this the Breaking of the Bear?

The company's top employees sold stocks worth over $20 million in December 2007 alone. In fact, before resigning recently, Bear Stearns Chief Executive James Cayne sold $15.4 million of stock in December 2007. Cayne exercised and sold 172,621 shares of stock vested under a capital accumulation plan according to a filing with the SEC. However, Cayne still owns 5.6 million shares, or about 5% of the company.

In addition, in a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Bear Stearn's President, Alan Schwartz reported he exercised options December 21, 2007 at no cost as part of a compensation plan and sold 67,900 shares the same day for $89.01 apiece. Further, An Executive Vice President exercised options for 102,408 shares of common stock according to a SEC filing. The bank's Treasurer exercised options for and sold 25,927 shares of common stock in the same month.

FDA Admits Drug-Approval Error

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Company turns to Danforth plant center to develop a 'green' plastic

Imagine an oilseed, not part of the food chain, that can produce biodegradable plastic and improve the economics of making biodiesel.

That is the vision of scientists at Cambridge, Mass.-based Metabolix Inc. and their research partners at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur.

If it pans out, the result could be a green-green, win-win-win for Missouri's economy, Metabolix and the environment, say the partners and state economic development officials.

"It's exactly what the civic leadership in St. Louis has been positioning St. Louis and the state to become," said Rob Monsees, executive director of the Missouri Technology Corp., which gave a $1.14 million state grant to the project. "Metabolix is hopefully the first of many examples of plant biotechnology companies that are going to be finding their way to Missouri." .

The State of the News Media 2007

Every media sector except for two is now losing popularity. Even the number of people who go online for news — or anything else — has stopped growing. Only the ethnic press is up.

With fundamentals shifting, we sense the news business entering a new phase heading into 2007—a phase of more limited ambition. Rather than try to manage decline, many news organizations have taken the next step of starting to redefine their appeal and their purpose based on diminished capacity. Increasingly outlets are looking for “brand" or “franchise" areas of coverage to build audience around.