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China aggressive in adding nuclear power

The energy-starved country, accident-free in 14 years, wants to double its generating capacity by 2020.

By TIMES WIRE
Published July 27, 2005

Ex-WorldCom exec to sell Florida home

The former finance chief of WorldCom will sell the 10-bedroom, Mediterranean-style mansion he is building in South Florida and turn the proceeds over to investors who lost billions in the epic accounting fraud. Investors should recover at least $5-million from ex-CFO Scott Sullivan's Boca Raton home, plus about $200,000 from his WorldCom retirement account, New York state officials said. The agreement settles Sullivan's part in a lawsuit brought by investors who lost billions of dollars when WorldCom collapsed three years ago in an $11-billion accounting fraud - the largest in U.S. history. Sullivan also faces sentencing Aug. 11 for his role in the fraud and is almost certain to receive prison time. Real estate listings describe the nearly completed Boca Raton mansion as an elegant 30,000-square-foot home set on 4 acres of lakefront property.

Publix Super Markets Inc. is the winning bidder for a Clearwater Winn-Dixie store in Northwood Plaza. The Lakeland-based chain is asking a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Jacksonville to approve its $300,000 purchase of the lease, but not the fixtures or inventory. The Clearwater location is the first of 12 local Winn-Dixies and a SaveRite on a store-closing list to have a buyer. The chain has signed deals to sell 102 of the 326 stores it will close this summer. The next round of Winn-Dixie store auctions begins Aug. 9.

Property insurers expect to pay policyholders in four states $900-million for damage claims from Hurricane Dennis, according to estimates by ISO's Property Claim Services unit. The total was far less than any of the 2004 hurricanes, but almost matched this year's second-quarter catastrophe loss of $920-million for the whole industry. Florida incurred $640-million in losses from Dennis, followed by Alabama ($115-million), Georgia ($85-million) and Mississippi ($60-million). ISO, an industry group, estimated there will be slightly more than 126,000 claims from the storm.

Americans' anxiety about the economy and their jobs resurfaced in July, sending a widely followed measure of consumer confidence downward. The Conference Board said Tuesday its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 103.2 from a revised 106.2 in June. The July figure was worse than the 106.2 analysts expected, but was still considered solid. In May, the index rose to 103.1 from April's 97.5.

A Monday report on the 2003 settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed by many retailers against Visa USA and MasterCard was incorrect on what has been mailed recently to 8-million merchants. Advisories outlining the claims procedure were mailed. Claims forms will be mailed in the fall.

[Last modified July 27, 2005, 01:03:14]