IBT Staff Reporter

The author is unknown, but I read a story recently about Charles Plumb. Plumb was a US Navy Academy graduate and jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air-missile.

Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc priced its initial public offering below the estimate range on Monday, but broke a nearly two-year drought for IPOs in the pharmaceutical sector.

Indian Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources, on Tuesday confirmed an improved offer for the operating assets of bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC.

Exchange watchdogs made dozens of referrals to U.S. securities regulators about the once prominent hedge fund Pequot Capital Management, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a letter revealed on Monday.

Dutch private bank Van Lanschot would be a buyer of private banking assets if the European Commission forces banks that took state aid to sell them, Chief Executive Floris Deckers said on Tuesday.

Oil prices fell by more than $1 below $70 a barrel on Tuesday, giving up earlier gains as doubts resurfaced over the pace of economic recovery and any rise in fuel demand.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd and China Investment Corp (CIC), China's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, are in advanced talks on a $1 billion-plus convertible bond investment to help the Australian iron ore miner fund its expansion, two sources said on Tuesday.

Cuts=Productivity; Clinching a Big Insurer Deal, 230 miles per gallon

General Motors' Chevrolet Volt electric car has been given an official EPA rating of more than 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in city and a combined city-highway driving, the automakers Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said on Tuesday.

Despite weakening second home purchases in 2008, the long-term demand looks favorable for the second-home market because there are large numbers of people in the prime years for buying a second home.

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia said on Tuesday more than 1 million of its Ovi email accounts had been opened since the service started in December last year.

The value of U.S. homes fell by 12.1 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, but the rate of decline shrank for the first time since prices began to fall in 2007, real estate website Zillow.com said on Tuesday.

After relying on a pacemaker for 20 years, Carol Kasyjanski has become the first American recipient of a wireless pacemaker that allows her doctor to monitor her health from afar -- over the Internet.

The dollar snapped three days of gains against a basket of currencies on Tuesday as investors await a Federal Reserve policy statement and debate whether strong U.S. data will support the currency going forward.

Huron Consulting Group Inc , whose shares plunged in the wake of an accounting scandal, said it is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for acquisition-related payments and will delay filing its latest quarterly report.

The U.S. and Mexican governments are probing a scheme to steal millions of dollars worth of crude oil and refined products from Mexico's state-owned oil company and sell it to U.S. refiners, a U.S. official said on Monday.

U.S. non-farm productivity in the second quarter rose at its fastest pace in six years as companies slashed costs to protect profits, government data showed on Tuesday.

Renewable energy leaders on Monday said the United States is moving too slowly to turn the economy green, despite support of the administration of President Barack Obama.

U.S. non-farm productivity in the second quarter rose at its fastest pace in six years as companies slashed costs to protect profits, government data showed on Tuesday.

U.S. non-farm productivity in the second quarter rose at its fastest pace in six years as hours worked fell much steeper than output, while the cost of labor fell at the quickest rate in nine years, data showed on Tuesday.

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday ahead of key data on productivity and labor costs, and before the Federal Reserve kicks off a policy meeting.

Oil prices pushed above $71 a barrel on Tuesday, spurred by record fuel imports to the world's second biggest energy user China, but the market was cautious ahead of the next set of supply and demand data.

Britain's Resolution , an acquisitions vehicle founded by tycoon Clive Cowdery, clinched the first of a hoped-for trio of deals with the 1.86 billion pound ($3.1 billion) takeover of insurer Friends Provident .

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto said on Tuesday it had yet to be presented with any evidence to support the detention of four of its China-based staff on suspicions of stealing state secrets.

The Treasury Department should consider expanding programs to cleanse troubled assets from bank balance sheets if current efforts fail to restart markets or if economic conditions worsen, a U.S. bailout watchdog panel said on Tuesday.

Troubled lender CIT Group Inc said on Tuesday it has delayed filing its second-quarter report with regulators and said if it could not complete its debt tender or arrange other financing, it would file for bankruptcy.

Troubled lender CIT Group Inc said on Tuesday it has delayed filing its second-quarter report with regulators and said if it could not complete its debt tender or arrange other financing, it would file for bankruptcy.

Stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Tuesday ahead of key data on productivity and labor costs, and before the Federal Reserve kicks off a policy meeting.

Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, said it will buy FriendFeed, netting a group of prized ex-Google engineers in the fast-growing Internet business.