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Auto sector woes could spur deals: Renault CEO (Reuters)

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BCE buyers finalize funding (Reuters)

A sign is seen outside the offices of BCE Inc., Canada's largest telecoms group, in Montreal, May 21, 2008. (Shaun Best/Reuters)Reuters - Announcing what it said were "essential milestones" allowing the world's largest leveraged buyout to go ahead, BCE Inc said on Friday that its buyers had finalized funding and were sticking to their C$34.8-billion ($34.1 billion) purchase price.
Hyundai union calls for work stoppage next week (Reuters)

An employee talks on a phone at a Hyundai automobile shop in Seoul April 24, 2008. Unionized employees of Hyundai Motor Co will walk off the job for four hours next week to push for a pay increase, the auto maker's union said on Saturday. (Jo Yong-Hak/Reuters)Reuters - Unionized employees of Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) will walk off the job for four hours next week to push for a pay increase, the auto maker's union said on Saturday.
Alabama likely site of new VW plant: report (Reuters)
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Smooth sailing for yacht builders despite economy (AP)

Workers continue preparations on a super yacht at Trinity Boats in New Orleans, Tuesday, April 29, 2008. These days at New Orleans-based Trinity Yachts, the largest domestic builder, the biggest problems are having enough workers and enough time to handle the 24 custom contracts the company has for the luxury vessels. 'Nobody is buying these yachts because they need them,' said William S. Smith III, Trinity's vice president. 'They're buying them because they want them.' (AP Photo/Dave Martin)AP - Fuel prices are soaring and credit markets tightening, but the super-rich are still lining up to pay tens of millions of dollars for mega yachts.
Sexy orchids do more than embarrass wasps? - 09, May 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen -- they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen -- they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.
And the flowers benefit twice -- getting help in their own reproduction, and perhaps indirectly producing more male pollinators in the process.
Some of the most exotic orchids are known to have evolved their convoluted shapes to attract insects, who unwittingly collect and transfer pollen as they try to mate with the flowers.
"The effect of deception on pollinators has been considered negligible, but we show that pollinators may suffer considerable costs," Anne Gaskett of Macquarie University in Sydney and colleagues reported.
"Insects pollinating Australian tongue orchids (Cryptostylis species) frequently ejaculate and waste copious sperm," they wrote in a report in The American Naturalist.
It is not harmless to the wasps, who may suffer more than an inconvenience. "Male pollinators can prefer orchids to real females, prematurely end a copulation with a real female to visit an orchid, or be unable to find real female mates among false orchid signals," the researchers wrote.
"Unquestionably, producing sperm, ejaculate, or seminal fluids is costly for many animals. The energetic demands of sperm production can result in reduced body mass, a shortened life span, or limited lifetime sperm production," they added.
But this arms race of sexual trickery works in more than one way for the flower. "We also show that orchid species provoking such extreme pollinator behavior have the highest pollination success," they added.
"How can deception persist, given the costs to pollinators?" 





(c) 2008 Reuters
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