AVIATION: NWA mulls more flights

Northwest Airlines Corp., the overseas carrier with the most service to Japan, will consider adding flights to Tokyo from New York and Memphis, Tenn., as it takes delivery of new planes.
The airline may restart New York flights, axed two years ago, after it begins receiving 18 Boeing Co. 787s in February 2009, Chief Executive Officer Doug Steenland told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. The Dreamliner will help cut fuel costs compared with the larger-sized planes it flew before, he said.

A stronger yen against the U.S. dollar could also stimulate demand for flights to the United States from Japan, Steenland said.
Separately, Northwest shareholder Wellington Management Co. LLP raised its stake to 11.5%, becoming the carrier's biggest investor.
Wellington held 22.4 million shares of Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest as of Oct. 31, according to a U.S. regulatory filing Tuesday.
BANKING: Comerica to buy shares
Comerica Inc. said it plans to buy back up to 10 million of its shares or 6.6% of its outstanding common stock as of Sept. 30.
The Dallas-based bank will purchase the shares from time to time on the open market or through negotiated transactions.
The buyback is not part of an existing program that as of Sept. 30, had the authority to purchase up to 3.6 million of the bank's shares.
BOOKS: Borders signs TV deal
Borders Group Inc. is getting into the TV business.
The Ann Arbor-based company has signed an agreement with a California company to launch Borders TV, an in-store television network that will be shown at its superstores nationwide.
Borders is partnering with Ripple, a visual network marketing firm in El Segundo, Calif., to feature original video content that was previously only available on the Borders Web site.
Programming will include "Borders Live at 01," "Borders Book Club" and "Borders Presents," which will highlight performances by popular music artists, as well as interviews with public figures.
FOOD: Workers to seek damages
A judge has cleared the way for five former Nicaraguan banana plantation workers to seek punitive damages against Dole Fresh Fruit Co. for exposing them to a pesticide in the 1970s they say left them sterile.
Dole objected to punitive damages, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria G. Chaney says it's up to the jury.
Last week, a jury decided six of the 12 men who sued Dole Food Co. and Midland-based Dow Chemical Co. were entitled to more than $3 million in damages. The jury will begin considering punitive damages for five of the men today.
Dow is exempt from paying punitive damages.
Dow made the pesticide DBCP, and Dole used it to kill microscopic worms in banana tree roots.
FURNITURE: La-Z-Boy reports loss
Furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc. reported a quarterly loss because of a struggling furniture market.
The Monroe-based company posted a net loss of $9.9 million, or 19 cents per share, in its fiscal 2008 second quarter compared with a year-ago profit of $1.95 million, or 4 cents per share.
"While we are disappointed that, due to industry headwinds, the improvements we have made in our business model are not clearly evident in our results, we posted reasonable operating margins in each of our wholesale businesses on significantly lower volume," said Kurt L. Darrow, La-Z-Boy's president and chief executive.
PHARMACEUTICALS: Caraco pill backed
Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has tentatively approved the company's abbreviated new drug application for Lamotrigine tablets.
The Detroit-based generic pharmaceutical company said its Lamotrigine tablets, in 25 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg and 200 mg doses, are used to treat partial seizures.
They can also be used with other medications to treat bipolar disorder.