Coca Cola faces trouble at home
Washington: The Coca-Cola Co and a number of other soft drink makers in the US have been sued on the issue of the drinks containing ingredients that can form cancer-causing benzene which is linked to leukemia. A Coca-Cola spokesman said the lawsuit was baseless and said The Food and Drug Administration had closely reviewed beverages for the presence of benzene in soft drinks several times in the past and each time has found no public health issue.

Similar lawsuits are pending in federal courts in Kansas, Massachusetts and New Jersey and in state courts in Florida and California.

The target of the lawsuits include Coke's Vault Zero energy drink and also PepsiCo Inc's Diet Wild Cherry and Kraft Food Inc's Crystal Light Sunrise Classic Orange.

Benzene can form in soft drinks that contain vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid, and either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate. Scientists say factors such as heat or light exposure can trigger a reaction that forms benzene in the beverages.

According to the suits, independent laboratory tests found benzene in the drinks at levels above the federal limit for benzene in drinking water.

The Food and Drug Administration found similar results on unidentified brands in sampling from 1995 through 2001 and said it would do more tests.
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US economy in for uncertainty ahead: IMF chief economist
The US economy is in for uncertainties ahead, both on the degree to which price pressures are contained and how much the economy might slow, IMF Chief Economist Raghuram Rajan said.

He said it was not certain whether inflationary pressures have been contained and how far and how quickly housing will slow. He said he would not disagree with forecasts of the US economic growth slowing toward a rate not far from its long-term trend, or as he put it: "reasonably strong growth." But he said there were "substantial risks on the downside," mentioning both the slowing housing market and lofty oil prices.
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Google enters business software segment
San Francisco: Google Inc. is making a concerted move beyond search and advertising into the business software market, starting with a set of Web programs for e-mail, scheduling and communications. Google said it has created a software platform to run basic business activities -- based on programs it already offers separately. The move marks a stepped up challenge to rival Microsoft Corp.

The free set of Web-based programs for small businesses, universities and nonprofit businesses goes by the name "Google Apps for Your Domain" (http://www.google.com/a).
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