Texas

Southwest Airlines to accept PayPal

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines Co. is letting travelers buy their plane tickets with PayPal, the electronic payment system owned by eBay Inc.

Southwest said Tuesday that customers buying tickets on its Web site can use debit and credit cards or bank accounts linked to their PayPal account.

Northwest Airlines Corp. announced a similar deal with PayPal last month.

Southwest officials said offering PayPal as a payment option was a matter of convenience.

China

Former food, drug safety official executed

BEIJING — China executed a former director of its food and drug agency Tuesday for approving fake medicine in exchange for cash, illustrating how serious Beijing is about tackling product safety, while officials announced steps to safeguard food at next summer's Olympic Games.

The measures include ensuring that athletes' food is free of substances that could trigger a positive result in tests for banned performance-enhancing drugs. Many of China's recent food woes have been tied to the purity of ingredients, flavoring, artificial colors and other additives.

During Zheng Xiaoyu's tenure as head of the State Food and Drug Administration from 1997 to 2006, the agency approved six untested drugs that turned out to be fake, and some drug makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.

"The few corrupt officials of the SFDA are the shame of the whole system and their scandals have revealed some very serious problems," agency spokeswoman Yan Jiangying said.

The Beijing Olympics also has been targeted in the crackdown on unsafe food. Sun Wenxu, an official with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said athletes, coaches, officials and others can be assured of safe meals.

California

TV Guide explores alternatives; shares rise

LOS ANGELES — Shares climbed 12 percent Tuesday, a day after Gemstar TV Guide International Inc. said it was exploring alternatives that could include selling the company that publishes TV Guide magazine.

The company is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Besides the magazine, the company also licenses its interactive program guide to cable and satellite TV companies as well as hardware makers. Gemstar also operates the TV Guide cable channel and a horse racing wagering channel.

Gemstar Chairman Anthea Disney said the board is happy with the growth and strategy of the company, adding that it was taking the next step to boost shareholder returns.

Doctor pleads guilty in lawsuit kickbacks

LOS ANGELES — A former Brentwood physician pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge Tuesday for his role in a lawsuit kickback scheme that prosecutors said netted more than $200 million for a major New York law firm.

Steven G. Cooperman, 65, entered the plea in federal court. In return, prosecutors will recommend that he be sentenced next year to 1 1/2 years in prison.

Cooperman, now of Fairfield, Conn., was convicted of insurance fraud and other crimes in 1999 in an unrelated case. He had been cooperating with the government's ongoing investigation into the secret kickbacks scheme.

Prosecutors claimed that the law firm now known as Milberg Weiss paid more than $11.3 million in attorney fee kickbacks between 1984 and 2005 to people who agreed to be plaintiffs in more than 150 lawsuits against companies such as PG&E, United Airlines and Sun Microsystems.

Authorities said Cooperman and other family members were plaintiffs in about 70 class-action and shareholder lawsuits. Prosecutors said he received $6.4 million in kickbacks.

Levi Strauss profit climbs; sales increase

SAN FRANCISCO — Levi Strauss & Co.'s second-quarter profit rose 14 percent, accelerating a comeback that spurred talk that the storied jeans maker might go public again after more than two decades as a privately held company.

The San Francisco-based company said Tuesday it earned $45.7 million during the three months that ended May 27 compared with net income of $40.2 million a year ago.

Net revenue rose nearly 6 percent to $1.02 billion from $961 million a year ago. If not for an $18 million boost from the weak dollar in Europe, Levi's said its revenue would have been up by 4 percent during the quarter.

Management attributed performance to solid demand for its Levi's and Dockers brands, which helped offset a downturn in its discount clothing sold under the Signature brand.

Although Levi's went private in a 1985 leveraged buyout led by the descendants of the company's founder, it still discloses its financial results because its debt is publicly traded.

Washington, D.C.

Black, Hispanic home loan disparity cited

Higher income does not protect blacks and Hispanics from receiving mortgage loans with above-market rates, says a new study by a group pushing for reforms to lending laws.

The report, released Tuesday by the Washington-based National Community Reinvestment Coalition, concludes that in 2005, blacks in 171 metropolitan areas were at least twice as likely as whites to receive expensive loans. The study was based on an analysis of nationwide mortgage data collected by the Federal Reserve for the most recent year available.

The report, which analyzed 2.3 million loans in 380 metro areas, also concluded that while the disparity among blacks and whites existed at all income levels, it was more severe at higher income levels. The study found that middle-class and upper-income blacks in 167 metropolitan areas were at least twice as likely as whites with similar incomes to receive loans with high rates.

There were 70 metropolitan areas where low-income blacks faced a similar likelihood of receiving above-market rates. Low-income blacks in all areas were more likely to have pricey loans than whites with similar incomes.

Illinois

Fraud trial jury unable to reach verdict

CHICAGO — Jurors in the racketeering and fraud trial of fallen media tycoon Conrad Black sent a note to the judge Tuesday saying they are unable to reach a verdict after nine days of deliberations and asking for advice.

In response, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve briefly called the jurors into her courtroom and told them that they must make "every reasonable effort" to reach a unanimous decision. The jurors returned to their work, then recessed for the day.

The note said: "We have discussed and deliberated on all the evidence and are still unable to reach a unanimous verdict on one or more counts. Please advise."

Black and three other defendants are accused of swindling shareholders in the Hollinger International Inc. newspaper empire out of more than $60 million. Black faces 13 criminal counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud and racketeering.

The trial began March 20. In total, jurors are considering 42 counts against the four.

— From wire reports