Word: utc
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Those who can't wait to see 2008 come to a close will have to endure an extra second - literally. On Dec. 31, just before 7 p.m. Eastern time, a leap second will be added to atomic clocks around the world to realign Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the international standard for atomic clocks, with Earth's rotational period. The reason for the intermittent mismatch between these two measurements lies not with the clocks but with the movement of the planet, which is decelerating at an average rate of two milliseconds...
Weird, huh? Not in the age of globalization--for that, in effect, is what the General Electric Co., United Technologies Corp. and Honeywell International Inc. have just done. Last year GE outbid UTC for Honeywell; American antitrust authorities approved the merger. But--though the game isn't over--the deal appears to have been nixed by the competition division of the European Commission in Brussels, which is headed by an Italian, Mario Monti. (To continue the Connecticut theme, Monti studied at Yale.) For more than 10 years, the commission has claimed jurisdiction over any merger between firms whose combined global...
...Though UTC won't comment on the commission's investigations, sources close to the case say it opposed the deal. That makes sense. UTC's Pratt & Whitney division is a competitor of GE's in the global market for large aircraft engines. (With Rolls-Royce of Britain, the companies make up what is, in effect, a three-member oligopoly.) GE's competitors may have thought that by combining GE's engines with Honeywell's advanced electronics, Jack Welch's company would have been able to offer customers an irresistible package--especially since GE, through its aircraft-leasing division, is itself...
...Moreover, Monti is about the least likely man in Brussels to be motivated by crude anti-Americanism. Indeed, he was offered the job of Foreign Minister in the Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi, conservative America's favorite European. In any event, GE competitors opposed to the deal are--like UTC--just as likely to be American as European. Airbus, Europe's flagship aviation company, says it supported the GE-Honeywell deal. I understand that only one airline formally opposed the merger, and I suspect it is based...
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