Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word ruling. 7 news.

The Bronfman-Fisher Investment group hopes to overturn a court ruling that annulled the results of the tender they won to build an IKEA outlet in Rishon Letzion, on the grounds that the Tel Aviv Administrative Court made material mistakes. ...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s mergers and acquisition watchdog, the Takeover Panel, Monday set a deadline of Jan. 21. for a Heineken and Carlsberg-led bidding consortium to make an offer for U.K. brewer Scottish & Newcastle or walk away. All parties have accepted this ruling, the panel said. Shares in Scottish & Newcastle inched down 0.8% in London, Heineken shares declined 1.5% in Amsterdam and Carlsberg shares fell 2.4% in Copenhagen.

EUROPE’S credit card industry expects a landmark ruling from the European Commission on fees this week that may determine the range of cards consumers will have in their wallets in future.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's party won all of the seats in parliament, preliminary results showed, after a weekend election the opposition condemned as fraudulent

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Loews Corp., the New York investment-holding company, said it would spin off its interest in the Lorillard tobacco company to holders of its two classes of stock: Loews and Carolina Group. Lorillard would become a publicly traded company under the plan, Loews said in a statement on Monday. In the deal, Loews would swap each Carolina Group share for 1 Lorillard share. The Lorillard shares to be distributed in this swap account for 62% of Lorillard. The remaining 38% of Lorillard would go to holders of Loews shares. Loews said it would either swap that holding for Loews common shares "if market conditions are acceptable"; or if the swap isn't fully subscribed, it will distribute the 38% of Lorillard to Loews holders as a dividend. Conditions include receipt of an Internal Revenue Service ruling that the deal is tax-free to holders, clearance by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and others. Loews hopes to close the spinoff in mid-2008.

New jobs for some provicincial Communist leaders The 17th Congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October 2007 has been followed by a wide-ranging reshuffle of senior positions in provincial governments where future national leaders are being groomed. The changes confirm the ascendancy of the "princeling" party faction made up of sons of former high officials, many of whom are thought to be capable modernisers. China's president, Hu Jintao, has also been able to bring the sometimes wayward southern province of Guangdong under the control of one of his loyalists. These developments suggest that for the next several years Chinese elite politics is likely to remain centred on an alliance between princelings and Mr Hu's own power base, the so-called Communist Youth League (CYL) faction made up of officials who worked their way up in China's poorer western provinces. China's recent swathe of personnel changes has important policy implications. They represent the latest attempt by Mr Hu and Wen Jiabao, the premier, to further consolidate their hold on power, allowing them to pursue their political priorities more effectively. Since gaining power Mr Hu and Mr Wen have tried to place more emphasis on rural development and the plight of social groups that have failed to benefit from China's rapid economic growth. ...

A Group of Saudi Arabia Muslim clerics has issued a rare warning to the ruling government that it must take action to curb rising inflation, blaming Riyadh's pegging of the riyal to the US dollar