Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word received. 7 news.

UK Coal Plc, Britain's largest supplier of the fuel, advanced the most in more than seven years in London trading after it received an approach for its mining and power generation assets. Austria's Meinl International Power Ltd asked for a meeting with UK Coal or its advisers next year, the Sunday Times said, citing a letter Meinl sent to the mining company. Discussions aren't expected, Doncaster, England-based UK Coal said yesterday in a statement distributed by the Regulatory News Service, according to Bloomberg News. It didn't identify who made the approach. The shares jumped as much as 23 percent. "There's a lot of value to be had from the mining business and I'm not certain an offer would reflect that potential," Charles Kernot, an analyst at Seymour Pierce in London, said in an interview. "UK Coal has looked into splitting the property and mining businesses and concluded that it's not in the best interests of shareholders." Coal prices have risen to

CATHAY Pacific Airways Ltd said yesterday it had received a formal letter of complaint from European Union regulators investigating allegations of price fixing in the air cargo business. The EU and the United States have been investigating more than a dozen airlines since at least early 2006 to discover if there was collusion in the air cargo industry to fix prices on surcharges for fuel, security and insurance. The European Commission said on Friday it had sent out Statements of Objections to a number of airlines, but did not name them. British Airways, Air France-KLM, and Scandinavian airline operator SAS Group later confirmed they had each received a letter. Cathay said it was reviewing the letter with its legal counsel and would make a "timely response" to the objections. "It is a lengthy and complex document, and only sets out the (regulator's) preliminary findings resulting from its investigation into the air cargo sector of the aviation industry. The

"Millions of us wake up every morning to a good strong cup of coffee. And, as it happens, coffee figures in the story of the wake-up call one man received after hitting a low point reminiscent of George Bailey's in the film "It's a Wonderful Life." Anthony Mason tells the tale: "

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The results of the Treasury Department's 3-month and 6-month bill auction show demand remains robust for risk-free short-term instruments ahead of the end of the year. The Treasury awarded $20 billion in 3-month bills at 3.28%, compared with last week's 3.0%. The bid-to-cover -- which measures bids received to bids tendered -- was 2.32, unchanged from last week. The indirect bid, a carefully watched category that includes foreign buyers, was 26.4%, up from 16.0% the week before. The Treasury also awarded $19 billion in 6-month bills at 3.49% compared with 3.28% last week. The indirect bid rose to 37.1% from 30.5% and the bid-to-cover rose to 2.61 from 2.34 last week. The auction "was well-bid, helped by the $2 billion cut in offering size to $39 billion, though light trading conditions limited demand," wrote analysts at Action Economics.

Almost exactly a year after shareholders approved its $17 billion going-private transaction, Harrah’s Entertainment said Monday that it has received all the necessary regulatory approvals to complete the deal. Monday’s announcement sets the stage for the largest casino operator in the world to delist from the New York Stock Exchange and come under the control [...]

Cathay Pacific Airways has received a letter of complaint from EU regulators investigating allegations of price fixing in the air cargo business.

UK Coal, the FTSE 250 energy company, has received an approach for its coal and power generation businesses, which could be worth as much as £400m.