Business news for Mon, 31 Dec 2007 & with word environment. 2 news.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is moving closer to a run for president, as he schedules bipartisan meetings with major U.S. political figures and his aides study how to mount independent campaigns in the 50 states, The New York Times reported. The mayor has suggested that he might be a viable candidate if, for example, the Democratic and Republican nominees come from the furthest poles of their respective parties, the Times reported. And Bloomberg has developed his own domestic platform on gun control, the environment and other issues while being briefed on foreign policy by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and by Nancy Soderberg, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration, the Times reported.

The market turmoil has set a challenging financing environment for the cash-strapped sector, stoked further by the waning interest in underperforming biotechnology stocks