Model Airplanes

July 25–Chicago-based Boeing turns 100 next year, and a book about the company — essentially an authorized corporate history coffee-table book — explores its history and participation in such monumental events as modernizing air travel, dropping atomic bombs and putting a man on the moon.

“Higher: 100 Years of Boeing,” $35, by business journalist and book author Russ Banham, goes for 192 pages and is due to be released Aug. 4, complete with what the company says are never-before-released photographs and inside stories.

It traces the company from its start by Bill Boeing in a boathouse in Seattle in July 1916 to becoming the world’s largest aerospace company and a technology innovator.

Besides embarking on its 100th year this month, Boeing on July 1 entered a new era of leadership as Boeing CEO Jim McNerney, who has led the aerospace giant for the past decade, stepped down and handed the reins to Chief Operating Officer Dennis Muilenburg, who joined the company as an intern 30 years ago.

“We will sharpen our strategies to win, we will accelerate our pace of progress,” Muilenburg said in a conference call Wednesday about the company’s quarterly profits. The company will succeed by “leading through innovation, investing in our people and making our second century even better than our first,” he said.

The Boeing book includes photos and stories about commercial aircraft, from the Model 80, the first plane built with passenger comfort in mind, to the massive double-decker Boeing 747, to its most recent offering, the highly efficient

Article source: http://www.aviationpros.com/news/14049839/boeings-100-years-captured-in-new-book

Mylan NV’s independent foundation, aiming to fend off a hostile takeover by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., exercised an option to acquire shares that let it control half of the company.

The move renders Teva’s attempt to win over a majority of Mylan shareholders much more difficult, unless it can persuade or force the foundation to reverse the action. The Dutch foundation, known as a stichting, said in a statement it made the decision in the best interest of Mylan’s stakeholders. The group doesn’t plan to keep the preferred shares any longer than necessary, it said.

Teva has proposed a $40.1 billion acquisition of Mylan to create a generic-drug powerhouse with more than $27 billion in revenue. Mylan has rejected the offer, saying that Teva is a poor cultural fit and that regulators would object to the deal.

“Mylan and Teva, although both large and successful players in the global market for generic products, have a highly dissimilar business approach, culture, financial model and related management compensation schemes,” the foundation said in the statement.

Mylan has argued it makes more sense to pursue its own takeover of drugmaker Perrigo Co. for about $32.7 billion. The company is planning a shareholder meeting to ask investors to vote in favor of that proposal, which Perrigo has rejected.

Teva said in a statement that it still believes its proposal is compelling.

“We are well advised on Dutch law, including the ability of Mylan stockholders to challenge this action in court, and are prepared to take the necessary

Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-23/mylan-s-dutch-foundation-exercises-option-to-fend-off-teva

They Say Paraguay Is In Africa: Mosaic Of Horror

By Andre Vltchek

26 July, 2015
Countercurrents.org

Welcome to Asuncion.

I have always liked this country of red earth, mighty rivers and rough cobblestone streets. I have liked its bougainvillea, its long silent nights, and its endless open spaces.

But almost everything that could went wrong for the Paraguayan people, or at least for its indigenous majority.

Before Evo Morales became the President, Bolivia had been the most destitute country in South America. Paraguay was slightly “above it” – the second poorest nation. Now, most likely, it is the most deprived.

***

It is pitch dark outside, and the road is flooded. As in other extreme right wing countries worldwide, from Indonesia to Kenya, the drainage system is far from being a priority of the rulers.

I am inside an impressive art museum, the Museo de Barra, a hangout of local intellectuals, most of them from the Left. Across the table from me sits Ms Lia Colombino, a curator and one of the museum directors. One floor below, a huge exhibition depicts the horrific massacre of indigenous people that took place at Curuguaty, in 2012. Powerful artwork is everywhere: photographs raw footage, and paintings.

Ms. Lia is clearly depressed about the state of her country:

“This does not

Article source: http://www.countercurrents.org/vltchek260715.htm

CNN’s Thom Patterson is covering the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture airshow this week in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Follow him in real time on Twitter at @thompatterson.

(CNN)Really, it’s an anti-gravity machine.

That’s what I’m thinking as I stand under the looming shadow of Goodyear’s new Zeppelin. The helium inside this gigantic thing makes it repel gravity. Its natural inclination is to rise.

This week, this airship has been floating over an estimated half-million people at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Now, I’m actually about to fly on it!

As the airship’s metal gondola hovers just a couple of feet off the grass, I can see two pilots in the cockpit. At the back, a set of folding steps extends to the ground as if to say, “Welcome aboard Wingfoot One.”

Just the fact that an actual Zeppelin is flying at Oshkosh this year is a treat, even for the most jaded of aviation enthusiasts. The word Zeppelin conjures up visions from 1930s newsreels of huge airships cruising above the Atlantic.

Zeppelins also remind me of the Hollywood fantasy portrayed in the Jude Law film “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.” It seemed like everyone in that 2004 movie had their own airplane or blimp.

I strap myself in along with a handful of other aviation adventurers, including Goodyear Vice President Pierre Jambon.

Finally, pilots Michael Dougherty and Derek Reid

Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/24/travel/oshkosh-airshow-new-goodyear-blimp-zeppelin/