New LCD Plant May Help Sharp Prevail:
Sharp now holds about 12% of the global LCD TVs market (down from 17% and No.2 position), less than Sony, Samsung Electronics and Philips Electronics each hold. Industry-research firm DisplaySearch expects total LCD-television shipments in 2006 to double from last year to 42.8 million units. Sony said last month that it expects a price drop of 25% to 30% world-wide on an annual basis.

Why Medicare Drugs May Be Sticking Point:
The government already pays 46% of health-care costs of all Americans -- through Medicare, Medicaid and coverage of civilian and military employees. Medicare's drug insurance plan has nearly 23 million enrollees. Prescription drug costs will account for some $219.2 billion or 10.1% of all U.S. healthcare expenditure in 2006.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs: 
NVCA's "American Made: The Impact of Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Professionals on U.S. Competitiveness," report found that "Over the past 15 years, immigrants have started 25 percent of U.S. public companies that were venture-backed." These businesses employ some 220,000 people in the U.S. and have a current market capitalization that exceeds $500 billion.

A Big Weekend for Football:
Ratings for this summer's World Cup set a U.S. record for a soccer event, Nielsen Media Research says, with 12 million people watching the final between Italy and France on ABC and more than 5 million on Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.

Japan's Sprinting Stock Market Stumbles Over Earnings Worries:
At Japanese companies that have reported so far, average pretax first-half profit growth is 11.7%, more than double the 5.2% that was expected based on the companies' forecasts, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs. Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 rose 9.8%, topping expectations of 8.5%.