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HAWAII

Executives take over Ogilvy & Mather Hawaii

Two top executives of Ogilvy & Mather Hawaii have bought the advertising agency from its corporate parent, which will no longer have a presence in the state.

Emi Anamizu, Ogilvy's managing director and chief executive, and Jim Horiuchi, director of strategy and creative, have acquired the local agency and renamed it Core Group One Inc., effective today. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Anamizu is now Core Group's chief executive, while Horiuchi is president and chief strategy officer.

The company's clients include Hawaiian Electric Co., Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, the Hawaii Convention Center and Victoria Ward Centers.

EEOC sues Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente's Hawaii unit was sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over claims the regional health maintenance organization discriminated against a pregnant worker.

The suit filed yesterday in federal court in Hawaii claims the company withdrew an offer of promotion for a nurse less than 24 hours after she disclosed her pregnancy. The EEOC sued after failing to reach agreement with Kaiser Permanente, the agency said in a statement.

The EEOC, which enforces workplace civil rights law, said discrimination against pregnant workers is increasing. The agency received 4,500 complaints of such discrimination in both 2004 and 2003, up from 3,385 in 2002.

Beverly Hayon, a spokeswoman for Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, the nation's biggest nonprofit health care provider, said she hadn't seen the suit and couldn't comment.

The EEOC is seeking back pay, lost wages, out of pocket expenses, compensatory damages and punitive damages for the worker, as well as other injunctive relief.

Hawaiian accepts plastic in flight

Hawaiian Airlines will begin accepting credit cards during flights to pay for rentals of in-flight movie headsets and entertainment systems, as well as for beverages.

HawaiianMiles awards and coupons also will get processed through new onboard technology that it is being introduced with the assistance of Rosemont, Ill.-based Abanco International LLC.

The new machines will be phased in on all of Hawaiian's trans-Pacific flights during the fourth quarter and appear on interisland flights early next year.

NATION

Tiffany's earnings jump 53 percent

NEW YORK » Tiffany & Co., a retailer of fine jewelry, crystal and china, said yesterday its earnings rose 53 percent in the second quarter due to higher sales and a lower tax rate, and the company boosted profit guidance for the full year.

Tiffany shares rose $4.11, or 12 percent, to close at $37.42 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange.

MasterCard will issue IPO to fortify itself

NEW YORK » MasterCard Inc., one of the world's largest credit-card brands, unveiled plans yesterday for an initial public offering to help reshape its business during a time of unprecedented competitive and legal challenges mounted by rivals.

The Purchase, N.Y.-based credit-card association is controlled by 1,400 financial institutions that issue MasterCard-branded products. The IPO is expected in next year's first quarter, and will transfer a 49 percent equity stake and voting control into the hands of investors.

The move comes as both MasterCard and larger rival Visa USA Inc. contend with a court decision that allows member banks -- for the first time -- to issue competing card brands of companies such as American Express Corp. and Discover Financial Services, a unit of Morgan Stanley Inc. This opened the door for those companies to file lawsuits against the two credit-card giants seeking unspecified damages stemming from anticompetitive practices.

Talks break down over China textile trade

BEIJING » A second round of negotiations between China and the United States aimed at resolving a dispute over textile trade broke down today, said a statement from the U.S. Embassy.

"Despite our best efforts we were not able to reach a broader agreement," U.S. negotiator David Spooner was quoted as saying. "We will be consulting with the Chinese over the next few days on the date and location of the next round."