Finmeccanica

Wouldn't it be great if traffic signals were half as smart as traffic cops? Some new technology is promising to improve the intelligence of traffic signals at major intersections. It is just one of several major advances in which cameras and computers are transforming law enforcement, highway safety and eventually driving itself. Aldis Corp., an Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Ford Aerospace Corp. has drawn a wide array of potential bidders, including several foreign suitors, as Ford Motor Co. draws closer to a decision on the sale of its defense and communications subsidiary, industry sources said Monday. Some analysts said that a deadline for submitting bids for Newport Beach-based unit expired over the weekend, but others indicated that bidding will be open for several more months and that the company may ultimately decide to take the unit off the market.

Regardless of how the Libyan revolt plays out, in the global economy the humanitarian crisis is just one deadly aspect of the fighting. Thousands are believed dead, and the fabric of society has been shredded in what has become a civil war. But to the nations of Europe that have come to rely on a steady flow of oil and petrodollars from Moammar Kadafi's nation, the destruction of what could be called Libya Inc. is likely to be the most painful blow....

Los Angeles County transportation officials Thursday delayed for two months a decision on whether to extend the contract options of AnsaldoBreda, an Italian rail-car maker that has pledged to build a plant in downtown Los Angeles if it gets the $300-million deal.

NEW DELHI - India ratcheted up its diplomatic standoff with Rome over a shooting incident last year, issuing orders at major airports and seaports Friday that the Italian ambassador was not allowed to leave the country without permission. The move could send relations into uncharted territory given international conventions against detaining diplomats. While it's not unusual for countries to expel diplomats during a disagreement, it's far less common to detain them. New Delhi also canceled the posting of its own ambassador to Italy, according to local media reports - possibly fearful Rome might do the same to its diplomat, by some accounts - and threatened to review all business and trade ties between the two countries.

Pressured by intensive lobbying from groups that include Los Angeles County's most powerful labor unions, transportation officials are slated today to decide whether to give Italian rail-car maker AnsaldoBreda a second chance at a $300-million contract. For months, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have been locked in debate with the company over the quality of the 50 rail cars it has built under an existing contract that is three years behind schedule.

When Boeing Co. unveiled plans to build the 787 Dreamliner, the aircraft was touted as revolutionary, a major technological shift in the way a plane is made and in the way it operates. But revolutions rarely come without a struggle. The 787 is now more than two years behind schedule and by some estimates is costing Boeing $4 billion more to develop than planned. The troubled jetliner has also set back other Boeing projects, analysts say, and has left some suppliers financially strapped.

The best thing you can do when looking over investments at this time of year is try to ignore what everybody is talking about--the Asian contagion and deflation--and open your mind to events and trends that are certain to be important in 1998. A list of trends for the year will include such factors as how companies and employees, assisted by technology, are working in different ways these days. How that contributes to a worldwide pattern of disinflation.

In the not-too-distant future, you'll be able read or send an e-mail, surf the Web, watch real-time news or communicate with the home office at 40,000 feet. In commercial air travel today, passengers can't do that. But aircraft giant Boeing Co. and some smaller technology companies hope to make Internet and entertainment services available to air travelers by late next year.

The international drive to freeze the Libyan regime's foreign assets is running into stiff resistance in many parts of the world, allowing Moammar Kadafi to dig into a vast hoard of cash that has helped him cling to power as he battles rebel forces. Although the United States and the European Union have blocked access to more than $60 billion in Libya's overseas bank accounts and investments, other nations have done little or nothing to freeze tens of billions more that Kadafi and his family spread around the globe over the last decade, according to U.S., European and U.N. officials involved in the search for Libyan assets.