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Manufacturing businesses are being asked to play their part in cutting bureaucracy and red tape in the latest phase of a government campaign to reduce the burdens on British businesses.

For the next three weeks the Red Tape Challenge will focus on 140 different regulations that manufacturers and producers have to deal with every day. The Challenge asks whether the regulations are good and should be retained or if they are burdensome or redundant and should be scrapped.

The campaign also asks for suggestions on how regulations can be improved or simplified to reduce the burden that they place on businesses but maintain protections for employees, consumers and the public.

Manufacturing minister Mark Prisk says, ‘Our manufacturing sector is at the centre of our plans to rebalance the economy and promote sustainable private sector growth. T

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Under plans filed earlier this month for the store at 525 Bay Isles Parkway, Publix intends to shutter the grocery in April 2012 and open a new, larger store at the same site by year-end.

The new store and adjacent retail space would total 79,760 square feet, according to preliminary plans filed with Longboat Key’s Planning, Zoning and Building Department.

Like many new Publix outlets, the revamped Longboat Key supermarket will be a prototype, emphasizing fresh produce and other ingredients with an accent on prepared and specialty foods. In many respects, it will be similar to the Lakeland-based chain’s Greenwise organic supermarkets in St.

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Stock markets are easily rattled. The slightest whiff of uncertainty can trigger sharp share price fluctuations. Take the onset of the so-called Arab Spring of protests earlier this year. The first signs of turmoil kicked off concern around a number of companies that operate in the Middle East and North Africa. Sector was no bar. The Jordanian pharma group Hikma Pharmaceuticals and the gold producer Centamin Egypt, to name just two, saw their share prices wobble in late January and over much of February as protests spread from Tunisia to the wider region.

Petroceltic was also caught up in the sell-off. The oil and gas prospector saw its share price go from above 15p in the middle of January to around 10p at the beginning of March.

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A new survey found a growing number of business school graduates see technology companies as the most appealing places to work, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Consulting firm Universum surveyed more than 6,000 students from dozens of business-schools around the country regarding their top five ideal employers. The Journal had the company narrow the survey to some of the top-ranked schools in the country and found that technology companies comprised four of the top 10 most preferred employers for this elite group.

Leading the pack was consulting firm McKinsey & Co. with 29.1 percent of those respondents, but Google placed not far behind with 27.8 percent. Full Post…

–Tax gain, Humira sales help 2Q earnings

–Abbott CFO doesn’t see big impact from sluggish economy

–Niaspan prescriptions seen falling on recent study

Abbott Laboratories reported Wednesday a 50% spike in second-quarter profit, helped by a tax gain, while revenue rose 9% on a weaker dollar and continued sales growth for the blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Humira.

The Abbott Park, Ill., health-care company also slightly raised its forecast of full-year 2011 earnings, citing its performance to date and outlook for the rest of the year.

Chief Financial Officer Thomas Freyman said in an interview that the company isn’t being significantly affected by tight health-care spending amid a sluggish economy.

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