Current gold prices are too high to sustain, and high prices will also hamper investment abroad, an executive of Chinas largest gold producer by output, Zijin Mining Group Co. , said Sunday.

The gold prices currently are unreasonable, Lan Fusheng, vice chairman of Zijin Mining, said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

Prices have been boosted not only by peoples needs to hedge risks, but also by speculations, he said, adding that he thinks it would be sustainable for gold prices to stay at $1,200-$1,300 per ounce in the next few years.

Gold prices closed at $1,765 per ounce Friday, up about 34% from the lowest level of $1,318 in January.

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Joy Global Inc., which generated the biggest shareholder returns of any industrial company in America over the past three years, would now be worth about 50 percent more as a takeover target for Komatsu Ltd. or Volvo AB.

Joy Global, subject of renewed takeover speculation in the past month, more than quadrupled in value since 2008 and closed at $79.27 Wednesday. With Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, buying Joy Global’s biggest competitor in July, the Milwaukee-based company may command a record $120 a share in an acquisition, Northcoast Research Holdings LLC and William Blair & Co.

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The blockbuster drug Avastin should no longer be used in advanced breast cancer patients because there’s no proof that it extends their lives and it presents dangerous side effects, the government said today.

The ruling by the Food and Drug Administration was long expected, but it was certain to disappoint women who say they’ve run out of other options as their breast cancer spread through their bodies. Impassioned patients had lobbied furiously to preserve Avastin as a last shot.

“This was a difficult decision,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

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Attorney General George Jepsen said Thursday he is asking all providers of telephone, cable TV, satellite TV and Internet access to waive charges for the days when their Connecticut customers were without service following the October snowstorm.

AT&T immediately agreed to the request.

Jepsen said the request holds whether the lack of service was due to a customer not having power at all, or a problem with the telecom system. He’s also asking that those credits be given automatically, without customers having to call and ask for a refund.

Telecom companies, including AT&T, Comcast and Cox Communications, have had varying policies in place on refunds or waivers of charges during the outage.

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THE Roewe E50 electric vehicle debuted by SAIC uses the carmakers most advanced green technologies and aims to take on the Nissan Leaf electric car.

The nations largest auto group said the subcompact Roewe E50 is powered by a lithium ion battery, which allows a maximum mileage of 190 kilometers with a top speed of 130 kilometers per hour. It took the model only 15 seconds to accelerate to 100kmph.

Compared to the bigger Nissan Leaf, the Roewe E50 has longer mileage but lags in top speed.

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Perhaps as early as next week, Highmark and the West Penn Allegheny Health System plan to announce an agreement in which the region’s largest insurer will acquire the region’s second-largest health provider network. Friday’s release of West Penn Allegheny’s unaudited financial report for this past fiscal year shows the deal can’t come soon enough for the financially ailing health system.

WPAHS had a $51.8 million operating loss in the fiscal year ending June 30, although a $50 million infusion from insurer Highmark did help West Penn Allegheny finish the year $20.4 million in the black overall.

By comparison, WPAHS ended fiscal 2010 with a $63.1 million loss overall, including a $70.3 million loss in the fourth quarter.

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Verizon Communications, the second-largest U.S. phone company, reported third-quarter profit doubled as consumers snapped up iPhones and Android devices.

Net income rose to $1.38 billion, or 49 cents a share, from $659 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier, New York-based Verizon said today. Earnings, excluding some items, rose to 56 cents a share in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Analysts predicted 55 cents, the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The popularity of Android smartphones running on Verizons new higher-speed long-term evolution, or LTE, network helped give Verizon an edge on subscriber growth over rival AT&T Still, customer gains missed some analysts estimates as consumers waited for the latest version of the Apple iPhone, which became available this month.

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