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Business news in brief

In the Region

FCC stops Comcast-TWC clock

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday pushed back its deadline for reviewing two proposed mergers - Comcast Corp. with Time Warner Cable Inc., and AT&T Inc. with DirecTV. The agency cited a pending federal court action involving CBS Corp. and other programmers that have collectively sued to keep contracts confidential during the FCC review. The FCC's informal 180-day clock to finish both reviews would have been reached this month, and can be restarted when the FCC sees fit. A Comcast filing at the FCC indicated that company officials met to talk about the merger with 41 government officials Tuesday. - Bob Fernandez

AA-US Airways changes

American Airlines and merger partner US Airways will combine their frequent-flier programs "within the next 30 days," American said in an e-mail Friday to US Airways Dividend Miles and American AAdvantage members. A specific date was not given. US Airways-earned travel miles will be transferred into an AAdvantage account. The e-mail assured customers that they would not lose any of their miles when the programs are combined. - Linda Loyd

J&J sues GlaxoSmithKline

Reuters reported that Johnson & Johnson sued rival drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. on Thursday, alleging that GSK is trying to unlawfully grab market share with false advertising about its allergy nasal spray Flonase. Two J&J units, McNeil-PPC Inc. and McNeil Consumer Healthcare, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan. Both companies operate in the Philadelphia area. Meanwhile, GSK said it sold half of its stake in Aspen Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd., for about $841 million. Aspen is based in South Africa. - David Sell

Valeant might raise Endo bid

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. reportedly will raise its offer for Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a person with knowledge of the matter said, after Endo International P.L.C. came in with its own $11 billion offer this week. Valeant plans to put the offer to Salix's board before a meeting this weekend. - Bloomberg News

RBS to sell Citizen shares

Royal Bank of Scotland Group P.L.C. filed legal documents to sell shares in its U.S. unit Citizens Financial Group Inc., as it shrinks its global business. The bank, which owns 70.5 percent of Citizens, plans to sell stock to institutional investors, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. RBS has said it wants to drop Citizens from its balance sheet this year. Citizens has branches in this area. - Bloomberg News