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Condo building juggernaut The Related Group is offering itself out as a consultant and possibly a lender for troubled real estate assets.

A suit claiming Apple Inc. used anticompetitive practices to restrict sales of its OS X operating system to its own machines was thrown out by a federal judge on Tuesday. (AAPL)

Veteran retail broker Seth Nodelman has joined CB Richard Ellis as a vice president. Nodelman

Insituform Technologies Inc. announced late Tuesday that it plans to eliminate 35 of its management and support staff positions. Approximately half of the positions are located at the company’s headquarters in Chesterfield, with the remainder based throughout North America.

ARMONK, NY (MARKET WIRE) IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has signed a three-year, approximately $130 million contract extension with Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) for information technology (IT) outsourcing services.

GLENDALE, CA (MARKET WIRE) American Realty Advisors announced today that it has provided preferred equity financing to an affiliate of Quadrangle Development Corporation for the recapitalization of the Grand Hyatt Washington, an 888 room, luxury full-service hotel located in the burgeoning East End of Washington, DC. The investment was executed on behalf of one of American's separate account clients.

MINOT, ND (MARKET WIRE) Investors Real Estate Trust (NASDAQ: IRET) (NASDAQ: IRETP) announced today that its Board of Trustees has declared a regular quarterly distribution of 16.95 cents per share/unit payable on January 14, 2009, to common shareholders and unitholders of record at the close of business on January 2, 2009. The distribution reinvestment price will be the closing NASDAQ share price on January 14, 2009, less a discount of 5%. The Company has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register the number of common shares necessary to meet distribution reinvestment

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (MARKET WIRE) Citation Technologies joined forces with RTP Environmental Associates, Inc. to launch NSRonline(R), a dynamic portal for accessing historical USEPA's guidance documents and regulatory interpretations related to preconstruction air permitting programs (both Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Non-attainment Major New Source Review). NSRonline(R) will increase productivity of air quality professionals up to 50% thanks to an integrated collaboration platform and a clever set of productivity tools, such as the portal search ability and the tracking of regulatory document changes.

ATLANTA, GA (MARKET WIRE) The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) announces initiation of its comprehensive product emissions standard for indoor products. Indoor air is known to be 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. In newly constructed homes and buildings, levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde can be significantly higher. Exposure to these pollutants can lead to short-term irritation and discomfort and long-term exposure can lead to more serious health concerns.

POCATELLO, ID (MARKET WIRE) Hoku Materials, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOKU), established to manufacture and sell polysilicon for the solar market, today announced the signing of an HCl supply agreement with BHS Acquisitions, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHS marketing, Inc., and a leading chemical supplier with bulk liquid transloading facilities in Nampa, Idaho, that are serviced by Union Pacific Railroad. BHS's customers include Alcoa and Rio Tanta (Alcan).