Ford's Windstar minivan gets top safety rating: Ford Motor Co saidthat its newly redesigned 1999 Windstar minivan has won the US government's top safety rating in tests to measure protection to occupants in front-end collisions. The Windstar, with a fourth door added this year, received five stars for driver and front-seat passenger safety from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), indicating the minivan offered the best crash protection among vehicles of similar weight. The vehicle has achieved the double five-star rating every year since its introduction -- five straight years. The crash tests were performed about three weeks ago, a Ford spokesman said.

US states get $440m in royalties: The US government said it distributed more than $440 million in royalty revenue to 34 states during the first nine months of this year from mineral, oil and natural gas production. The money represents the states' share of revenue collected by the interior department's minerals management service for mineral production on federal lands located within stateborders and from federal oil and gas tracts off their shorelines. This year's state revenue, announced last Friday, is lower than the $467 million distributed during the same period in 1997.