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Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

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    Justice Dept to rule on XM/Sirius deal soon: analyst

    NEW YORK
    Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:52am EST
    An XM Satellite Radio unit is shown installed in a private vehicle in Washington, February 20, 2007. REUTERS/Jason Reed

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice may rule on the proposed acquisition of XM Satellite Radio by rival Sirius Satellite Radio as early as Friday, a Bear Stearns analyst said.

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    The Justice Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

    "Conversations with contacts in (Washington) D.C. suggest that DOJ decision is imminent," Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck wrote in a research note. He added the decision could come today or Monday.

    Peck believes that higher ranking officials at the agency will allow the merger to go through, overruling junior staffers who recommended blocking the merger.

    Sirius plans to buy XM in an all-stock deal worth about $5 billion, but the merger, announced in February, has been criticized as anti-competitive by some U.S. lawmakers, consumer groups and the traditional radio industry.

    Sirius and XM must win approval from the Justice Department's antitrust division, as well as from the Federal Communications Commission, for their deal to be completed.

    XM shares climbed 9 percent to $14.93 in early trade on Friday, while Sirius shares rose 4 percent to $3.66.

    (Reporting by Franklin Paul and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Derek Caney)
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