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U.S. antitrust official defends AT&T; decision

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From the Associated Press

The Justice Department’s top antitrust official defended the agency’s unconditional approval of AT&T;’s $82-billion buyout of BellSouth Corp. as “pretty straightforward” despite criticism from Democratic regulators and lawmakers.

“We’re living a very different world than we were in the 1980s,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Thomas O. Barnett said. “The mere size of a company in general doesn’t tell you whether a merger is going to harm consumer welfare.”

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