Obama Overseer to Set Pay at Rescued Companies

The Obama administration on Wednesday appointed a compensation czar who will have broad discretion to set the pay for 175 top executives at seven of the nation’s largest companies, which received hundreds of billions of dollars in federal assistance to survive. The mandate given to the new compensation official, Kenneth R. Feinberg, a well-known Washington [...]

Golden ears’ on nuclear submarine

A French nuclear submarine today began combing the Atlantic depths off Brazil in search of signals that would pinpoint the flight recorders that could explain why Air France flight 447 crashed last week. Aboard the Emeraude, crewmen called “golden ears” were straining to pick up in their headsets the acoustic “pings” which aircraft black boxes [...]

Metro seeks takeover of Arcandor

Metro, Germany’s biggest retail group, wants to buy the assets of collapsed retailer Arcandor.Arcandor, which owns 53% of travel firm Thomas Cook, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after the German government declined to bail it out.”We have a short and medium-term objective to create a large new ensemble,” Metro boss Eckhard Cordes told the ZDF [...]

Deadly blast hits southern Iraq

A deadly car bomb has exploded in a crowded market in the southern Iraqi town of Bathaa, killing at least 28 people, say officials. Dozens of people were reported to have been injured in the mid-morning attack. The area has been the scene of fierce fighting in the past between rival Shia militia [...]