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The information minister of Libya’s rebel movement says its forces have overrun the base of a rival faction after five hours of fighting.
Mahmoud Shamam says the clashes broke out around 3 a.m. Sunday and left four rebels dead and six wounded. The main rebel force was now in control of the al-Nidaa Brigade’s base on […]

For long-suffering shareholders of News Corp., there may be a silver lining in the phone-hacking scandal: A chastened Rupert Murdoch.
A sort of real-life Citizen Kane, the 80-year-old CEO has amassed dozens of newspapers and TV businesses around the world. To politicians and pundits, the power of his media holdings elicits a mix of awe and […]

The franchise owner of local Chevys Fresh Mex restaurants has filed for bankruptcy and plans to shutter a store at the St. Louis Mills mall in Hazelwood.
The closure of the Hazelwood Chevys, which is expected to occur in the next few days, follows T&J Restaurants’ closure of the Chevys in Columbia, Mo., earlier this week.
T&J […]

U.S. stock futures are rising modestly despite a continuing standoff on how to resolve the nation’s debt problems.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers have offered competing proposals to avoid a catastrophic default on the U.S. government’s debt. But a resolution still appears a long way off.
If an agreement is not reached by Aug. 2, the U.S. won’t […]

 
Rank Company Employees
1 Emerson 127,700
2 Monsanto Co. 21,400
3 Energizer Holdings Inc. 21,101
4 Amdocs Ltd. 19,455
5 Charter Communications Inc. 16,600
6 Panera Bread Co. 15,900
7 Viasystems Group Inc. 14,842
8 Express Scripts Inc. 13,170
9 Brown Shoe Co. 12,100
10 Ralcorp Holdings Inc. 10,800
Based on fiscal year 2010, except for Brown, which uses data for fiscal year 2011
SOURCE: Bloomberg
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IMPERIAL

Ivory Coast’s president is setting up an independent commission to investigate human rights abuses committed during Ivory Coast’s postelection crisis earlier this year.
Government spokesman Bruno Kone on Wednesday read a presidential decree creating the commission, after a special Cabinet meeting. The decree gives the commission six months to present its findings.
The commission will attempt to […]

Asian stock markets rose Wednesday, boosted by healthy earnings reports from U.S. companies.
Crude oil climbed above $98 while the dollar weakened slightly against the euro and yen.
Investors took heart after big U.S. companies such as Coca-Cola Co., IBM and Apple reported better quarterly earnings. Coca-Cola said income rose 18 percent on strong overseas sales while […]

The lawyer for Rupert Murdoch’s former British chief, Rebekah Brooks, says she is not guilty of any criminal offense, and police face serious questions about why she was arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and bribery.
Lawyer Stephen Parkinson says Brooks was held and questioned for nine hours on Sunday, but detectives did not accuse her […]

A late rally Friday is helping the stock market avoid its worst weekly losses in nearly a year.
Concerns about Europe and weak U.S. factory output weighed on stocks on Friday. Those factors largely overshadowed a jump of nearly 13 percent for Internet-search giant Google after the company said its revenue hit an all-time high last […]