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Partial results and polling agency projections suggest Socialist Francois Hollande has won France’s presidential election against conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
A Hollande victory could change how Europe tackles its debt crisis _ with more stimulus and less austerity.
With about half of the nationwide votes counted in Sunday’s race, official results showed Hollande with 50.8 percent to […]

Pinnacle Airlines Corp., a regional carrier that flies under contract for Delta, United, Continental and US Airways, has filed for bankruptcy protection to deal with its mounting debt.
The Memphis, Tenn.-based airline said late Sunday its current business model isn’t sustainable. In its filing Sunday, it lists $1.42 billion in debt and $1.54 billion in assets. […]

Egypt said Saturday the criminal trial of 16 Americans and 27 others will start Feb. 26 in a politically charged case against foreign-funded pro-democracy groups that has badly shaken Cairo’s ties with Washington.
The trial represents an escalation in what has become the deepest crisis in U.S.-Egypt relations in decades. American officials have threatened to cut […]

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers are two leading candidates to succeed World Bank President Robert Zoellick when he leaves in June, said two people familiar with Obama administration discussions.
The U.S. promised a candidate

China pledged to invest in Europe

It’s the best start for stocks in 15 years.
In what was mostly a slow and steady climb, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 3.4 percent in January and the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 4.4 percent, the best performances for both indexes to open a year since 1997.
Investors were encouraged by modest but welcome improvement […]

Boeing plans to close its defense operations in Wichita, Ks., a move that will result in about 2,000 people losing their jobs, according to Bloomberg News.
Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg said the announcement will be made to Wichita employees at a 10:30 a.m. meeting today
Boeing said in November it was studying the Wichita plant’s future, including […]

An international arbitration body has awarded Exxon Mobil Corp. nearly $908 million in a dispute with Venezuela over compensation for the nationalization of its assets, the company said Sunday.
Exxon Mobil sought arbitration after President Hugo Chavez’s government nationalized an oil project in the country in 2007.
The decision by the International Chamber of Commerce confirmed that […]

Carl Icahn said Monday that he wants to buy Commercial Metals Co. for about $1.73 billion and combine parts of it with metals recycling businesses that he already owns.
The billionaire investor, who already owns almost 10 percent of Commercial Metals, said he also plans to nominate three of his associates to be directors on its […]

Centrue Financial Corp., the holding company for Centrue Bank, reported a net loss of $4.7 million in the third quarter, or 87 cents a share, compared to a net loss of $16.4 million, or $2.79 a share, a year earlier.
The bank’s nonperforming loans declined 49.5 percent to $3.9 million in the third quarter that ended […]