The first clue came when I got my hair cut. The stylist offered not just the usual coffee or tea but a complimentary nail-polish change while I waited for my hair to dry. Maybe she hoped this little amenity would slow the growing inclination of women to stretch each haircut to last four months while nursing our hair back to whatever natural color we long ago forgot. Then there was the appliance salesman who offered to carry my bags ...

Graphic photos of the alleged thief's corpse were splashed over the front pages of Mexican tabloids beneath headlines such as "Dead Rat" and "Military Justice." The confessed shooter, retired general Alejandro Flores, was widely hailed as a hero for firing at the 30-year-old man who had tried to force his way into the military man's Mexico City home. "Of course he did the right thing," wrote Felipe Alcocer in one on-line forum on the incident. "I wish everyone would ...

Layoffs at big companies are so common now that it is novel when a day goes by without Microsoft , Caterpillar , or Macy's letting thousands of people go. There are a relatively small number of America's largest companies which will almost certainly not have significant layoffs. One of them might close an office in Turkey, another could replace telephone operators with an automated system, but each is in a unique position that makes it highly unlikely for ...

Major markets across the world were sliding Friday with low confidence leading to near-record lows in the United States. European stocks were taking a beating as investors become increasingly anxious over the state of the global economy. Mining and banking shares fell sharply with mining giant Anglo-American leading the losses. Anglo-American's profit fell nearly 30 percent in 2008 and it has anounced 19,000 job cuts this month in an attemp to fight deteriorating conditions. London's FTSE 100 hit a three-month ...

India Friday vowed to oppose any protectionism moves by the United States as part of Washington's efforts to deal with the economic crisis. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been highly critical of Wall Street firms in general and Merrill Lynch in particular for the way they have conducted themselves in the midst of a financial crisis. Last week, he accused Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America late last year, of secretly doling out big bonuses before reporting ...

Bank of America CEO and Chairman Kenneth Lewis has been issued a subpoena by the New York State Attorney General's Office, which is investigating whether the bank violated state law by withholding information from investors, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been highly critical of Wall Street firms in general and Merrill Lynch in particular for the way they have conducted themselves in the midst of a financial crisis. Last week, he accused ...

A U.S. Border Patrol helicopter went down Thursday night near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been highly critical of Wall Street firms in general and Merrill Lynch in particular for the way they have conducted themselves in the midst of a financial crisis. Last week, he accused Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America late last year, of secretly doling out big bonuses before reporting a ...

For months, customers and investors have wondered if their banks will survive. The government may soon give its opinion. But don't be surprised if you find the answer inconclusive. In early February, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as part of his bank fix, said he will "stress-test" the nation's largest financial firms to find out which ones are fit and which ones are flatlining, and then apply the appropriate therapy — which we assume means anything from injecting capital to pulling ...

GM says it needs more money from the federal government or it will run out of cash next month. It has made some progress with its creditors and the UAW, but neither of those negotiations is final, so some of what GM can do to cut costs and improve its balance sheet will have to be taken on faith. The parts of the GM restructuring the the company can claim are firm are the closing of some brands including Saturn ...

Earlier this decade, the Chinese began what they called their "Go Out" strategy. State owned companies across a range of industries planned to go global by buying stakes in foreign companies. They were flush with cash, and full of optimism. Naïve optimism, it turned out. CNOOC tried to buy UNOCAL, the American oil company, and learned about how xenophobic Congressional leaders in Washington could be. Then Beijing's sovereign wealth fund got suckered ...