SEC slaps insurance giant Aon with bribery fine

Insurance giant Aon has agreed to pay more than $16 million in fines to settle charges that its subsidiaries bribed foreign government officials, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday.
Aon will pay $14.5 million to the SEC and $1.7 million to the Department of Justice to settle alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices […]

Centene expects greater revenue, profits in 2012

Centene Corp.

What lies ahead for the U.S. economy? Offer your forecast!

A year ago, economists Ken Matheny and Gary Thayer were both optimistic about 2011. Going into 2012, they’re decidedly less so.
“You have a lot of things coming along in early 2012 that really slow the economy down,” says Matheny, of Macroeconomic Advisers in Clayton.
The biggest problems are the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and a […]

Eurozone finance ministers OK release of $10.7 billion bailout loan for Greece

BRUSSELS

Germany denies ‘elite bonds’ plan

Germany insisted Monday that it has no plans to float bonds together with the eurozone’s five other triple A rated nations and use the proceeds to provide assistance to some of the single currency bloc’s indebted members, such as Italy and Spain.
The Finance Ministry’s denial came as the International Monetary Fund also dismissed reports it […]

Egypt new PM claims more powers than predecessor

Egypt’s military rulers picked a prime minister from ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s era to head the next government in a move quickly rejected by tens of thousands of protesters, while the United States ratcheted up pressure on the generals to quickly transfer power to a civilian leadership.
More than 100,000 people packed into Cairo’s central Tahrir […]

Eurozone recession signals mounting

Any hopes that the 17-country eurozone will avoid sliding back into recession in the wake of a debt crisis that’s shown alarming signs of spreading to the bigger economies appeared to have been dashed Wednesday.
A couple of indicators show that the eurozone economy is in deep trouble and that the debt crisis is denting confidence […]

Hazardous waste found at former Didion foundry site in St. Peters

ST. PETERS

Some critics raise concerns about layaway programs

Not everyone is happy about the return of layaway.
I wrote a story that appeared in today’s paper about how more retailers have been bringing back or expanding their layaway programs this holiday shopping season.
But some critics note that consumers could end up spending more on layaway fees than they would through the rates on their […]

Berlusconi’s party backs Monti to be new PM

Economist Mario Monti won pledges of support Sunday to lead a new technocratic government to try to rescue Italy from financial disaster, including from Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative party.
But Berlusconi’s ally, the Northern League, said it would become an opposition party rather than back Monti.
After days of being pummeled by international investors skittish about Italy’s massive […]