| | DAVOS, Switzerland —France wants to use its presidency of theGroup of20 next year to create a new international monetary system,President NicolasSarkozy said on Wednesday, adding that he believed thedollar should no longer be the primary reserve currency in theglobal economy.In an expansive and lofty speech to the business and politicalleaders gathered here at the annual WorldEconomic Forum, Mr. Sarkozy also called for a “revolution” ininternational regulation that would make labor, health and environmentalstandards as enforceable as trade rules.Like Prime Minister GordonBrown of Britain, hebacked a tax on financial market transactions. But Mr. Sarkozy, pursuing hiscall for a more moral form of financial capitalism, suggested the proceeds beused to combatclimatechange a... |  | |
| | The American International Group has agreed to cutemployee bonuses by $20 million and will distribute about $100 million onWednesday, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations.But the reductions may not be enough to appease the company’scritics, who do not accept the company’s argument that it has to honorcontracts established before its government bailout.“A.I.G. has taxpayers over a barrel,” said Senator CharlesE. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, in a statement on Tuesday night.“The Obama administration has been outmaneuvered. And the closed-doornegotiations just add to the skepticism that the taxpayers will ever get theupper hand.”A.I.G. first promised the retention bonuses to keep people workingat its financial products unit, which traded in the derivatives that implodedin September... |  | |
| | The drivers have complained that the brakes on their Priuses havemomentarily stopped working when driving at low speeds, especially on slipperysurfaces, said Kenji Sato, a transport ministry official in charge of recallpolicy.In one incident in July 2009 in Japan, a Prius collided with anothervehicle at an intersection, hurting two people. Ten of the 14 complaints inJapan about the new Prius, which went on sale here last May, came in January.Dealersin North America and Japan have received “several tens” of reports fromcustomers who said their Priuses had “braked insufficiently” on bumpy or frozenroads, a Toyota spokesman, Takanori Yokoi, said.Toyota shares dropped 5.7 percent in Tokyo on Wednesday.AllPriuses, starting with the first generation model that went on sale in 1997,are fitted with complex regenerative brakes ... | | |
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