Business_Finance

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Makro, a big-box chain owned by South Africa's Massmart wholesale and retail business, soon may be part of the Wal-Mart family. South African regulators have approved Wal-Mart's bid to buy a controlling share of Massmart, which operates in more than a dozen African countries. providing access to more of the continent. The deal is expected to be finalized soon.

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Egyptian businessman Mahmoud Abdel Salam Omar waits to be arraigned at Manhattan criminal court on May 31, 2011, in New York. Omar, the former chairman of one of Egypt's major banks, was arrested on charges of sexually abusing a maid at a Manhattan hotel. (Associated Press)

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Rep. Dave Camp, House Ways and Means Committee chairman, said Tuesday the House vote on raising the nation's debt ceiling "sends a clear and critical message that the Congress has finally recognized we must immediately begin to rein in America's affection for deficit spending." (Associated Press)

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A customer fuels up his car in view of gas prices on Friday in Philadelphia. A survey shows consumers are losing faith that the economy will keep improving. Factors include high gas prices and a moribund housing market. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** A Nov. 27, 1968, photo shows the exterior of the Pierre Hotel in New York. Mahmoud Abdel Salam Omar, former chairman of Egypt's Bank of Alexandria and currently an executive with El-Mex Salines Co., was arrested on Tuesday, May 31, 2011, on charges of sexually abusing a maid at the hotel. (AP Photo)

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Brazilian Economy Minister Guido Mantega welcomes French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, the front-runner for chief of the International Monetary Fund. Brazil is one of several countries that wants the IMF search to go outside of Europe. (Associated Press)

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Kevin Cooper (41) of the Maryland Terrapins tries to navigate past Colin Briggs (34) of the Virginia Cavaliers in the first quarter during the 2011 NCAA Lacrosse Championship at M & T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md., Monday, May 30, 2011. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Members of the U.S. Marine Corps Band from Quantico, Va., march down Constitution Avenue during the National Memorial Day Parade, in Washington, D.C., Monday, May 30, 2011. (Drew Angerer/The Washington Times) ** FILE **

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Sen. Charles E. Schumer calls the car-rental industry's proposed two-tier program on cars under recall a "double standard" that does not ensure user safety. (Associated Press)

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Greenpeace activists secure an arctic survival pod on the underside of the Leiv Eiriksson oil rig off Greenland's coast on Sunday, May 29, 2011, in an attempt to stop a Scottish oil company from starting deepwater drilling in the arctic waters. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, Steve Morgan)

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Sony Corp., Japan's largest exporter of consumer electronics, has felt the effects of the recent earthquake and tsunami. The company reported a $3.2 billion loss for the year that ended March 31 the company's biggest net loss in 16 years. (Associated Press)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Syrian street vendors wait for customers on a historic street in old Damascus, an area usually teeming with visiting foreign tourist at this time of the year. The uprising against President Bashar Assad is eviscerating the country's economy, threatening to hit hard at the business community and prosperous merchant classes, which the embattled regime relies on to help retain its grip on power.

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Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Masataka Shimizu arrives for a news conference at company headquarters in Tokyo on Friday to announce that he is stepping down. (Associated Press)

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"We can't have the people getting paid by the taxpayers getting a better deal than the taxpayers themselves," presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty said at the Cato Institute on Wednesday. Institute President Ed Crane is at left. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Nail technician Alexis Carter and hairstylist Karen Doron serve customers Monday at Piaf Salon & Day Spa in Northwest Washington. The salon uses products that are free of dibutyl phthalate, formaldehyde and toluene, which cosmetics traditionally have contained. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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Employees of Venezuela's PDVSA state oil company shout anti-U.S. slogans at the company's main offices in Caracas on Wednesday to protest sanctions the U.S. imposed on the firm after it sent Iran two shipments of an oil-blending component worth $50 million. (Associated Press)

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Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Associated Press)

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French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announces her bid to lead the International Monetary Fund at a news conference in Paris on Wednesday, May 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)