Company Says "Standard Practice in Our Industry" to Reward Top Performers By JOSEPH RHEE Oct. 8, 2008 The CEO of the giant AIG Insurance Company, Edward Liddy, today defended spending $440,000 on a retreat at a luxurious California resort as "standard practice in our industry" because it rewarded independent insurance agents who were top performers for the company. The event, at the St. Regis Resort and Spa at Monarch Beach, California was held less than a week after the federal government saved AIG from bankruptcy with $85 billion in loans. Members of Congress complained that AIG executives "were getting pedicures, manicures and massages" at ...

A survey says 1,132 chiefs have left their posts this year amid a tough economy. By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 9, 2008 The roiling economy appears to be ripping into the ranks of upper management, pushing the chief executive turnover rate in a popular survey to an all-time high. This year, 1,132 CEOs have left their posts, according to employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. That is the highest nine-month total since the firm began keeping track in 1999, and makes it likely that 2008 will eclipse the record 1,478 seen in 2006. The tally of departed CEOs includes ...

Oprah sued for defamation by ex-headmistress of South African girls school over abuse remarks By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press Writer PHILADELPHIA October 6, 2008 (AP) The ex-headmistress of Oprah Winfrey's school for girls in South Africa sued the talk show host for defamation, claiming Winfrey falsely suggested she tried to cover up abuse at the school. In widely reported remarks last year, Winfrey suggested that Nomvuyo Mzamane, 39, of Philadelphia, knew about alleged abuse by a dorm matron and tried to cover it up, Mzamane says in the lawsuit. Her lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court on Friday, seeks more than $250,000 on five ...