Employment rates rise slightly \nWASHINGTON -- Employers stepped up hiring in August, expanding payrolls by 144,000 and lowering the unemployment rate marginally to 5.4 percent. While the figures didn't amount to a national job fair, they did hold the promise of stronger growth following the summer lull, analysts said.\nThe latest snapshot of the employment climate, contained in a Labor Department report Friday, came just about two months before the country votes for a president. Current office George W. Bush sparred with Democratic rival John Kerry on the campaign trail over the health of the economy and the availability of work.
Enron to pay $25 million for rescue \nHOUSTON -- The price of success is $25 million, according to a filing Friday by the corporate rescue firm of Enron Corp.'s interim chief executive.\nStephen Forbes Cooper LLC applied to a Manhattan bankruptcy court for the "success fee" as payment for guiding the disgraced former energy trading giant through the Chapter 11 process.\nThe fee would be in addition to $63.4 million in fees the firm had received as of June 30.\nThe sale of Enron assets yielded $12.85 billion. Cooper's firm boasts that his management is to thank for adding $6.2 billion of that amount, nearly doubling their value.
EU, Coke close to settling antitrust case\nBRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union is moving closer to settling its long-running antitrust case against The Coca-Cola Co., having judged the beverage giant's offer to modify distribution deals in Europe good enough to begin gauging the industry's reaction, sources close to the talks said Friday.\nThe European Commission is sending letters to Coke's soft drink rivals and other third parties seeking their input to the offer made by Coke in early August, three sources said on condition of anonymity.\nA Coca-Cola spokesman would not comment Friday about the details of the offer but confirmed that the EU was moving forward with industry consultations.
Disney CEO approves successor\nLOS ANGELES -- Michael Eisner has told Walt Disney Co. directors that company president Robert Iger is his "preferred choice" to succeed him as chief executive of the media giant, according to a newspaper report published Sunday.\nEisner told board members Iger "would be an excellent guardian of the Disney assets," he said in an interview last week with the Los Angeles Times. "There's nobody," Eisner said, "who has a better education and training to do that job."
Good economy,no natural disasters help improve tourism \nDENVER -- Tourism officials from Oregon to Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park say this has been one of the best summer seasons in years thanks to a lack of devastating fires and a recovering economy that encouraged more travel.\nWhile pockets of the West still struggling with drought have reported a drop in visitors, most areas have seen steady to higher numbers despite gas prices topping $2 a gallon, lingering worries about a terrorist attack and the ongoing war with Iraq. While the West has its own reasons for the improvement, summer travel across the country was expected to be up 3.2 percent, one of the biggest increases since 2000, said Cathy Keefe of Travel Industry Association of America.
