DealBook: G.M. Stock Sale Likely to Be Later Than Expected

BEIJING — Police have detained a local official and a driver for fatally running over a 13-month-old boy during an argument with his family over the payment of a fine for violating China’s strict family planning limits, state media and the local government said Wednesday.

By Morningstar: By Stephen Simko, CFA

WASHINGTON – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid fell last week to nearly its lowest level in 4 1/2 years, a sign that the labour market is healing. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week’s figure was revised to show 1,000 more applications than previously reported.

OTTAWA — The Conservative government has eroded the “integrity and credibility” of federal budgets through a system of secrecy that keeps parliamentarians and Canadians in the dark about how their money is spent, say two senior former officials in the finance department. In a biting critique of the government to be published in Inside Policy magazine, former bureaucrats Scott Clark and Peter DeVries outline a troubling pattern of actions taken by the governing Conservatives since they took office several years ago.

OTTAWA — The Harper government is merging Canada’s foreign aid agency with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. It also plans to leverage billions in spending on military equipment into making Canada an arms exporter. The two moves, revealed in Thursday’s federal budget, put to sleep any doubts about the government’s desire to use all means possible to advance Canadian business and commercial interests throughout the world.

Repsol SA, Spain’s largest energy company, expects to sell liquefied natural gas assets for about 2-billion euros (US$2.7-billion) by early February, according to a person familiar with the matter.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.

Bailed-out insurance giant AIG is expected to repay $6.3 billion to the US Treasury from the sale of its stake in industry rival MetLife, officials said.A Treasury statement said 146.8 million shares of MetLife common stock were sold at $43.25 per share, resulting in $6.3 billion of expected gross proceeds.The proceeds will be used to pay off another chunk of the record bailout that AIG received during the height of the financial crisis.