business

The Wall Street Journal reported that five high-ranking executives at American International Group Inc. said last week they were prepared to quit if their compensation is cut significantly by the insurer's government overseers, according to people familiar with the matter. The threat is the latest in the running fracas between AIG and the government's compensation czar, Kenneth Feinberg, who is charged with setting pay limits for top executives at companies receiving the most federal bailout money. The AIG executives who notified the company they were prepared to resign include its general counsel, Anastasia Kelly, and the heads of some of its largest insurance businesses. Over the weekend, two of them changed their minds.

The price of gold fell as much as $33 an ounce Monday, extending its slide from Friday, as the dollar continued to advance at the expense of commodity prices. The dollar fell sharply in the early afternoon, however, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled that interest rates will be kept low for some time. As a result gold regained some of its losses. Gold for February delivery lost $5.50 for the day to settle at $1,164 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, adding to a nearly $50 decline on Friday. Earlier Monday, prices fell to $1,136.10 after having hit a record $1,227.50 last week.

Federal regulators on Monday accused three former top executives of collapsed mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. of fraud, saying they misled investors and inflated profits as the company's subprime loan business was failing in 2006. In a case stemming from the mortgage market meltdown, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit seeking injunctions and unspecified civil fines and restitution against New Century's former CEO and co-founder Brad Morrice, former chief financial officer Patti Dodge and former controller David Kenneally.

Amazon.com Inc. will add two features to the Kindle e-book reader to make the gadget more accessible to blind and vision-impaired users. Monday's announcement comes a month after Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., and the University of Wisconsin-Madison said they would not consider widely deploying the device as an alternative to paper textbooks until Amazon makes it easier for blind students to use. Both universities bought some Kindles to test this fall. The Kindle has a read-aloud feature that could be a boon to blind students and those with other disabilities, including dyslexia, but turning it on requires navigating through screens of text menus. Amazon said Monday it is working on audible menus, which would let the Kindle speak menu options out loud. It's also working on an extra-large font for people with impaired vision. The additions should reach the Kindle next summer, Amazon said.

FROM NEWS SERVICES