NATION

NATION

McDonald’s reports
increase in sales

OAK BROOK, Ill. — McDonald’s Corp., the world’s No. 1 hamburger chain, said Monday that global same-store sales rose 8.2 percent in November. Same-store sales, or sales at restaurants open at least 13 months, is a key indicator of retailer performance since it measures growth at existing restaurants rather than newly opened ones. Every global region contributed to the strong sales performance. U.S. same-store sales rose 4.4 percent, boosted by sales of coffee, breakfast items and Dollar Menu selections.

Ex-newspaper mogul
sentenced in swindle

CHICAGO — Former newspaper mogul Conrad Black was sentenced Monday to 61⁄2 years in prison, far less than sought by prosecutors, for swindling shareholders in his Hollinger media empire out of $6 million.

“Mr. Black, you have violated your duty to Hollinger International shareholders,” U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve told the silver-haired millionaire member of the British House of Lords known throughout the newspaper industry for his lavish lifestyle and flamboyant use of words.

Prosecutors had asked for as many as 30 years in prison for the Canadian-born Black, saying he had not shown “one shred of remorse” for looting the company that once owned the Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Telegraph of London, Jerusalem Post and hundreds of U.S. and Canadian community newspapers.

Associated Press