Massey CEO to retire at year’s end

Massey CEO to retire at year’s end

RICHMOND, Va.

Massey Energy Chairman and CEO Don Blankenship announced Friday that he will retire at the end of the month, finishing a nearly 30-year career that included big profits for the company but also labor conflicts, battles with federal regulators and a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 people.

A millionaire who rose from obscure beginnings in coal country, Blankenship oversaw an ongoing plan to expand the production of Appalachian coal for growing Asian markets but will leave behind a company that was badly shaken by a history-making mine disaster.

The company’s board of directors named current president Baxter F. Phillips Jr. as Blankenship’s successor, effective Friday. Blankenship’s retirement date is Dec. 31.

Official says euro remains ‘credible’

PARIS

The European Central Bank’s chief says the euro remains “credible” despite the debt crisis that has required the bailouts of Ireland and Greece and raised worries about the future of the shared currency.

A day after the ECB extended its special support measures for banks, Jean-Claude Trichet on Friday urged European governments to make a “quantum leap” toward reforming and cleaning up budgets to avoid falling deeper into turmoil.

The Spanish government, determined to avoid seeking a rescue of its own, approved a new austerity plan Friday that will cut back a key jobless benefit and sell off stakes in the national lottery and airports.

Company penalized for drawstrings

WASHINGTON

A California company must pay $40,000 of a $200,000 penalty for failing to report that children’s hooded sweat shirts it manufactured and sold had drawstrings at the neck, which are considered dangerous to children, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday.

The settlement resolves CPSC staff allegations that Winter Bee Inc. of Los Angeles knowingly failed to report to CPSC immediately the manufacture and sale of the sweat shirts with the drawstrings.

Associated Press