Music industry weighs giving away music

CANNES, France — After years of fighting the Wild West of freely downloaded music, the mainstream music industry welcomed a former desperado to their annual schmoozefest Monday, highlighting the difficulty of their search for a solution to plunging CD sales.

And that solution might be: give music away legally and find another way — such as advertising — to make money.
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Societe Generale Uncovers Massive Fraud

In what appears to be the largest trading fraud ever carried out by a single person, a young trader at French bank Societe Generale is accused of making unauthorized bets on stock markets that cost the bank nearly $7.2 billion but may not have netted him a cent.

The bank called the fraud "exceptional in its size and nature," and said it apparently went undetected for more than a year by its own multilayered security systems.

It would place the young trader, identified as 31-year-old Jerome Kerviel, atop the pantheon of rogue traders for a scheme from which bank executives said he apparently did not make a personal profit.

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Boeing, Airbus Backed Up

TOULOUSE, France, Jan. 16 -- The problem for Airbus and Boeing isn't too few customers, it's making planes fast enough to meet demand.

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France's new finance chief causes a stir

PARIS — She's French. She's female. And she is causing quite a stir. Christine Lagarde, the first woman finance minister for a G-8 nation, was rated the best minister in President Nicolas Sarkozy's government last month by one of France's top-selling newspapers. Not bad for a political newcomer who only two years ago was unknown outside legal and business circles, and who is vocally pro-market in a capitalism-wary nation.
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Areva's $11.9 billion deal could spark more sales in China

PARIS – French nuclear engineering company Areva SA hopes to sell as many as six additional third-generation nuclear reactors to China following its record $11.9 billion order this week to build and supply fuel for two, a top executive said Tuesday.
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Airbus looks forward to delivery of A380

TOULOUSE, France — The worst day of John Leahy's life, Airbus' chief salesman says, was facing Singapore Airlines executives and telling them that the very first A380 superjumbo — already months behind schedule — would be delayed yet again.

"They just looked at me," said Leahy, the European plane maker's chief operating officer. "Fortunately, they were speechless."

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She loves the man, but just isn't a racing fan

MONZA, Italy - Spare a thought for the weekend widow.

If your spouse has a passion - be it for football, fishing or Formula 1 - and you don't want to lose him (or her) for significant periods of your leisure time, there is only one option: Join him.

That's how I came to take my ultimate spousal endurance test: a three-day weekend at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, otherwise known as the temple of speed. In a tent.

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