| » The IMF selected Christine Lagarde as its new managing director. Ms Lagarde was the front-runner for the job from the moment Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned in May. Her appointment came after America, China, Brazil and others lined up to back her bid, though some emerging-market countries continued to question the convention that only a European should head the fund. As French finance minister Ms Lagarde played a pivotal role in co-ordinating Europe's response to the euro area's debt crisis. See article » François Baroin was named as France's new finance minister, replacing Ms Lagarde. A hawk on balanced budgets, one of Mr Baroin's first tasks was to prepare for a meeting of euro-area ministers to discuss more aid for Greece. See article
 Maple relief » The Toronto and London stock exchanges scrapped their planned merger after failing to receive enough support from the Canadian operator's shareholders. The news was welcomed by Maple, an all-Canadian consortium that recently launched a hostile bid for the Toronto bourse. » Bank of America agreed to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims that mortgage-backed securities sold by Countrywide Financial, a distressed bank that BofA bought in 2008, contained loans that fell short of underwriting guidelines on things like borrowers' income and credit scores. BofA will book charges totalling more than $20 billion in the second quarter because of the settlement and other toxic-mortgage-related claims. See article » Lloyds Banking Group completed its strategic review. The bank, in which the British government retains a sizeable stake after a bail-out in 2009, is to shed a further 15,000 jobs and pull out of half the 30 countries in which it currently operates. » The Federal Reserve cut banks some slack on debit-card fees, one of the most controversial parts of the Dodd-Frank reforms. They will be allowed to charge double the 12 cents per transaction permitted under an earlier proposal, though this is still much less than the 44-cents average take today.
 The wrong bet » News Corporation finally managed to sell off its troubled Myspace social-networking site in a deal that values the business at $35m. News Corp paid $580m for it in 2005. At the time, Rupert Murdoch, News Corp's boss, hailed it as a "great opportunity" and described Myspace as "one of the web's hottest properties". » After a three-month review the British government said it was "minded to accept" News Corp's proposal to take full control of BSkyB, Britain's biggest provider of satellite-television. News Corp owns several British newspapers. Most of the British press (on the right as well as the left) argue that it should not also be allowed to own a big broadcaster. In response to those worries, News Corp has offered to spin off Sky News. The government will make its final decision on July 8th. » Google's market dominance in internet searches came under renewed scrutiny. Just days after it confirmed that America's Federal Trade Commission had begun a formal investigation into its business practices, Google was taken to court by 1plusV, a French competitor which says it has been forced to choose Google's search methods in order to secure advertising services. See article » The International Energy Agency, the rich world's energy club, announced that member countries would release a combined 60m barrels of oil from reserves to offset the disruption to supply in Libya. America is to provide half of this. The effect on oil prices was fleeting: they fell sharply after the IEA's intervention, but rebounded within a few days. OPEC advised the agency not to "disturb the market". » Diageo, a global drinks company based in London, announced that Chinese regulators had approved its offer to take control of Shui Jing Fang, a well-known baijiu (or "white spirit") label. Diageo owns Gordon's Gin and Captain Morgan rum, among other brands. Its majority stake in a distinguished Chinese alcohol producer is seen by some as an indication that China is more open to foreign takeovers than had been thought, especially after Coca-Cola's attempted acquisition of a juice company was blocked in 2009.
Mortal Kombat » America's Supreme Court struck down a law in California that had banned the sale of violent video games to children. The decision represents a big victory for the video-gaming industry, and is viewed as more proof that this may be the most business-friendly Supreme Court in decades. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia maintained that there was "no tradition" in America of "restricting children's access to depictions of violence...‘Grimm's Fairy Tales', for example, are grim indeed." | 
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