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Two workers at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant might have exceeded a radiation exposure limit amid concerns about the risks faced by the workers struggling to contain the crisis.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday the two control room operators are being tested further and don’t have immediate health problems.

If exposures beyond the limit are confirmed, they would be the first men to reach the government-set limit.

The government had eased its previous limit for men soon after the earthquake and tsunami set off the crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on March 11.

The two men were responsible for Unit 3 and 4 central control rooms when the quake and tsunami knocked out the plant’s power and cooling functions.

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Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations said Friday that international development banks could give more than $20 billion to Egypt and Tunisia to support countries that overthrew dictators this year and are trying to establish free democracies.

President Barack Obama and other G-8 leaders meeting in France said in a final statement that their countries will also “mobilize substantial bilateral support to scale up this effort.” The statement did not provide breakdowns of what aid specific G-8 countries would provide.

The leaders encouraged other countries, including rich Arab world nations, to contribute as well to shoring up economies in Egypt and Tunisia, where uprisings this year overthrew dictators but also scared away tourists and investors.

“In the short term, our collective aim is to ensure that instability does not undermine the process of political reform, and that social cohesion and macroeconomic stability are both sustained,” the declaration said.

The more than $20 billion in aid from multilateral development banks is aimed at “suitable reform efforts” from now through 2013, the statement said, without elaborating. Some euro3.5 billion would come from the European Investment Bank.

They did not lay out exactly what the money would go for, or whether the figure includes money already promised for the region. U.S. and European officials had said that it’s too early to come up with firm dollar figures.

After meetings with the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia in the French resort of Deauville, the G-8 leaders launched a partnership program aimed at supporting the countries’ fragile political leadership and fighting corruption and stabilizing the economies.

The G-8 leaders laid out a plan for refocusing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development _ created to help eastern European economies after the collapse of communism _ to help Arab democracies.

The EBRD was set up 20 years ago, when the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union convinced European leaders of the urgency to provide support to a region emerging from decades of political and economic dictatorship. The idea was to set up a “transition bank” to help lead the way on banking systems reform, price liberalization, privatization and establishing legal property rights in a region just shaking off the effects of almost 50 years of planned economies.

The G-8 leaders are also worried that fighting in Libya and violence against protesters in Syria could derail the pro-democracy movement that has swept around the Arab world since Tunisian protesters rose up against an autocratic regime and forced out their longtime president.

In their final statement, the G-8 leaders said Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi “must go” and are pressing Syria’s regime to “stop using force and intimidation” against its people.

The G8 leaders say Gadhafi and his government have failed to fulfill their responsibility to protect Libya’s people “and have lost all legitimacy. He has no future in a free, democratic Libya.”

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PNC Bank has asked a federal judge to appoint a receiver for the Suson Pines Apartments in south St. Louis County. The apartments are owned by Gannon International.

PNC Bank alleges that Creve Coeur-based Gannon is in default on a loan that is secured by the 336-unit apartment complex at 5265 Suson Hills Drive.

In a court filing Monday, PNC Bank amended a lawsuit the bank filed against Gannon last month and claims that an affiliate of Gannon is in default on a promissory note signed in 2005 and owes $13.2 million in principal and interest. PNC asked a judge to appoint a receiver to take over management of Suson Pines Apartments.

PNC filed the original lawsuit on April 18 against several affiliates of Gannon International and its chief executive, William Franke.

In late April, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Mummert III signed an order appointing a receiver, Brentwood-based MLP Investments, to take over management of two Gannon-owned properties: Springwood Apartments in Bel-Ridge and the Aspen Cove Townhomes in Ellisville no checking account payday advance. PNC alleges in its lawsuit that Gannon is in default on a $5.7 million loan secured by Springwood and $272,438 for Aspen Cove.

Terry Pabst, an attorney representing Gannon, said his client has not yet decided how it will respond to PNC’s allegations of default on the loan secured by Suson Pines Apartments.

Suson Pines is located on 36 acres in unincorporated St. Louis County and has an occupancy rate of about 92 percent, said Bill Schierholz, president of Gannon’s real estate group.

“If there would be a receiver, the (rent) payments would go to another party,” Schierholz said. “It would have no impact on tenants.”

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Lloyds Banking Group Plc (LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) are among 14 U.K. lenders whose debt Moody’s Investors Service is considering downgrading as withdrawal of government support may increase credit risk.

Santander U.K. Plc and customer-owned lenders including Nationwide Building Society also had debt ratings put on review for a possible downgrade. The outlook on Barclays Plc (BARC)’s senior debt and deposit ratings was changed to negative from stable, Moody’s said.

British banks accepted about 1 trillion pounds ($1 payday loans.6 trillion) in government bailouts and guarantees following the 2008 financial crisis, support that Moody’s said accounts for between two and five credit grades for larger U.K. lenders and one to five levels for smaller lenders. The review comes as stocks slump globally amid concern Europe’s debt crisis is worsening and the global economic recovery is waning.

The reassessment was initiated in response to guidance from U.K. authorities “that banks that fail in the future should not expect capital injections from the public purse,” Elisabeth Rudman, a senior credit officer at Moody’s, said in the statement. It “is not driven by either a deterioration in the financial strength of the banking system or that of the government.”

Politicians and business groups have criticized British lenders for failing to boost credit and fuel the nation’s economy even after receiving government support.

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Iceland closed its main international airport and canceled all domestic flights Sunday as a powerful volcanic eruption sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles (20 kilometers) into the air.

The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano was far larger than one a year ago at another Icelandic volcano that upended travel plans for 10 million people around the world, but scientists said it was unlikely to have the same widespread effect.

University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said this eruption, which began Saturday, was Grimsvotn’s largest eruption for 100 years.

“(It was) much bigger and more intensive than Eyjafjallajokull,” the volcano whose April 2010 eruption shut down airspace across Europe for five days, he said.

“There is a very large area in southeast Iceland where there is almost total darkness and heavy fall of ash,” he said. “But it is not spreading nearly as much. The winds are not as strong as they were in Eyjafjallajokull.”

He said this ash is coarser than last year’s eruption, falling to the ground more quickly instead of floating vast distances.

The ash plunged areas near the volcano in southeast Iceland into darkness Sunday and covered buildings, cars and fields in a thick layer of gray soot. Civil protection workers urged residents to wear masks and stay indoors.

Iceland’s air traffic control operator ISAVIA said the Keflavik airport, the country’s main hub, closed down at 0830 GMT (4:30 a.m. EDT) for the day.

Spokeswoman Hjordis Gudmundsdottir said the ash plume was covering Iceland, but “the good news is that it is not heading to Europe,” blowing northwest toward Greenland instead.

President Barack Obama was flying Sunday night to Ireland, but there was no immediate word on whether the volcano would affect Air Force One’s flight path cheap pay day loans.

Trans-Atlantic flights were being diverted away from Iceland, but there was no indication the eruption would cause the widespread travel disruption triggered last year by ash from Eyjafjallajokull.

In April 2010, officials closed the continent’s air space for five days, fearing the ash could harm jet engines. Millions of travelers were stranded.

The Grimsvotn volcano, which lies under the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier about 120 miles (200 kilometers) east of the capital, Reykjavik, began erupting Saturday for the first time since 2004.

Gudmundsson said the new eruption was 10 times as powerful as the one in 2004, which lasted for several days and briefly disrupted international flights. Grimsvotn also exploded in 1998, 1996 and 1993, eruptions that lasted between a day and several weeks.

Sparsely populated Iceland is one of the world’s most volcanically active countries and eruptions are frequent. Grimsvotn and Iceland’s other major volcanoes lie on the Atlantic Rift, the meeting of the Euro and American continental plates.

Eruptions often cause local flooding from melting glacier ice, but rarely cause deaths.

Gudmundsson said it was hard to predict how long the eruption would last, but it might already be slowing.

“There are some signs the eruption plume is getting lower now,” he said. “We may be seeing the first sign that it is starting to decline. In two or three days the worst should be over.”

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McDonald’s Corp. CEO Jim Skinner came out swinging Thursday when asked about Ronald McDonald and whether the burger chain hooks children with junk food.

Skinner, speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting at McDonald’s headquarters outside Chicago, said that newspapers ads Wednesday calling for Ronald’s retirement had prompted an outpouring of support to his office, with parents and customers asking Skinner “to defend their right to choose.”

A group called Corporate Accountability International paid for the ads, which said Ronald is encouraging unhealthy eating habits and contributing to childhood obesity and related diseases such as diabetes.

At the meeting, shareholders defeated a proposal the group had helped craft asking McDonald’s to issue a report on its responses to childhood obesity. The proposal received 6 percent support, according to preliminary results released by the company.

Nick Guroff, a spokesman for Corporate Accountability International, called it “an extreme success for a first introduction” and said the results will force McDonald’s executives “to take these concerns _ as much as they diminished them at their shareholder meeting and otherwise _ very seriously.”

When Deborah Lapidus, an organizer with the activist group, said McDonald’s is interfering with political efforts to curb marketing unhealthy food to children, Skinner replied that “this is about choice.”

“We believe in the democratic process and our government officials believe in the democratic process,” he said to applause from the audience of McDonald’s shareholders. “This is about choice, this is about personal, individual right to choose in the society we live in. That’s where we play, that’s where you play, and we have every right to do so.”

Skinner also got applause when he called Ronald, the burger chain’s smiling spokesclown, “an ambassador for good” and noted that he is the face of Ronald McDonald House Charities.

“He does not advertise unhealthy food to children,” Skinner said. “We provide many choices that fit with the balanced, active lifestyle. It is up to them to choose and their parents to choose, and it is their responsibility to do so.”

When another shareholder said he was disappointed that Ronald wasn’t at the meeting, Skinner replied: “Ronald hasn’t been here because he’s out in the field busy doing work and fighting through the protestors.”

McDonald’s has fared well throughout the recession, and Skinner started his presentation by saying that the company has turned in eight straight years of growth in stores open at least 13 months, an important measure for a restaurant chain. He also said that store remodelings and an expanded menu, including smoothies and oatmeal, will broaden the restaurant’s appeal.

“It’s oatmeal, people,” he added, an apparent jab at a shareholder who said the oatmeal contains as much sugar as a Snickers bar.

Shareholders re-elected all five directors on the ballot, including Skinner, with each getting at least 97 percent of the vote, the company said.

Shareholders also passed a proposal, with 77 percent approval, asking the company to require that all directors be re-elected annually. The Florida State Board of Administration, which submitted the proposal, said the change would help keep directors accountable. McDonald’s had opposed the change, saying its strong financial performance should be evidence of a proper board structure.

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Air France-KLM returned to profit in its latest fiscal year as the rebounding global economy lifted traffic and helped offset a euro1 billion rise in its fuel costs, the airline said Thursday.

Europe’s largest airline by passengers says in a statement it made a euro613 million ($872 million) net profit for the 12 months ending March 31, in contrast to the euro1.6 billion net loss a year earlier when the global economic crisis hammered freight and passenger traffic.

Air France-KLM warned that “uncertainties” including the long term impact of Japan’s earthquake, crises in the Middle East and Africa and elevated fuel prices could weigh on its performance this year. The airline forecast an operating profit higher than the euro122 million it made last year.

Air France-KLM had warned in February that it would miss a targeted improvement in its operating profit due to security issues in North Africa as well as weaker-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter driven by overcapacity by rivals.

The airline’s fourth quarter earnings were hurt by the Japan earthquake as well as the unrest in the Middle East and Africa. Passenger operations lost euro367 million in the quarter, the airline said, while its freight business lost euro9 million.

In March a French judge filed preliminary manslaughter charges against Air France and jet manufacturer Airbus in connection with the June, 2009 crash of Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The accident killed 228 people and was the worst in Air France’s history. Last month investigators found the jet’s wreckage on the Atlantic floor nearly 4,000 meters down and successfully brought up the jet’s flight data recorders, which investigators are now examining in a bid to finally discover what caused the accident.

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Home improvement retailers are evolving to meet the needs of budget-conscious consumers stuck in homes they can’t sell.

Home Depot Inc. is focusing more on low-priced items and Lowe’s Cos. on improving customer services such as outdoor equipment repair _ changes dictated by the companies’ first-quarter results, which show customers holding onto their cash until it’s the right time to spend.

Home Depot, the largest U.S. home improvement chain, said Tuesday that its revenue edged down 0.2 percent to $16.82 billion for the quarter that ended May 1, missing Wall Street’s $17.06 billion estimate. Lowe’s, which reported quarterly its earnings Monday, saw its revenue drop 2 percent.

Weather is critical to both chains, and the spring selling season _ their second-biggest in revenue after summer _ typically prompts a flurry of seasonal purchases of plants, patio furniture and barbeque grills. But harsh conditions blanketed most of the nation for much of the first quarter, and shoppers stayed indoors.

So Home Depot and Lowe’s, knowing their customers will come in for spring products once the weather improves, are working now on new ways to keep them coming back. Home Depot raised its full-year earnings forecast, but Lowe’s dampened its outlook.

Home Depot executives said during a conference call Tuesday that their chain is beefing up offerings like paint and soft-sided tool storage as maintenance and repair _ instead of major renovations _ remain at the forefront of consumers’ minds.

Homeowners have plenty of cause for caution, with new-home construction down in April and U.S. homebuilders worrying the housing market won’t recover this year. Shoppers all but abandoned big-ticket projects during the recession.

Home Depot Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome said in an interview with The Associated Press that her company is offering a variety of cost-conscious options, such as cabinet re-facing, for customers who still want to upgrade their kitchens. This price-conscious approach helped contribute to a 1.5 percent increase in the dollar amount of the average transaction at Home Depot for the quarter. At Lowe’s, the average receipt was nearly flat.

Lowe’s Chairman and CEO Robert Niblock also said during a Monday conference call that rising gas prices are pushing consumers to shop at whichever store is the most convenient.

Based on store count, that would put shoppers in Home Depot more often. Lowe’s had 1,751 stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico as of April 29, dwarfed by Home Depot’s 2,245 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and China.

To combat the convenience factor, Niblock says Lowe’s is differentiating its services and products and opening new stores in targeted locations. Lowe’s said Monday that its first-quarter net income fell 6 percent.

Home Depot’s Tome said, however, that it is too early to draw a correlation between gas prices and customer traffic. And her company said Tuesday that its net income rose 12 percent to $812 million, or 50 cents per share, up from $725 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier. That beat the 49 cents per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet expected on average.

Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’s lowered its full-year outlook to $1.56 to $1.64 per share on a revenue increase of about 4 percent, implying revenue of about $50.79 billion. It previously forecast earnings of $1.60 to $1.72 per share on a 5 percent revenue increase.

Home Depot, based in Atlanta, increased its fiscal 2011 earnings forecast and now expects to earn $2.24 per share, up from $2.20. It kept its revenue forecast at 2.5 percent growth from 2010, when it took in $68 billion, implying revenue for 2011 of $69.7 billion.

Wall Street predicts earnings of $2.30 per share on revenue of $69.72 billion.

Shares of Home Depot gained 27 cents to $37.25 by early afternoon, while Lowe’s stock lost 2 cents $24.82.

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A loss of momentum on Wall Street and worries over Europe’s debt problems dampened investor enthusiasm and led Asian stock markets lower Monday.

Oil prices fell below $99 a barrel Monday in Asia as crude became more expensive for investors with other currencies amid a U.S. dollar rally.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.6 percent to 9,587.85 with banking shares incurring losses following comments last week by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano suggesting that Tokyo Electric Power Co. will need help repaying its debts. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 1 percent. Mizuho Financial Group lost 0.8 percent.

Edano said Friday that TEPCO may need adjustments to its loans to help it cope with financial losses incurred following twin natural disasters on March 11 _ an earthquake and subsequent tsunami that smashed into one of the company’s nuclear plants in northeastern Japan.

The utility has been struggling for two months to bring a radiation leak from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant under control. TEPCO has sought a 2 trillion yen ($24.8 billion) loan to tide it through the initial emergency period.

It also expects to pay 50 billion yen ($620 million) in initial compensation to nearly 80,000 residents evacuated from around the plant. Overall damages are expected to be much higher.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5 percent to 2,108.45, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.1 percent to 23,024.82. Benchmarks in Australia, Singapore and Taiwan were also lower.

Analysts said investors were worried about Greece’s debt crisis and the absence of an energetic global economic recovery.

On Wall Street, stocks finished lower “as investors continued to worry about slowing global growth and European debt concerns,” said Ben Potter of IG Markets in Melbourne.

After sailing through its best first quarter since 1998, U.S. stock markets are starting to lose some momentum. The Standard and Poor’s 500 stock index, a broad market benchmark, is up just 1 percent this quarter after jumping 5.4 percent in the first three months of the year, in large part because of conflicting data about the health of the U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, industrials, a group that investors buy more when they expect an economic pickup to lead to new buildings or machines, are flat for the quarter. Energy companies are down 6.9 percent this quarter because several reports have indicated demand for oil is falling as gas nears $4 a gallon.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was down 84 cents to $98.81 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled at $99.65 per barrel Friday, up 68 cents.

In currencies, the dollar rose against the euro to $1.4096 from $1.4110 in late afternoon trading Friday in New York. The dollar strengthened to 80.99 yen from 80.84 yen.

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