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An unmanned minehunting vehicle developed by Lockheed Martin Corp ( id="symbol_LMT.N_0"> LMT.N ) has shown improved reliability in new tests, moving it a step closer to use on U.S. warships, Navy officials said on Thursday. An improved version of the Remote Minehunting System has completed 850 hours of testing, paving the way for 10 weeks of development and operational testing this fall, which should allow the system to go into use in 2015. "Ultimately, this system is going to take sailors out of the minefield," Steve Lose, the Navy's program manager for the Lockheed system, told Reuters in a telephone interview. Hunting for mines in harsh, murky waters is a critical mission for the Navy. It is keen to shift that work to unmanned systems and keep sailors out of harm's way. Sea mines are inexpensive weapons that are readily available to terrorists, rogue nations and potential adversaries. Lockheed's Remote Minehunting System combines a diesel-pow

Blackstone Group LP ( id="symbol_BX.N_0"> BX.N ) agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit that had sought $8.4 billion for its role in the sale and subsequent bankruptcy of hotel chain Extended Stay Inc. _0"> Citigroup Inc ( id="symbol_C.N C.N ), an adviser to the private equity firm that took control of Extended Stay in a 2007 leveraged buyout, agreed to pay $200,000, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on Thursday. Bank of America Corp ( id="symbol_BAC.N BAC.N ), which advised Blackstone, was also released from the lawsuits as part of the settlement.   _1"> The lawsuits stemmed from the 2009 bankruptcy of Extended Stay Inc, which creditors blamed on a leveraged buyout of the chain two years earlier. _2"> In 2007, Blackstone sold the chain of about 680 hotels for $8 billion to a little-known private equity investor, David Lichtenstein. The settlement excluded Lichtenstein. After Extended Stay filed

Ben Bernanke, the central bank chief whose massive stimulus program drove bond yields to historical lows and minted a mountain of profit for fixed-income funds along the way, is now the arch nemesis of bond mavens. It doesn't matter whether it's a "govvies" guy focused on Treasury debt or a junk bond junkie devoted to high-yield corporate bonds. The losses inflicted across all fixed-income assets since Bernanke signaled on May 22 that the Fed could soon dial back its $85 billion a month in bond purchases have been deep: $406 billion of cumulative losses, according to Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Fixed Income Indexes data. "It has been a tough month after a rough May for a lot of investors, but mostly for the bond crowd," said John Brynjolfsson, chief investment officer of hedge fund Armored Wolf. The downward spiral accelerated on Wednesday when Bernanke said the Fed now views the U.S. economy as strong enough to consider reducing bond purchases by yea

American Express Co ( id="symbol_AXP.N_0"> AXP.N ) named Jeffrey Campbell as its chief financial officer, replacing Daniel Henry, who will retire later this year. _0"> Campbell, 52, was most recently the CFO of healthcare services provider McKesson Corp ( id="symbol_MCK.N MCK.N ).   _1"> He will join American Express next month as executive vice president of finance and will takeover as CFO in early August after the company files its second-quarter results. Campbell, who is an MBA from Harvard University, began his career as a certified public accountant and management consultant. He was also the CFO of American Airlines parent AMR Corp ( id="symbol_AAMRQ.PK_2"> AAMRQ.PK ), prior to joining McKesson. Henry, 63, has been with American Express for 23 years and has served as CFO since 2007. The credit card company said last month Henry was retiring. American Express launched a restructuring program in January that includes cutting abo

American Express Co ( id="symbol_AXP.N_0"> AXP.N ) named Jeffrey Campbell as its chief financial officer, replacing Daniel Henry, who will retire later this year. _0"> Campbell, 52, was most recently the CFO of healthcare services provider McKesson Corp ( id="symbol_MCK.N MCK.N ).   _1"> He will join American Express next month as executive vice president of finance and will takeover as CFO in early August after the company files its second-quarter results. Campbell, who is an MBA from Harvard University, began his career as a certified public accountant and management consultant. He was also the CFO of American Airlines parent AMR Corp ( id="symbol_AAMRQ.PK_2"> AAMRQ.PK ), prior to joining McKesson. Henry, 63, has been with American Express for 23 years and has served as CFO since 2007. The credit card company said last month Henry was retiring. American Express launched a restructuring program in January that includes cutting abo

A company owned by Ronald Perelman has agreed to pay $720,000 to settle U.S. Department of Justice charges over a stock purchase, the second time this month that the billionaire financier agreed to penalties to resolve civil charges by the federal government. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings agreed to make the payment to end an antitrust case over its failure to report its June 2012 purchase of more shares in Scientific Games Corp ( id="symbol_SGMS.O_0"> SGMS.O ), which provides lottery and gaming services, despite passing an ownership threshold requiring such reporting, the Justice Department said.   The accord follows an unrelated June 13 settlement in which Revlon Inc ( id="symbol_REV.N_1"> REV.N ) agreed to pay $850,000 to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it deceived shareholders and independent directors about a failed 2009 transaction with Perelman to take the cosmetics company private. MacAndrews & Forbes owns more tha

Japanese trading houses Itochu Corp ( id="symbol_8001.T_0"> 8001.T ) and Mitsui & Co Ltd ( id="symbol_8031.T 8031.T ) will invest a combined $1.5 billion in BHP Billiton's ( id="symbol_BHP.AX BHP.AX ) Jimblebar iron ore mining hub in Australia , the world's largest miner said on Thursday. _0"> Itochu and Mitsui will invest approximately $800 million and $700 million respectively in shares and loans, representing an 8 percent and a 7 percent interest in the mining hub and resource. The consideration includes a share of costs already incurred by the Jimblebar expansion project. _1"> Itochu and Mitsui, already longstanding BHP partners, hold a combined 15 percent interest in BHP's current Western Australia Iron Ore mine, rail and port infrastructure. _2"> The new Jimblebar mine will have initial production capacity of 35 million metric tonnes per annum and could expand.   (Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; editing by