All about Business

The cost of a giant bank bailout is pushing Ireland perilously close to sovereign debt crisis territory.

Jeff Raikes worked with Bill Gates at Microsoft, most recently as president of the business division, for almost 29 years before joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as CEO in 2008. The last two years, he's worked building relationships with partners of the $33 billion foundation.

In May, less than a month after the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a key milestone was achieved with little notice: Total U.S. supplies of petroleum and products refined from it (including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) surpassed 1.8 billion barrels, reaching the highest level in the last 20 years. Since then the total has continued to edge upward, hitting 1.87 billion barrels in the week ended August 27, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Toyota Motor Corp. said it was recalling 1.33 million Corolla and Matrix vehicles on Thursday, citing problems in engines' electronic control units that have allegedly led to three accidents.

Billionaire investor George Soros will donate $100 million to Human Rights Watch, the organization announced Tuesday.