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Rupert Murdoch’s newest newspaper launched Sunday with a familiar mix of celebrity news, scantily clad women and defiant language.

The Sun’s Sunday edition hit the stands two weeks after five employees of the tabloid were arrested in an inquiry into the alleged payment of bribes to police and defense officials.

The new Sunday tabloid replaces The News of the World, which closed in July after an advertising boycott led Murdoch to pull the 168-year-old paper. Britons were disgusted by revelations that the paper had routinely hacked into the phones of those in the public eye _ including, most notoriously, a missing schoolgirl whose murder had shocked the country.

The scandal has spawned three parallel police investigations and a judge led inquiry into media ethics, all of which are ongoing. Dozens have been arrested or been pushed to resign because of the scandal, include two of Britain’s top police officers, who were accused of not doing enough to get to grips with the tabloid’s wrongdoing.

The Sun Sunday said in its editorial that the scandal had been “a sobering experience for our entire industry.”

“The Sun has been a tremendous force for good. It is worth reminding our readers, and detractors, of that as we publish our historic first Sunday edition during what is a challenging period,” it said.

Murdoch flew to London to oversee the launch of the newspaper and was at the printing presses north of London on Saturday night to see the first editions appear.

The newspaper turns The Sun _ Britain’s biggest selling newspaper _ into a seven day operation, run by the same editor Dominic Mohan.

The front page story is an interview with British actress Amanda Holden speaking about the birth of her baby where she hemorrhaged badly and columns by model Katie Price and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu.

Journalist Peter Preston wrote in The Observer newspaper that The Sun Sunday lacks “any real revelation or guilty pleasures.”

Britain’s media ethics scandal flared again last week just ahead of the launch of the newspaper, with two men arrested on suspicion of computer hacking Friday and a senior police officer placed under investigation for allegedly leaking information to Murdoch’s News International.

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Federal regulators said Tuesday that they’ve approved new suppliers for two crucial cancer drugs, easing critical shortages _ at least for the time being _ that have patients worried about missing life-saving treatments.

The Food and Drug Administration said it will temporarily allow importation of a replacement drug for Doxil, a drug for ovarian and other cancers that hasn’t been available for new patients for months.

The agency also has approved another supplier for a preservative-free version of methotrexate, a crucial drug for children with a type of leukemia called ALL and for high-dose treatment of bone cancer. The version with preservatives can be toxic or cause paralysis in children and other patients getting the drug high doses.

The FDA also has approved the release of a batch manufactured by Ben Venue Laboratories Inc., shortly before it closed several factories and its complex in Bedford, Ohio, possibly for a year, due to serious quality problems. That closing is what turned the on-again, off-again methotrexate shortage that began in late 2008 into a crisis almost overnight, with fears that patients would begin missing treatments as soon as the end of this month.

The FDA increasingly has been able to prevent drug shortages by getting advance notice from manufacturers, with 195 shortages prevented in 2011, mostly late in the year after President Obama issued an executive order giving FDA additional powers to address the shortages. Still, about 280 drugs are in short supply.

“A drug shortage can be a frightening prospect for patients,” FDA Dr. Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg said in a statement. “Through the collaborative work of FDA, industry and other stakeholders, patients and families waiting for these products or anxious about their availability should now be able to get the medication they need.”

Drug shortages have increased dramatically in the U.S. over the past six years, particularly for generic injected drugs, which are the workhorses of hospitals but are difficult to make and produce little profit for drugmakers.

The shortages are caused primarily by problems with sterility and other serious issues that have led to shutdowns of production lines and occasionally entire factories. In addition, consolidation among generic drug manufacturers, as well as manufacturers deciding to end production of marginally profitable drugs, has led to decreased capacity. That means when one manufacturer suddenly stops production, the small number of others making a drug can’t quickly pick up slack.

The inability to get crucial medicines has disrupted not only carefully timed chemotherapy regimens, but surgery and care for patients with infections, pain and other serious conditions. At least 15 deaths since 2010 have been blamed on the shortages, which have set a record high in each of the last five years.

Of late, the cancer drug shortages have attracted the most attention, partly because missing multiple treatments can sharply reduce the chances of curing the disease. In the case of methotrexate, its use as part of the treatment for acute lymphoblastic lymphoma results in nearly 90 percent of children being cured, so parents and doctors were particularly upset at the prospect of it not being available.

The FDA said Tuesday it has temporarily approved importing an alternative to Doxil called Lipodox, made by Sun Pharma Global FZE. It’s also given approval to APP Pharmaceuticals to begin making a preservative-free version of methotrexate in addition to its current drug that includes preservatives.

The agency was to discuss details of its efforts on the two cancer drugs at a noon news conference.

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Greece faces further hurdles and delays before it can receive a second, euro130 billion ($171 billion) bailout in spite of its lawmakers voting through more austerity measures in the face of violent protests.

The European Union’s Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn on Monday called the Greek parliament’s approval of a further round of budget cuts a “crucial step forward,” but Germany insisted it would still take some time before the second bailout is delivered.

Germany, which as Europe’s biggest economy pays the largest part in bailout deals, said it wouldn’t give its final approval for the new aid payments until early March _ after it becomes clear how many banks and investment funds are willing to take losses on their Greek bonds and the parliament in Berlin votes on the new measures.

Pushing the new bailout back for several weeks underlines the amount of distrust that has built up against Greece over the past two years, when many promised cuts and reforms were passed in its Parliament but never actually implemented.

But it also means that Greece, its citizens, and the rest of the world economy won’t know for several weeks whether the country can avoid a potentially disastrous default. A bankruptcy could force Greece out of Europe’s euro currency union, drag down other troubled eurozone countries and further roil global markets.

“Germany is trying to get the best deal it can by putting pressure on Greece now,” said Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics in London. The idea is to “give Greece a bit more of an incentive over the next few weeks to speed things up and get things moving.”

But delaying the final approval of the bailout is not without risk. Uncertainty over the new rescue money could dissuade some of Greece’s private investors from participating in a separate bond swap deal, May warned. A hitch in getting the bailout package through national parliaments in the eurozone could also push Greece perilously close to missing a euro14.5 billion bond redemption on March 20, he added.

Greece’s political leaders scrambled over the weekend to get new far-reaching austerity measures through Parliament ahead of a meeting of the finance ministers from the 17 euro countries on Wednesday. The drastic cuts debated on Sunday included axing one in five civil service jobs over the next three years and slashing the minimum wage by more than a fifth.

As Greek lawmakers voted on the new cuts, the streets of Athens and other cities were rocked by violent protests. In Athens, at least 45 buildings were burned while dozens of stores and cafes were smashed and looted. Police arrested at least 74 people and detained a further 92, while in several cases they had to escort fire crews to burning buildings after protesters prevented access.

However, the Greek Parliament’s vote hasn’t brought an end to the uncertainty. Apart from some technical decisions, several key issues remain:

_It is unclear whether the new spending cuts, the debt relief deal and the new bailout will be enough to bring Greece’s debt load down to 120 percent of economic output by 2020 _ the maximum its international creditors perceive as sustainable.

Several weeks ago, the EU estimated that there was still a financing gap of around euro15 billion ($20 billion) and an EU official on Monday could not say whether the gap has since decreased instant payday loan lenders. There is hope that the European Central Bank, which also holds a significant amount of Greek debt can help close that gap by forgoing profits on those bonds.

_Greece’s debt sustainability depends on whether enough private investors participate in a bond swap designed to slice some euro100 billion ($132 billion) off Greece’s euro350 billion ($464 billion) debt pile. Athens wants banks and other investment funds to exchange their old Greek bonds for new ones with half the face value, lower interest rates and longer repayment deadlines. But the deal will only work if almost all private bond holders take part. If not enough of them sign up, Greece could still pass new legislation that could force holdouts to participate.

_Athens still needs to spell out how exactly it plans to cut an extra euro325 million in spending this year. The sum was included in the austerity package that passed through parliament, but Greece hasn’t said where the money will come from. An EU official said Monday that much of the euro325 million could come from further cuts to Greece’s defense budget.

_The other 16 countries that use the euro are still waiting for the leaders of Greece’s two main political parties to commit in writing to implementing the new austerity measures even after elections expected for April. Both the Socialists and the center-right New Democracy party backed the package in the parliamentary vote, but New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras has said that he disagrees with some of the measures.

_National parliaments in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands will have to vote on the second bailout package. Since those countries are traditionally most critical of bailouts, the votes are unlikely to happen before there is clarity on whether the bailout deal will actually make Greece’s debt sustainable again. Germany said its parliament will vote on Feb. 27.

Germany’s insistence on taking more time to decide whether it is willing to send more bailout money to Greece means the final decision on the rescue loans will have to be split from the bond swap deal.

The swap offer for private investors has to be launched this week so that it can be completed ahead of March 20, when Greece has to redeem some euro14.5 billion in bonds.

The finance ministers from the other 16 countries that use the euro as their currency could give Greece the green light to make the swap offer to investors at their meeting Wednesday, which would give investors several weeks to decide whether to participate.

However, the finance ministers “will have to provide the private sector with some assurances on the second bailout in order to for them (the private bondholders) to look at the deal and make a real judgment,” said Capital Economics’ May.

“Everything takes place or nothing takes place and that by definition makes it a more complicated and time consuming process,” May warned. “Assuming a deal is put in place, it’s likely to come right down to the wire.”

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Juergen Baetz in Berlin and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this story.

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The federal deficit was lower through the first four months of the budget year than the same period last year. Still, the deficit is expected to top $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row, putting more pressure on Congress and President Barack Obama in an election year.

The deficit totaled $349 billion through January, the Treasury Department said Friday. That’s $70 billion less than at the same point last year. January’s monthly deficit was $27 billion, roughly half of the deficit in January 2011.

The White House later confirmed a report that President Obama’s new budget predicts a $1.3 trillion deficit for the full fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1. The figures were first reported in The Wall St. Journal, which viewed leaked draft budget documents.

If the administration is correct, the 2012 deficit would be the same as last year’s imbalance. The government ran an all-time record deficit of $1.41 trillion in fiscal 2009, and a $1.29 trillion imbalance in 2010.

This year’s deficit is running lower in part because of higher corporate tax receipts, the department said. That has boosted government revenue to $790 billion from October through January.

Spending fell to $1.14 trillion in the same period, though excluding the accounting changes it was largely flat.

Still, the picture hasn’t improved as much as the Congressional Budget Office had estimated it would last year bad credit pay day loans. In August, the agency projected that the deficit would come in at $973 billion this year. But last week, it boosted its estimate, citing lower than expected tax revenues.

Congress has shown little ability recently to make difficult changes to tax levels or spending programs to reduce the deficit. They will face another big challenge at the end of this year, when tax cuts that were first enacted in 2001 and 2003 are set to expire. And a set of automatic spending cuts totaling about $1.2 trillion over 10 years is also scheduled to kick in.

Those changes, along with several other provisions that will automatically take effect under current law, would substantially reduce the deficit in future years.

But the CBO estimates that if Congress extends the tax cuts, as many observers expect, and if they block the spending cuts, the deficit will remain near $900 billion or higher for the next 10 years.

President Obama is set to release his annual budget proposal Monday. It will include a set of economic projections, including that unemployment will average 8.9 percent this year. White House officials dismissed the figure Thursday as outdated. The rate fell to 8.3 percent in January.

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Greece is missing its debt-cutting targets, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told lawmakers today, intensifying pressure on Greek politicians to deliver on austerity promises.

Schaeuble said in Berlin that Greece

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The head of memory chip maker Micron long known for taking risks in stunt piloting died Friday when a small experimental plane he was piloting steeply banked, stalled and crashed near an Idaho runway.

Steve Appleton, who survived a similar crash eight years ago and had a reputation as a hard-driving daredevil, was the only person aboard the plane when witnesses said it crashed shortly after its second take-off attempt in Boise, according to safety investigators.

Appleton’s death was confirmed by Micron, and the company’s board planned to meet over the weekend to discuss its next steps. Corporate governance experts raised questions in the past about whether Appleton, as CEO, should be engaging in a hobby as risky as stunt piloting. The company’s shares have traded between $3.97 and $11.95 over the past year, and shares were up 23 cents at $7.95 Friday before trading was halted for the announcement.

“Steve’s passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large,” Micron’s board of directors said in a prepared statement.

Micron is one of many companies that make semiconductor chips for various devices, including computers, mobile devices, cameras, cars and industrial systems. It makes products under the Lexar and Crucial brands, and is one of Idaho’s largest and most influential employers

In its latest fiscal year, which ended Sept. 1, Micron earned $167 million, or 17 cents per share, and had revenue of $8.8 billion.

The 51-year-old Appleton hadn’t filed a flight plan and by all indications planned to stay in the area for a recreational flight, investigators said.

Keliher, of the NTSB, said the crash happened during Appleton’s second attempt to fly that morning. She said Appleton’s first take-off ended abruptly _ witnesses said the plane only got about 5 feet off the ground _ when he re-landed and returned to a hangar for about five minutes.

Keliher said witnesses reported that the plane then returned to the runway to take off again, but Appleton almost immediately told the tower he needed to turn around and re-land. His plane was about 100 or 200 feet in the air before witnesses say it crashed and caught fire. Appleton’s body was thrown from the wreckage.

Keliher said the remains of the pilot weren’t immediately identifiable, but Appleton’s wallet and other belongings were among the debris. She said the body was being fingerprinted by authorities.

The weather was clear and the runway was dry, Keliher said, and investigators planned to look for any evidence of equipment failure or other problems.

Airport spokeswoman Patti Miller said the aircraft was a fixed-wing prop plane Lancair, which is built from kits.

Federal Aviation Administration’s records show the tail number of the wrecked plane was registered to Raleighwood Aviation LLC out of North Carolina.

It was manufactured in 2007 and filed in the “amateur built” category.

Planes like the Lancair have caught the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is in the midst of a study of their safety. Last year, the agency investigated 222 experimental and amateur-built plane accidents in which 67 people were killed. More than half involved planes that were bought used rather than having been built by the current owner.

Doug Meyer, the company’s marketing and sales manager, declined to comment about the crash, saying the company knew very little about it.

“Lancair aircraft are quite safe,” he said,

On July 8, 2004, Appleton sustained a punctured lung, head injuries, ruptured disk and broken bones after his stunt plane crashed in the desert east of Boise.

After that crash, Appleton didn’t immediately reveal the severity of injuries he sustained in that crash, and at the time a Micron spokesman described Appleton as only sustaining some “bumps and bruises.” But in 2006 a corporate governance expert began questioning disclosures about the crash.

Appleton’s death came one week after the company’s president and chief operating officer, D. Mark Durcan, announced plans to retire in August. Mark W. Adams, Micron’s vice president of worldwide sales, was named to succeed Durcan.

Micron spokesman Dan Francisco said Durcan is assuming the responsibilities of CEO until the company’s board appoints Appleton’s successor.

News of Appleton’s death sparked an outpouring of homage from Idaho leaders, with Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter lauding him as a champion and visionary businessman who “understood the value as well as the cost of excellence.”

Appleton was the face of Micron for most Idahoans. The company was instrumental in the Idaho’s tech boom and is known for charitable giving, recently donating $13 million for a new building at Boise State University.

Appleton started on the factory floor of Micron in 1983 and worked his way up. In 1991, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of Micron and in 1994, he was appointed to the position of chairman, chief executive officer and president. He assumed his position as CEO and chairman in 2007.

Appleton owned several different types of aircraft, piloted in air shows and frequently flew the planes in the skies over Idaho. He had a penchant for other adventures too: In 2006, he won the 20-car Baja Challenge Class of the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000, completing the 1,047-mile run from Enseneda to La Paz late Friday in 25 hours and 25 minutes, 30 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.

At the time, Appleton said he wasn’t worried about putting himself and his executive team behind the wheels for the pounding, often brutal race over rough and remote terrain.

“I don’t know what could be worse than being in the memory business for risk-taking,” he said. “If we were in some stable, monopolistic business, I’d probably get objections from my executive staff about doing this, but they’re all dying to go.”

Micron shares were up 23 cents at $7.95 Friday before trading was halted in the early afternoon for the announcement. The company’s shares have traded between $3.97 and $11.95 over the past year.

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Associated Press reporters Nick Jesdanun and Joan Lowy contributed to this report.

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Soaring oil prices helped Exxon Mobil post a slightly higher fourth-quarter profit. But a slowdown in production and lower natural gas prices are worrying investors.

Exxon’s oil and natural gas production fell 9 percent during the quarter. The drop came even after the company spent a record $36.8 billion last year to explore for more energy. Exxon’s stock price fell $1.74, or 2 percent, to $83.75 a share in midday trade.

Exploration can take years to yield more oil and gas. Some of Exxon’s biggest investments recently have been in U.S. natural gas fields, which so far haven’t paid off because prices are at the lowest level in a decade.

Its $29 billion acquisition of XTO Energy two years ago has been a disappointment, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said.

The deal, which overnight made Exxon America’s biggest natural gas producer, hasn’t generated the kind of profits that investors expected.

Gheit said the company needs to consider cutting production. “They don’t want to have dead wood dragging them down,” he said.

The business Exxon is best known for, oil, drove results during the quarter. In the final three months of the year, the company sold crude for 27 percent more than a year earlier.

That boosted net income to $9.4 billion, or $1.97 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $9.25 billion, or $1.85 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose nearly 16 percent to $121.6 billion.

Exxon produced an average of 4.5 million barrels of oil and natural gas a day. That’s nearly twice as much as Chevron Corp., America’s second-largest petroleum company.

But the output is less than what Exxon’s wells produced the year before. That’s partly because some of fields matured and produced less. Also, many contracts in foreign countries limit the amount of oil that Exxon can keep and sell as prices rise.

Earnings in Exxon’s exploration and production business rose 18 percent thanks to higher prices.

But those same prices hurt its refining business, where income dropped 63 percent. The refineries have struggled to pass along to customers the higher cost of oil used for gasoline, diesel and other fuels. That’s because demand is slowing in many parts of the world.

Stricter rules on car and truck fuel economy are expected to keep demand low for years in the U.S. and Europe.

As result, large oil and gas companies have been shedding refining operations, especially in developed markets.

Exxon announced Sunday that it is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. for $3.9 billion following an extended slide in Japanese fuel demand. The deal is expected to close mid-year.

Exxon’s chemicals business saw profits decline 49 percent.

For the full year, Exxon’s net income rose 34.8 percent while revenue rose 26.9 percent.

Last week, Chevron Corp. said profits slipped 3.2 percent. ConocoPhillips reported a 66-percent increase in quarterly earnings, though much of that came from the sale of a pipeline and other assets. Royal Dutch Shell expects to report its financial results later this week.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 91 cents to $84.58 in early trading.

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China (CNGDPYOY) signaled caution toward more monetary loosening by holding off on a reduction in bank reserve requirements that some economists had predicted would come before a week-long holiday ending Jan. 28.

Barclays Capital Asia Ltd., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Industrial Bank Co. said this month that ratios were likely to fall ahead of the Lunar New Year festival, which boosts demand for cash. The central bank instead used reverse-repurchase contracts to add money to the financial system.

Premier Wen Jiabao seeks to steer the world