AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Monday, May 28, 2007:

Wolfowitz Blames Media for Resignation

LONDON (AP) _ Departing World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz in a radio interview broadcast Monday blamed an overheated atmosphere at the bank and in the media for forcing him to resign. Wolfowitz, who has announced he will step down June 30, denied suggestions that his decision to leave was influenced by an apparent lack of support from the bank's employees.

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Oil Prices Retreat Below $65 a Barrel

SINGAPORE (AP) _ Oil prices fell in light trade Monday, eased by the end of a Nigerian oil workers' strike over the weekend. Light, sweet crude for July delivery dropped 34 cents to $64.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange midmorning in Singapore. Trading volume was low because of the Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. The contract climbed more than $1 to $65.20 a barrel Friday ahead of the long weekend, which traditionally signals the start of the U.S. summer driving season.

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S. Korea, U.S. to Talk on Beef

GWACHEON, South Korea (AP) _ South Korea said Monday it will hold talks with the United States about further easing its restrictions on imports of American beef, in an attempt to resolve a thorny trade dispute. South Korea will also conduct a risk assessment of U.S. beef in a possible step toward resuming imports of meat attached to bone, which is banned, Minister of Finance and Economy Kwon O-kyu said.

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Booming Utah Town Is Short on Booze

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) _ On Friday and Saturday nights, the line to get a bottle of wine at the liquor store in this southern Utah town can stretch out the back door. The storage area of the town's lone liquor store is often stacked so high and so wide with cases of alcohol it's tough to walk or push a dolly through. But it doesn't take long for the piles to shrink and for customers to start complaining the store is out of stock. "It's been this way probably for a good year and a half," said Lee Scarlet, who manages the store. "It gets worse and worse and worse." There's a supply problem facing those who imbibe in this city of 126,000, where spectacular red rock scenery, sunny weather and affordable proximity to Las Vegas have contributed to a record population boom. St. George has a single state-run liquor outlet _ on the city's west side _ and its inventory is often depleted.

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Bill Urges Farmers to Grow Energy Crops

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) _ Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate this week would entice farmers located near ethanol biorefineries to grow dedicated energy crops. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said his bill would offer incentives to farmers who plant switchgrass, fast-growing trees and other cellulosic feedstocks and deliver them to the nation's next generation of ethanol plants. Cellulose is the woody material in branches and stems that makes plants hard.

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Sanyo Trims Losses for the Fiscal Year

TOKYO (AP) _ Scandal-plagued electronics maker Sanyo said Monday it trimmed its losses for the fiscal year and forecast a return to profit for the current year as it cut costs. Sanyo Electric Co. has undergone a reshuffle at its top management after acknowledging recently it had falsified its fiscal 2003 earnings, in which it had reported a profit but could have been in the red.

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Japanese Stocks Rise After 2-Day Retreat

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese stocks rose Monday after a two-day retreat, lifted by steel and machinery shares. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index rose 106.38 points, or 0.61 percent, to finish at 17,587.59 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. On Friday, the index fell 1.22 percent, on top of Thursday's 0.11 percent drop.

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Manual Lawn Mowers Are Making a Comeback

CHICAGO (AP) _ Powerful, loud mowers have been showing lawns who's boss for decades. But now contraptions that couldn't cut butter without a good shove are quietly _ really quietly _ making a comeback. Manual lawn mowers, long the 98-pound weaklings of the tool shed, are pushing their way, or, more accurately, being pushed around more yards all over the country.

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Wall St. Boom Stirs Hamptons Home Sales

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) _ Forget window shopping the photos of million-dollar manses in the real estate shops on Southampton's Main Street. If you really want to know how the housing market in the Hamptons is faring as summer beckons, Steven Gaines suggests an unusual yardstick. He says the best barometer of how people in the Hamptons are doing is the price of the lobster salad at the local gourmet shop in nearby Sagaponack. Right now, it's selling for $100 a pound.

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Designer Tang Pushes Fashion in China

HONG KONG (AP) _ David Tang is famous for founding the Shanghai Tang label that put Mandarin-collared shirts, cheongsam dresses and other Chinese-style fashion on boutique shelves from New York to Paris. But one of his big regrets, he says, is that the clothes aren't more popular in China.

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Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) _ The dollar slipped against the yen in Asia Monday ahead of a string of Japanese economic reports due Tuesday.

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