Holder of patents covering everything from color television to the MP3 audio-compression format, Thomson has been selling off its loss-ridden television business to focus on becoming the fount of everything digital, from cameras to DVD duplication, for the entertainment industry.

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But both to victims of abuse and to people who observe church affairs from outside, the spate of disclosures has mocked the Vatican's claim to be a fount of moral authority and have made it harder to see why the church insists on restricting the priesthood to celibate males.

ECONOMIST: The legacy of a pope who changed history | The

If the Treasury Department gets its way and imposes tougher scrutiny on nonbank financial institutions, GE's finance business might become even more of a capital sink instead of the cash fount it was when money was cheap.

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