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Authorities on Mexico’s gulf coast are preparing for Tropical Storm Nate, while air and sea search teams hunted for 10 oil workers missing since abandoning a disabled research vessel in stormy waters.

Forecasts said Nate was still moving toward the coast very slowly, but was expected to pick up some speed Saturday. They said the storm would approach the coast Sunday, mostly likely just below hurricane strength.

Mexico’s state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, had two ships searching for the missing oil workers. A port official said Friday that they included four Americans, four Mexicans, one from Kazakhstan and a 10th of unconfirmed nationality.

The workers, employees of Houston-based Geokinetics Inc., called for help Thursday afternoon after leaving a vessel known as a liftboat, the Trinity II, on an enclosed life raft.

“We’re deeply concerned about the incident in the Gulf of Mexico involving our employees and others who had to abandon a disabled liftboat due to conditions brought about by Tropical Storm Nate,” Geokinetics spokeswoman Brenda Taquino said.

A liftboat can lower legs to the sea floor and then elevate itself above the water level. This one was being used as a recording vessel and housing for the crew, and it was in waters about 25 feet (8 meters) deep.

Randy Reed, president of the vessel’s owner, Trinity Liftboat Services LLC in New Iberia, Louisiana, was unavailable for comment Friday, a person answering the phone at his office told The Associated Press. But Reed told the Advertiser newspaper in Louisiana that the rescue effort involved boats, helicopters and aircraft conducting a grid search of the area where they went missing in the Bay of Campeche.

“We’re optimistic. They’re good seamen. They’re professionals at what they do,” Reed said. “The life raft is out there, we just haven’t found it yet … We’re all working diligently to locate the raft so we can locate our loved ones.”

The captain of the 94-foot(28.6-meter), 185-ton Trinity II reported they were abandoning the vessel about midday Thursday, and a ship several miles (kilometers) away also reported seeing the crew enter the life raft.

But there had been no communication since.

The Mexican navy said Friday night that sailors had reached the Trinity II and found no crew. It said it had a plane, three helicopters and four boats searching for them.

Taquino said the life raft was a sealed capsule containing enough food and water to last for several days, but there was no way to communicate with it.

Tropical Storm Nate was drifting slowly west-southwestward at about 4 mph (6 1/2 kph) over the southern gulf late Friday with maximum sustained winds of near 50 mph (80 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was centered about 205 miles (330 kilometers) east-northeast of Veracruz. Forecasters said it was expected to hit Mexico’s gulf coast Sunday possibly as a hurricane.

A tropical storm warning was declared along the coast from Tampico to Veracruz. A hurricane watch also was posted for the coast, meaning there was a chance the storm could strengthen into a hurricane.

Pemex said it had evacuated 473 workers from platforms off the coasts of the gulf coast states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas. Mexico’s gulf ports were closed to navigation.

Tropical Storm Maria, meanwhile, headed toward the Lesser Antilles at the eastern end of the Caribbean late Friday, while rain from what had been Tropical Storm Lee continued inundating a wide portion of Pennsylvania and other northeastern states, leaving at least seven dead.

Maria’s maximum sustained winds Friday night were near 45 mph (75 kph), with some slight strengthening possible, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph).

A tropical storm warning was in effect for a host of islands: Antigua, Anguilla, Barbuda, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, St. Maartin, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Barthelemy, St. Marteen, Martinique, Dominica, and Puerto Rico including Vieques and Culebra.

On its current forecast track, Maria’s center would reach the Leeward Islands early Saturday and be near the Virgin Islands by Saturday night, the hurricane center said.

Out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Katia was moving northeast over open water after passing between the U.S. and Bermuda. Despite not hitting land, the hurricane center said large swells generated by the Category 1 storm would continue affecting the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda.

Katia was centered midway between Bermuda and Nova Scotia and was moving northeast near 46 mph (74 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph). The long-term forecast indicated it could reach Scotland as a storm on Monday.

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Business and consumer sentiment in the 17 countries that use the euro fell in August, reinforcing fears that the region’s economy will slow in the months ahead as political leaders struggle to contain a crisis over government debt.

The European Union’s economic sentiment index issued Tuesday fell 4.7 points to 98.3 _ the sixth consecutive decline, bringing the indicator below its long-term average of 100.

Germany, the eurozone’s biggest economy, reported the largest drop, and it alone remains above the 1990-2011 average. The Netherlands and Austria, two other countries that have not been drawn into the debt crisis, also saw a significant fall.

The reasons for the decline included gloomier views of the future among retailers, and among consumers afraid of losing their jobs, EU economic officials said in a statement accompanying the index numbers.

Additionally, industrial managers are concerned about weaker future export orders and inventories that may be overstocked for upcoming demand.

Economists and government officials say the economy is starting to be affected by financial market ups and downs caused by fears that some governments may not be able to repay their debts. Stock and bond markets fell sharply in early August amid fears that efforts by eurozone government leaders would not be enough to keep the crisis from spreading to Italy and Spain. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have already taken bailout loans from other eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund to avoid default, but Italy in particular is considered too big to rescue.

European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told EU lawmakers on Monday that the market volatility was now affecting the real economy.

The European Central Bank has fought the market turmoil for three weeks by buying Italian and Spanish government bonds to reduce financial pressure on those countries, but governments are still struggling to reduce debt and find a more permanent solution guaranteed pay day loans. Leaders agreed July 21 to give new powers to the eurozone’s euro440 billion ($637 billion) bailout fund, enabling it to take over the bond purchases from the ECB and loan money quickly to troubled governments, but national parliaments have not yet ratified those changes.

Economist Christopher Weil at Commerzbank predicted the eurozone would slow but not fall into recession _ unless the debt crisis unleashes a shock to the financial system like the one after the bankruptcy of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Even if there’s no recession, weaker growth will make the debt crisis harder to deal with, he said.

“The downturn in countries with a strong credit standing could exacerbate the debt crisis; their possibilities and presumably also readiness to help the crisis-stricken countries fall accordingly,” Weil wrote in a research note to investors.

The EU forecasts 1.6 percent growth this year for the eurozone, but those predictions are due to be lowered on Sept. 15. Easing growth in Germany has been a key reason; gross domestic product grew by a scant 0.1 percent in the second quarter.

The European Central Bank has indicated it is reassessing its inflation outlook, a sign that its key interest rate may be on prolonged hold at 1.5 percent after quarter point increases in April and July.

The EU sentiment index fell further, to 97.3, for the entire 27-member European Union, which includes countries that do not use the euro. Britain showed a sharp drop of 5.6 points because sentiment was down sharply in the services sector.

The economic index combines indicators for business and consumers: 40 percent industrial confidence, 30 percent services, 20 percent consumers, 5 percent construction and 5 percent retail.

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If the delicate compromise among Missouri lawmakers holds up through next month’s special session, the future of the state’s popular historic tax credit program will look much like the program did flexcheck cash advance… last year.

The plan expected to go before the House and Senate would cut the annual cap on historic credits

The European Central Bank says it will “actively implement” a bond-purchase program that could boost Spanish and Italian bonds and drive down interest yields that threaten those countries with financial disaster.

Sunday’s statement from bank President Jean-Claude Trichet comes as global finance officials discussed ways to ward off more turmoil ahead of the opening of financial markets on Monday, the first substantial trading after the U.S. lost its triple-A bond rating from Standard & Poor’s on Friday.

Officials from the Group of 20 rich and developing countries also held talks aimed at minimizing market shocks. G-7 officials were reportedly to confer before market open in Asia as well.

The G-7 includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S. and Japan, while the G-20 includes those countries and others with large and emerging economies.

The burst of activity on a Sunday in August underscored how government debt levels in Europe and the U.S. have unsettled financial markets _ and sharpened fears that debt troubles could derail the global recovery from the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The statement from the ECB, issued after a conference call among its officials, did not say which countries’ bonds it would buy.

But the beneficiaries are expected to be Italy and Spain, market analysts say. Italy and Spain are trying to avoid the spiraling interest rates that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailout loans. Purchases could drive up bond prices, which move in the opposite directions from interest yields.

Last week, yields for both countries were above 6 percent, moving toward the levels that upended the three smaller countries. Italy in particular is regarded as too large for Europe’s euro440 billion bailout fund to rescue, raising the possibility of a financial disaster that could devastate the eurozone economy.

Analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland said recent moves by Italy to strengthen its finances helped bring the ECB to its decision. The bank was reluctant to come to the rescue unless governments first close the holes in their finances.

The bank statement Sunday said it was “essential” for them to follow through on their commitments.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said last week that Italy would balance its budget in 2013, a year earlier than previously expected, and speed up other budget measures.

“The ECB will start a large scale bond buying of Italian and Spanish sovereign bonds on Monday morning in our view as euro area governments have signed up to additional fiscal measures where needed,” they said.

They said the purchases could run euro2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) a day and “will stop the collapse of the bond market in countries under stress.”

Eurozone officials agreed at a summit July 21 to give their bailout fund the ability to buy government bonds. But national parliaments are on summer break and have not approved the change yet, leaving the ECB as the last resort as market turmoil increased.

Italy has debt equivalent to 120 percent of annual economic output, the second highest in the eurozone behind Greece, and weak prospects for economic growth that would help pay it down.

Last week already saw markets around the world deep in the red amid fears the global economy may be weakening and the uncertainty created by Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

In a sign of early fallout, Middle East markets tumbled Sunday on their first day of business after the downgrade. Egypt’s benchmark EGX30 index fell more than 4 percent, and other Gulf markets also were sharply lower. Israel’s benchmark TA-25 index plunged 7 percent to close at 1,074 points.

U.S. markets and others reopen Monday but have had rough patches recently. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 512 points Thursday, its worst performance since the financial crisis of 2008, and regained only a fraction of that drop Friday.

Many economists see the world’s big central banks as the last line of defense at this moment in the crisis, after policymakers in Europe and the U.S. have failed to agree on the kind of shock-and-awe moves that many investors demand.

Investors have also been calling on the U.S. Federal Reserve to start pumping money into the American economy again to help underpin the slowing economic recovery.

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Coffee shops, grocery stores, video stores, restaurants, clothing stores

Japan says the crippled reactors at its tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant have reached stability more than four months ago after the disaster.

Trade and industry minister Banri Kaieda also says the plant operators are making steady progress to bring the reactors to a cold shutdown within six months.

Officials describing progress at the plant on Tuesday said radiation around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant has decreased from peak levels.

Officials based their assessment on several milestones. Temperatures at the bottom of reactor pressure vessels are no longer climbing. A makeshift system to process contaminated water works properly after initial problems. And nitrogen injections are helping prevent more explosions.

The damage at the plant caused by the March 11 tsunami triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

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Conrad Black, once a media mogul whose newspaper empire spanned several continents, is headed back to prison after a federal judge ruled Friday that he had not served enough time for defrauding investors.

Judge Amy St. Eve sentenced Black to 3 1/2 years in prison after berating and then praising him. But prosecutors say he will be given credit for more than two years he already had served, meaning the 66-year-old will go back for a little more than a year.

As St. Eve announced the sentence with Black standing expressionless before her, his 70-year-old wife, Barbara Amiel, fainted on a wooden courtroom bench. As she sprawled across the laps of other spectators, medics rushed in to attend to her.

In a 20-minute statement before he was sentenced, Black spoke confidently and philosophically, citing poetry and maintaining he had been falsely accused. At no point did he apologize.

His final words to St. Eve were to ask for a lesser sentence.

“I never ask for mercy,” he said, standing with his hands on the podium, “but I do ask for avoidance of injustice.”

St. Eve had originally sentenced Black to 6 1/2 years in prison after he was convicted in 2007 of defrauding investors in Hollinger International Inc.

Black, whose empire once included the Chicago Sun-Times, The Daily Telegraph of London, The Jerusalem Post and small papers across the U.S. and Canada, served part of the sentence before being freed on bail to pursue what would be partially successful appeals.

St. Eve said Friday that Black had “violated the trust” of his shareholders.

“As you stand before me today, I still scratch my head as to why you engaged in this conduct,” she said.

The judge said she rejected the option of sending Black back to prison for more than four years in part because of dozens of letters she had received from inmates saying Black had changed their lives through lectures he gave on writing, history, economics and other subjects.

Prosecutor Julie Porter said the government, which had sought a longer sentence, was pleased with the result.

It “sends a very strong message to corporate executives,” she said.

After the hearing, the Blacks walked out of the federal courthouse together, his arm around her. They got into a chauffeured vehicle and drove away.

Eddie Greenspan, Black’s Canadian lawyer, said it’s too early to say if defense attorneys will appeal the new sentence, though he added they will consider all their options.

Black will have to report to prison in about six weeks, though a fixed date hadn’t been set, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Randall Samborn said instant payday loan.

The former mogul had been in the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in central Florida, and he could return there. But a final decision on where he serves the additional year will be made later.

George Tombs, author of “Robber Baron: Lord Black of Crossharbour,” said another prison stint will be rough for Black, who received his title when he became a member of the British House of Lords.

“He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” Tombs said. “He’s a lawmaker in Great Britain for goodness sakes.

Tombs said Black lives in a bubble.

“He doesn’t realize that he did anything wrong,” he said. “He does not acknowledge anything.”

Black’s big chance to squash his convictions arose in June 2010, when the U.S. Supreme Court sharply curtailed the disputed “honest services” laws that underpinned part of his case.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago tossed out two of Black’s fraud convictions last year, citing that landmark ruling.

But it said one conviction for fraud and one for obstruction of justice were not affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling. The fraud conviction, the judges concluded, involved Black and others taking $600,000 and had nothing to do with honest services: It was, they asserted, straightforward theft.

The appeals court said St. Eve would have to sentence Black again for those two standing counts.

Despite the nullified counts, prosecutors had asked St. Eve to hand Black the same sentence she originally meted out.

“He fails to acknowledge his central role in destroying Hollinger International through greed and lies, instead blaming the government and others for what he describes as an unjust persecution,” prosecutors said in a recent filing.

At Friday’s hearing, Black said obliquely that, “It is not the case that I have no remorse.” But he didn’t say those feelings had anything to do with any wrongdoing on his part, rather that he had been too trusting of others.

Black’s lawyers argued that he was a model prisoner who gladly offered advice about business and other matters to prisoners who constantly approached him.

Prosecutors say the defense painted too rosy a picture.

One prison employee, Tammy Padgett, claimed in an affidavit filed by prosecutors that Black had arranged for inmates _ “acting like servants” _ to iron his clothes, mop his floor and perform other chores. Another employee told her Black once insisted she address him as “Lord Black,” Padgett added.

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It seems like few days pass lately without some striking piece of data about the lousy real estate market. But today came one number that was particularly striking.

12 million.

That’s how many square feet of retail space was completed in the U.S. in 2010, according to a report from commercial real estate data firm CoStar. That’s it. Twelve million, nationwide.

For a little comparison, Hazelwood’s St. Louis Mills shopping center alone is 1.1 million square feet. So less than 12 of those were built across the whole country.

That makes 2010, by far, the slowest year for retail development on record. In 2009, which previously held that record, CoStar counted about 70 million square feet of new space. Going back to 1970, no other year saw less than 90 million, and the average over that time was 132 million square feet - 2010’s production, eleven-fold.

Now, there are lots of reasons to think this is a good thing. Most parts of the country have more shopping space than they need. In metro St. Louis, you can see empty big box stores and half-vacant strip centers on most major roadways, even as new ones open up. Three big indoor malls are all but defunct.

Indeed, retail square footage in this country has grown two and a half times as fast as the population since 1970. CoStar counts about 50 square feet per person. Putting the brakes on new shopping centers may help demand catch up with supply.

But don’t expect it to last. Even in relatively slow-growth St. Louis, developers are floating plans for new shopping centers in various spots. Some retailers are in expansion mode again. And when CoStar puts out this report a year from now, figure the number for 2011 will be higher than 2010.

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The White House says it’s “deeply disappointed” that Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond is withdrawing his nomination to the Federal Reserve Board.

Press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that Diamond “fell victim to partisan obstructionism.”

Senate Republicans attacked the 71-year-old MIT professor as a proponent of bailouts and big government. And Diamond wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece that it’s clear the GOP wouldn’t let him serve.

But Carney says President Barack Obama believes Diamond would have brought knowledge and expertise to the Fed board.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond is withdrawing his nomination for the Federal Reserve board.

In an op-ed piece first published on The New York Times website on Sunday and in its print edition on Monday, Diamond seemed frustrated by the confirmation process, detailing how President Barack Obama had nominated and re-nominated him to fill a vacancy on the seven-member board.

The Fed often operates with vacancies on its board. The board hasn’t had every seat filled since 2006.

Diamond’s initial nomination fizzled when the Senate adjourned in December without acting on it. When Obama resubmitted the nomination in January to the newly convened Senate, the Republicans held six additional seats, which was expected to make the confirmation process more difficult.

Senate Republicans blocked a floor vote on Diamond’s confirmation and have questioned his practical experience and research. Diamond is considered an authority on Social Security, pensions and taxation. He shared the Nobel Prize in economics that was awarded in October, with Diamond saying that his portion of the prize was for his work on unemployment and the labor market.

In the op-ed piece, Diamond took aim at Washington’s “partisan polarization” and said that there was “a failure to recognize that the analysis of unemployment is crucial to conducting monetary policy.”

“It is time for me to withdraw, as I plan to inform the White House,” Diamond wrote.

There was no immediate comment from the White House on Diamond’s plans.

Diamond said the leading opponent to his appointment was the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama. Diamond said Shelby questioned how his academic work on pensions and the labor market fit with conducting monetary policy.

“But understanding the labor market - and the process by which workers and jobs come together and separate - is critical to devising an effective monetary policy,” he wrote.

Diamond said he would continue as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and would take advantage of opportunities presented to a Nobel laureate.

“I had hoped to bring some of my own expertise and experience to the Fed. Now I hope someone else can,” he said.

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Lowe’s Cos.’ first-quarter net income fell 6 percent, pressured in part by bad weather and difficult economic conditions.

The Mooresville, N.C., home improvement retailer also cut its full-year outlook on Monday.

Lowe’s earned $461 million, or 34 cents per share, for the three months ended April 29. That’s down from $489 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue dipped 2 percent to $12.19 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of 36 cents per share on revenue of $12.54 billion.

For the full year, Lowe’s now expects earnings of $1.56 to $1.64 per share and an approximately 4 percent revenue increase. It previously forecast earnings of $1.60 to $1.72 per share on a 5 percent revenue rise.

Analysts predict full-year earnings of $1.70 per share on revenue of $50.9 billion.

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