Ilan Brat

McDonald's Corp. is standing by its clown. The 48-year-old, red-haired mascot has come under fire from health-care professionals and consumer groups who, in recent days, have asked the fast-food chain to retire Ronald McDonald. But McDonald's Chief Executive Officer Jim Skinner staunchly defended the clown at the company's annual meeting on Thursday, saying, "Ronald McDonald is going nowhere." Shareholders...

ALCALÁ DE HENARES, Spain—Spain's financial distress has trickled down to a secluded back office of one of its largest banks—the convent where Sister Mariuca Mesones sorts and labels the lender's outgoing mail. After Mass most mornings, she and 10 other cloistered members of the Order of St. Clare file into an L-shaped office of the Roman Catholic retreat and become bank employees.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Eight months after being hit by a flood expected to come along less than once every 500 years, this city of 120,000 is still struggling to get its head above water. About 10 square miles of flood-wrecked neighborhoods are largely abandoned, with thousands of boarded-up houses and businesses lining debris-dotted streets. A steam and electricity generating station that served some of the city's biggest employers is still inoperable.