(Reuters) – Kohl's Corp said on Wednesday that Michelle Gass, who was instrumental in Starbucks Corp's U.S. turnaround several years ago, will join the department store in the new position of chief customer officer. Gass, who will join Kohl's on June 17, had just been named to a new role at Starbucks earlier this month, where she was set to work directly with Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz. Gass spent more than 16 years with Starbucks and was most recently president for Starbucks Europe, Middle East and Africa. …

Read more here: Kohl's names Starbucks' Gass chief customer officer

By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) – IMF chief Christine Lagarde will be questioned by a French magistrate on Thursday over her role in a 285-million-euro ($366 million) arbitration payment made to a supporter of former president Nicolas Sarkozy. Lagarde risks being placed under formal investigation at the hearing for her 2007 decision as Sarkozy's finance minister to use arbitration to settle a long-running court battle between the state and high-profile businessman Bernard Tapie. …

Read more here: IMF's Lagarde to be quizzed in French arbitration case

(Reuters) – Zale Corp on Wednesday reported a modest bump in third-quarter same-store sales and said the former chief executive of its biggest rival, Kay Jewelers parent Signet Jewelers Ltd , will be its new chairman. Terry Burman, who was Signet’s CEO from 2000 to 2011 and oversaw large U.S. market share gains that came partly at Zale’s expense, will take up the post next Friday, Zale said. Zale, which three years ago faced sharply declining sales and narrowly averted a cash shortage, reported that sales at stores open at least a year rose 1.4 percent in the quarter that ended April 30. …

Read more here: Zale taps rival's ex-CEO as chairman, same-store sales edge up

LONDON (AP) — Britain is proposing to give around 600 Afghan interpreters who worked alongside its troops the right to settle in the U.K. in recognition of the risks to their personal safety.

Read more here: UK eyes giving visas to 600 Afghan interpreters

By Carmel Crimmins and Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland called on Wednesday for an international clampdown on multinationals shifting profits around the world to avoid tax, after criticism that Irish loopholes helped technology giant Apple to shrink its tax bill. A U.S. Senate investigation into the tax affairs of the maker of iPhones, iPads and Mac computers has shone an uncomfortable spotlight on Ireland's tax regime and forced the government to defend itself against accusations of being Europe's onshore tax haven. …

Read more here: Ireland feels the heat from Apple tax row

Today’s first app worth downloading is great for smartphone photographers. Flickr’s official Android app now comes with a terabyte of free space to use for uploading mobile images. GPS Navigation & Maps is up next and offers turn-by-turn directions and maps of the whole world. Finally, Turbo Racing League puts you in control of a high-speed snail in a 3-D racing game, and you can compete to win $1 million in a tournament hosted by Verizon.

Read more here: New Android apps worth downloading: Flickr update, GPS Navigation & Maps, Turbo Racing League

By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe moved closer to ending banking secrecy on Wednesday after Austria dropped objections to sharing data on foreign depositors and the EU focused on negotiating a similar agreement with Switzerland. “It's a bad day for tax cheats,” Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told reporters at a meeting of EU leaders to discuss fighting tax fraud. “We will act jointly and I believe we will manage the exchange of data by the end of the year. …

Read more here: Europe closes in on tax havens; Austria agrees to swap bank data

The price of oil was little changed above $96 a barrel Wednesday as investors waited confirmation of a rise in U.S. crude stocks and the Federal Reserve’s latest views on the U.S. economy.

Read more here: Oil stays near $96 before crude stocks report, Fed

By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) – Google Inc's tax affairs came under renewed scrutiny in Britain on Wednesday when the leader of the opposition Labour party accused the Internet company of wrongly going to “extraordinary lengths” to avoid paying tax. In comments designed to politically outflank Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of next month's G8 summit on what has become a high-profile issue, Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said he was disappointed that Google paid so little tax. “I can't be the only person here who feels disappointed that such a great company as Google … …

Read more here: Miliband says Google tax behaviour 'wrong'

How did the CIA become the hero in the Benghazi talking point controversy? The Republican theory of the case is that the CIA provided mostly correct talking points (with one big flaw — it blamed spontaneous protests), which the State Department and the White House then edited into misleading mush to protect President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But, of course, the CIA is part of the Obama administration, too, and run by Obama appointees — why hasn't it enjoyed as much scrutiny as everyone else involved?

Read more here: How Petraeus Turned the CIA into the Good Guys in Benghazi