U.S. authorities say the shipping company Horizon Lines LLC has agreed to plead guilty to fixing prices and to pay a $45 million fine.

A Justice Department statement Thursday says the company was accused of conspiring to fix rates and surcharges for freight transportation between the United States and Puerto Rico from May 2002 until April 2008.

Five former executives have been sentenced after pleading guilty in 2008 to charges related to the shipping conspiracy.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company has a fleet of 20 U.S.-flagged cargo ships that carry items including heavy equipment, medicines and consumer goods.

In June 2009, the company agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class action price-fixing lawsuit.

A former public relations employee has sued Publicis Groupe SA for $100 million, saying the French advertising company discriminates against women in pay and promotions.

Women make up 70 percent of the company's public relations staff but hold only about 15 percent of leadership positions, the lawsuit says.

"A Publicis woman's place is in the back of the line, far removed from senior management positions, almost all of which are reserved for the men," the complaint contends.

The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan and seeks class-action status. It was filed by Monique da Silva Moore, who was global healthcare director in the Boston office of the company's public relations division MSLGroup.

"We generally do not comment on pending litigation, but we can say that the fact that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dismissed Ms da Silva's charge reflects the lack of merit to her claims," a spokeswoman for MSLGroup said.

A measure that would bar Iowa county officials from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples faces a bleak future as it sits in a House committee.

Top Republicans on Thursday said they have no plans to debate the issue, viewing it a nod to the party's social conservative wing. Top Democrats argue the measure is unconstitutional and violates a 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision striking down a state law defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Backers say introducing the measure is one more opportunity to voice their displeasure with how the marriage issue has been handled.

Republican Rep. Betty De Boef (dee-BUFF') says the issue has been handled badly and that some lawmakers want to take every opportunity to make that point.

Albany Medical Center will pay $4.5 million to settle its share of a federal class-action lawsuit alleging officials conspired with counterparts at other hospitals in the area to keep pay down for about 4,000 registered nurses.

Court documents say similar settlements for about 2 percent of nurses' pay from June 2002 to June 2006 were reached with companies operating St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, St. Mary's Hospital and Samaritan Hospital in Troy and Albany Memorial Hospital.

The hospital companies admit no wrongdoing. The suit is still pending against Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.

A call to Albany Med was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Attorney Daniel Small, representing the nurses, says about $9 million altogether is in an escrow account pending the end of the case. Lawyers are requesting one-third.

Vivendi SA said Wednesday it will significantly reduce the EUR550 million provision it had made to cover potential damages for a U.S. class action case after a U.S. judge narrowed the size of the class.

The Paris-based company's potential liabilities have been slashed by 80% in light of the court victory, which will free up more cash as the group prepares to buy out Vodafone PLC's minority stake in telecoms operator SFR.

Vivendi made the provision in its 2009 accounts to cover any eventual payout after a jury in January last year found the company liable for 57 misstatements about its financial condition in the two years leading up to its near bankruptcy in 2002.

The damages arising from the ruling in January 2010, which was based on a class involving shareholders outside the U.S., could have totaled more than $9 billion, according to lawyers for the shareholders, although Vivendi's lawyer Herve Pisani rejected the sum as "unfounded."

The ruling Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell that shareholders who bought Vivendi shares outside the U.S. are barred from bringing fraud claims against the company in the U.S., considerably narrowed the overall size of the potential class.

Comcast has agreed to pay up to $23 million to Oregon customers who were charged late fees from July 15, 2003, through Nov. 22, 2010, to settle a class-action lawsuit.

Comcast also agreed to donate a total of $75,000 to the Oregon Food Bank and United Way of the Columbia and Willamette and to pay Portland lawyer David Sugerman’s legal fees of up to $5 million. Sugerman was appointed by the court to represent Comcast customers.

The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, involved claims “that late fees and/or administrative fees charged by Comcast to delinquent cable television subscribers...failed to comply with the requirements of Oregon law,” according to the settlement website.

Comcast did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. An Oregon spokeswoman for Comcast said in a written statement Wednesday that the company “denies liability and maintains that the late fees are legal.”