Resignations

Two former top Cuban political figures who were fired from the Cabinet by President Raul Castro said they had made "errors" and resigned from their other official posts, completing a stunning fall from grace. Former Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and former Cabinet chief Carlos Lage, both of whom had been seen as emerging leaders, were dismissed by Castro on Monday in a shake-up that brought eight new ministers and merged four ministries into two.

The head of the nation's cyber security center has resigned amid persistent turf battles and confusion over the control and protection of the country's vast computer networks and systems. Rod Beckstrom's decision to step down as director of the National Cyber Security Center comes as the White House is conducting a broad 60-day review of how well the government is using technology to protect everything from classified national security data to key financial systems and air traffic control.

An American International Group Inc. executive who received a retention bonus worth more than $742,000 after taxes has resigned publicly -- in an Op-Ed column in the New York Times. Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president at AIG's Financial Products division, said Wednesday that he was leaving the company and would donate his entire bonus to charity. The column, a letter addressed to AIG Chief Executive Edward M.

MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, the marketing guru with a laid-back, surfer-dude demeanor who took the social network from its ragtag beginnings to Internet phenomenon, is departing the company before the end of his contract. Parent company News Corp. said DeWolfe was leaving by mutual consent.

Metrolink agreed to pay a former spokeswoman who resigned in the aftermath of last year's Chatsworth train crash $135,000 to settle potential claims against the agency, according to a copy of the agreement obtained Tuesday. Denise Tyrrell, who recently was hired to manage the state Public Utilities Commission's Los Angeles office, was the public face of the commuter rail agency in the grim early hours after the disaster that killed 25 and injured 135.

As a member of the powerful Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions board, Sean Harrigan's private financial life intersected repeatedly with the business of his agency, which oversees a $10.7-billion portfolio on behalf of retired public employees. Long before he was caught up in a national investigation into the way public pensions are managed, Harrigan took a consulting job with a law firm that was applying to get work from his board, records show.

An Obama administration official who took the blame for the Air Force One flyover in Lower Manhattan last month gave his resignation Friday, after a White House investigation into a botched photo op that frightened New Yorkers with its echo of the Sept. 11 attacks. Louis Caldera, a former California assemblyman from Los Angeles, wrote to the president that he could no longer perform effectively as head of the White House Military Office.

Bank of America Corp. lead director O. Temple Sloan Jr., who defended Chief Executive Kenneth D. Lewis from an effort to force him out, resigned from the board Friday after 13 years. Sloan, 70, submitted his resignation to Walter E. Massey, who replaced Lewis as chairman after the April annual meeting, according to a statement from the Charlotte, N.C.-based lender. Investors at the meeting voted to split the chairman and CEO jobs.

Los Angeles-based money manager TCW Group said Monday that Chief Executive Robert D. Beyer would step down at the end of June as the company prepares to separate from its French parent. TCW, parent of Trust Co. of the West, manages about $100 billion in stocks and bonds. The company has been majority-owned by French bank Societe Generale since 2001. But in January, Societe adopted a restructuring plan that calls for TCW to be spun off in the next few years.

Less than a week after Palm Inc. introduced its new Pre smartphone to a warm welcome from critics and consumers, the company said its chief executive, Ed Colligan, was stepping down. Colligan, 48, will be replaced by Jon Rubinstein, 52, who has led Palm's product development efforts since October 2007. An engineer by training, Rubinstein is also a former employee of rival Apple Inc., where he helped develop the popular iPod.