WASHINGTON -- U.S. retailers pay credit-card fees up to six times greater than those paid by retailers in other countries, the Merchants Payments Coalition said on Thursday, pushing for legislation to limit such fees. Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office is doing a study of the fees, as required by a law signed by President Obama in May that bans many unfair credit card industry practices. And large national chains such as 7-Eleven and Circle K have embarked on petition drives.

The MPC has just released a study of how European countries, Canada and New Zealand handle interchange fees. Merchants in those countries generally pay lower interchange fees. The study found that if American merchants paid the same swipe fees as those in Australia the past four years, the net savings would total $125 billion.

ATLANTA -- In a bid to ramp up the public health battle against obesity, a group of nutrition and economics experts are pushing for a tax of 1 cent on every of ounce of soda and other sweetened beverages, said the Associated Press. The experts' plan was released by the New England Journal of Medicine in a health policy article by Arkansas' surgeon general, New York City's health commissioner and five national experts on health and economics.

CARY, N.C. -- The Pantry Inc. has announced that its board of directors has appointed Edwin J. Holman, a current director, as chairman. Holman will succeed current president and CEO Peter Sodini, who announced his retirement from the company and the board, effective September 25, 2009.