Headline
-
Aviva CEO quits after shareholder revolt on pay
2012-05-08 10:08:39 UTC
LONDON (AP) — The chief executive of Aviva, Britain's largest insurer, has resigned following a shareholder revolt over executive pay, the company said Tuesday.
The company gave no explanation for the decision by Andrew Moss, who had been CEO since 2007, to step down a week after shareholders voted against the company's decisions on...
-
Beyonce Knowles: I want more kids
2012-05-08 10:00:19 UTC
Beyoncé Knowles "definitely" wants more children after giving birth to her first daughter.
The singer and her husband Jay-Z welcomed Blue Ivy into the world in January.
She is already thinking of expanding her brood.
"I definitely want to have more," she told ET Online.
"I don't know how many. God knows I don't know yet."
...
-
Aviva CEO quits after shareholder revolt on pay
2012-05-08 10:06:54 UTC
LONDON (AP) - The chief executive of Aviva, Britain's largest insurer, has resigned following a shareholder revolt over executive pay, the company said Tuesday.
The company gave no explanation for the decision by Andrew Moss, who had been CEO since 2007, to step down a week after shareholders voted against the company's decisions on...
-
Asia stocks rise as Europe shockwaves fade
2012-05-08 09:54:43 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets staged a modest recovery Tuesday as the initial shockwaves from election results in Europe faded. Trading is expected to remain volatile as Greece struggles to form a government after voters punished pro-austerity parties.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.6 percent to 9,172.09, a day after closi...
-
US stocks under pressure after European elections
2012-05-07 15:49:25 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are under pressure after angry voters in Greece and France rejected painful budget cuts demanded by international lenders.
Investors are uncertain over how the results will affect Europe's plans to rein in spending and keep the euro zone's debt crisis from worsening.
The Dow Jones industrial average wa...
-
Markets could stumble after France, Greece votes
2012-05-07 00:26:27 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Financial markets will likely stumble this week after elections in Greece and France cast a pall of uncertainty over Europe's efforts to solve its debt crisis.
On Sunday night, the euro plunged to $1.2988, a nearly five-month low.
Greek voters on Sunday voted mostly for two parties that want to change the nation...
-
Buffett's health on minds of Berkshire investors
2012-05-05 16:49:24 UTC
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — While 81-year-old Warren Buffett's health has been on investors' minds, many shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting said Saturday that they aren't that worried about Buffett's prostate cancer diagnosis.
More than 30,000 people are expected to fill Omaha's downtown arena and overflow rooms to hear Buff...
-
Yahoo CEO faces calls for ouster after inaccuracy
2012-05-05 07:57:57 UTC
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Scott Thompson's reign as Yahoo's CEO is in jeopardy after just four months on the job because he allowed an inaccuracy about his academic credentials to recur for years.
A major Yahoo shareholder who exposed the fabrication is now leading the charge to oust Thompson for unethical conduct. In a letter Friday, ac...
-
Presidential rivals fight over France's economy
2012-05-04 18:27:46 UTC
PARIS (AP) — When he came to power in 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy seemed just the man to shake up France's sclerotic economy with his promises of a break from the past. However, any optimism surrounding his victory five years ago has been replaced by cynicism and recrimination.
Socialist challenger Francois Hollande, whom polls ...
-
Asia stocks slip on weakness in US retail sales
2012-05-04 06:30:49 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday after disappointing U.S. retail sales stirred concerns about the robustness of the recovery in the world's No. 1 economy.
Major retailers such as Costco and Macy's reported that April revenue rose less that 1 percent — the worst performance since 2009 when the U.S. economy ...
-
April retail sales worst since 2009
2012-05-03 18:22:23 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans' spending — much like the economy — continues to yo-yo.
Major retailers such as Costco and Macy's reported on Thursday that April revenue rose less that 1 percent in the worst performance since 2009 when the U.S. economy was just coming out of a bad recession.
The disappointing results follow two consecu...
-
Eurozone unemployment hits record high
2012-05-02 19:24:02 UTC
LONDON (AP) — Pressure is growing on Europe's leaders to focus less on austerity and more on stimulating growth as the 17 countries that use the euro face record high unemployment and a recession that is spreading across the region.
Eurozone unemployment rose by 169,000 in March, official figures showed Wednesday, taking the rate up...
-
Oil near $102 on Egypt protests, US demand outlook
2013-07-03 07:09:49 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil neared $102 a barrel Wednesday for the first time since May last year as Egypt's political crisis intensified, raising the risk of fuel supply disruptions.
Benchmark crude for August delivery was up $2.07 to $101.65 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Excha...
-
UK lawmakers: Rupert Murdoch unfit to lead company
2012-05-01 15:57:24 UTC
LONDON (AP) — News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch must take responsibility for serious failings that caused Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal, lawmakers said Tuesday in a scathing report — as a narrow majority also insisted the tycoon was unfit to lead his global media empire.
In a report on the malpractice at Murdoch's now shutte...
-
US consumer spending slowed in March, income rose
2012-04-30 20:11:08 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans increased their spending more slowly in March, suggesting some are worried that their paychecks aren't growing fast enough.
The Commerce Department said Monday that consumer spending increased just 0.3 percent last month after a 0.9 percent gain in February.
Income grew 0.4 percent following a 0.3 perc...
-
Tech exec gets 22 years prison for $30M fraud
2012-04-30 19:02:22 UTC
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former high-tech executive convicted of defrauding investors of at least $30 million on Monday was given one of the harshest sentences meted out in a white-collar criminal case.
A federal judge in San Francisco sentenced Samuel "Mouli" Cohen to 22 years in prison. Judge Charles Breyer also set a Thursday heari...
-
Asia stocks rise on hopes of new Fed stimulus move
2012-04-30 05:13:57 UTC
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets rose Monday in holiday-thinned trade as sluggish U.S. growth figures boosted hopes for more measures from the Federal Reserve to help the world's No. 1 economy.
South Korea's Kospi added 0.2 percent to 1,980.27 amid improving business sentiment among manufacturers. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0....
-
UK's Cameron: No pact with Murdoch over takeover
2012-04-29 18:43:37 UTC
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged Sunday that he wooed Rupert Murdoch as he attempted to win power in Britain, but insisted he never struck a tit-for-tat deal to support the media mogul's business dealings in return for favorable coverage.
Ties between Cameron's government and Murdoch's News Corp. are under scr...
-
US raises hope of sale of new fighters to Taiwan
2012-04-28 04:33:50 UTC
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The administration of President Barack Obama is raising the possibility that it could sell new jet fighter aircraft to Taiwan to help redress the island's air power deficit with China.
If the move goes through, it would infuriate Beijing, which claims the democratic island as its territory and regards all forei...
-
A weaker first quarter doesn't mean a weak year
2012-04-27 19:39:44 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew more slowly in the first three months of this year. Governments spent less, and businesses cut back on investment. But consumers spent at the fastest pace in more than a year.
The result suggests that the economy will continue to expand, slowly but steadily.
The Commerce Department estimate...
-
Daimler Q1 net rises 20 percent, Mercedes slips
2012-04-27 06:13:47 UTC
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Automaker Daimler AG says net profit rose 20 percent to €1.42 billion ($1.88 billion) in the first quarter despite a slip in earnings at its key Mercedes luxury car business.
Revenues rose 9 percent to €27.01 billion.
Divisional earnings slipped 3 percent at the Mercedes-Benz Car division, the company's ...
-
Chrysler posts best quarterly profit in 13 years
2012-04-26 20:42:48 UTC
DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler had its best quarterly profit in 13 years. Not bad for a company that almost died three years ago.
The company earned $473 million in the first quarter, mainly from strong U.S. sales, which rose 39 percent from January through March. Customers snapped up Ram pickups, Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs and Chrysler 200 ...
-
Gasoline prices continue to creep lower
2012-04-26 20:16:08 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — Retail gasoline prices continued their surprising spring slide Thursday, dropping a penny to $3.83 per gallon.
It's the 10th straight day of declines for the national average retail price. Pump prices are 4 cents lower than they were last year at this time.
Retail gasoline prices typically rise in the spring and p...
-
Murdoch: Hacking scandal changed my entire company
2012-04-26 20:20:00 UTC
LONDON (AP) — Rupert Murdoch used his testimony before a U.K. inquiry on Thursday to portray himself as the victim, not perpetrator, of a cover-up over phone hacking — a bold claim unlikely to be accepted by those suing his company for invading their privacy.
The 81-year-old media magnate apologized. He said he had failed. He noted ...
-
Fed: Economy growing moderately; no policy changes
2012-04-25 17:24:48 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says the economy is growing moderately while cautioning that risks from Europe remain. It's holding off on taking any further steps to boost the recovery.
In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed said Wednesday that the job market has improved slightly but that unemployment remains elevat...