Frankfurt / AFP Germany at the start of the year introduced a corporate “women’s quota†obliging its 100 biggest companies to fill at least 30 percent of their supervisory board seats with females. But for many, including several of the women executives themselves, the new legislation has so far proved something of a “paper tigerâ€. “The law is addressing the ...
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April, 2016
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10 April
Stock buybacks stay popular tool for quick payoff despite criticism
New York / AFP Confronted with a sluggish global economy, US companies have settled on a controversial tool that rewards shareholders and executives: share buybacks. First permitted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 1982, the use of share buybacks has spread rapidly over the last five years due in part to pressure from activist investors anxious for a ...
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10 April
USA concerned that EU tax campaign hits mainly US firms
Washington / AFP US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Europe’s powerful competition commissioner that the EU review of tax breaks given to multinationals could have an “outsized” impact on US companies. In a recent meeting , Lew expressed concerns to Margrethe Vestager, who is leading the campaign to end excessive tax breaks by EU members to huge multinational firms, that ...
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10 April
Argentine auto production seen holding steady or dropping in 2016
Reuters Argentina’s auto production will hold steady or drop slightly this year as sales are hit by the steep recession in main trading partner Brazil, the ADEFA association of vehicle makers said on Saturday. “The external situation will remain complicated,” the president of ADEFA, Enrique Alemany, said in a statement published online. “There are no prospects for a Brazilian recovery.” ...
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10 April
UN body says Latin American economies to contract 0.6 pct in 2016
Reuters A United Nations body has cut its modest economic growth projection for Latin America in 2016 and is now forecasting an average contraction in regional gross domestic product of 0.6 percent. The Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean, citing low commodities prices and financial market volatility, cut its prior call for 0.2 percent average economic growth ...
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10 April
California to expand paid family leave for new parents
Reuters California will increase the amount of money new parents can receive through the state’s paid family leave program under a bill to be signed on Monday by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. The measure, passed last month by the state legislature, would increase the amount paid to new parents or people caring for a sick family member to as much ...
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10 April
Puerto Rico declares emergency period for development bank
Bloomberg Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed an executive order declaring an emergency period for its Government Development Bank to help keep it operating, while declining to halt or suspend its debt obligations. The Development Bank, which lends to the U.S. commonwealth and its municipalities and is running out of cash, faces a $422 million principal and interest payment ...
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10 April
Brazil’s inflation falls below 10 percent a year in March
BRASILIA / Reuters Brazil’s inflation rate slowed sharply in March to below 10 percent a year, the lowest in nine months, although it still remained well above the government’s target despite a severe recession and one of the world’s highest interest rates. Consumer prices as measured by the benchmark IPCA index rose 9.39 percent in the 12 months through March, ...
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10 April
Syrian rival forces race to retake territory from IS extremists
Beirut / AFP The IS group is under growing pressure on several fronts in Syria as rival forces battle to wrest territory from the extremists, who are excluded from a six-week-old ceasefire. The scramble by the regime, anti-government rebels and Kurdish militia to recapture areas from IS has been given added urgency by the prospect of a possible federal system. ...
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10 April
Syria ceasefire ‘about to collapse’: Opposition
Paris / AFP The ceasefire in Syria “is about to collapse,” an official from the opposition said in an interview published on Sunday, just days before the resumption of peace talks in Geneva. “Over the last 10 days we have seen a very serious deterioration and the ceasefire is about to collapse,” BassmaKodmani, a member of the High Negotiations Committee ...
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