US steel industry protests rampant Indian exports
New York: Upset over India not fulfilling its commitment to check its surging stainless steel exports, the US steel industry has asked the administration to take protective measures including hike in import duty. ‘‘It is time for action... India is wrecking havoc in the US market,’’ said Paul Kelly, chairman of Speciality Steel Industry of North American and president and CEO of Slater Steel Inc, in a letter to US President George W Bush. At present Indian stainless steel is exempt from US steel import relief programme which allows the government to take protective measures, including increasing import duty and tariff rate quota. The Indian government and its steel producers, the letter added, have not lived up to their commitments that the surge would end beginning of January. This commitment was made by the Indian government representative to US state delegate Robert Zoellick during consulations late last year.
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US charges 135 in dot-cons bust
Washington: Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday 135 people have been charged and more than $17 million seized in a crackdown on investment swindles, identity theft and other forms of Internet fraud and abuse. US law-enforcement officers arrested 50 suspects this week in an effort to combat the fast-growing online crime that now accounts for more than half of all fraud complaints, Ashcroft said. Those arrested stand accused of a variety of crimes, from setting up fake banking Web sites to collect the account numbers of unsuspecting customers to surreptitiously taping and selling unreleased movies, Ashcroft said.
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Alitalia CEO says airline must merge to survive
Rome: Italy's struggling flagship carrier Alitalia SpA must merge and slash costs in order to survive the airline industry's slump, Chief Executive Francesco Mengozzi said Friday. Alitalia, together with Germany's Lufthansa, warned earlier this week that it expects to plunge into loss this year as a host of negative factors hit Europe's big airlines. The companies cited competition from low-cost airlines, the Iraq war and the SARS outbreak. In order to survive, Alitalia must ``integrate and consolidate with other carriers, undertaking company mergers to develop cost and revenue synergies,'' Mengozzi told a shareholder's meeting.
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AOL shareholders approve slate of directors
Landsdowne: AOL Time Warner Inc. shareholders on Friday approved the media company's slate of 13 directors, despite some investor frustration with its performance. Ahead of the annual meeting, influential advisory service Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that its clients not vote for the slate of directors because not all were independent. Calpers, the nation's largest pension fund, also said it would withhold its vote for five of the directors. Capital Research, AOL Time Warner's largest institutional investor, has reportedly said it would withhold its vote for the slate as well, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gordon Crawford, senior vice president of Capital Research, reportedly objected to Chairman Steve Case remaining on the board after his resignation.
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Reform Europe agenda consensus strong: UK
Paris: The inclusion of 10 new members in the European Union is building a new drive towards sweeping economic reforms to boost growth in the bloc, the British Treasury said on Friday. "In Europe, with 10 new countries, a consensus for reform is emerging," a Treasury official said on the fringes of a World Bank sponsored conference. But the Treasury official took pains to say the debate over structural reform in Europe should not be seen as "old" versus "new" Europe and that he was encouraged by French finance minister Francis Mer's newspaper article on Friday calling for greater growth in Europe.
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