Goldman president Lloyd Blankfein to succeed Henry Paulson
New York: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. named president Lloyd Blankfein to succeed Henry Paulson as chairman and chief executive officer of the world's biggest securities firm by market value.

The appointments will take effect once Paulson is confirmed as U.S. treasury secretary, the New York-based firm said in a statement today. Paulson, 60, was nominated May 30 by President George W. Bush.

The confirmation process may last two months.

The son of a postal worker, Blankfein, 51, oversaw Goldman's trading unit, which generated more than half of the firm's record revenue during the past three years.

Goldman in March reported the most profitable quarter in Wall Street's history, earning almost $2.5 billion
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APEC fixes June 30 deadline for WTO pact
Ho Chi Minh City: Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum said that the World Trade Organization members must take ``urgent action'' by the end of June to break a global impasse on cutting tariffs and opening markets, at the end of their meeting in Vietnam.

APEC members who finished a two-day meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, have endorsed a timeline calling for agreement by the end of June on a formula for cutting agricultural tariffs and domestic subsidies, and opening market access in non-agricultural areas.

The end-June deadline, which replaces a missed end-April target, would then be followed by negotiations to translate general formulas into specific commitments. Failure to finish the so-called Doha Development Round in 2006 may scuttle the process for ``years'' and damage the global trading system, New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff told the meeting.

``Urgent action is needed to drive the process of reaching agreement on agriculture and non-agricultural market access'' by the end of June, APEC ministers said in a joint statement today. ``Each of us is ready to contribute to the end of June milestone.''
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