Apple to pay dividend and buy back shares
Apple has said it will use its cash to start paying a dividend to shareholders and to buy back some of its shares.
The technology giant said it would pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share from July.
It will buy back up to $10bn (£6.3bn) of its own shares starting in the company's next financial year, which begins on 30 September 2012.
At the end of last year, Apple revealed it had $97.6bn in cash. It expects to use $45bn over the next three years.
It is the first time Apple has declared a dividend since 1995.
"We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement.
"You'll see more of all of these in the future.
"Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase programme."
Apple shares have surged to about $600 in recent days, making it the world's most valuable company, with a stock market value of more than $500bn. Ten years ago, the shares were trading at about $10.
Booming sales of iPhones and iPads have helped the firm build up its huge cash pile.
"This is consistent with what we, and I think most, expected them to do, which is to address shareholder concerns around the huge cash stockpile while retaining enough of a reserve to keep a wide range of strategic options on the table," said John Jackson from CCS Insight.
"This, plus the buyback, should continue to bolster the soaring share price."
Shares in Apple ended Monday trading up 2.7%.
Australia passes controversial mining tax into law
The Australian Senate has pushed through into law a 30% tax on iron ore and coal mining companies.
The tax will raise A$10.6bn ($11.2bn, £7bn) over three years from major companies including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xtrata.
Strong demand for raw materials from China and India has lead to a resource boom in Australia.
The mining tax is aimed at distributing the benefits of that revenue to other segments of the economy.
It comes into effect on 1 July.
Opposing views
"This important reform will provide a revenue stream to ensure that businesses in particular that are not in the fast lane of the resources boom get some tax relief," Treasurer Wayne Swan told Parliament.
The government wants to use the funds, amongst other things, to reduce Australia's company tax rate from 30% to 29%.
The measure passed through the upper house Senate with backing the ruling Labor party and the Greens party, in a success for Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
However, the conservative opposition coalition is against the mining tax, saying it will drive investment overseas and cost thousands of jobs in Australia.
Political upset
The Australian government originally announced a 40% mining tax in May 2010, but that set-off intense opposition from the mining companies.
That opposition was central to the Labor party's decision in June to replace Kevin Rudd as prime minister with Ms Gillard.
She then negotiated a 30% tax with the mining giants.
The government also won support for the tax by promising A$6bn in spending on infrastructure such as roads, rail and ports.
It also agreed to raise the amount paid to people's retirement savings to 12% of their salary by 2020, up from the current 9%.
Deutsche to challenge EU over NYSE Euronext ruling
Deutsche Boerse is to legally challenge the European Commission's decision to block its planned merger with stock exchange rival NYSE Euronext.
The two companies called off their merger last month after Brussels objected to the deal on competition grounds.
Deutsche Boerse said on Monday that "several aspects" of the Commission's decision were "incorrect".
It is taking the matter to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The ECJ is the highest court in Europe for cases involving the interpretation of European Union law.
The proposed deal between Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext would have created the world's largest stock exchange operator.
However, the Commission said it would have created a "near monopoly" in European financial derivatives.
Deutsche Boerse runs the main German stock market in Frankfurt.
NYSE Euronext runs the New York Stock Exchange, and a number of exchanges in Europe including Paris, Lisbon and Amsterdam.
Mets owners settle Bernard Madoff lawsuit
The owners of the New York Mets baseball team have agreed to pay $162m (£102m) to settle a lawsuit which accused them of being "wilfully blind" to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi fraud.
The civil case against Mets' owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz was brought by Irving Picard, trustee for Madoff's victims.
Mr Wilpon and Mr Katz will not have to pay any money for at least three years. Both denied any wrongdoing.
Madoff was jailed in 2009.
The New York-based investment-fund owner was found guilty of orchestrating a $20bn fraud, which used the funds of new joiners to pay long-term members.
Mr Wilpon and Mr Katz had invested with Madoff for 25 years, insisting that they did so in "good faith", and had no knowledge of the fraud.
The settlement was announced just as the case was due to go to court in New York.
Mr Katz said: "We are very pleased to have this behind us.
"We have done everything in good faith. The settlement itself bears that out."
Egypt in mourning for Coptic Pope Shenouda's funeral
Big crowds are expected in the Egyptian capital for the funeral of Coptic Pope Shenouda III, who died on Saturday.
A service will be held at St Mark's cathedral, followed by burial at St Bishoy monastery in the Nile Delta.
Shenouda, 88, was the spiritual leader of Egypt's Copts - who make up 10% of the country's population - for decades.
Tens of thousands of mourners have paid their respects to the pope, whose body has been on display in the cathedral.
Copts - the Middle East's largest Christian community - have been given time off work to prepare for Tuesday's funeral.
A national day of mourning has been declared for the funeral.
World tributes
Tens of thousands of people queued to see Pope Shenouda in the past two days.
Dressed in embroidered vestments and a golden mitre, and holding a gold-tipped staff, his body was laid in a coffin before being placed on a ceremonial throne.
The holy pope was able to gain the love of even those who held different opinions and I believe this will be a difficult thing to replace," said a mourner named as Samir.
"But God protects the Church and he will find a suitable patriarch."
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says the massive crowds bear witness to the huge love and respect for Pope Shenouda.
He was seen as a leader who did his best to protect Coptic Christians at a time when Islamism was on the rise, our correspondent says.
But his deep conservatism -including opposition to divorce - was not always popular with younger Christians.
The first challenge for the new leader of the Church will be to reassure Copts of their place in a country whose largest political party is now the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, our correspondent adds.
There is no timetable yet for the selection of his successor, who will be elected by a conclave of senior bishops.
Tributes have come in from around the world, with Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI offering prayers and US President Barack Obama praising Pope Shenouda as an "advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue".
Egypt's military rulers expressed the hope on their Facebook page that his wish of "preserving the unity of Egypt and the unity of its social fabric" would be achieved.
And a senior Muslim cleric, the Grand Imam of the prestigious al-Azhar university, Ahmed al-Tayeb, expressed sorrow and said he "greatly remembers his vision towards Jerusalem and its history".
Russia joins Red Cross call for daily truce in Syria
Russia has joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in calling for a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Syria.
In a statement, the foreign ministry called on the government "and all armed groups who oppose it" to agree to ceasefires "without delay".
Russia has twice vetoed Western-backed draft resolutions on Syria at the UN Security Council.
Its call came hours after clashes erupted in part of the Syrian capital.
The head of the ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, had travelled to Moscow to discuss a ceasefire arrangement with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The organisation says a daily pause in fighting is needed to evacuate the wounded from the worst affected areas and allow in food and medicine.
Mr Kellenberger said Russia's support for its appeal was "very important" and that he noted it with "satisfaction and gratitude".
"The most important issue for us is to ensure humanitarian ceasefires as soon as possible," Russian media quoted him as saying.
He said the prospect of more Syrian cities being subjected to the intense military bombardment seen in Homs earlier this year was "absolutely unacceptable".
'Concrete results'
Russia is a key ally of Syria and, along with China, has thwarted attempts to agree to a UN resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad's actions.
In its statement, Moscow said it supported the ICRC's demands and urged the Syrian authorities to give the organisation "access to all detained persons in Syria following the protests".
The BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow says the announcement could be interpreted as a hardening of Russia's public position on Syria, though Moscow has been calling for a permanent ceasefire on both sides for months.
ICRC spokeswoman Victoria Zotikova told AFP news agency the organisation hoped to see "concrete results of such meetings on the ground in the coming days and weeks".
The UN says more than 8,000 people have been killed in the year-long uprising, while tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.
Overnight, the Syrian capital, Damascus, experienced some of its heaviest fighting since the uprising began.
Witnesses said machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades were heard from the heavily guarded district of al-Mezze, where several security buildings are located and which has seen several large anti-government protests.
Syrian TV said three "terrorists" and a security force member had been killed, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four rebel fighters had died.
State television said that in addition to the dead, several people on both sides were injured.
The latest incident follows bomb blasts in Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo over the weekend in which nearly 30 people died and scores were wounded.
On Monday, a team of experts representing the joint UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Syria to press his proposals for a ceasefire and monitoring.
A spokesman for Mr Annan told AFP news agency the group were experienced in "peacekeeping and mediation" and would stay in Syria "for as long as they are making progress to reach agreement on practical steps to implement Mr Annan's proposals".
Mr Assad is trying to quell an increasingly armed rebellion that sprang from a fierce crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests a year ago.
He insists his troops are fighting "armed gangs" seeking to destabilise Syria.
Greece’s FM Resigns to Lead Socialist Party Before Election
Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has resigned, one day after being elected to lead the Socialist party PASOK in the run-up to elections.
Venizelos announced his resignation Monday after meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.
Venizelos officially replaced former Greek prime minister George Papandreou as head of the PASOK party on Monday.
Greece has announced plans to hold early general elections in late April or early May to replace the interim coalition government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.
Opinion polls show PASOK is badly trailing the conservative New Democracy party.
Venizelos played a key role in recent months in negotiating a second bailout for Greece and new economic austerity measures. Earlier this month, the government cut wages and pensions, and eliminated thousands of government jobs to meet the demands of international lenders so that it could secure a new $172 billion bailout.
That bailout marked the country's second rescue package in two years.
Venizelos said at the time the debt relief would ease financial pressures on Greece and the 17-nation euro currency bloc that has struggled to control Europe's debt crisis.
Romney Positioned for Win in Illinois Primary
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is hoping for a big win in his party's primary Tuesday in the central state of Illinois, as he seeks to enlarge his lead over his top rival, Rick Santorum.
Opinion polls show Romney is 15 points ahead of Santorum in Illinois.
Sixty-nine delegates are at stake. A win would give Romney major momentum heading into upcoming nominating contests. The former Massachusetts governor has already won 521 delegates to 253 for Santorum.
The other two Republican candidates, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, are far behind.
On Monday, Romney and Santorum campaigned in Illinois. Romney met with voters at a diner in the capital, Springfield, before heading to Chicago to deliver an economic address. He pledged to control government spending.
“I want to restore the principles that made America the greatest nation on Earth — and one of them is you don't spend more than you take in.”
Santorum has said that if he wins Tuesday's primary, he will secure the Republican presidential nomination. The former U.S. senator urged supporters to get others to vote for him.
“This could be an amazing time in American history, and right here in Illinois you can usher that in. You can surprise the pundits, amaze them with conservatives.”
On Sunday, Romney won Puerto Rico's 20 delegates, moving him closer to the 1,144 needed to win the Republican nomination. The winner will face
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the November election.
North Korea Invites UN Nuclear Monitors to Return
The United Nations nuclear watchdog said Monday it has received an invitation from North Korea to visit, three years after its inspectors were expelled from the communist country.
A spokeswoman for the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said the invitation was received Friday — the same day Pyongyang announced it would launch a rocket carrying a satellite.
The U.S. State Department said that, in principle, it supports all efforts by the IAEA to gain access to North Korea. But spokeswoman Victoria Nuland added that Washington would consider the satellite launch a violation “not only of North Korea's U.N. obligations, but of the commitments it made to the U.S.”
Last month, North Korea agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and allow the return of U.N. weapons inspectors in exchange for desperately needed food aid.
In a joint announcement after talks with the United States, Pyongyang also promised a moratorium on its nuclear development and long-range missile tests.
North Korea has rejected international pressure not to proceed with the launch, saying it has a legitimate right, as a sovereign country, to put into orbit scientific satellites. It also says next month's launch — to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founder and late president Kim Il Sung — is in accordance with international regulations governing the launch of satellites for “peaceful scientific purposes.”
Tensions rose Monday on the Korean peninsula, with Pyongyang releasing video of a major military exercise and Seoul accusing its northern neighbor of using the planned satellite launch as a pretext for testing a nuclear weapon delivery system.
The North Korean video shows leader Kim Jong Un meeting soldiers and watching what is described as a joint strike drill of the North's army, navy and air force. It shows a warship being blown up at sea, soldiers firing missiles and an airplane exploding in mid-air.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met with his foreign minister and top security advisors Monday to discuss Pyongyang's move. A presidential spokesman described the planned launch as a “grave provocation,” saying the real purpose of the launch is to develop a long-range delivery system for nuclear weapons.
The spokesman also said South Korea will work with the international community and discuss the matter with the leaders of related countries, including the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the European Union during next week's Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.
The U.S., Russia, South Korea and Japan have condemned the planned launch, saying it violates a U.N. ban on all North Korean launches using ballistic missile technology.
Even Pyongyang's long-time ally, China, has expressed rare disapproval. Beijing said it is concerned about the launch's potential to disrupt regional peace and security.
Ashcroft's BCB breached rules of Stock Exchange
BCB Holdings broke London Stock Exchange rules by failing to declare all the directorships held by Andrew Ashcroft, son of the Conservative party donor Lord Ashcroft, The Independent has discovered.
Mr Ashcroft replaced his father on the board of BCB Holdings, the peer's AIM-listed Caribbean banking business, last year and the company was required to disclose all other current and recent board memberships at that time.
Although it declared seven existing directorships and two more where he had sat on the board within the previous five years, public records from the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), where Mr Ashcroft is based, show that he had also been a director of another company that BCB Holdings did not reveal.
A document from the TCI's Financial Services Commission shows that Mr Ashcroft was appointed director of Reef Development Company Ltd on 7 September, 2010. His fellow board members were Peter Gaze and Phillip Osborne, two of Lord Ashcroft's long-time business associates and both board members of BCB Holdings.
Eighteen months ago, BCB Holdings was also revealed to have made incomplete disclosures of Mr Osborne's outside business interests, after an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme.
AIM's rule book requires that when a company appoints new directors, it reveals the names of all companies and partnerships where they have been a director, going back five years. The rules are designed to give investors complete information about board members' outside interests and the ability to police potential conflicts of interest.
Mr Ashcroft joined Belize Bank, a BCB Holdings subsidiary, in 2002 and, after a period at head office in Belize, transferred to the TCI to become the managing director of British Caribbean Bank Ltd, Lord Ashcroft's bank there. He stepped down as a director of BCB Holdings after less than six months because the TCI operations were spun off.
Lord Ashcroft's bank in the TCI financed a decade-long construction boom that turned sour during the financial crisis when tourism collapsed and the country was beset by political scandal. The British Foreign Office suspended the islands' government and imposed direct rule in 2009 after a commission of inquiry found widespread corruption by ministers, including the former Prime Minister Michael Misick.
Lord Ashcroft and his son were not accused of any wrongdoing by the commission. The peer is taking legal action against the previous owner of The Independent over two reports on his business interests in the TCI from November 2009.
It is not clear from the registration document what Reef Development Company Ltd's business was, or was intended to be. It was created in April 2010 with Mr Gaze and Mr Osborne as directors, with Mr Ashcroft joining only later in the year. The Independent has passed the document to the London Stock Exchange for examination. Cenkos Securities, nominated adviser to BCB Holdings, is also investigating. Mr Ashcroft and BCB Holdings did not respond to requests for comment.
The Stock Exchange can impose sanctions, including public censures and fines, on companies found to have broken AIM rules. The severity of the punishment depends on the nature and seriousness of the breach, and on the general compliance history of the company.
BCB Holdings put out what a Stock Exchange spokesman called a "corrective announcement" in 2009 after Panorama discovered two directorships that Mr Osborne should have declared when he joined the company board in 2007, plus a further one which he took on later in the year that was also not disclosed to shareholders.