World Crisis Online

By Ellen Rosen

(Updates with Hardin and NFL in Trials/Appeals.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge William B. Chandler III, who oversaw challenges to the Walt Disney Co. and Hewlett-Packard Co. boards as head of one of the most important U.S. business litigation courts, is stepping down. Chandler, 60, led the influential five-member court since 1997 and most recently ruled on Air Products & Chemicals Inc.’s hostile $5 billion bid for Airgas Inc. (more…)

By Carla Main

(Updates with Serious Fraud Office, Korea banks in Compliance Policy; MetLife in Compliance Action; Microsoft in Courts; Konyn and Straszheim in Interviews.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — China’s banking regulator set capital targets for the nation’s five biggest lenders above the minimum 11.5 percent ratio amid concern that credit risks may rise, three people with knowledge of the matter said. (more…)

By Shobhana Chandra

(Updates with economist comment in fourth paragraph.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Confidence among U.S. consumers increased more than forecast in April, signaling the improving labor market is helping Americans weather rising fuel costs. (more…)

By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

(Updates with Obama comments on economy, beginning in eighth paragraph.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said the nation’s shaky economic outlook and record debt will spell defeat for President Barack Obama in 2012 while giving Republicans “a mandate” to present an alternative to voters. (more…)

By Andres R. Martinez and Ye Xie

April 25 (Bloomberg) — Mexican bond investors are paring inflation bets from a 14-month high after consumer prices rose less than forecast over the past two months.

The yield gap between inflation-linked debt due in 2014 and similar-maturity fixed-rate bonds, a gauge of investor expectations for annual price increases over the next three years, shrank to 3.93 percent from 4.65 percent on March 7, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The so-called breakeven rate in Chile narrowed 17 basis points during the same period to 4.05 percent while in Brazil it climbed 8 to 6.17 percent. (more…)

By Ola Kinnander

April 27 (Bloomberg) — Volvo AB and Scania AB, two of Europe’s biggest commercial-vehicle manufacturers, reported a surge in first-quarter profit as heavy-truck demand rebounds.

Volvo’s net income more than doubled to 4.09 billion kronor ($670 million), the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company said today. Scania, the Swedish truckmaker controlled by Volkswagen AG, said profit rose 77 percent to 2.51 billion kronor. (more…)

By Julianna Goldman

(Updates with White House comment in fourth paragraph. See EXTRA <GO> or MET <GO> for more on Middle East unrest.)

April 25 (Bloomberg) — The Obama administration is considering options to hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable for the increasingly violent crackdown against anti- government protesters, including possible sanctions, an administration official said. (more…)

By Lisa Lerer and John McCormick

(Updates with details of Barbour visit to Iowa in 15th paragraph.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who had been making campaign-style appearances in states crucial to the presidential-selection process, announced yesterday that he wouldn’t seek the White House in 2012. (more…)

By Rebecca Christie and Ian Katz

(Updates with Truman comments beginning in fifth paragraph.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner today reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to a “strong dollar” and said the country won’t weaken the currency to gain an advantage over its trading partners. (more…)

By Catherine Dodge

April 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas announced today in Iowa that he is forming an exploratory committee for a third presidential campaign.

Paul, a longshot 2008 Republican presidential candidate whose anti-tax, anti-government politics struck a chord with a swath of voters and fueled fundraising, will make a decision on whether to run by the middle of next month, said Jesse Benton, his political director. (more…)

By Roger Runningen and Nicholas Johnston

April 28 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama yesterday sought to end persistent questions from some political opponents about his birthplace by releasing a copy of his long-form birth certificate and decrying the “silliness” of the controversy. (more…)

By Mariko Yasu

(Updates with official’s comment in ninth paragraph.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Sony Corp. introduced its first tablet computers, following Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. in their pursuit of Apple Inc., a year after the iPad spurred a surge in demand for the devices. (more…)

By Bloomberg News

April 27 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., which pulled its Internet search engine out of China last year, said it’s “confident” of growing in the country under new Chief Executive Officer Larry Page.

The company sees more “upside” in China, John Liu, Google’s head of sales in the world’s biggest market for Internet, said at a conference in Beijing yesterday. Google founders Page and Sergey Brin know China “very well,” he said. (more…)

By Ketaki Gokhale and Jay Shankar

(Updates with closing share price in fifth paragraph.)

April 27 (Bloomberg) — Wipro Ltd., India’s third-largest software exporter, fell the most in almost two weeks after the company forecast first-quarter sales at its information- technology unit would remain little changed. (more…)

By Joseph Galante and Danielle Kucera

(Updates with closing price in seventh paragraph.)

April 27 (Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. rose the most in 18 months on the Nasdaq after reporting sales that topped analysts’ predictions, fueling optimism that a surge in spending on warehouses and data centers will result in faster growth. (more…)

By Mark Lee

(Adds CEO’s comment in second paragraph.)

April 28 (Bloomberg) — Baidu Inc., the owner of China’s most popular search engine, has “plenty of room” to expand, Chief Executive Officer Robin Li forecast after some analysts projected slowing growth at the company. (more…)

By Andrew Frye

April 28 (Bloomberg) — David Sokol violated Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s insider-trading rules and misled the company about his personal stake in Lubrizol Corp., which he recommended as a takeover target to Chairman Warren Buffett, the firm said. (more…)

By Lisa Lerer

April 28 (Bloomberg) — U.S. House Republicans pushing to overhaul Medicare dismiss the vocal opposition some have encountered from constituents as orchestrated by political foes.

The Republicans, who have spent much of the two-week congressional recess fending off questions from voters about the proposal, say they are standing by the plan, a cornerstone of the 2012 budget measure the House passed April 15 on a party- line vote. (more…)

By Patrick Donahue and Lorenzo Totaro

(Updates with Gates in fifth paragraph, oil price in ninth. See EXTRA and MET for more on Middle East unrest.)

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Italian air-force jets will carry out strikes over Libya as NATO seeks to break an impasse in the nine-week struggle to oust Muammar Qaddafi’s regime. (more…)

By Lindsay Fortado and James Lumley

(Updates with John Hemming comment in 12th paragraph.)

April 27 (Bloomberg) — A “well-known sportsman,” a “world-famous person” and even a TV news reporter are among a growing number of celebrities who have won London court orders barring newspapers from printing stories about their sex lives. (more…)