- World stocks gain along with oil, clock ticks down to ECB (Reuters)
- Draghi Expected to Defend ECB in Face of German Criticism (WSJ)
- Trump, Cruz, Kasich seek to win over Republican leaders at party meeting (Reuters)
- Donald Trump Plans to Adopt More-Traditional Campaign Tactics (WSJ)
- Japan, Not Germany, Leads World in Negative-Yield Bonds (BBG)
- Obama starts talks with Gulf leaders aimed at easing strains (Reuters)
- Soros: China Looks Like the US Before the Crisis (BBG)
- OPEC Secretary-General Says Cartel May Discuss Oil Freeze at June Meeting (WSJ)
- Obama’s Brexit Intervention Makes Waves in U.K., Ripples in U.S. (BBG)
- Public Support For TTIP Plunges in US and Germany (Reuters)
- Uber Overtakes Rental Cars Among Business Travelers (BBG)
- VW To Offer To Buy Back Nearly 500,000 US Diesel Cars (Reuters)
- Mitsubishi Motors shares slump to record low on mileage cheating scandal (Reuters)
- China’s ‘Zombie’ Steel Mills Fire Up Furnaces, Worsen Global Glut (Reuters)
- EU States Grow Wary As Turkey Presses For Action On Visas Pledge (FT)
- Novartis Profit Falls as Blockbuster Cancer Drug Sales Drop (BBG)
- Greece ‘Could Leave Eurozone’ On Brexit Vote (Telegraph)
- Marissa Mayer has only one last job to do at Yahoo (Reuters)
- China Wants Ships To Use Faster Arctic Route Opened By Global Warming (Reuters)
- Hungary Threatens Rebellion Against Brussels Over Forced Migration (Express)
- The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans (Atlantic)
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
– Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, after notching a big win in New York, is planning to roll out significant changes in his campaign, including giving a policy speech on foreign affairs, using teleprompters and a speech writer, and doing more outreach to Washington Republican leaders. (http://on.wsj.com/1QoFUpJ)
– U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said he would put abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, bowing to public pressure after his initial proposal to put a woman on the $10 bill appeared to misfire. (http://on.wsj.com/1QoFRtX)
– European Union competition authorities unveiled a second set of charges against Google, this time over its Android operating system, contrasting with U.S. regulators who have so far found that Google’s conduct raises no antitrust concerns. (http://on.wsj.com/1QoFOhE)
– Wal Mart Stores Inc is bringing in the next generation of Walton family members to its board, nominating Steuart Walton, grandson of founder Sam Walton. (http://on.wsj.com/1QoFM9w)
FT
– A Deutsche Bank AG shareholder has requested a special audit of whether members of the bank’s supervisory board or management board breached obligations in dealing with a few of the bank’s legal entanglements. (http://bit.ly/1U6Sj8l)
– GP practices will be given an additional 2.4 billion pounds ($3.44 billion) a year to cope with older population and to decrease pressure on hospitals. Chief Executive of NHS England Simon Stevens is to announce the extra funding on Thursday. (http://bit.ly/1U6SikW)
– Worldpay Plc is launching a pay-as-you-go service for smaller businesses taking card payments, which is a part of the payment group’s plans to expand in the UK. (http://bit.ly/1U6Shxj)
– Conforama, a Steinhoff International Holdings subsidiary, acquired 19.5 percent of Darty Plc and sweetened its offer for the remaining shares to 138 pence per share. (http://bit.ly/1U6ShgT)
NYT
– Google Inc long stressed that Android, its popular mobile software, is open for anyone to use, including its rivals. But the company’s claims are now under threat after Europe’s antitrust authorities on Wednesday charged the company with unfairly using Android to promote its own services – like mobile search – over those of its rivals. (http://nyti.ms/1T0I5Sh)
– In a major victory for the Russian government, a Dutch court on Wednesday overturned an award of more than $50 billion to former shareholders of the defunct oil company Yukos that Moscow was ordered to pay in 2014. (http://nyti.ms/1QoNqRe)
– In the latest scandal to hit the automobile industry, Mitsubishi Motors Corp said on Wednesday that it had cheated on fuel-economy tests for an ultrasmall car it produces in Japan. The company acknowledged that its engineers had intentionally manipulated evaluations. (http://nyti.ms/1SuUccT)
– Credit Suisse Group AG has hired Henrik Aslaksen, a former top banker at Deutsche Bank AG, as the Swiss bank continues to reshape its investment banking business. (http://nyti.ms/1T0Hpw3)
– Barclays Plc announced on Wednesday that a veteran of its Barclaycard business would be the permanent head of its credit card and payment operations. Amer Sajed, who joined Barclays from Citigroup in 2006, becomes chief executive of the Barclaycard business immediately, the British bank said. (http://nyti.ms/20Zjjrr)
Canada
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** The trickle of complaints about Netflix Inc’s renewed effort to stop Canadians from circumventing its geographic content restrictions has turned into a steady stream of outrage as the Californian company’s technological crackdown begins to bite more users globally. (http://bit.ly/1NCPCVD)
** Multilateral talks are ongoing between the British Columbia and Alberta governments centering on a deal that would see one help facilitate the construction of an oil pipeline to the West Coast in exchange for a long-term contract to buy electricity. (http://bit.ly/1NCQgCx)
** The Canadian government abandoned an appeal of a controversial court ruling that let the Catholic Church out of its responsibility to raise millions of dollars for aboriginal healing programs, court documents show. (http://bit.ly/1NCQrOb)
NATIONAL POST
** Health Canada is studying the possibility of forcing companies to make their cigarettes less addictive, a controversial anti-smoking strategy that no other country has implemented. (http://bit.ly/1NCQFF3)
** Some of the Canadian military’s top equipment programs already underway – including projects to buy maritime helicopters and Arctic patrol vessels – will have their funding delayed as the defense department tries to deal with the Liberal government’s first budget. (http://bit.ly/1NCRQnR)
Britain
The Times
* Millions of patients will be seen by pharmacists, therapists and medical assistants instead of GPs in an effort to save the NHS from collapse. Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, warns that the health service will fail without a 2.4 billion pounds rescue package for the “fraying” GP system. (http://bit.ly/1VGkfRB)
* The owners of offshore companies holding 170 billion pounds in British property are set to be unmasked in a crackdown on money laundering and tax evasion. David Cameron is expected to announce plans to lift the veil on anonymous shell companies that buy huge swathes of British real estate. http://bit.ly/1T0lVQ6)
The Guardian
* Sir Terry Matthews, the first Welsh billionaire, is backing a proposed management buyout of Tata Steel UK, boosting hopes of a rescue deal for the Port Talbot steelworks and thousands of employees. Matthews is helping to put together a consortium of public and private sector figures from south Wales who can support the buyout. (http://bit.ly/1QnpvBV)
* British Gas is to axe almost 700 jobs and close its West Midlands office in Oldbury, just two months after its residential supply arm reported a 31 percent increase in profits to over 570 million pounds. The 684 staff are employed by British Gas services in call centre and back room office work supporting the company’s engineers who attend call-outs and mend boilers. (http://bit.ly/1pgvEJX)
The Telegraph
* Google has been formally charged with monopoly abuse over an alleged effort to crush rivals to its mobile search service and Android smartphone operating system, in a major escalation of its battle with Brussels. (http://bit.ly/1XIkeL4)
* Greece could crash out of the eurozone as early as this summer if Britons vote to leave the European Union in the upcoming referendum, economists have predicted. The uncertainty following a “yes” vote to Britain leaving the EU would put unsustainable pressure on Greece’s cash-strapped economy at a time when it is also struggling to cope with an influx of migrants escaping turmoil in the Middle East and Africa, according to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. (http://bit.ly/20YPNC5)
Sky News
* A group of top city executives has slammed boardroom pay practices as “broken” and “not fit for purpose”, demanding an urgent overhaul to restore public confidence in British business. Sky News has learnt that a panel set up to explore ways of simplifying executive remuneration will publish on Thursday a series of proposals aimed at increasing transparency and directors’ accountability. (http://bit.ly/1STYVBJ)
* Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp has admitted manipulating fuel economy tests on some of its own brand and Nissan cars to make the results more favourable. (http://bit.ly/1WGor3i)
The Independent
* Barack Obama has been urged to use his visit to Saudi Arabia to rule out selling controversial cluster bombs to the kingdom amid mounting evidence they have been used against civilians in Yemen. (http://ind.pn/20YR6kF)
* Shareholders in the collapsed Yukos oil company established by jailed Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky have lost a key court battle in their demand for $50 billion compensation from the Russian government. (http://ind.pn/26fP6Z8)
via http://ift.tt/1U7cYt8 Tyler Durden
