Bert Habets to Replace Anke Schaferkordt as Co-CEO of RTL Group

She will continue as CEO of the company’s largest business unit, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, and a member of the executive board of RTL’s majority shareholder Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann-controlled European TV giant RTL Group said Wednesday that co-CEO Anke Scheferkordt, will leave her current role at her own request, effective April 19. Schaferkordt will continue to be the CEO of the company’s largest business unit, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, which she has led since September 2005.

Ensuring Digital Access for All in 2017

Chairman Ajit Pai and the Federal Communications Commission recently made a big decision: to put an end to investigations into what is known as “free data” or “zero-rating” programs. Though the announcement was met with scorn from some online activists, the announcement was a historic milestone for those of us who have been committed to ensuring all Americans-especially, those in low-income and minority communities-have the critical internet-based tools and resources they need to compete in today’s world.

Strongest Japan Loan Growth Since Bubble Shows Reflation at Work

It’s shaping up to be another good year for lending in Japan, data showed on Wednesday, offering further evidence that — for all its shortfalls — the Abenomics program of reflation continues to make progress. One measure of loans outstanding jumped by 2.9 percent in February from a year before, and has gained at least 2 percent each month since the spring of 2013 — a pace not seen in Bank of Japan records going back to 1992, the year Japan’s land-price bubble popped.

North Korean Banks Barred From Swift Global Messaging System

North Korean banks subject to international sanctions have recently been banned by Swift from using its global financial messaging service, according to a statement from the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Swift said it had recently been informed by Belgian authorities that they would no longer provide the “necessary authorizations” for it to continue offering services to North Korean banks covered by United Nations sanctions.

Emirates Invites Barflies to Pull Up a Seat With A380 Makeover

Flying bars that cater to premium passengers on the world’s biggest fleet of A380 superjumbos are set for a saloon-style upgrade as Gulf carrier Emirates seeks to use the sky-high hangouts to lure affluent travelers. Out will go the semicircular benches on which passengers have perched since Emirates introduced the on-board lounges almost a decade ago, to be replaced by an altogether more comfortable setup featuring a table for four located either side of the counter and below the superjumbo’s windows.

WhiteSpace Alliance Predicts United States will Rapidly Move Forward with TV White Space Deployments

The WhiteSpace Alliance , a global industry organization enabling sharing of underutilized spectrum, says that completion of the recent FCC spectrum incentive auction will make the United States a prime market for TV white space deployments. “The completion of the incentive auction will remove regulatory uncertainty and free up more than 80 MHz of spectrum for license-exempt wireless Internet access,” said Dr. Apurva N. Mody, Chairman of WhiteSpace Alliance.

Nikkei Falls For 4th Day Ahead of U.S. Jobs Data

Japan’s Nikkei share average eased slightly for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, as investors turned cautious ahead of a U.S. jobs report later in the week. Nintendo Co Ltd however bucked the trend to climb 0.6 percent after Japanese video game news magazine Famitsu reported that a hybrid home console and handheld device that Nintendo released on March 3 sold an estimated 330,637 units in the first three days.

China Shares Dip as Trade Data Shrugged Off

News that China unexpectedly posted a rare trade deficit in February, as imports surged far more than expected, did not have an impact on mainland exchanges. The CSI300 index fell 0.1 percent, to 3,449.45 points at the close, while the Shanghai Composite Index was barely changed at 3,241.18.

US Senate resolution aims to roll back privacy rules for ISPs

A resolution introduced in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday aims to roll back privacy rules for broadband service providers that were approved by the Federal Communications Commission in October. The rules include the requirement that internet service providers like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon should obtain “opt-in” consent from consumers to use and share sensitive personal information such as geolocation and web browsing history, and also give customers the option to opt out from the sharing of non-sensitive information such as email addresses or service tier information.

Adidas Misses Full-Year Earnings But Sounds Upbeat Note for 2017

Adidas posted weaker-than-expected full-year earnings Wednesday but boosted 2017 sales targets and vowed to maintain the sportswear group’s focus on the U.S. market. Adidas AG posted weaker-than-expected full-year earnings Wednesday but boosted 2017 sales targets and vowed to maintain the sportswear group’s focus on the U.S. market.

Sheriff Clarke: The Opioid Epidemic is More Than a Border Issue

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke believes that President Trump’s administration understands the seriousness of the opioid epidemic and also sealing up the southern border. “a they [Congress] are going to have to seal that damm border for domestic security issues, national security issues, the heroin, the drug cartels operating freely across the border is a domestic security issuea it doesn’t matter how many people you deport, they are going to find their way back in,” he told the FOX Business Network’s Lou Dobbs.

Study: Women Prefer Paid Jobs to Housework and Men Agree

Most women around the world would prefer to be working at paid jobs, and nearly as many men agree with them, even in regions with traditionally fewer women in the workforce, according to research released on Tuesday. Only a third of women and men would prefer to see women stay at home, said the report by the U.N. International Labour Organization and U.S. polling organization Gallup Inc. Half of the world’s working age women participate in the labor market, compared with three-quarters of men, the ILO said.

Crude Falls on Expected Supply Build

Oil futures fell in Asian trade on Wednesday after industry data pointed to a potential ninth straight week of inventory builds, renewing concerns about an oversupply of oil despite output curbs by OPEC and non-OPEC members. Brent futures fell 29 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $55.63 as of 0504 GMT after settling down 0.2 percent in the previous session.

Asian Shares Rebound After Upbeat China Data

Asian stocks erased early losses and edged higher on Wednesday as strong China trade data bolstered bets of a recovering global economy, though gains were capped by caution ahead of a widely expected U.S. interest rate hike next week. China’s imports grew 44.7 percent in February from a year earlier on a yuan-denominated basis, accelerating from the previous month and leading to a rare trade deficit for the country.

WikiLeaks claims the CIA built special tools for hacking…

Documents published on Tuesday by WikiLeaks claim to be evidence that the “CIA lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal.” According to the WikiLeaks files, it appears that the CIA has teams specifically dedicated to breaking into Apple products, including iOS, the software that runs on iPhones and iPads, and even Apple’s line of routers, AirPort .

‘Disingenuous and absurd’: White House slams resurfaced…

The White House on Tuesday shot down resurfaced reports suggesting President Donald Trump met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in April, calling the accounts “disingenuous and absurd.” As revisited Tuesday by the liberal-leaning AmericaBlog , a report in the Wall Street Journal last May said Trump and Kislyak interacted at a reception that preceded a foreign-policy speech the then-Republican frontrunner gave at a Washington, DC, hotel.

All 100 senators appeal to Trump administration: Jewish center…

All 100 US Senators signed a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday asking for “swift action” over repeated bomb threats against Jewish organizations around the country. The threats have targeted Jewish Community Centers , Jewish Day Schools, synagogues and other buildings affiliated with Jewish institutions over the past several weeks.

Congress Takes Sledgehammer to Broadband Privacy Rules Through Congressional Review Act

Today Senator Jeff Flake introduced a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act to repeal the broadband privacy rules enacted by the Federal Communications Commission last October. The rules protect consumer privacy by requiring ISPs to seek affirmative consent before using or disclosing their customers’ sensitive information, including web browsing and app usage history, for marketing purposes.

CTA Applauds President Trumpa s Decision to Renominate Ajit Pai as FCC Chairman

As the administration implements its executive order to identify unnecessarily burdensome rules and eliminate them, Chairman Pai’s firm adherence to and application of regulatory forbearance will ensure the commission focuses on rules that promote competition, innovation and flexibility. “We look forward to working with Chairman Pai for many years to come to better deliver the anytime/anywhere access that consumers now demand and expand broadband access and digital opportunity to all Americans.

ALA and 170 public interest organizations call on FCC and Congress to …

On the eve of the Senate Commerce Committee’s first Federal Communications Commission Oversight Hearing of 2017, the American Library Association and more than 170 public interest organizations sent a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune and Ranking Member Bill Nelson calling for the protection of the free and open internet. The letter urges these leaders to support and continue to enforce the 2015 Open Internet Order and to oppose legislative and regulatory actions that would threaten the strong net neutrality rules already in place.

Gundlach Predicts `Old School’ Fed Will Do Sequential Hikes

The Federal Reserve is likely to begin raising rates sequentially as inflation and growth speed up, according to Jeffrey Gundlach, manager of the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund. “There’s starting to become a sequential type of Fed pattern,” Gundlach, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based DoubleLine Capital, said during a webcast Tuesday.

Hundreds of 911 calls in Dallas ona

OCTOBER 21: Customers wait in line to purchase the new T-Mobile G1 phone before the start of a launch party at a T-Mobile store October 21, 2008 in San Francisco, California. T-Mobile launched of its much anticipated G1 phone in San Francisco, the night before it hits stores nationwide.

WikiLeaks Says It Has CIA Spy Tools as McCain Cites Dangers

The Central Intelligence Agency’s hackers have developed tools letting them break into devices to monitor conversations and messages, according to documents released by WikiLeaks that — if true — could expose U.S. operations in countries from North Korea to Iran. “If they can hack into the CIA they can hack into anyone,” Republican Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said of WikiLeaks.

The Federal Reserve should give Wall Street a shock

Sebastian Mallaby, author of “The Man Who Knew: The Life & Times of Alan Greenspan,” is the Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and a contributing columnist for The Post. Prudence and predictability are not exactly plentiful in President Trump’s Washington.

Trump Set to Roll Back Federal Fuel-Economy Requirements

In this Jan. 18, 2017, file photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public … Works Committee. On inauguration eve, five law professors filed a brief in support of a 2015 regulation giving EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers discretion to regulate tributaries and wetlands far upstream from navigable lakes and rivers to protect water quality.

Commerce Secretary Ross: We’ve Been in a Trade War for a Long Time

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Trump's meeting with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the administration's concern with the U.S. trade deficit, and fake news. Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp. plead guilty and agreed to pay $1.19 billion in penalties for breaking sanctions and selling U.S. manufactured goods to Iran and North Korea, U.S. officials announced Tuesday.