NEW YORK
Citigroup chairman resigns, cites bad debt
Citigroup Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince, beset by the company’s billions of dollars in losses from investing in bad debt, resigned yesterday and is being replaced as chairman by former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin.
The nation’s largest banking company announced Prince’s widely expected departure in a statement following an emergency meeting of its board. Citi also said Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of Citi Europe and a Member of the Citi management and operating committees, would serve as interim CEO. Rubin, a former co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., has served as the chair of Citi’s executive committee, and it was also expected he would take a greater role in leading the company.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Pakistani elections could be postponed by up to a year
Police and soldiers emboldened by state of emergency powers swept up hundreds of activists and opposition members yesterday, dragged away protesters shouting “Shame on you!”, and turned government buildings into barbed-wire compounds.
Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s government said parliamentary elections could be delayed up to a year as it tries to stamp out a growing Islamic militant threat – effectively linking two of the greatest concerns of Pakistan’s biggest international donors: the United States and Britain.
Increasingly concerned about the unfolding crisis, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was reviewing billions of dollars in aid to its close terrorism-fighting ally. Britain is also examining its assistance.
JERUSALEM
Israeli leader looking to make moves prior to Bush’s departure
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday vigorous peace negotiations could go far toward establishing an independent Palestinian state before President Bush leaves office. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised a “serious and substantive” launch to new talks.
“If we and the Palestinians act with determination, there is a chance that we can achieve real accomplishments” in the little more than a year Bush has left, Olmert told a gathering of scholars, leaders and former peace negotiators.
The Israeli leader did not say a final deal is possible in that time frame, although he affirmed that the practical goal of talks is an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Israel has been reluctant to set even a loose deadline for talks, but Olmert appeared to come closer to the Palestinian demand of a date certain for a separate state.
BOSTON
Hurricane Noel causes outages in Northeast
Several thousand coastal residents from Massachusetts to Maine faced a second night without power yesterday, and at least two house fires were indirectly blamed on the remnants of Hurricane Noel.
The storm struck New England with just a glancing blow Saturday, bringing down tree limbs and knocking out power to 80,000 homes.
– Compiled from Daily wire reports
U.S. Casualties: 3,850
Number of American service members who have died in the war in Iraq, according to The Associated Press. There were no new casualties identified yesterday.