Lawmakers berate Yahoo officials
Yahoo Inc.’s chief executive and top lawyer on Tuesday defended their company’s involvement in the jailing of a Chinese journalist. Irate lawmakers accused them of collaborating with an oppressive communist regime.
“While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said after hearing from the two.
Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang and general counsel Michael Callahan offered apologies and promises to do better but made no specific commitments. Lawmakers insisted that Yahoo must use its market strength to change China, not just comply with the government’s demands in order to gain access to tens of millions of Internet users.
Journalist Shi Tao was sent to jail for 10 years for engaging in pro-democracy efforts deemed subversive after Yahoo turned over information about his online activities requested by Chinese authorities in 2004.
BEND, Ore.
Gold funds’ popularity soars
As gold prices surged in recent months, so has interest in gold exchange-traded funds around the world, with physical holdings to back the shares soaring to record highs, analysts say.
The still-young products have made it easier for retail investors to take part in a gold bull market that began in 2001 without having to figure out how to store physical metal or wade into the futures markets, observers say.
Exchange-traded funds have been launched in several countries in recent years since the successful startup streetTRACKS Gold Shares, the world’s largest gold ETF, launched in 2004. The shares trade similarly to any other stock but are backed by gold put into storage. Thus, ETF demand has had the effect of increasing physical demand for the metal.
At the end of October, holdings in the world’s main gold ETFs totaled a record 27.17 million ounces, according to figures compiled by CPM Group.
LOS ANGELES
Radiohead fans choose not to pay
Radiohead let its fans decide how much to pay for the band’s latest release, “In Rainbows,” and more than half of those who downloaded the album chose to pay nothing, according to a study by a consumer research firm.
Some 62 percent of the people who downloaded “In Rainbows” in a four-week period last month opted not to pay the British alt-rockers a cent. But the remaining 38 percent voluntarily paid an average of $6, according to the study by comScore Inc.
Radiohead broke from the CD format and use of a major record label when it released its seventh album online itself.
REDMOND, Wash.
Microsoft fires information officer
Microsoft Corp. has fired its chief information officer, saying he violated company policies.
Spokesman Lou Gellos said Stuart Scott was dismissed Friday. He declined to give the reason for the dismissal.
According to Microsoft’s Web site, Scott was responsible for the information technology infrastructure at the world’s largest software maker. He joined Microsoft in 2005.