G-20 sets five-year global growth goal

WASHINGTON – Finance officials of the world’s major economies are expressing confidence that they can meet an ambitious goal of boosting global growth by $2 trillion over the next five years.

That’s despite a variety of threats including rising political tensions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Finance ministers and central bank presidents of the Group of 20 nations issued a joint statement that papers over substantial differences in such areas as central bank interest rate policies and whether to hit Russia with tougher sanctions because of its dealings with Ukraine.

The final G-20 communique pledges to keep working on concrete economic reforms that could boost global growth by 2 percent over the next five years. But finance officials concede that the economic reforms needed to achieve that goal will in many cases be politically difficult.

Hacker’s appeal succeeds

PHILADELPHIA – A federal appeals court has reversed the conviction of a man imprisoned for illegally gaining access to AT&T’s servers and stealing more than 100,000 email addresses of iPad users.

The ruling regarding Andrew Auernheimer came Friday from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The case was tried in New Jersey, but the court says that was the wrong venue.

Prosecutors say Auernheimer was among a group that tricked AT&T’s website into divulging the email addresses, including those of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Auernheimer, formerly of Fayetteville, Ark., has said he was providing a public service by exposing a flaw in AT&T’s system.

He’s been serving a 41-month sentence for identity theft and conspiracy. His attorney is seeking Auernheimer’s immediate release.

Subway removing chemical

NEW YORK – Subway says an ingredient dubbed the “yoga mat chemical” will be entirely phased out of its bread by next week.

The disclosure comes as Subway has suffered from an onslaught of bad publicity since a food blogger petitioned the chain to remove the ingredient.

The ingredient, azodicarbonamide, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in food as a bleaching agent and dough conditioner. It can be found in a wide variety of products, including those served at McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks and breads sold in supermarkets. But its unfamiliar name has an unappetizing ring, and the petition became a flashpoint by noting that the chemical is also used to make yoga mats and isn’t approved for use in some other parts of the world.

Tony Pace, Subway’s chief marketing officer, told the AP in a phone interview that the chain started phasing out the ingredient late last year and that the process should be complete within a week. Subway is privately held and doesn’t disclose its sales figures. But it is apparently feeling pressure from the uproar.

“You see the social media traffic, and people are happy that we’re taking it out, but they want to know when we’re taking it out,” Pace said. “If there are people who have that hesitation, that hesitation is going to be removed.”