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Michael Woodford, who was fired as chief executive of Japanese camera and medical equipment company Olympus after blowing the whistle on dubious spending, said Thursday that he is resigning from the board.

Woodford said the decision was difficult because he still cares about Olympus Corp. and hopes it will come clean. Woodford was still a member of the board because dismissal from it can only be done by shareholders.

Although it initially denied wrongdoing, Tokyo-based Olympus has acknowledged a $687 million payment for financial advice and expensive acquisitions to cover up investment losses dating to the 1990s.

“It has been a difficult decision for me to resign from a company that I have devoted my entire life to,” said Woodford, 51, a Briton who worked at Olympus for about three decades and became a rare foreigner to head a major Japanese company.

But he said he lost hope that the Olympus board would move toward reform after seeing a Nov. 28 message from Olympus’ new president, Shuichi Takayama. He said he now thinks that the Olympus board will not change.

He also said stakeholders should decide who should lead Olympus and called for a shareholders meeting. He will be working with stakeholders to propose a new board, he said.

Woodford, fired Oct. 14, has called for the entire board to resign and to bring in outside members to the board for more transparency.

Olympus’ bookkeeping is now under investigation in Japan, the U.S. and Great Britain. The fiasco has evolved into one of Japan’s biggest corporate scandals.

Woodford was in Japan last week to speak with Japanese prosecutors and police and also spoke with the Olympus board during the visit. He says he is also speaking with U.S. and British authorities.

Speculation is rife that the amount that Olympus has falsified in its financial reports could be massive. Japanese magazine Facta was first to report on the dubious money.

Olympus must submit a proper financial report by Dec. 14, or it risks being delisted by the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

“I am strongly of the view that it’s completely inappropriate for the current management team who are tainted by its past mistakes to make choices about the identity of new board members,” Woodford said.

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The UAE’s Central Bank governor said Tuesday that the oil-rich Gulf nation is committed to keeping its currency pegged to the U.S. dollar and is reinvesting in U.S. Treasury bills.

Sultan Nasser al-Suwaidi also voiced confidence in the long-term stability of the euro even as fears mount that Europe’s debt crisis could sink the 17-nation currency.

Al-Suwaidi, speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, called the European Union a “very, very important bloc of countries” and predicted “everything will be fine in Europe.” In Brussels, eurozone finance ministers planned an emergency meeting to try to protect the currency through closer fiscal and political integration.

The exchange rate of the UAE’s currency, the dirham, is linked to the greenback. But some analysts have questioned the value of the keeping the policy as the U.S. economic struggles and the dollar remains weak.

Al-Suwaidi countered that the dollar link has served the Emirates well, adding that “we are very much with the peg.”

“There is absolutely no change … The fixed peg has served our economy for many years,” he said.

The central bank chief also noted that the UAE has begun buying up U.S. Treasurys after shunning them earlier this year, but is not as heavily invested as it once was.

The bank in August surprised investors by saying it no longer had any U.S. securities on its books because of the low return offered. Al-Suwaidi, however, didn’t say how much of the bank’s assets were invested in US T-bills.

“It’s fluctuating. It depends on the yield. But it’s not how it was,” he said.

Saif Hadef al-Shamsi, assistant governor for monetary policy and financial stability affairs, added that the Central Bank’s reserves were also invested in Japanese government securities.

U.S.-allied Gulf nations have traditionally been large buyers of U.S. government debt, which has long been viewed as among the world’s safest and most liquid assets.

Asked about the effect of sanctions ordered by the Arab League against Syria, al-Suwaidi said the Central Bank will comply if ordered to by the UAE government but has not yet received guidance on what measures to implement.

“There are procedural issues. They have to communicate that with us,” he said.

The Arab League on Sunday approved sweeping sanctions against the regime of Bashar Assad to seek an end to the violence against opposition groups. Syria’s foreign minister called the Arab move “a declaration of economic war” and warned of retaliation.

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Asian stock markets headed lower Monday as a change of government in debt-laden Spain and Singapore’s warning of a sharp growth slowdown underlined the challenges facing the world economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2 percent to 8,354.65. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 2.3 percent lower at 18,068.51. South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 1.3 percent to 1,815.48.

Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China were also lower.

Market jitters were evident a day after Spain voted in a new government _ the third time in as many weeks that Europe’s debt crisis has toppled an administration. Governments in financially troubled Greece and Italy have also fallen.

Spain dumped its ruling Socialist government Sunday for the conservative leadership of Mariano Rajoy, who inherits an economy wracked by debt and an unemployment nightmare _ which at more than 21 percent is the highest among the 17 nations that use the euro.

Rajoy also must lower Spain’s soaring borrowing costs with deficit-reducing measures while preventing an already moribund economy from heading into a double-dip recession.

Adding to pessimism, Singapore on Monday warned that its economy will likely suffer a sharp slowdown next year as export demand from developed countries wanes. Because of its high reliance on trade, Singapore is often a bellwether for the rest of Asia.

Japan, meanwhile, said its exports fell for the first time in three months in October, eroded by a strong yen and a sputtering global economy.

Gains were muted on Wall Street on Friday. While the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators rose more than Wall Street analysts were expecting _ a sign that the economy may pick up in the coming months _ many investors were cautious as a key Congressional committee remained deadlocked on ways to cut the U.S. budget deficit.

A bipartisan panel must agree on making at least $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts by Wednesday. If the committee fails and Congress takes no other action, automatic spending cuts will take effect beginning in 2013. Economists worry that a deadlocked Congress will erode business confidence and slow the already fragile U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.2 percent to close at 11,796.16. The Standard and Poor’s 500 lost less than 0.1 percent to 1,215.65. The Nasdaq composite slid 0.6 percent to 2,572.50.

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Investor Warren Buffett says his company bought $10.7 billion of IBM stock this year, about a 5.6 percent stake.

Buffett revealed the new investment during an interview on CNBC Monday. Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., will file a full quarterly update on its U.S. stock portfolio Monday afternoon.

Buffett has long refused to invest in high-tech companies because he it’s too difficult to predict which technology businesses will prosper in the long run.

Buffett says he recently changed his view of IBM’s role in industry. So Berkshire bought about 64 million shares since March, or about 5.6 percent of IBM.

Buffett says he believes IBM has a sound plan for the future.

IBM shares rose $1.62 to $189 in premarket trading after rising as high as $190.55 earlier.

Besides investments, Berkshire owns roughly 80 subsidiaries including insurance, railroad and utility firms.

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Asian stock markets were mostly lower Monday as investors shifted their focus from Europe’s debt woes to the strength of the U.S. economy. Japan sold the yen to limit its export-sapping strength.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.1 percent to 19,791.74 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 1 percent to 1,910.94. Benchmarks in Australia, mainland China, Singapore and Taiwan also posted losses.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo swung between positive and negative territory after Japan intervened to weaken its currency, which had earlier hit a new post World War II high against the greenback. The Nikkei was 0.2 percent lower at 9,021.08 in afternoon trading.

The strong yen has dented earnings of Japanese corporations such as Nintendo Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. and hurt the economy’s recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Finance Minister Jun Azumi said monetary authorities could continue intervening.

The dollar surged about 5 percent to above 79 yen, and Japan’s export sector _ whose fortunes are largely tied to the relative strength of the yen _ rose abruptly.

Isuzu Motors Corp. jumped 4.3 percent. Canon Inc. rose 1.7 percent and Nikon Corp. added 2.3 percent. Nintendo Co. gained 3.6 percent.

In Sydney, shares of Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. jumped 4.3 percent after a court ordered employees of the world’s 10th-largest airlines back to work. The airline had grounded its entire fleet on Saturday following weeks of strikes by its workers, but an arbitration court on Sunday ordered an end to the strikes and canceled the staff lockout.

Last week, investors were cheered by the debt crisis deal reached by European leaders. European banks were asked to take a 50 percent loss on their holdings of Greek government bonds. They will also set aside more money to cushion against future losses. Leaders also pledged to expand the European Union’s bailout fund.

But economists caution that many details in the plan still have to be worked out, including the difficult task of deciding who will pay for it.

“With more questions than answers markets will be hungry for further details over coming weeks and until then it is difficult to see risk appetite stretching too far,” analysts at Credit Agricole CIB wrote in a research note.

This week, investors will likely turn their attention to the U.S.

A key jobs report for October, a Federal Reserve policy meeting and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s quarterly news conference are all due.

“This month is going to be another watershed insight into whether we are looking at a low growth environment or something worse,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “To maintain the low growth environment view, the market is going to want to see positive employment growth.”

A report Thursday showed that the U.S. economy expanded at a solid 2.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter. That helped ease concerns that another recession might be nearing.

But while the economy is growing, it may not be enough to generate many jobs. The U.S. unemployment rate has been stuck at 9.1 percent for three months. Analysts expect roughly 100,000 jobs to be added in October. Anything less could raise concerns that the economy may slow.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.4034 from $1.4170 on Friday in New York. The dollar sprinted to 79.18 yen from 75.76 yen.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was down 96 cents at $92.36 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 64 cents to settle at $93.32 in New York on Friday.

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British lawmakers investigating the country’s tabloid phone hacking scandal say James Murdoch will gives evidence before their committee for a second time next month.

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee said Monday that the son and heir-apparent of media mogul Rupert Murdoch will appear Nov. 10.

Rupert Murdoch shut down the tabloid News of the World in July after it was accused of illegally hacking into the voice mails of celebrities, politicians and crime victims in search of scoops.

Both Murdochs denied knowing about the scale of the hacking when they appeared before the panel of lawmakers the same month.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) _ Rupert Murdoch’s former right hand man says he authorized a 250,000 pound ($398,000) payout to a tabloid reporter who was jailed for phone hacking, but denies having any knowledge at the time that the illegal snooping was widespread.

Ex-Wall Street Journal publisher Les Hinton on Monday told British lawmakers investigating the hacking scandal that he personally approved the payment to Clive Goodman, the News of the World reporter convicted and jailed in 2007 for eavesdropping on the mobile phone voice mails of royal aides credit score.

Hinton, who was then the executive chairman of Murdoch’s British newspaper division, acknowledged he had seen a letter from Goodman in which the reporter alleged phone hacking was widespread at the paper and common knowledge among executives.

Hinton said he had launched a “pretty thorough” internal investigation into Goodman’s claim, but said “there was no basis found for it.”

He said he fired Goodman for gross misconduct, but decided to pay him the substantial sum, almost three times the reporter’s annual salary, to end an unfair dismissal claim by Goodman.

“I decided at the time that the right thing to do was to settle this and put it behind us,” Hinton said, giving evidence by video link from the United States.

Hinton resigned his post in July.

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China and the European Union on Friday called off a summit of their leaders next week so European officials can remain at home for talks on the continent’s debt crisis.

The one-day meeting planned for Tuesday in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin will be rescheduled to a later date, the Chinese government and the European Council announced.

The meeting was scheduled to include Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, EU President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and other officials from the two sides. Several hundred European and Chinese businesspeople also were to have held a conference while the leaders met paydayloans.

Friday’s cancellation came after European leaders scheduled meetings through the weekend to seek a solution to the continent’s debt crisis.

In a phone call with van Rompuy, Wen said the most important thing is to prevent the debt crisis from spreading and “a serious economic recession,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

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The International Criminal Court will investigate three to six people in Ivory Coast for their actions during the West African nation’s violent six-month-long political crisis, the court’s top prosecutor said.

“We will focus on the most egregious and the most responsible,” Luis Moreno-Ocampo said late Saturday during his visit to Ivory Coast as part of the court’s recently opened investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity. Officials said Sunday that he had left the country.

Moreno-Ocampo said national authorities should investigate other suspects.

He said the public will not know the names of the international court’s suspects until he collects evidence and the judges review it.

“I don’t know (who they are) yet,” he said.

Earlier this month the court’s judges authorized the prosecutor to investigate violence committed after November 2010.

On Saturday, Moreno-Ocampo said the probe may look at violence committed as early as 2002.

“Today people volunteered to provide us with more information,” he said. “The judges are requesting more information and we will provide it.”

Human rights groups have called on the court to probe violence committed before the elections, when the nation was plunged into civil war, then underwent a de facto split along north-south lines.

Former president Laurent Gbagbo failed to hold elections when his first term ended in 2005. After a poll last November, he refused to accept his electoral defeat. Thousands died during the political standoff that followed.

Moreno-Ocampo did not meet Gbagbo during his visit, but said: “We will probably request through his lawyers to interview him.”

On Sunday, a spokeswoman for Ivory Coast’s prosecutor’s office said authorities arrested a fugitive military commander accused of serious crimes while working as a top aide to the former first lady. Habiba Coulibaly said Commander Anselme Seka Yapo was arrested Saturday.

In 2005 the U.N. accused Simone Gbagbo of leading death squads to kill opposition members.

French and U.N. forces assisted the forces loyal to President Alassane Ouattara who removed Gbagbo from power in April. Ouattara took office in May.

Ouattara asked the international court to investigate crimes committed by both sides during the postelection crisis payday loan no faxing.

During his visit Moreno-Ocampo met with Ouattara, with Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, with victims, members of the opposition and with the president of the newly formed reconciliation commission.

The commission, the prosecutor said, can address victims’ needs immediately, unlike the court.

“For those who were raped, who lost their homes, they need assistance now,” he said. “They don’t need to wait for a judge’s decision.”

Human Rights Watch says over a dozen people on both sides, including Gbagbo, led fighters to commit war crimes and likely crimes against humanity during the postelection violence.

Gbagbo’s spokesman Kone Katinan has said if he is to be judged, it should be by his own people rather than by an international tribunal.

Pro-Gbagbo newspapers have accused the international court of being one-sided. But residents have expressed optimism about the court’s involvement.

“It’s good to have someone from the outside of the country investigating … they can be more impartial, and more credible,” said beauty product distributor Kone Tresor Korona, 33, a resident of Abidjan who hails from the north, like Ouattara.

“Since the government is also doing an investigation, we can compare the (results of the) two, and hopefully when we put them together we can be closer to the truth,” Korona said.

The Ivory Coast investigation is the court’s seventh, all of them in Africa. So far, none of the cases has reached a verdict.

Ivory Coast is not a member of the court, but has accepted its jurisdiction in the case. It is the first time the court has opened an investigation in a nonmember nation following such a recognition of jurisdiction by a nonmember state.

Despite their lack of member status, the prosecutor said authorities have welcomed him.

“This is the first time in which we have a good relationship with national authorities. They are allowing us to (speak with) victims,” Moreno-Ocampo said. “It’s an interesting, new experience.”

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What Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says about how it’s reversing a slump in its namesake U.S. business will be at the front of analysts’ minds at the company’s annual meeting with Wall Street Wednesday.

The discounter also is expected to offer a peek into its winter holiday strategies and a look at the capital spending it plans to do.

The world’s largest retailer announced in August that its second-quarter profit rose 5.7 percent, and it raised its outlook for the year based on strong international sales growth and its cost-cutting efforts.

Business has improved steadily at Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club warehouse stores, but the company hasn’t been able to stop a two-year sales slump at its U.S. Walmart stores, which account for 62 percent of its total revenue. The company says the weak U.S. job market and other economic woes are straining its core low-income shoppers.

Wal-Mart is a key barometer of U.S. consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the economy, including such major expenditures as health care. The retailer rings up nearly 10 percent of all nonautomotive retail dollars spent in the U.S. so any details about how its shoppers are buying everything from cereal to clothing will offer clues about where the economy is heading.

Wal-Mart has promised to reverse nine straight quarters of declines in the key metric of revenue at stores open at least a year by the end of the year. The comparison has fallen less steeply in recent quarters as U.S. customers respond to its turnaround strategies, including changing its merchandising after customers complained about their favorite brands and products disappearing from store shelves.

Wal-Mart started restocking thousands of products scrapped in an overzealous bid to clean up its stores; it stopped using gimmicks like slashing prices temporarily on select item; and it returned to its “everyday low price” strategy, the bedrock philosophy of founder Sam Walton.

Keith Goddard, CEO of Capital Advisors, an investment management firm, said he’ll be looking at how Wal-Mart’s price strategy has affected its profit margin.

“Wal-Mart had lost the perception that they had the lowest prices in town,” Goddard said.

As shoppers paid less for gasoline in recent months they should have been able to spend more on discretionary purchases like home accessories, analysts also said.

“My expectation is it will be good news,” said Madison Riley, managing director at Kurt Salmon, a consulting firm. “I think their efforts are gaining traction.”

Wal-Mart’s shares have risen almost 6 percent since mid-August and 2 percent since the beginning of the year. They are hovering near $55 as investors become more hopeful.

Wal-Mart has been facing increasing competition, particularly from dollar stores, which are offering more name-brand merchandise. Heading into the crucial winter holidays, the climate is expected to get still more competitive.

In response, Wal-Mart, which ditched pay-as-you-go plans in 2006, is rolling out holiday layaway plan that will last from Oct. 17 through Dec. 16. It also is offering more toys for $5 to $10.

Analysts will hope to hear more details such merchandising strategies during the meeting Wednesday in Rogers, Ark., near Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. They’ll also want an update on Wal-Mart’s expansion plans.

Citi Investment Research’s Deborah Weinswig wrote in a research report published Thursday that she expects Wal-Mart to spend more on adding stores in 2012 as it expands abroad and rolls out its small-format stores in the U.S.

It opened the first four Walmart Express stores in the months since June and plans to open 15 to 20 more this year. Walmart Express stores are less than one-tenth as big as supercenters and carry essentials from groceries to general merchandise like hammers and pre-paid phones.

And it has sped up the addition of Neighborhood Market stores, which carry groceries, pharmaceutical products and some general merchandise. There are now about 185.

That’s compared with more than 3,500 Wal-Mart stores in the U.S., of which more than 2,900 are supercenters, plus about 600 Sam’s Club stores. Sam’s Clubs account for about 12 percent of the company’s total revenue.

“We are facing a resizing of the retail footprint,” said Riley. “Looking for ways to address that challenge is a good thing.”

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