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Citigroup's Weill to Step Down as CEO Wed Jul 16, 4:44 PM ET By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sanford Weill on Wednesday said he will step down as Citigroup Inc.'s (NYSE:C - news) chief executive, relinquishing power to a longtime lieutenant after building the world's No. 1 financial services company. Ending years of speculation about Weill's successor, Citigroup said Charles Prince, 53, will become CEO by Jan. 1. He has run Citigroup's corporate and investment bank since September, and had been the company's top lawyer. Weill, known as "Sandy," turned 70 in March and will remain chairman until...

That was something much less than a ringing endorsement the President offered Trent Lott yesterday. First he steps onto a platform in Philadelphia and denounces Trent Lott by name. “Senator Lott’s comments,” he said, “do not reflect the spirit of the country. He has apologized, and rightly so” for remarks that the president characterized as “offensive” and “wrong.” Next, administration spokesman Ari Fleischer tells the press on the record that “the president doesn’t think Trent Lott needs to resign.” Odd formulation that, isn’t it? Fleischer didn’t offer a comment on Trent Lott himself (eg, “Senator Lott has the president’s confidence...

The Times of London reports that the Pope, who has had to cut back his Easter programme because of ill health, is under increasing pressure from his cardinals to step down, according to a leading Catholic writer. In a front-page article in Corriere della Sera, Vittorio Messori said that calls were coming from liberals and conservatives inside the Vatican for the 81-year-old Pope to abdicate. He said that whereas liberals were impatient for a new and vigorous pontiff to tackle the "pressure cooker” of social change, traditionalists were alarmed by the Pope’s repeated calls for the Church to apologize for...