THE NEWS WRAP: Facebook admits to Google “smear” campaign

The Greens are to demand that CEO pay is capped at just under $2 million in an amendment to a current bill that seeks to give shareholders greater say over executive pay.

The move could see Labor side with the Coalition to water down its own ‘two strikes’ limits on executive pay. The Greens want to cap CEO pay at 30 times the average wage.

The proposal follows budget responses from The Greens, which called for a sovereign wealth fund to distribute funds from the mining boom, and the Coalition, which reiterated its opposition to the carbon tax but offered no new spending proposals.

NBN faces skills shortage

The National Broadband Network needs 15,000 more skilled technicians in order for it to operate effectively, according to a new report.

The Innovation and Business Skills Australia study said that the need for extra people with computer software and hardware skills will likely to solved via immigration as too few students are studying IT after high school.

Facebook admits Google “smear”

Facebook has admitted it conducted a PR campaign against tech rival Google over user privacy.

The social networking giant has been accused of smearing its rival after a blogger published details of an email exchange with PR firm Burson-Marsteller. The agency was touting stories about Google’s privacy on behalf of an unnamed client.

Facebook admitted it was, in fact, the client, saying that it was looking to expose Google practices that “raised privacy concerns.”

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 12695.92. The Australian dollar was down to $106.77 US cents.