MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Shareholders of Intrepid Mines backed their board and its attempt to reclaim rights to a $5 billion copper and gold project in Indonesia, defeating a plan by a private equity investor to oust the board on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the U.S. economy is expanding strongly enough for the central bank to begin slowing the pace of its bond-buying stimulus later this year.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp CEO Kazuo Hirai said on Thursday that the electronics firm's board will consider hedge fund Third Point's suggestion to spin-off the electronics company's profitable entertainment arm.

TOKYO/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets buckled badly on Thursday after the Federal Reserve heralded an eventual end to free money and China turned the screw on credit even as factory activity in the world's second largest economy hit a nine-month low.

ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank welcomed measures by Credit Suisse and UBS to bolster their capital, and warned it could take further action to prevent what it sees as lax mortgage lending in Switzerland.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory activity weakened to a nine-month low in June as demand faltered, a preliminary survey showed, heightening the risk of a sharper second quarter slowdown and increasing the heat on the central bank to loosen policy.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has given France and Britain two months to respond to a request to lower charges for passenger and freight trains to use the Channel Tunnel, or face possible court action, it said on Thursday.

(Reuters) - Lazada, the Southeast Asian online retail company founded by Germany's Rocket Internet Gmbh, has secured another $100 million from investors in its bid to lift the region from its status as an e-commerce backwater.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Eccentric software pioneer John McAfee is back in the spotlight - lashing out at the anti-virus software that bears his name in a profanity-laced video.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers will decide on Thursday when and how their bailout fund can invest in a bank to save it from failure, laying a cornerstone of the banking union seen as vital to restore economic growth.

(Reuters) - SandRidge Energy Inc's board of directors removed the energy company's founder and chief executive, Tom Ward, on Wednesday after a months-long struggle with activist investors who accused him of strategic mistakes and self-dealing at the expense of shareholders.

(Reuters) - SandRidge Energy Inc's board of directors removed the energy company's founder and chief executive, Tom Ward, on Wednesday after a months-long struggle with activist investors who accused him of strategic mistakes and self-dealing at the expense of shareholders.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A high profile sex discrimination lawsuit in Silicon Valley should be taken private via arbitration, lawyers for venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers argued on Wednesday, but the plaintiff, former partner Ellen Pao, wants the chance to tell her story before a judge.

TOKYO (Reuters) - A proposal by Sony Corp's top investor to partially spin off the Japanese company's lucrative entertainment business will be the elephant in the room at an annual shareholders meeting on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp should consider raising its offer price for Clearwire Corp or risk being saddled with a contentious relationship with Dish Network Corp, controlled by feisty billionaire Charlie Ergen.

LONDON (Reuters) - An international bookkeeping regime being unveiled on Thursday will iron out national variants in insurers' "black box" balance sheets although the transition will take several years and the United States will keep its own, very different rules.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York lawmakers announced a deal on Wednesday to privatize utility operations on Long Island and revamp the Long Island Power Authority, a state-owned New York utility company that was criticized for its response during last year's Superstorm Sandy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the U.S. economy is expanding strongly enough for the central bank to begin slowing the pace of its bond-buying stimulus later this year.

(Reuters) - Ally Financial Inc's proposed $2.1 billion agreement reached last month with creditors of its bankrupt Residential Capital LLC subsidiary cleared a key court deadline with only one vigorous objection, though several warning shots were fired.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank would start to reduce its stimulus measures later this year if the economy is strong enough.