HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Charteredfaced a protest from over 20 percent of shareholders over its board structure on Wednesday and warned it could miss this year's revenue target after higher bad debts and falling interest rates hit first-quarter earnings.

Shares in the Asia-focused bank, one of the most consistent performers during the financial crisis, fell over 4 percent.

More than 22 percent of the London-based bank's shareholders abstained or voted against the re-election of four directors at an annual meeting, including probably its largest investor, Singapore state investor Temasek. Almost 13 percent of shareholders also failed to back the bank's pay policy.

Temasek, which owns an 18 percent stake, last year abstained on the re-election of some directors, in part because it wants fewer executives on the board. The investor was considering abstaining again this year, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters before the shareholder meeting. It could not immediately be reached for comment after the vote.

Standard Chartered Chairman John Peace said he had discussed governance with Temasek, and said his bank - which has six executives on its board of 19 people - had a structure that reflected best UK corporate practice.

"They believe in a different model. They expressed a different philosophy to us and I respect that," Peace said.

Standard Chartered said that, despite a weak March, it was still on course to achieve an 11th consecutive year of record profits, driven by strong Asian markets, but it would ease back on hiring to rein in growing wage costs.

The profitability of banks in Asia has been squeezed by ultra-easy monetary policy in the West, which has created a flood of cheap money that has pressured margins for banks competing to lend to fast-growing emerging markets.

Operating profit at both Standard Chartered's consumer and investment banking arms fell by about 5 percent in the first three months of 2013.

Revenues in the first quarter were slightly higher than in the first quarter of 2012 and Finance Director Richard Meddings said profit margins had stabilized.

But he said the impact of Western monetary policy on Asia was "the key anxiety" that could affect revenues, which Standard Chartered aims to increase by 10 percent a year.

"At this point, we'd prefer to wait to see how May and June land before we give that guidance (of 10 percent revenue growth)," Meddings told reporters on a conference call. "Last year we produced revenue growth of 8 percent and it may be that we're more likely to be at that level."

The bank, which makes about four-fifths of its operating profit in Asia and the Middle East, said it was comfortable with analyst forecasts for pretax profit of $8.2 billion this year, up 18 percent from 2012.

It said its performance had weakened in South Korea and in Singapore. South Korea's government has overhauled personal debt restructuring processes as part of a wider social welfare program, which includes more forgiveness on troubled long-term loans, and Standard Chartered said its consumer bad debts there had increased by more than 10 percent, more than expected.

STAFF COSTS GROW

Its shares closed down 4.4 percent at 16.25 pounds, the biggest daily drop since they slumped in August after charges the bank violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. That ended in a $667 million settlement with U.S. authorities.

"The Q1 trading statement is the first one in a long time in which Standard Chartered is down in operating profit comparisons on a year-on-year basis, both in the wholesale bank and the consumer bank," said Bernstein analyst Chirantan Barua.

Costs rose on the year, including a "high single-digit" percentage rise in staff costs after the addition of 560 staff in the quarter and wage inflation, the bank said. It does not issue full quarterly numbers and releases earnings twice a year.

Standard Chartered has previously said it could hire about 2,000 staff this year.

"We will still be hiring, the business still has good growth, but we will be pacing the rate of that hiring more acutely until we are more certain of the income run rate," Meddings said.

Hong Kong was once again Standard Chartered's standout market in the first quarter, with income growing more than 10 percent, mirroring a strong performance there reported by rival HSBCon Tuesday.

Income in Africa also rose more than 10 percent.

(Editing by Tom Pfeiffer and Mark Potter)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been forced to halt a study involving a potential vaccine for HIV, after finding that it was ineffective.regarding the decision on Thursday, the NIH stated that the vaccine also proved ineffective at reducing the amount of HIV found in the blood of those already infected.

The study, designated HVTN 505, had been going on for almost four years, and involved some 2,504 volunteers in 19 different cities. All of the participants were either homosexual men or transgender men who only have sex with other men.

Here is some of the key information that emerged on Thursday regarding the NIH's decision to halt its study involving this particular HIV vaccine.

* The study was being conducted through the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

* The number of volunteers given the actual vaccine versus those that were given a placebo were nearly equal, with 1,250 participants given the vaccine and 1,244 given the placebo.

* According to the NIH statement, structures from all three subtypes of HIV were included in the vaccine. Unlike some vaccinations designed to protect from other diseases, this HIV vaccine did not contain either live or weakened strains of HIV, so could not cause the disease itself.

* The vaccine trial was reportedly halted after an independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) that reviewed the study recommended it.

* The news of the trial's failure to produce an effective HIV vaccine disappointed both those involved with the study and outside organizations. Mitchell Warren, who is the executive director for AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Protection, issued a statement to the media on Thursday, in which he said that "the trial has provided a clear, swift answer about a specific vaccine strategy." Warren expressed hope for future developments, however, noting that "it's not the answer we hoped for, but the search doesn't end here,"

*the NIH will continue to monitor the health of study participants, in order to follow up on the initial research data.

* Several other vaccine trials are either already in progress or planned. One of the most promising may involve the follow-up on the results of a 2009 study in Thailand, that produced results strong enough to encourage researchers that it may be possible to find a vaccine to protect people against HIV infection in the near future.

The Vatican says the 86-year-old emeritus pontiff will move into his new retirement home in the Vatican gardens Thursday.

Benedict has been living at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills south of Rome, since he resigned Feb. 28.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Tuesday that Benedict will live on the ground floor of the monastery inside the gardens that has been renovated for his use. A small staff will join him.

Benedict looked remarkably frail on March 23 the last time he was seen by the public when Pope Francis traveled to Castel Gandolfo to greet his predecessor. Lombardi has insisted Benedict isn't suffering from any specific medical condition but is just old and tired.

On the market for six years, the luxurious eight-bedroom "Altona" in exclusive Point Piper was bought in a secret deal with the businessman who currently lives in Melbourne, the newspapers reported.

The property and its heated waterside pool and boathouse, rented by U2 rock star Bono in 2006 for a family holiday, was last sold in 2002 for A$28 million.

While Australian capital city home prices rose by only 1.3 percent in March, top end Sydney properties have attracted strong interest from Chinese buyers, and almost three in four international sales have gone to Asian buyers in recent years.

The Altona sale beat the previous Sydney property sale record of A$45 million, but fell short of the national record of A$57.5 million paid in 2009 by mining services magnate Chris Ellison for a sprawling riverfront home in Perth.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Dan Suski, a 30-year-old business owner and information technology expert from San Francisco, had been wrestling a 200-pound marlin in rough seas with help from his sister, Kate Suski, a 39-year-old architect of Seattle.

He was still trying to reel in the fish when water rushed into the cabin and flooded the engine room, prompting the captain to radio for help as he yelled out their coordinates.

Thus began an ordeal in which the siblings swam 14 hours to reach land. They lived to tell about it back in St. Lucia, safe but shaken.

They recalled that the waves kept pounding the boat they had chartered from the local company "Reel Irie" in the eastern Caribbean island. It was April 21 around noon, and the trip was supposed to be a highlight of their sunny vacation.

As more water flooded the boat, the captain threw life preservers to the Suskis.

"He said, 'Jump out! Jump out!'" Kate Suski recalled in a telephone interview Thursday with The Associated Press.

The Suskis obeyed and jumped into the water with the captain and first mate. Less than five minutes later, the boat sank.

The group was at least eight miles (13 kilometers) from shore, and waves more than twice their size tossed them.

"The captain was telling us to stay together, and that help was on its way and that we needed to wait," Kate Suski said.

The group waited for about an hour, but no one came.

"I was saying, 'Let's swim, let's swim. If they're coming, they will find us. We can't just stay here,'" she recalled.

As they began to swim, the Suskis lost sight of the captain and first mate amid the burgeoning swells. Soon after, they also lost sight of land amid the rain.

"We would just see swells and gray," Dan Suski said.

A plane and a helicopter appeared in the distance and hovered over the area, but no one spotted the siblings.

Several hours went by, and the sun began to set.

"There's this very real understanding that the situation is dire," Kate Suski said. "You come face-to-face with understanding your own mortality ... We both processed the possible ways we might die. Would we drown? Be eaten by a shark?"

"Hypothermia?" Dan Suski asked.

"Would our legs cramp up and make it impossible to swim?" the sister continued.

They swam for 12 to 14 hours, talking as they pushed and shivered their way through the ocean. Dan Suski tried to ignore images of the movie "Open Water" that kept popping into his head and its story of a scuba-diving couple left behind by their group and attacked by sharks. His sister said she also couldn't stop thinking about sharks.

"I thought I was going to vomit I was so scared," she said.

When they finally reached in exhaustion within 30 feet (9 meters) of land, they realized they couldn't get out of the water.

"There were sheer cliffs coming into the ocean," she said. "We knew we would get crushed."

Dan Suski thought they should try to reach the rocks anyway, but his sister disagreed.

"We won't survive that," she told him.

They swam until they noticed a spit of sand nearby. When they got to land, they collapsed, barely able to walk. It was past midnight, and they didn't notice any homes in the area.

"Dan said the first priority was to stay warm," she recalled.

They hiked inland and lay together, pulling up grass and brush to cover themselves and stay warm. Kate Suski had only her bikini on, having shed her sundress to swim better. Dan Suski shed his shorts, having recalled a saying when he was a kid that "the best-dressed corpses wear cotton."

They heard a stream nearby but decided to wait until daylight to determine whether the water was safe to drink. They heard a stream nearby but decided to wait until daylight to determine whether the water was safe to drink.

As the sun came up, they began to hike through thick brush, picking up bitter mangoes along the way and stopping to eat green bananas.

"It was probably the best and worst banana I've ever had," Dan Suski recalled.

Some three hours later, they spotted a young farm worker walking with his white dog. He fed them crackers, gave them water and waited until police arrived, the Suskis said.

"We asked if he knew anything about the captain and mate," Kate Suski said. "He said he had seen the news the night before and they hadn't been found at that time. I think we felt a sense of tragedy that we weren't prepared for."

The Suskis were hospitalized and received IV fluids, with doctors concerned they couldn't draw blood from Kate Suski's arm because she was so dehydrated. They also learned that the captain and mate were rescued after spending nearly 23 hours in the water, noting that their relatives called and took care of them after the ordeal.

St. Lucia's tourism minister called it a miracle, and the island's maritime affairs unit is investigating exactly what caused the ship to sink.Marine Police Sgt. Finley Leonce said they have already interviewed the captain, and that police did not suspect foul play or any criminal activity in the sinking of the ship.

A man who answered the phone Thursday at the "Reel Irie" company declined to comment except to say that he's grateful everyone is safe. He said both the captain and first mate were standing next to him but that they weren't ready to talk about the incident.

The brother and sister said they don't blame anyone for the shipwreck.

"We are so grateful to be alive right now," Kate Suski said. "Nothing can sort of puncture that bubble."

Upon returning to their hotel in St. Lucia earlier this week, the Suskis were upgraded to a suite as they recover from cuts on their feet, severe tendonitis in their ankles from swimming and abrasions from the lifejackets.

"It's really been amazing," Dan Suski said. "It's a moving experience for me."

On Saturday, they plan to fly back to the U.S. to meet their father in Miami.

Once a night owl, Kate Suski no longer minds getting up early for flights, or for any other reason.

"Since this ordeal, I've been waking up at dawn every morning," she said. "I've never looked forward to the sunrise so much in my life."

Once virtually counted out as a political power after giving up the premiership in the face of Italy's economic crisis, the billionaire business baron now appears be Italy's kingmaker.

Berlusconi gave his upbeat assessment on the prospects for a government Friday to TgCom24, part of his media empire, predicting that there would be a "good outcome" for coalition talks.

The economically stagnant nation has been struggling for two months to form a new government after inconclusive national elections in which Berlusconi's party finished second.

Berlusconi was expected to meet shortly with Premier-designate Enrico Letta, after returning overnight from a trip to the United States for the dedication of George W. Bush's presidential library.

Letta's Democratic Party came in first in the balloting, but it fractured after failing to win control of both parliamentary chambers.

Letta held talks for two hours Friday morning with President Giorgio Napolitano, who tapped him earlier in the week to attempt to build bridges in the polarized Parliament.

"There's a very positive attitude by the premier-designate" toward the negotiations, Berlusconi said.

Reflecting that optimism, an auction of six-month Treasury bonds went well, according to data from Italy's central bank Friday. The interest rate dropped from 0.83 percent to 0.50 percent from the previous month, as 8 billion ($10.5 billion) in bonds were auctioned.

The third major bloc in Parliament is an aggressive political newcomer, the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement, galvanized by caustic comic Beppe Grillo. Grillo's movement has refused to back the established parties in a coalition, saying it's time for change.

After meeting with leaders of all of Parliament's parties Thursday, the premier-designate expressed cautious optimism.

A major obstacle has been a highly unpopular property tax that Berlusconi vowed to abolish if he regained power. The tax was created by Berlusconi's replacement, Premier Mario Monti, as a key revenue raiser in his bid to prevent Italy from sliding deeper into the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

Letta, who needs Monti's small centrist forces to create the coalition, conferred with the caretaker premier Friday morning. Monti's party has indicated the property tax could be tweaked.

Italian polling company SWG published results Friday of a survey asking voters who they would choose if the election were held now. Berlusconi's party surged in the survey, while the bickering Democratic Party lost a few percentage points. The 5-Star Movement's voters appeared to stay loyal, with no new gains.

About a third of voters had abstained and would either abstain again or hadn't decided who would get their vote.

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tune in now to AFGE's "Inside Government" for a discussion on workplace safety. The show, which originally aired on Friday, April 26, is now available on demand.

Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC's "All In with Chris Hayes," looked back on the Boston Marathon bombings and Texas fertilizer plant explosion to highlight the value of public employees and workplace safety.

GovLoop Community Engagement Director Andrew Krzmarzick then provided tips for furloughed federal employees facing a work backlog and highlighted the benefits of government agencies using social media.

Greg Brooks, president of AFGE's Federal Aviation Administration Local 2282, discussed the latest developments on furloughs at the FAA. Brooks also addressed the short- and long-term consequences of sequestration, including the impact on national security.

AFGE Small Business Administration Council 228 President Elaine Powell-Belnavis then discussed the union's labor contract agreement with SBA, which covers 2,000 federal employees and provides a range of benefits from an updated awards program to an expedited arbitration process.

Listen LIVE on Fridays at 10 a.m. on 1500 AM WFED in the D.C. area or online at .

For more information, please visit .

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, iTunes and YouTube!

"Inside Government" is a one-hour weekly nationwide radio/Internet program dedicated to issues that impact federal and D.C. government employees. The show airs each Friday at 10 a.m. on Federal News Radio 1500 AM in Washington, D.C.,and online at. Itis also available to millions of iPod users through Apple's iTunes podcast. "Inside Government"is produced by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the nation's largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees

"We want a Cuba in which liberty exists," Berta Soler, co-founder of the Ladies in White, said. "Where there is democracy. And where there is respect for human rights. And also, we are fighting pacifically for a Cuba without the Castros."

The wife of a former political prisoner traveled to the United States after receiving the Sakharov Prize with other members of the Ladies in White Tuesday in Brussels. She met with Cuban-American political leaders in Washington and spent Saturday uniting with exiles in Miami, where nostalgia for Cuba still dominates many aspects of daily life.

Her visit comes shortly after that of two other prominent Cuban dissidents, blogger Yoani Sanchez and Rosa Maria Paya, the daughter of Oswaldo Paya, an opposition leader who was killed in a car accident last year. All three have recently been allowed to travel after years of being denied exit permits. In January, a new law scrapped the permit, which Cuba had routinely denied to those considered "counterrevolutionaries."

Soler accepted the prize in Brussels, eight years after it was awarded to the Ladies in White.

"I'm not here because of the migratory change, nor because of any good gesture by the Cuban government," Soler said, speaking in a strong, husky voice. "I'm here today because of international political pressure."

She called the economic and social reforms instituted by Raul Castro "cosmetic." The changes have expanded private enterprise and legalized a real estate market.

"They don't resolve the economic necessities of the people," said Soler, dressed in a white shirt and skirt, her eyes painted with a sparkling purple eye shadow.

Soler said Cuba is still a country where people go hungry and are castigated and detained for expressing dissent. Not all Cubans have been allowed to travel, including Soler's own husband, Angel Moya, who was locked up for years in connection with his political activities.

Soler spoke at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. About a dozen previous members of the group now living in the United States came dressed in white to greet her. Former political prisoners and passionate exiles peppered her with questions about conditions on the island.

The Ladies in White group was founded by wives and mothers of 75 government opponents arrested in a crackdown on dissidents in the spring of 2003. They marched together on Sundays, wore white to represent peace, love and purity, and carried gladiolus flowers, calling for their relatives' release. The Cuban government has detained the women from time to time and sent crowds of government proponents to shout at them. But their demonstrations proved successful. All of the political prisoners arrested in the crackdown have been released.

A small core of the original group has continued to march nearly every Sunday, joined by some who now have no relative that has been detained, but simply are in agreement with their message. The Ladies have struggled to find a new direction, but if Soler's speech was any indication, the group has turned its focus to a larger cause calling for democratic change and human rights on the island.

Soler said the members of her group have faced nearly every kind of insult, from being spit at and harassed to hit and detained. She also spoke about the discrimination faced by black Cubans. Blacks have long been underprivileged in Cuba, something the revolution attempted to rectify, though Soler said today they remain highly underrepresented in the government, at universities and in well-paid jobs.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't lie," said Soler, who is black. "There's nothing to thank the revolution for."

The issue of black equality in Cuba recently resurfaced after the publishing director of the influential, government-run Casa de las Americas cultural institute was demoted to a lesser role following his publication of an opinion piece in the New York Times that criticized "blatant racism" on the island.

Soler spoke forcefully about her views on the U.S. embargo against Cuba she said the real blockade was the one inside Cuba.

"We are all Cubans and we all have the right to be in our country, no matter what political ideology we defend," she said. "Cuba does not belong to the Castros. It belongs to the Cubans."

DHAKA (Reuters) - Two factory bosses and two engineers were detained in Bangladesh on Saturday, three days after the collapse of a building where low-cost garments were made for Western brands killed at least 352 people.

More were being pulled alive from the rubble at the building, where police said as many as 900 people were still missing in Bangladesh's worst ever industrial accident.

The owner of the eight-storey building that fell like a pack of cards around more than 3,000 mainly young women workers was still on the run.

Police said several of his relatives were detained to compel him to hand himself in, and an alert had gone out to airport and border authorities to prevent him from fleeing the country.

Officials said Rana Plaza, on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, had been built on spongy ground without the correct permits, and the workers were sent in on Wednesday despite warnings the previous day that it was structurally unsafe.

Anger at the negligence has sparked days of protests and clashes, with police on Saturday using tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets to quell demonstrators who burned cars.

Two engineers involved in building the complex were picked up at their homes early on Saturday, Dhaka district police chief Habibur Rahman said. He said they were arrested for dismissing a warning not to open the building after a jolt was felt and cracks were noticed on some pillars the previous day.

The owner and managing director of the largest of the five factories in the complex, New Wave Style, surrendered to the country's garment industry association during the night and they were handed over to police. They will be kept in remand for an initial 12 days.

The factory, which listed many European and North American retailers as its customers, occupied upper floors of the building that officials said had been added illegally.

"PEOPLE ARE ASKING FOR HIS HEAD"

"Everyone involved - including the designer, engineer, and builders - will be arrested for putting up this defective building," said junior internal affairs minister Shamsul Huq.

Anger over the working conditions of Bangladesh's 3.6 million garment workers - most of whom are women earning as little as $38 a month - has grown since the disaster.

Hundreds were on the streets again on Saturday, smashing and burning cars and sparking more battles with police, who responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and a water cannon. Eyewitnesses said dozens of people were injured in the clashes.

An alliance of leftist parties which is part of the ruling coalition said it would call a national strike on May 2 if all those responsible for the disaster were not arrested by Sunday.

Rahman identified the owner of the building as Mohammed Sohel Rana, a leader of the ruling Awami League's youth front.

"People are asking for his head, which is quite natural," said H.T. Imam, an adviser to the prime minister.

Wednesday's collapse was the third major industrial incident in five months in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of garments in the world. In November, a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory nearby the latest disaster killed 112 people.

Such incidents have raised serious questions about worker safety and low wages, and could taint the reputation of the poor South Asian country, which relies on garments for 80 percent of its exports.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) on Saturday asked garment factory owners to produce building designs by July in a bid to improve safety.

Remarkably, rescuers armed with rod cutters and drills were still pulling people alive from the precarious mound of rubble - 29 in all since dawn on Saturday.

Marina Begum, 22, spoke from a hospital bed of her ordeal inside the broken building for three days.

"It felt like I was in hell," she told reporters. "It was so hot, I could hardly breathe, there was no food and water. When I regained my senses I found myself in this hospital bed."

Frantic efforts were under way to save 15 people trapped under the concrete who were being supplied with dried food, bottled water and oxygen.

Heavy machinery will not be used to remove the remaining bodies and debris until all the survivors are rescued, junior minister for local government Jahangir Kabir Nanak said.

About 2,500 people have been rescued from the remains of the building in the commercial suburb of Savar, about 30 km (20 miles) from Dhaka.

WRONG PERMIT, ILLEGAL FLOORS

Emdadul Islam, chief engineer of the state-run Capital Development Authority (CDA), said the owner of the building had not received the proper building consent, obtaining a permit for a five-storey building from the local municipality which did not have the authority to grant it.

"Only CDA can give such approval," he said. "We are trying to get the original design from the municipality, but since the concerned official is in hiding we cannot get it readily."

Furthermore, another three storeys had been added illegally, he said. "Savar is not an industrial zone, and for that reason no factory can be housed in Rana Plaza," Islam told Reuters.

Islam said the building had been erected on the site of a pond filled in with sand and earth, weakening the foundations.

Duty free access offered by Western countries and low wages helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19 billion a year industry. Sixty percent of the clothes go to Europe. The United States takes 23 percent and Canada takes 5 percent.

North American and European chains, including British retailer Primark and Canada's Loblaw, a unit of George Weston Ltd, said they were supplied by factories in the Rana Plaza building.

Loblaw, which had a small number of "Joe Fresh" apparel items made at one of the factories, said on Saturday that it was working with other retailers to provide aid and support.

It said it was sending representatives to Bangladesh and was also joining what it described as an urgent meeting with other retailers and the Retail Council of Canada.

(Writing by John Chalmers and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Paul Tait and Jeremy Laurence)

The case, combining two brought by Amazon and Overstock.com Inc, was decided by the New York State Court of Appeals by a vote of 4-1.

"It's unfortunate and the (U.S.) Supreme Court ought to look at this," Overstock acting Chief Executive Jonathan Johnson told Reuters by phone.

"We have states saying different things," he said, citing a ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court that a similar tax was not permissible.

The U.S. Supreme Court typically accepts cases where lower courts issue conflicting opinions.

"The ruling by the New York Court of Appeals conflicts with both the U.S. Supreme Court's precedents and with contrary decisions by other state courts that have looked at the same issue," an Amazon spokesman said by email.

The best solution to that conflict, he said, would be passage of federal legislation currently under consideration that would allow any state to require tax collection.

New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Thomas Mattox commended the court for "recognizing the logical application of existing precedent to the 21st Century economy."

Eight other states have passed legislation similar to New York's, which requires out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax even when they do not have a physical presence in the state, but do have affiliates in the state.

Retailers with a physical presence in any state must always remit sales tax on purchases made either in a store or online, but since a 1992 Supreme Court decision, Quill Corp v. North Dakota, retailers lacking a "nexus" of operation in a state have not been required to collect sales tax.

In recent years, as online sales have grown as a portion of the retail market, Amazon has agreed to begin collecting sales taxes in California, Texas, New Jersey and some other states where it has distribution facilities or plans to build them.

Richard Pomp, professor of law at the University of Connecticut and an expert on state taxes, said the decision was not a surprise, and will have less impact today than it would have before Amazon began cutting deals with states to pay taxes.

Overstock ended its affiliate network in New York in 2008 and so the ruling will not have an impact on its operations, Johnson said.

Amazon was already paying tax to the state pending the decision, according to the New York Department of Taxation.

Between the New York law's passage in 2008 and today, online-only retailers collected and remitted $500 million in sales tax on more than $6 billion in transactions, according to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

The cases are Overstock.com v. New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, New York State Court of Appeals No. APL-2012-00017, and Amazon.com v. New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, New York State Court of Appeals No. APL-2012-00045.

(Reporting by Nanette Byrnes in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Editing by Howard Goller and Leslie Gevirtz and David Gregorio)