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SAN FRANCISCO - Gap Inc.’s board of directors said Monday Paul Pressler will step down as president and chief executive and will resign from his board seat, effective immediately.

The company did not give a reason for Pressler’s resignation but said the board and Pressler “mutually agreed” to the change.

Robert J. Fisher, the company’s current non-executive chairman of the board of directors, will serve as president and CEO while the company searches for a permanent replacement for Pressler.

Gap said a search committee has already been formed by the board and will be led by independent director Adrian D. Bellamy. The board said they will search for someone with retailing and merchandising experience, ideally in the apparel sector.

Fisher has worked at the company since 1980 and has held a variety of management positions, including president of Banana Republic and president of Gap brand.

Under his employment agreement, the company said Pressler is entitled to about $14 million, assuming a stock price of $20 per share.

Investors have speculated for months whether Gap might force Pressler to leave or consider takeover offers in response to a prolonged sales slump that has stretched over the past six years.

The retailer posted more disappointing sales numbers for the holiday shopping season, forcing Pressler to lower the company’s earnings guidance for the third time in five months.

With the revisions, Gap profit for the fiscal year ending in January is expected to be about $300 million lower than what the company had hoped for when the year began.

Gap tried to boost its stock price and investor confidence with other changes in management in the past month. The president of Gap’s adult clothing division and Old Navy’s executive vice president of product design both left in January.

Besides the Gap chain, the company also owns Old Navy, Banana Republic and Forth & Towne.

Gap shares fell 10 cents to close at $19.90 on the New York Stock Exchange. 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

A MARINE was killed yesterday during a mission to oust Taleban insurgents in southern Afghanistan.

The serviceman, from Arbroath-based 45 Commando Royal Marines, died during an operation to target known Taleban positions and firing points near Garmsir, in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said.

NATO officials said soldiers were “engaged from several insurgent positions”.

The soldier is the second British marine to die in Afghanistan in the past three days. Thomas Curry, 21, from London, was killed during a battle to clear Taleban positions on Saturday.

Brigadier Jerry Thomas, commander of the UK task force in Afghanistan, said the latest death occurred during a “substantial” and “important” operation, and his thoughts were with the serviceman’s family. “Sadly, one of our marines was killed during an important operation in southern Helmand,” he said.

“I do know that this is a very difficult time for his family and his friends, but I do want to convey my sincere condolences and let them know that our thoughts are very much with them.

“Our marine was killed during a substantial pre-planned operation in the south of Helmand.

“His colleagues were able to display their courage and resolve in continuing their mission at a particularly challenging time.”

The marine’s next of kin have been informed of his death, the MoD said, but his name had not been released last night.

The latest fatality follows the deaths of Marine Curry and another British servicemen in Iraq last Saturday. It was the bloodiest day for the UK military overseas since last November.

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A 15-YEAR-OLD boy who was freed from a four-year kidnap ordeal told for the first time last night of how he was too “terrified” to try to escape, and prayed every day to be rescued.

Shawn Hornbeck, who was 11 when he was snatched from the streets of St Louis, Missouri, said: “I prayed to God that one day I would be back with my family.”

During his four years in captivity, he had access to television but could not bear to watch news reports of his disappearance and his parents’ search for him.

“I just started crying instantly, I couldn’t watch the news… just seeing stories about other missing kids would have set me off because I’ve been there, it’s just too sad.”

He added: “There was a time I was thinking of giving up, but I just thought of what they were doing - searching and looking for me. I saw they weren’t giving up so I figured I shouldn’t. I felt their hope and love.”

Shawn was found last Friday, living in an apartment belonging to a 41-year-old pizza parlour manager, Michael Devlin, who has been charged with kidnap. Also in the flat was Ben Ownby, a 13-year-old who had been abducted four days before.

Police have not said whether either boy was sexually abused.

Shawn said of Ben last night: “I’m thankful that he held in there for those couple of days. I’m sorry for what he went through because I told myself a long time ago I never want another kid to go through what I went through.”

At one point he even posted a cryptic message on his parents’ own website, he admitted. “I was hoping it might give some kind of hint,” he added.

Clutching his parents’ hands, he explained: “I want it back how it was - just go back to school, work, spend time with each other, work with stuff, fix cars.”

THE German chancellor, Angela Merkel, will make the revival of the dormant EU Constitution a top priority in a speech today outlining her country’s goals during its six-month presidency of the union.

Germany has set numerous goals in its 25-page programme for the EU presidency, including everything from securing Europe’s energy supplies to outlawing Holocaust denial, improving Europeans’ image of the bloc and getting serious about climate change.

It is an ambitious agenda and it will be discussed extensively in roughly 4,000 EU internal meetings and 40 additional conferences with non-EU countries over the next six months before Germany passes the presidential baton to Portugal in June.

But there is one issue that is on everyone’s mind - the moribund EU Constitution. Germany’s progress on finding a compromise regarding that will be a major benchmark used to judge Berlin’s success. The C-word is as sensitive as ever across Europe. Britons don’t want it, French and Dutch voters rejected it in a referendum and many hoped that it had been buried in a Brussels cellar at the EU HQ.

But Mrs Merkel is planning on making an acceptance of it in a new form a central plank of the German presidency.

“Expectations toward the German presidency, and Angela Merkel in particular, are incredibly high,” said Katinka Barysch of the Centre for European Reform. “She seems to be very good at listening to people and bringing everybody on board, but whether she is really good at forging consensus - that remains to be seen.”

Yet hammering out a constitutional deal will be particularly difficult for Germany as it is among the treaty’s strongest supporters and is likely to be viewed as a biased mediator. French elections, scheduled to be held shortly before the German presidency comes to a close, will also complicate negotiations.

Mrs Merkel, who surprised many at her first European summit as German chancellor by brokering a deal on the bloc’s budget, could make some headway on deciding which parts of the constitution EU members are in favour of saving, according to the German Marshall Fund’s Ulrike Guerot.

“Things can go quickly if they are well orchestrated, and I think the ambition of the German presidency to get a clear road map for the constitution is a realistic goal,” Ms Guerot said. But Berlin faces a huge task to convince the 26 other national leaders to build a consensus.

MOTORISTS are facing the most disruptive roadworks in the Forth Road Bridge’s 43-year history after bridge chiefs were forced to order major repairs.

Traffic on the bridge will be restricted to a single lane in each direction for up to two months, so that worn-out joints can be replaced, at a cost of around 10 million. The work is expected to be carried out in three years - by which time the new Kincardine Bridge will be open - in order to minimise disruption.

The announcement of the work comes after bridge chiefs warned the crossing would be subjected to increasing disruption as its age means more repairs are needed.

Motoring groups warned the move could “paralyse” a large part of the region’s road network.

The prospect of major work to the bridge sparked renewed calls for the Scottish Executive to commit to starting work as a matter of urgency on a new Forth crossing.

Until now, Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) has been able to limit roadworks to weekends and nights, avoiding disruption for commuters.

However, the latest work is too big to do without closing each lane for weeks on end.

To read this story in full, pick up a copy of the Evening News

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