All posts published in January 2014
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov offered his resignation on Tuesday, saying he was stepping down because of the threat to the economy caused by two months of unrest, his press service said. Under the constitution, the departure of the pr... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Philips, the Dutch healthcare, lighting and consumer appliances group, warned on Tuesday of a tough year ahead, citing currency gyrations and weak orders in the fourth quarter of last year. The company reported better-than-expected fourth... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd sold a record 86 million smartphones in the fourth quarter and widened its lead over Apple Inc even after the U.S. firm reached a new iPhone sales high, data from research firm Strategy Analytics showed. Samsung too... More »
(Reuters) – Pete Seeger, who helped create the modern American folk music movement and co-wrote some of its most enduring songs such as “If I Had a Hammer”, died on Monday at the age of 94, U.S. media reported. He was variously hailed in social and traditional... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares were pinned near five-month lows on Tuesday as concerns that slower growth in China and reduced U.S. monetary stimulus could hurt some emerging economies dependent on exports and foreign capital. Investors are now focusing on whe... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan said on Tuesday it was revising teaching manuals to make clear that two sets of remote islands at the center of disputes with China and South Korea are integral parts of its territory, prompting protests from an angry Seoul and Beijing.... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – French bank BNP Paribas SA (BNPP.PA ) has been censured by Australian regulators after revealing its traders tried to influence the setting of the country’s benchmark inter-bank interest rate, the latest in a string of scandals over global r... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Global smartphone shipments topped 1 billion units for first time in 2013, climbing 38.4 percent from the previous year to 1.004 billion units, research firm IDC said. Smartphones made up 55.1 percent of all mobile phone shipments last year... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T ) plans to curb daily vehicle output in Japan by 15 percent in April from a year earlier as it adjusts for a dampening of demand from a national sales tax rise, a source familiar with its production plans said on Tue... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE ) has contacted the former chief executive of Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE ) in its hunt for a new chief executive, German media reported on Tuesday. Rene Obermann, former CEO of Deutsche Telekom, had taken... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Olympic badminton gold medalist Lee Yong-dae has been hit with a one-year ban for missing doping tests, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on Tuesday. The 25-year-old won mixed doubles gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing an... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will lay out a strategy for getting around a divided Congress and boosting middle-class prosperity on Tuesday in a State of the Union speech that reflects some scaled-back legislative ambitions after a difficult ye... More »
(Reuters) – Honda Motor Co (7267.T ) last year exported more cars out of the United States than it imported into the country, claiming a first among major Japanese automakers. More than 30 years after it began building cars in the U.S., the company’s North Ame... More »
(Reuters) – What struggling emerging markets need right about now is a big sell-off – in the U.S. Without a substantial downdraft on Wall Street, the Federal Reserve is highly likely to carry on trimming the amount of bonds it buys every month, continuing at i... More »
(Reuters) – Investors are pursuing more lawsuits accusing companies of fraud, according to a new study, but filings may plunge if the U.S. Supreme Court decides soon to remake the legal landscape. Plaintiffs filed 166 federal securities lawsuits seeking class-... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that a China-based reporter for the New York Times broke rules on residence visas and would be leaving the country before the end of the week, in a case which could sour Beijing’s relations with Washi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House and Senate negotiators on Monday reached a bipartisan agreement on the long-overdue U.S. farm bill that ends a pricy direct subsidy to farmers while expanding government-backed crop insurance programs, and trims spending on food st... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino filed a lawsuit against media outlet Gawker for copyright infringement in a U.S. district court in Los Angeles on Monday, after the website published links to download the script for his latest ... More »
(Reuters) – Lower-than-expected holiday iPhone sales and a weak revenue forecast by Apple Inc renewed fears about Chinese demand and a tepid global market, wiping 8 percent off company stock. This year was to have been Apple Inc’s watershed moment in China, wh... More »
(Reuters) – A former UBS AG (UBSN.VX ) employee must arbitrate a claim that he was terminated for disclosing to superiors that he was pressured to publish misleading research reports. U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan found that Trevor Mur... More »
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Reuters) – The Seattle Seahawks were forced to move their Super Bowl practice inside on Monday as frigid temperatures left fields frozen ahead of Sunday’s outdoor NFL championship game. Outdoor practice fields were left covered in snow... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon has notified Congress of a possible sale of weapons and other equipment valued at $270 million that would be part of a larger, multibillion-dollar deal for 30 more F-16s that is still under discussion by Lockheed Martin Corp... More »
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Reuters) – Claiming a first Super Bowl crown for the Seattle Seahawks could come down to whether the NFL’s leading defense can put pass-rush pressure on Denver Broncos record-setting quarterback Peyton Manning. Defensive end Michael Be... More »
MIAMI (Reuters) – A November ballot measure to legalize marijuana for medicinal use in Florida could have a decidedly political side effect. The ballot proposal, which was approved by Florida’s Supreme Court on Monday, is so popular it could help Democrats uns... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, a trade group promoting the adoption of the digital currency, has been charged by U.S. prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs ba... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks extended recent losses on Monday, with the S&P 500 falling for a third straight session as concern grew about the Federal Reserve’s plans for withdrawing stimulus. The losses, which picked up late in the session after the S&P 5... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration notified Congress on Monday of plans to sell 24 Apache attack helicopters to Iraq, part of an effort to bolster the military against al Qaeda-linked militants, after addressing lawmakers’ concerns that held up th... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. technology companies may give the public and their customers more detail about the court orders they receive related to surveillance under an agreement they reached on Monday with the Obama administration. Companies such as Google I... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional negotiators have reached a bipartisan agreement on the long-overdue U.S. farm bill, and a vote on the legislation could come soon, Senator Debbie Stabenow said on Monday. “We’ve got a bill that makes sense, works for farmer... More »
(Reuters) – Apple Inc missed Wall Street’s lofty target for iPhone sales over the crucial holiday shopping season and offered a weaker-than-expected forecast for this quarter, sending its shares down 8 percent on Monday. The world’s most valuable technology co... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – “The Star-Spangled Banner” has always been a powerful anthem that stirs emotions and can reduce even the toughest to tears. One of the best examples of this is before the Super Bowl, when tens of thousands of people rise to their feet and ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares were pinned near five-month lows on Tuesday as turmoil in emerging markets and concerns about an economic slowdown in China took their toll. Disappointing guidance from Apple Inc AAPl.O also looks set to hit regional technology s... More »
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) – Florida voters will decide in November whether to legalize medical marijuana after the state Supreme Court on Monday approved an initiative to put the measure on the ballot. Florida’s Republican Party leadership had opposed the... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is suing media outlet Gawker for copyright infringement in a U.S. district court in Los Angeles, after the website published links to download the script for his latest movie, entitled “The Hate... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors have criminally charged a former Wells Fargo & Co broker and a banker with insider trading in Burger King securities ahead of a 2010 buyout of the fast-food chain. Waldyr Da Silva Prado Neto, who worked for Wells Fargo Adv... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The coach of the Super Bowl-bound Seattle Seahawks on Monday echoed the NFL commissioner’s assertion that the league should not rule out allowing players to use medical marijuana to manage pain, if medical science supports the idea. Seahaw... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Light arms supplied by the United States are flowing to “moderate” Syrian rebel factions in the south of the country and U.S. funding for months of further deliveries has been approved by Congress, according U.S. and European security of... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Olympic Committee said on Monday it is sending the all-time largest athlete delegation of any nation in Winter Games history to next month’s Sochi Olympics with a 230-member team spread across all 15 disciplines. The U.S. team at the Febru... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – Under a new program called Lunar Catalyst, U.S. space agency NASA will provide free technical expertise, equipment, facilities and software to help selected companies develop lunar landers, officials said on Monday. “The int... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nasdaq MarketWatch said on Monday it was cancelling some trades in 11 securities that occurred within the first minute of trading on Monday. Some of the companies impacted by the move include Black Box Corp (BBOX.O ), Haynes International ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Playing in the Super Bowl is every NFL player’s dream. For the lucky ones, it is a dream that comes true, ending with their hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy under a shower of confetti. But for most, the Super Bowl is a fantasy that is ne... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The dollar held steady against the yen and the Swiss franc on Monday, stabilizing against those safe-haven currencies after losses last week stemming from a selloff in emerging markets assets picked up pace. Expectations the U.S. Federal R... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Beatles, robots and a mass wedding drew 28.5 million viewers to the Grammy awards television broadcast on Sunday night, the show’s second-largest audience in two decades, CBS Corp’s broadcast network CBS said on Monday. French electroni... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Considered too short to thrive as a quarterback, Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks has proved doubters wrong all the way to the pinnacle of his sport – the Super Bowl. Wilson fought his way to a starting role in high school and colleg... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Emerging markets may be unrecognizable from the small and fragile economies that fell like dominoes 15 years ago, but they are just as vulnerable today to the same sort of indiscriminate selling when investor panic sets in... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German doctors have been told to ration two chickenpox vaccines for children after drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline stopped deliveries, saying production quality standards had not been met. Healthcare regulators have issued guidelines to physici... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (RBS.L ) is taking billions of pounds in extra charges to cover the cost of past misdeeds, sending it deep into the red and resulting in its top executives not receiving any bonuses for the past year. The new pro... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French jobless claims rose a further 10,200 in December to hit a new record, dashing President Francois Hollande’s hopes of keeping his pledge to start lowering unemployment by the end of 2013. Labor Ministry data showed on Monday the number ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A former journalist on Rupert Murdoch’s now defunct News of the World tabloid and its rival Sunday Mirror has admitted conspiring to hack into hundreds of phones to get exclusive stories about celebrities. Daniel Evans told London’s Old Bail... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – When Annie Proulx published “Brokeback Mountain” in The New Yorker magazine in 1997, she had no inkling the tragic cowboy love story would go on to inspire an Oscar-winning film and even an opera. The original short story took the American w... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Thieves broke into a small church in the mountains east of Rome over the weekend and stole a reliquary with the blood of the late Pope John Paul II, a custodian said on Monday. Dozens of police with sniffer dogs scoured the remote area for clu... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Film star Jude Law told Britain’s phone-hacking trial on Monday he was not aware a close relative had been paid to leak stories about him to Rupert Murdoch’s now defunct News of the World tabloid. During dramatic testimony at the trial of tw... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took an idea, a casting service and dozens of people keeping a secret for organizers of music’s Grammy Awards to pull off one of Sunday’s biggest surprises at the annual ceremony. Thirty-three couples, some of whom were same-sex part... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Luxury boutique hotel chain Nobu will set up its first Asia hotel in a $1.3 billion Philippines gambling complex operated by Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, mainly targeting wealthy Chinese punters. The Manila-based City of Dreams casino-reso... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two unconventional acts, French electronic music DJs Daft Punk and New Zealand teen Lorde, took home the top Grammy awards on Sunday in a night that rewarded robots and newcomers, and recognized marriage equality. In a first for the Gra... More »
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Bankers expect a thorough European Central Bank (ECB) health check of the euro zone’s largest banks to reignite domestic and cross-border merger activity by rebuilding confidence among lenders. The sovereign debt crises that near... More »
(Reuters) – Defending champion Tiger Woods plunged to new depths when he missed a secondary cut on the PGA Tour for the first time after struggling badly in Saturday’s third round of the Farmers Insurance Open outside San Diego. Though he made the second-round... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sony Pictures Entertainment has purchased the film rights to Facebook Inc executive Sheryl Sandberg’s bestselling memoir on female empowerment, “Lean In,” a source familiar with the deal said on Friday. Sony Pictures’ Columbia Pictures ... More »
(Reuters) – Twenty-First Century Fox Inc said it would take control of Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network, by raising its stake to 80 percent from 49 percent. Twenty-First Century Fox, which first acquired its stake in YES Network in 2012, said the... More »
(Reuters) – Charter Communications Inc has hired proxy solicitor Innisfree M&A as it gears up for a potential proxy fight at takeover target Time Warner Cable Inc, according to people familiar with the matter. Charter is looking to nominate a new slate of dire... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone will assure the International Monetary Fund in coming months that it will continue to bankroll Greece, enabling the IMF to disburse its share of international aid to Athens, a senior European Union official said on Friday. Pr... More »
ROME (Reuters) – The creativity of Italians in parking their cars and scooters – on traffic islands, the pavement or simply in the middle of the street – knows few limits. But now police in the capital Rome have enlisted the power of social media to help them ... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – An unmanned rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday to put the newest member of NASA’s space communications network into orbit. The 19-story tall Atlas 5 rocket, built and launched by United Laun... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. online lender Western Sky Financial LLC has agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty and provide refunds to New York borrowers on loans for which it charged interest rates as high as 355 percent, the New York attorney general said on Thur... More »
(Reuters) – NASA’s decade-old Mars rover, Opportunity, has found evidence that life-friendly fresh water once pooled on the red planet’s surface, reinforcing similar discoveries made by newcomer Curiosity on the other side of the planet, scientists said on Thu... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande has won cautious backing from Berlin, Brussels and financial markets for a centrist reform push that could be his last chance to get the euro zone’s second largest economy motoring. A week after his January ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s largest carrier All Nippon Airways said on Tuesday it was pulling a TV advertisement featuring a Japanese actor in a large false nose and blonde wig after it was criticized online for having racist overtones. The ad, which is in Engli... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The euro zone’s private sector started 2014 in much better shape than expected, with stronger growth across the region marred only by a continued downturn in France, surveys showed on Thursday. Markit’s Flash Eurozone Composite Purchasing Ma... More »
ZHENGZHOU, China (Reuters) – Asia’s top mergers and acquisitions bankers gathered two years ago at the swanky Island Shangri La in Hong Kong to celebrate the top deals of 2012. As the transactions were being toasted, one was unraveling. Advisers on Caterpillar... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s Constitutional Court said it would decide on Thursday whether to accept a case against holding a February 2 election that would almost certainly extend the government’s shaky grip on power, as protesters kept up pressure to force... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T ) retained its rank as the world’s best-selling automaker last year, beating out rivals General Motors Co (GM.N ) and Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE ) for the second year in a row as the weak yen underpinned sales overseas... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Santander (SAN.MC ) said on Thursday that it intended to increase the equity of Santander Holdings USA – which houses its U.S. banking and consumer finance businesses – by up to $2 billion. The bank, which did not specify how this ca... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The first weeks of 2014 showed North Asia’s manufacturing and export giants enjoying mixed fortunes, with South Korea and Japan starting the year positively, while China, the biggest of the trio, was still struggling to regain momentum. Asia’... More »
RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) – South Africa’s hardline Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) began a strike over pay in the platinum sector on Thursday, bringing mines that produce half the world’s platinum to a standstill. Members of ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – A veteran Chinese dissident who agitated for officials to disclose their assets argued his innocence on Thursday in the second trial of its kind in two days, underscoring the government’s resolve to crush any challenge to its rule. The tria... More »
HANGZHOU/BEIJING (Reuters) – Billionaire Lu Guanqiu, a former blacksmith’s apprentice who built China’s biggest auto parts company, says he has an edge over a rival bid for bankrupt U.S. plug-in hybrid car maker Fisker Automotive, and would welcome ties with T... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chinese units of the global “Big Four” accounting firms should be suspended from practicing in the United States for six months, a U.S. judge ruled, in an escalation in a long-running dispute over regulators’ access to audit documents. I... More »
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on militant rebel factions in Syria to stop fighting each other and set up a judicial committee to sort out their differences, according to an audio recording released on Islamist websites. The smal... More »
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Standard Chartered’s (STAN.L ) chief executive said takeover talk that has resurfaced around his bank after recent problems is “rubbish” and the Asia-focused lender’s prospects remain strong. “It’s speculative rubbish,” Peter San... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Li Na will hope to keep her head in check and feet on the ground during her third Australian Open final after her coach Carlos Rodriguez helped calm her for a thumping victory over teenager Eugenie Bouchard in the semi-finals on Thursday.... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Eugenie Bouchard’s Australian Open semi-final defeat at the hands of Chinese veteran Li Na would only provide her with a further springboard to greater success, the teenager said on Thursday. The promising 19-year-old stormed into the sem... More »
VICENZA, Italy (Reuters) – Italy’s $8 billion jewelry industry is drawing interest from Asian and Middle East investors, keen to exploit Italian style and design as they battle for market share both at home and abroad, industry leaders at a major trade fair sa... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd said profit more than halved in the fourth quarter as soft demand for TVs continued to compress screen prices, outweighing a sales rebound in displays for Apple Inc’s iPhones. LG Display, like competitor Samsun... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co Ltd has signed a preliminary agreement to build an electric car battery factory in China by next year, in anticipation of a boom in a market backed by government subsidies. Samsung SDI, which also makes smartphone... More »
(Reuters) – The Justice Department has accused United States Investigations Services (USIS), the private firm that also vetted Edward Snowden before he leaked documents about U.S. spying efforts, of bilking millions of dollars through improper background check... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Dominika Cibulkova was almost lost for words after she became the first Slovakian woman to reach a grand slam final by beating fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2 at the Australian Open on Thursday. The 20th seed dominated the semi-fin... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor (005380.KS ) posted its first year-on-year fall in quarterly revenue in nearly three years, as the stronger local currency weighed and imported rivals gained ground in the Korean home market. Hyundai posted a reven... More »
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – If work on the expansion of the Panama Canal is suspended, it could take up to five more years to finish, according to arbitrators helping to oversee the project that has been hit by a dispute over costs. Since the start of 2014, the Pa... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian markets fell on Thursday after a survey of Chinese manufacturers proved surprisingly soft, while the Australian dollar weakened due to its role as a whipping boy when activity in the Asian giant disappoints. The flash Markit/HSBC Purch... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – When the professional tennis tours decided to shorten their respective seasons a few years ago, it was hoped it would extend the longevity of players at the top and cut down on the number of injuries. At this year’s Australian Open, thoug... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared current tensions between Japan and China to rivalry between Britain and Germany on the eve of World War One, but his top spokesman denied the Japanese leader meant war between Asia’s two big powers was possi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – In his youth, Barrie Wilkinson studied how to stress test bridges. Now he is stress testing the euro zone’s biggest banks. The European Central Bank’s year-long review of the currency bloc’s largest banks will be a game-changer for the euro ... More »
(Reuters) – The Boston Red Sox agreed to sign Grady Sizemore to a one-year deal on Wednesday, providing a new location for the veteran outfielder to attempt to work his way back from injury. Sizemore will sign a contract for a base salary of $750,000, but coul... More »
DALLAS (Reuters) – A Texas jury found former Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent guilty on Wednesday of intoxication manslaughter for drinking heavily at a club, getting behind the wheel and causing a fiery car crash that killed teammate Jerry Brown Jr. in Decemb... More »
SYDNEY/TOKYO (Reuters) – The Canadian dollar slid to 4 1/2-year lows on Thursday after the Bank of Canada said the currency’s depreciation should help exports, while the Australian dollar weakened following a disappointing survey of Chinese manufacturers. In c... More »
TORONTO (Reuters) – A video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford ranting in a Jamaican accent and slurring his words on Monday was a “minor setback,” he said, maintaining that his personal life did not interfere with his job. “Monday was unfortunate. I had a minor setbac... More »
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp’s head lawyer has suggested that overseas customers will be allowed to have their personal data stored in non-U.S. data centers, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. It would be the most radical move yet by a U.S. techn... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Netflix Inc added more than 2.3 million U.S. customers in the fourth quarter, sending its shares up 17 percent in after-hours trading, and said it was testing different pricing plans for its monthly TV and movie streaming service. The w... More »
(Reuters) – Lenovo Group Ltd is nearing an agreement to buy International Business Machines Corp’s low-end server business for $2-2.5 billion, a deal that would help the Chinese company counter the shrinking personal computers market, people familiar with the ... More »
The company behind a chemical spill that left about 300,000 people in West Virginia without tap water failed to disclose a second chemical in the leak, state officials said on Wednesday. The company, Freedom Industries, had previously said that only one chemic... More »
