All posts published in August 2016
SARAJEVO Hundreds of Sarajevo taxi drivers have stuck posters of Robert De Niro on their cabs in tribute to the actor who will open the city’s film festival on Friday with a screening of “Taxi Driver”. In the movie, which has been digitally restored for its 40... More »
By Andrea Shalal | UEDEM, Germany UEDEM, Germany The German air force worked closely with a Berlin theater on its production of “Terror”, a play about a pilot prosecuted for shooting down a hijacked airliner to prevent it from hitting a crowded stadium. “The p... More »
NEW YORK The U.S. economy is on track to grow at a 3.5 percent annualized rate in the third quarter following weaker-than-expected data on retail sales in July, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDP Now forecast model showed on Friday. The latest third-quarter GDP... More »
Arianna Huffington, president and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group attends a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos January 25, 2014. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington said on Thursday she would... More »
By Malathi Nayak More »
By Trevor Hunnicutt | NEW YORK NEW YORK Investors reversed course and poured money into even the riskiest bonds in the latest week, for inflows into U.S.-based high-yield bond funds of $1.7 billion after two straight weeks of outflows, Lipper data showed on Th... More »
U.S. municipal bond funds reported $871 million of net inflows in the week ended Aug. 10, compared with $783.9 million in inflows in the previous week, according to data released by Lipper on Thursday. The four-week moving average remained positive at $862.9 m... More »
By Richard Leong and Ross Kerber | NEW YORK/BOSTON NEW YORK/BOSTON Legg Mason Inc’s Bill Miller, whose mutual fund beat the S&P 500 handily for 15 consecutive years at the turn of the century, is riding off into the sunset after his recent lagging returns left... More »
By Trevor Hunnicutt More »
NEW YORK Wells Fargo & Company named David Kowach to head its retail wealth management division, Wells Fargo Advisors, the nation’s third-largest brokerage, on Thursday. Kowach was promoted from his job overseeing roughly 11,000 brokers in the bank’s Private C... More »
FRANKFURT Mercedes-Benz gave a sneak preview of a new ultra luxury coupe on Thursday in a sign that Daimler is continuing its push upmarket to turn up the heat on BMW, which owns the Rolls-Royce car brand. A tweet from the @MercedesBenz account teased a photog... More »
SYDNEY Australia on Thursday unveiled plans for the largest renovations to the Sydney Opera House since its opening in 1973, with more than A$200 million ($154 million) earmarked to update the UNESCO world heritage-listed site. It draws more than 8 million vis... More »
Time Warner Inc’s Turner Networks has agreed to acquire a stake in U.S. digital publisher Refinery29 in a $45 million funding round with other investors to expand its audience of millennial women, the companies said on Thursday. More »
NEW YORK Time Warner Inc’s Turner Networks has agreed to acquire a stake in U.S. digital publisher Refinery29 in a $45 million funding round with other investors to expand its audience of millennial women, the companies said on Thursday. Turner, which led the ... More »
BRUSSELS – No bombs were found on two SAS aircraft after threats were made against an SAS plane late on Wednesday, Belgian prosecutors said, adding that an investigation of a possible terrorist was continuing. The inspection took place after the prosecutor’s o... More »
ISTANBUL Turkish police detained 17 suspected militants in a sweep in Istanbul on Thursday that included a raid on offices of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), state media said, hours after twin bomb attacks hit the mainly Kurdish southeast. Sec... More »
Acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almovodar said he found a new challenge in his latest film “Julieta,” mining a quieter drama for his 20th feature film as he reflected on his decades-long career. “Julieta” is an adaptation of several Alice Munro stories about ... More »
LONDON World shares hovered close to one-year highs on Thursday as oil prices dropped for a third straight day and the latest interest rate cut in a developed market – this time New Zealand – got a lukewarm reaction from investors. The slip in crude markets le... More »
CAIRO Egypt has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund after nearly two weeks of talks to secure a $12 billion lending program and will make an announcement on Thursday, two government sources said. The sources said no deal had be... More »
BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO Some U.S. mutual funds are boosting their performance with relatively big bets on private companies such as Uber and Pinterest, which they have been marking up at a rate far greater than the broad stock market. Relied upon by millions of A... More »
MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a meeting with his Security Council to discuss additional security measures for Crimea after the clashes on the contested peninsula, the Kremlin said on Thursday. Russia was considering tightening security at th... More »
BERLIN Audi (VOWG_p.DE) sold 2.3 percent more cars in July on growing demand for the redesigned top-selling A4 saloon, though kept trailing behind German luxury rivals BMW (BMWG.DE) and Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn.DE). Audi’s global sales increased to 149,400 cars an... More »
BERLIN The German economy lost some growth momentum in the second quarter after a strong performance in the first three months of the year, the Economy Ministry said on Thursday, citing weaker private consumption and weaker-than-expected construction. It added... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO First time Olympic winners, including Australian teen Kyle Chalmers in the 100 meters freestyle, plundered three of the four golds in the Rio pool on Wednesday but there was no getting past Katie Ledecky. On a night of novelty, with Mireia Belmo... More »
LONDON Economists from the International Monetary Fund have urged the European Central Bank to concentrate on asset purchases rather than cutting its already negative interest rates again, if it needs to stimulate the euro zone economy again. A blog published ... More »
LONDON The New Zealand dollar surged to its highest level in more than a year on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand made smaller interest rate cuts than some had expected, forcing them to unwind their bets on more aggressive easing. The RBNZ said a... More »
MOSCOW Yelena Isinbayeva is to run for president of the Russian athletics federation (ARAF), the double Olympic pole vault champion said. Isinbayeva, who is unable to compete at the Rio Olympics due to a doping ban on Russia’s athletics team, said on Thursday ... More »
SINGAPORE Oil prices fell on Thursday as a build in U.S. crude inventories and record Saudi Arabian production reinforced fears of a persistent supply overhang that will last well into next year and keep weighing on markets. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) ... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO A year ago, Mireia Belmonte was injured and unsure whether she would even be able to compete at the Rio Olympics. Now, after a come-from-behind victory in the 200 meters butterfly, the 25-year-old is the first female swimmer to win a gold medal ... More »
NEW YORK International Business Machines Corp is in an unusual fix in telling big U.S. banks they can use its Watson software of Jeopardy-winning fame as a cost-saving solution: bankers say they like it, but cannot afford it. IBM is in a good company. Banks ar... More »
GEORGE TOWN Two people have contracted the Zika virus locally in the Cayman Islands, the health department said on Tuesday, bringing the total number infected by the virus in the Caribbean territory to eight. A woman living in Cayman’s capital George Town firs... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO Freestyle queen Katie Ledecky won her third gold medal of the Rio Olympics by anchoring the U.S. women to victory in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay on Wednesday while struggling Missy Franklin opened her account without being in the water for ... More »
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO U.S. prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX.N) over whether it hid from insurers its relationship with a specialty pharmacy that helped boost its drug sales, the Wall Street J... More »
SEATTLE The U.S. government will announce on Thursday that it will allow more research into marijuana but has rejected requests to relax the classification of the substance as a dangerous, highly addictive drug with no medical use, sources with direct knowledg... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO Leonidas of Rhodes would recognize a kindred spirit in Michael Phelps of Baltimore. After 2,160 years of history, give or take a decade, the greatest athlete of ancient Greece is no longer alone on his pedestal. The medal machine that is Phelps ... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO Mireia Belmonte won the 200 meters butterfly on Wednesday to become the first Spanish woman to win an Olympic swimming gold medal. The silver medalist in London four years ago went a step better in Rio with a winning time of two minutes, 4.85 se... More »
DOVER, Del. Embattled investor Lynn Tilton defended herself in a Delaware court on Wednesday against allegations that she had not disclosed the complex holdings of $2.5 billion distressed debt funds that she lost control of this year. The flamboyant Tilton tes... More »
WASHINGTON A federal appeals court said on Wednesday the U.S. Federal Communications Commission could not block two states from setting limits on municipal broadband expansion, a decision seen as a win for private-sector providers of broadband internet and a s... More »
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday tried to raise ethical questions about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and criticized her for letting the father of the Orlando nightclub shooter sit behind her at a rally. At cam... More »
WASHINGTON A federal official on Wednesday said the U.S. Secret Service had not formally spoken with Republican Donald Trump’s presidential campaign regarding his suggestion a day earlier that gun rights activists could stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton fr... More »
SEOUL South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday it will acquire U.S.-based luxury appliances maker Dacor Inc, seeking to boost high-end product sales. Samsung said in a statement it will keep Dacor’s brand name and leave its operation... More »
SHANGHAI China’s cinemas are showing signs of weakness, a concern for policymakers who had looked to stellar box office receipts over the last half-decade as a sign consumers were picking up some of the slack from ailing exports and manufacturing. Ticket sales... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday accused Republican opponent Donald Trump of inciting violence with his call for gun rights activists to stop her from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices. Clinton’s comments add... More »
NEW YORK Nearly one-fifth of registered Republicans want Donald Trump to drop out of the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, reflecting the turmoil his candidacy has sown within his party. Some 19 percent think th... More »
LONDON A new computer game created by a team of 15 people in a shed in southern England made its highly anticipated debut this week after creating buzz for conjuring a mind-bogglingly large universe of 18 quintillion planets for players to explore. Hot on the ... More »
NEW YORK Dozens of people, many of them underage, were arrested at a concert by rappers Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa in Long Island, New York because of alcohol misuse and nine were hospitalized with alcohol related issues, authorities said on Wednesday. Law enf... More »
LOS ANGELES Consumer groups will deliver a petition from more than 350,000 people to the KFC restaurant chain on Wednesday, calling on the Yum Brands Inc unit (YUM.N) to stop the routine use of antibiotics by the companies that supply its chicken. Several fast... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said Republican Donald Trump’s gun rights comment incites violence and said he does not have the temperament to be president. “Every single one of these incidences shows us that Donald Tru... More »
NEW YORK A former aide to Chris Christie said in a text message that the New Jersey governor “flat out lied” when he said senior staff members were not involved in the “Bridgegate” scandal in 2013, according to a court filing on Wednesday. The details were rev... More »
MIAMI U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged federal lawmakers currently on summer recess back into session to pass a crucial funding bill to combat the Zika virus as she visited a health clinic at the heart of a local outbreak in Miami o... More »
LONDON Swiss private bank EFG International (EFGN.S) now expects to pay 1.05 billion Swiss francs ($1.08 billion) to buy rival BSI from Grupo BTG Pactual SA (BBTG11.SA), almost 300 million francs less than previously announced. EFG hopes the BSI tie-up, origin... More »
NEW YORK Meryl Streep has showcased her musical talents in several films, but her abilities take a purposeful turn for the worse in “Florence Foster Jenkins.” The triple Oscar-winner portrays the real-life title character, a World War Two-era New York socialit... More »
WASHINGTON Donald Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States does not tarnish the U.S. commitment to religious freedom in the eyes of foreigners, a State Department official said on Wednesday. On Dec. 7, the week after a Muslim coup... More »
CARACAS A Pokemon Go player hides his cellphone in the carved out pages of a 19th-century French novel, hoping to avoid criminals on Venezuela’s notoriously dangerous streets. “I’m afraid of insecurity, but I want to be a Pokemon trainer!” said Carlos Reina, a... More »
NEW YORK A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a new bid by five former employees of Bernard Madoff’s firm to overturn their convictions for helping their boss conceal his Ponzi scheme, which cost customers more than $17 billion. The order by the 2nd U... More »
By Matthew Stock More »
LONDON Alternative investments such as a Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti, a rare blue diamond or a case of Romanee-Conti Grand Cru wine from Burgundy are going mainstream as investors grapple with ultra-low interest rates and volatile stocks. Spooked by the end of a ... More »
WASHINGTON Researchers applying modern forensic techniques to a century-old puzzle have laid bare intriguing new details about one of the most notorious scientific hoaxes on record, the so-called Piltdown Man, and are confident in the culprit’s identity. The p... More »
LONDON/HONG KONG An HSBC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch venture and financial technology firm R3 said separately on Wednesday that they had created ways of using blockchain technology to simplify trade finance processes. The two banks said they had joined w... More »
BERLIN A series of controversial remarks by U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump show that the world should be concerned if he is elected president, a spokeswoman for German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Wednesday. Trump, a bill... More »
WILMINGTON, N.C. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that gun rights activists could act to stop Democratic rival Hillary Clinton from nominating liberal U.S. Supreme Court justices, igniting yet another fire storm of criticism ju... More »
PHNOM PENH Cambodia on Wednesday banned the game Pokemon Go from a former Khmer Rouge torture center and prison after players showed up at the site, now a genocide museum, hunting for the virtual cartoon characters. It is the latest effort to rein in enthusias... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO The water in the Olympic diving pool was bright green on Tuesday, baffling at least one competitor who said she could not see her partner underwater, although organizers said that it did not pose any danger to health. The mysterious shade of the... More »
DETROIT Melissa Byers and Rich Rauh began stashing away money in 529 college savings accounts for their sons not long after they were born. When their older son graduated from the University of California, San Diego, a public university, he still had money ava... More »
LONDON Country music singer LeAnn Rimes says her forthcoming studio album is more spontaneous and organic than her last offering “Spitfire”, describing her new work as “soul-based”. The Grammy Award winner, who rose to fame aged 13 and is known for hits such a... More »
By Matthew Stock More »
LOS ANGELES Hollywood veteran Robert Redford returns to his childhood love of fantasy stories in “Pete’s Dragon,” a new Disney film about an orphaned boy living in a forest and his friendship with one such creature. The fantasy adventure is a remake of the 197... More »
An art gallery in the Venezuelan capital is honoring the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo with an exposition featuring the works of 50 female Venezuelan artist. The exhibit – entitled “Always Frida” – is being displayed at the Florida Art Gallery in Caracas mar... More »
NEW YORK Lucille Ball fans can rest easy. A new statue honoring the “I Love Lucy” star was set to be unveiled on Saturday in Celoron, New York, on what would have been Ball’s 105th birthday, after residents of her hometown made it clear they did not “love” an ... More »
OSLO Global warming could release radioactive waste stored in an abandoned Cold War-era U.S. military camp deep under Greenland’s ice caps if a thaw continues to spread in coming decades, scientists said on Friday. Camp Century was built in northwest Greenland... More »
ROME A tiny kitten that went for an ill-advised swim in the Sicilian sea has hung on to eight of its nine lives, thanks to a rescue mission by Italy’s coast guard. When a group of children at the port town of Marsala spotted the one-month-old cat floating in t... More »
WASHINGTON Fossils unearthed in a South Carolina drainage ditch are providing insight into the development of ultrasonic hearing in prehistoric whales, a trait closely linked to their uncanny ability to hunt and navigate using sound waves and echoes. Scientist... More »
LOS ANGELES/LONDON “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the script for a new London play telling the eighth story in the boy wizard series, has sold more than 2 million copies in its first two days on the market in the United States, publisher Scholastic said ... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO Hans Gubler is the man who knows the answers but will never tell, the keeper of secrets as well as time at Rio’s Olympic aquatics center. Gubler is the Omega man, overseeing a ‘nerve-centre’ of timing systems as a privileged insider with access ... More »
TAMPA, Fla. A Chilean flamingo named Pinky which was known for its dancing was euthanized at a Florida theme park after being badly injured by a man who reached into its pen and threw it to the ground, Tampa police said on Wednesday. Orlando resident Joseph An... More »
LAHORE, Pakistan A Pakistani opposition lawmaker on Wednesday proposed banning 24-hour cartoon TV channels, specifically the popular Japanese series “Doraemon”, drawing ridicule on social media in a country fighting corruption, poverty and Islamist militants. ... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A Florida-based company won U.S. government permission on Wednesday to send a robotic lander to the moon next year, the firm’s founder said, marking the first time the United States has cleared a private space mission to fly beyond Earth&r... More »
