All posts published in August 2013
(Reuters) – Verizon Communications is near a $130 billion deal to buy out the 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless it does not already own from Vodafone Group Plc and plans to raise about $65 billion to fund the purchase, people familiar with the matter said o... More »
VENICE (Reuters) – Director James Franco says the character Lester Ballard in his new film “Child of God” has a trace of Charlie Chaplin in him, though the tale of a cave-dwelling necrophiliac is mostly as dark as can be. Based on Cormac McCarthy’s novella of ... More »
VENICE (Reuters) – Judi Dench brought pathos and laughter to Venice on Saturday with her performance in the title role of “Philomena”, the true story of an Irish woman who searches for the son who was taken from her and sold by nuns. Pope Francis, who has take... More »
ASUNCION (Reuters) – Eight Paraguayan bus drivers have had themselves nailed to crosses to protest being fired by a transportation company after it rejected their plea for higher pay, a lawmaker said on Friday. The drivers, from the northern town of Luque, are... More »
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp on Friday offered a seat on its board to the president of ValueAct Capital Management, the activist fund manager that pressed for the ouster of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and wanted a say on the software giant’s ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice’s talks with Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have hit a wall as the government pushes back at the tech companies’ demand for the ability to disclose the now-secret data requests they receive. Microsoft’s gene... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some U.S. public pension funds are pressuring TPG Capital LP and Apollo Global Management LLC to share more of the fees they withdraw from loss-making casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp, in a rare display of activism against privat... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – From the FBI agent tripping on acid to the action film star marrying a transsexual, the Sunday night Showtime drama “Ray Donovan” has served up its share of bizarre twists. In the tale of a ruthless yet morally conflicted Hollywood “fix... More »
BOWDOINHAM, Maine (Reuters) – It’s not quite winning the lottery, but the odds are about as remote: A lobsterman off the coast of Maine recently hauled in an almost perfectly two-toned lobster – half orange, half brown. The chances, according to scientists, ar... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The British government has asked the New York Times to destroy copies of documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden related to the operations of the U.S. spy agency and its British partner, Government C... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Seamus Heaney, one of the world’s best-known poets and winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for literature, died on Friday after a short illness at the age of 74, his family said. The Northern Ireland-born Heaney’s poems evoke an Irish country chi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Top investors in Vodafone Group (VOD.L ) are set to clash over what the company should do with perhaps as much as $130 billion in proceeds from the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless, which is expected to be announced imminently. Vodafone... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon has opened a criminal investigation of an Army aviation unit that awarded tens of millions of dollars worth of contracts to Russian and U.S. firms for maintenance and overhaul of Russian-made helicopters, according to people... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were poised for a flat open on Friday, with the S&P set for its worst monthly showing in over a year as the likelihood of an impending Western military strike on Syria appeared to lessen and personal income data for July came i... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumer spending barely rose and inflation was tame in July, offering a cautionary note on the economy as the Federal Reserve weighs cutting back its massive bond-buying program. The Commerce Department said on Friday consumer spen... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Optimism in the euro zone’s economy improved sharply in August but stubbornly high unemployment, especially in the bloc’s weaker countries, highlighted the fissure separating the recovering north from the struggling south. Confidence among... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday ordered the military to make a strong and visible presence in Bogota after violent protests caused havoc across the capital, killing two. “It’s unacceptable, unacceptable that the actions of ... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Seamus Heaney, one of the world’s best-known poets and winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for literature, died on Friday after a short illness at the age of 74, his family said. The Northern Ireland-born Heaney’s poems evoke an Irish country chi... More »
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab uprisings of 2011, is locked in a standoff between its Islamist-led government and secular opposition that could be decisive for the success of its experiment in democracy. The small North African nation could ... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fought for his reputation as the architect of India’s economic reforms on Friday, insisting that the current growth and currency crunch was no repeat of the 1991 balance of payments crisis that made him a hou... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia banned pork imports from Belarus on Friday, stepping up a diplomatic and trade war over the arrest of a Russian businessman and threatening to deepen the isolation of its former Soviet ally. Russia is one of Belarus’ few diplomatic ba... More »
LAMU, Kenya (Reuters) – A mega-port project on the north Kenyan coast conceived in the 1970s may finally be gaining traction based on commercial oil finds in Uganda and Kenya, but it needs more financing to compete with a Chinese-backed port in Tanzania and ot... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Upbeat economic data from the United States kept the dollar near a four-week high against major currencies on Friday though oil prices fell as expectations of an imminent U.S.-led strike against Syria ebbed. U.S. stock index futures pointed ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – The finance chief of Zurich Insurance, Pierre Wauthier, named chairman Josef Ackermann in his suicide note, the company confirmed on Friday as it pledged to investigate whether he had been put under undue strain before his death. The insurer... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France said on Friday it still backed action to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government for an apparent poison gas attack on civilians, despite a British parliamentary vote against it. An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin,... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said there should be no rush to force U.N. Security Council action against Syria until a probe by U.N. experts into suspected chemical weapons use is complete. In remarks reported by the official Xinhua news agency on Friday, Foreign ... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is liaising with other emerging-economy countries on a plan to co-ordinate intervention in offshore currency markets blamed for fuelling a currency rout over the past three months, a senior Indian finance ministry official said on F... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italian architect Renzo Piano, one of the creators of the futuristic Pompidou Centre in Paris, and Claudio Abbado, former director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, were named Senators for Life, President Giorgio Napolitano said on Friday.... More »
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s prime minister sought to quell talk of currency crisis on Friday, after the rupee plumbed record lows as it notched its biggest ever monthly fall, but there was no word of sweeping reforms needed to restore investor confide... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The dollar held steady near four-week highs versus a basket of currencies on Friday, underpinned by expectations that upbeat U.S. data would prompt the Federal Reserve to start withdrawing stimulus next month. Investors were focused on econo... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J ), the world’s top platinum producer, said on Friday it would cut about 4,800 jobs, laying off 3,300 workers and paying off the rest, and will redeploy 1,600 more. Job cuts are a sensitive issue in South... More »
WASHINGTON/BERN (Reuters) – The United States and Switzerland have struck a deal to allow some Swiss banks to pay fines to avoid or defer prosecution over tax evasion by their U.S. customers, moving closer towards ending a long-running dispute. The deal will a... More »
BUSHMILLS, Northern Ireland (Reuters) – One of the homes of Irish whiskey is fighting an economic downturn by investing in art projects to brighten up derelict shops and houses – an approach it says is boosting tourist numbers. The idea of cosmetically enhanci... More »
ACCRA/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – When Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N ), the world’s top retailer, bought control of major South African discount chain Massmart Holdings (MSMJ.J ) in 2011, American shopping mall developer Irwin Barkan had an epiphany. An industry veteran... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland’s economy will gain momentum in the coming months, buoyed in part by an improvement in business sentiment in surrounding euro zone countries, the leading Swiss indicator suggested on Friday. The KOF barometer, a gauge of the econ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – From the outside, Italy’s Sara Errani appears to be living La Dolce Vita, looking as though she hardly has a care in the world. But behind the dazzling smile, she has a dark secret. Her recent success in tennis has come at a high price. Th... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The contrasting fortunes of grand slam tennis were on full display at the U.S. Open on Thursday. Some dreams were made while others were shattered. Victoria Duval, the teenaged American who had captured the hearts of New York with her feat... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Susan Rice is facing her first key test as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser as she helps lead a White House effort to convince a skeptical Congress that the United States must respond to Syria’s apparent use of chemical... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Overcoming hardship makes you stronger, according to Rafa Nadal, who is proving his point with a sensational comeback year and a sparkling hardcourt run after a debilitating knee injury. Nadal was sidelined for seven months by the injury, ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Victoria Duval is growing in more than just stature. The animated 17-year-old American bowed out of the U.S. Open with a 6-2 6-3 loss to Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova on Thursday before revealing she was likely to become one of the tallest... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Thursday gave American lawmakers what it called fresh evidence that Syria’s government was behind a chemical weapons attack, but faced strong resistance to military action from both U.S. political parties and ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki raced to a 6-1 6-2 win over South Africa’s Chanelle Scheepers to reach the third round of the U.S. Open on Thursday and put last year’s struggles behind her. The sixth-seeded Dane, made to work ha... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. intelligence community has pledged to disclose more data about government surveillance programs by reporting annually how many secret court orders are issued to telecommunications companies under certain legal rules. Director of... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Victoria Azarenka’s love affair with New York’s hardcourts is starting to get serious. The Belarusian is so smitten with Flushing Meadows that she now thinks of them as an old lover. “I would say it’s my husband,” she said on Thursday afte... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Obama administration officials told lawmakers on Thursday that they have “no doubt” chemical weapons were used in Syria and that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government had used them, U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, who participat... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actress Valerie Harper’s brain cancer is nearing remission, her physician said in an excerpt of a documentary that was shown on NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday. “I’d say that we’re getting pretty close to remission,” neuro-oncologist Dr. Je... More »
MIAMI (Reuters) – Florida officials trying to eradicate the Giant African Land Snail, one of the world’s most destructive invasive species, plan to deploy a new weapon in the battle – Labrador retrievers. State agriculture authorities say they hope the dogs wi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The “47 percent” of U.S. households who owe no federal income tax, memorably disparaged last year by former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has shrunk to 43 percent, said the research group that produced the original estim... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – All legally wed gay couples, no matter which state they live in, are entitled to the same U.S. federal tax benefits as married heterosexual couples, the Obama administration said on Thursday. The U.S. Treasury ruling, following a landmar... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will decide on a response to chemical weapons use in Syria based on U.S. interests, but Washington will continue to consult with Britain after its parliament rejected a motion supporting military action, the White ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt outsprinted fellow Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade and American Justin Gatlin to win the 100 meters at the Zurich Diamond League meeting on Thursday. Bolt, running into a slight headwind, made his customary slu... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – Detroit, which made the largest Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, on Thursday filed a request for proposals for $350 million in unprecedented financing, the city emergency manager’s office said. Detroit is the first lar... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fergie, the singer of pop-rap group the Black Eyed Peas, has given birth to a boy in Los Angeles on Thursday, a representative for her actor-husband Josh Duhamel said. Axl Jack Duhamel weighed 7 lb and 10 ounces (3.5 kg), Duhamel spokes... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Communications is close to buying the remaining stake in Verizon Wireless from Vodafone Group PLC it does not own for potentially $130 billion, according to people familiar with the talks, in what could be the third-biggest ... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is in talks with social networking company Foursquare about a possible investment, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The talks are at an advanced stage, but Foursquare is also talking to other potential partners, the repo... More »
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – Sheryl Crow has spent the past seven years living the country life in country music’s capital with her country music friends, but the Grammy-winning rocker has only now come around to recording a country music album. “Feels Lik... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The outlook for the struggling personal computer industry is worse than was previously believed, according to market research firm IDC, which on Thursday cut its 2013 forecast for global PC shipments for at least the second time. Worl... More »
VENICE (Reuters) – The real-life story of a young woman’s trek across the Australian desert with four camels and a film about a stand-off between two female Sicilian motorists opened the competition for the 70th Venice film festival on Thursday. The 10-day cin... More »
(Reuters) – Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N ), the world’s largest soup maker, reported quarterly revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations as sales in its core U.S. soup business slowed, sending its shares down 3 percent. Under a turnaround effort led by Chie... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House announced two changes to federal gun rules on Thursday to help keep weapons from criminals, but said it still wants to push Congress to pass new gun control measures in the wake of the horrific school shooting in Newtown,... More »
VENICE (Reuters) – Sandra Bullock put in a call to the astronauts on the International Space Station for tips on how to play her latest role in space drama “Gravity”, but America’s “Miss Congeniality” says she will never give up playing comic roles. “I will do... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama called Speaker of the House John Boehner by telephone on Thursday to discuss his deliberations on Syria, a spokesman for Boehner said, adding that more consultation with Congress and the U.S. public was needed. The... More »
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday disputed claims by his country’s leading wireless companies that his government’s telecommunications rules give unfair advantages to foreign players like Verizon Communications Inc. Canada’s... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s military-backed government is to clamp down on Al Jazeera’s Egyptian television channel, accusing it of threatening national security, the state news agency MENA said on Thursday. The channel this week aired statements from two leader... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Xiaomi Tech, a fast-growing Chinese maker of cheap smartphones, has hired senior Google Inc Android executive Hugo Barra to spearhead its nascent global expansion. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said on his Weibo feed late on Wednesday that B... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity turned its cameras skyward to snap pictures of the planet’s moon, Phobos, passing in front of the sun, images released on Thursday show. Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 for a two-year miss... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc is considering incorporating most of its 1 billion-plus members’ profile photos into its growing facial recognition database, expanding the scope of the social network’s controversial technology. The possible move, which ... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was investigating a case of a rare and serious brain infection that developed in a patient in Europe, who was being treated with Novartis’s multiple sclerosis drug, Gilenya. The FDA said this was the fi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Australian entertainer Rolf Harris was charged with 13 child sex offences on Thursday as part of an investigation by British police into child abuse that has led to the arrest of more than a dozen aging celebrities. The Crown Prosecution Ser... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have grown the first mini human brains in a laboratory and say their success could lead to new levels of understanding about the way brains develop and what goes wrong in disorders like schizophrenia and autism. Researchers based ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have grown the first mini human brains in a laboratory and say their success could lead to new levels of understanding about the way brains develop and what goes wrong in disorders like schizophrenia and autism. Researchers based ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have grown the first mini human brains in a laboratory and say their success could lead to new levels of understanding about the way brains develop and what goes wrong in disorders like schizophrenia and autism. Researchers based ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have grown the first mini human brains in a laboratory and say their success could lead to new levels of understanding about the way brains develop and what goes wrong in disorders like schizophrenia and autism. Researchers based ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have grown the first mini human brains in a laboratory and say their success could lead to new levels of understanding about the way brains develop and what goes wrong in disorders like schizophrenia and autism. Researchers based ... More »
ALPBACH, Austria (Reuters) – Major central banks’ reassurances that interest rates will stay low for some time are giving markets “a certain security”, a European Central Bank policymaker said on Thursday. Another European official, however, warned against com... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency, slightly raised its 2013 forecast on Thursday due to rising revenues and said the merger of two major rivals would spur it to step up its pace of small and medium acquisitions. WPP posted a 12 per... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell as expected last week, suggesting a strengthening in job gains in August after a slight pullback the prior month. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits sli... More »
ALPBACH, Austria (Reuters) – The fragile European economic recovery seen in the second quarter should continue into next year and become more solid, the European Commission’s top economics official told Reuters on Thursday. Olli Rehn said greater fiscal credib... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Greece’s international lenders will press Athens next month to transfer state-owned real estate to a holding company managed by the euro zone to spur flagging privatization efforts, officials said on Thursday. The plan, to be put to the Gr... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hustler, cheater, robber, rogue. Gamblers who skip out on casino debts in Macau risk being branded with these monikers and having personal details made public by a website that says it has helped to recover 50 million yuan ($8 million) so... More »
ALPBACH, Austria (Reuters) – European authorities will want to ensure Italy can still meet its fiscal commitments after scrapping a property tax, the European Commission’s top economic official said on Thursday. Italy’s government reached a deal on Wednesday t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson is joining the hunt for drugs to treat dengue fever – the world’s fastest-spreading tropical disease – by linking with academic researchers in Belgium and the Wellcome Trust medical charity. There is currently no drug treat... More »
ALPBACH, Austria (Reuters) – Greece’s international lenders will step up their assessment next month of how the sustainability of the country’s finances can be ensured, the European Commission’s economic chief said on Thursday. The European Union, European Cen... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket, the largest in the U.S. fleet, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Wednesday to put a classified spy satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, officials said W... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A Danone SA unit said on Thursday it was considering legal action against New Zealand’s Fonterra after the maker of Karicare milk formula had to recall products due to incorrect tests that led to global food safety scare. Initial tests p... More »
MIAMI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Spanish language broadcaster Univision is ramping up Fusion, its new English cable news network aimed at younger viewers, hiring hundreds of staffers as it prepares to enter the crowded cable market. The network, a joint venture... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – The first Japanese astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station is preparing for a return flight, this time to serve as commander, officials said on Wednesday. Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Age... More »
VENICE (Reuters) – The Venice Film Festival got off to an explosive start on Wednesday with the premiere of 3D space movie “Gravity”, teaming George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astronauts imperiled by a botched Russian missile shot. Twenty films, including f... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country singer Luke Bryan topped the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday for the second consecutive week, denying singer-songwriter John Mayer’s latest album the No. 1 spot in its first week. Bryan’s “Crash My Party” sold 159,000 cop... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel is relishing the chance to debate the euro zone crisis with challenger Peer Steinbrueck in their only TV duel of the election campaign, despite a row over Greek aid that has put her government on the defensive, her campaign chi... More »
ZAGREB (Reuters) – New European Union member Croatia backtracked in its first row with the bloc’s executive Commission on Wednesday, agreeing to fully apply the EU extradition law after Brussels raised the prospect of sanctions. The European Commission warned ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will land its first probe on the moon at the end of this year, state media reported on Wednesday, the next step in an ambitious space program which includes eventually building a space station. In 2007, China launched its first moon o... More »
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s prime minister, seeking to ward off Russian pressure, urged Moscow on Wednesday to accept his country’s drive towards a new trade relationship with the European Union as a “reality”. Clearly alluding to Kremlin threats of possible re... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s biggest media group Cyfrowy Polsat said on Wednesday it was planning early loan repayments this year, its chief executives said on Wednesday. The company’s chief executive officer added that he also expected the advertising market t... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China plans to levy consumption taxes on more luxury goods and may expand a pilot property tax beyond its current test beds of Shanghai and Chongqing as it pushes ahead plans to reform the world’s second-largest economy. The official Xinhua... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – The worsening Syria conflict has exposed an uncomfortable truth behind China’s cherished policy of non-interference: Beijing cannot do much to influence events even if it wanted to. With weak and untested military forces unable to project p... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Concerns that probable military strikes by Western powers against Syria could cause upheaval in the Middle East pushed oil up by over $2 a barrel on Wednesday, sent world shares lower for a second day and extended a rout in emerging markets.... More »
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – United Nations inspectors should be given time to determine whether forces have used chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in The Hague on Wednesday. Referring to an alleged chemical weapons attack... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt should not ban the Muslim Brotherhood or exclude it from the political process after the army’s overthrow of Mohamed Mursi, the interim prime minister said on Tuesday, in a softening of state rhetoric against the Islamist group. The app... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – U.N. chemical weapons investigators crossed Syria’s front line into rebel-held territory on Wednesday for a second visit to the scene of a poison gas attack that has triggered Western plans for war. U.S. President Barack Obama and his Europe... More »
