All posts published in April 2016
LONDON Britain said on Sunday that UK steel producers must be considered for infrastructure and other government contracts involving steel supplies, as part of plans to find a long-term solution to a crisis in the industry. The government is looking for ways t... More »
MONROVIA A five-year-old boy tested positive for Ebola in Liberia just days after his mother died of the virus in the second flare-up to hit West Africa in recent weeks, the health ministry said on Sunday. A 30-year-old woman died of Ebola in Monrovia last wee... More »
HONG KONG A Hong Kong film portraying a dystopian future under Chinese Communist Party rule won one of Asia’s top film awards on Sunday at a time when Beijing’s attempts to rein in the city’s democratic development have stoked growing political tensions. “Ten ... More »
From his seat atop the Fed’s smallest bank, in a region known for fracking, farming and ranching, Neel Kashkari wants to make sure he’s heard well beyond the northern plains. Since becoming president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis this year, the 42... More »
BRUSSELS Euro zone finance ministers are likely to start discussing debt relief for Greece on the sidelines of the IMF’s spring meetings in mid-April, if there is a deal by then with Athens on a reform package, euro zone officials said. Representatives of Gree... More »
NEW YORK Last August, Bernie Sanders sat on a Craigslist-bought beige couch in his Washington office plotting to steal the social media spotlight from 10 Republicans taking the stage for the first televised debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Next to the... More »
Thanks to the $400 million worldwide box office haul of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ and an expansive slate of nine more superhero movies from DC Entertainment, Time Warner could return 25 percent in the next year, Barron’s said. Warner Bros., which is... More »
DETROIT Tesla Motors Inc said orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 253,000 in the first 36 hours — a fast start for the company’s first mass-market vehicle, which may not begin to reach customers for another 18 months or more. Tesla Chief Executive... More »
MILWAUKEE Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump predicted that the United States is on course for a “very massive recession,” warning that a combination of high unemployment and an overvalued stock market had set the stage for another economic slum... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus said on Sunday that Donald Trump is making it harder for himself to win the Republican presidential nomination by threatening to run as an independent if he is not treated fairly. In several television i... More »
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” appears to be losing steam as it ends its second weekend in theaters. The critically loathed superhero movie topped the box office, picking up $52.4 million. However, that represented a steep 68%... More »
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) on Sunday denied reports that it had provided funds to finance the 2013 Hollywood film The Wolf of Wall Street. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that global investigators believe m... More »
BEIJING China’s box office revenues grew 51 percent in the first quarter of 2016, Chinese state radio said on Sunday, although a ticketing scandal has cast doubt on the real size of the country’s booming movie market. Total sales of tickets in China were 14.5 ... More »
SEATTLE Jeff Bezos’ space transportation company Blue Origin successfully launched and landed for the third time a suborbital rocket capable of carrying six passengers, taking another step on its path in developing reusable boosters, the company said on Saturd... More »
NEW YORK A bull that bolted on its death march to a New York City slaughterhouse and was rescued with the help of comedian Jon Stewart will find out soon there is a price for freedom. The Angus bull that escaped on Friday, and whose life was spared when animal... More »
SAN FRANCISCO The FBI’s method for breaking into a locked iPhone 5c is unlikely to stay secret for long, according to senior Apple Inc engineers and outside experts. Once it is exposed, Apple should be able to plug the encryption hole, comforting iPhone users ... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. State Department has suspended plans for an internal review of whether classified information was properly handled in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails at the request of the FBI, a spokeswoman said on Friday. Clinton, the f... More »
LONDON From the busy, brassy “All You Need is Love” to the softer “Yesterday”, a new show takes audiences back in time to when The Beatles recorded their famous hits at London’s Abbey Road Studios. “The Sessions – A Live Restaging of The Beatles at Abbey Road ... More »
CONAKRY/MONROVIA Guinea will soon vaccinate people who have come into contact with more than 500 men who have recovered from Ebola, a senior health official said, the first time it has vaccinated the contacts of survivors. The decision reflects research that i... More »
SAKAI, Japan Foxconn and Sharp Corp (6753.T) on Saturday formally signed a long-awaited deal that would see the Taiwan firm take control of the Japanese display maker, as executives sought to dispel lingering doubts over whether Sharp can turn around its ebbin... More »
MUMBAI Reliance Retail Ltd, the retail business of India’s energy conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, said on Saturday it planned a quick roll-out of its newly launched fashion and lifestyle e-commerce business. Reliance Retail, controlled by India’s richest... More »
ZURICH Novartis took its campaign to invigorate sluggish sales of its new heart-failure medicine Entresto to a U.S. cardiologists meeting on Saturday, telling attendees that even clinically stable patients can benefit from the drug. Novartis, which forecasts E... More »
NEW DELHI India’s top cigarette maker ITC Ltd, part-owned by British American Tobacco, said it was not ready to print bigger health warnings on its packs as mandated by the government and will keep its factories shut until clarity emerges on the new rules. ITC... More »
MADRID U.S. President Barack Obama will not visit Spain until its parties manage to form a government and end over 100 days of political deadlock, delaying a trip that had been under consideration for July. “What (Obama) told me is let’s see if we form a gover... More »
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has assured law enforcement across the United States that it will help unlock mobile devices such as iPhones involved in investigations when it is allowed by law and policy. The FBI said in a letter to local authorities that... More »
WASHINGTON Donald Trump is facing bipartisan pressure to adopt a more presidential tone in his White House run including from Democratic President Barack Obama and Republicans who worry his missteps may do irreparable harm to the party and his campaign. The Re... More »
BOSTON Billionaire investor William Ackman’s Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd fund lost 7.1 percent last month, hurt largely by Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ (VRX.TO) roughly 60 percent tumble in March. March’s poor performance leaves Ackman’s fund with a 25.6 percent... More »
WASHINGTON Digital privacy advocates and users of Reddit expressed their alarm on Friday over a change in the forum’s transparency report that suggested it may have been asked to give customer data to FBI investigators under a secretive government authority. T... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that Donald Trump’s recent comments that South Korea and Japan should acquire nuclear weapons show the leading Republican presidential candidate is not well informed on international relations. Trump told T... More »
CLEVELAND The Ohio childhood home of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, available for rent in time for the Republican National Convention this summer, could have been had for $8,000 a month until Friday afternoon, when the price went up and references to the infamo... More »
Time Inc (TIME.N) is considering partnering with a private equity firm on a bid for Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O) core Internet assets, according to people familiar with the matter, as the U.S. publishing company seeks to boost its digital presence. The deliberations o... More »
Kerry Washington may be best known as political fixer Olivia Pope in ABC’s hit drama “Scandal,” but for her latest role, the actress explored the murky undertones of sexual harassment in U.S. politics in HBO film “Confirmation.” Washington plays law professor ... More »
WASHINGTON Sensors that can detect tears in parachute nylons before they become deadly, troop uniforms studded with electronics that can sense chemical agents, and self-powered tents that can save fuel: the U.S. military is banking on a new public-private part... More »
CHICAGO U.S. states and cities need to adopt a different mosquito-fighting strategy to battle the species carrying the Zika virus as an outbreak that started in Brazil heads north with warmer weather in the coming weeks, health officials said on Friday. The Wo... More »
BEIRUT The Saudi-owned television news channel Al Arabiya shut its offices in Lebanon and dismissed 27 employees, two of its journalists said on Friday, in a sudden move that comes amid political tensions between Riyadh and Beirut. Protesters also attacked the... More »
BEIRUT Protesters attacked the Beirut office of Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Friday in response to a cartoon published by the paper criticizing the Lebanese state. The cartoon depicted the Lebanese flag with the words “an April fool…” written above... More »
NEW YORK Kittens firing a cannon, a rabbit sniffing for drugs, attempts at humor on the fraught presidential campaign trail and a failed prank by Google competed for attention in the United States on Friday. As ever, the trick for April Fools’ Day hoaxes was t... More »
U.S. hospitals should brace for a surge in “ransomware” attacks by cyber criminals who infect and shut down computer networks, then demand payment in return for unlocking them, a non-profit healthcare group warned on Friday. The Health Information Trust Allian... More »
LONDON The world’s first life-saving gene therapy for children, developed by Italian scientists and GlaxoSmithKline, has been recommended for approval in Europe, boosting the pioneering technology to fix faulty genes. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said o... More »
TORONTO Canada’s oil-producing province of Alberta, stymied by the U.S. decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline and by other market access problems, said on Friday it will use zeppelins to bring its products to markets around the world. Alberta’s left-leani... More »
Google hastily removed an April Fools’ Day feature on Friday that allowed Gmail users to send emails and not see the replies, after the joke fell very flat with some people. The prank, called “Mic Drop,” gave users the option of sending emails through a specia... More »
NEW YORK The U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise short-term interest rates more than twice, if at all, in 2016, on expectations of slowing hiring in the second half of the year, a top bond manager at BlackRock, the world’s top asset manager said on Friday. Des... More »
NEW YORK With U.S. gasoline selling under $2 a gallon, food prices relatively flat and Wall Street bond traders betting on 1.5 percent annual inflation as far the eye can see, it may seem like the wrong time to worry about rising consumer prices. But some voic... More »
Media buyers expect record political ad spending driven by the U.S. presidential race will create a tight market for advertisers and drive up rates. Super PACs, which rose to prominence after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court campaign finance decision in 2010, are... More »
LONDON Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, whose fluid, futuristic designs were used in buildings across the world to widespread acclaim, has died of a heart attack at the age of 65, her company said on Thursday. Hadid, whose projects included the MAXXI museum... More »
BOSTON Billionaire hedge fund investors Daniel Loeb and Barry Rosenstein made money in March when the stock market came back with stronger gains, but both men’s funds are still in the red for the year, sources familiar with their performance said. Loeb’s Third... More »
WASHINGTON A gorilla named Susie is helping provide fresh insight into the genetic similarities and differences between people and these endangered apes that are among our closest living relatives. Scientists on Thursday unveiled an upgraded version of the gor... More »
