TOKYO Seventy years after Japan’s defeat in World War Two, the conflict’s legacy haunts East Asia and reconciliation remains elusive. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may hope to lay the ghosts to rest with a statement on Friday marking the 70th anniversary of the wa... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/MUMBAI, August 12 Facebook is trying to lure skeptical advertisers in India with features such as free email support for questions about advertising and advice on increasing sales in a bid to boost revenue from its second biggest market. Facebook... More »
NEW YORK Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is giving the U.S. Justice Department her private email server and a thumb drive of work-related emails from her tenure as secretary of state, a spokesman for her campaign said on Tuesday. Clinton’s us... More »
Deal makers and employees at private equity firms are expected to receive the biggest bonus increases this year on Wall Street, according to a forecast by compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates. Overall, however, year-end incentive payments on Wall St... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has instructed her attorney to give the U.S. Justice Department her private email server and a thumb drive of work-related emails from her tenure as secretary of state, CNN reported on Tuesday, quoti... More »
NEW YORK/BOSTON The slowdown in the Chinese economy, which prompted the Chinese government to devalue the yuan currency on Tuesday, has already hammered the shares of U.S. industrial companies. Yet some contrarian U.S. fund managers say there is still room to ... More »
LOS ANGELES U.S. singer Meghan Trainor canceled the remainder of her “MTrain Tour” on Tuesday after suffering a hemorrhaged vocal cord. Trainor, 21, who broke out last summer with the body-positive song “All About That Bass,” said she will be undergoing surger... More »
NEW YORK Growing pension obligations at Precision Castparts Corp (PCP.N), which Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy for $32 billion, highlight an issue that large U.S. corporations still face, almost a decade into a low-interest rate environment. Berkshire’s ... More »
WASHINGTON A speeding Wal-Mart truck driver who had been awake for 28 hours was held responsible on Tuesday for a 2014 highway crash that left “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan with brain injuries and killed a fellow comedian, U.S. transport regulators said. The Nat... More »
BOSTON Days after surveillance video from the 1990 Stewart Gardner Museum heist was made public, FBI officials on Tuesday said they are investigating a “handful of tips,” including one identifying a mystery man let in to the museum the night before it was robb... More »
MUMBAI India will seek damages of 6.39 billion rupees ($99.3 million) from Swiss group Nestle after a food scare involving reports of excess lead in the firm’s popular Maggi noodles forced a nationwide recall, a government official said on Tuesday. Nestle, whi... More »
Australia’s Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) is entering the U.S exchange-traded fund market making business, officials told Reuters in an interview. Market makers provide ETF issuers with an array of services, including providing seed capital and distribution. They u... More »
LOS ANGELES Parent education loans can help your child attend the college of her dreams — and sink any dreams you had of ever retiring. The grim reality is that the federal PLUS loan program allows parents to borrow far more than they can comfortably, or even ... More »
DETROIT Melissa Gilbert, best known for playing Laura Ingalls Wilder in the 1970s television drama “Little House on the Prairie,” has thrown her bonnet in the ring for a U.S. congressional seat in Michigan. Gilbert, 51, who moved to Howell, Michigan, in 2013, ... More »
NEW YORK A case in which pop star Shakira’s 2010 hit single “Loca” was found to be an illegal copy of a Dominican songwriter’s work came crashing down on Monday when a U.S. judge said the songwriter had lied to the court and the cassette tape on which his clai... More »
LONDON Tadpoles are contracting a new, highly infectious disease that may be threatening frog populations worldwide, British scientists have found. A parasitic disease caused by single-celled microbes known as “protists” was found in the livers of tadpole samp... More »
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Scathing reviews and an indiscreet tweet left “Fantastic Four” on the slab after the franchise reboot flopped at the weekend box office. Fox’s hopes of rejuvenating the comicbook characters and turning the super-team into a cinemati... More »
EPIDAURUS, Greece On a stiflingly hot summer night, the ancient Greek amphitheatre of Epidaurus is packed to capacity for a performance of a 2,400-year-old play by Aristophanes — testimony to Greeks’ enduring love of theater despite years of grinding economic ... More »
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) said on Friday its second-quarter profit fell 37 percent, reflecting a significant decline in investment gains and an underwriting loss from insurance operations, which include Geico. Net income for the... More »
U.S. media stocks have taken an indiscriminate beating this week, but many big fund managers still like entertainment conglomerate Walt Disney Co while turning negative for the long term on Discovery Communications, owner of several niche television franchises... More »
BOSTON Federal investigators in Boston on Thursday released 25-year-old surveillance video showing a security guard admitting a man to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum the night before it was robbed of $500 million worth of art in the largest such heist in ... More »
GENEVA The remains of two young Japanese climbers missing on the Matterhorn mountain since a 1970 snow storm in the Swiss Alps have been identified through DNA testing of their relatives, police said on Thursday. Human bones spotted by a climber last September... More »
AMC Networks Inc’s (AMCX.O) shares fell as much as 14 percent despite the company’s strong results, continuing a slide triggered by Walt Disney Co’s (DIS.N) forecast that suggested that more customers were deserting paid TV than expected. Walt Disney Co (DIS.N... More »
New York Times Co reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as its print advertising sales fell for the fourth straight quarter. Shares of the company, which also forecast a decline in its current-quarter ad revenue, fell as much as 6 percent on Thursday.... More »
Viacom Inc reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue, hurt by lower advertising revenue from its U.S. cable TV business as viewers increasingly shift to online streaming services. The results add to investor concerns over the U.S. cable industry after di... More »
Media company Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) on Wednesday reduced its profit expectation for the coming year, citing foreign currency impacts, the timing of film releases, and sports and digital investments in India. Fox had projected earnings in the mi... More »
NEW YORK A Russian art dealer accused by Polish authorities of illegally acquiring an 18th-century painting stolen during World War II by the Nazis cannot be extradited from the United States, a Manhattan federal judge ruled on Monday. U.S. District Judge Jed ... More »
WASHINGTON, August 3 Women’s health group Planned Parenthood, under attack by anti-abortionists posting hidden-camera videos online, will be the focus of a partisan showdown on Monday in the U.S. Senate, with any wider influence on voters from the charge still... More »
SYDNEY Barnacles encrusted on a piece of plane debris that washed up on the French island of Reunion might help unravel the mystery of missing Malaysia Airlines (MLYAF.PK) flight MH370 that disappeared last year with 239 passengers and crew on board. Malaysia ... More »
LONDON The Chinese slowdown is forcing many Western companies to take a hard look at their businesses there, leading many to reduce investments, costs and product lines and to tackle increasing bad debts. Double digit growth rates during the first decade of th... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidates will test their messages in New Hampshire on Monday, with the exception of Donald Trump, in a pivotal week on the 2016 campaign trail that will be dominated by their first head-to-head debate on Thursday. Fourteen ... More »
TAIPEI Protests in Taiwan over textbook revisions which students say aim to brainwash them into accepting a “one China” view of history underscore the island’s growing sense of independence from its vast neighbor and geopolitical foe. Hundreds of youths storme... More »
WASHINGTON Donald Trump, the man to beat in this week’s first televised Republican presidential debate, said on Sunday he does not plan to attack his rivals and downplayed expectations for his performance, saying “I’m not a debater.” The combative real estate ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” dominated the U.S. box office this weekend with an impressive $56 million at 3,956 locations. The Paramount/Skydance tentpole generated $20.3 million at the Friday box office, settin... More »
KUALA LUMPUR Olympic chiefs must pump more content to mobile devices, and extend the allure of the Games outside its 17-day window to stay relevant to young people, marketing guru Martin Sorrell said on Sunday. “You need to evolve to new consumption behaviors ... More »
ALPHARETTA, Ga., Dozens of onlookers gathered on Saturday near a Georgia church for the funeral of Bobbi Kristina Brown, the 22-year-old daughter of late singer Whitney Houston, who died this week, months after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub. Brown’s ... More »
NASHVILLE, Tenn. Country music singer Lynn Anderson, best known for her 1970 Grammy-winning smash hit “Rose Garden,” has died of a heart attack at a hospital in Nashville, her publicist said on Friday. She was 67. Anderson, who had recently returned from a tri... More »
ROME Italian police stopped California rapper Snoop Dogg on Friday as he prepared to board a private plane bound for Britain with $422,000 in cash in his Louis Vuitton luggage, said an Italian lawyer representing the entertainer. In the European Union, the max... More »
MUMBAI An Indian court has concluded hearing a case filed by Nestle India challenging a local regulator’s report that Maggi instant noodles contained excess lead, a lawyer for the company said. The Bombay High Court will give a judgment at a later date, Rajesh... More »
SEATTLE A Washington state judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit seeking photos from the death scene of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain because the journalist who wants them violated legal procedures, Seattle’s attorney said. Independent journalist Richard Lee sued... More »
LOS ANGELES (This story corrects paragraph 2: nuns no longer live at the property in July 30 story) Katy Perry, who grew up the daughter of Protestant pastors and rose to fame with the hit song “I Kissed a Girl,” may get her chance to live in a former Roman Ca... More »
SEATTLE A Washington state judge should dismiss a lawsuit seeking photos from the death scene of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain because public-disclosure laws do not apply and the journalist who wants them violated legal procedures, Seattle’s attorney will argue... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are expecting a baby girl, he said on his Facebook page on Friday. The couple, who married in 2012, have been trying to have a child and had three miscarriages, he wrote. ... More »
LONDON Best-selling boy band One Direction released a surprise first single as a foursome on Friday, two days after former member Zayn Malik announced a new record deal as solo artist. “Drag Me Down” follows November’s “Night Changes” and is the first single t... More »
NEW YORK Investors worldwide pulled $1.2 billion out of precious metals funds in the week ended July 29 on expectations for higher U.S. interest rates and weakness in Chinese shares, data from a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report showed on Fr... More »
NEW YORK Dish Network Corp said on Friday that Comcast Corp’s broadcast television network NBC is not airing ads promoting its Sling TV video streaming service in some markets. While NBC, part of Comcast’s NBCUniversal film and TV unit, has banned Sling TV ads... More »
NEW YORK Broadway hip-hop musical “Hamilton” is the hottest ticket in town this summer, and George Cox is, in a word, ecstatic. Cox, founder of Seattle-based Alexander Hamilton Scholars, is one of thousands of Americans who have toiled for years to promote the... More »
WASHINGTON They look alike, act alike and long have been considered to be the same species. But, in the case of the golden jackals found across parts of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, it turns out that appearances can be deceiving. Scientists said o... More »
LOS ANGELES Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal film and television unit is close to making an investment in online publisher BuzzFeed and is in talks to raise its stake in Vox Media, a person with knowledge of both sets of discussions said on Thursday. The ... More »
WASHINGTON Earth’s magnetic field has been a life preserver, protecting against relentless solar winds, streams of charged particles rushing from the Sun, that otherwise could strip away the planet’s atmosphere and water. “It would be a pretty barren planet wi... More »
ATHENS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, struggling to contain a revolt in his left-wing Syriza party, said on Wednesday that his government would not implement reform measures beyond those agreed with lenders at a euro zone summit this month. Tsipras faces... More »
LOS ANGELES A large street mural painted on a derelict Detroit auto factory by elusive British artist Banksy is going up for auction in Beverly Hills and could fetch up to $400,000 dollars for a local non-profit group, Julien’s Auctions said on Wednesday. The ... More »
BEIRUT Young people from two warring districts in the Lebanese city of Tripoli are taking to the stage in a comedy inspired by their own lives, trying to turn their backs on old rivalries inflamed by Syria’s civil war. “Love and War on the Rooftops” played to ... More »
LONDON European pay-TV group Sky said on Wednesday it expects to perform strongly in its new financial year after better-than-expected 2014/15 profits prompted investors to rethink their growth forecasts for the newly-enlarged group. Sky, formed from the combi... More »
ANAHEIM, California For the first time, cable TV network Nickelodeon staged a casting call at VidCon, a convention that draws stars of YouTube and social media like Vine, Instagram and Snapchat and their passionate followers. The Viacom-owned channel’s talent ... More »
BAYREUTH, Germany A renovated Richard Wagner Museum opening in Bayreuth this weekend to coincide with the Bavarian city’s annual Wagner opera festival puts the composer’s anti-Semitism and his family’s later ties to Adolf Hitler center stage for the first time... More »
TORONTO Cheating spouses website AshleyMadison.com, facing hackers’ threats to leak clients’ nude photos and sexual fantasies, said it is heartened by some initial public response that sees the site as a victim. The website’s Canadian parent, Avid Life Media, ... More »
CAPE TOWN Veteran South African anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu was discharged from hospital on Tuesday after a week fighting a persistent infection that is not related to his prostate cancer, his daughter said. Tutu, 83, who has been living with prosta... More »
SYDNEY A visibly shaken Mick Fanning arrived home in Australia on Tuesday saying he would not turn his back on surfing despite needing a “miracle” to survive a shark attack off the coast of South Africa at the weekend. The three-times world champion was paddli... More »
COPENHAGEN Chuckling “Ho ho ho” and waving to the public, dozens of Santas brought some Christmas cheer to the Copenhagen summer on Monday as they began their annual World Santa Claus Congress. Drawing Santas from around the world, the three-day event in the D... More »
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. “Breaking Bad” actor and New Mexico native Steven Michael Quezada said on Monday he is running for a county commissioner seat in Albuquerque, where he grew up and the hit television show was set. Quezada, who grew up in a gang-plagued neighbo... More »
NEW YORK Fund companies and brokerage firms should be able to weather a proposal by Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that would increase capital gains taxes for some investors, but some fund holders could see higher costs, managers and an... More »
LONDON British publisher Pearson (PSON.L) is exploring the sale of its Financial Times newspaper after receiving interest from potential buyers, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Pearson was sounding out possible bidders for... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/LONDON Scientists are about to embark on the biggest search yet for alien life, sweeping the skies for signals of civilizations beyond our solar system with $100 million from a Russian billionaire and the backing of physicist Stephen Hawking. Whe... More »
NEW YORK A couple of years ago, Emilie Hunt had to go to the emergency room with a stomach virus. The bill took a huge chunk of money out of her savings, more than $800, and kept her from saving for a couple of months. “I’m really bad at planning for unexpecte... More »
LOS ANGELES A new study by student lender Sallie Mae found the average amount spent on college education in the United States jumped for the first time in five years, thanks to greater outlays from high-income families and parental readiness to spend more. Fam... More »
RAGLAN, New Zealand Deep in New Zealand’s dairying heartland, drone maker Aeronavics tests aircraft designed to corner the fast-growing emerging market for unmanned aerial vehicles in the film and television business. The developer of drones used in the produc... More »
BERLIN German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel criticized Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in a television interview to be broadcast later on Sunday for suggesting that Greece could quit the euro zone temporarily. Schaeuble has said that Greece could take a ... More »
LONDON Buckingham Palace scolded Rupert Murdoch’s top-selling Sun tabloid on Saturday for publishing a previously unknown film from 1933 that appears to show Britain’s Queen Elizabeth performing a Nazi salute as a young girl. The black-and-white film from the ... More »
LOS ANGELES From his classic 1967 Los Angeles pool scene “A Bigger Splash” to his interpretations of Yorkshire forests, British artist David Hockney has always injected the world around him with a vibrant palette, most recently in a study of perspectives. “Dav... More »
NEW YORK Morningstar Inc said DoubleLine Capital’s flagship Total Return Bond Fund is “not ratable” for a second straight year, citing a lack of information about the firm’s investment process, succession planning and risk controls. The Chicago-based investmen... More »
BERLIN German lawmakers gave their go-ahead on Friday for the euro zone to negotiate a third bailout for Greece, but a warning from Chancellor Angela Merkel that the alternative was chaos failed to prevent a hefty rebellion in her own party. The Bundestag, the... More »
(This column has been corrected to fix spelling of co-author’s name to Straehl in seventh paragraph) By James Saft More »
BERLIN German lawmakers gave their go ahead on Friday for the euro zone to negotiate a third bailout for Greece, heeding a warning from Chancellor Angela Merkel that the alternative to a deal with Athens was chaos. The Bundestag lower house of parliament, whos... More »
NEW YORK A U.S. judge ruled on Thursday that online television service FilmOn X LLC should be treated like a traditional cable system in order to transmit the programs of the nation’s broadcasters over the Internet. The ruling, coming as consumer TV-watching h... More »
WASHINGTON If you feel like a human scream jolts the deep recesses of your brain, there’s a good reason for it. That is precisely what is happening, scientists say. Researchers who explored how the brain handles a scream said on Thursday the loud, high-pitched... More »
WASHINGTON Polar bears are the kings of the ice surface covering the top of the globe, but the ongoing loss of the Arctic sea ice on which they hunt seals is causing summer food deprivation that threatens these imposing white-furred predators. Some experts had... More »
LOS ANGELES Cable television channel TLC canceled its reality show “19 Kids and Counting” on Thursday, citing controversy surrounding the disclosure of child molestation in the Duggar family at the heart of the series. But the network said it planned to work w... More »
LONDON Britain’s newly elected Conservative government signalled on Thursday it would cut back the BBC, the opening salvo in a battle over the future of the world’s biggest public service broadcaster. Any attempt to change the 92-year-old broadcaster provokes ... More »
LONDON Britain’s telecoms regulator is seriously considering a break up of dominant provider BT, after rivals accused it of abusing its market position and failing to invest in the broadband networks they rely on. Ofcom floated the idea of a forced separation ... More »
CHICAGO It was an image that shocked and angered many: a dead, black 18- year-old left face-down for hours in the middle of a street after being shot multiple times by a white police officer, his red Cardinals baseball cap knocked from his head by the fall. No... More »
ORLANDO, Fla. In a growing trend that seeks to blend art with environmental restoration, a water filtration project was unveiled on Tuesday along a 575-foot sea-walled stretch of the intracoastal waterway in South Florida. The new Living Shoreline, designed by... More »
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Rarely is a trophy fish so easy to land. An animal control officer in Olathe, Kansas, recently hauled in a 60-pound (27-kg) carp that was lying in a drainage ditch. A man out for a walk last week spotted the fish and called police, city animal... More »
MONROEVILLE, Alabama In the southern hometown of author Harper Lee, a freight truck unloaded the first of 7,000 copies of “Go Set a Watchman” at a small bookshop just ahead of midnight, minutes before Tuesday’s release of Lee’s first published novel in 55 year... More »
DETROIT Street artist Shepard Fairey, who created the “Hope” poster of Barack Obama in 2008, turned himself into Detroit police on Tuesday on charges he defaced several properties in the city, authorities said. Fairey is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday, D... More »
SYDNEY A space tracking station surrounded by cows in an Australian valley will on Tuesday become the first place in the world to get close-up images of Pluto, the most distant planetary body ever explored. After nine-and-half years of traveling 5.3 billion km... More »
PORTLAND, Ore. Hundreds of phallic sex toys have been seen hanging in recent days from power lines across Portland, Oregon, provoking laughter, blushing and lots of photos. The large white and bright orange dildos appear to have been strung together in pairs, ... More »
LONDON A quarter of dogs competing in the world’s biggest dog show are overweight, scientists said on Monday. An analysis of canines at Britain’s Crufts show – held annually since the reign of Queen Victoria – found 74 percent were in ideal condition but 26 pe... More »
