LONDON European shares fell on Monday, following Asia lower and led by banks after the European Central Bank said it would quiz euro zone lenders about high levels of bad loans, while oil prices tumbled on the prospect of more supply from Iran. With U.S. marke... More »
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Its long reign is over. After four weeks atop box office charts, Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has ceded first place to Universal’s “Ride Along 2.” The comedy sequel picked up a leading $34 million across 3,175 venues and ... More »
BRUSSELS – NBCUniversal, Disney and four other U.S. studios together with Sky UK on Monday rebuffed European Union charges of anti-competitive movie-licensing deals in a crucial hearing ahead of a decision later this year. The companies’ defense at a three-day... More »
SEOUL A South Korean entertainment agency behind a 16-year-old singer who triggered a fresh rift between China and Taiwan by holding a Taiwan flag said on Monday it did not force her to apologize. Chou Tzuyu, the only Taiwanese member of South Korean K-pop gir... More »
NEW YORK With signs of a bear market in U.S. stocks emerging, some of the world’s biggest investors say the buying opportunity is not here yet and instead believe further drops of 10 to 20 percent are a possibility. However, they do not envision a repeat of a ... More »
SHANGHAI China plans to land the first probe ever on the dark side of the moon in 2018, marking another milestone in its ambitious space program, the official Xinhua news agency reported. China has launched a new round of work focused on lunar exploration, com... More »
LOS ANGELES As Los Angeles celebrates its fifth straight year of record-breaking tourism, officials in part can thank visitors from China who, despite their reputed disdain for lying on the beach, now make up the second-largest group of international travelers... More »
SHANGHAI China guided its yuan currency higher on Monday, and offshore it surged against the dollar, spurred by what traders called aggressive intervention by Beijing, although Chinese stocks tumbled again as doubts persisted over policymakers’ intent. Perceiv... More »
ANKARA Turkey is unsettled by “anti-Islamic” messages in the U.S. presidential race, in which the Republican front runner called for a ban on foreign Muslims, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. Donald Trump last month advocated banning all forei... More »
BERLIN Two Pakistanis and a Syrian man were injured in attacks by gangs of people in Cologne, German police said late on Sunday, the city where the vast majority of dozens of New Year Eve assaults on women took place. Local newspaper Express reported that the ... More »
LONDON China’s yuan again dominated moves on major foreign exchange markets on Monday, driven 1 percent higher against the dollar in offshore trade after reports of another round of aggressive intervention by Beijing. With Chinese stocks sinking a further 5 pe... More »
LONDON World stocks fell to near 2-1/2 year lows on Monday as a fresh pounding for Chinese markets left Asia at a four-year trough and sent oil and commodity markets sprawling again. Europe’s main bourses saw a more steady start to the week but investors were ... More »
SHANGHAI Swiss bank UBS AG plans to more than double the number of staff at its China wealth management teams over the next five years, said Kathryn Shih, Asia pacific president at the bank, in an interview with Reuters on Monday. Shih said market volatility w... More »
LONDON UK Athletics (UKA) has called for world records to be wiped clean and drug cheats to be banned for at least eight years in radical proposals aimed at heralding a new unblemished era for the sport. UKA’s document “A Manifesto for Clean Athletics” was pub... More »
BEIJING Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] said on Monday its China unit will get an undisclosed amount of investment from Chinese firm HNA Group as part of a partnership of the U.S. ride-hailing firm with the aviation and shipping conglomerate. The partnership, ... More »
PARIS Economic conditions are stabilizing in China and the outlook is for steady growth in the euro zone, while the U.S. and UK economies are losing steam, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Monday. The Paris-based OECD said tha... More »
SHANGHAI China will face great difficulty in achieving economic growth above 6.5 percent over the 2016-2020 period due to slowing global demand and rising labor costs at home, the China Securities Journal quotes a top state adviser as saying. Li Wei, president... More »
BERLIN Economic sentiment in the euro zone deteriorated more than expected in January as an economic slowdown in China and its impact on the world economy unsettled investors, survey data released on Monday showed. The Frankfurt-based Sentix research group’s i... More »
JAKARTA So stiff is competition between Indonesia’s motorcycle taxis app companies that new entrants are going to extreme lengths to stand out. Aris Wahyudi, the founder of the newest motorcycle-sharing company, reckons he has found a unique way to win busines... More »
SHANGHAI China stocks closed down on Monday at their lowest since September, following weak inflation data over the weekend and continuing investor anxiety over the economy and the trajectory of the yuan. The CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed companie... More »
MELBOURNE Finally clinching an elusive Australian Open crown is Andy Murray’s number one goal for the new year but the Briton concedes that his hopes of success at Melbourne Park may rest on champion Novak Djokovic having an off-day. World number one Djokovic ... More »
MELBOURNE Australia’s top-ranked tennis player Bernard Tomic has apologized after a row with hotel staff over the use of courts near his Gold Coast residence in the leadup to the Australian Open, local media reported. Tomic, who made the semi-finals of the Bri... More »
DETROIT Tesla Motors said on Sunday it was updating the Autopilot driving systems in Model S sedans to put new limits on its hands-free operation, which has been both praised for its innovation while criticized for having been launched too early. The function ... More »
WASHINGTON As Barack Obama prepares to deliver his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the U.S. president and his aides have insisted he will not be content simply to run out the clock on foreign policy and is acting decisively to tackle crises ... More »
WASHINGTON The chief executive of a successful American exporter will have a prime spot on Tuesday night to watch President Barack Obama make the case in his final State of the Union address for a sweeping Asian trade deal he hopes will be part of his legacy. ... More »
NEW YORK A rare crested macaque that took a now internationally famous “selfie” cannot own the copyright to the photograph because he is not human, a U.S. judge ruled in a suit brought by animal rights group PETA on behalf of the monkey. People for the Ethical... More »
HARARE A scorching drought in Southern Africa that led to widespread crop failure could nudge African nations to finally embrace genetically modified (GM) crops to improve harvests and reduce grain imports. The drought, which extends to South Africa, the conti... More »
BEIJING The Swedish automaker once known as Saab has emerged as part of China’s push to make electric vehicles a mass-market alternative to petrol cars, after getting a $12 billion order for EVs. Chinese-owned National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) – the comp... More »
Netflix Inc’s video-streaming service went live in more than 130 countries on Wednesday, covering almost the entire globe except China, in a huge global push by Chief Executive Reed Hastings to counter slowing growth in the United States. Shares of the company... More »
MOSCOW/KIEV U.S. drinks firm Coca-Cola on Wednesday blamed a marketing agency for a map used in an online advertising campaign that showed Crimea to be part of Russia and which drew protests and threats of a boycott from angry Ukrainians. Russia annexed the pe... More »
BENGALURU/NEW YORK The global economy finished last year on a fragile footing, with factory activity in China shrinking for the 10th month running in December, while euro zone manufacturing picked up but U.S. activity slowed. Coming on a day of volatility in A... More »
DUBAI President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defense minister on Thursday to expand Iran’s missile program, in defiance of a U.S. threat to impose sanctions over a ballistic missile test Iran carried out in October. Under a landmark agreement it clinched with wo... More »
TOKYO Japan’s Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said on Monday it will cut nearly 7,000 consumer electronics jobs after a $1.3 billion accounting scandal, in an overhaul that will streamline the sprawling conglomerate into a company focused on chips and nuclear energy. To... More »
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan Afghan police were holding out against Taliban forces who have surrounded their compound in Sangin, in the southern province of Helmand, on Monday as the militants closed in on another district capital. “Right now there is a heavy figh... More »
CLARK FIELD, Philippines Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed on Monday to leave behind a stronger and a more capable armed forces to face maritime challenges in the South China Sea when he leaves office next year. Aquino, ineligible to run for re-electio... More »
Ride-hailing app Lyft Inc, Uber Technologies Inc’s biggest competition in the United States, expects to raise up to $1 billion in a new round of financing, Bloomberg reported citing a Delaware state filing. The document filed by Lyft on Friday evening did not ... More »
SINGAPORE Brent crude fell to levels last seen in 2004 on Monday, dropping under the lows hit during the 2008 financial crisis on renewed worries over an oil glut, with analysts saying prices could head lower still. Global production remains at or near record ... More »
The host of the Miss Universe pageant mistakenly announced the wrong winner on Sunday, who then had to give up the crown and hand it over to a 26-year-old actress and model from the Philippines. It was the first edition of the annual beauty show since it was t... More »
BEIJING Russia overtook Saudi Arabia for the third time this year in November as China’s largest crude oil supplier, customs data showed on Monday, as Russia captures fresh demand from China’s new crude buyers. China brought in about 949,925 barrels per day (b... More »
NEW DELHI India’s top court said on Monday it had no power to detain the youngest of the men convicted of the 2012 gang rape of a woman on a bus in New Delhi in a case that shocked the nation, a day after he was released after three years in custody. The attac... More »
MUMBAI Shares in India’s largest drugmaker, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, skidded more than 7 percent on Monday after U.S. regulators warned of standards violations at a key plant in the latest blow to India’s generic drug industry. The warning comes bare... More »
FORT LAUDERDALE/NEW YORK/SEATTLE/VANCOUVERU.S. and Canadian officials have pledged to work with China to track down and repatriate Chinese fugitives living abroad. But that cooperation is proving to have clear limits. So far, only one person on China’s Operati... More »
SINGAPORE/SYDNEY Chinese shares led Asian markets higher on Monday, defying a dive on Wall Street, while the price of Brent crude plumbed 11-year lows on renewed worries over a global oil glut. European shares are unlikely to follow Asia’s example, with spread... More »
BANGKOK Thai police on Monday said they will charge 11 activists who tried to stage a protest over suspected corruption in an army-built park with illegal assembly as allegations of irregularities in the park’s funding persist. Dozens of students activists wer... More »
TOKYO Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp (6752.T) has agreed to buy a majority stake in U.S. refrigeration systems maker Hussmann from a private equity firm for over 150 billion yen ($1.2 billion), people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Panason... More »
TOKYO Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp’s (6723.T) CEO said an acquisition by Germany’s Infineon Technologies (IFXGn.DE) was unlikely as he believed its top shareholder, a government-backed fund, would not sell a majority stake to a foreign buyer. Th... More »
SYDNEY/TOKYO The dollar drifted lower in light Asian trading on Monday amid doubts about how far and fast the Federal Reserve would raise U.S. interest rates next year. The dollar eased to 121.20 yen JPY= and further away from Friday’s brief peak of 123.59. Th... More »
LOS ANGELES “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” shattered box office records with an estimated $517 million in worldwide ticket sales through Sunday, a staggering debut that re-established the celebrated space saga as a global phenomenon under Walt Disney Co. The f... More »
TOKYO Toshiba Corp said on Monday it would discuss its restructuring measures and it may announce the impact on its business for this fiscal year ending March. The Nikkei business daily reported over the weekend the company is expected to forecast a record net... More »
MANCHESTER, N.H. U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton backed elements of President Barack Obama’s strategy to fight Islamic State militants in a debate on Saturday, drawing criticism from all sides for saying “we now finally are where we n... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump said separately on Sunday that the United States should not try to topple dictators such as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, highlighting a skepticism over foreign wars that transcends party lines... More »
SINGAPORE Stan Wawrinka showed his class in both singles and doubles to lead the Singapore Slammers to victory in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) final in front of a delighted home crowd at the Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Matches in the Asia-based... More »
LOS ANGELES “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” collected a galactic $250 million of global ticket sales through Friday and headed toward a historic opening weekend in the United States and Canada as fans around the world reveled in the return of the beloved space ... More »
MACAU Top Republican Party donor Sheldon Adelson said on Friday he met presidential candidate Donald Trump earlier this week and that the two American billionaires broached the issue at the heart of Adelson’s political agenda: support for Israel. While the meg... More »
MUMBAI India’s largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has been warned by U.S. health regulators for violating manufacturing standards at its Halol plant in India, even as it has been working on fixing issues at the plant for over a year. The U.S. ... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate on Friday ratified reforms to boost the representation of emerging economies at the International Monetary Fund as part of a budget bill that will clear the way for new industrial powerhouses like China and India to have more clout a... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/BENGALURU Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook dismissed as “total political crap” the notion that the tech giant was avoiding taxes. Cook’s remarks, made on CBS’ 60 Minutes show, come amid a debate in the United States over corporations avoiding t... More »
FRANKFURT Chinese investment group Fosun has withdrawn its offer for wealth management group BHF Kleinwort Benson, the Belgian stock market regulator said on Friday. Fosun had offered 5.10 euros per share for BHF, but its bid was challenged by French private b... More »
SEOUL A South Korean court cleared a Japanese journalist on Thursday of defaming the South Korean president in a case that raised new questions about media freedom and had threatened to inflame relations between the uneasy neighbors. Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul... More »
TOKYO Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday welcomed a South Korean court’s not-guilty ruling on a Japanese journalist, saying it was expected to have a positive effect on relations between the two countries. The South Korean court found a Japanese journalist ... More »
WASHINGTON The Obama administration formally notified Congress on Wednesday of a $1.83-billion arms sale package for Taiwan, including two frigates, anti-tank missiles, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment, drawing an angry response from China. The ... More »
BEIJING The International Monetary Fund’s decision on Ukraine’s debt to Russia did not change anything to Moscow, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board decided t... More »
SYDNEY Australia will not bow to Chinese pressure to halt surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea at the center of rival claims between China and some of its neighbors, Defense Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday. The Australian De... More »
JAKARTA Asia policymakers on Thursday applauded an historic turn in U.S. monetary policy, but analysts cautioned that the region’s economies faced vulnerabilities even as markets took the Federal Reserve rate hike in their stride. The prospect of the first hik... More »
SINGAPORE Six crew members are still missing after a general cargo freighter sank in the Singapore Strait following a collision with a chemical tanker at 8:14 p.m. (7.14 a.m. ET) on Dec. 16. The 10,385 deadweight tonne (dwt) cargo freighter Thorco Cloud, opera... More »
SYDNEY Australian tax authorities on Thursday took the unprecedented step of publishing the records of hundreds of companies, including Google Inc (GOOGL.O) and Apple Inc APPL.O, which show they paid little or no tax on their in-country earnings. Of more than ... More »
LONDON Royal Dutch Shell’s takeover of BG Group may look less attractive after the slide in oil prices but the fact the same investors own nearly half of both firms means the deal is still likely to go through. Investors holding about 43 percent of Shell’s sha... More »
SYDNEY Asian stock markets jumped on Thursday as investors chose to take an historic hike in U.S. interest rates as a mark of confidence in the world’s largest economy, lifting the dollar and piling on the pain for oil prices. European shares were expected to ... More »
SAN FRANCISCOThe world’s central banks are scrambling to assess the risk a slowing China poses to their economies and appear to be no closer than most other observers to working out what is going on in the world’s second largest economy. While the Reserve Bank... More »
SEOUL The doctor who administered injections which caused decorated South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan to fail a doping test was found not guilty of causing injury through professional negligence on Thursday. The doctor, identified only by her surname Kim, had... More »
LONDON Firebrand hooker Dylan Hartley is set to replace Chris Robshaw as England captain under new coach Eddie Jones, British media reported on Thursday. Loose forward Robshaw led his country 42 times under former coach Stuart Lancaster, culminating in this ye... More »
LOS ANGELES Glowing reviews on Wednesday boosted weekend forecasts for Walt Disney Co’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” according to box office analysts who projected the long-awaited film will open near the record set this year by “Jurassic World.” The first ... More »
PARIS/LONDON Donning Stormtrooper and Darth Vader masks, dressed in capes and holding lightsabers, fans young and old turned out for the first screenings in France, Germany, Australia and Britain of “The Force Awakens,” some lining up for hours to watch the fi... More »
WASHINGTON In pandas as in people, it appears that passion prevails. Scientists studying captive breeding of the endangered bamboo-eating bears said on Tuesday pandas are far more likely to mate successfully and produce cubs when they show through a complex se... More »
TOKYO Instead of spending the days before her wedding happily planning for the big day, Kaori Oguni was agonizing over the prospect of losing her maiden name and with it, she felt, part of her identity. Oguni is one of five people suing the government of Japan... More »
NEW DELHI Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will hold talks with Pakistan on Wednesday, the first visit by India’s top diplomat to its rival in three years, part of efforts to restart a peace dialogue plagued by militant attacks and distrust.Swaraj will le... More »
SINGAPORE Crude oil prices dipped further on Monday after OPEC failed to agree on output targets to reduce a bulging glut that has cut prices by more than 60 percent since June 2014. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to agree on an o... More »
MOSCOW Russia will consider Afghanistan’s request for arms supply in a careful manner, but that task belongs first of all to the United States, RIA news agency cited Kremlin’s special envoy to Afghanistan as saying on Monday. Zamir Kabulov told the agency that... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday he saw no need to implement negative deposit rates in Japan as borrowing costs were already very low due to the central bank’s aggressive asset purchases. The European Central Bank has adopted negativ... More »
BEIJING/SINGAPORE Xia Lili, marketing chief at a privately-owned Shanghai software firm switched to flying with Spring Airlines (601021.SS) after China’s first low-cost carrier took off in 2010. Her company has since made it mandatory for staff to use budget a... More »
SEOUL The heir apparent of Samsung Group will buy up to 300 billion won worth of shares to be sold by affiliate Samsung Engineering Co Ltd should existing shareholders not fully take up the firm’s 1.2 trillion won rights issue, Samsung Group said on Monday. In... More »
SYDNEY Asian share markets turned mixed on Monday as caution grew ahead of Chinese data, though sentiment stayed supported by hopes the U.S. economy would be able to handle an expected first increase in interest rates in almost a decade. Oil prices were near t... More »
SYDNEY Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday unveiled a A$1.1 billion ($806 million) package to boost innovation in Australia, using his first major economic policy statement since becoming leader to map out a pathway beyond the country’s fading resources ... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama on Sunday laid out the most sweeping defense yet of his strategy to defeat Islamic State, but he offered no U.S. policy shift to confront what he called a “new phase” in the terrorist threat after a mass shooting in California... More »
TOKYO Fifty individual shareholders of Toshiba Corp sued the Japanese conglomerate in Tokyo on Monday, seeking 301.99 million yen ($2.45 million) in damages after the firm’s stock plunged in the wake of a multi-billion dollar accounting scandal. The lawsuit ag... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama has asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to review the K-1 fiance visa program that was used by a couple responsible for a mass shooting in California, a White House official said on Sunday. ... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan board member Takehiro Sato said on Monday the impact of its quantitative easing is likely diminishing, as long-term interest rates have not declined much since the central bank increased debt purchases in October 2014. Sato said the BOJ can... More »
SHANGHAI China’s economy will likely grow at or above 6.5 percent next year, an official think-tank said in a report in the China Securities Journal on Monday. The country’s consumer price index (CPI) will rise about 1.5 percent, government think-tank the Stat... More »
LONDON Former world champions Red Bull and Nissan’s Infiniti premium car brand will end their Formula One partnership at the end of this year, the team said in a statement on Sunday. Infiniti, part of the Renault-Nissan alliance, have been with Red Bull since ... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Sunday she would take the relationship between the U.S. and Israel “to the next level,” but warned that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would not be enough to stabilize the entire regio... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida on Sunday, sending a long-awaited Orbital ATK cargo ship on its way to the International Space Station for NASA. The Atlas 5, built and flown by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a partnershi... More »
BEIJING A Chinese biotech seed firm is aiming to launch the country’s first genetically modified corn products overseas on the home turf of the world’s top agricultural companies, as Beijing’s reticence over GMO food keeps the domestic market off limits. The p... More »
BEIJING In the Chaoyang district of northeast Beijing, a nondescript wall covered in patriotic posters protects one of the city’s most valuable treasures: a dirt field containing nothing but a few scattered trees. Last month the block sold for 3.3 billion yuan... More »
BOSTON/SINGAPORE Parents who gave their child a Kidizoom smartwatch or a VTech InnoTab tablet may have exposed them to identity theft after Hong Kong-based VTech said hackers stole the personal information of more than 6 million children. The breach underscore... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Yahoo Inc’s board of directors on Friday is in the third and final day of meetings that could decide the future of one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent but troubled companies. One option on the table for the nine board members is whether to sel... More »
TOKYO Japan’s securities watchdog will recommend that Toshiba Corp should be fined 7.37 billion yen ($59.84 million) for accounting violations, a person familiar with the process told Reuters on Saturday. The source said the Securities and Exchange Surveillanc... More »
BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators have dropped charges against 13 banks including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank for blocking exchanges from derivatives markets, but will continue their case against data company Markit and trade body ISDA. The European Commission ... More »
WASHINGTON Habitat destruction along routes taken by the world’s migratory birds poses an increasing peril to these long-distance fliers, with a vast majority crossing terrain that nations are inadequately protecting, according to scientists. The researchers s... More »
Viacom Inc’s (VIAB.O) second-largest shareholder has urged the media company to sell a stake in its Paramount movie studio to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N), according to the Financial Times. “If Alibaba is going to be serious about getting into the entert... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A Colorado-based startup developing a satellite network to predict weather using radio signals will launch its first two spacecraft on an Indian rocket, the company said on Thursday. Privately owned PlanetiQ signed a contract with Antrix C... More »
