LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A new app designed to educate young people about female genital mutilation (FGM) was launched in Britain on Tuesday amid a government crackdown on people who take girls abroad to undergo the practice during the summer holi... More »
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Religious groups are an under-used health resource that could help achieve universal healthcare and accelerate the medical response to disease outbreaks, health experts said on Tuesday. Faith-based organizations such as th... More »
(This July 1 story has been corrected to remove reference to Brazil being second-largest market for Apple) By Yasmeen Abutaleb SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff capped off her U.S. tour on Wednesday with a visit to Silicon Valley, whe... More »
MUNICH/FRANKFURT German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 and German publishing house Axel Springer have reignited talks for a merger, seeking to consolidate their push into digital media, two sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. Axel Springer, the publis... More »
WASHINGTON AstraZeneca LP has agreed to pay $46.5 million and Cephalon Inc [TEVAE.UL] $7.5 million to resolve allegations that the two drug companies underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid program, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday. (Reporting by E... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA said on Monday it expects the New Horizons spacecraft to be back in service on Tuesday after a computer crash over the weekend threatened its upcoming historic flyby of Pluto. Nearing the end of a 9-1/2-year journey to the solar syste... More »
NEW YORK A Bronx, New York clothing designer suing Jay Z for royalties from the Roc-A-Fella Records logo is seeking the recusal of a federal judge overseeing the $7 million lawsuit. In a Monday court filing, plaintiff Dwayne Walker said U.S. Magistrate Judge R... More »
DAKAR Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone need a further $696 million in donor funding to rebuild their battered health services over the next two years in the wake of the deadly Ebola epidemic, senior World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Monday. WHO... More »
NEW YORK The world’s oldest living person, the daughter of sharecroppers and granddaughter of slaves, celebrated her 116th birthday on Monday in New York. Susannah Mushatt Jones marked the occasion privately with family but a public celebration is planned for ... More »
NEW YORK Greece’s sound rejection of a bailout at a referendum on Sunday increased the chances it may leave the euro zone, but Athens and its creditors could still reach a deal, said a top strategist for BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager. “It do... More »
FRANKFURT The euro may be facing an existential crisis but the giant 14-metre sculpture of the euro symbol that towers over downtown Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, was still getting its biggest makeover in 13 years on Monday. Considered an eyeso... More »
ZURICH Tunisia has filed an objection to HSBC’s agreement to pay 40 million Swiss francs ($43 million) to settle a money laundering investigation at its Swiss private bank, a lawyer representing the North African country said on Monday. After four months of in... More »
THE HAGUE Greece’s ‘No’ vote has made discussions with its creditors more difficult, but the aim remains to keep the country in the euro zone, the head of the bloc’s finance ministers said on Monday. “It doesn’t bring us closer to a solution right away. In fac... More »
ZURICH Tunisia has filed an objection to HSBC’s agreement to pay 40 million Swiss francs ($42.5 million) to settle a money laundering investigation at its Swiss private bank, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday. After four months of inquiries Ge... More »
ZURICH Greece has proposed a tax amnesty in an effort to collect revenue on billions of euros that its citizens are believed to have quietly stashed in Swiss bank accounts, the NZZ am Sonntag paper reported. The plan, which still needs Greek parliamentary appr... More »
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Inside Out” delivered the firepower at the five-day holiday weekend box office as it finished in first ahead of “Jurassic World” and new entries “Terminator: Genisys” and “Magic Mike XXL.” In a tight race, Disney-Pixar’s animated c... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA scientists were working on Sunday to revive the New Horizons spacecraft after it suffered a computer malfunction just nine days before it was due to fly past Pluto. The probe has been barreling toward the dwarf planet and its primary ... More »
LONDON British finance minister George Osborne plans to launch a 650 million pound raid on the BBC to help cover the country’s benefits bill, forcing the corporation to meet the cost of free television licences for the over-75s, the Sunday Times said. It quote... More »
LONDON A restored World War Two Spitfire which was shot down over northern France in 1940 is expected to raise about $3 million for charity when it goes up for auction in London next week. The wreckage of the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1A was recovered in... More »
PARIS French media group Vivendi pushed out Rodolphe Belmer as chief of its Canal Plus unit on Friday amid disappointment over what one source said was a failure to rejuvenate the pay-TV channel and halt a drop in sales and profits. The move came amid a high-p... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off on Friday to deliver a cargo ship loaded with food, water and equipment to the International Space Station, breaking a string of launch failures, a NASA TV broadcast showed. The Progress capsule, carrying... More »
SAO PAULO Swiss lender UBS AG made a whistleblower deal with Brazilian authorities investigating the suspected rigging of Brazil’s currency market and will receive no punishment in the case, a local newspaper reported on Friday. The investigation, which involv... More »
HONOLULU A Swiss man attempting to circumnavigate the globe with an aircraft powered only by the sun’s energy has broken a world record for the longest non-stop solo flight, the project team said on Thursday. The Solar Impulse, which took off from Japan on Mon... More »
NEW YORK Investors pulled $3 billion in assets from Pacific Investment Management Co’s flagship fund in June, compared with $2.7 billion the previous month, in another sign Pimco is stabilizing since last fall’s departure of star manager Bill Gross. The Pimco ... More »
LONDON The British Broadcasting Corporation will cut more than 1,000 jobs to cover a 150-million-pound gap in license fee income next financial year as millions of viewers turn off their televisions and watch programs on tablets and mobile phones. The BBC, the... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla./WASHINGTON SpaceX can compete to launch a U.S. Global Positioning System satellite despite a Falcon 9 rocket accident this weekend, the Air Force said on Wednesday. “SpaceX remains certified and can compete for the upcoming GPS III launch ... More »
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis will decide for himself if he chews coca leaves in order to ward off altitude sickness when he lands next week at La Paz, Bolivia, the highest international airport in the world, the Vatican said on Tuesday. A Bolivian minister said o... More »
TOKYO Oil futures hovered below three-week lows on Tuesday as investors waited for developments in Greece following a bank shutdown, keeping them away from riskier assets and putting Brent crude on course for a second month of declines. Brent crude futures wer... More »
NEW YORK Puerto Rico’s governor on Monday called for the commonwealth to be allowed to restructure its debts under U.S. bankruptcy code, while a newly appointed adviser to the U.S. territory said it is “insolvent” and will soon run out of cash. Governor Alejan... More »
HONG KONG Asian shares held near five-month lows on Tuesday after Chinese stocks took another leg down while safe-haven assets received a boost as investors nervously awaited further developments in the deepening euro zone crisis. China’s stocks .SSEC tumbled ... More »
TOKYO Sony Corp said it plans to raise up to 440 billion yen ($3.6 billion) by issuing new shares and convertible bonds to invest in its fast-growing image sensors business. Sony said it expects to raise 321 billion yen from a public offering and 119 billion f... More »
TOKYO The euro slipped on Tuesday as traders braced for the near certainty that Greece will default on a repayment to the International Monetary Fund later in the day, putting the country at risk of disruptive exit from the euro zone. The euro fell 0.4 percent... More »
DUBAI Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, departed Tehran for Vienna with nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and Hossein Fereydoon, a brother and close aide to President Hassan Rouhani, for nuclear talks, state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday. Zari... More »
TOKYO Two passengers on a Japanese Shinkansen bullet train died after one doused himself in oil and set himself ablaze on Tuesday, media reports said. The train, carrying about 1,000 passengers, made an emergency stop on its way from Tokyo to the western city ... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff are set to meet at the White House on Tuesday during a visit aimed at bolstering economic ties and turning the page on a spying scandal. The two leaders will follow a morning meeting in t... More »
NEW YORK Sprint Corp said on Tuesday it will offer an $80 a month cellular phone plan, including both service and smartphone device fees, hoping to draw users who dislike complex price plans and hidden costs. The “All-in” plan will offer unlimited talk, text a... More »
SEOUL U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc has no plans to spin off its chips business at present, Executive Chairman Paul Jacobs said on Tuesday, despite recent investor pressure to do so amid intensifying industry competition. Hedge fund Jana Partners said in April Q... More »
BEIJING China’s trade deficit in services widened to $18.3 billion in May, as Chinese tourists continued to spend more abroad than foreigners visiting the country, the foreign exchange regulator said on Tuesday. The deficit was led by a $16.2 billion gap in sp... More »
BRUSSELS The European Union reached a preliminary deal on Tuesday to scrap mobile roaming charges across the 28-country bloc by June 2017 as part of an overhaul of the continent’s telecoms market to boost growth and innovation. “Under the agreement, roaming su... More »
CHICAGO Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) will start a business loan program for small sellers in the United Kingdom on Tuesday and is looking to launch it this year in seven more countries including China. Until now, the e-retailer has offered the service only in the U... More »
MEXICO CITY A television company controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has canceled a project with real estate developer and TV personality Donald Trump after his comments insulting Mexicans, Slim’s spokesman said on Monday. This is the third company t... More »
FRANKFURT Talks to resolve a pay dispute at German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) have made enough progress to lift the threat of any immediate work stoppages, flight attendants’ union UFO said early on Tuesday. Lufthansa had faced a June 30 deadline to make conc... More »
TOKYO U.S. stock futures edged up and the euro sagged in early Asian trading on Tuesday as Greece lurched toward defaulting on a debt payment due later in the session, raising the likelihood of the cash-strapped nation’s exit from the euro zone. Greece will no... More »
ATHENS Tens of thousands of Greeks rallied on Monday to back their leftwing government’s rejection of a tough international bailout after a clash with foreign lenders pushed Greece close to financial chaos and forced a shutdown of its banking system. With a po... More »
SEATTLE Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Monday it will hand over its display advertising business to AOL Inc and sell some map-generating technology to ride-hailing app company Uber, as it slims down its money-losing online operations. The moves mean Microsoft... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said on Monday it would temporarily suspend a program it uses to complete background investigations, following a data breach that compromised the personal information of millions of Americans. The progra... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled the Obama administration should have considered compliance cost when it decided to limit emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants mainly from coal-fired power plants, a setback for the government... More »
WASHINGTON The failure of a SpaceX rocket over Florida on Sunday should not lead U.S. officials back to Russia to look for a rocket engine that can get military equipment into space, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said on Monday. “This mi... More »
SACRAMENTO, Calif. California lawmakers on Monday sent Governor Jerry Brown a bill to substantially limit vaccine exemptions for school children in the most populous U.S. state, following last year’s measles outbreak at Disneyland that sickened more than 100 p... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla SpaceX on Monday was searching for what destroyed its Falcon 9 rocket after liftoff over the weekend, leaving customers still loyal but unsure when their satellites might fly. The privately-held company, owned and operated by technology ent... More »
NEW YORK Jeffrey Gundlach, a widely followed investor who oversees DoubleLine Capital, said in an interview on Monday his firm had purchased “lots of Treasuries and Ginnie Maes” on Friday, ahead of new developments in the Greek and Puerto Rico crises. The U.S.... More »
WASHINGTON The fuse may be lit for a Greek exit from the euro zone but the fallout in the United States is expected to be modest and not enough to throw the Federal Reserve’s likely September rate hike off course, said former Fed officials and outside analysts... More »
LISBON The euro zone needs to strengthen cooperation to avoid contagion in financial markets as no country is immune to the consequences of a potential Greek exit from the single currency, Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said on Monday. “Nobody c... More »
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Larry Kramer’s confrontational style has mellowed. Now 80, the playwright, novelist and AIDS activist, speaks softly and looks almost frail in a big leather armchair in his New York apartment overlooking Washington Squar... More »
NEW YORK European shares fell broadly Monday as Greece edged closer to defaulting on its debt, yet some U.S. equity fund managers said that they were waiting for further declines before they considered it a buying opportunity. “We’re not in oversold territory ... More »
LOS ANGELES, (Variety.com) – The party wasn’t as wild the second time around. Universal’s “Ted 2” debuted to an underwhelming $32.9 million across 3,442 theaters, roughly $15 million less than most analysts had expected the pot-smoking teddy bear comedy would ... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – An unmanned SpaceX rocket exploded about two minutes after liftoff from Florida on Sunday, destroying a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station in the latest in a string of mishaps in supplying the orbiting outpost. The 208-... More »
WASHINGTON In the political equivalent of “get off my lawn,” Donald Trump on Friday declared his Miami golf course off limits to anyone from the Spanish-language broadcast company Univision over its decision to dump the Miss USA beauty pageant. Trump’s inflamm... More »
ORLANDO, Fla. Walt Disney Co will ban selfie sticks starting next week at its theme parks around the world, the company said on Friday, joining a growing list of attractions that restrict the camera accessories for safety reasons. Beginning Tuesday, the compan... More »
NEW YORK (This version of the story corrects title of analyst in second paragraph, shows Thornburg has reduced, not eliminated currency in 10th paragraph.) The prospect of Greece defaulting on its debt has long been viewed as the recipe for a global stock mark... More »
CANNES (This version of the story corrects figures on Publicis contract wins, paragraph 13) The reluctance of big companies to spend at a time of lacklustre global growth and fewer major sporting events this year are dampening demand for advertising, said the ... More »
LONDON Harry Potter, the world’s most famous boy wizard, is set to make his debut on the London stage next year in a new play called the Cursed Child which has been created in collaboration with author J.K. Rowling. Rowling said on her Twitter feed that the ne... More »
FRANKFURT German media group ProSiebenSat.1 has agreed to buy 80 percent of German energy price comparison site Verivox from Oakley Capital for 170 million euros ($190 million). The price tag for Verivox, ProSieben’s largest digital acquisition so far, could r... More »
NEW YORK Donald Trump, the billionaire real estate developer, is planning to sue U.S. Spanish-language TV network Univision for hundreds of millions of dollars for dropping coverage of the Miss USA pageant, which he partly owns, his lawyer said on Thursday. Mi... More »
LONDON Scientists have identified a key gene used by poppies to make morphine, paving the way for better methods of producing the medically important drug, potentially without the need for cultivating poppy fields. The latest finding follows recent success in ... More »
LONDON Italian luxury car maker Maserati is showcasing its hand-crafted Quattroporte S in an unlikely setting: at the Masterpiece London art and antiques fair, which opened on Thursday in a plush tent on the grounds of Chelsea’s Royal Hospital. Featuring among... More »
LONDON A Gustav Klimt portrait of a young woman that had been the subject of an ownership dispute fetched the highest price of 24.8 million pounds ($39.1 million) in an auction at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday evening. Sales at the auction topped 178.6 mill... More »
LONDON Christie’s kept the international art auction caravan rolling with an impressionist and modern art sale that brought in $113 million on Tuesday. A Claude Monet study of mauve irises swaying against a pale blue sky in his Giverny garden was the star lot ... More »
A Cisco office is pictured in San Diego, California November 12, 2012. REUTERS/Mike Blake Cisco’s corporate venture-capital arm said it would deploy $150 million to start-up companies over the next two to three years, accelerating its investments into areas su... More »
A Whirlpool logo is seen on a range door at the Whirlpool manufacturing plant in Cleveland, Tennessee August 21, 2013. REUTERS/Chris Berry Whirlpool Corp (WHR.N) on Friday reported quarterly results below analysts’ expectations as currency and other headwinds ... More »
Pedestrians walk past the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York’s Times Square in this June 4, 2012 file photo. REUTERS/Eric Thayer/Files Private equity firm KKR & Co LP (KKR.N) plans to allow investors to sell parts of their stake in buyout funds through a new privat... More »
The logo of Spanish bank Santander is seen outside a building in Madrid October 27, 2011. REUTERS/Andrea Comas Across Spain, the message is hard to miss in office windows showcasing offers: banks want to lend to small companies again. More »
Square Inc has been in talks with several rivals for a possible sale as the mobile payments startup looks to stem widening losses and dwindling cash, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. More »
Major technology companies like Google and BlackBerry provide mentoring services to companies within Communitech in Kitchener’s historic Tannery District in Kitchener, Ontario, March 18, 2014. REUTERS/Euan Rocha The troubles at BlackBerry Ltd, which fired more... More »
Major technology companies like Google and BlackBerry provide mentoring services to companies within Communitech in Kitchener’s historic Tannery District in Kitchener, Ontario, March 18, 2014. REUTERS/Euan Rocha The troubles at BlackBerry Ltd, which fired more... More »
