News Archive - 29 March 2015

>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude oil prices fell below $56 a barrel on Monday, extending steep losses from the previous session, as Iran and six world powers tried to reach a deal that could add oil to the market if sanctions against Tehran are lifted. Iran and world powers tried...

>SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets got off to a sluggish start on Monday in a week book ended with Easter holidays across the globe and a U.S. jobs report that could impact the timing of the first hike in interest rates there. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside...

>LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Iran and six major powers were exploring possible compromises to break an impasse in nuclear negotiations on Sunday, but officials cautioned they were unable to move on several sticking points. The news came as Israel said the details of a possible agreement emerging from talks in...

Iran is considering demands for further cuts to its uranium enrichment program but is pushing back on how long it must limit technology it could use to make atomic arms, Western officials involved in the nuclear talks said Sunday. Iran's potential movement on enrichment reflected the intense pressure to close...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) -- Arab leaders at a summit in Egypt will announce the formation of a unified regional force to counter growing security threats, according to a draft of the final communique, as conflicts rage from Yemen to Libya. The summit will also call on Iranian-allied Houthi fighters,...

>ADEN (Reuters) - Yemeni fighters loyal to the Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi clashed with Iranian-allied Houthi fighters on Sunday in downtown Aden, the absent leader's last major foothold in the country. Hadi loyalists in the southern port city reported a gun battle in the central Crater district in which...

>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Sunday the framework Iranian nuclear agreement being sought by international negotiators, saying it was even worse than his country had feared. Israel has mounted what it terms an "uphill battle" against an agreement that might ease sanctions on the Iranians...

Al-Arabiya channel has published a video showing a Houthi fighter being trained by an Iranian Revolutionary Guard in how to use a fighter plane. The training, according to the video, took place in one of Yemen’s military airports, thus confirming reports regarding alleged Iranian support for Houthis. This only serves...

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A third of Republicans believe President Barack Obama poses an imminent threat to the United States, outranking concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A Reuters/Ipsos online poll this month asked 2,809 Americans to rate how much of a threat...

Laurence Fishburne, call your mother. I hate to be the one to break the news. But the woman who gave life to the talented actor, who said she emptied her...

Renewed weakness in oil prices ahead of a deadline on Iran nuclear talks may dampen Gulf investor sentiment on Monday, although Credit Suisse's upgrade of markets in the United Arab Emirates could boost the mood in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Oil prices fell on Monday, extending steep losses from the...

The number is 23 -- and it’s one of the most powerful forces in China’s $6.4 trillion equity market today. In all, more than half of the 147 IPOs were valued at levels between 22 and 23 times reported earnings.

Asian stock markets rose on Monday, with China stocks nearing a seven-year peak on hopes for more infrastructure spending and policy stimulus, while oil prices suffered further from excess supply. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index also added 3.5 percent after China allowed mainland mutual funds to buy Hong...

Vice President of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela Jesus Faria said that energy strategy of Obama enabled to destabilize situation in oil-producing countries, particularly in Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

>LG Chem did not disclose the value or volume of the deal, but said EVs account for a small portion of about 100,000 Smart mini cars sold a year currently.LG Chem, which is also an EV battery supplier for General Motors and Renault SA, said it will provide Smart...

SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful earthquake rattled the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea on Monday, prompting officials to issue a tsunami warning for vast swathes of the Pacific and as far north as Russia. The magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck at a depth of 65 kilometers (40 miles), about...

Indian Shares Seen Higher On Global Cues

CAIRO (AP) — Arab League member nations formally announced on Sunday an agreement to form a joint military force. While details of how such a force would actually operate remain thin, the agreement is

>SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's once-struggling mutual fund industry is cashing in on the country's surging stock market, with new funds snapped up in days by investors who long shunned shares as too risky. This marks a success for policymakers working to build confidence in equities and a relief for China's...

The U.S. has shipped billions of dollars worth of its best weapons to the Middle East in recent years, and today Arab nations are tapping that unprecedented arms buildup for the first time to wage war on multiple fronts, sometimes without American leadership. The Persian Gulf states have joined...

Attack on security patrol leaves two policemen wounded, days after Kingdom strengthened security measures.

Seeking to combat threats from Iran and the Shiite rebels it is supporting in the Middle East, Arab leaders meeting in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, agreed in principle Sunday to forge a NATO-like alliance of Sunni powers to engage in regional military action with or without leadership ...

>South Korea also seeks to play an important role in the management of the proposed bank, Deputy Minister Choi Hee-nam said on radio, noting that the senior management positions had yet to be discussed."Stakes of the individual members will be decided based on economic size and other factors, and...

>TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's industrial output fell in February at the fastest pace in eight months due to declines in production of machinery, cars and electronics in a worrying sign that domestic demand could be faltering. Economists were already braced for a fall as many companies were expected to trim...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Top European and U.S. banks axed 59,000 jobs last year as they restructured and cut costs, with headcount expected to shrink further in Europe as bosses strive to improve profitability that has been hit hard by tougher regulation. Lenders have also sold or shut businesses to...

Leaders of the Arab League announced plans to create a joint military force to Shiite rebels in Yemen, who are backed by Iran. Julianna Goldman reports.

Ministers from six world powers are to hold their first full session with Iran's foreign minister over its nuclear programme, as a deadline looms.

>The offerings are expected to close on April 8, according to a statement. Breitburn will issue $350 million of perpetual convertible preferred units at a price of $7.50. The $650 million of senior secured notes, due May 2020, will pay 9.25 percent per year in interest, the statement...

>FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Britain's Interoute, a high-capacity data network and corporate cloud services provider, is taking on new private equity investors to fund acquisitions across Europe and the United States, the company said on Monday. Aleph Capital Partners, a UK investment firm headed by former Goldman Sachs European private equity...

>HONG KONG (Reuters) - A drop in Chinese tourist numbers is driving down shop rentals in Hong Kong, with vacancies increasing in the same prime areas that just three years ago pipped New York's Fifth Avenue to become the world's most expensive retail real estate. Spooked by months of cross-border...

>SYDNEY (Reuters) - The dollar started trade on Monday pretty much where it closed in New York after the head of the U.S. central bank assured investors that the path back to 'normal' interest rates will only occur at a gradual pace. The dollar fetched 119.24 yen versus...

>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - To some Silicon Valley watchers, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers gender discrimination case became a referendum on the challenging state of women in technology. But for the lone woman in technology on the jury, an at times unfriendly workplace did not amount to gender discrimination...

Pakistan on Sunday evacuated more than 500 of its citizens from Yemen by jumbo jet and sent a naval frigate to rescue others stranded in the war-torn country, officials said.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt - A two-day Arab summit ended Sunday with a vow to defeat Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen and the formal unveiling of plans to form a joint Arab intervention force, setting the stage for a potentially dangerous clash between U.S.-allied Arab states and Tehran over...

The euro was little changed at $1.0883 as of 8:36 a.m. in Tokyo, after completing a two-week gain on March 27. They rose to 220,963 contracts, up from 193,774 in the previous period, according to data from the Washington-based Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

After weeks of hesitation, the Obama administration last week responded to an Iraqi demand for air strikes against Islamic State positions in Tikrit, a largely Sunni city north of Baghdad....

An abscess of anger seems to gnaw at Hillary Clinton, but the reasons for her resentments remain unclear. The world’s oldest party, which governed the nation during two world wars...

U.S. and Brent crude oil fell at least 0.6 percent after losses of more than 4 percent on Friday. Copper futures dropped 0.5 percent. The greenback climbed 0.3 percent against Australia’s currency as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose a third day, advancing 0.1 percent.

If Henry Kissinger had planned this, experts would be calling it Machiavellian. But President Obama and his foreign-policy team are behind it, so it’s more likely just strategic ineptitude. The...

>PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Italian online fashion retailer Yoox could unveil a deal to buy Richemont's Net-a-Porter as early as this week, sources close to the matter told Reuters at the weekend. Cartier owner Richemont is keen to retain a stake in the combined entity and preserve exposure to the...

>Slater & Gordon said it is seeking to raise A$890 million in new equity to fund the acquisition of Quindell's Professional Services Division (PSD). "The combination of Slater & Gordon and PSD creates the number one personal injury law firm in the UK," Slater & Gordon Managing Director Andrew Grech...

Whether the conflict in Yemen corresponds directly to a sectarian clash is less clear.

Ali Abdullah Saleh, ousted in the Arab Spring protests, has re-emerged as the country's most influential man.

  DES MOINES, Iowa- A Palm Sunday processional was held in Des Moines Sunday afternoon. The Des Moines Ecumenical Committee for Peace organized the events with various Christian church groups participating. A donkey led the procession, symbolic of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which is observed on Palm Sunday...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) - A two-day Arab summit ended Sunday with a vow to defeat Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen and the formal unveiling of plans to form a joint Arab intervention force, setting the stage for a potentially dangerous clash between U.S.-allied Arab states and Tehran...

(LAUSANNE ) - World powers seeking to pin down a nuclear deal with Iran Sunday were rescheduling their first full meeting with the Iranian delegation, US officials said.

Two Saudi police officers were wounded in a drive-by shooting in the capital Riyadh on Sunday, a police spokesman said. "A security patrol was carrying out its duties in Riyadh when it came under fire from an unknown vehicle" in an attack that "left two policemen wounded," the spokesman said...

Two officials involved in the nuclear negotiations with Iran say the talks have a chance of succeeding by Tuesday, the target date for a preliminary agreement. Iran has indicated a greater willingness to accept constraints to its uranium enrichment program.

Saudi-led warplanes bombed Yemen's main international airport and struck a renegade troop base in the capital, as Arab leaders vowed Sunday to pummel Iranian-backed rebels until they surrender.

On Sunday Saudi Arabia announced airstrikes again the Shiite Houthi militia would continue until Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi is able to rule.

A good deal makes the Middle East a safer place. A bad deal makes matters worse. Here are some issues to keep in mind if nuclear talks lead to a provisional deal.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Speaker John Boehner said his upcoming trip to Israel is no "victory lap" to celebrate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election -- and that it was planned months ago, before the Israeli election.

Gov. Scott Walker was forced to again address his position on immigration reform Thursday, disputing a report that said he had muddied his previous reversal on the hot-button issue.

As they try to break the impasse over Iran's nuclear ambitions, negotiators in Lausanne are wrestling with a series of complex issues

>MILAN/DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar Investment Authority is partly financing Swiss travel retailer Dufry's 1.3 billion-euro purchase of a majority stake in smaller Italian rival World Duty Free, according to three sources close to the matter. Edizione, the holding company owned by the Benetton family that controls World Duty Free...

>"Eighty-seven hours in, our mitigation is deflecting most attack traffic. We're aware of intermittent issues and continue to adapt our response," a tweet from the GitHub Status account said.The attack took the form of a flood of traffic, known as a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack. Those...

>ABUJA (Reuters) - Voting in Nigeria's tensest election since the end of military rule in 1999 spilled into a second day on Sunday after technical glitches hit voter ID machines and Islamist Boko Haram militants killed more than a dozen people in drive-by shootings. The race pits President Goodluck Jonathan...

About 19 months ago, Ted Cruz, the junior U.S. senator from Texas, was the leader in a move that shut down the federal government for two weeks. Standard & Poor’s estimated the ploy by this balance-the-budget hawk cost the economy $24 billion.

Emergency crews are on the scene of a plane crash in West Goshen Township, Chester County.

When asked by George Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning to name the biggest national security threat the U.S. currently faces, former Maryland Gov. and likely Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley awkwardly struggled to name one.

ADEN: Saudi Arabia’s navy evacuated dozens of diplomats from Yemen on Saturday and the United Nations pulled out international staff after a third night of Saudi-led air strikes trying to stem advances by Iranian-allied Houthi fighters. Residents reported heavy clashes between the Houthis and mainly Sunni tribal fighters in the...

Nuclear talks intensified Sunday between world powers and Iran, but key sticking points remained unresolved as the countries tried to reach a deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program ahead of a Tuesday deadline. As the negotiations entered their fourth ...

House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday tried to fend off a perception that his upcoming trip to Israel is either a "victory lap" to celebrate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election or is another attempt to thwart the White House’s foreign-policy agenda. During an interview on CNN's “State of the Union,”...

WASHINGTON (AP) " Potential Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said Sunday that the country needs fresh perspectives for confronting its problems and criticized the prospects of the Clinton and Bush families yet again...

>DUBAI (Reuters) - Standard Chartered remains committed to Islamic banking and expects growth in its core markets, a spokesman for the lender said on Sunday, after the head of its Islamic arm departed. Afaq Khan left Standard Chartered Saadiq, the lender's global Islamic banking business, after 12 years with the...

The deal is due to be finalised on June 30.

Our exceptionalism is a lie, and only an honest accounting of our actual history will allow us to chart a new path

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday denounced as "dangerous" a nuclear accord that world powers are negotiating with Iran, saying it goes beyond what his government had feared.

/Thiruvananthapuram, March 29 (IANS) India said on Sunday that it would airlift its nationals from unrest-hit Yemen and is also sending a large ship to the Yemeni capital as Saudi Arabia-led Arab coalition warplanes continued airstrikes against the Shia Houthi rebels for the fourth consecutive day.

Foreign triathletes seeking qualifying points for the ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup series as well as the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics will show their stuff in the 2015 Subic Bay ASTC Asian Triathlon Cup 2015 at the Subic Bay Freeport.Taking part in the two-day event starting on April 25...

The European Union is set to put 40 Iranian shipping firms back on a list of sanctioned groups in a blow to the Islamic Republic's transport sector which has sought an easing of trade restrictions, letters sent from the EU showed. The move, which comes at a critical time in...

Iraqi security forces battled Islamic State militants in central Tikrit on Sunday as the United States and its allies provided aerial support and local officials warned that the battle to retake the Sunni Muslim city would not be quick. Islamic State fighters, whose goal is to create a Muslim caliphate...

>Fiorina, speaking on Fox News Sunday, put the chances of her running for president in 2016 at 'higher than 90 percent' but said she could not yet announce the bid as she was working to establish her team, get "the right support" and financial resources. (Reporting by Alina Selyukh; editing...

>"There has been shameless rhetoric about my state, about this law, and about its intention all over the Internet," Pence said, speaking on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. "This isn't about disputes about individuals," he said. (Reporting by Alina Selyukh and Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Susan Thomas) Trending...

>BEIJING (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping said he hoped its annual trade with the countries involved in Beijing's plan to create a modern Silk Road would surpass $2.5 trillion in a decade. Xi also pledged to protect the interests of foreign companies in China amid investors' rising concerns...

>The euro zone member will run out of money by April 20, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, if it does not secure funding from its European partners.In February, Athens agreed an extension to its 240 billion euro ($261 billion) international bailout but with the...

>The airline said no personal information had been viewed or stolen, but warned customers that some fliers might not be able to temporarily use their air miles.It said the problem concerned a small number of its millions of customers and that it expected the system to be back to...

Arab leaders meet in Sharm El Sheikh to discuss Yemen crisis

WASHINGTON — An abscess of anger seems to gnaw at Hillary Clinton, but the reasons for her resentments remain unclear. The world's oldest party, which governed the nation during two world wars and is the primary architect of America's regulatory and redistributive state, is eager to give her its presidential...

>Galchev, Holcim's second-largest shareholder, views the offer as "not satisfactory and half-baked", the Sonntagszeitung reported, citing an unnamed source described as a Galchev confidant.Galchev believes the exchange ratio offered by Lafarge at 1:0.9 shares still fails to compensate Holcim shareholders adequately, and that a decision needs to be...

>Bild am Sonntag also reported how the captain of the Germanwings Airbus screamed "open the damn door!" to the co-pilot as he tried to get back into the locked cockpit before the jet crashed on Tuesday, killing all 150 aboard.Another German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, quoted a senior...

>MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian model Alisa Krylova canceled her order for the latest Mercedes, spent New Year in Moscow rather than skiing in the Alps and now employs Russian staff rather than foreigners. The former Mrs Russia and Mrs Globe beauty pageant winner is among Russia's super rich but even...

>They have also agreed to extend their standing swap line to provide multi-currency support to central counterparties, it said in a statement. As a result, both parties had agreed to end any legal action related to the subject. "These agreements not only strengthen financial stability across the EU, but also...

>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The state of the U.S. labour market in March will consume economists and investors in the week leading up to Easter, adding to the seesaw debate over when the Federal Reserve will spring its first interest rate hike. Fed Chair Janet Yellen made it clear on...

By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Air strikes in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia will continue until Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who left the country on Thursday, is able to rule, a Saudi military spokesman said on Sunday. Riyadh announced early on Thursday that it and nine other Sunni...

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The number of foreign fishermen stranded on several remote eastern Indonesian islands has spiraled to 4,000, including some revealed in an Associated Press investigation to have been enslaved. Many are migrant workers abandoned by their boat captains after the government passed a moratorium on foreign fishing five...