News Archive - 17 July 2015

>NEW YORK Google Inc's strong quarterly results, which unleashed a massive surge in its shares on Friday, has investors feeling upbeat heading into next week's tech-heavy slate of earnings reports.Among the numerous tech companies releasing earnings next week are International Business Machines, Microsoft Corp and Apple, all of which...

>BEIJING China will deport nine foreign tourists whom it detained last weekend, apparently after some of them they watched a documentary on Genghis Khan in their hotel room, a spokesman for two of the tourists said on Saturday.The release of the group - five South Africans, three Britons and...

>BEIJING Chinese home prices rose for a second month in a row in June, on a monthly basis, indicating that government efforts to boost the struggling property sector have started to gain traction.Average new home prices rose 0.4 percent in June versus May, according to Reuters calculations from...

>PORTLAND, Ore. John Kitzhaber, who resigned as Oregon's governor in February over an influence-peddling scandal, told staff that state energy policies should match those his fiancée was being paid to promote for an outside group, the Oregonian newspaper reported.In a memo to staff the newspaper obtained through public records...

>The lawsuit, brought by Fort Worth Employees' Retirement Fund and other investors in offerings made before the 2008 financial crisis, accused JPMorgan of misleading them about the underwriting, appraisals and credit quality of the home loans underlying the certificates.The lawsuit said that after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc failed, the...

>Privately-held Miramax, which owns the rights to hundreds of Hollywood films including "Bridget Jones' Diary" and "The English Patient," is exploring strategic alternatives including a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter.The Santa Monica, California-based company is speaking to financial advisers about its options, according to the...

>The investment-banking units of Citigroup Inc (C.N), Banco Bradesco SA (BBDC4.SA), Itaú Unibanco Holding SA (ITUB4.SA), Banco do Brasil SA (BBAS3.SA) and Grupo BTG Pactual SA (BBTG11.SA) were hired to handle the IPO of BR Distribuidora SA, as the unit is known, said the sources,...

>The tie-up could be reached as early as this month, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.Shares of CF Industries, which has a market value of about $14.8 billion, were up 7.4 percent at $67.22 after the report.Both CF Industries and OCI were...

>Spokesman Josh Earnest said the Obama administration will try to move forward on U.S.-Cuba relations using all the authorities it has. He said he does not expect the Republican-dominated U.S. Senate to move rapidly on any nominee the administration puts forth to become ambassador to Cuba. (Reporting...

>Thoma Bravo LLC has been speaking to some of its largest private equity investors about putting together a bid for NCR Corp (NCR.N) that could value the ATM maker at around $9 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.Thoma Bravo is also in advanced talks...

>NEW YORK Symphony Communication Services LLC, a Wall Street-backed messaging and information startup, is about to start offering its product more widely.The company, which has more than 30,000 users in a "beta" version of its product, will roll out a new interface and iPhone application for them on Monday,...

>SAN FRANCISCO The Massachusetts attorney general's office is examining how Uber and Lyft ensure equal access for people with disabilities, a spokeswoman for the attorney general told Reuters, adding to numerous other business issues facing the two companies.Disabilities rights activists have questioned how Uber Technologies Inc [[UBER.UL] and...

>The four countries agreed on a package of measures last February dubbed "Minsk II" and aimed at ending military tensions in the former Soviet state.Ukraine's parliament approved a draft law on Thursday to grant two eastern separatist regions greater autonomy. "This dynamic needs to be maintained to ensure the...

>ATHENS Forest fires fanned by strong winds and high temperatures broke out around Athens and in other parts of southern Greece on Friday, sending residents fleeing from flames threatening their homes.Summer wildfires, though common for the season, heaped additional misery on the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, which...

>LONDON/MILAN Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) (FCHA.MI) is considering whether to sell its auto parts maker Magneti Marelli after receiving interest from potential buyers, according to sources familiar with the matter.At least two U.S. private equity funds are looking to team up with industry players and submit joint...

>NEW YORK Former U.S. Representative Michael Grimm was sentenced to eight months in prison for felony tax evasion on Friday in Brooklyn federal court.Grimm, a Republican who represented the New York City borough of Staten Island, admitted in December that he underreported employee wages at Healthalicious, a restaurant...

>WASHINGTON A top energy adviser to President Barack Obama who specialized on oil policy has left the White House, three sources said on Friday.    Michelle Billig Patron, who served as special assistant on energy to President Barack Obama and as a senior director at the National Security Council since...

>A further 50 people were wounded by the blast in Khan Bani Saad, about 30 km (20 miles) northeast of the capital Baghdad. (Reporting by Isabel Coles; Editing by Andrew Heavens)...

>UCLA Health said on Friday it was working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and private computer forensic experts to look into the attack. "At this time, there is no evidence that the attacker actually accessed or acquired individuals' personal or medical information," UCLA Health said. (Reporting by Anjali Rao...

>The child is among several hundred so-called "Cubs of the Caliphate". They are children, ranging in age from pre-teens to mid-teens, given military training and hardline indoctrination after being recruited near schools, mosques and in public areas where Islamic State is operating.Images released by the militant group's Homs province...

>Banks that are subject to the supplementary leverage ratio - a hard cap on how much they can borrow - would need to incorporate the ratio into their 2017 stress tests.The Fed also proposed that banks would continue to use standard models to measure risk on their books and...

>General Electric Co (GE.N) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt declined on Friday to entertain an alternative to the U.S. conglomerate's planned purchase of Alstom's (ALSO.PA) power business despite resistance from European antitrust regulators. On GE's second-quarter conference call on Friday, Immelt was asked about what the company's "Plan...

>Shares of e-commerce website Etsy (ETSY.O) jumped 30 percent on Friday thanks to a nod from Google (GOOGL.O) during its quarterly conference call.Speaking to analysts after its second-quarter report late on Thursday, Google Chief Business Officer Omid Kordestani pointed to Brooklyn-based Etsy as a good example of...

>Several employees suffered minor whiplash in the July 1 incident, when a vehicle drove into the rear of a Lexus RX450h prototype - outfitted by Google with special sensors and software - which had stopped at a traffic light near the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, a Google spokesperson...

>HRABOVE, Ukraine Ukraine's president accused Russia's military on Friday of ordering the missile strike that brought down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 one year ago, as relatives gathered from the Netherlands to Australia to remember the 298 passengers and crew."MH17, where 298 victims were killed for no reason, was shot...

>The request was made on June 25 via a diplomatic note, the spokesman said in response to a question from Reuters. The confirmation followed comments made by Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong to reporters late on Thursday that suggested a request had, in fact, been made.Mexico had previously...

>The Obama administration has faced criticism for not securing the Americans' release as part of the landmark deal reached on Tuesday in Vienna to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.There are three Americans known to be detained by Iran.In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe,"...

>LONDON Amid all the uncertainty swirling around financial markets, one clear picture is emerging for investors: U.S. and UK interest rates will soon rise, while most of the rest of the world is easing monetary policy.Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and Bank of England governor Mark Carney this...

>LONDON The race is on between the U.S. and British central banks to be the first major economy to raise interest rates after a long period of unprecedented monetary generosity.It won't happen immediately but both Janet Yellen, who chairs the U.S. Federal Reserve, and Bank of England...

>In response to a question following a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Fischer said the Fed could work with the post-financial crisis restrictions on the types of companies it could lend to. But he said the process had gone as far as it should. (Reporting...

>WASHINGTON U.S. consumer prices rose for a fifth straight month in June as the cost of gasoline and a range of other goods increased, further signs of firming inflation that strengthen the case for an interest rate hike this year. Other data on Friday suggested the economy could support...

>Carlyle controls 80 percent of B&B Hotel Group, an operator of over 300 hotels across Europe, along with Montefiore Investment, which has a 15 percent stake. B&B Hotel Group managers hold the remaining 5 percent.Carlyle and Montefiore Investment declined comment. A spokeswoman at Morgan Stanley in Paris was not...

>Valeant said it expects the acquisition of privately held Amoun to help expand in Middle East and North Africa. The deal also includes additional contingent payments, the company said in a statement. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)...

>The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) believes the company falsified financial statements and will recommend as early as September that the Financial Services Agency impose a fine, the business daily said, citing sources.A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that regulators will begin studying the case to...

>Xi arrived in Yanbian, which is nestled up on the northeastern corner of the border, on Thursday, wading into rice fields, chatting to villagers about toilets and visiting a pharmaceutical factory, the official Xinhua news agency said.While the report made no direct mention of North Korea, a country Xi...

>BRUSSELS Revelations of U.S. spying in Europe have soured transatlantic relations, prompting a White House apology and, as leak followed leak over the past two years, have fostered feelings of moral superiority among Europeans.Yet EU governments are stepping up surveillance of their own citizens: last month France, smarting...

>Financial magazine Caijing cited unnamed sources as saying that 17 commercial Chinese banks had coughed up the cash for China Securities Finance Corp as of Monday, after China's central bank said it wanted to extend funding to the firm.China Merchants Bank Co (600036.SS) was the biggest financier, lending...

>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 lower house of parliament, whose backing...

>As Monsanto Co struggles to convince rival Syngenta AG to discuss a potential merger, the seed and agrochemical giant is also wooing U.S. farmers, aiming to ease concerns about the proposed tie-up that could prompt regulatory challenges. Company executives have been criss-crossing the U.S. heartland, meeting with soybean...

>Nasdaq stock futures rose on Friday after strong results from Google (GOOGL.O) overnight, while the S&P and Dow futures were little changed ahead of a raft of economic data that could give clues on the timing of an interest rate increase.* The Nasdaq composite closed at a record...

>888, which rejected a takeover by Britain's biggest bookmaker William Hill in February, had been battling against a 908 million pound offer from GVC Holdings for Bwin, which put itself up for sale last year.The deal is the latest in a flurry of M&A activity in the industry, which...

>NEW YORK Japanese insurers including MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc and Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc are seeking mergers with peers in the United States, as a declining population at home forces them to pursue markets that are growing overseas.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's so-called 'Abenomics' policies, including a program...

>SAN FRANCISCO When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld same-sex weddings in the same week that South Carolina debated keeping a controversial Civil War battle flag, Twitter user @xTomatoez posted “Gay marriage and the Confederate flag going down everywhere. Tough week for your redneck uncle on Facebook.” The poster...

>TOKYO A panel investigating an accounting scandal at Toshiba Corp has found that top executives were involved in improper practices, confirming the institutional nature of the abuses, a person directly involved in the investigation said on Friday.Improper accounting, extended across virtually all business areas of the semiconductor-to-nuclear conglomerate, was...

>Guzman's escape last Saturday from a maximum security prison through a mile-long tunnel built into his cell was a profound embarrassment for President Enrique Peña Nieto, raising pressure on the government to do more to battle public sector corruption.As the tunnel surfaced in a blind spot in the cell...

>Residents and local fighters said low-level clashes were continuing in the Tawahi district in the west of the city to sweep the Houthis from one of their last redoubts."We congratulate the people of Aden and the Republic of Yemen as whole for what has been achieved in the last...

>TOKYO Oil prices were steady on Friday in thin trade in Asia, underpinned by a power outage at Britain's largest oilfield, though risks of oversupply following the Iranian nuclear deal and mixed economic data held back prices.A decision on Thursday to reopen funding to near-bankrupt Greece, enabling it to...

>The main indexes slid sharply on Tuesday and Wednesday, spurring worry that bearish sentiment in the futures market could widen. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 3.9 percent, to 4,151.50, up 1.1 for the week, while the Shanghai Composite Index...