News Archive - 23 July 2015

>WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday mounted a furious counterattack against critics of the Iran nuclear deal, telling skeptical lawmakers it would be fantasy to think the United States could simply "bomb away" Tehran's atomic know-how.Testifying publicly before Congress for the first time since world...

>WASHINGTON U.S. lawmakers skeptical about the nuclear deal with Iran promised to press senior Obama administration officials to make more information about it public at a Senate hearing on Thursday as Congress begins its two-month review of the agreement.Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and...

>Meiji Yasuda, Japan's third-largest life insurer by premium revenue, has said previously it was looking for targets in the world's largest life insurance market to act as an engine for future growth.Japan's domestic insurance market, while profitable and stable, is facing weak growth prospects due to a rapidly aging...

>WASHINGTON AT&T Inc's (T.N) proposed $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV (DTV.O) has cleared its final regulatory hurdle as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to approve the merger, according to people familiar with the votes.At least three of the five FCC commissioners have...

>WASHINGTON Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz engaged antiwar activists on Thursday in a spirited debate outside the White House over the Iran nuclear deal, offering a rare moment of spontaneity in the U.S. presidential race.A news conference organized by opponents of the Iran deal threatened to devolve into...

>Clinton, responding to a question from an audience member at an event in South Carolina, said a two-state fix would be the "best outcome" for both Israelis and Palestinians. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Writing by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Sandra Maler)...

>NEW YORK BlackBerry Ltd on Thursday showcased a suite of security products that safeguard everything from medical devices to Hollywood movie scripts, though its CEO acknowledged that his effort to transform the company remains a work in progress. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, whose smartphone market share has dwindled, is attempting...

>The agreement to update the WTO's 18-year-old Information Technology Agreement (ITA) adds more than 200 products to the list of goods covered by zero-tariff and duty-free trade.The U.S. Trade Representative said more than $100 billion of U.S. exports alone would be covered by the updated agreement and...

>It could be a match made in heaven.Wall Street says Intel Corp (INTC.O) is the best suitor for Qualcomm Inc's (QCOM.O) chip unit, if the maker of Snapdragon mobile processors decides to break itself up."The chip deal to end all chip deals," says Cowen and Co...

>The air operation that hit the targets across the border from Turkey's Kilis province came a day after a cross-border firefight with Islamic State left one militant and one Turkish soldier dead. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by David Dolan and Clarence Fernandez)...

>DUBAI/ADEN The tide of Yemen's messy war has unexpectedly turned, handing a morale boost and possibly decisive military momentum to Gulf Arab-backed forces bent on ending the ascendancy of the Houthis, a powerful militia they see as a puppet of Iran.The loss of the strategic southern port of Aden...

>ATHENS/BRUSSELS Greece's creditors prepared on Thursday for the start of bailout talks in Athens, after lawmakers adopted a second package of reform measures before dawn despite a left wing rebellion that may bring early elections.In a sign of how the goal of coming to grips with the country's debt...

>TOKYO The euro hovered near one-week highs against the dollar on Friday on relief from Greece taking another step toward a bailout, while the Australian dollar sank to a six-year low after weak China factory data.The Aussie, often used as a liquid proxy for China trades, hit a six-year...

>Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) shares surged more than 17 percent on Thursday as the online retailer posted an unexpected quarterly profit, pushing its market value above that of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), the world's largest retailer.Combined with a bullish forecast for the third quarter, upbeat comments from...

>SYDNEY Activity in China's factory sector seemingly contracted at the fastest pace in 15 months in July, a preliminary private survey showed on Friday in a blow undercutting recent signs of stabilization in the struggling economy.The news came as Beijing announced it would allow its yuan currency to fluctuate...

>HONG KONG/TOKYO Asian equities stumbled on Friday after a survey showed China's manufacturing activity crumbled to 15-month lows, rekindling concerns for the region's exports as the world's second-largest economy struggles to arrest a broad downturn. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down about 1 percent in...

>TAIPEI China's Tsinghua Holdings is still discussing a potential deal to buy U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) and hopes it could eventually go through, the state-backed investment company's chairman told Reuters on Thursday.Sources told Reuters earlier this week that Micron has dismissed an informal $23 billion...

>ZURICH Syngenta (SYNN.VX) and unwanted suitor Monsanto (MON.N) squabbled over an earnings report from the Swiss pesticides maker on Thursday, with both sides claiming it strengthened their case in a $45 billion takeover battle.Monsanto wants to combine its world-leading seeds business with Syngenta's own seeds and pesticides.

>U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc is close to finalizing negotiations to acquire peer Cigna Inc and could announce a roughly $48 billion deal as early as this week, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The deal would follow Aetna Inc's $37 billion agreement earlier this month...

>NEW YORK New York moved on Wednesday to raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour by the end of 2018 in New York City and by mid-2021 in the rest of the state.The New York Wage Board voted unanimously for the increase, which would cover...

>The House of Representatives was set to vote Thursday on a hotly debated measure that would block mandatory labeling of foods made with genetically engineered crops, including pre-empting a state law set to take effect next year in Vermont.Dubbed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act by supporters, but...

>The deal will beef up Technicolor's position in home video and communications products, doubling annual revenue at its Connected Home division and giving it 290 million set-top boxes installed in over 100 countries, the company said.The transaction is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter of...

>NEW YORK U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will criticize the surge in public companies using profits to buy back stocks in a speech she is due to give on Friday, her campaign said, arguing the practice comes at the expense of long-term investment.Clinton, the favorite to win the...

>The investment will help Wal-Mart target China's fast-growing online market at a time when largely brick and mortar retailers are feeling the pinch of competition from online rivals and a slowing of the world's second-largest economy.Wal-Mart's move also comes after China said last month it will allow full foreign...

>Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) said it may break itself up as it delivered its third profit warning this year and announced plans to slash jobs and spending in the face of rising competition.The company said it would reduce costs by about $1.4 billion, cut about 4,500 full-time...

>An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers were attacked by a mob while trying to arrest a suspect in the village of Beit Ummar and opened fire on the main attacker.As the forces left the scene, the spokeswoman said, they were attacked once more by a mob hurling rocks and...

>BAGHDAD U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Thursday to get a first-hand assessment of the campaign against Islamic State as Iraq tries to retake the fallen capital of Sunni-dominated Anbar province.Carter, on his first visit since becoming defense secretary in February, said...

>LONDON The opposing forces of a weaker dollar and evidence of rising U.S. crude stockpiles in an already oversupplied market kept oil prices steady on Thursday.Crude oil stocks in the United States rose by 2.5 million barrels last week to above the five-year seasonal average, according to...

>Earlier in July, the NYSE was forced to suspend trading for several hours in the biggest outage to hit a U.S. financial market in nearly two years."We look forward to working with the industry and the SEC to implement this resiliency plan for the public markets on behalf...

>NEW YORK Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) disappointing earnings matter to more than just the investors who hold its shares.With the iPhone maker among just a handful of companies accounting for more than half of the U.S. stock market's gains this year, some fund managers and analysts are concerned...

>ATHENS Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras contained a rebellion in his left-wing Syriza party to win parliamentary approval on Thursday for a second package of reforms required to start talks on a financial rescue deal.A first set of reforms that focused largely on tax hikes and budget discipline triggered...

>LONDON British publisher Pearson (PSON.L) has decided to sell the Financial Times to a "global, digital news company" after owning the business newspaper for nearly 60 years, a person familiar with the deal said on Thursday.Pearson, which has become the world's leading education provider, later confirmed that it...

>U.S. stock index futures pointed higher on Thursday after two days of losses as investors awaited a raft of earnings results and weekly jobless numbers. * The number of Americans filing new applications forunemployment benefits is expected to have slightly declined by1,000 to 280,000 as the U.S. labor...