News Archive - 24 July 2015

>NEW YORK U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that he planned to discuss combating Islamic State militants in Syria and what role Iran could play when he meets with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Qatar in coming weeks.Kerry told the Council on Foreign Relations...

>LONDON The Economist Group could become the latest British media business to undergo a change of ownership this year as its co-owner Pearson focuses on education, bankers and industry sources said.The company, whose weekly magazine was first published in 1843, is partly held by Pearson via the Financial Times,...

>The clearance of the $70 billion merger follows the 15-day period during which the preliminary approval granted by CADE on 8th July could have been appealed.Shell is set to become the largest Brazilian offshore foreign operator after it completes the merger with BG, which it announced in April. The...

>Allergan Plc (AGN.N) is considering a breakup of the company into two businesses, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday, potentially adding the botox-maker to a list of large drugmakers realigning themselves to focus on specific areas of their businesses.Allergan is considering keeping its branded...

>The Voters First Republican Presidential Forum was set up to accommodate candidates who were not ranked in the top 10 in national polling and who are to compete in the first official Republican debate, moderated by Fox News on Aug. 6 in Cleveland.But now many in the top 10...

>NEW YORK Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed U.S. corporate tax reforms on Friday including a sliding scale for capital gains taxes, greater transparency for stock buybacks and changes in executive compensation to encourage long-term economic growth.Clinton, in a speech in New York, said institutional investors have an...

>NEW YORK At least four emails from the private email account that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used while in office contained classified information, according to a government inspector's letter that has deepened the email controversy dogging Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. The inspector general who oversees U.

>DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO Fiat Chrysler will recall 1.4 million vehicles in the United States to install software to prevent hackers from gaining remote control of the engine, steering and other systems in what federal officials said was the first such action of its kind.The announcement on Friday by FCA...

>NEW YORK Investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss earlier this week filed paperwork to operate a bitcoin exchange called Gemini for both individual and institutional investors in New York state, a spokeswoman said on Friday.The twins, best known for accusing Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, want...

>"This training is part of our long-running defense cooperation with Ukraine and is taking place at the invitation of the Ukraine government. This additional program brings our total security assistance committed to Ukraine since 2014 to over $244 million," State Department Mark Toner said.Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, head of...

>NEW YORK A federal appeals court on Friday said Facebook Inc officials including Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg cannot be sued by shareholders who said the social media company concealed threats to its growth prospects before its May 2012 initial public offering.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said...

>WASHINGTON New U.S. single-family home sales fell in June to a seven-month low and May's sales were revised sharply down, but the data on Friday did little to change the belief that the housing market recovery was shifting into higher gear.Sales of new homes account for only 8.

>Anthem Inc said on Friday it would buy Cigna Corp for about $54.2 billion, creating the largest U.S. health insurer by membership and accelerating the industry's consolidation from five national players to three.The proposed acquisition, the health insurance industry's largest, comes three weeks after Aetna Inc agreed...

>WASHINGTON The No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier AT&T Inc and the biggest satellite-TV provider DirecTV became the country's largest pay-TV company on Friday, completing their $48.5 billion merger after receiving final regulatory approval.The newly expanded AT&T leapfrogs the biggest U.S. cable company Comcast Corp. The company...

>The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their largest weekly drops since March on Friday as slowing global growth dragged commodity-related stocks lower while an earnings-fueled drop in Biogen took down the biotech sector.Biogen (BIIB.O) more than halved its revenue growth forecast for 2015 and its stock lost 22...