News Archive - 31 August 2015

>"I believe the agreement, titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is the best available strategy to block Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," Merkley wrote in a statement published on Medium.com.To read the statement, see (bit.ly/1PFmSwz)Obama is trying to muster 34 votes in the Senate...

>Hedy plans to acquire Focus Media, which operates outdoor advertising as well as an internet ad agency, through a mix of cash, new shares and an asset swap for 45.7 billion yuan ($7.17 billion), Guangzhou-based Hedy said in a filing on the Shenzhen stock exchange on Monday."The...

>MagnaChip's shares were up 5 percent at $8.12 in mid-morning trade.The $10-per-share offer of Pleasant Lake, which owns 9.9 percent of MagnaChip, is at a premium of 29 percent to MagnaChip's Friday closing price.(1.usa.gov/1fRbi5p)MagnaChip's chips are used in smartphones, tablets and television. The company...

>“The President has long talked about his respect for Columbia University and his desire to continue working with them," the White House statement said in response to a Reuters query. "However, at this point no decisions have been finalized about his post-Presidency plans.”Obama graduated from the New York school...

>Obama told a meeting of foreign ministers in Alaska that the United States recognized it played a big part in raising the Earth's temperatures and "embraces our responsibility" to help fix the problem."This year, in Paris, must be the year that the world finally reaches an agreement to protect...

>The department does not know for sure if any information was classified at the time it was sent or received on the private email server Clinton used for work, department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. "It's not an exact science," Toner said in a media briefing, where he described the...

>SAN FRANCISCO A former Secret Service agent pleaded guilty on Monday to diverting to his personal account over $800,000 worth of bitcoins during an investigation into online drug marketplace Silk Road.Shaun Bridges, 33, appeared in federal court in San Francisco and admitted to money laundering and obstruction of justice.

>WASHINGTON The United States is considering sanctions against both Russian and Chinese individuals and companies for cyber attacks against U.S. commercial targets, several U.S. officials said on Monday.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no final decision had been made on imposing sanctions, which could...

>ROME One migrant is reviled, suspected of killing an elderly couple in Sicily; another has been hailed as a hero, killed after trying to prevent an armed robbery at a supermarket in Naples.The twin tragedies have shaken Italy, struggling in the face of a massive influx of migrants, and...

>VIENNA/MUNICH Trainloads of migrants arrived in Austria and Germany from Hungary on Monday as European Union asylum rules collapsed under the strain of a wave of migration unprecedented in the EU. As thousands of men, women and children - many fleeing Syria's civil war - continued to arrive from the...

>The CSI300 index .CSI300 fell 2.1 percent to 3,296.53 points at 1:28 GMT, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC lost 1.5 percent to 3,157.83 points. China CSI300 stock index futures CIFc1 for September fell 0.5 percent, to 3,049.6, -246.93 points below the current...

>The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.7 in August from the previous month's reading of 50.0, in line with expectations of analysts polled by Reuters.A reading over 50 points signals an expansion in activity while one below that mark indicates an contraction on a monthly...

>Cisco will provide services specially optimized for iOS devices across mobile, cloud, and on premises-based collaboration tools such as Cisco Spark, Cisco Telepresence and Cisco WebEx, the companies said in a statement.Apple is expanding its foothold in the enterprise arena at a time when iPad sales are shrinking. Cisco,...

>SINGAPORE Oil prices fell 3 percent in Asian trade on Tuesday, with investors covering short positions and taking profits after Brent and U.S. crude soared more than 8 percent in the previous session.Both Brent and U.S. crude prices dropped nearly $2 a barrel shortly after trading in...

>TOKYO Asian shares fell on Tuesday and the dollar struggled after twin surveys showed China's manufacturing sector in the grip of its worst slump in several years, raising fresh fears about the health of its economy.China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.7 in August from the...

>The company said it expects to book a pre-tax gain of 30-40 billion yen from the sale. (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Chris Gallagher)...

>The deal underscores Chinese companies strong appetite to grow through acquisitions even in the middle the country's biggest stock market turmoil.Beijing-based JD Capital is listed on the Chinese National Equities Exchange and Quotations and was established in 2007. It operates one of the largest private equity firms in China...

>TOKYO Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T) said on Sunday it would buy back the 19.9 percent stake it sold to Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) after an international arbitration court ordered the German automaker to sell its holding.Their planned partnership soured with Japanese automaker accusing VW of seeking...

>WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie pushed back on Sunday against "ridiculous" criticism of his proposal to track foreign visitors the way FedEx Corp tracks packages, saying government needs private-sector expertise to tackle illegal immigration. "I don’t mean people are packages, so let’s not be ridiculous,” the New Jersey governor...

>WASHINGTON U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders narrowed the gap with leading Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a recent opinion poll in the political bellwether state of Iowa as support for the front-runner fell below 50 percent for the first time this year.Clinton, former secretary of state and first...

>SAN FRANCISCO The waves of cash surfed relentlessly by some of Silicon Valley's largest venture-backed businesses are showing signs of receding amid concern the companies may already be worth more than their likely valuations once they finally go public.Investors have created 132 privately held companies valued at $1 billion...

>The company also struck back at reports that the site had few genuine female users, saying internal data released by hackers had been incorrectly analyzed."Recent media reports predicting the imminent demise of Ashley Madison are greatly exaggerated," the company said in a statement. "Despite having our business and customers...

>TOKYO Toshiba Corp again delayed announcing its annual financial results on Monday, as new accounting errors prevented the company from drawing a line under Japan's worst corporate scandal in four years.Toshiba, which was scheduled to post its earnings for the business year ended in March, said the newly discovered...

>BANGKOK Police probing Thailand's deadliest bombing issued arrest warrants on Monday for two suspects after a second weekend raid on a suburban apartment block uncovered possible bomb-making materials.Police were looking for a 26-year-old Thai woman and a foreign man in his 40s after expanding their search to a property...

>KIEV Ukraine's parliament voted on Monday for constitutional changes to give separatist-minded eastern regions a special status - but divisions in the pro-Western camp and violent street protests suggested the changes would face a rougher ride to become law.At least four police and national guard were badly hurt when...

>BRUSSELS European Union ministers were summoned on Sunday to meet in two weeks' time to seek urgent solutions to a migration crisis unprecedented in the bloc's history, as the mounting death toll on land and sea forced governments to respond.Luxembourg, which holds the rotating EU presidency, called interior ministers...

>LONDON Oil fell below $49 a barrel on Monday after its biggest two-day rally in six years last week, pressured by a supply glut and renewed concern about a hard landing for China's economy.International benchmark Brent crude climbed 10 percent last week but was still heading for its fourth...

>LONDON The dollar lost ground against the safe-haven yen and the low-yielding euro on Monday as global stock markets began the week in the red, prompting investors to trim bets against currencies popularly used to fund risky carry trades.Under carry trades, investors sell a low-yielding currency to buy a...

>NEW YORK Citigroup plans to rebuild its long-neglected equities franchise seeking to capitalize on a retrenchment by rivals in the face of new rules designed to make the financial system less risky, according to people familiar with the bank's plans.A lack of investment in equities and a traditional focus...

>GM's board rebuffed a merger proposal from the Italian-American carmaker earlier this year. The rejection has not stopped Marchionne from working on the plan and lobbying GM investors in an effort to drag the GM board to the negotiating table, sources told Reuters in June.In an interview published on...

>Wall Street opened the week in the red after comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer over the weekend appeared to keep the door open for a rate hike in September.U.S. inflation will likely rebound as pressure from the dollar fades, allowing the Fed to raise interest...