News Archive - 3 December 2015

>Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq."In the Cold War period there was a Soviet propaganda machine. Every day it created different lies.

>"We must authorize resources for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study and research the causes and effects of gun violence in the United States of America," a Sanders campaign email said on Thursday.The email came a day after 14 people were killed in a shooting in...

>Snapchat, the mobile app featuring photos, videos and messages that disappear in seconds, made its first foray into major breaking news coverage Wednesday with a live stream of the mass shooting in Southern California.Snapchat, valued at $16 billion and with more than 100 million active users, most under the...

>SYDNEY/TOKYO The euro stood head and shoulders above its rivals on Friday after boasting its biggest one-day surge in nearly seven years, as the latest round of policy easing by the European Central Bank fell well short of market expectations.The euro last traded at $1.0910 EUR= after shooting...

>The S&P 500 suffered its biggest daily drop since late September on Thursday as the European Central Bank disappointed market hopes for greater stimulus.The ECB move triggered a spike in the euro EUR= that caught investors by surprise, forcing them to shift positions and that affected many asset classes.

>TOKYO/SINGAPORE Asian shares joined a slump in global markets on Friday after the European Central Bank's stimulus package fell well short of markets' high expectations, sending the euro rocketing on its way to its biggest one-day surge in nearly seven years.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS...

Monica CrowleyObama’s ISIS three-card monte

>"If Alibaba is going to be serious about getting into the entertainment industry Viacom should sell Jack Ma a piece of Paramount," Mario Gabelli, chief executive of Gamco Investors Inc, told the newspaper. (on.ft.com/1lZMUC9)Earlier this year, Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd (1060.HK) partnered with Paramount Pictures to promote the studio's...

>Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) is in the process of divesting about $1 billion worth of assets to address antitrust concerns over its deal to buy Allergan Plc's (AGN.N) generic drugs business, people familiar with the matter said.Teva agreed in July to purchase Allergan’s generics unit for...

>Under the deal announced in February, Staples had offered to divest about half of Office Depot's assets with revenues of up to $1.25 billion. In talks with the FTC, the company has already offered to divest assets worth half that amount, one of the sources told Bloomberg.The Wall...

>WASHINGTON The U.S. House on Thursday passed a five-year transportation bill that would fund America's roads, bridges and mass-transit systems and also revive the charter of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which had been allowed to expire in the face of conservative opposition.In a show of Congressional bipartisanship,...

>PAGELAND, South Carolina As sheriff’s investigators threaded past the battered cars, cast-off tires and rusted farm equipment cluttering Brent Nicholson’s front yard, there was no hint of the sinister stockpile hidden behind his windowless front door.Inside, the guns were everywhere: rifles and shotguns piled in the living room, halls...

>WASHINGTON The U.S. military will let women serve in all combat roles, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Thursday in a historic move striking down gender barriers in the armed forces."As long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our...

>BOSTON/NEW YORK An official for the second-largest U.S. public pension system on Thursday urged Viacom Inc to do away with its dual-class share structure, the latest call from an investor for change at the media empire controlled by the aging mogul Sumner Redstone as doubts grow over his ability...

>SEOUL Nearly 19 months after becoming de facto leader of Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee is running out of time to show he has a plan to fix crown jewel Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as it stumbles toward possibly its first annual fall in smartphone sales.The heir apparent to...

>The pressure from Starboard Value LP came as Yahoo's board, in a three-day meeting that started on Wednesday, was reportedly weighing a number of options for the troubled company.That includes selling the core business, a source told Reuters, encompassing features like Mail, its news site and other Web services.

>BRUSSELS/IDOMENI Greece asked for European help on Thursday to secure its borders and care for crowds of migrants, defusing threats from EU allies to bar it from the passport-free Schengen zone if it failed to get a grip.Hours before EU interior ministers are to meet on Friday to consider...

>WASHINGTON President Barack Obama said his decision to send more U.S. special forces to combat Islamic State in Iraq is not an indication that the United States is headed for another invasion like the one in 2003 that locked it in a long, violent conflict.Obama has said his...

>In a move to help the housing market begun in October 2011, the U.S. central bank has been using funds from principal paymentson the agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, it holds to reinvest in agency MBS. The New York Fed said on its website the Fed...

>LONDON Assuming European Central Bank president Mario Draghi sees out his mandate, he will step down in October 2019. And financial markets reckon there's a fair chance he will complete his eight-year tenure without ever having raised interest rates. That would be remarkable. Even Ben Bernanke, the ultra-dovish former Federal...

>WASHINGTON Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, speaking the day before a key employment report, said on Thursday the U.S. economy needs to add fewer than 100,000 jobs a month to cover new entrants to the workforce, setting an implicit floor for the jobs growth policymakers want to see."To...

>The ratings apply to the holding companies of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N), State Street Corp (STT.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Goldman Sachs...

>The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 250.47 points, or 1.41 percent, to 17,479.21, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 29.75 points, or 1.43 percent, to 2,049.76 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 85.70 points, or 1.67 percent, to 5,037.53. (Reporting by...

>CHARLESTON, W. Va. Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship was found guilty in federal court on Thursday of conspiring to violate safety standards at the Upper Big Branch mine, the site of a 2010 blast that killed 29 people.Relatives of those killed and prosecutors hailed the decision as...