News Archive - 18 December 2015

>Attorneys for the General Services Administration said the deal subsidizes the rates of residential customers at the expense of federal taxpayers, the Post said, citing filings it had reviewed. The $6.8 billion deal should therefore be found to be not in the public interest unless changes­ are made, the...

>ZURICH Zurich Insurance Group AG will pay up to $1.05 billion to buy a U.S. agricultural crop insurer from Wells Fargo & Co, the Swiss company said on Friday.Zurich will buy Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS) for $675 million, plus excess capital at the date of closing,...

>The bipartisan vote sends the bill to the Senate, where Republican and Democratic leaders have agreed to combine it with a package of tax breaks passed on Thursday. The Senate will then take up the combined package in a series of procedural and a final vote expected by early Friday...

>Target Corp is in early stages of developing its own mobile wallet, three people familiar with the matter said, signaling a potential threat to new entrants like Apple Pay a week after Wal-Mart Stores Inc announced its own plans.The fourth-largest U.S. retailer has not committed to launch the...

>RIYADH Syria's opposition wants a political transition without President Bashar al-Assad, the coordinator of an opposition negotiating body in future peace talks said on Friday.The United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and major European and Arab powers outlined a plan last month for a political process in Syria leading...

>LONDON U.S., Canadian and Australian banks cut the cost of international money transfers in December before the traditional boom in migrant workers sending cash home for the holiday season, a regular index of market costs showed on Friday. The International Money Transfer Index (IMTI) run by money transfer comparison...

>The U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again in the next three months, according to two-thirds of economists polled by Reuters, although many say rates won't rise as quickly next year as policymakers have suggested.The Fed hiked rates for the first time in nearly a decade on...

>U.S. stock indexes were lower in early morning trading on Friday as crude oil prices headed for their third straight weekly loss on global oversupply concerns.Trading was also set to be more volatile than usual on "quadruple-witching" Friday, when options on stocks and indexes as well as futures...

>The holders of each American Depositary Share (ADS) - two of which represent three class A ordinary shares - will get $77 in cash, while owners of class A and class B ordinary shares will receive $51.33 in cash per share, the company said on Friday.The $77 represents...

>WASHINGTON President Barack Obama will reprise his role of "consoler-in-chief" on Friday evening when he is expected to meet with families of those murdered in the San Bernardino, California, shootings. Fourteen people died on Dec. 2 when radicalized Muslims Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire on...

>"It was very nice," the gambling tycoon told Reuters when asked if he had met Trump, the current front runner in polls of Republican voters, earlier in the week. "He was very charming," Adelson said in an interview in Macau. Adelson hosted Tuesday's debate among Republican Party presidential candidates at...

>Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) had previously been considering investing in Sharp's display unit with the intention of merging it with rival Japan Display, in which the fund is the top shareholder, sources said in recent months.But the fund is now also considering financing along with restructuring plans...

>Carter's visit comes as Afghanistan faces serious security setbacks, with the Taliban staging more attacks and inflicting more casualties on Afghan forces in the last year compared to previously.In a report to the U.S. Congress released this week, the Pentagon painted a grim picture of the security situation in Afghanistan, finding...

>UNITED NATIONS The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council were struggling to agree on a draft resolution endorsing an international bid to end the five-year-old civil war in Syria ahead of ministerial talks taking place in New York on Friday.The U.S. ambassador to the United...

>TAIPEI/BEIJING A new U.S. arms package for Taiwan will help boost the self-ruled island's ability to inflict a bloody nose on China in the attempt of an attack, enough to make Beijing think twice before any military adventure. But Taiwan, which is expected to vote in a new government...

>TOKYO Japan's core consumer inflation was expected to be flat in November from a year earlier, a Reuters poll found, but recent further declines in oil prices suggest a long struggle ahead for the Bank of Japan to meet its 2 percent inflation target. The core consumer price index (CPI),...

>SINGAPORE/TOKYO Asian shares took their cue from Wall Street and slipped on Friday, and Japanese stocks slumped after briefly jumping on the central bank's statement that it would expand parts of its stimulus program.European shares were also poised to start lower, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE...