News Archive - 24 January 2016

>VIENTIANE U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began a visit to Asia on Sunday in which he plans to press China to put more curbs on North Korea after its nuclear test and to urge Southeast Asia to show unity in response to Beijing's claims in the South China...

>TEHRAN Iran unveiled an expanded shopping list for more than 160 European planes - including 8 superjumbos - and dangled another big order in front of Boeing (BA.N) at Tehran's first major post-sanctions business gathering on Sunday.In a sign of Tehran's determination to compete with established carriers across...

>Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE), Europe's biggest industrial group, has agreed to buy CD-adapco, a privately held U.S. engineering software firm, for close to $1 billion in cash, according to a person familiar with the matter.Siemens's deal with CD-adapco could be announced as early as Monday, the person said,...

>SHANGHAI Chinese shares began the week on a firmer note on Monday, extending gains from Friday after a rally in battered oil prices underpinned a rise in global equities.The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC was up 1 percent by midday, while the CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed...

>Suh Byung-sam, head of Samsung's appliances business, also told reporters at a company event that Haier Group's acquisition of General Electric Co's appliances business will have no serious impact on its business in the near term. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Miral Fahmy)...

>SHANGHAI As a slick slide presentation runs for the well-heeled investors jammed into the banqueting hall of Shanghai's Renaissance Yangtze Hotel, an image flashes up of a grinning Chinese man pushing a wheelbarrow full of cash into Europe.Another slide features a car bearing a Chinese flag preparing to drive...

>TOKYO The dollar edged down on Monday but remained well off recent lows as markets started the week on a calmer note, and investors turned their attention to upcoming central bank meetings. The dollar inched down about 0.2 percent against its Japanese counterpart to 118.57 JPY=, but remained...

>SINGAPORE Some investors who mistakenly sensed a bottom in Asian markets in late 2015 will be shy to see one now, though others could feel this year's tumbles have made valuations attractive enough to come back in.   In October, there was sustained buying, as Asian valuations the previous month were at...

>Oil prices surged 10 percent on Friday, one of the biggest daily rallies ever, as bearish traders who had taken out record short positions scrambled to close them, betting the market's long rout may finally be over.Brent LCOc1 had climbed 33 cents a barrel to $32.51 as of...

>TOKYO Asian stocks gained early on Monday, relieved after seeing Wall Street rally overnight on the back of a sharp rise in crude oil prices.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS nudged up 0.2 percent, putting further distance between a four-year low plumbed last week. Australian...

>Johnson Controls Inc (JCI.N), a U.S. manufacturer of car batteries and heating and ventilation equipment, is in advanced talks to buy fire protection and security company Tyco International Plc (TYC.N), people familiar with the matter said.A deal between Johnson Controls and Tyco, which have market capitalizations...

>Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage, which showed the men delivering anti-Western diatribes and concluded with an apparent threat to attack Britain.The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the video. There was no immediate comment from the Prime Minister's office, and Reuters was not...

>Re/code said Twitter's media head, Katie Jacobs Stanton, product head, Kevin Weil, and the head of its engineering division, Alex Roetter, were all leaving the company.It said that Jason Toff, head of Twitter's video streaming service Vine, may also depart, as would its business development leader, Jana Messerschmidt, who...

>PARIS/ROME President Hassan Rouhani brings the case to Europe this week for Iran as a potential investment bonanza, after the lifting of financial sanctions brought his country of 80 million people back into the world of global commerce.Rouhani, a pragmatist elected in 2013 on a platform to reduce Iran's...

>DES MOINES/WASHINGTON U.S. presidential hopefuls on Sunday offered mixed reviews of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's potential independent White House run, with Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders saying it would add another billionaire like Republican Donald Trump to the field.With eight days to go until Iowa holds the...

>BEIRUT Syrian pro-government forces recaptured a key rebel-held town in coastal Latakia province on Sunday, building on battlefield advances in the area ahead of planned peace talks this week in Geneva between Damascus and Syria's opposition.Government troops and militiamen, supported by Moscow's air power and joined on the ground...

>The opposition's High Negotiation Committee, which groups political and armed opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, has said it will not attend negotiations until the government halts bombardments, lifts blockades, and releases detainees - steps mentioned in a United Nations Security Council resolution passed last month.Negotiator Mohamad Alloush said Kerry,...

>DOHA A decade ago, Foad Fanaei packed his belongings and left sanction-hit Iran in the hope that the family's engineering firm would thrive in Qatar.Starting up in the Gulf Arab state proved to be hard for a 27-year-old outsider who had to grapple with Qatar's complex business laws and...

>DAVOS, Switzerland The darling of the Davos political and financial elite, Christine Lagarde has a second term at the helm of the International Monetary Fund sewn up just days after nominations opened, despite facing possible trial in France.The former French finance minister, regularly listed among the world's 10 most...

>The Iraq strikes were concentrated near Ramadi, where six bombardments destroyed staging areas, a vehicle and a fuel tank while hitting two tactical units and denying Islamic State access to terrain, the Coalition Joint Task Force statement released on Sunday said. The Syria strikes were spread across the country, hitting...

>DAVOS, Switzerland Financial markets need more clarity on how Chinese authorities are managing their currency, particularly the relationship of the yuan to the U.S. dollar, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday.Sharp swings in the yuan have contributed, along with a dramatic fall in the price of...

>The former officer is seeking permission to present evidence to a forthcoming parliamentary inquiry that British officials saw detainees being tortured in December 2002, the Sunday Times said quoting senior security sources.Details of torture were disclosed during meetings held at the London headquarters of Britain's MI5 in 2002 and...

>Several carmakers and silicon valley companies are working on developing a self-driving car. Google tested its own prototype vehicle in 2012, to which Daimler's luxury brand Mercedes-Benz responded by developing an S-Class limousine which drove 103 kilometers without needing any driver input.Rumors have swirled that rival Apple is also...

>"The reserves would not be sold, but the company's ability to produce from the reserves is being studied," Khalid al-Falih told the channel in an interview from Davos, Switzerland where the annual World Economic Forum was held last week.In an interview with The Economist earlier this month, Saudi Deputy...

>The raids on Khasham near the city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday were among a series of strikes that also hit two other town in the past 48 hours, killing scores of people.Russian jets have been bombing around Deir al-Zor as Syrian pro-government forces clash with Islamic State fighters,...

>SYDNEY/LONDON Global insurance firms are circling Iran for business opportunities following the lifting of sanctions - and the first test of their appetite could come in March when some Iranian companies seek new cover.Insurers, the reinsurers that share their risk and the brokers that forge deals are exploring ways...