News Archive - 25 January 2016

>ROME/PARIS Iranian President Hassan Rouhani flew to Italy on Monday at the start of his first official visit to Europe, looking to sign multi-billion dollar contracts to help to modernize Iran's economy after years of crippling financial sanctions.Heading a 120-strong delegation of Iranian business leaders and ministers, Rouhani will...

>KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia's attorney-general cleared Prime Minister Najib Razak of any criminal offense or corruption on Tuesday, and said a controversial transfer of $681 million into his personal bank account was a gift from Saudi Arabia's royal family.The leader of the main opposition party denounced the findings, which came...

>Trump told CNN he would probably participate, but added: “I'm not 100 percent; I'll see. If I think I'm going to be treated unfairly, I'll do something else. But I don't think she can treat me fairly, actually, I think she's very biased. But that doesn't mean I don't do...

>DES MOINES With Iowa kicking off the 2016 election season in one week, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton went into a CNN town hall on Monday with her campaign accusing archrival Bernie Sanders of changing his views for political convenience.Clinton, anxious to put down a threat from the democrat...

>"To date, no understanding has been reached between Greenlight and the company with respect to these issues," the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing said about SunEdison granting Greenlight Capital a board seat. Between Jan. 15-25, representatives of Greenlight, including Einhorn, engaged in discussions with representatives of SunEdison's board...

>TOKYO Asian shares look set to retreat and oil prices to resume their descent after investors used rebounds over the last two days to offload risk assets as fears of a global economic slowdown show no sign of abating.Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 2.2 percent while South Korean shares...

>The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting is now outside the western parts of the town of Sheikh Maskin, which lies at a crossroads linking the provinces of Suwaida, Quneitra and Damascus to the southern part of the country. It also links eastern and western Deraa."The town...

>NEW YORK A U.S. judge was asked on Monday to remove three lawyers from their leadership roles in litigation against General Motors Co (GM.N) over a faulty ignition switch linked to nearly 400 injuries and deaths, after the stunning collapse last week of the first federal test trial...

>AMSTERDAM The European Union edged closer on Monday to accepting that its Schengen open-borders area may be suspended for up to two years if it fails in the next few weeks to curb the influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.Shorter-term dispensations for border controls end in...

>Under the leadership of former finance chief Joe Kaeser, the engineering group has shed the last of its consumer businesses to focus on its core strengths including industrial automation, where it needs ever more digital competence to keep its edge.Melville, New York-based CD-adapco makes computer programs used by engineers...

>Acrisure LLC, one of the top 15 insurance brokerages in the United States, is exploring a sale that it hopes will value it at as much as $2 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.Acrisure's owner, private equity firm Genstar Capital LLC, has hired investment bank...

>Markey wants future opioid-approval matters to be reviewed by an FDA advisory committee, and believes the committee should consider the risk of addiction and abuse during the approval process. He also wants the agency to rescind approval of OxyContin for children and convene an advisory panel to guide that process.

>The Nikkei business daily reported last month that the burger chain had reached out to investors about selling a part of the stake for about 100 billion yen ($826.2 million). (Reporting by Subrat Patnaik and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)...

>WAUKEE, IOWA President Barack Obama offered a boost to Hillary Clinton’s argument that an experienced candidate is needed to succeed him at the White House, while also rebutting comparisons between his 2008 campaign and Bernie Sanders.A week before the Iowa caucuses launch the nominating process, Clinton is working to...

>The Amazon "share" feature invites customers to share a product via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter or Pintrest. The court said on Monday that sharing by e-mail without approval of the recipient was illegal. It is "unsolicited advertising and unreasonable harassment," the regional court in Hamm said, confirming the ruling of a...

>Of 104 members attending the session in the eastern city of Tobruk, 89 voted against backing the government. Since 2014, Libya has had two competing parliaments and governments, one based in Tripoli and the other in the east. Both are backed by loose alliances of armed groups and former rebels...

>The central bank said officials who are unable to attend in person will be able to participate by videoconference. (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Doina Chiacu)...

>Biden and Erdogan also talked about the "importance of de-escalating recent tensions between Turkey and Iraq in a manner that respects Iraqi sovereignty," the White House said in a statement released on Sunday. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Sandra Maler)...

>The non-binding bid was an attempt by the group to expand into premium brands with strong market positions, Thapana told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar. He gave no details about pricing.His comments confirmed a Reuters report last Thursday that Thai Beverage was among bidders going through to...

>Obama said both Sanders and Hillary Clinton, his former Secretary of State, share similar views on core issues like income inequality, but said Clinton faces the disadvantage of being well-known "in a culture in which new is always better.""I think Bernie came in with the luxury of being a...

>The assessment was based on discussions concluded eight weeks ago by security agencies from EU states. The 8-page public report said further attacks could even take place quite soon.The events in Paris "appear to indicate a shift toward a broader strategy of IS going global, of them specifically attacking...

>Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, which has a market value $23 billion, makes heating and ventilation systems and car batteries, while Cork, Ireland-based Tyco, valued at $13 billion, specializes in fire protection systems.The combined company will save about $150 million a year in tax by basing in Tyco's legal domicile, the...

>U.S. stock indexes were lower on Monday morning, led by materials and energy stocks, after last week's rally in oil prices fizzled out.Crude prices resumed their slide, after a strong two-day run, as a record output from Iraq flooded a heavily oversupplied market. [O/R]U.S. stocks logged their...

>BRUSSELS World No. 1 oilfield services company Schlumberger (SLB.N) is set to gain unconditional EU approval for its $14.8 billion bid for equipment maker Cameron International Corp (CAM.N), two people familiar with the matter said on Monday.The acquisition will enable Schlumberger to offer a broader range...

>"ISIS is provoking us in the worst possible way," Hollande said in the Indian capital after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, using the widely used acronym for Islamic State militants, who control parts of Syria and Iraq. (Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)...

>The United Nations is trying to convene the first talks in two years to end Syria's nearly 5-year-old civil war, but the effort so far has been held up in part by disagreement over who should be invited to attend to represent the opposition.Syria's civil war has killed 250,000...

>The monster weather system unofficially dubbed Winter Storm Jonas left at least 20 dead in several states, with most of the fatalities the result of traffic accidents. "Given the physical damage to homes, businesses and other structures and automobiles, plus the high costs incurred due to business interruption, it is...

>WASHINGTON Federal Reserve officials are playing it cool for now, but roughly $2.5 trillion of stock market value wiped out in the past three weeks and a possible consumer pullback could throw the Fed off its course of gradual interest rate hikes.Policymakers continue to argue that the threat...

>Meg Hillier, the Labour party chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, tweeted at the weekend she would call Google, now part of holding company Alphabet Inc, and the UK tax authority to explain the “cosy deal”.Google and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs were not immediately available for comment.Corporate...

>SHANGHAI/BEIJING Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is expected to post its weakest quarterly revenue growth on record, Thomson Reuters data shows, a slowdown analysts say will heat up the battle with smaller rival JD.com Inc in a tougher economy.Alibaba's revenue for the quarter ending December is...

>DHAKA Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, head of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was ordered on Monday to appear in court to answer the charge of sedition, a move her supporters said was driven by politics.The case comes amid rising concerns over the growth of Islamist militancy...

>KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Islamic State is a "very real" threat to the country, hours after a video from the regional wing of IS warned of attacks in the Muslim-majority nation for arresting its supporters.Police said the video, featuring operatives from the militant group Katibah...

>VIENTIANE U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he hoped for "clarity" within 24 to 48 hours on Syrian peace talks that were supposed to have started in Geneva on Monday, and that it was better to delay a few days than to have them crumble at the start.