News Archive - 21 February 2016

>HOUSTON This week, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi will for the first time face the victims of his decision to keep oil pumps flowing despite a global glut: U.S. shale oil producers struggling to survive the worst price crash in years.While soaring U.S. shale output brought on...

>NEW YORK Wireless provider AT&T Inc said on Monday it will partner with chipmaker Intel Corp to test the functionality of drones on its high-speed LTE wireless network.AT&T will work with Intel to examine the efficiency of drones on its LTE network at higher altitudes and potential interference with...

>WILMINGTON, Del. Within weeks, two low-profile legal disputes may determine whether an unprecedented wave of bankruptcies expected to hit U.S. oil and gas producers this year will imperil the $500 billion pipeline sector as well.In the two court fights, U.S. energy producers are trying to use Chapter...

>NEW YORK At JPMorgan Chase & Co's (JPM.N) annual investor day on Tuesday, one big question will be at the top of attendees' minds: How can the bank keep a tight lid on costs without hurting its ability to grow revenue? JPMorgan's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, and at least...

>BARCELONA Smartphone rivals Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) unveiled their latest flagship devices on Sunday, seeking to revive sales momentum and buck slowing industry growth.Phone makers face another tough year in 2016 as subdued global growth and persisting currency weakness in key...

>The Markit/Nikkei Flash Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 50.2 in February on a seasonally adjusted basis from a final 52.3 in January.But it remained above the 50 threshold that separates contraction from expansion for the 10th consecutive month.The sub-index for new export orders...

>BEIJING Industrial overcapacity in China has got much worse since 2009, with Beijing struggling to implement reforms and overcome the resistance of growth-obsessed local governments, a European business lobby said on Monday. China's central government has identified overcapacity and the closure of debt-ridden "zombie" firms as one of its key...

>Last month, AT&T said it expects its overall capital expenditure in 2016 to total $22 billion. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the company said revenue in its business solutions unit fell 2.7 percent from a year ago to $18.2 billion, driven in part by lower equipment revenue...

>SINGAPORE Oil prices partly recovered on Monday following steep losses in the previous session, supported by a fall in the number of U.S. production rigs in use, but analysts said general oversupply was keeping the market weak.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were trading at...

>LONDON Revenue at the world's 12 largest investment banks from trading fixed income, currencies and commodities, known as FICC, fell 9 percent in 2015 compared with a year before, a survey showed on Monday, dragged down by regulatory changes and retrenchment.Eight years after the global financial crash, banks are...

>SYDNEY Asian share markets got off to a cautious start on Monday as investors await a rush of February industry surveys to take the pulse of the global economy, while sterling suffered on concerns the UK might yet vote to leave the European Union.A busy week for data culminates...

>NEW YORK U.S. Catholics voiced support for Pope Francis on Sunday after he criticized Donald Trump's immigration stance as "not Christian," but many interviewed by Reuters said the controversy would not necessarily sour them on the Republican presidential contender.The pontiff injected himself into the U.S. campaign during...

>SYDNEY Sterling fell in Asia early on Monday as concern grew that Britain would quit the European Union, after London Mayor Boris Johnson threw his weight behind the exit campaign. The dollar, euro and yen were little changed.The pound fell around 1 percent against the dollar, euro and yen.

>TOKYO The vast majority of Japanese firms are planning only modest pay raises this year, a Reuters poll showed, as murky growth prospects and turbulent markets push them to resist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's calls for robust hikes.The Reuters Corporate Survey found 84 percent of firms expect increases of...

>State Department spokesman John Kirby made the comment in response to a Wall Street Journal report that the White House secretly agreed to peace talks just before Pyongyang's latest nuclear bomb test.The newspaper, citing U.S. officials familiar with the events, said the Obama administration dropped its condition that...

>The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, dated Feb. 19, said Vivendi bought shares equivalent to 1.4 percent of Telecom Italia's ordinary capital last week, both on the market and through off-market transactions.hereThe move comes as speculation mounts in the Italian press that Vivendi may...

>WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has for months rained withering ridicule on onetime party favorite Jeb Bush, on Sunday refused to take responsibility for the former Florida governor's exit from the 2016 White House race."I just don't know what did him in," Trump, who won South Carolina's...

>WASHINGTON Marco Rubio emerged from a razor-thin second-place finish in South Carolina's presidential primary on Sunday with the Republican field narrowed and his target clear: Donald Trump.Rubio squeaked by rival and U.S. Senate colleague Ted Cruz in a vote on Saturday that cemented the appeal of firebrand outsider...

>BARCELONA Mobile equipment maker Nokia sees the shift to the next generation of 5G wireless networks kicking off well ahead of 2020, the year when many in the industry consider mass-market upgrades will begin, its chief executive said on Sunday.Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said the company plans to pick...

>Some victims of the San Bernardino attack will file a legal brief in support of the U.S. government's attempt to force Apple Inc to unlock the encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters, a lawyer representing the victims said on Sunday.Stephen Larson, a former federal judge who...

>BENGHAZI, Libya Military forces loyal to Libya's eastern government said on Sunday they had pushed back Islamist fighters in several areas of Benghazi, seizing the strategic port of Marisa.The Libyan National Army said it had also taken control of the town of Ajdabiya, about 150 km (90 miles) south...

>AMMAN/BEIRUT U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday he and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had reached a provisional agreement on terms of a cessation of hostilities in Syria and the sides were closer to a ceasefire than ever before.Meanwhile, violence continued to rage in Syria.

>A modular smartphone is made out of separate components, which enables users to replace or upgrade certain functions independently.In the G5 smartphone, LG has added the B&O sound system and a 135 degree wide angle lens to lure customers less keen to upgrade to devices only marginally better than...

>CHARLESTON, S.C. As the presidential field winnows after Donald Trump’s commanding victory in South Carolina's nominating contest, U.S. Republican voters face a choice that grows starker by the day.Do they back the rage-infused, turn-back-the-clock tone of Trump, or perhaps his conservative, evangelical rival, Ted Cruz? Or do...

>Ali said it had not been damaged and there were no concerns about radiation from the material, the loss of which raised concerns it could be used as a weapon if acquired by Islamic State militants.Reuters reported last week the material had been stolen in November from a storage...

>His comments were made as the Syrian opposition said it had agreed to the "possibility" of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus's allies including Russia would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide. [L8N15Z0EL]"We have said that we are ready to stop military operations,...

>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently in talks with Volkswagen with the aim of agreeing on a fix for nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles that emit up to 40 times legal pollution limits.The paper, which gave no source for its report, said the EPA was asking VW to...

>FRANKFURT It doesn't look like much, but a boxy wooden vintage Swedish footstool isn't just a place to rest your weary feet after cross-country skiing. It is the latest competition to hedge funds or high end real estate. And that means it will cost you $17,000.A global glut of...

>HONG KONG/BEIJING From listening posts to jet fighter deployments and now surface-to-air missiles, China's expanding facilities in the Paracel Islands are a signal of long-term plans to strengthen its military reach across the disputed South China Sea.Diplomats and security experts in contact with Chinese military strategists say Beijing's moves...

>SYDNEY Downed power lines and flooding are hampering relief efforts in Fiji after one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere tore through the Pacific island nation, flattening remote villages and killing at least five people.Harsh winds and torrential rains tore up homes and cut power,...

>At least 100 others were wounded by the explosions in the city center's Zahra district, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.State television put the death toll at 14 people with 29 wounded. Pro-Damascus channel al-Ikhbariya showed footage of damaged shop fronts, debris littering the streets, wounded people...

>PARIS Distracted by an unresolved migration crisis and negotiations on keeping Britain in the European Union, euro zone leaders could be caught unprepared by a new storm on financial markets.Global market turmoil since the start of the year has helped set warning lights flashing in euro zone sovereign bond...