News Archive - 26 February 2016

>Under its July deal with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, Iran is allowed to have 130 tonnes of heavy water, a moderator in reactors like the one it has disabled at Arak and a chemical it produces itself."On 17 February, the agency verified that Iran’s...

>VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. Senior U.S. defense officials voiced concern about North Korea's nuclear ambitions on Friday as they toured American missile defense sites a day after watching the military test-fire its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a week.Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Admiral Cecil Haney,...

>SHANGHAI The world's top economies are set to declare on Saturday that they need to look beyond ultra-low interest rates and printing money if the global economy is to shake off its torpor, while promising a new focus on structural reform to spark activity.A draft of the communique to...

>BRASILIA Brazil's government and Samarco Mineracao SA [SAMNE.UL] will announce on Monday the settlement of a lawsuit for damages caused by a deadly dam spill at a mine in November, Brazilian Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams told Reuters on Friday. Officials and executives met on Friday to finalize the...

>MONTREAL/WASHINGTON A proposed Canadian government bailout of Bombardier Inc's (BBDb.TO) new CSeries jet manufacturing program would reduce the company's stake in the money-losing aircraft, taking it off the plane maker's books and boosting results in the short-term, two sources familiar with the matter said.The federal government is considering...

>NEW YORK The political alliance sealed on Friday between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was more than a decade in the making, the culmination of the two men's repeatedly crossing paths.Christie, a former rival for the Republican nomination for president, endorsed Trump at...

>Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) Chief Executive David Cote was sporting the casual jeans and sweater he often likes to wear in the office when he was visited by his then-counterpart at United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) in 2012, Louis Chenevert.With Honeywell's stock trading at around $55, Chenevert had...

>BEIRUT Fighting appeared to stop across most areas of western Syria on Saturday after a cessation of hostilities came into effect under a U.S.-Russian plan which warring sides in the five-year conflict have committed to.A monitoring group and the United Nations reported only isolated fire in western...

>Smith's Starboard Value has threatened to run a proxy contest raising pressure on the company's board to remove Mayer.But in his remarks on Friday at the MIT Sloan Investment Conference, he did not tip his hand any further on what the firm plans to do with Yahoo, saying only...

>The tax agency said 295,000 taxpayer transcripts were also targeted but access was not successful. (1.usa.gov/1Lj1iRA)The agency said in May the tax return information of about 114,000 U.S. taxpayers had been illegally accessed by cyber criminals over the preceding four months, with another 111,000 unsuccessful attempts made.

>NEW YORK Investors hoping that U.S. stocks will build on a strong two-week run will look to a host of data next week, highlighted by the monthly jobs report, for signs the economy is improving. With a lackluster earnings season winding down, it will take some solid macroeconomic data...

>"If he wanted to support me, I probably would not accept his support," Trump told a rally of supporters. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Writing by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)...

>"We concluded that a combination would be blocked outright or, even if it were possible to complete a transaction, the regulatory delay, required divestitures, and customer concerns and concessions would ultimately destroy shareholder value far beyond any synergies," United Technologies (UTX.N) said in a regulatory filing. "It would be...

>WASHINGTON Making a final push toward the crucial Super Tuesday vote, Super PACs backing Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz bought $2.4 million in advertising supporting him in eight states, the groups told Reuters. The ads purchased by Keep The Promise and its various offshoots include radio, television and online...

>FORT WORTH, Texas Republican candidate Donald Trump on Friday won the surprise endorsement of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the most prominent mainstream Republican to get behind the former reality TV star's White House campaign.Christie said the billionaire businessman had the best chance of beating Democrat Hillary Clinton in...

>ATHENS/IDOMENI Greece moved to slow the flow of migrants from its islands to the mainland on Friday as thousands of homeless refugees were trapped in the country by border limits imposed along a Balkan route to richer nations in northern Europe.From its northern frontier with Macedonia to its port...

>Financial and economic shocks from abroad could lead the Federal Reserve to keep U.S. interest rates lower than many observers expect, according to a Fed policymaker who also issued a call for more global coordination by central banks and governments.The comments by Fed Governor Lael Brainard on Friday...

>As concerns mount that growth in sales of iPhones may have peaked, major U.S. growth mutual funds have been among the largest sellers of Apple shares over the past six months or so, fueling speculation that the company’s days of supercharged growth have come to an end.In January,...

>A U.S. appeals court on Friday overturned a $120 million jury verdict against Samsung, finally handing the South Korean smartphone maker a significant win in its longstanding patent feud with top rival Apple.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., said...

>BARCELONA Apple Inc's stance on privacy in the face of a U.S. government demand to unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino attackers has raised awkward questions for the world's mobile network operators. Top executives at this week's global telecom industry gathering in Barcelona admit they...

>GRACANICA, Bosnia Dozens of breakaway Muslim community groups in Bosnia face shutdown by police for rejecting the authority of the moderate national Islamic organization and radicalizing young men who have left to join Islamist insurgents in Syria, officials said.Most of Bosnia's Muslims, known also as Bosniaks, are moderates well...

>John Williams, president of the San Francisco Fed and one of three policymakers charged with shaping the central bank's communications strategy, made his comments in response to critique of forward guidance presented by leading Wall Street economists at a forum on U.S. monetary policy in New York. The economists...

>NEW YORK The Federal Reserve, facing the delicate task of explaining how it will forge ahead with rate hikes in a stormy world economy, should avoid slipping back into the trap of tying its actions to calendar dates, top U.S. economists warned in a paper on Friday.The research...

>The loan is expected to be finalized next month, one of the people told the Journal. (on.wsj.com/21mefBf)Alibaba declined to comment. The company has been picking up stakes and buying companies in China and abroad.Alibaba has also been expanding in other areas such as online video and local...

>In a series of television interviews, the U.S. senator from Florida said working-class voters are being fooled by Trump's lofty promises, despite his own string of lawsuits and the bankruptcies of Trump-related companies."We are not going to turn over the conservative movement to a con artist who is...

>Wall Street was higher on Friday morning after data showed that a slowdown in U.S. economic growth was not as bad as expected.Gross domestic product increased at a 1 percent annual rate instead of the previously reported 0.7 percent pace. The economy grew at a rate of...

>WASHINGTON U.S. consumer spending rose solidly in January and underlying inflation picked up by the most in four years, keeping Federal Reserve interest rate increases on the table this year.The upbeat data on Friday added to reports on manufacturing and employment that have suggested economic growth picked up...

>LONDON A $20 billion non-recourse loan that forms part of the financing backing China National Chemical Corp’s SFr43bn (US $43.45 billion) acquisition of Swiss seeds and pesticides company Syngenta (SYNN.VX) launched into syndication on Thursday, ChemChina confirmed in a press release.The financing is being arranged by global...

>"Most say that the room for additional monetary measures has become very limited," Schaeuble said during a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in Shanghai. He added there was a broad consensus among policy makers that governments had to create better conditions for investment and this would be...

>LONDON Europe's biggest financial exchanges said on Friday their proposed merger is effectively bullet-proofed against a British vote on European Union membership.London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) and Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) have set up a committee to advise on the implications of the UK's June 23 "Brexit" vote, but...

>SEOUL/BARCELONA From a remote-controlled robot camera to a sonar-enabled smartwatch to locate fish to reel in, smartphone makers are launching new devices and services in a bid to drive sales for their handsets and set themselves apart in a crowded field. Waning global demand for smartphones, especially in key markets...

>SEOUL From inspecting visiting North Korean ships to paring back coal imports, the burden of enforcing new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang falls mainly on China, which wants to punish its ally for nuclear violations without squeezing it to the point of crisis.After nearly two months of negotiations between...

>The "cessation of hostilities" agreement is due to take effect at midnight (2200 GMT on Friday).The government has agreed to the plan. The main opposition alliance, which has deep reservations about the terms, has said it is ready for a two-week truce to test the intentions of the government...

>Lew was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a G20 meeting of central bankers and finance ministers being held in Shanghai."It is increasingly important to use all the levers of policy that are available, and that means using fiscal levers as well as monetary policy and structural reforms,"...

>Delta Lloyd is facing a crucial shareholder vote on March. 16 as it seeks to win support for a 650 million euro ($719 million) share issue. (Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by David Goodman)...

> (Reporting by Denis Dyomkin; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Dmitry Solovyov)...

>U.S.-based Westmont Hospitality Group and U.S. investment firm Varde Partners have also placed a joint bid to acquire Ascendas, which has a market value of about $610 million, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the talks remained confidential.Blackstone, Ascendas Hospitality and Varde declined...

>WASHINGTON U.S. Republicans in Washington are coming to grips with what many of them not long ago considered an unimaginable reality: Donald Trump is likely to be their presidential nominee and standard-bearer.The prospect of Trump winning the Republican primary had been the stuff of Washington jokes, whispered hallway...