News Archive - 25 April 2016

>Heavy water is a component of making nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. It is not radioactive. Under last year's landmark nuclear deal between Iran, the United States and five other world powers, Tehran is responsible for reducing its stock of heavy water, which it can sell, dilute or dispose of,...

>"We hope citizens will work together to achieve Saudi Vision 2030," King Salman said in a brief statement carried by state television. Details of the plan were expected to be announced later on Monday. (Reporting by Hadeel al-Sayegh and Angus McDowall; Editing by Andrew Tiorchia)...

>MAKHMOUR, Iraq Towering over his Kurdish partner at a checkpoint in northern Iraq, U.S. volunteer John Cole cuts an unusual figure on the road to the newest front in the war against Islamic State.Seven feet (2.1 meters) tall and holding his assault rifle upside down, Cole is...

>SINGAPORE Crude oil futures rose early on Tuesday, pushed up by a weaker dollar and a flood of new cash into the market, but analysts warned that fundamentals remain weak as a producer race for customers heats up in the Middle East.Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at...

>TOKYO Asian stocks were on the defensive on Tuesday after oil prices eased and as investors braced for central bank policy meetings in the United States and Japan later this week.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.1 percent, while Japan's Nikkei .N225 slipped...

>WASHINGTON U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday described as bizarre the legal process used by companies to challenge competitors' patents as the Supreme Court heard a case involving a vehicle speedometer that alerts drivers if they are driving too quickly.The eight justices heard an appeal filed by...

>Earlier, Cruz's campaign said it had narrowed its running mate options to a short list. Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett Packard, dropped out of the presidential race in February. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Doina Chiacu)...

>Having won control of the legislature last year due to public ire over an economic crisis, the opposition coalition is seeking to remove Maduro via popular pressure, constitutional reform or a recall referendum.However, government-leaning institutions are thwarting it at every turn: the National Election Council is dragging its feet...

>The app, being developed by Facebook's "friend-sharing" team in London, is in its early stages and may never come to fruition, according to the report. (on.wsj.com/24fDRxN) The company is also planning a feature that allows a user to record video through the app to begin live streaming, the...

>DHAKA Suspected Islamist militants hacked to death a leading gay rights activist and a friend in an apartment in the Bangladeshi capital on Monday, police said.The killings took place two days after a university professor was slain in similar fashion on Saturday in an attack claimed by the Islamic...

>John Ridsdel, 68, a former mining executive, was captured by Islamist militants along with three other people in September 2015 while on vacation on a Philippine island.The Philippine army said a severed head was found on a remote island on Monday, five hours after the expiry of a ransom...

>WASHINGTON The U.S. Justice Department on Monday approved Charter Communications Inc's (CHTR.O) proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N) and Bright House networks, which would create the second-largest broadband provider and third-largest video-provider.Following the deal, the merged company will be called New Charter. Under terms,...

>WASHINGTON Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer's super PAC launched a $25 million youth voter drive on Monday in seven political battleground states to help elect candidates that champion climate change policies in November's general election. Steyer's NextGen Climate super PAC, a political group that raises funds to boost candidates with...

>RALEIGH, N.C. Opponents of a North Carolina law that restricts bathroom choices for transgender people said they have nearly 180,000 signatures on petitions demanding its repeal as lawmakers return on Monday for a legislative session receiving national scrutiny.The law's critics said North Carolina's reputation and economy have taken...

>The European Commission will this week seek the green light from national competition agencies for its decision, the people said. Such a move is usually a formality.Hutchison, controlled by Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing, had faced an uphill battle getting EU clearance for its proposed buy of Telefonica's UK...

>MEXICO CITY At first, Mexico's government did its best to ignore Donald Trump. Then it likened him to Adolf Hitler. Now it has appointed a new ambassador to come up with a better plan.Fed up with the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination labeling Mexico as a cradle of...

>The comment contradicted Keiko Fujimori's pledge that no Fujimori would seek the presidency in the next election - part of her ongoing effort to shore up her democratic credentials with voters wary of a return to the authoritarian rule of her father, Alberto Fujimori."The decision is mine," Kenji Fujimori...

>Controversy about Valeant's relationship with a specialty pharmacy and doubts over its acquisitive business model have slashed the drugmaker's market value. Valeant plans to restate 2014 and 2015 earnings and has not yet issued an audited 2015 financial report. Activist investor Bill Ackman, who has lost billions of dollars on...

>HANOVER, Germany U.S. President Barack Obama slipped on on a pair of virtual reality glasses bedecked with plastic googly eyes and mused about someday using the technology to talk with his daughter after she leaves home for college.The display was but one of many stops on a two-hour...

>“We are looking at several options right now, none of which are optimal,” Clapper told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor news organization, though he cautioned the task would be difficult and potentially run afoul of privacy considerations. Clapper’s comments came in response to a letter...

>RIYADH The powerful young prince overseeing Saudi Arabia's economy unveiled ambitious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom's "addiction" to oil and transforming it into a global investment power. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Riyadh would raise the capital of its public investment fund to 7 trillion...

>El-Erian told Reuters: "Fed officials may even be tempted to hike as early this week though this remains a lower probability event." The Federal Open Market Committee is due to meet Tuesday and Wednesday and then next on June 14-15. "Notwithstanding the headwinds from abroad, the Fed is likely...

>WASHINGTON New U.S. single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in March, but the decline was concentrated in the West region, suggesting that the housing market continued to strengthen.The Commerce Department said on Monday new home sales decreased 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000 units.

>U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday as corporate earnings continued to underwhelm and investors stayed away from risky assets a day before the start of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.The central bank's policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady when they meet on Tuesday and Wednesday,...

>He also said he expected Aramco to be valued at more than $2 trillion, and that he wanted it to be transformed into a holding company with an elected board, and then added that subsidiaries of the company would also be sold by IPO. "The 5 percent is from the...

>The most common offence was the simple theft of equipment such as computers, smartphones or tablets, but a fifth of companies surveyed reported that sensitive documents, components or designs had been stolen, while 18 percent said their production had been sabotaged with the aim of damaging or paralyzing it.Such...

>WASHINGTON More than four-fifths of the U.S. Senate have signed a letter urging President Barack Obama to quickly reach an agreement on a new defense aid package for Israel worth more than the current $3 billion per year.Eight-three of the 100 senators signed the letter, led by Republican...

>The company is focusing on its services business, which offers business process outsourcing and document outsourcing, as sales of printers and copiers, its mainstay for over half a century, have fallen for more than four years.Rival printer maker Lexmark International Inc (LXK.N) said last week it agreed to...

>"We therefore are prepared to consider all alternatives to complete this transaction," Gannett Chief Executive Robert Dickey said in a letter to Tribune Publishing's board.Gannett said it had offered $815 million including assumption of $390 million of debt.The offer of $12.25 per share represents a premium of...

>AMSTERDAM Dutch medical equipment and services company Philips (PHG.AS) on Monday said it will likely seek an initial public offering of shares for its lighting division, which, as a standalone company, would be the world's largest lighting maker.Separately, the company published first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes and amortization...

>Nevsun, which owns the Bisha copper-zinc mine in Eritrea, will pay two shares of Nevsun and $0.001 in cash for each Reservoir share, the company said on Sunday.The deal values Reservoir shares at C$9.401 each, representing a 35 percent premium to its last close, based on Nevsun...

>The real estate mogul and reality television personality reacted to the unusual agreement by saying it was "sad" that the two fellow Republicans had to team up to in order to try to defeat him."Collusion is often illegal in many other industries and yet these two Washington insiders have...

>Yemeni and Emirati soldiers seized the seaport on Sunday, depriving the group of the stronghold that has enabled it to amass a fortune during the country's civil war."In its first hours, the operation resulted in killing more than 800 members of al Qaeda and a number of their leaders...

>SWIFT, the global financial network that banks use to transfer billions of dollars every day, warned its customers on Monday that it was aware of "a number of recent cyber incidents" where attackers had sent fraudulent messages over its system.The disclosure came as law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh and...

>DUBAI The International Monetary Fund said it was encouraged by the efforts of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab oil exporters to repair damage to their state finances as low crude prices slash export revenues."I do see in a number of countries action to address the budget deficit," Masood...

>At an early 2015 investor conference, SunEdison’s then-chief financial officer, Brian Wuebbels, trumpeted the profit potential in the solar developer’s relationship with a venture it had recently spun off.SunEdison had established TerraForm Power Inc as a “yieldco,” a complex financing vehicle to purchase energy projects from SunEdison and other...