News Archive - 29 June 2016

>A deal could be announced as soon as Thursday, the source said, asking not to be named because the matter is private.Lions Gate is planning to pay more than $30 per share in cash and stock for Starz, the person said, adding that a transaction has not been finalized...

>Wal-Mart also said existing ShippingPass holders will get a month free, as the company builds on initiatives it announced earlier this month. The company had announced a slew of programs, including online grocery pick up and a partnership with ride-hailing app Uber to deliver groceries as it looks to boost...

>If the figures are confirmed, the strikes would be among the most deadly in memory against the jihadist group. The officials spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to describe the operation and noted preliminary estimates can change. (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Chris Reese)...

>The reason for putting off the vote could be related to market volatility, Bloomberg said, citing people with knowledge of the matter. bloom.bg/297be0fThe deal was opposed by some of Carmike's biggest shareholders, including Mittleman Brothers LLC, who urged the shareholders to vote against the proposed deal. Another big shareholder...

>HONG KONG Credit Suisse is planning to boost its stake in its Chinese securities joint venture to the maximum permissible 49 percent, which would make it the first foreign bank to take advantage of relaxed Chinese investment rules introduced four years ago, three people with direct knowledge of the matter...

>It could take years to learn how long men infected with Zika are capable of sexually transmitting the virus, which can cause crippling birth defects and other serious neurological disorders.In the meantime, health officials have warned couples to refrain from unprotected sex for six months after a male partner...

>The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court found Nguyen Thi Huong guilty on Wednesday of possessing 36 bars of soap stuffed with 2.8 kg (6 lb) of heroin in her baggage as she was boarding a flight to Australia in December 2014, the Ho Chi Minh City Police newspaper...

>Canon, which agreed in mid-March to buy Toshiba Medical for 665.5 billion yen ($6.5 billion), declined to comment on the matter.The source declined to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to the media.Toshiba, in a hurry to raise cash before closing its books...

>"Since China is a great opportunity, we continue to look into China," Hastings said at a media event in Seoul, without elaborating.Netflix is trying to counter slowing growth in the U.S. with its move in January to launch in 130 new markets worldwide. But the streaming service remains...

>WASHINGTON U.S. free trade agreements since 1984 have had an overall positive effect on trade balances, reducing U.S. trade deficits or boosting surpluses with partner countries by $87.5 billion in 2015, a new government study showed on Wednesday.The study by the U.S. International Trade Commission...

>SINGAPORE Oil prices fell in early trade on Thursday, with Brent futures struggling to defend $50 per barrel as fears over strike outages in Norway faded and as Nigeria's production improved.International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $50.10 per barrel at 0126 GMT, down 51 cents, or...

>NEW YORK/LONDON The value of announced mergers and acquisitions (M&A) worldwide dropped by a third in the second quarter of 2016, as a wave of transactions were abandoned in the wake of concerns over regulatory and tax risks or national security. While 2015 was a record year for M&A, 2016...

>OTTAWA U.S. President Barack Obama is tired of hearing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump described as a populist.The Democratic leader, who has made no secret of his dislike for the wealthy businessman's rhetoric, closed a news conference in Canada on Wednesday with a long riff on what makes...

>BERLIN The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of deliberately displaying the wrong naval signals and interfering with a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea, in the latest salvo about a June incident that both countries blame on each other.Captain Danny Hernandez, spokesman for U.S. European...

>CHICAGO U.S. agriculture groups are pushing for continuing talks with the presumptive Democratic and Republican presidential nominees in an effort to influence their farm policy positions as a slump in crop prices squeezes the sector's profits.Representatives of about a dozen trade associations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation...

>SYDNEY Twenty-two-year-old forklift driver Mitchell Beckwith is living the dream. Or he's living Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's dream anyway.Beckwith, who quit his job in inner Sydney for work closer to his home in the west, is an exemplar of Turnbull's ambitious plan to create 30-minute cities around the...

>CAIRO Investigators have downloaded data from one of the black box flight recorders on EgyptAir Flight MS804 and are preparing to analyze it, bringing them closer discovering what caused the jet to crash, Egypt's investigation committee said on Wednesday.The Airbus A320 plunged into the eastern Mediterranean Sea en route...

>OTTAWA U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he expects the world economy will be steady in the short run after Britain's decision to leave the European Union but expressed concern about longer term global growth.Obama, appearing at a North American summit with the leaders of Canada and...

>CLEVELAND A federal judge on Wednesday authorized a new plan allowing protesters at next month's Republican National Convention in Cleveland to demonstrate in an area that will be readily visible to convention goers.The new plan, approved by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, also cuts in half the...

>NEW YORK/WASHINGTON U.S. bank subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC) yet again failed the Federal Reserve's stress test on Wednesday due to "broad and substantial weaknesses" in their capital planning processes.The Fed gave Morgan Stanley (MS.N) only a conditional pass,...

>CHICAGO Metals company Alcoa Inc said on Wednesday it will spin off its traditional aluminum smelting business as part of its planned company split, with up to 19.9 percent of the new company owned by its business that serves aerospace and transportation industries.The company to be spun off...

>WASHINGTON U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden on Wednesday announced plans as part of the administration's "Cancer Moonshot" initiative, aimed at speeding development of treatments by cutting bureaucracy and easing collaboration between scientists, industry, patients and government.Speaking at a cancer summit at Howard University in Washington, Biden made an...

>On the conflict in Syria, Brennan, who was speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said there will be no way forward on the political front without active Russian cooperation. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Leslie Adler)...

>NEW YORK After years of steady inflows, the rate for retirement contributions by public pension employees has increased and is expected to continue rising, an effect difficult to produce but helped along by the impact of regulatory reforms, analysts say.To combat increasing employer pension costs, U.S. states enacted...

>EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said her team is pressing ahead with talks over the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and is still negotiating on behalf of Britain as a member state, a condition that will continue for perhaps more than two years as London negotiates an exit. "We will...

>WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump fired back at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, saying the nation's largest business association needed to "fight harder" for American workers, after it issued a scathing criticism of his economic platform.The Washington-based lobbying group, which represents the nation's largest corporations...

>The auction is aimed at repurposing low-frequency spectrum relinquished by television broadcasters to wireless companies and other bidders seeking new airwaves to build and improve wireless networks.The so-called "broadcast incentive" spectrum auction is one of the commission's most complex and ambitious to date. "Strong participation from broadcast stations made...

>BEIJING/AMSTERDAM An international court said on Wednesday it would deliver a hotly anticipated ruling in the Philippines' case against China over the South China Sea on July 12, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing, which rejects the tribunal's jurisdiction. The United States, which is a close ally of the Philippines...

>LONDON/BRUSSELS European Union leaders met for the first time without Britain on Wednesday less than a week after it voted to leave, delivering a tough message that London can access the bloc's lucrative single market only if it agrees to allow free movement for EU workers.Last week's shock referendum...

>The BoE said Carney would deliver a speech at 1500 GMT at the Bank and then take questions from journalists.Last week's decision by British voters to leave the EU shocked global financial markets, sending the pound to a 31-year low against the dollar earlier this week and wiping $3...

>NEW YORK Investors in Puerto Rico's debt-burdened economy still face risks of default on some of the island's $70 billion in debt even after the U.S. Congress on Wednesday created a powerful federal oversight board to manage credit restructurings.U.S. President Barack Obama says he will quickly sign...

>Apollo Global's offer of $30.25 per share in cash represents a premium of about 26 percent to Diamond Resorts' closing stock price on Tuesday.The Las Vegas-based company's shares rose to $30.00 in morning trading, just shy of the offer price.The deal follows a series of mergers...

>The briefing will take place one day after three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul's main airport, killing 41 people and wounding 239. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle)...

>BRUSSELS The Belgian data protection authority said on Wednesday it had lost a legal battle with Facebook in which it sought to stop the social network from tracking the online activities of non-Facebook users in Belgium who visit Facebook pages.A spokeswoman for the Belgian Privacy Commission said the Brussels...

>SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc on Wednesday offered a rare glimpse into how it ranks and shows content in its News Feed, part of an effort to provide more transparency about its operations as the social network's cultural and political influence continue to grow.The disclosures, though lacking in detail, are...

>As the U.S. presidential campaign heats up, Facebook Inc is going out of its way to show its neutrality - an increasingly urgent matter for the social network as evidence of its power continues to emerge.Recent studies have shown the site has extraordinary influence. According to research scheduled...

>The United States and South Korea have begun talks on possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system after North Korea tested its fourth nuclear bomb on Jan. 6 and conducted missile tests.China and Russia have urged the United States to back off, saying THAAD's deployment...

>BRUSSELS Hoping to stave off a broader political crisis after Britain's shock decision to leave the EU, European leaders agreed on Wednesday to spend the next nine months developing proposals for an overhaul of the bloc amid deep divisions between its members.Disillusion with the EU has risen sharply following...

>The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday its pending home sales index, based on contracts signed last month, dropped 3.7 percent to 110.8.Economists polled by Reuters forecast pending home sales falling 1.1 percent last month. Contracts usually become sales after a month or two.The...

>Monsanto, which also reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales for the sixth straight quarter, said on Wednesday there was "no formal update on the Bayer proposal," but talks were on for the past several weeks.The U.S. company had not opened its books more than two weeks after rejecting the offer...

>"They have said 'no negotiation, without notification' but I don't think that excludes discussion that a new prime minister can have with partners or indeed with the institutions so that we continue to get off on the right foot," he said.Cameron also said that keeping the United Kingdom together...

>BERLIN/LAGOS When German e-commerce investor Rocket Internet launched Jumia in 2012 as a would-be African Amazon, it was optimistic that a rapidly expanding middle class would quickly shift from street markets to shopping online.Four years on, falling sales for sites like Jumia and slower growth from Nigeria to Russia...

>WASHINGTON U.S. consumer spending rose for a second straight month in May on increased demand for automobiles and other goods, but there are fears Britain's vote to leave the European Union could hurt confidence and prompt households to cut back on consumption.The Commerce Department said on Wednesday consumer...

>Wall Street was set to open higher for the second day on Wednesday as the initial panic surrounding Britain's vote to leave the European Union settled and investors sought bargains among beaten-down stocks.The "Brexit" verdict on Friday sent shockwaves through global markets and wiped out about $3 trillion in...

>Neither the size of the Carlyle's stake nor the purchase price were being disclosed, a Schoen spokesman said. Carlyle declined to comment. People familiar with the deal had said Schoen - which also attracted final offers from CVC [CVC.UL], EQT and a private investor - would likely be valued...

>CIBC said on Wednesday it would pay $47 per share for PrivateBancorp. This represents a premium of about 31 percent, based on the closing price of the two companies stocks on Tuesday. (Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)...

>The SFC said the censures were linked to the role of the units in a partial offer for China Resources Beer (CRB) and the privatization of Power Assets Holdings Ltd.The regulator said the Bank of America units failed to disclose their dealings in equity swaps in both the CRB...

>ETE said it provided written notice terminating the deal due to failure of conditions under the merger agreement, including company counsel Latham's inability to deliver the required tax opinion.Energy Transfer Equity has argued the deal cannot close because its lawyers at Latham & Watkins were unable to declare that...

>BRUSSELS The European Commission rolled out the red carpet for Scotland's first minister on Wednesday, hours after outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron told an EU summit his country would be leaving the European Union following last week's referendum.A spokeswoman for the EU executive said Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker...

>Record high employment, rising real wages and ultra-low borrowing costs are boosting the spending power of Germans, making domestic demand the most important growth driver.The GfK consumer sentiment indicator, based on a survey of some 2,000 Germans, rose to 10.1 going into July, from 9.8 a month...

>The automaker on Wednesday said it was recalling 2.87 million cars over a possible fault in emissions control units. That followed an announcement late on Tuesday that 1.43 million cars needed repairs over a separate issue involving air bag inflators.Some of the automaker's gasoline-electric hybrid Prius models...