News Archive - 1 August 2016

>TOKYO Japan's annual defense review on Tuesday expressed "deep concern" over what it sees as China's coercion as a more assertive Beijing flouts international rules when dealing with other nations. Japan's Defence White Paper comes amid heightened tension in Asia less than a month after an arbitration court in the...

>SINGAPORE Oil prices edged up in early trading on Tuesday after U.S. crude broke below $40 per barrel the previous session, but traders said fuel markets continued to be dogged by excess production.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $40.16 a barrel at 0148 GMT...

>SAN FRANCISCO China ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing's dominance of Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] in the China market may provide a play book for other regional rivals to fend off the biggest U.S. ride-hailing company, especially in other Asian countries.The two companies on Monday confirmed the sale of...

>The sources did not say why Brookover was fired. Brookover, who joined the Trump campaign in March, was appointed in June to serve as a liaison between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. Prior to joining Trump, Brookover served as campaign manager to Ben Carson during his failed...

>TOKYO The dollar hovered near three-week lows on Tuesday after soft U.S. economic data undermined the case for an early Federal Reserve rate hike while the Australian dollar braced for the probability of a policy easing later in the day.The dollar index against a basket of six major...

>The Reserve Bank of Australia's policy board will decide on Tuesday whether rates should be left at 1.75 percent or trimmed a quarter point to a new record low, with most analysts predicting the need to combat low inflation and a rising currency will win the argument for more...

>But council head Tibisay Lucena asked for a judicial probe into allegations of some voter identity fraud - a major complaint of the government - and did not name a date for the next phase, which would be to collect 20 percent of signatures. (Reporting by Girish Gupta and Daniel...

>WASHINGTON Wary of a global confrontation with Russia, U.S. President Barack Obama must carefully weigh how to respond to what security experts believe was Moscow's involvement in the hacking of Democratic Party organizations, U.S. officials said.Publicly blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin's intelligence services would bring instant pressure...

>SIRTE, Libya/WASHINGTON U.S. planes bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, responding to the U.N.-backed government's request to help push the militants from their former stronghold of Sirte in what U.S. officials described as the start of a sustained campaign against the extremist group in...

>Trump has said he would not release his returns until the Internal Revenue Service has completed an audit. "Now I’ve got news for him, I'm under audit too and I would be delighted to meet him anyplace, anytime, before the election," said Buffett, the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway...

>HAVANA Cuba said on Monday it was not willing to rush talks with the United States over multibillion-dollar claims and counter-claims and would agree only to an accord that addressed the grievances of both sides.Washington is seeking upward of $10 billion, mainly for properties nationalized in Communist-run Cuba after...

>Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi insisted the government was not abandoning the peace process, but suggested it would only return if the Houthis and a powerful local ally lifted their objections to the UN plan."We've agreed to the initiative ... we are now leaving the territory of the brotherly state of...

>The companies, which last week agreed on the terms of an improved offer by AB InBev, said the new entity would be listed in Brussels on Oct. 11. (Reporting by Pranav Kiran in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)...

>COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The billionaire industrialist Koch brothers rejected pressure over the weekend from dozens of big donors in their sprawling political network to back U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying that their money was better spent trying to influence congressional races.The rejection deprives Trump, a New...

>At the same time, lending standards to households were little changed overall compared to the previous quarter.Most banks said their reasons for more stringent standards in lending to businesses were "a less favorable or more uncertain economic outlook, worsening of industry-specific problems, and reduced tolerance for risk," the survey...

>Research into gene therapy, which aims to insert corrective genes into malfunctioning cells, goes back a quarter of a century but the field has experienced multiple setbacks and been plagued by safety concerns. However, the discovery of better ways to carry replacement genes into cells is building optimism.The U.

>WASHINGTON Decorated war veteran and U.S. Senator John McCain denounced Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday for his attack on the parents of a Muslim U.S. Army officer killed in the Iraq war.The Arizona Republican, a leading voice on military matters in Congress, waded into a...

>A federal judge has thrown out a verdict requiring Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to pay VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC.A) $625.6 million for infringing four patents relating to Internet security technology, causing VirnetX's share price to plunge.VirnetX shares were down $1.93, or 44.6 percent, at $2.

>LONDON Big British banks are lobbying regulators for more time to carve out their retail lending from riskier parts of their business, saying Britain's decision to leave the European Union has made the separation more complex and costly. Lenders are required to complete the so-called ring-fencing of retail operations by...

>The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity slipped 0.6 percentage point to a reading of 52.6 last month. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion in manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the U.S. economy. Manufacturing remains constrained by the...

>Verizon Communications Inc said it will buy GPS vehicle tracking company Fleetmatics Group Plc for about $2.4 billion in cash to expand into the connected vehicle and fleet management market.Verizon, the No. 1 U.S wireless company, will pay $60 per Fleetmatics share, a premium of about 40...

>LONDON The line between pharmaceuticals and technology is blurring as companies join forces to tackle chronic diseases using high-tech devices that combine biology, software and hardware.GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) are the latest to share expertise, unveiling a new joint company on Monday that aims...

>ISTANBUL, Turkey Turkish special forces captured a group of rebel commandos who tried to seize or kill President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup, and a government minister said plotters would "never see God's sun as long as they breathe".Drones and helicopters pinpointed the location of the 11 fugitive...

>The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 13.15 points, or 0.07 percent, to 18,445.39, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.06 points, or -0 percent, to 2,173.54 and the Nasdaq composite .IXIC added 4.08 points, or 0.08 percent, to 5,166.21. (Reporting by Tanya...

>The ministry also said that Washington had not made the accusations through official channels, according to Interfax. (Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Andrew Osborn)...

>Russian air forces are supporting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year-old civil war. Images shared on social media purportedly showed a dead body stripped of his clothes and Russian identity documents taken from the crashed helicopter. The defence ministry said it was an Mi-8 military transport helicopter which had been...

>Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk is also chairman and a major shareholder SolarCity. The combined entity will offer consumers solar panels, home battery storage systems and electric cars under a single brand. SolarCity stockholders will receive 0.110 Tesla common shares per SolarCity share, valuing SolarCity common stock at $25.

>LONDON The latest health check of leading European Union banks failed to end worries about profitability in the sector and the omission of risks such as the effect of negative interest rates and Brexit blunted its impact.The European Banking Authority (EBA) published the outcome of its health check of...

>LONDON GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) life sciences unit are creating a new company focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the body, jump-starting a new field of medicine known as bioelectronics.Verily Life Sciences - known as Google's life sciences unit until last year -...

>SYDNEY Factories in China and Japan - the world's second and third largest economies - saw scant sign of demand recovering in July, with surveys across Asia offering only crumbs of comfort after weak growth readings in the United States and Europe.The fitful global performance was clearly on the...

>Ride-hailing firm Uber is to merge its China operations with bigger rival Didi Chuxing, and hold a one-fifth stake in the new business, in a $35 billion deal to end bruising competition between the two, according to a source familiar with the matter.A deal between the two - which...