News Archive - 8 September 2016

>LONDON Iran's steep oil output growth has stalled in the past three months, new data showed, suggesting Tehran might be struggling to fulfill its plans to raise production to new highs while demanding to be excluded from any OPEC deals on supply curbs.Iran's oil output soared to 3.64...

>U.S., European and Chinese seismological agencies reported that the tremor was recorded at 0030 GMT at surface level. A South Korean government official said it was a suspected nuclear test, Yonhap reported, and Seoul called for an emergency National Security Council meeting.The China Earthquake Networks Center said...

>KANSAS CITY, Mo. U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton reflected on her religious faith on Thursday during the first of a series of speeches her campaign said would focus on her values and vision rather than those of Republican opponent Donald Trump.The shift comes as opinion polls tighten...

>The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.3 percent in August from a year earlier, compared with a 1.8 percent increase in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. That was the slowest pace of inflation since October 2015. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 1.

>TOKYO Asian shares slipped and global bonds came under pressure on Friday after the European Central Bank left markets in the dark on what future easing steps it may take, while oil prices jumped on an unexpected drawdown in U.S. stockpile.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .

>WASHINGTON Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s U.S. military buildup plan would cost hundreds of billions of dollars - but with no apparent strategy, defense experts from across the political spectrum said on Thursday.“I haven’t seen any kind of strategy,” said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security...

>The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rival currencies, was down 0.1 percent at 94.920 .DXY, poised to slip 1 percent for the week. On Thursday, it plumbed a two-week low of 94.465, before rebounding after crude oil inventory data. Against...

>London Brent crude for November delivery LCOc1 was down 36 cents at $49.63 a barrel by 0023 GMT. It settled up $2.01, or 4.2 percent, at $49.99 on Thursday after touching a near two-week high of $50.14 earlier.NYMEX crude for October delivery CLc1 was...

>Four private equity firms have formed a consortium to bid on a data center business that CenturyLink Inc (CTL.N), a U.S. provider of phone and internet services, is hoping to divest for more than $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said this week.The move illustrates...

> New Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade said the budget also forecast the local peso trading on average around 18.2 per dollar next year. The budget also forecasts a primary surplus of 0.4 percent of GDP in 2017 - the first such surplus since 2008. (Reporting by Jean...

>NEW YORK A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent testified on Thursday that a probe of two nephews of Venezuela's first lady began after a drug trafficker cooperating with authorities told him of a meeting arranged by her brother, a top police official.The agent testified in Manhattan federal court...

>Mirae Asset did not, however, disclose details such as the financial terms of its bid. PCA Life last year posted a net profit of 28.8 billion won ($26.23 million). ($1 = 1,097.7900 South Korean won) (Reporting by Se Young Lee, editing by G Crosse)...

>Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday asked a U.S. judge to allow it to pay cargo handlers to remove its goods from Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd's vessels stationed near U.S. ports after the failure of the world's seventh-largest container carrier.Around $14 billion of cargo has been tied...

>Online rental marketplace Airbnb will address reports of widespread racial discrimination against non-white guests by displaying photos less prominently on its website, promoting instant bookings and changing some of its technology, according to a report commissioned by the company.The report, released on Thursday, followed months of criticism of Airbnb,...

>BOUSSY-SAINT-ANTOINE/PARIS Three women arrested on Thursday in connection with a car laden with gas cylinders found abandoned near Paris's Notre Dame cathedral were likely planning an imminent attack, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.The minister said one of the women had stabbed a police officer during the arrest before...

>CHICAGO Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG.N) has agreed to financial settlements with more than 100 customers who fell ill after eating at its restaurants last year, lawyers for the consumers said, as it attempts to move on from a string of food-safety problems.The burrito chain's strategy of resolving claims...

>Most of the job cuts will be in the United States, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. (bloom.bg/2c8Q5V4) The layoffs will be mainly in supply chain, marketing and general and administrative divisions, Bloomberg said, adding that the combined company has 140,000 employees. "As is common...

>CLEVELAND Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday said he was against the Iraq war all along despite telling radio interviewer Howard Stern in 2002 that he favored it.Trump used the start of a speech about education at a charter school in Cleveland to push back at Democratic rival...

>WASHINGTON The White House on Thursday named a retired U.S. Air Force general as the government’s first federal cyber security chief, a position announced eight months ago that is intended to improve defenses against hackers.Gregory Touhill's job will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyber...

>Reuters reported in August that Enterprise had approached Williams earlier in the summer about a possible deal to combine the two U.S. oil and gas pipeline companies, but Williams made no official response to the approach. "While we are disappointed, we will maintain our financial discipline as we pursue...

>If regulators determined that the financial system was threatened they could call for more bank reserves - known as the “countercyclical capital buffer.” On Thursday the Fed promised not to move abruptly but to give leading banks ample time to sock away more capital if such a measure was...

>A Syrian foreign ministry statement said Damascus was ready to cooperate with a team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) currently in Syria and looking into incidents Damascus blames on "terror groups and their foreign operatives".A joint investigation by the United Nations and the chemical...

>VIENNA Iran has kept to a nuclear deal it agreed with six world powers last year limiting its stockpiles of substances that could be used to make atomic weapons, a report by the U.N. nuclear agency found.The confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seen by...

>The case brought by a former chief financial services ombudsman alleges the payments company set unlawfully high fees charged to stores when shoppers swipe their debit or credit cards that were passed on to consumers in higher prices.Mastercard was accused of doing this for 16 years between 1992 and...

>Wells Fargo will pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers that regulators say were pushed into fee-generating accounts that they never requested, officials said on Thursday."Wells Fargo reached these agreements consistent with our commitment to customers and in the interest of putting this matter behind us,"...

>LONDON Liberty Media's takeover of Formula One promises a long-term strategy for the cash-rich sport with a sharper focus on new media markets and another attempt to expand in North America.The deal, valued at $8 billion including debt, gives an American media and telecoms business effective control of a...

>Discovery Communications (DISCA.O) said on Thursday that it has renewed its distribution deal with AT&T DirectTV (T.N).Under the agreement, Discovery's networks, which include Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, will be available on all of AT&T DirecTV's platforms, including its upcoming DirectTV Now streaming service scheduled to launch...

>BRUSSELS The European Union is set to extend some security rules currently only applicable to telecom operators to web services such as WhatsApp (FB.O), Skype (MSFT.O) and Apple Inc's FaceTime (AAPL.O), according to a draft proposal seen by Reuters.The European Commission, the EU executive, will unveil...

>The companies are considering using former Delaware Chancellor William Chandler as their mediator, according to court filings. However, he is not available until the end of the month, and Alere wants to start the process immediately.In a lawsuit filed in Delaware's Court of Chancery in August, Alere accused Abbott...

>QAYYARA AIRBASE, Iraq The U.S.-led war on Islamic State has depleted the group's funds, leadership and foreign fighters, but the biggest battle yet is expected later this year in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his "caliphate" two years ago.The jihadist insurgents have...

>LONDON Britain's finance minister Philip Hammond warned other European Union countries they would be making a "huge mistake" if they tried to break up London's dominance as a global financial center after the country leaves the bloc.In a sign of tense negotiations that lie ahead as Britain tries to...

>With the addition of Foxconn, Didi's roster of investors is increasingly a who's who of global tech giants, including the likes of Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] and Chinese firms Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK), Alibaba Group Ltd (BABA.N) and Baidu Inc (BIDU.O).The...

>WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton chastised Republican rival Donald Trump on Thursday for talking about things he learned in classified intelligence briefings, calling it "totally inappropriate and undisciplined."Speaking to reporters the morning after a New York security forum featuring separate appearances by the...

>"Thus far, we can confirm from the car's logs that Autopilot was not engaged at any time during the drive cycle and that, consistent with the damage that was observed after the vehicle struck the tree, the vehicle was being driven at more than 155 kilometers an hour," a Tesla...

>LONDON An increasingly competitive European airline market could soon bring consolidation and possibly European low-cost carriers providing local connecting services or "feeder" flights for full-service long-haul airlines, the CEOs of easyJet (EZJ.L) and IAG (ICAG.L) said on Thursday. Low fuel prices have led to a big growth in...

>SAN FRANCISCO Alphabet Inc's Google said on Thursday it is acquiring cloud software company Apigee Corp in a deal valued at about $625 million, the tech giant’s latest effort to claim a greater share of the lucrative cloud business.San Jose-based Apigee's software helps companies' digital services interact with apps...

> No specific time for the conference was provided. Clinton, criticized in the past for not being accessible to media, has already spoken to reporters twice on her campaign plane this week as the campaign heads into the final months before the Nov. 8 presidential election. (Reporting by Jeff Mason;...

>SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc (AAPL.O) will not release first-weekend sales of the newly announced iPhone 7, the company said on Thursday, reducing analysts' early visibility into the product amid questions over whether its popularity has peaked.The company decided to stop the practice because the number of phones sold...

>JERUSALEM Soviet-era documents show that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas worked in the 1980s for the KGB, the now-defunct intelligence agency where Russian leader Vladimir Putin once served, Israeli researchers said on Thursday. The Palestinian government denied that Abbas, who received a PhD in Moscow in 1982, had been a Soviet...

>VIENTIANE Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday defended his country's human rights record at a regional summit in Laos, urging East Asian leaders and the United States to help Manila eradicate the scourge of illicit drugs.Duterte swept to power in May on promises to wipe out crime and corruption...

>LONDON The Bank of England will not "stifle" innovation in financial technology with new rules as it seeks to get to grips with its impact, a senior central bank official said on Thursday. Victoria Cleland, the BoE's Chief Cashier, said a priority for the central bank this year was devising...

>TOKYO Takata Corp (7312.T) will take initial bids from seven potential rescuers on Sept. 19, as the Japanese air bag maker at the heart of the auto industry's biggest-ever global recall fights for survival, two people with direct knowledge of the process said.Potential investors, including Japanese chemical maker...

>The gaffe came during an MSNBC interview about the Syrian crisis and the ongoing battle in that country's biggest city, Aleppo, which has been divided for years into government and rebel sectors."What would you do, if you were elected, about Aleppo," Johnson was asked. "About Aleppo. And what is...

> The ECB cut its 2017 growth forecast to 1.6 percent from 1.7 percent seen in June, to account for risks including the expected effect of Britain's decision to leave the European Union, ECB President Mario Draghi said. Inflation has undershot the ECB's target for more than three...

>If sustained, the advance would reverse nearly all the gains rebels made in a sudden push last month, tighten the blockade over rebel-held eastern Aleppo and ease access for the army into government-held western districts through the city's south. The battle for Aleppo has become the focus both for President...

>WASHINGTON The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength even as the pace of job growth is slowing. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended Sept.3, the lowest level...

>Vivendi in July backed away from a deal to buy Mediaset's pay-TV unit Premium, saying its analysis of premium's financial forecasts differed from those provided by the Italian group. [nL8N1AE8Z9] Mediaset is suing Vivendi for damages. On Wednesday the Italian company also sent a letter to the French regulator AMF...

>BERLIN German economic growth will nearly halve in 2017 as Brexit and other risks hit exporters, the DIW institute said on Thursday, although it predicted a pick up to 1.9 percent this year due to strong domestic demand.The subdued outlook followed a string of economic data which painted...

>U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday as investors awaited weekly jobless claims data and a European Central Bank decision that may hint at more monetary stimulus.* Nearly all analysts polled by Reuters expect ECB rates to remain unchanged, though there is speculation that President Mario...

>DUBAI/RIYADH The Saudi Arabian government has ended talks aimed at saving construction giant Saudi Oger, which is now facing the prospect of a multi-billion-dollar debt restructuring to stave off collapse, according to sources aware of the matter.Oger, owned by the family of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, was...

>The discovery last Saturday night of the Peugeot 607 loaded with seven gas cylinders, six of them full, triggered an inquiry by counter-terrorism experts in a country where more than 200 people have died in attacks over the past year and a half. Police sources said on Tuesday that no...

> The president was speaking in Vientiane, Laos, where he attended two regional summits, his last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of U.S. foreign policy. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Nick Macfie)...

>The EU competition enforcer in April accused the U.S. technology giant of harming consumers because of its demand that mobile phone makers pre-install Google Search and the Google Chrome browser on their smartphones to access other Google apps. Google was initially given until July 27 to respond to the...

>SYDNEY Three Australian airlines have banned passengers from using or charging Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 7 smartphones during flights due to concerns over the phone's fire-prone batteries.Qantas, its budget unit Jetstar and Virgin Australia said they had not been directed to ban the use of the phone by aviation...

>VIENTIANE Asian leaders played down tensions over the South China Sea in a carefully worded summit statement on Thursday, but even before it was issued Beijing voiced frustration with countries outside the region "interfering" in tussles over the strategic waterway.The heads of 10 Southeast Asian nations, as well as...

>Militants had fought their way to within a few hundred meters of the governor's compound and police headquarters while gun battles spread in the provincial capital of Tarin Kot, a city of about 70,000 people, said provincial police chief Wais Samim.The militant offensive, and the apparent government collapse in...

>Zoopla's positive update matched the confident outlooks from British house builders Barratt Developments and Redrow in recent days. Housing market strength was also apparent in data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors which said on Thursday that its monthly house price index jumped to +12 in August from July's...