News Archive - 16 November 2016

A number of observers have noted that Donald Trump’s presidency will likely render hardliners in Iran more powerful. Speculations are already under way in Iranian moderate and pro-reform media outlets that Trump might serve as a unifying factor in the long divided Principlist camp still unable to reach consensus...

>WASHINGTON Defeated Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for a renewed fight for a more-inclusive United States despite disappointment over an election loss that laid bare national divisions.In her first public remarks since conceding to Republican Donald Trump last week, Clinton said that many Americans were asking...

>WASHINGTON/TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that he wants to build a relationship of trust when he meets U.S. President-elect Donald Trump this week, stressing that the two-way alliance is the core of Tokyo's diplomacy and security.Abe, set to meet Trump later on Thursday in...

>WASHINGTON China and the United States must avoid being overly suspicious of each other's strategic intentions, China's ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday while looking ahead to the Presidency of Donald Trump.Trump lambasted China throughout the U.S. election campaign, drumming up headlines with his pledges to...

>HOUSTON Private rocket launch service SpaceX is requesting government approval to operate a massive satellite network that would provide high-speed, global internet coverage, according to newly filed documents with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.The California-based company, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, has proposed an orbiting...

>The strategic cooperation agreement, signed with the Shaanxi government on Wednesday, follows the announcement by Wanda on Friday of a similar $14.7 billion project in the southern province of Hunan.The Shaanxi investment included a 50 billion yuan Wanda City - usually comprised of theme parks, shopping malls, hotels...

>Assange, who enraged Washington by publishing a flood of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, fled to the embassy for fear that Sweden could end up sending him on to the United States where he could face prison for leaking U.S. secrets."If we can obtain guarantees that Mr. Assange...

>SINGAPORE Crude oil futures dropped on Thursday after official inventory reports indicated a larger-than-expected build in U.S. oil stocks.Crude inventories in the United States rose by 5.3 million barrels in the week to Nov. 11, compared with expectations for an increase of 1.5 million barrels.The...

>The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major rival currencies, retreated 0.2 percent to 100.260 .DXY, after climbing as high as 100.57 on Wednesday, its loftiest peak since April 2003. The dollar also slipped 0.2 percent against the yen to 108.86 yen JPY=...

>WASHINGTON U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Wednesday offered a heartfelt defense of the Financial Stability Oversight Council made up of the heads of the major regulatory agencies, which is often criticized by Republicans and could be under threat next year.The council was created to respond to threats...

>PHILADELPHIA The Federal Reserve must retain its independence from America's political life and policymakers will not change course due to shifts in public opinion, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said on Wednesday.Republican Donald Trump's victory in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election has raised questions over whether the...

>"No administration is ready on day one. We weren't ready on day one," Biden told reporters. "But I'm confident on day one everything will be in good hands." Biden met with Pence and his wife at the vice president's residence in Washington for about two hours. He said he...

>NEW YORK Carl Icahn, the activist investor who owns over $1.2 billion worth of Herbalife (HLF.N) shares, said the stock is cheap, especially now that the cloud of a government investigation has lifted, and that the company will create a lot of jobs."It is undervalued," Icahn, the...

>BARCELONA Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) is 'not in the mood' to sell T-Mobile US (TMUS.O), its chief executive said on Wednesday, although it is watching for any change in the U.S. regulatory environment under Donald Trump's administration.Deutsche Telekom, which owns 65 percent of T-Mobile US, has twice...

>NEW YORK Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is now the leading candidate to become President-elect Donald Trump's secretary of state, but even some Republicans say his tough-guy personality and global business ties may be at odds with international diplomacy.Giuliani, 72, has been one of Trump's most vocal...

>The accounts suspended by Twitter, which has been criticized for not stopping abusive behavior on its platform, include that of Richard Spencer, who has said he wants blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews removed from the United States, the newspaper reported on Wednesday. (usat.ly/2fXyXDo)The alt-right movement came to the fore...

>BARCELONA Pioneering computer mouse maker Logitech (LOGN.S) isn't ready to walk away from the personal computer business just yet, even though its chief executive spends all his time these days thinking how to expand into faster-growing accessory markets.Bracken Darrell, the company's design-minded president and CEO, has devoted his...

>The chief executive of Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google and the European Union's antitrust chief will meet on Friday, following the U.S. technology group's formal rejection this month of a spate of charges, including blocking rivals in online search advertising.Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai will meet in Brussels...

>CHICAGO The Chicago City Council on Wednesday approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's fiscal 2017 budget which calls for a tax on plastic bags and the first phase of hiring more than 900 police officers.The council voted 48-0 for the budget which begins on Jan. 1.Emanuel last month unveiled his...

>Senate Republicans also met and voted to keep Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as their majority leader.Schumer, 65, of New York, replaces the retiring Harry Reid as the top Democrat in the Senate as the party prepares to deal with Republican President-elect Donald Trump and Republican majorities in both the...

>Other tech is also recovering after investors rotated away from the sector and into banks and materials companies expected to benefit under TrumpS&P 500 information technology sector index up 0.62 pct, in second straight day of gains. Index is still down more 1.2 pct since Trump won the...

>WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump used his Twitter account on Wednesday to denounce reports of problems in his transition team, singling out the New York Times for saying world leaders have had trouble getting in touch with him.Trump, whose aggressive use of Twitter against rivals was a key element of...

>Inaugurating her campaign headquarters for France's 2017 election, just less than two km (one mile) away from the Elysee presidential palace, Le Pen said the premises were "a stopover on the way to (her) final destination down the road."Anti-Europe and anti-immigration, the 48-year-old Le Pen was the only French...

>GUATEMALA CITY/SAN SALVADOR Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have agreed to join forces and seek support from Mexico to forge a joint strategy in response to Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidency, El Salvador's foreign minister told Reuters on Wednesday. Trump's election upset has sent shockwaves through Mexico and...

>U.S. crude oil inventories rose more than expected last week on increased imports and a build at the storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.Crude inventories USOILC=ECI rose for the third consecutive week, increasing 5.3 million barrels in week ended...

>Obama, who described Merkel ahead of the visit as his "closest international partner", will dine with the chancellor at Berlin's famous Adlon hotel directly next to the landmark Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday evening.The two leaders, who together tackled the global financial crisis, promoted free trade and forged an international...

>However a charge of that size and nature would not hurt the amount of capital that Citigroup reports to regulators under rules designed to ensure the soundness of banks, CFO John Gerspach said at an investor conference. (Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)...

>In its annual report to the U.S. Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said on Wednesday the Chinese Communist Party has used state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as the primary economic tool to advance and achieve its national security objectives. "The Commission recommends Congress amend the statute...

>SAN FRANCISCO The investment arm of Koch Industries, the industrial conglomerate of the billionaire Koch brothers, is spending more than $2 billion to take a significant stake in enterprise software provider Infor, the companies said on Wednesday. The transaction marks the largest investment for Koch Equity Development LLC, the subsidiary...

>Two months after Facebook Inc (FB.O) admitted it had inflated the average time it told advertisers that users were watching their video ads, the company is promising better data to give ad buyers a clearer picture of how they are spending their money. The world's biggest online social network...

>LONDON Negotiations over Britain's departure from the European Union are very complex and are going to take longer than the scheduled two years, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Wednesday.Britain has said it will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of March next year, starting...

>NEW YORK President-elect Donald Trump will last no more than four years in the White House, a period when corporations and Wall Street will retain the upper hand over the struggling workers who helped elect him in a populist wave, bond manager Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group Inc (JNS.

>PARIS Emmanuel Macron launched his bid for the French presidency on Wednesday, a move likely to take votes from mainstream candidates in a tight race that promises a strong turnout for far-right leader Marine Le Pen and humiliation for the left.The former investment banker, who until August was Socialist...

>The Labor Department said on Wednesday that the unchanged reading in its producer price index for final demand last month followed a 0.3 percent increase in September. In the 12 months through October, the PPI increased 0.8 percent, the biggest gain since December 2014. That followed a 0.

>Output for September was revised to show a 0.2 percent decline in output rather than a 0.1 percent increase.Economists polled by Reuters had forecast industrial production rising 0.2 percent in October. Manufacturing output rose 0.2 percent in October after rising by a similar margin in...

>WUZHEN, China Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for greater cooperation among nations in developing and governing the internet, while reiterating the need to respect so-called "cyber sovereignty".Speaking at an internet conference in Wuzhen, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, Xi and propaganda chief Liu Yunshan signaled a...

>MOSUL, Iraq Emboldened by machinegun fire on Islamic State snipers along Mosul's frontlines, a few residents are emerging from their homes in pockets of the city where Iraqi forces have dislodged the jihadists.In al-Zahraa in eastern Mosul, shopkeepers swept away broken glass and neighbors were starting to interact again,...

>Uber [UBER.UL] operates in Taiwan as an internet-based technology platform rather than a transportation company, which Taiwanese authorities have said is a mis-representation of its service and has ordered it to pay back taxes.However, Uber has said it is communicating with Taiwan authorities and complies with local regulations.

>ERBIL, Iraq A few weeks ago, a person inside Mosul began to send text messages to Iraqi military intelligence in Baghdad.Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, "has become intemperate," said the early November message, written by an informant inside the city who has contact with the group...

>LONDON/DOHA OPEC officials are working to nail down details of their plan to limit oil supply and gaps over some sticking points are narrowing, OPEC sources said, a sign of progress in finalizing the exporter group's first such deal since 2008. OPEC agreed in Algeria on Sept. 28 to limit...

>U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Wednesday, a day after the Dow ended higher for the seventh day in a row following Donald Trump's election win.* Trump's plans to cut taxes and raise infrastructure spending would boost economic activity, while his proposals to deport illegal immigrants and...

>The move came after the EU competition enforcer expressed concerns about the deal at a meeting with Microsoft executives.The Commission, which will rule on the deal by December 6, did not provide details. It is expected to seek feedback from rivals and customers before deciding whether to accept the...

>MARRAKESH, Morocco U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hoped his presence at a Marrakesh conference to decide the finer points of an historic climate agreement would be a victory lap, capping off a year of negotiations that resulted in global agreements to stave off the worst effects of climate...

>"You would have to have a surprise at this point," for the Fed not to increase rates, Bullard told reporters at a UBS banking conference in London. He said the only reason to hold off would be the kind of big shocks that caused it to pull back in the...

>LONDON The International Energy Agency expects global oil consumption to peak no sooner than 2040, leaving its long-term forecasts for supply and demand unchanged despite the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement entering into force.The Paris accord to cut harmful emissions seeks to wean the world economy off fossil fuels...