News Archive - 8 December 2016

On Monday, Iranian media outlets quoted Telecommunications Ministry officials that channels on social networks with more than 5000 members will soon have to obtain license.   “Given the fact that people should be able to trust news published in these channels, it has been decided that those with a...

>The TPP, which aims to cut trade barriers in some of Asia's fastest-growing economies but does not include China, can not take effect without the United States. The deal, which has been five years in the making, requires ratification by at least six countries accounting for 85 percent of the...

>GRAND RAPIDS, Mich./WASHINGTON When President-elect Donald Trump returns to this factory town on Friday for a victory celebration, he will find a region that is already experiencing the manufacturing renaissance he promised on the campaign trail.With local factories employing more workers than any time since the late 1990s,...

>WASHINGTON/NEW YORK U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pumped a total of $66 million of his own money into his campaign - far from the $100 million he frequently boasted he was going to spend, according to campaign finance disclosures filed on Thursday night.Trump-related business industries - those bearing his...

>BEIJING European and U.S. government and trade officials say they have been lobbying hard against a draft Chinese regulation on food imports, worried it would hamper billions of dollars of shipments to the world's No.2 economy of everything from pasta to coffee and biscuits.The rule, part of...

>DES MOINES, Iowa President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States needed to improve its relationship with China, which he criticized for its economic policies and failure to rein in North Korea."One of the most important relationships we must improve, and we have to improve, is our relationship...

>TOKYO/SYDNEY Asian shares flatlined on Friday but were on track for robust weekly gains, while the euro caught its breath after sliding when the European Central Bank trimmed the size of its asset purchase program and also extended it for longer than many had expected.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific...

>The company said the deal is expected to close during the first half of 2017. (Reporting by Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru)...

>WASHINGTON The U.S. derivatives regulator will move on from reforms created in the wake of the 2007-09 financial crisis to a new focus on U.S. competitiveness and the potential for shocks to the global $710 trillion swaps markets under President-elect Donald Trump.J. Christopher Giancarlo, in line to...

>MANILA When Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, the man dubbed "Trump of the East", told U.S. businesses to pack their bags if they didn't like his anti-American rhetoric, the huge and growing outsourcing industry got a little nervous.It's now the real Donald Trump who has businesses worried here, after...

>Sue Gross, who has featured in many of her husband's widely followed investment outlook letters, filed a petition on Nov. 22 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.She is represented by celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, according to the court document. Wasser could not be immediately reached for comment. Seth...

>TOKYO The dollar held large gains against the yen and euro early on Friday, given a lift after the common currency slumped overnight following the European Central Bank's decision to extend its debt-buying programme even as it cut the amount of purchases.The ECB said Thursday it would reduce its...

Trump’s new foreign policy-in-making will feature several points of coincidences of interests as well as clashing interests with Iran.

Son-in-law of a key Principlist figure had to step down after his American citizenship was seen as an abrogation of the Iranian law.

Iran and its two main allies, Russia and China, are rapidly expanding military cooperation. Observers say this fortifies Iran’s status in the Trump era.

Imports are good, depending on who runs the country and who it is bought from.

Hassan Bayadi, former supporter of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and ex-member of Tehran City Council gives his analyses of 2017 presidential elections in Iran.

The list of commonalities between the two countries is a long one: leading the Non-Aligned Movement, confronting the US interventionism and resistance against decades of coercive sanctions.

Tehran and Washington may have sealed a nuclear agreement under a Democrat president, but many in Tehran view Republicans as a choice of lesser evil.

A train collision with 45 casualties and heavy-handed remarks has once again renewed efforts to impeach Minister of Housing and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi.

A war of words over the extension of Iran sanction shows how unresolved subtleties within the nuclear agreement are threatening its termination.

With US Congress’ unanimous vote to extend Iran Sanctions Act, Kayhan’s editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari discredits pro-nuclear deal politicians, and proposes dismantling of the JCPOA as well as replacing those in charge of the government.

With Mike Flynn and Jim Mattis in Trump’s administration, troubled waters await to slam the ship of US-Iran diplomacy. By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

The majority of observers have viewed OPEC’s recent agreement to cut output while maintaining Iran’s exemption as a victory for Iran. Not surprisingly, reactions in Iran are widely divided.

>Shares of Time closed up 8 percent at $17.75 on Thursday. They touched more than a year high of $17.95 on the WSJ report.Time, like many publishers, has been hit by a decline in print ad sales as advertisers spend more on other media and readers increasingly...

>WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump is receiving an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, far fewer than most of his recent predecessors.Although they are not required to, presidents-elect have in the past generally welcomed the opportunity to receive the...

>U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice met with Chinese State Councilor Guo Shengkun to discuss the importance "of fully adhering" to an anti-hacking accord signed last year between the China and the United States, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said.The deal, brokered during Chinese President Xi Jinping's...

>The note adds that cuts will be to varying degrees, but is likely to be larger to North America due to lower margins. Last week, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to scale back output, its first cut since 2008. (Reporting by Catherine Ngai; Editing by...

>SKHIRAT, Morocco France's Orange (ORAN.PA) would consider bidding for Vivendi(VIV.PA)'s pay-TV Canal Plus if it came up for sale, Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard said on Thursday.The former telecoms monopoly is keen on forming a closer alliance with Canal Plus, Richard added, without elaborating.His comments come...

>On Nov. 4, the New York Federal Reserve said it was working jointly with the OFR on three benchmark rates based primarily on interest rates on tri-party repos.One of these repo rates could serve as a possible replacement for the London Interbank Offered rate, or Libor, which is a...

>The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed last month to cut production by 1.2 million bpd, but has been working to convince non-OPEC members, including Russia, to reduce output as well. "You have to cut production," he said at a Platts conference in New York. "This decision is...

>Canada is a member of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, including the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.Michael Doucet, executive director of the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), said Canada did not want information derived from torture."They may have a new administration that thinks torture is...

>LONDON/DUBAI Only five of 14 non-OPEC oil producers have agreed so far to meet the group on Saturday for talks aimed at widening a deal to reduce output, casting doubt on whether OPEC will secure the full cuts it is seeking, two OPEC sources said.The Organization of the Petroleum...

>WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump will name fast-food executive Andy Puzder to head the U.S. Department of Labor, according to a source familiar with the matter, in an appointment likely to antagonize organized labor. Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc [APOLOT.UL], which operates the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's...

>WASHINGTON The outgoing chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that reforms made by the agency after the financial crisis are indispensable to investors and markets and should not be undone."Less than a decade ago, this country experienced the worst financial crisis in recent...

>ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT The Syrian army's advance in Aleppo slowed on Thursday but a victory was still firmly in sight after President Bashar al-Assad vowed that retaking the nation's second city would change the course of the six-year civil war in his favor.Lightning gains in recent days in which government...

>DHAKA A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the cyber-heist of $81 million from its central bank in February found five officials at the bank were guilty of negligence and carelessness, the head of the panel told Reuters on Thursday.In his first detailed comments on the inquiry since a report was...

>The announcement that KKR-controlled Acceleratio Capital NV would offer 43.50 euros ($46.77) per share in cash for all outstanding GfK shares sent shares in the German company surging 30 percent.GfK Verein, GfK's majority shareholder with 56.46 percent, will keep its stake and has signed a shareholder...

>The S-band satellite had been scheduled to launch with technology billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX but Inmarsat said setbacks to SpaceX's launch schedule prompted it to turn to Arianespace instead.Inmarsat said on Thursday that European-owned Arianespace will launch the S-band satellite in mid-2017.SpaceX has been forced to delay December...

>BAGHDAD Iraqi troops who seized a hospital deep inside Mosul believed to be used as an Islamic State military base have retreated after a fierce counter-attack, giving up some of their biggest gains in a hard-fought seven-week campaign to recapture the city.The soldiers seized Salam hospital, less than a...

>Wall Street's post-election rally showed no signs of fatigue as the three major indexes hit all-time highs on Thursday. Donald Trump's election as U.S. president last month sparked euphoria on Wall Street, with investors chasing stocks that are likely to gain from his proposals to spend more on infrastructure...

>FRANKFURT The European Central Bank caught financial markets off-guard on Thursday by announcing it would trim asset buys from April next year, even as it reserved the right to increase purchases again if the euro zone's recovery faltered.The ECB said it would cut monthly purchases to 60 billion euros...

>WASHINGTON The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell from a five-month high last week, pointing to labor strength that underscores the economy's sustained momentum.A tight labor market together with signs of a strengthening economy and steadily rising inflation will likely push the Federal Reserve to hike interest...

>Russia said on Wednesday it had sold a 19.5 percent government stake in Rosneft for 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Glencore.Glencore said it would finance part of the deal by putting up 300 million euros of its own equity, with...

>The choice, which enraged environmental activists and cheered the oil industry, signals that the Republican president-elect plans to move ahead with his promise to cut back regulation and free up drilling and coal mining, in a likely reversal of Democratic President Barack Obama's environmental agenda."For too long, the Environmental...

>WASHINGTON The chances that the federal government could hand off the U.S. air traffic control system to private management are increasing, say advocates who report they are getting supportive feedback from President-elect Donald Trump and his team.U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, who chairs the House of Representatives Transportation...

>"We see aggressive and increased cyber spying and cyber operations that could potentially endanger German government officials, members of parliament and employees of democratic parties," Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the domestic BfV intelligence agency, said in statement.Maassen, who raised similar concerns about Russian efforts to interfere in German elections...

>MAKHMUR, Iraq Wearing a camouflage cap over her headscarf, Miaad al-Jubbouri cuts an unusual figure among the hundreds of men fighting to retake a village from Islamic State in northern Iraq.The mother of five was the sole woman among a joint force of Iraqi army and tribal militias who...

>Aixtron announced on Thursday that China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund had dropped its 670 million euro ($710.60 million) takeover offer to buy the company, after the United States blocked the deal on security grounds. "The U.S., in the name of national security, frequently departs from market...

>FRANKFURT Technical trade secrets were stolen from ThyssenKrupp AG (TKAG.DE) in cyber attacks earlier this year, the steelmaker said on Thursday."ThyssenKrupp has become the target of a massive cyber attack," the German company said in a statement.In attacks discovered in April and traced back to February, hackers...

>SYDNEY/HONG KONG Vietnam has begun dredging work on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, satellite imagery shows, the latest move by the Communist state to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway.Activity visible on Ladd Reef in the Spratly Islands could anger Hanoi's main South China Sea...

>The company said in October it was cutting about a fifth of its Swedish workforce and hundreds of consultants as it grappled with shrinking markets and competition from China's Huawei [HWT.UL] and Finland's Nokia (NOKIA.HE).There has been some speculation among analysts and staff at Ericsson about whether...

>Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the 18-year-old Palestinian had got off a bus at a main West Bank junction and appeared suspicious to border policemen stationed there. "The suspect did not heed their call to stop, continued to move in their direction and at one point whipped out a knife...

>Passenger ships remained docked at ports, city transport was disrupted and local administration offices shut down as workers joined the 24-hour nationwide walkout called by the country's largest private and public sector unions, GSEE and ADEDY."The burden we carry is already unbearable," said GSEE in a statement, calling lenders'...

>TOKYO Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday it was in the interest of the United States to remain committed to a multilateral nuclear treaty.The U.S. Senate voted last week to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for 10 years, and Iran vowed to retaliate, saying...

>SEOUL South Korean President Park Geun-hye, engulfed in an influence-peddling scandal, faces a historic impeachment vote in parliament on Friday that could see her become the country's first democratically elected leader to be ousted from office.Parliament is expected to vote in favor of impeachment, with support from some members...

>After two years of hunkering down, struggling U.S. oilfield service providers are preparing for an expected oil-price recovery in an unexpected way: filing for bankruptcy.Companies that drill wells, haul water and provide other services to energy exploration firms have been waiting out a slump in oil prices by...