News Archive - 9 December 2016

>A U.S. judge in Wisconsin on Friday rejected a request by President-elect Donald Trump supporters to stop a recount of election votes while the Michigan Supreme Court denied an appeal by Green Party candidate Jill Stein to restart the state's recount.The results of the Nov. 8 election have...

>Citing U.S. officials briefed on the matter, the Post said intelligence agencies had identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including the chairman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, to WikiLeaks.The officials described the individuals...

>WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump's Energy Department transition team sent the agency a memo this week asking for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers, alarming employees and advisors.The memo sent to the Energy Department on Tuesday and seen...

>SEOUL South Korea's prime minister sought to calm anxiety over national security and to reassure financial markets on Saturday, a day after parliament voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye, making him acting leader.Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who assumed presidential authority late on Friday after the overwhelming impeachment vote, and...

>NEW YORK The Beechwood group of reinsurance companies is in talks to sell most or all of itself after a backlash from some clients due to its relationship with troubled hedge fund manager Platinum Partners, according to a person familiar with the situation."The very good news is that Beechwood...

>WASHINGTON Aetna Inc's (AET.N) chief executive denied on Friday that its withdrawal from some Obamacare exchanges was in retaliation for government efforts to halt its merger with Humana Inc (HUM.N), as he sought to convince a federal judge to approve the deal. The U.S. Justice Department sued...

>WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate was preparing to pass a government spending bill on Friday evening after Democrats from coal states announced they would not risk a government shutdown by continuing to delay the vote.Many government services and operations would have been closed or suspended starting at midnight if...

>WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump is stacking his trade transition team with veterans of the U.S. steel industry's battles with China, signaling a potentially more aggressive approach to U.S. complaints of unfair Chinese subsidies for its exports and barriers to imports.Led by Wilbur Ross, a billionaire steel investor...

>NEW YORK Arista Networks Inc used rival Cisco Systems Inc's network device technology in its ethernet switches without permission, a U.S. trade judge ruled on Friday, handing Cisco yet another win in a sprawling legal battle over patents between the two companies.The judge, MaryJoan McNamara of the U.

>NEW YORK Next week's Federal Reserve meeting and possible signals on the pace of rate hikes for next year could pose the biggest risk yet to the rally the U.S. stock market has seen since last month's presidential election.While investors have long anticipated the Fed will raise rates...

>Giuliani's withdrawal from consideration came after Trump made clear that he was broadening his search for a secretary of state beyond the four finalists transition aides had identified: Giuliani, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former CIA head David Petraeus and Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee.In recent days, Trump has...

>WASHINGTON/PARIS Key U.S. allies in Europe are quietly expressing concern over President-elect Donald Trump's approach to Syria, warning that his pledge to work more closely with Russia, Damascus' main backer, will do little to diminish the terrorist threat emanating from Syria.The diplomatic persuasion campaign has taken on new...

>WASHINGTON U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a climate-change skeptic and an advocate for expanded oil and gas development, to run the Interior Department, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.The appointment could mean easier access for industry...

>WASHINGTON U.S.-led coalition planes destroyed 168 Islamic State oil tanker trucks in Syria, the coalition said on Friday, in the largest strike of its kind and the latest instance of what U.S. officials say has been a successful effort to starve the militant group of revenues.The...

>"We'll renegotiate our trade deals, stop the product dumping and the currency manipulation which is a disaster for our country," Trump said at a rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. "Every time we get going, China and others, they just knock the hell out of the value of their currency and...

>MEXICO CITY Donald Trump's threats to battle Mexico over trade, investment and jobs have pushed a growing number of companies operating in the country to put expansion plans on hold until the president-elect fleshes out his policies, business leaders have told Reuters since the Nov. 8 election.Pledging to recast...

>Japanese electronic parts maker TDK Corp is in talks to acquire InvenSense Inc, a U.S. chip maker that produces motion sensors for Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.The deal would allow TDK, already a major smartphone components supplier, to boost...

>OTTAWA U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday he doubted whether Donald Trump could undo much of the current administration's record on the environment because so many green policies have firmly taken hold.Trump, who will take over as president on Jan. 20, has said he does not...

>The smartphone maker said that more than 93 percent of all recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices had been returned as a part of its exchange program in the United States. bit.ly/2glcQtGThe U.S. Transportation Department and other agencies in October ordered Galaxy Note 7 owners from carrying the devices...

>WASHINGTON One of Donald Trump's possible picks for secretary of state said on Friday that the president-elect's criticisms of China and phone call with Taiwan's president could signal a "different" relationship with Beijing and a tougher line on issues from trade to the South China Sea.In a speech on...

>BAGHDAD Iraqi forces captured a neighborhood in east Mosul on Friday, pushing deeper to the heart of Islamic State's Iraq stronghold and destroying three sites where it produced car bombs used in waves of suicide attacks, the campaign's commander said.Lieutenant-General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah said Counter Terrorism Service forces...

>LONDON In a year of political shocks, the unexpected strength of the global economy going into 2017 may be the most enduring surprise for financial markets.Despite all the electoral upsets - Donald Trump's U.S. presidential victory plus referendums in Britain and Italy that have pushed both countries into...

>NEW YORK/LONDON Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) has proposed buying the 61 percent of British pay-TV firm Sky Plc SKY.L it does not already own for around $14 billion, five years after a political scandal scuppered a previous bid. The plan is conditionally backed by Sky's...

>Cohn, president and chief operating officer at the Wall Street firm, had been widely considered the heir apparent to Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein. (Reporting by Tim Ahmann; Editing by Jason Lange)...

>MOSCOW Rosneft said on Friday it has enough oil to fulfil new contracts with Swiss trader Glencore as markets gear up for a fierce battle between some of the world's largest merchants for supplies from the Russian company.Moscow said this week that a consortium of Glencore and Qatar would...

>LONDON Web-based digital currency bitcoin hit its highest levels in almost three years on Friday, extending gains since India sparked a cash shortage by removing high-denomination bank notes from circulation a month ago. Bitcoin was trading as high as $774 on the New York-based itBit exchange, up almost 1 percent...

>WASHINGTON U.S. President Barack Obama ordered intelligence agencies to review cyber attacks and foreign intervention into the 2016 election and deliver a report before he leaves office on Jan. 20, homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco said on Friday.Monaco told reporters the results of the report would be shared...

>TUNIS Islamic State has lost senior figures in an unsuccessful seven-month battle to defend its coastal stronghold in Libya, but there are already signs it will try to fight back through sleeper cells and desert brigades.Libyan officials say hundreds of Islamic State militants may have escaped before the start...

>PARIS Just how fast the Federal Reserve hikes rates next year will be the all-important question global investors will be hoping to get answered when the U.S. central bank meets next week.But Fed policymakers are likely to leave them guessing until the Trump administration clarifies its tax cutting...

>The Commerce Department said on Friday that wholesale inventories decreased 0.4 percent after rising 0.1 percent in September. The department reported last month that wholesale inventories declined 0.4 percent in October. The component of wholesale inventories that goes into the calculation of GDP - wholesale stocks excluding...

>Representatives for Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, could not be immediately reached for comment on the meeting. Trump had also been scheduled on Friday to meet with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia, a Democrat. (Reporting by Melissa Fares; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Nick Zieminski)...

>The sanctions include restrictions access to international financing, and curbs on defence and energy cooperation with Russia, which annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Kiev in March, 2014, and went on to back a rebellion in east Ukraine.The conflict in Ukraine's industrial east is still simmering and...

>Kent, 64, will continue as chairman, the company said.Quincey, 51, joined Coca-Cola in 1996 and became chief operating officer in August 2015.His appointment as CEO was given a vote of confidence by Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), which is Coca Cola's largest shareholder. "I...

>Much of the ECB staff's preparation centered on a six month extension of its bond buying program at a steady pace of 80 billion euros per month but ECB President Mario Draghi recognized that the proposal did not have a majority so he pushed for a compromise deal, the sources...

>NEW YORK/WASHINGTON Michigan Republican Party Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel has emerged as the consensus favorite to head the party with President-elect Donald Trump headed to Michigan on Friday as part of his post-election "thank you" tour.The Republican National Committee will soon have a vacancy at the top of the...

>PARIS Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA), the world's second-largest spirits group, has agreed to buy a majority stake in Smooth Ambler Spirits, the U.S. maker of Old Scout bourbon and Greenbrier gin, further strengthening its portfolio of premium craft spirits.The purchase, for an undisclosed sum, follows the acquisition earlier...

>WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats plan to fight some of President-elect Donald Trump's choices for top administration jobs, but history and the party's minority status in the chamber are not on their side.A simple majority of 51 votes is needed in the 100-member Senate to confirm nominations. Louisiana will...

>BUCHAREST When Romania's leftist government collapsed a year ago amid outrage over a deadly nightclub fire, many people spied an opportunity for sweeping change in a country plagued by corruption and inept public services.But after the upswelling of public anger over the deaths of 64 people in the Club...

>U.S. stock index futures edged up on Friday, indicating that investors were still eager to buy into the post-election rally that has propelled a host of Wall Street indexes to record highs.The "Trump rally" has been running for the past month as investors bet President-elect Donald Trump's policies...

>SINGAPORE/TOKYO/DUBAI Saudi Arabia has told its U.S. and European customers it will reduce oil deliveries from January as Russia signaled that a commitment from non-OPEC producers to join OPEC's output limits still faced challenges. Saudi Arabia told the customers about lower supplies in line with the output reduction agreed...

>WASHINGTON Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump's pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has fought President Barack Obama’s measures to curb climate change at every turn as attorney general of Oklahoma. Now he is hoping to take apart Obama's environmental legacy from the inside out, a task that could...

>WARSAW, Indiana/WASHINGTON When Donald Trump takes over as president on Jan. 20, one of the first business tax breaks he delivers is likely to go to the U.S. medical device industry and companies like Mark Throdahl's.The chief executive of OrthoPediatrics Corp, based in northern Indiana, said his company...

>Police say 2,004 people have been killed by officers in self-defence during anti-drug operations since the president took office on July 1. Another 3,060 killings have been classified as "under investigation".Senators said while they had found no clear proof that the rising number of extrajudicial killings was state-sponsored, they...

>The survey published on Friday showed average public inflation expectations over the next 12 months rose to 2.8 percent in November from 2.2 percent in the previous survey in August.Taking a five-year view, Britons expected inflation of 3.1 percent, slightly higher than the 3.0 percent...

>Russia has committed to reduce its output by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of 2017 in an effort to boost oil prices. Other non-OPEC countries are being urged to cut by a similar amount in total. OPEC, which produces a third of global oil, pledged on...

>HONG KONG Chinese photo app and mobile phone maker Meitu Inc is set to raise $630 million after pricing its Hong Kong initial public offering at the bottom of expectations, a person with direct knowledge of the deal said on Friday.Meitu, known for its apps that let users retouch...

>"As unpleasant as the decision to block the transaction is, the past few weeks have also had a positive side. Our technology's high relevance has been confirmed," Martin Goetzeler told German daily Handelsblatt in an interview published on Friday.China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund dropped its 670 million-euro ($712...

>Mallya, a flamboyant former billionaire who made his fortune from a liquor and beer empire, moved to Britain in March after being pursued in courts by banks that his now defunct Kingfisher airline owed around $1.4 billion."Legion will find you, hack you, expose you," read one of several...

>Trading between the yuan and currencies including the Norwegian krone, Mexican peso and Turkish lira will begin on Dec. 12, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) said in a statement on its website. (Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Sam Holmes)...

>"Helicopters, warplanes and rocket bombardment like every day. Nothing has changed," a Turkish-based official with the Jabha Shamiya rebel group told Reuters, describing the situation as of 9:30 a.m. on Friday.The official added that despite the bombardment, "the guys are steadfast".Syrian government and allied forces have in...

>PIDIE JAYA, Indonesia Indonesian officials said on Friday search and rescue operations were nearing an end three days after a powerful earthquake hit the northern province of Aceh, killing 100 people and leaving thousands homeless.Wednesday's 6.5 magnitude earthquake, which toppled dozens of buildings and injured hundreds of people,...

>"The experts at the Department of Treasury that are responsible for constructing and enforcing the sanctions regime will carefully look at a transaction like this," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Thursday."They'll look at the terms of the deal and evaluate what impact sanctions would have on...

>BAGRAM, Afghanistan U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Friday, amid questions about what President-elect Donald Trump's foreign policy will mean for the country as it faces a renewed Taliban-led insurgency.Carter will meet U.S. troops and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani while in...

>LONDON Large banks in Britain want the UK government to allow their industry to remain subject to EU laws for up to five years after Brexit, a move likely to enrage eurosceptics who want to break away from the bloc's legal system as soon as possible. The banks - international...

>TOKYO Oil prices extended gains on Friday on optimism that non-OPEC producers would agree to cut output following a cartel agreement to limit production, but the upside was limited amid uncertainty over the size of the production curbs.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet non-OPEC nations...