News Archive - 22 December 2016

“One of my dreams has come true,” Hassan Rouhani said in an address before the unveiling of the Charter of Citizens’ Rights.   Ordinary people, opponents of Rouhani and even his advocates however, did not share his view. Many complained that charter had gathered together a series of rights...

>LOS ANGELES A federal judge declared a mistrial on Thursday in the obstruction of justice case against former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, ruling that jurors were hopelessly deadlocked, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said.Baca, aged 74 and suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's...

>SINGAPORE Oil prices slipped on Friday in thin Asian trade ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, eroding some of the gains in the previous session as traders took profits.Brent futures LCOc1 for February delivery dropped 23 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $54.82 a barrel as...

>The agreement is less than the $14 billion the United States asked Deutsche Bank to pay in September to settle the claims. That negotiating figure caused Deutsche Bank's stock to plummet and raised questions about the bank's stability and the risks it poses to the financial system.Under the settlement,...

>Navarro is an academic and one-time investment adviser who has authored books such as "Death by China: How America Lost its Manufacturing Base". The book was made into a documentary film about Beijing's desire to become the dominant economic and military power in Asia."That individuals such as Navarro who...

>SINGAPORE Asian stocks stepped back in subdued trade on Friday as Wall Street took a breather from its relentless rise since the U.S. election, while the dollar hovered below the 14-year high set earlier this week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS, which touched a five-month...

>CHICAGO CBOE Holdings Inc (CBOE.O) Chairman Bill Brodsky will step down after two decades leading the board when the exchange operator closes a planned $3.2 billion deal for Bats Global Markets Inc (BATS.Z), CBOE said on Thursday.Chief Executive Ed Tilly will replace him as chairman.Brodsky's...

>SYDNEY It was hard to find a pulse in the currency market on Friday as dealers bedded down for the Christmas holidays, though the mood remains bullish for more dollar gains in the New Year as yield spreads widen in its favour.The dollar was dozing at 117.55 yen...

>The video, obtained exclusively by Reuters, was taken by a taxi driver who was waiting for customers just outside the Christmas market at the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church.In the video, the truck is seen speeding from left to right into Breitscheidplatz, where the Christmas market is at the foot...

>SAN FRANCISCO Uber Technologies Inc on Thursday removed its self-driving test cars from California and put them on trucks bound for Arizona, shuttering the autonomous vehicle project in its home state after a week-long battle with regulators.The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday revoked the registration of 16...

>WASHINGTON Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden "has had and continues to have contact" with Russian intelligence services, according to a newly declassified U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee report released on Thursday.The Pentagon found 13 undisclosed "high risk" security issues caused by Snowden's release to media...

>Acting EPA Assistant Administrator Janet McCabe informed the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes most major automakers in the U.S. market, in a letter dated Thursday. The auto manufacturers group had also requested that the EPA withdraw its plans to finalize the new standards. The denial of the auto...

>WASHINGTON A federal judge said on Thursday that Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) has reached an agreement in principle to provide "substantial compensation" to the owners of about 80,000 3.0-liter polluting diesel vehicles, a key hurdle to resolve the German automaker's emissions scandal.U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer did...

>NEW YORK The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued Barclays Plc (BARC.L) for fraud in the sale of mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.The British bank deceived investors about the quality of loans underlying tens of billions of dollars of mortgage securities between...

>WASHINGTON The Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer will serve as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's press secretary in the White House when he takes office next month, Trump announced on Thursday.To round out his communications team, the president-elect appointed loyalists from his upstart presidential campaign. Hope Hicks, Trump's...

>Nokia Corp had said on Wednesday it was suing Apple, accusing the iPhone maker of violating 32 technology patents. It said on Thursday it had now filed 40 patents suits in 11 countries. Nokia shares were down nearly 5 percent at 4.496 euros on Thursday as analysts warned a...

>NEW DELHI India criticized Moody's ratings methods and pushed aggressively for an upgrade, documents reviewed by Reuters show, but the U.S.-based agency declined to budge citing concerns over the country's debt levels and fragile banks.Winning a better credit rating on India's sovereign debt would have been a...

>During the next decade, U.S. ballistic missile submarines, bombers, and land-based missiles - the three legs of the nuclear triad - are expected to reach the end of their useful lives.Maintaining and modernizing the arsenal is expected to cost at about $1 trillion dollars over 30 years, according...

>WASHINGTON U.S. antitrust enforcers are poised to approve health care company Abbott Laboratories' (ABT.N) purchase of medical device maker St. Jude Medical Inc (STJ.N), two sources knowledgeable about the deal said on Thursday. Approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission could come as soon as this...

>The latest fourth-quarter GDP estimate was lower than the 2.6 percent growth rate calculated on Dec. 16, the Atlanta Fed said on its website. (Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)...

>VILNIUS The Baltic state of Lithuania, on the frontline of growing tensions between the West and Russia, says the Kremlin is responsible for cyber attacks that have hit government computers over the last two years.The head of cyber security told Reuters three cases of Russian spyware on its government...

>GENEVA/AMMAN A senior United Nations official warned on Thursday that thousands of people evacuated from rebel-held areas of Aleppo after a crushing government offensive could suffer the same fate in their new place of refuge outside the city.U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said a cessation of hostilities...

>UNITED NATIONS/JERUSALEM Egypt postponed a U.N. Security Council vote on Thursday on a resolution it proposed demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, diplomats said, after Israel's prime minister and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump urged Washington to veto it.Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Egypt's U.N.

>WASHINGTON U.S. consumer spending increased modestly in November as household incomes failed to rise for the first time in nine months, suggesting the economy slowed in the fourth quarter after growing briskly in the prior period.But the economy remains on solid footing, with other data on Thursday showing...

>In her new post, Conway will play a key advisory role in the White House when Trump takes office on Jan. 20, helping to manage the New York businessman's messaging and legislative priorities, according to the statement.Trump said Conway "played a crucial role in my victory. She is a...

>French media giant Vivendi, which is Telecom Italia's (TLIT.MI) main shareholder, has rapidly built up its stake in Mediaset (MS.MI) from 3 percent to more than 25 percent, triggering complaints from Mediaset's management and Italian government officials."Our judgment remains basically negative but this doesn't mean we will...

>Controlling investor Etihad Airways, which holds a 49 percent stake, is struggling to relaunch the loss-making carrier since investing 560 million euros ($585 million) as part of a wider 1.8 billion euro rescue deal in 2014.Alitalia is losing half a million euros a day and is far from...

>NEW YORK President elect Donald Trump is pro-business and anti-red tape. But what if your business is red tape?Companies whose technology helps banks and investors cope with the welter of post financial crisis regulations and avoid increasingly hefty fines - a sector known as "regtech" - are sanguine about...

>As head of the 2.3 million-strong armed forces, President Xi Jinping has made fighting military corruption a top priority. Officers have said the problem is so pervasive it could undermine the ability to wage war at a time when China has increasingly projected its influence in the region and...

>U.S. stocks were lower in light trading on Thursday as a fall in Apple's shares weighed.Apple (AAPL.O) fell 0.8 percent to $116.38 after Nokia (NOKIA.HE) said it had filed a number of lawsuits against the iPhone maker for patent infringement. The stock was the...

>LONDON Global investors' equity holdings rose to six-month highs in December on bets that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's promised fiscal splurge would spur higher growth and inflation, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday. Trump's plans to cut taxes and boost spending have sent Wall Street to record highs...

>PARIS Airbus (AIR.PA) signed a firm contract on Thursday for the sale of 100 aircraft to Iran Air, as Tehran and Western companies race to re-open trade almost a year after sanctions against Iran were lifted.Airbus said the contract, which Iran flagged earlier this week, covered 46 Airbus...

>LONDON The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached...

>The BoE slashed interest rates to record lows and embarked on a massive bond-buying program to counter the deep recession eight years ago, and further expanded its stimulus after Britain voted to leave the European Union in June.The Treasury Committee said on Thursday it would look at the "unintended...

>Ahmed Kara Ali, spokesman for the rebel group Ahrar al Sham that is involved in departure negotiations, told Reuters "large numbers" were left but it was difficult to estimate how many remained, beyond it being in the thousands.The operation to evacuate civilians and fighters from rebel-held eastern Aleppo has...

>NEW YORK/HOUSTON U.S. Gulf Coast refiners are cashing in on rising fuel demand from Mexico, shipping record volumes to a southern neighbor that has failed to expand its refining network to supply a fast-growing economy.The fuel trade could top a million barrels per day (bpd) at times in...

>GENEVA Vehicles were still streaming out of eastern Aleppo on Thursday morning after an evacuation overnight monitored by the U.N., a United Nations official in Syria told Reuters on Thursday.Snow, bad weather and the poor condition of some cars appeared to have slowed the operation on Wednesday...

>NEW YORK Wall Street holiday parties this year took place in luxury venues like the Waldorf Astoria, featured women dressed as glowing angels, and had fine wine, scotch and bourbon on hand.But organizers of the soirées, conscious of tighter budgets and public scrutiny, are not eager to discuss the...