News Archive - 16 January 2017

(Picture: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hassan Rouhani, Sadegh Larijani, and Akbar Nategh Noori during an Expediency Council meeting.)   Quite few would question the magnitude of the void left in Iran’s power structure with death of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. As the shock over his departure dies down, scores of...

>"Anytime I hear border adjustment, I don't love it", Trump told the newspaper in an interview conducted on Friday. on.wsj.com/2jiAaqjThe border adjustment measure is part of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan's "Better Way" tax reform blueprint, which was discussed with top members of the transition...

>HAVANA Cuba and the United States on Monday signed an agreement to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and other international criminal activities on the eve of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.President Barack Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, who helped negotiate the normalization of...

>The head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was back in Caracas for a second meeting in two months with President Nicolas Maduro whom he lavishly praised for an "inspirational" role in the producers' pact to cut output."We remain optimistic Mr. President that with the full and...

>SINGAPORE Oil markets were mixed on Tuesday, supported by Saudi Arabia saying it would strictly adhere to a commitment to cut output, but held back by scepticism in financial markets that oversupply would be curbed.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were trading up 8 cents at...

>TOKYO The British pound flirted with a three-month low on Tuesday, hit by fears that Prime Minister Theresa May's speech later in the day is likely to set Britain on a course that would end its access to the lucrative European Union single market.Concerns over U.S. President-elect Donald...

>American Apparel LLC said it had started to lay off staff on Monday, after Canadian apparel maker Gildan Activewear Inc (GIL.TO) withdrew its initial plan to acquire some of the bankrupt U.S. fashion retailer's manufacturing operations.Gildan won the rights to American Apparel's brand with an $88 million...

>TOKYO Asian stocks and the pound sagged on Tuesday as investors waited for British Prime Minister Theresa May to lay out plans to exit the European Union, which traders fear will see Britain lose access to the bloc's single market.Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it...

>WASHINGTON Nearly two dozen former U.S. officials have urged President-elect Donald Trump to enter into discussions with an exiled Iranian opposition group that until 2012 was listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.In a letter dated Jan. 9, the former officials call for the...

>Deutsche Boerse and LSEG have been working to overcome regulatory hurdles holding up the merger and looking to appease antitrust regulators. LSEG agreed this month to sell its French clearing business to Euronext (ENX.PA)."Sceptics of this merger must consider the need for stronger capital markets in Europe -...

>BERLIN/MUNICH Facebook is stepping up efforts to head off tougher regulation by Germany, a fierce critic of the social media network operator, saying on Monday it would do more to combat fake news as its chief operating officer met with officials in Berlin.Top German lawmakers are planning legislation this...

>The reports could not be confirmed; but Hurriyet said the man, who media quoted police as saying had operated under the cover name Ebu Muhammed Horasani, was caught in an operation along with his son. The district where he was found is on the European side of the city.Dozens...

>Oil producer Noble Energy Inc (NBL.N) said on Monday it would buy smaller rival Clayton Williams Energy Inc (CWEI.N) for about $2.7 billion in a cash-and-stock deal to enhance its presence in the Permian Basin, the top U.S. oil field.Noble Energy said the deal includes...

>Officials played down any link between the operation and NATO concerns over Russia, but the deployment coincides with the U.S. sending several thousand troops to Poland to beef up its Eastern European allies worried about Moscow's assertiveness. Marines from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina landed a little after 10...

>The lab, which currently employs 55 people, will initially aim to drive revenue through AR marketing, though will later explore healthcare and education."AR marketing is taking off," Andrew Ng, the chief scientist overseeing Baidu's artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality and deep learning projects, told Reuters."There are few content...

>"I am very confident that we will finish the deal. We are making a lot of progress," he told broadcaster CNBC in an interview from the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos."We are working well with the U.S. and the EU regulators now toward finalising the agreements...

>The conglomerate made an unprecedented three-way initial public offering in November 2015, in which the holding company and its two financial units each sold about 10 percent shares to the public.The government plans to eventually raise about 4 trillion yen ($35 billion) through additional stake sales in Japan Post...

>Airbus last year formed a division called Urban Air Mobility that is exploring concepts such as a vehicle to transport individuals or a helicopter-style vehicle that can carry multiple riders. The aim would be for people to book the vehicle using an app, similar to car-sharing schemes. "One hundred years...

>WASHINGTON Monica Crowley, the foreign policy adviser tapped for a White House job under President-elect Donald Trump, will relinquish the post, a transition official told Reuters on Monday.Crowley had been chosen to serve as senior director of strategic communications at the National Security Council. Her appointment had been shadowed...

>BRUSSELS/BERLIN Germany's Foreign Minister said on Monday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's comments that NATO was obsolete had aroused concern across the 28-member alliance.Frank-Walter Steinmeier, speaking after a meeting with alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, said Trump's remarks contradicted views expressed by designated Defense Secretary James Mattis.

>BEIJING China will lower its 2017 economic growth target to around 6.5 percent from last year's 6.5-7 percent, policy sources said, reinforcing a policy shift from supporting growth to pushing reforms to contain debt and housing risks.The proposed target was endorsed by top leaders at the closed-door...

>BEIRUT/AMMAN Syrian rebel groups have decided to attend peace talks backed by Russia and Turkey in Kazakhstan to press for full implementation of a ceasefire they say has been widely violated by the government and its Iranian-backed allies.Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's most powerful ally, set the new diplomatic effort...

>WASHINGTON The International Monetary Fund on Monday said the U.S. economy would grow faster than previously expected in 2017 and 2018 based on the incoming Trump administration's tax and spending plans, but it kept its global growth forecasts unchanged due to weakness in some emerging markets.Updating its World...

>Run by Oracle's research and development team, the program provides six months of mentoring from technical and business experts, advanced technology, access to Oracle's customers, and partners and investors.A pilot program was first launched in India and more centers will be announced soon. Oracle said this was a multi-million...

>ATLANTA Hundreds are expected to pack the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s home church in Atlanta on Monday to mark the federal holiday for the slain civil rights leader, amid political and racial rancor as the first black U.S. president prepares to step down.The commemoration of the...

>SEOUL South Korea's special prosecutor on Monday sought a warrant to arrest the head of Samsung Group [SAGR.UL], the country's largest conglomerate, accusing him of paying multi-million dollar bribes to a friend of President Park Geun-hye.Investigators had grilled Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee for 22 straight hours...

>In an interview with German newspaper Bild, published on Monday, Trump criticized the German carmakers for failing to produce more cars on U.S. soil."If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but...

>The outlook for the global economy in 2017 will be similar to that for 2016, but with an upside risk, with the world expanding below 3 percent and the U.S. economy outperforming that with a growth of 2.5-3 percent, El-Erian, chief economic adviser to Europe's largest insurer, said...

>NEW YORK U.S. companies are set to report their strongest profit growth in two years, which could go a long way toward justifying Wall Street's record-breaking rally, say stock investors who anticipate many companies will top expectations.Fresh from a year-long decline in quarterly profits, companies in the benchmark...