| | |
| China's biggest jeweler sees gold in the masses Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 07:36 PM PST  By Donny Kwok HONG KONG (Reuters) - The world's most valuable jewellery retailer Chow Tai Fook, which counts Cartier and Tiffany & Co as competitors, is on a quest to conquer the hearts of China's future big spenders. Superman and the Angry Birds team also feature in Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group's range of fashionable, and affordable, pieces which the company hopes will win over the millions of Chinese who live outside major cities but who are reaping the benefits of a rapidly growing economy and who remain enamored by the gleam of gold. "We are quite similar to the fast fashion way of business in that our products are only available for a limited period of time," Kent Wong, managing director of Chow Tai Fook, told Reuters. China, the world's second-largest economy, is on track to overtake India as the world's biggest consumer of gold this year as falling prices encourage purchases for both personal use and investment. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft leads disruption of largest infected global PC network Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 05:37 PM PST  By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it had disrupted the largest network of compromised personal computers, involving some 2 million machines around the world, since it stepped up its battle against organized online criminals three years ago. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant filed a lawsuit in Texas and won a judge's order directing Internet service providers to block all traffic to 18 Internet addresses that were used to direct fraudulent activity to the infected machines. Law enforcement in many European countries served warrants at the same time, seizing servers expected to contain more evidence about the leaders of the ZeroAccess crime ring, which was devoted to "click fraud." Such rings use networks of captive machines, known as botnets, in complicated schemes that force them to click on ads without the computer owners' knowledge. The schemes cheat advertisers on search engines including Microsoft's Bing by making them pay for interactions that have no chance of leading to a sale. Full Story | Top |
| Morgan Freeman, other entertainers, mourn Mandela Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 05:29 PM PST (Reuters) - Actors Morgan Freeman and Idris Elba, who both portrayed Nelson Mandela in the movies, were among many figures from the entertainment world who paid tribute to the South African anti-apartheid hero who died on Thursday. Freeman, who got to know the charismatic Mandela in the 1990s and portrayed him in the 2009 drama "Invictus," said he was "a saint to many, a hero to all who treasure liberty, freedom and the dignity of humankind." The American actor added: "As we remember his triumphs, let us, in his memory, not just reflect on how far we've come, but on how far we have to go. Madiba may no longer be with us, but his journey continues on with me and with all of us." In a recollection published by the Time magazine website, he said: "His only comment after we first screened the movie for him was a humble, 'Now perhaps people will remember me.'" Elba, a British actor and rapper, who starred in this year's biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," said, "What an honor it was to step into the shoes of Nelson Mandela and portray a man who defied odds, broke down barriers, and championed human rights before the eyes of the world." U.S. filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, whose company has distribution rights for the film, said he had been "unspeakably fortunate to have been immersed in Nelson Mandela's story and legacy." He said he had spent time with Mandela, adding, "I can say his sense of humor was as great as his optimism." Oscar-winning South African-born actress Charlize Theron tweeted: "My thoughts and love go out to the Mandela family. Full Story | Top |
| Winter storm brings icy blast to wide swath of United States Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 05:08 PM PST  By Suzi Parker LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - People from Texas to New York were bundling up on Thursday against a winter storm that closed schools and businesses, blanketed roads and power lines with ice and threatened to disrupt road travel across a wide swath of the United States. The southern plains and central region, including Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas were expected to be especially hard hit by the storm, according to the National Weather Service. In Little Rock, Arkansas, people scrambled to stock their cupboards as temperatures plunged. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon activated the state's 24-hour emergency operations center. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lawmaker urges continuation of Boeing F/A-18 fighter line Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 05:02 PM PST  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Randy Forbes, a key member of the House Armed Services Committee, on Thursday urged Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to rethink the U.S. Navy's current plan to allow Boeing Co's F/A-18 fighter jet production to close in 2016. Forbes released a December 4 letter to Hagel in which he raised concerns about the fighter industrial base and warned about relying solely on the next-generation F-35C fighter jet being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp since it will not be ready for operational use on an aircraft carrier until 2019. The lawmaker's warning comes amid a concerted push by Boeing for additional U.S. and foreign orders for its popular F/A-18 Super Hornet and the EA-18G Growler electronic attack plane based on the same airframe to keep production going. Boeing executives say they see good prospects for additional F/A-18 orders from the U.S. Navy, Canada, Australia, Denmark and several other countries, and they plan to continue investing in the fighter line. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Boeing's employment in key U.S. states Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:40 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing has asked more than a dozen states for proposals for building its new 777X jetliner. Here are the number of people Boeing employs in states where it has a significant presence, or that are known to be bidding, according to state officials and people familiar with the discussions. Washington: 86,538 California: 19,615 Missouri: 14,848 South Carolina: 6,394 Texas: 5,365 Alabama: 2,551 Kansas: 1,518 Florida: 1,490 Utah: 813 Georgia: 728 Wisconsin: 5 Source: Boeing 2012 annual data. (Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Peter Henderson and Grant McCool) Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Boeing bidders dangle goodies to win 777X jetliner Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:38 PM PST  By Alwyn Scott and Harriet McLeod NEW YORK/CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - South Carolina will clinch a long-awaited land sale next week that should help Boeing Co expand aircraft production. Perhaps more importantly, the $13.8 million deal may help South Carolina win assembly work for Boeing's next big jet. The acreage near Boeing's assembly line in North Charleston is just one of a tantalizing collection of goodies that states across the country are dangling to try to lure the lucrative new jet program, known as the 777X, that promises thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefit to the winning state. Boeing has requested proposals for the jetliner program from more than a dozen states after the unionized machinists in Washington state last month roundly rejected a labor contract that would have guaranteed the plane was built there. Full Story | Top |
| Southwest, Virgin win waiver to purchase LaGuardia slots Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:35 PM PST  By Karen Jacobs and Diane Bartz ATLANTA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines is purchasing 22 of the 34 takeoff and landing slots at New York's LaGuardia Airport that American Airlines has given up in return for government approval of its merger with US Airways Group Inc . Virgin America plans to buy the remaining 12. US Airways and American agreed to give up dozens of airport slots to settle a lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice that sought to block the airlines from merging to create the world's largest carrier. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. says China air defense zone unacceptable, shouldn't be implemented Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:19 PM PST  By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that China's new air defense zone over the East China Sea was "unacceptable" and urged Beijing not to implement it, but stopped short of calling for it to rescind its declaration. Keeping up U.S. criticism, White House spokesman Jay Carney assailed China for a "dangerous and provocative" move that increased the risk of stumbling into a crisis, and said that was not consistent with the behavior of a major power. "We, the United States, do not recognize and we do not accept it, and will not change the way the United States conducts military operations in the region," Carney told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Key U.S. lawmakers urge China to back off on air defense zone Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:19 PM PST By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged China on Thursday not to implement an air defense zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea, saying in a letter that Beijing's recent activities threatened "vital national interests of the United States." Beijing's decision to declare the air defense identification zone in an area that includes disputed islands has triggered protests from the United States, Japan and South Korea, and was a central topic of discussions during a visit to Japan, China and South Korea this week by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. President Barack Obama's administration has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between rivals Japan and China. Full Story | Top |
| J.C. Penney gets SEC inquiry regarding its financial position Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:05 PM PST  (Reuters) - Department store chain J.C. Penney Co Inc said it received a letter of inquiry from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking an explanation on the company's financial position. The company said the SEC requested information on October 7 regarding its liquidity, cash position, debt, and public offering of common stock announced on September 26. The company said it is cooperating with the U.S. regulatory body on its request and providing the necessary material, in a regulatory filing with the SEC. Full Story | Top |
| Obama says he will propose NSA reforms Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:04 PM PST  President Barack Obama said on Thursday he intends to propose National Security Agency reforms to reassure Americans that their privacy is not being violated by the agency. "Part of what we're trying to do over the next month or so is, having done an independent review and brought a whole bunch of folks, civil libertarians and lawyers and others to examine what's being done, I'll be proposing some self-restraint on the NSA and to initiate some reforms that can give people more confidence," Obama said in an interview on the MSNBC television program "Hardball with Chris Matthews." A steady drip of revelations of NSA snooping has raised widespread concern about the reach of the agency's operations and its ability to pry into the affairs of private individuals as well as the communications of foreign leaders. The information comes from documents made public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Obama said he would not comment on details of NSA programs, but that while revelations of the agency's activities have raised legitimate concerns, some aspects have been exaggerated. Full Story | Top |
| UK tech entrepreneur Lynch backs augmented reality start-up Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 04:03 PM PST By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Mike Lynch, who sold software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion (6.73 billion pounds), is backing a start-up focused on augmented reality - the ability to overlay information on a real-world background which some see as the next big digital craze. The technology aims to help a device such as a mobile phone to recognise objects in the real world, such as a building, and overlay relevant information onto the image on its screen. The undisclosed investment is the second by Invoke Capital, a $1 billion fund set up by the British entrepreneur after he left Autonomy last year just seven months following the HP takeover that netted him about $760 million. Full Story | Top |
| Bear suspected of mauling Florida woman trapped and killed Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 03:37 PM PST By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A 200-pound (90 kg) female bear suspected of mauling and seriously injuring a central Florida woman earlier this week was caught on Wednesday night and killed, state wildlife authorities said. "We decided to follow the course of an abundance of caution and put the bear down," said Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. Susan Chalfant, 54, was injured by a bear while out walking her two small dogs Monday evening in Longwood, a leafy residential area about 15 miles north of Orlando. Neighbors described her as bleeding profusely from the head after the attack and she was hospitalized at the Orlando Regional Medical Center for what officials described as non-life-threatening injuries. Full Story | Top |
| GM's Holden to exit Australia as early as 2016: reports Thursday, Dec 05, 2013 03:33 PM PST  General Motors Co has decided to pull out of vehicle production in Australia as early as 2016, local media reported on Friday, in what would be a major blow to the struggling industry. Citing unnamed senior government sources, the Australian Broadcasting Corp said an announcement on the decision to close was supposed to have been made this week but had been put off until early next year. A GM spokesman in Detroit declined to comment on the reports. Both Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane and shadow minister Kim Carr said they understood no decision had been made. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment