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| Obama praises business deals, touts U.S. enterprise Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:27 PM PDT  President Barack Obama watched over the signing of three business deals in Malaysia on Monday, using the opportunity to promote U.S. commercial expertise during a four-country swing through Asia. The president has sought during stops in Japan, Korea and Malaysia to bolster the U.S. security commitment to Asia, where a rising China has made many U.S. allies nervous. A hoped for trade pact failed to come to fruition despite round-the-clock negotiations in Japan. Officials said they had made progress that would bring Japan into the 12-country Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), which commits countries to lower import tariffs and to dropping other impediments to imports. Full Story | Top |
| Bayer may sell plastics unit to focus on health: Bloomberg Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:00 PM PDT  (Reuters) - German drugmaker Bayer AG is exploring the sale of its $10 billion plastics unit to focus on growing its health business, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter. Bayer is considering the sale of its MaterialScience division after chemicals company Evonik Industries AG showed interest in the unit several months ago, Bloomberg said, adding that no final decision has been made on the plastics unit. (http://r.reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| French president, GE boss to meet over Alstom future Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 03:57 PM PDT  President Francois Hollande and his Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg are set to meet with General Electric Chief Executive Jeff Immelt on Monday to discuss the future of French engineering group Alstom, a presidential official said. The planned meeting between the French head of state and the boss of one of the world's 10 largest investor-controlled corporations follows a weekend of high political and corporate drama. Immelt arrived in Paris to hammer out a $13 billion deal to buy Alstom's power turbines business after news of talks between the French trains-to-turbines group and the U.S. industrial and financial giant GE late last week. His arrival coincided with political uproar over the potential loss of a national champion and the emergence of a rival proposal involving German group Siemens. Full Story | Top |
| Australia's plain package tobacco law finally to be tested at WTO Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 03:24 PM PDT By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - An Australian law forcing cigarette companies to sell their products in plain packets is about to be tested in court, diplomats at the World Trade Organization said on Friday, ending more than two years of procedural delay. Cuba, Ukraine, Indonesia, Honduras and Dominican Republic have brought the action against Australia, the first country to ban the colorful logos used to sell tobacco brands around the world, a law aimed at reducing addiction and disease. Opponents of the law, who say it is heavy-handed and an invitation to counterfeiters, had hoped other countries would hold off from following Australia's example pending a WTO verdict, but Britain, Ireland and New Zealand have already begun drafting similar legislation. Since late 2012, tobacco products in Australia can only be sold in drab olive-colored packets that look more like military or prison issue, with brands printed in small standardized fonts. Full Story | Top |
| Hollande to meet GE chief on Monday to discuss Alstom Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 02:23 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande and his Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg will meet General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt on Monday to discuss the future of French engineering group Alstom, a presidential official told Reuters. The meeting follows news last week that GE is planning a $13 billion deal to buy Alstom's power turbines business, and comes after the intervention on Sunday of the French government and industry rival Siemens of Germany. (The story corrects spelling of GE chief's name to Immelt from Immet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia has 26 more cases of MERS virus, 10 dead Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 12:16 PM PDT Saudi Arabia confirmed 26 more cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has killed nearly a third of sufferers, and said 10 more people have died from the disease. The confirmations follow Egypt's announcement on Saturday that it had confirmed its first case of MERS in a man who had recently returned to the country from Riyadh, where he was working. Saudi Arabia, where MERS was discovered around two years ago and which remains the country most affected, has now had 339 confirmed cases of MERS, of which 102 have been fatal. The 143 cases announced since the start of April represent a 73 percent jump in total infections in Saudi Arabia this month. Full Story | Top |
| Alstom to reflect on its future until Wednesday Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:50 AM PDT French engineering firm Alstom said on Sunday it would continue to reflect on its future until Wednesday and that it had requested trading in its shares remain suspended until then. The statement from the company follows news of an offer from U.S. giant General Electric to buy its power arm, and of a potential alternative proposal from German group Siemens. The turbine and train maker's statement did not mention any of these issues, saying only that "Alstom continues and deepens its strategic reflection and will make a further announcement no later than Wednesday 30 April morning. In the meantime, the company has requested that the trading of its shares remains suspended." Alstom's shares were suspended from trading on Friday at the request of market regulator AMF. Full Story | Top |
| French president gathers ministers to discuss Alstom's case Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:07 AM PDT French President Francois Hollande gathered ministers on Sunday evening to discuss the case of struggling engineering firm Alstom, with jobs, location of activities and energetic independence in mind, his office said in a statement. The French government and Germany's Siemens intervened in U.S. giant General Electric's plan to buy Alstom's power arm earlier on Sunday by offering an alternative tie-up between European "champions" and a pledge to act in France's national interest. Full Story | Top |
| Siemens offers cash, trains swap for Alstom power: report Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:07 AM PDT German engineering group Siemens is offering Alstom half of its train-making business plus cash in exchange for its French rival's power turbines division, Le Figaro newspaper reported on Sunday. Le Figaro said it had seen the contents of a letter - the existence of which was announced by Siemens earlier on Sunday - in which the German company offered a potential alternative to the deal U.S. company General Electric was preparing to negotiate with Alstom. The Siemens deal outlined by Le Figaro has similarities to past plans to combine the businesses. The paper said the offer was informal, but detailed, and included a proposal for Alstom - maker of TGV high-speed trains - to take on Siemens' high-speed trains and locomotives arm, but not its metropolitan trains division. Full Story | Top |
| Killer virus spreads unchecked through U.S. hog belt, pushing pork to record Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:00 AM PDT By Meredith Davis and Theopolis Waters CHICAGO (Reuters) - John Goihl, a hog nutritionist in Shakopee, Minnesota, knows a farmer in his state who lost 7,500 piglets just after they were born. In Sampson County, North Carolina, 12,000 of Henry Moore's piglets died in three weeks. Some 30,000 piglets perished at John Prestage's Oklahoma operation in the fall of 2013. The killer stalking U.S. hog farms is known as PEDv, a malady that in less than a year has wiped out more than 10 percent of the nation's pig population and helped send retail pork prices to record highs. Full Story | Top |
| FDA okays start of BrainStorm stem cell trial in ALS patients Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:51 AM PDT BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the start of a mid-stage clinical trial of its adult stem cell treatment for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Phase II trial will be launched initially at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Worcester. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Connell O'Reilly Cell Manipulation Core Facility will manufacture BrainStorm's NurOwn cells for these two clinical sites. Full Story | Top |
| French government says it will block any hasty Alstom deal Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:44 AM PDT  France's Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg confirmed for the first time on Sunday that both General Electric and Siemens were interested in engineering group Alstom and said he would not allow any hasty decisions. In a statement, he said he first learned of GE's interest on Thursday and then of Siemens' proposal earlier on Sunday. Earlier, a spokeswoman said Montebourg was no longer expecting to meet GE chief executive Jeff Immelt on Sunday as government sources reported on Saturday. Full Story | Top |
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