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| Total settles U.S. bribe probe for $398 million; CEO may be tried Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:57 PM PDT By Muriel Boselli and Jonathan Stempel PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Total SA agreed to pay $398.2 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil allegations that it paid bribes to win oil and gas contracts in Iran, and a French prosecutor has recommended that the company and its chief executive be brought to trial. France's largest oil producer on Wednesday agreed with the U.S. Department of Justice to enter a deferred prosecution agreement and pay a $245.2 million fine to resolve three charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chevron, Exxon investors sustain calls for fracking disclosure Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:56 PM PDT  SAN RAMON, Calif./DALLAS (Reuters) - About 30 percent of shareholders of both Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp on Wednesday backed calls for more disclosure surrounding their use of hydraulic fracturing, the top two U.S. oil companies said. The votes, which had about the same support last year, reflect sustained concern among a large portion of investors and the general population about the practice, which has unlocked a huge amount of oil and gas resources across North America but led to environmentalist worries about water contamination. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. finds unapproved genetically modified wheat in Oregon Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:42 PM PDT By Charles Abbott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A strain of genetically engineered wheat never approved for sale or consumption by authorities was found sprouting on a farm in Oregon, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday. The wheat was developed years ago by biotechnology company Monsanto Co but never put into use because of worldwide opposition to genetically engineered wheat. The most recent field test of such wheat was in 2005. Roughly half of the U.S. wheat crop is exported and most of the crop is used in making food such as breads, pastries, cookies and noodles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Velvet Underground, Warhol settle after banana split Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:40 PM PDT By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Velvet Underground, the 1960s avant-garde rock band, has settled a fight with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts over the rights to an iconic pop art image of a banana that graced the band's best-known album. Velvet Underground sued the Warhol Foundation in January 2012 after reports that the foundation was planning to license the banana design for cases, sleeves and bags for Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad. The settlement, disclosed in a filing in federal court in New York on Wednesday, averts a trial that was set to begin July 29. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Republicans assail Eric Holder on leak testimony Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:38 PM PDT  By Lawrence Hurley and David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican lawmakers asked Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday to clarify testimony he gave Congress this month about his role in the targeting of journalists in a leak probe. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia and colleague James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin sent a letter to Holder saying recent media reports "appear to be at odds with your sworn testimony. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street falls, led lower by high dividend-paying shares Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:37 PM PDT  By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks retreated from record levels on Wednesday, led lower by high-yielding dividend stocks as investors speculated on when the Federal Reserve might begin easing its stimulus of the economy. Consumer staples, healthcare, telecommunications and utilities shares, S&P 500 sectors that include many high dividend-paying stocks, were all down more than 1 percent. Shares of Johnson & Johnson , down 2.1 percent at $85.78, led declines on the index. ... Full Story | Top |
| Actor Neil Patrick Harris to host Emmy Awards Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:32 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Television, film and stage actor Neil Patrick Harris will host the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, the highest honors in U.S. television, in September, organizers said on Wednesday. It will be the second time the Emmy Award-winning performer, who stars in the television series "How I Met Your Mother," will host the live broadcast from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on September 22. "Four years ago, Neil was an amazing Emmy host and we are excited to have him back," Bruce Rosenblum, the Television Academy chairman and CEO, said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| CA-BUSINESS Summary Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:15 PM PDT BMO, stimulus rollback fears fuel TSX retreat TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday, dragged down by a decline in Bank of Montreal after the lender's quarterly profit missed estimates, and by investor worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve might roll back its stimulus program. The Toronto market, which has not shared the strong rallies recorded by U.S. stock indexes this year, joined global markets in pulling back, easing after three sessions of gains. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nasdaq to pay $10 million to settle SEC charges from Facebook snafu Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:15 PM PDT  By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX on Wednesday agreed to pay $10 million, the largest penalty ever levied against a stock exchange, to settle civil charges stemming from mistakes made during Facebook's initial public offering last year, U.S. securities regulators said on Wednesday. In its administrative proceeding against the stock exchange operator, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Nasdaq's "ill-fated decisions" on the day of the IPO led to a series of regulatory violations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Disneyland employee arrested in suspected dry ice explosion Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:14 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Disneyland employee has been arrested on suspicion of possessing a destructive device following a small explosion in a trash can at the California theme park on Tuesday that prompted the evacuation of Mickey's Toontown, police said on Wednesday. Christian Barnes, 22, identified as an outdoor vending cast member at Walt Disney Co's Disneyland, was being held on $1 million bail, Sergeant Bob Dunn of the Anaheim Police Department said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wearable technology emerging as major technology cycle -Meeker Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:54 AM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Wearable computing is emerging as the type of significant technology shift that will drive innovation in the way personal computing did in the 1980s or mobile computing and tablets are doing currently, said Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Mary Meeker at the All Things D conference on Wednesday. While technology cycles generally last 10 years, she said wearables were coming on stronger and faster than is typical. ... Full Story | Top |
| Empire State Building investors approve IPO plan Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:52 AM PDT  By Ilaina Jonas (Reuters) - Investors of the company that owns the Empire State Building have approved a plan to take the iconic tower public, clearing the last major hurdle to real estate mogul Peter Malkin's attempt to retain control over a property that has been in his family for more than five decades, while allowing investors to cash out. Malkin Holdings LLC first filed its intention in November 2011 to fold the 102-story New York office tower into a newly created real estate investment trust known as the Empire State Realty Trust Inc. ... Full Story | Top |
| US-INDUSTRY Summary Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:35 AM PDT Murdoch aims to defy naysayers with new News Corp (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch tried to convince Wall Street on Tuesday that there is still money to be made in newspapers, reminding investors that he had defied skeptics over the past 60 years to build one of the world's biggest media empires. As News Corp prepares to separate its publishing business from its entertainment assets, Murdoch said that while some brands face individual challenges, as a whole the publishing portfolio is "undervalued and underdeveloped. ... Full Story | Top |
| Roku says raises $60 million in latest funding round Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:34 AM PDT (Reuters) - U.S. television start-up Roku said on Wednesday it has raised $60 million in new funding from some of the largest media companies including Hearst Corporation, News Corp and British Sky Broadcasting as well as institutional investor Fidelity. The company said in a statement on Wednesday that the new investment will help Roku expand its streaming services. Fidelity, which led the latest round of funding, and Hearst are both new investors. Roku said it has now raised $140 million to date. Roku competes with Apple Inc's Apple TV and is working with U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK says informed U.N. chief of more Syria chemical attacks Wednesday, May 29, 2013 11:34 AM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain has written to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about additional suspected chemical weapons attacks by Syrian government forces in March and April, British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said on Wednesday. "We continue to inform the Secretary-General and Mr. Sellstrom of any information as, and when, we get it," he said, referring to the Swedish head of a U.N. chemical weapons investigation team, Ake Sellstrom. He declined to provide details, but a U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
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