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| Analysis: For Merck, bringing cattle feed Zilmax back won't be easy Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:07 PM PDT faces significant challenges bringing its controversial feed additive Zilmax back to market in the United States and Canada, even after a vote of confidence from South Korea on Thursday. South Korea plans to begin accepting meat from cattle raised with the muscle-growing supplement early next year, a senior official in the country's food ministry said, opening the door to beef imports after a government risk assessment found the additive could be permitted at certain levels. To resurrect the once popular drug in the United States, Merck will need to shake this summer's controversy over animal welfare problems - and convince ranchers, feedlot customers and meatpackers that Zilmax was not to blame for some cattle that arrived at slaughter plants having difficulty walking and apparently in pain. It could be a tough sell: On Wednesday, agricultural giant Cargill Inc Full Story | Top |
| Police have video of Toronto mayor, won't detail contents Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:42 PM PDT  By Cameron French TORONTO (Reuters) - Police said Thursday they have obtained a video "consistent" with media accounts that it shows Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, but they would not confirm the contents of the video. Ford, who has denied he smokes crack, said he could not comment on the matter because the video is evidence in a separate case before the courts. In the first official link between Ford and a high-profile Toronto drugs investigation, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair on Thursday identified the mayor as a subject in a video recovered during the probe. "I can tell you that the digital video file that we have recovered depicts images which are consistent with those that had previously been reported in the press," Blair said. Full Story | Top |
| Fannie Mae sues nine banks over Libor Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:36 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage finance company Fannie Mae sued nine of the world's largest banks on Thursday, accusing them of colluding to manipulate interest rates and seeking more than $800 million of damages. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the company accused the banks of manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, as well as other interest rate benchmarks. Fannie Mae said this manipulation caused it to lose money on interest-rate swaps and other transactions. It is also seeking punitive damages. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oracle shareholders give Ellison's pay a thumbs down Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:35 PM PDT By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A majority of shareholders opposed Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison's pay in a non-binding vote on Thursday following complaints that the world's third-richest man makes too much as his company struggles against smaller rivals. The vote against Oracle's executive compensation policy adds to a similar defeat at last year's meeting, and while it requires no changes from the company, it underscores concern among shareholders about high pay in the face of lackluster financial performance. Challenges to the 69-year old Ellison's pay package come as the world's No. 2 software maker, which he co-founded four decades ago, tries to fend off smaller, aggressive companies offering software and Internet-based products at prices that often undercut Oracle. A majority of shareholders voted in support of Oracle's directors, including those on the board's compensation committee - Bruce Chizen, George Conrades and Naomi Seligman. Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch editors Brooks, Coulson had affair, British hacking trial told Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:25 PM PDT  By Kate Holton and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid, had a six-year affair at the time their reporters hacked phone messages of politicians and royalty, a London court heard on Thursday. Revealing their close ties, prosecutor Andrew Edis said the intimacy of their relationship indicated both knew as much as the other about the criminal activities of senior journalists on the paper. Brooks and Coulson are on trial accused of conspiring to hack into phones of high-profile public figures or those close to them and also making illegal payments to public officials, charges they deny. What effect did it have?" Edis told the court. Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street edges up in wake of Fed; Exxon a boost Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:24 PM PDT  The Dow was up about 3 percent as the month drew to a close, while the S&P 500 was up about 5 percent and the Nasdaq rose 4.5 percent. But it removed a phrase from a previous statement expressing worries about credit conditions after a spike in bond yields, which investors interpreted as a sign the Fed could begin tapering earlier than expected. "The Fed removed that language, and that leaves tapering on the table for December," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, referring to the Fed's eventual trimming of asset purchases. The Fed's accommodative monetary policy in recent years has contributed to stocks' rally, and investors worry about the timing of a pullback by the Fed. The Dow Jones industrial average inched up 27.50 points, or 0.18 percent, to 15,646.09. Full Story | Top |
| Bombardier profit dips as plane deliveries, orders fall Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:12 PM PDT  reported a 15 percent fall in net profit on Thursday, pressured by fewer aircraft orders and deliveries in the third quarter and contract issues in its train unit. Montreal-based Bombardier also did not release any flight test data for its brand-new CSeries aircraft or offer an update on whether the plane will meet its ambitious schedule of going into commercial service by next September. After the test plane's inaugural flight about a month and a half ago, it has only flown three more times, raising questions over whether the testing phase is on track. Results fell short of forecasts and sent shares sliding more than 8 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Full Story | Top |
| Wal-Mart in projects to make shoes, curtains, jars in U.S. Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:11 PM PDT  on Thursday announced three new manufacturing projects by suppliers in the United States to produce footwear, curtains and glassware as part of a broader commitment to "buy American." Bill Simon, Wal-Mart's U.S. president and CEO, made the announcement with U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker at SelectUSA, a two-day event designed to promote investment and job creation in the United States. President Barack Obama, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and other top officials will also speak at the SelectUSA conference. Bentonville, Arkansas, based Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the world and with some 1.3 million employees in the United States, said the three projects would create 385 jobs. Elan-Polo Inc. will start production of injection-molded footwear in March at a factory in Hazelhurst, Georgia. Full Story | Top |
| Google, Oracle, Red Hat experts to help fix Obamacare website Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:06 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts from top technology and Internet companies including Google Inc, Oracle Corp and Red Hat Inc have joined the Obama administration's effort to fix its troubled HealthCare.gov website, a U.S. official said on Thursday. Individuals from Oracle and Red Hat have expertise in site reliability, stability and scalability, according to a blog post by Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which is overseeing the effort. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insolvent German DIY chain Praktiker attracts second bid-sources Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:02 PM PDT  The bid comes as talks over the acquisition of Praktiker's upmarket unit Max Bahr by rival Hellweg are already approaching a final stage. The new bid comes from Praktiker's own management with the backing of a group of funds and would see 175 Praktiker and Max Bahr stores being taken over, the sources said. The funds would provide fresh equity and become majority holders of Praktiker and existing debt would be swapped for equity, the people familiar with the proposal added. Praktiker, a household name in Europe's biggest economy, is being sold off piecemeal after the administrator failed to find a buyer for the whole group. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lawmaker subpoenas Sebelius for Obamacare documents Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:53 AM PDT  By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior House of Representatives lawmaker subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for documents related to the troubled launch of the Obamacare website, HealthCare.gov, his office said on Thursday. Representative Darrell Issa, Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced he had subpoenaed Sebelius for information he and Republican Senator Lamar Alexander have sought since October 10. Republicans have sought to derail the healthcare overhaul since Obama took office in 2009 and have seized on recent technical issues to further attack the law. Full Story | Top |
| Troika put return Greek visit on ice due to budget hole Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:35 AM PDT  By Martin Santa and Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - International inspectors are set to put on hold a trip to Athens because they have been unable to bridge differences with Greece over how to close a 2 billion euro ($2.7 billion) hole in its 2014 budget, euro zone officials said. A team of officials from the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank - known as the Troika - visits Athens regularly to check progress on its bailout commitments and decide whether to release the next tranche of loans. "There are growing differences between Athens and the Troika," one euro zone official said, adding that the planned trip was, for now, on ice. "The Greeks are saying: 'We are doing enough', and the Troika says they need new steps to close the budget," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Coke Femsa, Bimbo fall as Mexico poised to pass food, drink taxes Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:31 AM PDT By Elinor Comlay MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Shares of Mexico's food and drink companies fell on Thursday as Congress was poised to approve a 1 peso-per-liter tax on sugary drinks and an 8 percent tax on junk food as part of a wider tax overhaul. The Senate approved the plan, which aims to curb rising obesity levels as well as lift the poor tax take in Latin America's No. 2 economy, on Thursday morning, before sending the bill back to the lower house of Congress for final approval, expected later in the day. Shares of Mexico-based Coca-Cola Femsa, Coke's largest bottler in Latin America, were down more than 1 percent, while shares in bread and snacks maker Bimbo fell more than 2 percent in morning trading. Mexico, where obesity rates are now higher than in the United States, will be the first major soda market to tax high-calorie sodas, following a handful of other Latin American and European countries. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to allow expanded electronic device use on flights Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:28 AM PDT  Airline passengers will soon be able to use electronic devices throughout their entire flight after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ended a long-standing ban on Thursday. Mobile phone calls remain barred under Federal Communications Commission rules. Delta Air Lines and JetBlue quickly filed plans with the FAA to show that their aircraft can tolerate radio signals from electronic devices, a condition required by the regulator. The change is likely to boost the use of gadgets such as Amazon Inc's Kindle readers or Apple Inc's iPad. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. IRS warns of telephone tax scam involving fake caller IDs Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:26 AM PDT The U.S. Internal Revenue Service warned on Thursday about a growing tax scam in which fraudsters display an IRS phone number on the intended victim's caller ID and demand money. Particularly targeting recent U.S. immigrants, the scammer typically tells the targets over the phone that they owe money to the IRS and demands payment via a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer, the IRS said. The victim's caller ID displays an IRS toll-free number in a deception known as caller ID spoofing. They may also send follow-up emails from a bogus IRS address. Full Story | Top |
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