| Swiss Life up on Allianz bid talkReuters - 4 hours agoZURICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Swiss Life ( SLHN.VX ) shares surged to their highest level in more than a year on Monday on speculation of a takeover bid from German rival Allianz ( ALVG.DE ) that analysts said was unlikely. Shares in the Swiss insurer rose as much as 10 percent, extending gains from late last week on the rumor, after French Internet site Wansquare on Sunday cited unnamed Swiss banking sources as saying Allianz was preparing a bid. Rumors of an Allianz Bid Drive Up Swiss Life Shares New York Times | |
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JAL lenders to cave in to bankruptcy plan-sourcesReuters - 2 days agoTOKYO (Reuters) - The main lenders to Japan Airlines plan to accept a restructuring package that would require the carrier to file for bankruptcy, sources said, increasing the likelihood of a state bailout this month. A state-backed turnaround fund plans to establish a credit line of more than 600 billion yen ($6.5 billion) along with a state-owned bank to ensure JAL can keep flying once a bankruptcy is announced, a source with the knowledge of the matter said. Japan government to explain to 35 nations on JAL: report Reuters |
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Hatoyama Scolds Finance MinisterWall Street Journal - 2 days agoTOKYO -- The new Japanese finance minister toned down his call for a weaker yen after the prime minister rebuked him for comments that roiled currency markets, saying the government should refrain from such remarks. "In general, markets should determine" exchange rates, Naoto Kan told a news conference Friday. Japan's Kan Tones Down Yen Talk Wall Street Journal Australia furious over Indian KKK cartoon condemning policeUK Telegraph - 3 days agoThe Australian government has condemned an Indian newspaper cartoon likening its police to the Ku Klux Klan over their investigations into the murder of a young Indian man. New Delhi's Mail Today ran the cartoon showing a figure with an Australian police badge wearing a pointed white hood, following the murder of 21-year-old Indian national Nitin Garg in Melbourne last weekend. Indian KKK news cartoon angers Australia Reuters |
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Suspects in Egypt Coptic shooting turn themselves inReuters - 3 days agoCAIRO (Reuters) - Three suspects in a shooting that killed six Coptic Christians and a Muslim policeman in southern Egypt have turned themselves in after being squeezed in a police cordon, security sources said on Friday. Police said they had surrounded the area around the city of Nagaa Hamady where the shooting took place on Wednesday and closed all possible routes of escape. Christians Riot After Egypt Shooting Wall Street Journal Sudan Clashes Seen as Threat to Peace TreatyNew York Times - 3 days agoAt least 140 people were killed in clashes in recent days in a remote corner of southern , a official said Thursday, deepening worries that the American-backed peace deal ending decades of war there could collapse amid spasms of ethnically motivated violence. Fighting has been escalating in southern Sudan as a vote on independence in 2011 approaches, fueling heated recriminations between the country’s largely Muslim north and its mostly Christian and animist south. Sudan 'faces return to war' UK Telegraph |
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China again denounces U.S. arms sale to TaiwanReuters - 2 days agoBEIJING (Reuters) - China on Saturday again denounced U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, saying they were an intrusion in Chinese internal affairs that risked undermining its relations with the United States. The latest condemnation by the Chinese Foreign Ministry was directed at a $1.1 billion order received by Raytheon Co for ground-system hardware to support Taiwan's Patriot air defense capability. China complains about arms sales to Taiwan CNN |
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Israel successfully tests Iron Dome missile shieldChristian Science Monitor - 3 days agoIsrael tested the use of its new Iron Dome antimissile system several times over the past few days, boosting the likelihood that it can neutralize or severely weaken the ability of Hamas and Hezbollah to launch successful missile strikes at the Jewish state. In recent days, the short-range missile defense system that has been developed over the past 2-1/2 years by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a government-owned company, has been successfully tested against Qassam rockets, Grad rockets, and mortar shells. One dead in Israeli air raids on Gaza: medics Reuters |
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CIA director defends agency after Afghanistan suicide blastChristian Science Monitor - 18 hours agoThe director of the Central Intelligence Agency has spoken out to defend the agency against accusations that lax security allowed a Jordanian man to kill seven CIA agents and agency contractors when he blew himself up in Khost Province, Afghanistan on Dec. 30. In an opinion piece published in Sunday's Washington Post, Leon Panetta stridently denied reports that the deaths were made possible by the agency???s ???poor tradecraft.??? Bomber triggers switch before pat-down Denver Post |
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