World Fwire News - Page 6

Reebok will shell out $25 mn for unsupported claims over 'toning shoe'

Reebok International Ltd has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it made unsupported claims that its "toning shoes" provide extra muscle strength, the US Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.

Rate of H1B visa rejection increasing: India tells US

Underscoring the importance of free movement of professionals, Sharma also asked for early signing of the India-US Totalisation Agreement, under which an expatriate in either country need not contribute to social security schemes of the host country.

BNP mum on Qatar, says extra funds not required

A Qatar-based source said late on Wednesday that the resource-rich emirate had talked to BNP and banks across France over taking a possible stake given their "tremendous need" for capital.

News Corp buys back more than $1 bn shares

The buyback during the current quarter, which ends Sept 30 is already the largest in News Corp's history.

Bank of America to pay fired whistleblower $930,000

<br /><br /> The employee, whose name was not given, led internal investigations that found widespread fraud involving Countrywide employees.

Hiring outlook in India falls steeply on US slowdown

The global staffing services company said the fourth-quarter hiring outlook is lower in 21 of 39 countries and territories, including the United States. Prospects are stronger in 13 economies and unchanged in five others versus the third-quarter.

Bank of America mulls 40,000 job cuts: WSJ

The number of job cuts are not final and could change. The restructuring aims to reduce the bank's workforce over a period of years.

Sushma Swaraj discusses UN Security Council reforms with counterparts

Sushma Swaraj raised the issue of early reform of the UN Security Council during her meetings with counterparts from China and the IBSA and G4 blocs.

Australian PM Tony Abbott to visit India next week

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is all set to make his first official visit to India next week to further strengthen the strategic partnership and promote trade and investment between the two sides.

Two Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrike

Two Palestinians were killed and one was moderately injured on Sunday as the Israeli fighter jets launched air raids targeting central Gaza Strip.

Major powers supply weapons in Syria: UN report

Geneva, June 18 (IANS) A UN inquiry commission report has revealed influential states are supplying Syrian government and opposition forces the weapons to carry out war crimes and violate human rights, Xinhua reported. Presenting the latest report of UN Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry on Syria, its chairman Paolo Sergio Pinheiro said, "Influential states had turned away from the work required for a political solution, some continued to deliver arms, artillery and aircraft to the Syrian government, or supported armed groups with weapons and financial aid." Pinheiro blamed these activities as fuelling a proxy war inside Syria

South Africa gets new government, sworn in on Monday

Even as the new Indian government took their oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, South Africa's new cabinet was also sworn in on Monday, amid criticism for being bloated.

US condemns terror attack on China

"This is a despicable and outrageous act of violence against innocent civilians, and the United States resolutely opposes all forms of terrorism," Xinhua quoted White House spokesman Jay Carney as saying in a statement.

Iraq: 22 policemen killed in series of attacks by gunmen

At least 22 people, including policemen, were killed and 24 wounded in a string of attacks carried out across Iraq on Thursday, police and medical sources said.

Twin blasts in Nigeria: 46 killed

Twin blasts hit a market, killing 46 people and injuring several others, in the central city of Jos on Tuesday afternoon.

Sixteen bodies found in gang-ravaged Mexican state of Tamaulipas

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican authorities said on Monday they had found 16 bodies in the northern state of Tamaulipas, where a battle between drug gangs has sparked a wave of bloody shootouts and massacres. The bodies of four men and three women who have not yet been identified were found late Sunday in a light truck in the port city of Tampico, according to a government task force set up last month to respond to the spike in violence across the state.

Bus catches fire in Columbia, 16 children dead

At least 16 children were burnt to death when their bus caught fire, said authorities, adding that the toll was expected to rise.

Alcohol poisoning lands 30 people in hospital at Avicii's gig

Swedish DJ Avicii's concert turned disastrous when almost 30 revelers had to be hospitalised due to alcohol poisoning and drug use.

Are our kids too fat? Increasing child obesity worries WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed deep concern over the worldwide increase in childhood obesity.

No Obama-Putin meeting at D-Day anniversary

US President Barack Obama has no plans to meet one-on-one with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in June when both attend the D-Day anniversary in France, the White House said Thursday.

U.S. plans to send team to Nigeria in response to schoolgirls' kidnapping

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has offered to send an American team of experts to Nigeria to support the government's response to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by an Islamist militant group, the State Department said on Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had spoken to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan by phone and offered to send a "coordination cell" that would include U.S.

Search is on for successor to Syria peace mediator Brahimi

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The search has started for a replacement for Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who diplomatic sources say is planning to resign in the near future, largely out of frustration at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's plans to hold an election in June. There are several possible candidates to replace the veteran Algerian diplomat, the sources said, among them former Tunisian Foreign Minister Kamel Morjane

Former Prime Minister Brown to urge Scots to stick with UK

LONDON (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will warn Scots on Tuesday of a pensions "time bomb" in their ageing population as he joins a fight to dissuade them from voting to leave the United Kingdom. Brown, a Scot, is making his first speech in support of the cross-party Better Together campaign, warning Scots of a possible deficit in pension funds if they opt out of the 307-year old union in a Sept.

Deadly gun attack in eastern Ukraine shakes fragile Geneva accord

SLAVIANSK Ukraine (Reuters) - At least three people were killed in a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday near a Ukrainian city controlled by pro-Russian separatists, shaking an already fragile international accord that was designed to avert a wider conflict. The incident triggered a war of words between Moscow and Ukraine's western-backed government with each questioning the other's compliance with the agreement, brokered last week in Geneva, to end a crisis that has made Russia's ties with the West more fraught than at any time since the Cold War.

Bangalore-bound Malaysian plane lands safely after landing gear scare

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysia Airlines ( MASM.KL ) passenger plane with 166 people on board landed safely at Kuala Lumpur early on Monday after being forced to abandon a flight to Bangalore because of problems with its landing gear, the airline said. Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a tweet: 'All landed safely - going there now!!" (Reporting by Stuart Grudgings, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Venezuelan protesters hold Easter rally, plan to burn Maduro effigies

CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters rallied on Sunday to demand the "resurrection" of Venezuelan democracy while effigies of both President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leaders were paraded for burning in a local Easter Day tradition.

Schoolchild on sinking S.Korean ferry sends text message to father

JINDO South Korea (Reuters) - People are still alive in a capsized South Korean ferry, the father of one of the schoolchildren trapped inside the upturned ship told Reuters on Thursday as families headed out to the disaster scene. "(The child) told me in the text message, 'I am alive, there are students alive, please save us quickly'," the father said

Anxious China emerges as diplomatic player in Afghanistan

KABUL/BEIJING (Reuters) - China is quietly preparing for a more robust role in the future of Afghanistan, concerned that the withdrawal of NATO troops will leave a hotbed of militancy on its doorstep. The two countries are connected by a narrow mountainous corridor that is almost impassable, which meant Beijing could focus on mining and mineral deals in Afghanistan as Western forces battled Taliban insurgents. But officials say that China is emerging as a key strategic player.

U.S. accuses Russia after Putin warning on gas supplies to Europe

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Russian gas supplies to Europe could be disrupted if Moscow cuts the flow to Ukraine over unpaid bills, drawing a U.S. accusation that it is using energy "as a tool of coercion".