Governor sues NCAA over Penn State sex scandal

(Reuters) – Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said on Wednesday he is seeking to have the costly sanctions levied by the NCAA against Penn State University over the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal thrown out, saying the punishment threatens to cause devastating damage to the state’s residents and economy.The sanctions, which included an unprecedented $ 60 million fine, are “overreaching and unlawful,”...

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Wall Street Market Report

31 December 2012 Last updated at 16:21 ETContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story (Close): Wall Street shares rose after President Obama said that a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff was in sight.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 166.0 points, or 1.3%, at 13,104.1, following five days of losses.It meant that the index was up 7% for the whole year.The index had been little...

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Housing and jobs key to lifting S&P toward record

NEW YORK (AP) — It may be a big if, but assuming Washington lawmakers can get past the “fiscal cliff,” many analysts say that the outlook for stocks next year is good, as a recovering housing market and an improving jobs outlook helps the economy maintain a slow, but steady recovery.An advance of 10 percent in 2013 would send the S&P 500 toward, and possibly past, its record close of 1,565 reached...

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A Famous Short Seller Turns His Gaze Toward Singapore

The short-seller who made his reputation by savaging Chinese companies is turning his attention elsewhere. Carson Block, 36, whose research helped erase almost $ 7 billion of market value in China since 2010, says Olam International (OLAM), the Singapore-backed commodity merchant responsible for 90 percent of the world’s peanut trade, is a sham doomed to fail. “Comparisons to Enron are overused, but...

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Employed ‘to reach 30 million’

28 December 2012 Last updated at 04:07 ETThe Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says employment should grow to a record high by 2015.Its study says the number of people employed should grow throughout 2013 to reach 30 million two years later.The CIPD says that the reasons for jobs growth throughout a period of flat economic growth remain obscure.It says underemployment – people...

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HSBC to refund forgotten ATM cash

27 December 2012 Last updated at 08:40 ETHigh Street bank HSBC is to join RBS in refunding customers who forget to take their cash from ATMs following withdrawals.HSBC said it would automatically refund money left in cash machines since May 2005, although the process would not be immediate.Notes are sucked back into a machine if the user fails to take the cash within 30 seconds.This could occur, a...

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U.S. retailers scramble after lackluster holiday sales

(Reuters) – The 2012 holiday season may have been the worst for retailers since the 2008 financial crisis, with sales growth far below expectations, forcing many to offer massive post-Christmas discounts in hopes of shedding excess inventory.While chains like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Gap Inc are thought to have done well, analysts expect much less from the likes of book seller Barnes & Noble Inc...

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Taking on Guns and the NRA, One Tweet at a Time

(Updates the number of video views, petition signatures, and twitter impressions)On Dec. 21, a group of A-list Hollywood celebrities, including Jon Hamm, Reese Witherspoon, Jamie Foxx, and Beyoncé, posted an 80-second, black-and-white video clip on YouTube calling for lawmakers to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with gun violence. The clip, uploaded the same day the National Rifle Association...

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Start of “Santa Claus rally” dampened by “cliff’ worries

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks edged lower on Monday as caution over the potential for volatility driven by worries about the U.S. “fiscal cliff” dampened enthusiasm at the start of a seasonally strong period for equities.Investors are betting Congress will reach a deal to avert most of the austerity measures due to come into force at the start of next year. That has led to the best year for stocks...

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Italy’s Monti opens door to seeking new term

ROME (Reuters) – Two days after stepping down, Mario Monti announced on Sunday he would consider seeking a second term as Italian prime minister if approached by allies committed to backing his austere brand of reforms.The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government of experts to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, resigned on Friday but has faced growing calls...

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Major jobs boost in UK North Sea

21 December 2012 Last updated at 11:20 ETStatoil is to invest £4.3bn in a North Sea oil field, bringing hundreds of jobs to the north east of Scotland.The Norwegian company said the investment in the Mariner field was the largest new offshore development in the UK in more than a decade.Statoil expects to start production from Mariner in 2017, pending final approval by the UK authorities.More than...

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Steve Jobs’ super-yacht impounded

21 December 2012 Last updated at 12:29 ETVenus, the minimalist high-tech yacht commissioned by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, has become embroiled in a row over a disputed bill.French designer Philippe Starck claims Mr Jobs’ heirs still owe him 3m euros of a 9m euro fee for the project, according to Dutch paper Het Financieele Dagblad.Mr Starck called in the debt collectors and had the yacht impounded,The...

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Vote on US fiscal cliff ‘Plan B’

20 December 2012 Last updated at 17:23 ETThe Republican-led US House is set to vote on a package of spending cuts and tax rises party leaders say will keep the US away from the “fiscal cliff”.The vote includes tax rises on earnings above $ 1m (£614,000) on Speaker John Boehner’s so-called “Plan B” option.It comes as talks with the White House appear to have stalled, with President Barack Obama seeking...

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Google given EU anti-trust deadline

19 December 2012 Last updated at 07:09 ETGoogle has been given a month to address complaints its search results favour its own services over those of its rivals.EU regulators said they would end their investigation into the allegations if Google came “forward with a detailed commitment text in January 2013″.If found guilty of breaching anti-trust rules, Google could face a fine of up to $ 4bn (£2.5bn).Google...

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Dublin opposes Aer Lingus deal

18 December 2012 Last updated at 17:17 ETThe Irish government has voiced its opposition to Ryanair’s bid to buy rival Aer Lingus, saying the deal risked damaging competition.However, despite Dublin holding a 25% stake in Aer Lingus, it is the European Union that will decide whether the takeover can go ahead.Ryanair responded that the Irish government has no power to block its bid. It already owns...

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Optimism about “cliff” boost market; financials lead

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended at its highest level in almost two months on Monday on rising hopes that negotiations over the “fiscal cliff” were making progress and that a deal could be reached in days.After weeks of stalemate, President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House on Monday, raising hopes that Washington will be able to head off steep...

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Abe’s challenge: Can he give Japan what money can’t buy

TOKYO (Reuters) – Even before Japanese voters returned Shinzo Abe‘s party to power, he had already won over financial markets with an economic revival plan as seductively simple as economists say it is risky: print money and spend it. Lots of it.The Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide on Sunday is likely to sustain a market rally fuelled by economic stimulus hopes, but Abe’s economic legacy will...

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The VIPs of Ironman Misery

On the Thursday before the 2012 Ironman World Championship in Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii, Troy Ford stood in the lobby of the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. Around him were several gaunt men with shaved legs, hands steadying their composite bicycles costing upwards of $ 10,000 each. Ford is the director of the Ironman Executive Challenge program, or XC, as everyone calls it. For $ 9,000,...

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