Drugs group Lundbeck's shares hit by profit warning

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Shares in Danish drugs firm Lundbeck fell to their lowest level in over 12 years on Wednesday after it cut its profits forecast for the next two years as European sales slow and spending on new products rise to combat generic competition.The company has already warned that earnings would stall until 2015 due to cheap generic competition for its existing drugs, meaning new products...

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New Mauritius Hotels posts 25 pct drop in full-year profit

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Luxury hotels group New Mauritius Hotels (NMH) reported a 25 percent fall in full-year pretax profit, citing higher finance costs and fewer tourists, and forecast a 15 percent drop in first-quarter earnings.Ranked among the Indian Ocean island's most-traded stocks, NMH said on Wednesday that pretax profit for the year to September 30 fell to 603 million Indian rupees, with...

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FedEx: cost plan can counter sluggish growth

NEW YORK (AP) — FedEx is more pessimistic about the U.S. economy than it was three months ago, but more assured of its own ability to grow earnings.The world's second-largest package delivery company lowered its economic forecast for the U.S., saying that there remains a lot of uncertainty for the company and the country.Its forecast for the current quarter, which incorporates the critical holiday...

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Different challenges in Central African Rep., Mali

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Two land-locked, desperately poor African countries are gripped by rebellions in the north that have left huge chunks of both nations outside of government control. Neighboring countries are rushing troops into Central African Republic only a few weeks after rebels started taking towns but Mali's government is still awaiting foreign military help nearly one...

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EU says Iran not responded to nuclear talks proposal

 The European Union has proposed a time and place for further talks on Iran's nuclear program, but Iran has yet to respond, an EU spokesman said on Friday.Iran said earlier on Friday it had agreed to resume talks in January with six major powers - represented by the EU - but the EU spokesman said Tehran had not yet replied to proposals made on December 31."We offered dates and a venue, but we...

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Pakistani girl shot by Taliban leaves UK hospital

LONDON (AP) — Three months after she was shot in the head for daring to say girls should be able to get an education, a 15-year-old Pakistani hugged her nurses and smiled as she walked out of a Birmingham hospital.Malala Yousufzai waved to a guard and smiled shyly as she cautiously strode down the hospital corridor talking to nurses in images released Friday by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham."She...

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Why so much secrecy around Chávez's health? Venezuela's not alone.

The government of Hugo Chávez has, for the first time, characterized the Venezuelan leader’s health condition as “severe” following his Dec. 11 surgery in Cuba for a recurrence of cancer.But the announcement Thursday night is unlikely to put an end to the rumor mill that has swirled in the past three weeks in the Andean country.While everyone is worked up over President Chávez's health status, his...

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Israel tells underweight models to gain weight or get off the runway

“You’re a knockout! Did you gain a little weight?” Israeli fashion photographer and model agent Adi Barkan crows as he greets one of his top models, a towering brunette decked out in a chic black minidress surrounded by the exuberant chaos of the photo shoot in downtown Tel Aviv.This is a celebratory week for Mr. Barkan, as a new law championed by the fashion giant took effect Jan. 1, banning the...

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Stocks soar on budget deal, but problems lurk

The "fiscal cliff" compromise, even with all its chaos, controversy and unresolved questions, was enough to ignite the stock market on Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year.The Dow Jones industrial average careened more than 300 points higher, its biggest gain since December 2011. It's now just 5 percent below its record high close reached in October 2007. The Russell 2000, an index that...

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Clothing retailer Gap to buy Intermix for $130 million - WSJ

 Gap Inc will buy women's fashion boutique Intermix Inc for $130 million (80 million pounds) to enter the luxury clothes market, the Wall Street Journal reported.The casual-clothes retailer plans to double Intermix's store count and look for opportunities to expand the chain overseas, the Journal said, quoting Art Peck, president in charge of new brands at Gap.Intermix, which does not produce...

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Gold slips from 2-week peak after U.S. budget deal

 Gold eased on Thursday from the prior session's two-week peak as the dollar strengthened and oil prices fell, with investors focusing on coming U.S. budget talks after euphoria over a vote to avert a fiscal crisis faded.A global stock market rally petered out on Thursday as investors began worrying about likely future U.S. political battles over spending cuts.Spot gold was at $1,681.1 by 1114...

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Sensex gains for third day; Q3 earnings key

 BSE Sensex edgedup on Thursday, marking a third consecutive session of gains that pushed indexes to their highest close in two years, as expectations for better-than-expected quarterly earnings lifted technology stocks such as Infosys. Shares have started 2013 on a strong note as investors bet the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will cutinterest rates later this month, and...

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Wall Street dips as profits booked after rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged lower on Thursday as investors locked in gains after a rally Wednesday, which was spurred by a deal by U.S. lawmakers to avert a "fiscal cliff" of austerity measures that had been due to kick in this year.Losses were limited, however, by better-than-expected data that showed U.S. private-sector employers added 215,000 jobs in December. That was well above economists'...

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Myanmar launches air-strikes on Kachin rebels

Heavy fighting between the Myanmar Army and the rebel Kachin Independence Army (KIA), is raising concern that a major escalation of violence is under way in the region, casting a shadow over Myanmar's much-touted reforms.The Myanmar Army offensive – which includes the use of helicopter gunships and fighter jets – comes after weeks of heavy fighting at outposts about 10 miles outside the KIA headquarters...

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Egypt's Brotherhood says UAE arrests unfounded

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on Wednesday some of its members had been wrongfully arrested in United Arab Emirates (UAE) on allegations of helping to train local Islamists in subversion tactics."I know 11 people were detained. I know that some of them are from the Brotherhood," said Mahmoud Ghozlan, a Brotherhood spokesman in Cairo. "The claim that they are a cell seeking to destabilize...

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5 female teachers killed: Pakistan aid work imperiled

Pakistani police on Wednesday searched for the gunmen behind the brazen murder of five teachers and two health workers, amid fears that public health campaigns would suffer and lead to a resurgence of polio and other preventable diseases.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which occurred Tuesday in Swabi, a city in the troubled northwest. The Pakistani Taliban has in the...

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Gunmen kidnap seven Pakistani soldiers

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped seven soldiers from a bus in Pakistan on Wednesday, military officials said, just days after Taliban forces executed 21 pro-government paramilitaries they had seized.The gunmen took the seven soldiers and let go a sweeper on the bus with them, one military official said. The gunmen were wearing military uniforms, other sources said.The men were travelling between...

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Former Chilean military officials held in singer's 1973 slaying

At least four former military officials were detained in Chile on Wednesday for their alleged role in the slaying of singer-songwriter Victor Jara during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.Jara was killed days after the coup that ousted left-leaning President Salvador Allende, and his death became a symbol of the political violence and human rights abuses that ravaged Latin America in the...

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Stocks struggle for direction as 'cliff' nears

 With the "fiscal cliff" just hours away and politicians yet to reach a solution, the stock market struggled to decide which way to go.The Dow Jones industrial average hopped between small gains and losses in morning trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite dipped into the red but spent most of the morning holding onto small gains.Many investors are unsure of what...

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CIBC to pay $149.5 million to Lehman, ending dispute

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has agreed to pay $149.5 million to the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc to resolve litigation over a collateralized debt obligation tied to the bankruptcy of the former Wall Street bank.The settlement announced Monday resolves litigation that began on September 14, 2010, when Lehman sued CIBC and dozens of others to recover more than $3 billion it said it...

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Stocks turn up on hints of 'fiscal cliff' deal

 The stock market shot higher on Monday afternoon, in the year's final hour of trading, signaling that investors believe the politicians in Washington will work out a budget compromise to avoid the "fiscal cliff."The Dow was up 137 to 13,075 in the late afternoon, more than 1 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq composite were up by more, with the Nasdaq rising nearly 2 percent.It...

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Global shares up on hopes U.S. to avoid 'fiscal cliff'

 Wall Street rallied on Monday and global equities headed for their best year in the last three as U.S. lawmakers closed in on a deal to avoid a budget crisis that many fear could cripple the world economy in 2013.U.S. President Barack Obama said Congress was close to an agreement that would start chipping away at the deficit without raising middle class taxes.Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell...

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Equities rally as U.S. 'cliff' deal nears; oil up

 Wall Street rallied on Monday and global equities finished their best year in the last three as U.S. lawmakers closed in on a deal to avoid a budget crisis that many fear could cripple the world economy in 2013.U.S. President Barack Obama said Congress was close to an agreement that would start chipping away at the deficit without raising middle-class taxes.Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell...

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