SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - PayPal, the online payment operation owned by eBay Inc, unveiled a new partnership on Tuesday with RadioShack Corp that will get PayPal into all the electronics retailer's stores starting this month. (Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) More »PayPal to be in all RadioShack stores starting this month
Apple boss Tim Cook is giving testimony to a US Senate committee over claims the company has used Irish subsidiaries to avoid billions in taxes. More »Apple Boss Tim Cook Grilled Over Tax
REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp gave the world the first look at its new game console on Tuesday, hoping the newly named Xbox One will build on a solid core of gamer fans and become a hub for living room entertainment. The third-generation console, coming eight years after the Xbox 360, was unveiled by games unit chief Don Mattrick at an event at the software company's campus near Seattle. The new Xbox interacts with a user's television, responds to voice commands, and includes Skype video calling. (Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) More »Microsoft unveils new Xbox One game console
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Peg Mackey LONDON (Reuters) - The European Commission is asking oil traders across the continent to provide evidence of market abuse to determine whether companies sought to manipulate prices reported to leading price-setting agency Platts. Authorities last week raided the London bureau of Platts and the offices of oil majors Statoil , Royal Dutch Shell and BP in the biggest cross-border action since the probe into rigging of Libor benchmark interest rates. A small niche trading house in the Netherlands is also part of the probe. ... More »Europe oil probe seeks market abuse evidence in 2010-2013
By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp's new chief executive, Brian Krzanich, has launched a sweeping reorganization of the world's top chipmaker and created a unit aiming to retake the top chipmaker's lead in mobile and semiconductor innovation. The shakeup, announced internally just days after the 30-year veteran took the helm, places most of Intel's main product groups directly under his supervision and hands its sprawling global manufacturing operation to new president Renee James, said a source close to the company, who declined to be identified. ... More »Exclusive - Intel CEO shakes up units, creates 'new devices' group
By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Bank plans to announce substantial new funds to help Jordan cope with the influx of refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Syria, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim told Reuters on Tuesday. "There will be significant amounts of new funding going to Jordan in the very near future to deal with this crisis," he said in an interview, shortly after making a speech at the U.N. World Health Assembly in Geneva. ... More »World Bank to announce funds for Syria refugee influx
By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union is nearing a deal on long-delayed insurance rules that the bloc has touted as a regulatory benchmark for the world to follow, regulatory and policy officials said. The rules, known as "Solvency II", will seek to improve the method for deciding how much capital an insurer must hold as a safety buffer by better assessing risks and liabilities from customer policies. A decade in the making and originally due to take effect in late 2012, the EU rules were delayed to apply lessons from the financial crisis. ... More »Hopes rise for deal on delayed EU insurance rules
By Sinead Carew (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp raised its buyout offer for wireless service provider Clearwire Corp to $3.40 per share, but the new bid was not high enough to impress some investors. Clearwire shares almost immediately traded around the new offer price, having consistently traded well above the old $2.97-per-share bid. Sprint announced the revised price just hours before Clearwire was due to hold a special meeting for shareholders to vote on the original offer. ... More »Sprint raises Clearwire offer, not enough for some
By Chrispin Mvano GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Two days of clashes between Congo's army and rebel fighters near the eastern city of Goma have killed at least 19 people, threatening an uneasy six-month peace just days before a scheduled visit by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Government forces and the M23 insurgents began exchanging heavy weapons fire for a second day early on Tuesday, with explosions still being heard late into the afternoon. ... More »Congolese army, rebels clash for a second day, 19 dead
By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc's chief executive officer defended the company's tax record at a Tuesday Senate hearing where lawmakers said the maker of iPads, iPods and Mac computers kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries to avoid U.S. taxes. The hearing marked another foray by the Senate's most powerful investigative committee into corporate offshore tax avoidance, which is increasingly a target of many governments from the United States to Western Europe. ... More »U.S. Senate panel peels back Apple's offshore taxes
By Leila Lemghalef MONTREAL (Reuters) - Europe could face a decade of stagnation unless it makes big reforms and should heed the lessons of Japan, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said on Tuesday as he highlighted Japan's bold moves to bolster growth. In his final speech as Canadian central bank chief before taking over the Bank of England on July 1, Carney said Europe's recessionary economy is being held back by fiscal austerity, low confidence and tight credit conditions. "Deep challenges persist in its financial system. ... More »Bank of Canada's Carney says Europe needs big reforms
By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - Apple's ability to shelter billions of dollars of income from tax has hinged on an unusual loophole in the Irish tax code that helps the country compete with other countries for investment and jobs. A U.S. Senate investigation has revealed that Apple, maker of iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, had channelled profits into Irish-incorporated subsidiaries that had "no declared tax residency anywhere in the world". ... More »The Irish loophole behind Apple's low tax bill
By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Ending Britain's 306-year rule would allow Scotland to reverse generations of economic mismanagement and free its lawmakers to boost economic growth, say Scottish nationalists campaigning to split from the UK. Independence would not only bring the long-standing and sometimes-troubled union to an end, but allow tax cuts and investment focused on boosting exports to spur growth on the Scottish side of the border. ... More »Scotland says better off without Britain, but with the pound
By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - Two Saudi princes on Tuesday sought to extricate themselves from a London legal battle with a Jordanian businessman who accuses them of laundering money for Hezbollah, an allegation their lawyer called "fanciful". Prince Mishal bin Abdulaziz al Saud, a brother of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, and his son Prince Abdulaziz bin Mishal, had previously argued they had sovereign immunity from suit but the courts rejected that stance. ... More »Claim Saudi princes laundered Hezbollah money "fanciful"- lawyer
By David Brett LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE top share index closed within sight of its all-time high on Tuesday, lifted by mining stocks and positive corporate news from luxury retailer Burberry among others. The FTSE 100 index ended up 48.24 points, or 0.7 percent, at 6,803.87, its highest finish since its record close of 6,950.60 in late 1999. "There is nothing to suggest that we can't keep going higher. We have broken through previous highs and it can be sustained if we see economic recovery and earnings upgrades come through," Neil Shah, director at Edison Investment, said. ... More »FTSE 100 edges closer to all-time high
By Jennifer Clark MILAN (Reuters) - Italy-based truck and tractor maker Fiat Industrial plans to lower its tax bill by shifting its residence to Britain after a planned merger with unit CNH , a move that drew angry reactions from politicians and unions on its home turf. The criticism tapped into a widening debate on corporate tax avoidance which has become a hot political topic in some western countries in recent months. A string of U.S. multinationals including Apple , Google , Amazon. ... More »Fiat Industrial seeks UK residence to cut tax bill
By Sumeet Chatterjee and Harichandan Arakali MUMBAI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - IT outsourcing company iGate Corp sacked Chief Executive Phaneesh Murthy after a company sexual harassment investigation revealed that he had not disclosed a relationship with a subordinate. Shares of the company fell 13 percent on the Nasdaq after the removal of Murthy, who led several initiatives to improve the company's performance such as charging clients for business results instead of man hours, the billing method more commonly used by IT outsourcing firms. ... More »IT firm iGate sacks CEO over undisclosed relationship
By Carey Gillam and Ian Simpson MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado, and officials lowered the death toll from the storm to 24, including nine children. The 2-mile (3-km) wide tornado tore through Moore outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble, wiping out entire neighbourhoods and tossing vehicles about as if they were toys. ... More »Survivors pulled from Oklahoma tornado debris as toll falls
By Sarah Mortimer LONDON (Reuters) - Investors in niche financial bonds that cover insurers against huge natural disasters are on alert for future events that could force them to pay out after the powerful tornado that struck the U.S. on Monday, brokers and fund managers said. Catastrophe bonds are used by the insurance industry to transfer financial risks of extreme events like earthquakes or hurricanes, to investors, who receive an annual return in exchange for agreeing to cover damages they consider very unlikely. ... More »Cat bond investors on alert after Oklahoma twister
By Clara Ferreira-Marques LONDON (Reuters) - Parliament is to probe UK-based mining and oil firms, delving into areas such as transparency and disclosure after troubles at two mining companies burnt some investors' fingers. Parliament's Committee for Business, Innovation and Skills will meet next month to set the terms of reference for the inquiry and could hear evidence before the beginning of lawmakers' summer recess in July. Troubles at Kazakh miner ENRC and Indonesia-focused Bumi have sparked a debate in London around corporate governance and the issue of owners with controlling ... More »MPs to probe transparency of oil, mining firms
By Chris Vellacott LONDON (Reuters) - Britain plans to boost the insurance industry with policy sweeteners such as tax breaks, hoping to nurture it as a source of investment and an engine of economic growth. Treasury minister Greg Clark said the government would extend to the insurance industry a series of measures announced earlier this year to boost asset managers. "The government recognises that the insurance industry is a key asset for this country and is determined to maintain and sharpen the sector's competitive edge," Clark told a conference run by specialist publisher Insurance Day. ... More »Government plans policy sweeteners for insurance industry
By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union should introduce a specific licence for meat traders to prevent frauds such as the one that duped Europeans across the bloc into eating horsemeat labelled as beef in processed dishes, French ministers said on Tuesday. France was swept up in the scandal after an investigation identified a French meat-processing firm at the heart of a fraud discovered earlier this year that involved traders and abattoirs from Romania to the Netherlands. ... More »European meat traders need to be licensed - French ministers
By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - A recording released by Venezuela's opposition purportedly revealing graft and conspiracy in the ruling Socialist Party has stirred a new political storm in the OPEC nation's already traumatic transition after the death of Hugo Chavez. Opposition leaders on Monday played an hour long, expletive-laced diatribe in which a man identified as powerful state TV commentator Mario Silva lambastes party heavyweight Diosdado Cabello. They said Silva was talking to a Cuban intelligence officer. ... More »Leaked recording stirs political furor in Venezuela
(Reuters) - The European Banking Authority (EBA) on Tuesday published draft rules on how national regulators in the European Union must decide which bankers will have their bonus capped from 2014. The EBA launched a public consultation until August 21 on its rules for implementing an EU law that says bonuses must be no more than fixed salary. A bonus can be twice salary with shareholder approval. ... More »Factbox - Draft EU rules to cap bankers' bonuses
By Huw Jones LONDON (Reuters) - EU regulators confirmed on Tuesday they will cap bonuses of bankers earning more than 500,000 euros a year and added other conditions to make the pay ceiling harder to smash. The headline figure was leaked last Friday, triggering warnings by banks in the European Union that they may lose staff to other parts of the world, and that London, the bloc's top financial centre, could be damaged. Accounting firm PwC predicted that up to 10 times the number of bankers in London will be hit compared with current pay curbs. ... More »EU watchdog unveils caps for bank bonuses