Yahoo's continued bank balance blowout now involves Sky News. Following the $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, the Flickr buyout and the GhostBird iOS developer purchase, Yahoo is now to begin broadcasting Sky News footage live online during breaking news events. More »Yahoo signs deal with Sky News to broadcast feed online
(Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co and Incyte Corp said their experimental drug was effective in reducing painful symptoms associated with rheumatoid arthritis after 52 weeks of treatment. The drug, baricitinib, is part of a new family of medicines called JAK inhibitors that block enzymes believed to be involved in the inflammatory process. If approved, the pill will compete against injected rheumatoid arthritis drugs that currently dominate the market. Pfizer Inc's Xeljanz was the first such pill to hit the shelves last year. ... More »Lilly says arthritis pill effective in mid-stage study
By Ben Blanchard and Benjamin Kang Lim BEIJING (Reuters) - China refused to be drawn on Thursday on revelations of U.S. electronic surveillance and on the American in Hong Kong who leaked the information, and a senior source said Beijing does not want to jeopardise recently improved ties with Washington. China has been on a long holiday since National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden told Britain's Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post last week of the agency's programmes to monitor data at big companies such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc . ... More »In first response to Snowden, China skirts direct comment
BANGALORE (Reuters) - Infosys, India's second-largest software services provider, announced pay increases for all eligible staff, in its first concrete step made public after the return of founder Narayana Murthy to an executive role. The company will increase pay by an average of 8 percent for staff in India and 3 percent for overseas staff, Infosys said in a statement to the stock exchanges after markets closed in Mumbai. Eleven years after he was last CEO of Infosys, Murthy returned as executive chairman on June 1. ... More »Infosys, after founder's return, hikes pay across the board
By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Austerity cuts in Spain could lead to the effective dismantling of large parts of its healthcare system and significantly damage the health of the population, according to a study published on Thursday. Researchers who analysed the situation warned that if nothing was done to reverse the trend, Spain risked spiralling health problems and could see increases in infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and the virus that causes AIDS. As part of the analysis, interviews were conducted with 34 doctors and nurses across Catalonia in northern Spain. ... More »Spanish austerity cuts put lives at risk, study finds
LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran nature show presenter David Attenborough said on Thursday he had recovered sufficiently from heart surgery to reschedule a sell-out tour of Australia for next month. Attenborough, 87, known for his wildlife documentaries, earlier this month cancelled his speaking tour "A Life On Earth" to Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne to undergo emergency surgery. Less than two weeks after having a pacemaker inserted, Attenborough said he was on the mend and ready to reschedule his Australian trip. "Thank you everyone for all your wonderful and kind messages. ... More »David Attenborough fit enough to reschedule Australian tour
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said the way Britain's spies monitor communications is "proportionate" and subject to "proper scrutiny". More »UK data tracking 'proportionate'
The search is on for tea shop staff who took part in a pioneering project that first brought computer technology into the workplace. More »Tea time for computer age gallery
An invitation to the French launch of a new Sony Mobile device has given us a better idea of what the company's rumoured phablet, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, might look like. More »Sony Xperia ZU launch invite hints at phablet design
Three Chinese astronauts Thursday entered a space module after carrying out a successful docking manoeuvre, state media said, two days after the launch of the country's longest manned space mission. More »China astronauts enter space module
By James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) - Fresh revelations by former CIA employee Edward Snowden have raised concerns that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) may have hacked into Hong Kong's key internet exchange, which handles nearly all the Chinese territory's domestic web traffic. In an interview in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper published on Thursday, Snowden said the NSA had been hacking computers in Hong Kong and mainland China since 2009. Among those institutions hacked, he said, was the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which houses the Hong Kong Internet Exchange. ... More »Ex-CIA man's snooping claims raise alarm bells in Hong Kong
The Lenovo Horizon 27-inch gaming tablet-cum-table is now on sale online in the UK at Currys and PC World, for a not unsubstantial £1499.99 and will be heading to stores soon, with John Lewis and Amazon expected to join the party soon after. More »Lenovo Horizon 27-inch tabletop PC available now for £1499
By Jeff Franks HAVANA (Reuters) - Australian long-distance swimmer Chloe McCardel abandoned her quest to become the first person to make the 103 mile (166 km) swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, after she was severely stung by a jelly fish on Wednesday night. McCardel, 28, gave up the attempt after 11 hours in the water due to a "severe debilitating jelly fish sting," her support team said in a statement. "Chloe is now on one of the support vessels heading to Key West. She will spend the next 24 hours recuperating before deciding on her plans going forward," the statement said. ... More »Jellyfish sting ends Australian woman's record swim from Cuba to U.S.
By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roughly one in three Americans say the former security contractor who leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance activity is a patriot and should not be prosecuted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Some 23 percent of those surveyed said former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is a traitor while 31 percent said he is a patriot. Another 46 percent said they did not know. ... More »More Americans see man who leaked NSA secrets as 'patriot' than traitor: Reuters/Ipsos poll
By Sam Forgione CHICAGO (Reuters) - William Nygren, a top manager at Oakmark Funds, said on Wednesday he remains bullish on Apple Inc and Bank of America Corp, but is still avoiding Dell Inc in light of the company's plans to take the computer maker private. Nygren, a noted value investor who runs the $9.6 billion Oakmark Fund, said at the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago that Apple is undervalued while Bank of America has one of the top management teams in the banking industry. ... More »Value investor Nygren bullish on Apple, still avoiding Dell
By Kristina Cooke and John Shiffman SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Long before he became known worldwide as the National Security Agency contractor who exposed top-secret U.S. government surveillance programs, Edward Snowden worked for a Japanese anime company run by friends and went by the nicknames "The True HOOHA" and "Phish." In 2002, he was 18 years old, a high school dropout and his parents had just divorced. On the tiny anime company's website, he wrote of his skills with video games and popularity with women. ... More »Snowden as a teen online: anime and cheeky humor
By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators have opened a probe into whether a Lockheed-Boeing joint venture that launches U.S. government satellites into space has violated antitrust laws through an exclusivity agreement with the maker of engines used in its rockets. ... More »Exclusive - U.S. in antitrust probe of Lockheed-Boeing rocket venture
By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Gmail accounts belonging to Iranian users have been targeted in an extensive hacking campaign in the weeks leading up to the country's closely watched presidential elections on Friday, Google Inc said on Wednesday. The U.S. Internet company, which described the attacks as broad "email-based phishing" attempts seeking to trick unsuspecting Gmail users into giving up their user names and passwords, said they originated in Iran and appeared to be "politically motivated in connection with the Iranian presidential election on Friday. ... More »Iranian Gmail users targeted in pre-election hacking campaign - Google
By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clearwire Corp's board urged shareholders on Wednesday to accept a tender offer from Dish Network Corp over an earlier deal with majority owner Sprint Nextel Corp to buy out the minority shareholders of the wireless service provider. The decision was a boost for Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen who is also in a takeover battle with SoftBank Corp to take full control of Sprint. Both Sprint and satellite TV service provider Dish want control of Clearwire's vast trove of wireless airwave licenses. ... More »Clearwire urges shareholders to accept Dish offer
By John Whitesides and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the National Security Agency said on Wednesday that extensive U.S. surveillance efforts had helped stop "dozens" of possible attacks, and warned that making details of the top-secret programs public had compromised national security. In his first appearance before Congress since an NSA contractor lifted the veil on the agency's broad monitoring of phone and internet data, General Keith Alexander defended the program as an essential tool in the fight against terrorism. ... More »NSA director says surveillance helped stop 'dozens' of attacks
By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers described Google's tax affairs as "contrived" in a report released on Thursday and called on the UK tax authority to vigorously investigate whether the company was acting within the law. The parliamentary investigation was prompted by a Reuters report, which showed the company employed staff in sales roles in London, even though it had told lawmakers in November its British staff were not selling to UK clients - an activity that could boost its tax bill substantially. ... More »UK lawmakers' report criticizes Google's tax affairs
By Jonathan Stempel REUTERS - Federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Wednesday unveiled criminal charges against eight people accused of trying to steal at least $15 million from U.S. customers in an international cybercrime scheme targeting accounts at 15 financial institutions and government agencies. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said the conspiring hackers gained unauthorized access to computer networks, diverted customer funds to bank accounts and pre-paid debit cards and used "cashers" to make ATM withdrawals and fraudulent purchases in Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and ... More »U.S. charges eight for cybercrime targeting banks, gov't
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Wednesday unveiled criminal charges against eight people accused of trying to steal at least $15 million from U.S. customers in an international cybercrime scheme targeting accounts at 15 financial institutions and government agencies. U.S. ... More »U.S. charges eight for cybercrime targeting banks, government
DUBLIN (Reuters) - U.S.-based Royalty Pharma sought to have an appeal heard next week over conditions attached to its hostile bid for Irish drug firm Elan that threaten to scupper the $8 billion (5.1 billion pounds) deal. Royalty received a blow in its battle to take over Elan last week when Ireland's Takeover Panel ruled that the investment firm could not revise the terms of its offer, meaning it could become null and void at an Elan shareholder meeting on Monday. ... More »Royalty wants Elan appeal heard next week
(Reuters) - Spreadtrum Communications Inc, a cellphone chip designer, raised its revenue estimates for the current quarter due to higher demand from low-cost smartphone makers, sending its shares up 23 percent in extended trading. The China-based company now expects revenue of between $270 million and $278 million for the quarter ending June 30, up from the $220 million to $228 million it forecast earlier. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $224.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ... More »Spreadtrum raises second-quarter revenue estimates; shares rise