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Bank of Ireland profits drops 32%

said Thursday that its fiscal first-half net profit fell 32% to 626 million euros ($779 million) as it also said it won't pay a dividend for the year. For the six months ended Sept. 30, a sharp rise in impairment losses helped offset stronger net interest income. The group said impairment losses on loans to customers more than tripled to 267 million euros from 79 million euros. The bank said investments at its life insurance arm were also hit by the sharp downturn in equity markets late in the period and it took an impairment of 40 million euros on the collapse of Washington Mutual. The bank scrapped its dividend to help strengthen its capital position and said it doesn't expect to resume payouts until more favorable economic conditions return.

Wells Fargo to sell $10bn in stock

Wells Fargo said Wednesday it planned to sell at least $10bn of stock to fund its acquisition of Wachovia, the troubled east coast lender, to create the fourth-largest US bank by assets. Wells said the offering, which it plans to price after stock markets close on Thursday, could grow above $10bn. Wells previously said it would raise up to $20bn of capital, primarily common equity, to fund the $15bn all-stock acquisition. The bank said its purchase of Wachovia “stands on its own� without the US Treasury’s TARP scheme to recapitalise the banks and buy problem loans. Wells sold $25bn of preferred shares to the US government in October, as one of nine large banks required to take $125bn of government capital. Analysts said the bank may choose to raise further capital with a sale of preferred stock.

Russia to invest 10 billion dollars in nanotechnology: Official

Russia plans to invest about 10 billion dollars in nanotechnology development programmess in the mid-term, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said today at an international nanotechnology forum. ''The total amount of funding for nano initiatives has been approved at about 10 billion dollars in Russia for the mid-term, with half of the funds coming from the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation,'' Mr Ivanov said. ''The corporation is set to invest about 714 million dollars in more than 20 projects within the next three months,'' the head of the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation Anatoly Chubais said. Mr Ivanov said global government, corporate and venture investment in nanotechnology totaled 13.5 billion dollars last year. He said the extensive use of nanotechnology could put the Russian economy, currently heavily dependent on raw materials,

Russia to invest 10 billion dollars in nanotechnology: Official

Russia plans to invest about 10 billion dollars in nanotechnology development programmess in the mid-term, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said today at an international nanotechnology forum. ''The total amount of funding for nano initiatives has been approved at about 10 billion dollars in Russia for the mid-term, with half of the funds coming from the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation,'' Mr Ivanov said. ''The corporation is set to invest about 714 million dollars in more than 20 projects within the next three months,'' the head of the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation Anatoly Chubais said. Mr Ivanov said global government, corporate and venture investment in nanotechnology totaled 13.5 billion dollars last year. He said the extensive use of nanotechnology could put the Russian economy, currently heavily dependent on raw materials,

'Karachi gang' loots mobile shops

A Karachi-based gang of robbers looted two mobile shops of the Hall Road, a famous and very important sale point of electronic products in the City here early on Tuesday. A police source said that after completing the target successfully, the ringleader of the said dacoit gang along with his some accomplices reached Karachi by air. His location was traced in Karachi through one of the mobile phones looted from the said shops. The said cell phone was owned by an employee of the affected shop, the police sources said.

Electronic Arts buys J2MSoft, Seoul online-games developer

the Redwood City, Calif., producer of software games, said on Tuesday that it bought J2MSoft Inc., the Seoul developer of online games for personal computers. Terms weren't disclosed, but EA said the deal shouldn't be material to fiscal 2009 results. J2M develops free-to-play online games; the games are funded by micro-transactions and advertising, Electronic Arts said. J2M's games include RayCity, TAAN, and Debut. The purchase is part of EA's strategy to develop and publish games in Asia, the company's president for Asia, Jon Niermann, said in a statement. End of Story

US indicts UBS wealth management head

UBS suffered its biggest blow yet in the US investigation into its offshore banking activities for rich American clients as US authorities said they had indicted Raoul Weil, the Swiss bank’s head of global wealth management. The US Department of Justice indictment also said other senior unnamed UBS’s executives were involved as alleged “unindicted co-conspirators�. Separately, the indictment includes detailed allegations about how other, more junior, managers sought to circumvent US tax rules over a period of years. The DoJ claims Weil used the expression “toxic waste� to refer to the US business because of its acute sensitivity. In a statement Tuesday night, UBS said Weil would relinquish his duties pending resolution of the matter and said the bank was “fully committed� to continuing co-operating with the probe.

Microsoft Working On Its Own App Store

CWmike writes "Microsoft is working on a software distribution scheme along the lines of Apple's iPhone App Store, CEO Steve Ballmer said yesterday at a developer's conference in Sydney, Australia. 'There's not much money being made, but the general concept of giving developers a way not only to get their code distributed, but to really get visibility for the code, is a good idea,' Ballmer said. Ballmer hinted that something similar would be coming soon from Microsoft. While he said Micrsoft was not ready to detail the works in progress, he said '... fear not, we're hard at work, and you'll see some of the benefits [of that] with some of the concepts, particularly Facebook's.'"

"Russian trail" of Pentagon cyber attacks an irresponsible assumption -Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) - Moscow says that the assumptions coming from the United States about Russia's involvement in cyber attacks on Pentagon computers are unacceptable, he said. "In the global information age, where everyone is faced with a growing threat of information and communications technologies being used for hostile purposes, such "icings," apart from being unsubstantiated, are also irresponsible," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in the comments released on Thursday. "In fact, it was Russia who pioneered and is actively promoting the idea of creating universal regulations ensuring information safety consistent with the interests of every member of the international community," the comments said. Several media outlets from Washington recently said that Pentagon computer systems had been subjected to a massive external cyber

Singapore Hot Stocks-Noble rises on UBS buy rating

SINGAPORE, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Singapore-listed commodity firm Noble Group rose as much as 6.9 percent on Wednesday after UBS initiated coverage of the stock with a 'buy' rating. UBS said in a report on Tuesday that Noble's shares were attractively priced, giving it a price target of S$1.35, after it said the stock had fallen 63 percent since a June 2008 peak, versus a 47 percent fall for the benchmark Singapore index. 'We believe the company is in a strong position to capture market share,' said UBS analyst Andreas Bokkenheuser. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global commodities benchmark, neared 5-½ year lows on Tuesday on fears of a long recession hitting demand, but UBS said Noble's global reach and economies of scale would be an advantage versus its competitors.

Reuters Summit-UPDATE 2-TD Bank to boost stake in Ameritrade

By Jonathan Spicer NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bank will increase its stake in online broker TD Ameritrade Holding Corp to 45 percent from 40 percent, the chief executive of the Canadian bank said on Wednesday. 'We will go to 45 percent,' Ed Clark, speaking at the Reuters Global Finance Summit, said of TD Bank's option to boost its stake by January. When asked if TD Bank would eventually take full control of the discount brokerage, Clark said it is unlikely that Joseph Ricketts, the founder of Ameritrade who with his family owns about 22 percent, would sell. '(Ricketts) likes his stake in the company, and I don't think he's given us any indication that he would want to sell,' Clark said. Both Clark and Ricketts sit on TD Ameritrade's board.

JPMorgan may fire 10 per cent of I-bank staff

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank, plans to fire about 10 per cent of its investment-banking staff, or about 3,000 people, as the global economy slides into recession, a person familiar with the bank said. The reductions are in line with New York-based JPMorgan's rivals, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which said it will eliminate about 10 per cent of staff. JPMorgan's cuts will be global and include various groups within the investment bank, the person said, speaking anonymously because the news isn't yet public. Some employees at the New York-based firm have been notified. JPMorgan also plans to freeze base salaries next year for most employees who earn more than $60,000 to $70,000, another person said.

Italy's Seat PG seeks flexibility from RBS on debt

MILAN, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Debt-laden Seat Pagine Gialle SpA has asked top creditor Royal Bank of Scotland for a 20 percent flexibility margin on the main covenants of a senior credit line, the Italian directories company said on Thursday. In exchange, Seat would limit the possibility for dividends 'until the total net debt/EBITDA ratio (after dividends' payment) will be over 4x,' the yellow-pages company said in a statement. Seat is labouring under 3 billion euros ($3.79 billion) in debt. It said on Monday it had started renegotiations with Royal Bank of Scotland, its largest creditor at nearly 1.57 billion euros at the end of September. If the bank accepts the request, Seat's board would weigh a capital increase of 200 million euros, it said.

UPDATE 1-Banco Popolare, Fondiaria address Lehman policies

MILAN, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Banco Popolare and Fondiaria-SAI are acting to prevent customers losing money on insurance policies sold by their Novara Vita bancassurance joint venture and backed by Lehman investments, the two Italian institutions said on Friday. Banco Popolare and Fondiaria-SAI have agreed an 'exceptional intervention' in favour of customers for the index-linked policies sold by Novara Vita in order to guarantee the return of capital planned under the original policies, they said. 'The customers can thus stay immune from losses on the capital account, while continuing to benefit from the same returns planned under the original contracts,' they said. New contracts will be issued to the policyholders with guarantees replaced with Italian bank securities, they said.

Banco Popolare, Fondiaria address Lehman policies

MILAN, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Banco Popolare and Fondiaria-SAI are acting to prevent customers losing money on insurance policies sold by their Novara Vita bancassurance joint venture and backed by Lehman investments, the two Italian institutions said on Friday. Banco Popolare and Fondiaria-SAI have agreed an 'exceptional intervention' in favour of customers for the index-linked policies sold by Novara Vita in order to guarantee the return of capital planned under the original policies, they said. 'The customers can thus stay immune from losses on the capital account, while continuing to benefit from the same returns planned under the original contracts,' they said. New contracts will be issued to the policyholders with guarantees replaced with Italian bank securities, it said.

Citigroup cuts 12 investment bankers in Canada

TORONTO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The Canadian unit of Citigroup is cutting a dozen investment banking jobs, the latest in a series of industry downsizings, as the New York-based company sheds thousands of positions worldwide. Its Canadian clients will still be served by corporate bankers and by investment bankers outside the country, a spokeswoman said. 'Citi continues to be committed to the Canadian market and to our clients through seamless local coverage and global expertise,' spokeswoman Andrea Hurst said on Thursday. The Globe and Mail newspaper said that Robert Gemmell, president and chief executive of Citigroup Global Markets Canada Inc, is among those leaving by mid-December. Citi, which also has credit card, consumer finance, life insurance, retail and private banking operations in Canada, said this month that it would cut about 52,00

Failed systems prompted manual docking of cargo spacecraft to ISS -Mission Control Center (Part 2)

KOROLYOV, Moscow region. Nov 30 (Interfax-AVN) - Failed systems of the first 'digital' Progress M-01M cargo spacecraft prompted its manual docking to the International Space Station (ISS), Vladimir Solovyov, Russian Mission Control Center's Flight Director for the ISS, told journalists. "A number of problems with automatic approach emerged at the final stage of the docking," Solovyov said. "Frequency information was lost and the Kurs (Course) system trackers were toggling," he said. "As a result we brought the spacecraft 30 meters from the ISS and ordered the crew to switch to the manual control of the spacecraft," he said. Mission Control Center experts will study reasons behind the failures, he said, acknowledging that this was not the first failure aboard the cargo spacecraft.

Four Google Officials Facing Charges in Italy For Errant Video

mikesd81 writes to tell us that four Google employees may be facing charges of defamation and failure to control personal data simply because they didn't remove a video of a boy with Down's Syndrome being harassed and eventually hit over the head with a box of tissue, from Google Video. The video was posted in September of 2006 and was removed by Google within a day of receiving the initial complaints, but apparently that isn't fast enough. "Google maintains charges against the employees are unwarranted, Pancini said. Europe's E-commerce Directive exempts service providers from prescreening content before it is publicly posted, he said. Also, the video was technically uploaded to a Google server in the U.S., not in Italy, Pancini said. 'It was a terrible video,' Pancini said, adding that Google is concerned about the case's impact on cens

Teva to release Prevacid version when patent expires

said Friday that it will release a generic version of TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc.'s heartburn medication Prevacid when its patent protection expires after an appeals court affirmed TAP's patent. Teva said it will release its version no later than Nov. 10, 2009. Teva said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a March 31 decision by a district court supporting TAP's patent for delayed-release Prevacid. End of Story

Sony profit plummets 72% over past year

said Wednesday its second-quarter profit fell almost 72% to 20.8 billion yen ($215 million) from 73.7 billion yen in the year-earlier quarter. The Tokyo-based electronics giant said sales and operating revenue fell 0.5% to 2.07 trillion yen from 2.08 trillion a year earlier. The results roughly matched preliminary numbers that the company reported earlier this month. On a per-share basis, profit was 19.8 yen compared 70.1 yen in the second quarter of 2007. Sony's electronics segment was particularly hard hit, "mainly due to the deterioration of the cost of sales ratio, reflecting a decline in unit selling prices and a decrease in equity in net income for Sony Ericsson," it said. End of Story

Sony profit tumbles 72%

said Wednesday its second-quarter profit fell almost 72% to 20.8 billion yen ($215 million) from 73.7 billion yen in the year-earlier quarter. The Tokyo-based electronics giant said sales and operating revenue fell 0.5% to 2.07 trillion yen from 2.08 trillion a year earlier. The results roughly matched preliminary numbers that the company reported earlier this month. On a per-share basis, profit was 19.8 yen compared 70.1 yen in the second quarter of 2007. Sony's electronics segment was particularly hard hit, "mainly due to the deterioration of the cost of sales ratio, reflecting a decline in unit selling prices and a decrease in equity in net income for Sony Ericsson," it said. End of Story

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