Business - Three mainland Chinese charged in HK mercantile exchange probe

By James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) - Three men were charged on Friday in a Hong Kong court with possessing false documents including a check for $460 million in connection with an investigation into the city`s shuttered Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange. The exchange, which operated a trading platform for gold and silver futures, surrendered its license to the Securities and Futures Commission at the weekend, saying it did not have enough trading revenues to support its operating expenses. ...

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:23

Business - Academics back BP`s fight to cap oil spill payouts

By Andrew Callus LONDON (Reuters) - A group of accountancy professors is backing BP`s fight to cap the U.S. oil spill compensation payouts it has to fund as the cash outflow threatens to add billions of dollars to its bill for the disaster. The news comes after the payouts administrator, Patrick Juneau, predicted that over 200,000 claims may be made in total by businesses and individuals under a settlement BP agreed last year - a level that could result in a charge against the oil company`s profits as early as next year. ...

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:23

Technology - Bercow`s McAlpine tweet libellous

Sally Bercow says she is `surprised and disappointed` that the High Court has ruled a tweet by her about Lord McAlpine to be libellous.

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:22

Technology - BBC abandons £100m digital project

The BBC is to close it Digital Media Initiative, with director general Tony Hall saying it had `wasted a huge amount of licence fee payers` money`.

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:22

World - North Korea envoy hands letter from Kim Jong-un to China`s Xi

BEIJING (Reuters) - A North Korean envoy handed on Friday a letter from North Korea`s top leader, Kim Jong-un, to Chinese President Xi Jinping, state media reported. Choe Ryong-hae, a `special envoy` of the North Korean leader, handed the letter in Kim`s own writing to Xi on Friday, the state-run China News Service said on its website, without providing any details. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:22

World - Suicide bomber kills 3 in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Police say a suicide bomber walked up to a vehicle owned by an Afghan religious leader in northwestern Pakistan and set off his explosives, killing three people.

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:22

Asia-Pacific - Women Forced Into Wartime Sex Cancel Meeting With Japanese Mayor

The South Korean women were concerned that a politician who made provocative comments defending World War II brothels was seeking to repair his image.

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:22

Sports - Nadal could get Djokovic in French Open semifinals

PARIS (AP) — Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal has been drawn to possibly face top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the French Open semifinals.

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:22

Most Recent - Playground made from trash gets children back in the swing

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:18

Business - Bank of England`s Fisher says does not want U.S.-style QE pledge

By William Schomberg CARDIFF (Reuters) - A Bank of England policymaker said on Friday he favored small additional amounts of bond purchases over time, but not a hard-to-manage commitment to longer-term stimulus like that of the U.S. Federal Reserve. `I don`t think I want to get into the American position of saying it is indefinite and then stopping,` said Paul Fisher, one of the British bank`s rate-setters. `I think the Americans are finding it a bit hard - as we have seen recently - to get out, because they have got this indefinite horizon. ...

Friday, May 24, 2013  11:14