Standard Chartered sees $330 million settlement on Iran












HONG KONG (Reuters) – Standard Chartered expects to pay $ 330 million to settle a case with U.S. regulators who accused the Asia-focused bank of failing to comply with sanctions against Iran, further denting profit growth this year.


The settlement will be on top of the $ 340 million it paid to New York’s Department of Financial Services in the third quarter, which pushed its before-tax profit growth in 2012 to a mid-single-digit percentage from more than 10 percent, StanChart said in a statement on Thursday.












Any earnings growth would mean a 10th straight year of record profits, as StanChart has ridden on Asia‘s rise through much of the last decade, allowing it to continue hiring and increasing earnings when much of the industry is shrinking.


“It ain’t broke, so they’re not fixing it,” said Jim Antos, an analyst at Mizuho Securities in Hong Kong. “The thing they are doing is trying to add new businesses, but there isn’t a compelling story and that’s why their shares haven’t moved.”


Standard Chartered said it expected talks with U.S. Federal regulators to conclude shortly, confirming a Reuters report in early November.


Despite its regulatory woes, the bank is one of the few still hiring in the industry, saying in August it intended to add at least 1,500 more staff in the second half of this year. By contrast, most rivals have been cutting, with Citi saying on Wednesday it was cutting 11,000 jobs.


“We continue to see significant opportunities across our markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” Chief Executive Peter Sands wrote in a statement released on Thursday.


KEEPING LID ON COSTS


A rise in the number of out-of-work bankers meant Standard Chartered was able to maintain a lid on costs, with revenue growing faster than costs — a phenomenon known in financial industry jargon as “positive jaws”.


For much of 2010, StanChart was hit by ever-rising costs as an increasing number of banks and brokerages tried to expand in Asia. Since then, various minor players including Samsung Securities and KBW have begun pulling out.


The bank does not release specific numbers in its trading updates, which it keeps for its annual report that is typically released in late February. It singled out Malaysia, China and Indonesia as regions where income grew by at least 10 percent.


In Hong Kong, its biggest market, income grew at a high single-digit percentage, the bank said.


StanChart’s Hong Kong-listed shares are up 9 percent year-to-date, lagging the 20 percent rise on the Hang Seng Index.


Asset quality remained good, the bank said, with loan impairments within the wholesale bank expected to be below the levels seen in the first half of this year. For the consumer bank, loan impairment is expected to increase by at least 10 percent from the first half.


However, StanChart pointed to India and the Middle East as two markets where it was watchful for asset quality. Slowing growth in some emerging markets has raised concern that StanChart could be hit by a rise in bad loans.


The bank appointed a new global head of loan syndication in late November, naming Cristian Jonsson to replace Philip Cracknell, who is retiring in March.


To diversify away from its traditional lending business, the bank has been looking to expand to areas such as commodities, where it aims to double revenue in the next four years, it said on Tuesday.


(Editing by Alex Richardson)


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Male artists lead 2013 Grammy nominations












NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – Male artists led the nominations announced on Wednesday for the 2013 Grammys, as fun., Frank Ocean, Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys landed six nods each for music’s biggest awards.


The nominations for New York-based indie-pop band fun. – made up of Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff – included the four main categories for record, song and album of the year, and best new artist.












fun., which also performed at the Grammy nominations concert with Janelle Monae, said it felt good to be recognized and “took pride” in its live performances.


“Tonight, all I wanted to do was get up and really give it our all … receiving the nomination is amazing and a culmination of hard work the three of us have put into this band,” lead singer Ruess told reporters backstage.


The group scored a huge hit with its first single, “We Are Young,” and then followed that up with its successful album “Some Nights” and single of the same name.


Joining it in the album, record of the year and best new artist categories was hip hop artist Ocean.


The 25-year-old rapper-singer made waves earlier this year after revealing his first love was a man, a groundbreaking move in the hip hop industry, which has faced criticism in the past for being hostile toward gays.


His debut album, “Channel Orange” was a critical and commercial success, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart in July.


Ocean and fun. will be competing with blues-rock group Alabama Shakes, country singer Hunter Hayes and folk-rockers The Lumineers for the coveted best new artist title.


While young male artists made up a large portion of nominees in key categories, noticeably absent was 18-year-old Canadian singer Justin Bieber, one of 2012′s biggest pop music stars with chart-topping album “Believe” and singles such as “Boyfriend.”


The winners will be announced at the televised awards show in Los Angeles on February 10.


AFTER ADELE, MALE ARTISTS LEAD


After British singer Adele dominated the previous Grammy Awards with her juggernaut album “21,” male artists took the lead in the album of the year category, where Ocean and fun. are competing with The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons and Jack White.


British folk band Mumford & Sons, which scored six nominations both in 2011 and 2012 for its debut album, “Sigh No More,” landed six more nominations on Wednesday for its chart-topping sophomore album, “Babel,” which is the second biggest-selling album in the United States this year.


Ohio rock duo The Black Keys, formed by frontman Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, landed five nominations, while Auerbach also notched a non-classical producer of the year nomination for his work on four albums.


Blues-rocker Jack White, the former frontman of The White Stripes, picked up three nods for his chart-topping debut solo album “Blunderbuss.”


Rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West continued to pick up nods for their 2011 album, “Watch The Throne,” including best rap performance for “N****s in Paris.” Jay-Z also landed nods for collaborating on songs with Young Jeezy and Rihanna, while West scored multiple nominations for his song “Mercy.”


Kelly Clarkson was one of the few leading female nominees, picking up three nominations, including record of the year and best pop vocal album.


R&B singer Rihanna also landed three nods, including best solo pop performance for “Where Have You Been.”


Record of the year nominees saw an assortment of rock, pop and hip hop nominees, with Clarkson’s “Stronger” competing with The Black Keys‘ “Lonely Boy,” fun.’s “We Are Young,” Australian artist Gotye’s heartbreak hit “Somebody That I Used To Know,” Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You,” and Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”


To be eligible for nominations this year, artists had to release their music between October 1, 2011, and September 30, 2012.


Adele, who swept the awards in February with six accolades including the top three, landed only one nomination this year for best pop solo performance, as she did not release any music in the eligibility time frame.


The nominations for the top awards and main categories were announced during an hour-long televised concert in Nashville for the first time, co-hosted by country-pop artist Swift and veteran Grammy host, rapper-actor LL Cool J.


Adding a twist to the announcements, Hayes sang the nominees for best pop album, a tight contest between Maroon 5, Clarkson, Pink, fun. and Florence and the Machine. Hayes picked up two nods for best new artist and best country vocal performance.


British rock legends The Who will receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in February.


(Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Peter Cooney and Lisa Shumaker)


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Sri Lanka see backlash from Aussie ‘wounded soldiers’












(Reuters) – Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has warned his team to be wary of a backlash from Australia in their three-test series after the hosts were stung by their series defeat to South Africa earlier this week.


Australia’s hopes of snatching the Proteas’ top test ranking ended in a crushing 309-run defeat in the third and final test in Perth on Monday, but Jayawardene took little comfort from the home side’s disappointment.












“I see them as wounded soldiers – they could come back stronger against us,” Jayawardene told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, on the eve of a three-day tour match against a Chairman’s XI side.


“So we just need to make sure we are ready for that and start well.


“We can’t be complacent – we need to make sure we know from ball one we give them a good go at it.”


Sri Lanka have their own problems coming into the first test at Hobart next week, losing their last test at home to New Zealand by 167 runs to level a two-match series 1-1, with key batsmen out of form.


Kumar Sangakkara scored five, nought and 16 in his three innings against New Zealand, but Jayawardene backed the veteran to bounce back in Sri Lanka’s bid to win their first test Down Under.


“I am happy that he went through a lean phase because he’ll be really hungry for runs – that’s Kumar for you,” Jayawardene said of the 35-year-old stalwart.


Jayawardene also said he would weigh up his future as captain after the series, which includes tests in Melbourne and Sydney, after taking on the role for a second time in the wake of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s sudden resignation in January.


“After this, we get a well-deserved four weeks off, after about three years, so it gives me a bit of time to think (about) what I need to do,” said Jayawardene, who captained the team for more than three years in his first stint from 2006.


“We need to groom another leader as well. It’s very important to have that changeover done smoothly while the senior players are still in the side.”


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Facebook just realized it made a horrible mistake












Facebook (FB) announced on Tuesday that it will begin opening Facebook Messenger to consumers who do not have a Facebook account, starting in countries like India and South Africa, and later rolling out the service in the United States and Europe. This is a belated acknowledgement of a staggering strategic mistake Facebook made two years ago. That is when the messaging app competition was still wide open and giants like Facebook or Google (GOOG) could have entered the competition. WhatsApp, the leading messaging app firm, had just 1 million users as late as December 2009. By the end of 2010, that number had grown to 10 million. Right now, it likely tops 200 million, though there is no current official number on the matter.


SMS usage started peaking in countries like Netherlands in 2010. Companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google were being offered a giant new market on a silver platter with more than 3 billion consumers worldwide use texting on their phones and many of them started drifting away from basic SMS towards IP-based alternatives a few years ago. None of the behemoths saw or understood the opportunity.












They allowed the mobile messaging market to turn into a free-for-all between tiny start-ups like KakaoTalk, Kik, Viber, WhatsApp, etc. And with astonishing speed, the global market picked a winner and rallied around it. Back in early 2011, there was serious debate about the relative merits of different messaging apps and which one might ultimately edge ahead.


In December 2012, the competitive landscape is stark. Kik is not a Top 5 app in any country in the world. Viber is a Top 5 app in 21 countries, but they are countries like Barbados, Nepal and Tajikistan. WhatsApp is a Top 5 app in 141 countries, including the U.S,, U.K., Germany, Brazil and India. The only real weakness of WhatsApp lies in China, Japan and South Korea, where local champions still lead. But those local apps have zero chance of breaking out of their home markets.


The mobile messaging app competition is over. It turned into a red rout sometime during late 2011 and WhatsApp has emerged as the sole beneficiary of a textbook case of the network effect.


Facebook, Google and Twitter threw away their golden chance to create an SMS killer and grab hold of a billion users globally. It would have been so easy and cheap to develop a simple texting app in 2009, leverage the current user base of any of the IT giants and then watch the app soar to global prominence.


And it is so very, very hard to do now. Dislodging WhatsApp now would mean neutralizing a smartphone market penetration advantage that is hitting 80% in some markets. People often ask me why I’m so fixated on WhatsApp and the answer is simple: it’s the most popular and important mobile app in the world. And it beat Facebook, Twitter, Google and other major companies before they even realized there was an important war being waged.


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Casting Light on Astronaut Insomnia: ISS to Get Sleep-Promoting Lightbulbs












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Fracking in the U.K.: Britain Looks to Boost Shale Gas












Could a European shale-gas revolution start in Britain? While efforts to drill gas from shale deposits have stalled on the Continent, the British government could soon give the go-ahead to drilling and provide tax breaks to encourage it.


Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, scheduled to unveil a new government energy plan on Dec. 5, has said he wants to ensure that “Britain is not left behind” the U.S., where a shale-gas boom has dramatically lowered prices and ended the country’s dependence on imported gas.












Energy Secretary Ed Davey wants to lift a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial drilling method known as fracking, that was imposed last year after drilling by Britain’s Cuadrilla Resources caused two minor earthquakes in northwestern England. Cuadrilla’s chief executive, Francis Egan, told London’s Telegraph newspaper on Dec. 1 that he was ready to “press on quickly” if the ban were ended.


The enthusiasm in Britain contrasts sharply with France, the only other Western European country with significant shale-gas reserves. French President François Hollande, elected in May, has promised to maintain a ban on fracking during his 5-year term. Poland also has shale-gas reserves, but early exploration has yielded disappointing results.


Drilling in Britain won’t start immediately. In his Dec. 5 presentation, Osborne is expected to call for consultations on what he has described previously as “a generous new tax regime” to encourage shale-gas development. He also will suggest creating an agency called the Office of Unconventional Gas to allow industry, consumer groups, and environmentalists to settle disputes and to regulate the sector, people familiar with the plan told Bloomberg News. Energy Secretary Davey has said that questions about regulatory oversight and the involvement of local communities should be addressed before drilling resumes.


Still, it’s clear the government has put shale gas on a fast track. Britain’s North Sea gas reserves are being depleted; they’re expected to decline from 40 percent of the current gas supply to only 20 percent by 2030, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That will force the country to rely increasingly on imports from Africa and the Middle East. And British natural-gas customers are paying almost three times as much as their counterparts in the U.S., where a flood of shale-gas has sent prices plunging.


Cuadrilla estimates that the area it is exploring in Lancashire, in northwestern England, could contain 200 trillion cubic feet of gas—more gas than all of Iraq. “We can supply a quarter of the U.K.’s gas demand,” CEO Egan told the Telegraph. The company, whose chairman is former BP (BP) CEO John Browne, voluntarily suspended exploration in Lancashire after earthquakes there in April and May 2011 were linked to its drilling. The company and government officials have subsequently said they believe fracking can be carried out safely.


Opponents are already mobilizing. Hundreds of anti-fracking demonstrators protested in London and other cities on Dec. 1. Besides worrying about potential earthquakes and groundwater contamination, environmental activists say that shale-gas development will undermine efforts to develop nonpolluting renewable energy sources.


Advocates who expect to replicate the U.S. shale-gas boom are likely to be disappointed, though. More-stringent British environmental regulations and mineral-rights rules will add to development costs, says John Williams, an energy analyst at Pöyry Management Consulting in Oxford. In a recent study, Williams and two colleagues estimated that the planned development in Lancashire would lower British gas prices no more than 4 percent. “We’re not going to see anything like the price crash in the U.S.,” Williams says.


The Pöyry study, based on a review of data provided by Cuadrilla, estimated that Lancashire shale could supply 21 percent of Britain’s gas by 2030. That won’t harm the country’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions, Williams says, because it could reduce the need to burn coal. Gas “is the obvious backup fuel” when wind and solar power aren’t available because of weather conditions, he says. “If you are going to need gas, shale can be a source.”


Businessweek.com — Top News


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Ex-”Malcolm in the Middle” star Muniz, 26, suffers mini-stroke












LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Former “Malcolm in the Middle” child star Frankie Muniz said on Tuesday he had suffered a mini-stroke, at the age of 26.


“I was in the hospital last Friday. I suffered a ‘Mini Stroke‘, which was not fun at all. Have to start taking care of my body! Getting old!,” Muniz said on Twitter.












Muniz put his acting career on hold six years ago to race cars for a living, and earlier this year he joined a rock band.


According to celebrity website TMZ.com, Muniz was taken ill in Arizona last Friday when friends noticed he was having trouble speaking and understanding.


Mini-strokes usually affect those over the age of 55. They are temporary interruptions of blood flow to part of the brain but do not kill brain tissue, according to the Mayo Clinic.


Muniz’s agent did not return calls for comment.


Muniz played the title role in the hit TV comedy “Malcolm in the Middle” for six years, and appeared in teen movies “Big Fat Liar” and “Agent Cody Banks.”


When the TV show ended its run in 2006, Muniz said he was stepping away from acting to pursue a full-time career as a race-car driver. Earlier his year he joined Pennsylvania-based indie band Kingsfoil as a drummer.


Muniz is due to turn 27 on Wednesday.


(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Matthew Lewis)


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Officials: NATO to decide on missiles for Turkey












BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO foreign ministers are expected to approve Turkey‘s request for Patriot anti-missile systems to bolster its defense against possible strikes from neighboring Syria.


NATO foreign ministers are meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels. Parliaments in both nations must approve the deployment, which would also involve several hundred soldiers.












Ankara, which has been highly supportive of the Syrian opposition, wants the Patriots to defend against possible retaliatory attacks by Syrian missiles carrying chemical warheads. NATO leaders have repeatedly said they would provide any assistance Turkey needs.


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Facebook voting begins on Instagram data-sharing, email privacy












SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc opened the polls on Monday for its roughly 1 billion users to vote on a variety of changes to the social network‘s policies, including a proposal to scrap the user voting system that Facebook introduced in 2009.


Facebook also said it had “clarified” some of the proposed changes, specifying that a new policy allowing it to share user data with recently acquired photo-application Instagram will be carried out in compliance with applicable laws and that Facebook will seek user consent when necessary.












The proposed changes, which Facebook announced on November 21, generated roughly 89,000 user comments as well as concerns from some privacy-advocacy groups and a request for more information from the Data Protection Commission in Ireland, where Facebook’s European business has its headquarters.


“Based on your feedback and after consultation with our regulators, including the Irish Data Protection Commissioner‘s Office, we’ve further clarified some of our proposals,” said Elliot Schrage, Facebook Vice President of Communications, Public Policy and Marketing in a post on Facebook’s company blog on Monday.


Facebook is proposing to eliminate the 4-year-old system that allows users to vote on changes to its governance policies. The company says the voting system hasn’t functioned as intended and is no longer suited to its current situation as a large publicly traded company subject to oversight by various regulatory agencies.


Facebook said on Monday that it would incorporate user suggestions for creating new tools to “enhance communication” on privacy and governance matters.


Another proposal would loosen the restrictions on how members of the social network can contact other members using the Facebook email system. The company said it planned to replace the “Who can send you Facebook messages” setting with new filters for managing incoming messages.


Facebook’s potential information sharing with Instagram, a photo-sharing service for smartphone users that it bought in October, flows from proposed changes that would allow the company to share information between its own service and other businesses or affiliates it owns.


The change could open the door for Facebook to build unified profiles of its users that include people’s personal data from its social network and from Instagram, similar to recent moves by Google Inc.


Facebook said on Monday that the proposed change was “standard in the industry” and “promotes the efficient and effective use of the services Facebook and its affiliates,” such as allowing users in the U.S. to interact with users in Europe.


“This provision covers Instagram and allows us to store Instagram’s server logs and administrative records in a way that is more efficient than maintaining totally separate storage systems,” the company wrote in a separate post on its website Monday titled “explanation of changes”.


“Where additional consent of our users is required, we will obtain it,” Facebook said.


Facebook users have until December 10 to vote on the policies using a special third-party application provided by Facebook and Facebook said the results will be certified by an independent auditor.


The vote is only binding if at least 30 percent of users take part, and two prior votes never reached that threshold.


(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Andrew Hay)


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US flu season starts early, could be bad, CDC says












NEW YORK (AP) — Flu season is off to its earliest start in nearly 10 years — and it could be a bad one.


Health officials on Monday said suspected flu cases have jumped in five southern states, and the primary strain circulating is one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly.












“It looks like it’s shaping up to be a bad flu season, but only time will tell,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


The good news is the nation seems to be fairly well prepared, Frieden said. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine is well matched to the strains of flu seen so far, CDC officials said.


Higher-than-normal reports of flu have come in from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick in flu cases like this usually doesn’t occur until after Christmas.


It’s not clear why the flu is showing up so early. But flu-related hospitalizations are rising earlier than usual, and there have already been two flu-related deaths in children.


In fact the last time a typical flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04. That also happened to be a year when the dominant flu type was the same one seen most widely this year. And in that year, there were a higher-than-usual number of flu-related deaths in both the elderly and children.


One key difference: In 2003-04, the flu vaccine was a poor match to the flu strain.


Another: There’s more vaccine now, and flu vaccination rates have risen for the general public and for key groups like pregnant women and health care workers.


In all, an estimated 112 million Americans have been vaccinated so far, the CDC said. Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone who is 6 months of age or older.


Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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