CNOOC to buy Nexen in $15bn deal
China's biggest offshore oil producer CNOOC is poised to snap up Canadian rival Nexen in a $15.1bn (£9.7bn) deal.
If approved the deal would mark China's largest foreign business takeover.
State oil firm CNOOC has offered to pay $27.50 cash per share for Nexen, which is 60% higher than Friday's closing share price.
The board of Nexen has already approved the deal, but the takeover still needs to be cleared by the Canadian government.
CNOOC, which already operates a number of joint ventures with Nexen, said the deal would boost its oil reserves by 30%.
The deal marks CNOOC's third Canadian investment. In 2005, it spent 122m Canadian dollars (US$120m; £77m) on a 16.7% share of oil sand developer MEG Energy. And last November, CNOOC bought Canadian oil sands firm Opti Canada for C$2.1bn.
"CNOOC has been seeking overseas acquisitions, as the domestic reserves are limited," said Yan Shi, oil analyst at Chinese brokerage UOB Kay Hian.
However, the Canadian government, which has the right to block any foreign investments over C$330m if it believes they are not in Canada's best interests, could yet veto the deal.
In 2005, CNOOC's attempt to buy US-based Unocal was blocked due to a political backlash.
And in 2010, the Canadian government blocked mining firm BHP Billiton's $39bn attempt to make a hostile takeover of fertiliser firm Potash Corp.
Caribbean Airlines owes 500 million to Jamaican aviation authorities
Caribbean Airlines, CAL, has racked up more than half a billion dollars in unpaid fees to local aviation authorities since its take over of Air Jamaica.
The sum represents fees owed to the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, and the Airport Authority of Jamaica.
Transport Minister Dr Omar Davies explains that the debt has been growing for just over a year.
He adds that following yesterday's meeting with representatives of the Trinidadian Government, a plan is being drafted on when and how the debt will be cleared.
Spain bans short-selling of shares as markets fall
Spain has banned short-selling of shares to try to limit price moves after markets fell sharply on fears the country may need a full bailout.
Spain's market regulator blocked the practice for three months to try to restore order after sharp falls in bonds and shares.
"Short-selling" is a way that traders can make money by betting on falling share prices.
Italy has also banned short-selling of financial stocks for one week.
'Extreme volatility'
Short-selling is a technique used by investors who think the price of an asset, such as shares, will fall.
They borrow the asset from another investor and then sell it in the relevant market. The aim is to buy back the asset at a lower price and return it to its owner, making a profit along the way.
In a statement, Spain's CNMV regulator said it was imposing the ban in order to maintain market order: "The situation of extreme volatility across the European markets could interfere with their smooth functioning and the normal course of their activities."
It is not the first time that such a curb has been used by regulators. Almost a year ago, France and Belgium joined Spain and Italy in a ban on short-selling financial stocks to try to stabilise bank shares which had fallen sharply.
Markets have had a turbulent few days on fears that Spain's indebted regional governments will push the country towards a full bailout.
On Friday, Valencia, one of the country's 17 regions, asked the central government for a financial lifeline, and on Sunday, the Murcia region said it was considering following suit.
Shares in Europe fell when trading got underway on Monday, with Spain's main share index down 5% at one point and Germany's Dax down 3%.
The US share markets opened with a downward jolt and the euro hit a new two-year low against the dollar.
'No help'
Spain's economy minister denied the country needed more help.
Luis de Guindos said: "We have made important economic reforms and we just reached an agreement with our regional partners over the recapitalisation of the banks, and from there we have done all what we could to establish the bases of a return to a healthy growth for Spain's economy."
Markets remained unsettled. The yield on Spain's 10-year bonds reached a new euro-era high of 7.56% before falling back to 7.43% in early afternoon trading.
The bond yield indicates the interest rate the government would have to pay to borrow new money, and acts as a measure of investor confidence in Spain's creditworthiness. On Friday, the yield had been 7.28%.
Meanwhile bond yields in countries deemed more creditworthy have fallen. Germany's 10-year borrowing costs have fallen to 1.13%, leaving a record difference between the yield on German and Spanish bonds.
Spain has already asked for and been granted a 100bn-euros bailout for its banks, so far avoiding asking for the same sort of national bailout that was needed by Greece, the Republic of Ireland and Portugal.
However, on Friday the Valencia region said it would be the first region to seek financial help from an 18bn-euro fund set up to help the country's regions.
On Sunday, Murcia's government said: "Regarding the liquidity fund provided by the state, the regional government has repeatedly stated that it is studying whether to apply for it."
There is speculation that other regions are also considering seeking assistance.
There was more bad news for Spain on Monday when the Bank of Spain said the country's economy contracted by 0.4% in the three months to the end of June, having shrunk by 0.3% in the previous quarter.
Eurozone jitters also spread to Italy, which is also struggling with high debts. The main Italian share index fell 4.4% with banks the worst hit. UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo were among six Italian banks suspended from trading after their share prices fell sharply.
On the currency markets, the euro fell to a two-year low against the US dollar, at $1.2082, while in Asian trade the euro had fallen to an 11-year low against the Japanese yen, 94.37 yen, its lowest level since November 2000.
The price of oil has also fallen by 2%, a sign that markets think there will be waning demand for oil as a result of worsening economic prospects.
Focus is also returning to Greece's woes. On Tuesday, officials from the so-called "troika" - the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank - will arrive in Greece to assess the progress made on reforms that were agreed as part of the country's latest bailout.
Reports over the weekend suggested that the IMF would refuse calls for further aid, if, as expected, the country fails to meet targets for cutting spending and raising taxes.
In response, the IMF said it was "supporting Greece in overcoming its economic difficulties" and would work with the country to get it "back on track".
There are also questions over how the country will make a 3.2bn-euro bond payment due in August.
A European Commission spokesman said on Monday that it was unlikely that the next tranche of eurozone aid for Greece would be paid before September.
"The decision on the next disbursement will only be taken once the ongoing review is completed," the spokesman said.
"Over the last few months, significant delays in programme implementation have occurred due to the double parliamentary elections in the spring.
"The Commission is confident that the decision on the next disbursement will be taken in the near future, although it is unlikely to happen before September," he said.
Rupert Murdoch steps down from boards
Rupert Murdoch has stepped down from a string of company boards of directors just one month after his embattled News Corporation announced plans to separate publishing interests from its lucrative television and film operations.
The Australian-born media mogul made the move last week, according to a spokesman for News International, a British arm of News Corp.
While Murdoch is expected to remain chairman of both companies, he will be CEO of only the television and film side, further distancing himself from the print business that first brought him fame and fortune.
It's not clear who will be CEO of the publishing company, which would be less than one-third the size of its counterpart.
The News International spokesman on Saturday played down Murdoch's boards resignation, calling it "nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the company split."
News Corp., a Murdoch-controlled media conglomerate, is expected to be divided in the next 12 months. The split comes after some of its U.K.-based newspapers were thrust to the center of a recent phone-hacking scandal.
His British operations have remained under intense scrutiny after revelations of widespread phone hacking, which included celebrities and public officials, by people working for his newspapers.
The controversy prompted News Corp. to shut down its venerable British tabloid, News of the World, last year, and preceded a decision to withdraw a multi-billion-dollar bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting.
The coming split would separate operations like 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcast network and Fox News Channel from the firm's newspapers holdings such as Britain's The Sun, the London Times and the London Sunday Times.
News Corp.'s American media holdings include The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and Barron's. Its book publishing assets include such companies as HarperCollins.
--CNN
Blue-chips raise recession fears
Estimates of revenue growth for the largest US companies are being scaled back sharply by Wall Street analysts, signalling a mounting risk that the world's largest economy may enter recession later this year.
The reduction in growth expectations for leading blue-chips to their lowest level since late 2008 and early 2009 comes as investors have been piling into stocks in dividend-paying large companies that are seen as havens against the backdrop of the eurozone crisis and a weakening US outlook.
Analysts expect average revenue growth will rise at an annual rate of 1 to 1.5 per cent during the third quarter for the 30 large companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. That's below the current inflation rate and down from a forecast of 4 to 6 per cent at the start of the year.
"We are fast approaching levels where these estimates are unambiguously pointing to the risk of a US, global recession later in 2012 and into 2013," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group.
The slide in revenue forecasts has accelerated in recent weeks as companies have released their second-quarter earnings. Lower revenues will increase the pressure on companies to cut costs by laying off workers, which in turn threatens to weaken the broad economy and corporate profits in the coming months.
For now, analysts are still forecasting revenues will rise 3.9 per cent year on year during the fourth quarter. Mr Colas said such a forecast relies on a weaker dollar boosting the companies reliant on large foreign sales.
Expectations that the Federal Reserve will launch a third round of quantitative easing by September has helped propel stocks higher since they bottomed in June, with the rally being led by large companies that have cash-laden balance sheets and pay dividends.
Last week, seven Dow blue-chips hit 52-week highs while the S&P 500 Aristocrats index, consisting of 30 companies that have consistently raised dividends for at least 25 years, sits at a record high and has risen more than 7 per cent since the start of June.
"In the current environment of ultra-low fixed-income yields and increased volatility in equity markets, dividend paying companies look very attractive," said Linda Bakhshian, portfolio manager at Federated Investors.
With revenues sliding, it leaves investors vulnerable to sharp price declines for such companies. But some argue that companies holding large amounts of cash will retain favour with investors.
"Even as the pace of revenue growth slows, many of these companies still have tremendously good balance sheets and a lot of cash at hand," said Oliver Pursche, a portfolio manager at Gary Goldberg Financial Services. "Revenues have not been as strong as we would like to see them. But they haven't been horrible."
Financial Times
Penn State fined $60m over Jerry Sandusky sex abuse
US college sport authorities have fined Penn State University $60m (£39m) in the wake of child sex abuse perpetrated by a long-serving football coach.
The university - a famous US football school - will be banned from competing for honours for four years, and lose all wins from 1998-2011.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) said the punishments were "corrective and punitive".
Assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of sex abuse.
He abused 10 boys over a period of 15 years, a court found, judging him to have preyed on boys he met through a charity, Second Mile, that he founded himself.
Sandusky has not been sentenced but could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Paterno record hit
The NCAA said the fines were equivalent to the annual gross revenue of the Penn State football programme.
The money is to be given to an endowment funding external programmes to prevent child abuse and help victims.
"Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people," NCAA President Mark Emmert said. "The sanctions needed to reflect our goals of providing cultural change."
Other NCAA sanctions against Penn State include:
- A ban on participating in post-season games - or playoffs - for four years, including the 2012-2013 season
- Number of football scholarships limited to 65 per year for the next four years, a reduction of 10 places per year
- Football wins revoked between 1998-2011
- A five-year probation on all sports at Penn State
- Adoption of all recommendations for reform in Section 10 of an FBI investigation into abuse at Penn State
- Appointment of an NCAA-selected Athletics Integrity Monitor for five years
- Further penalties against individuals could come after criminal proceedings end.
Correspondents say the sanctions are unprecedented in their severity, although the NCAA did not impose the "death penalty" and close the entire football programme.
The fallout from the scandal has sullied the reputation of Penn State's former head football coach Joe Paterno.
Paterno, who died earlier this year, months before the resolution of the case, won more college football games in his long career at Penn State than any other head coach in university sport.
He was heavily criticised in a report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, issued after the guilty verdict, which said the highest-ranking officials at Penn State failed utterly to protect victims and potential victims from Sandsuky.
Many of his wins will now be expunged from the record books.
On Sunday a statue of Paterno was removed from outside the university, after it was deemed to have become a "lightning rod of controversy".
Colorado shooting suspect to make first court appearance
The man accused of opening fire in a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, is set to make his first court appearance Monday, giving the public its first look at the suspect since his arrest in an attack that authorities say was planned months in advance.
James E. Holmes, 24, is likely to face charges of first-degree murder -- an offense that carries a possible death penalty, if he is convicted -- in the shooting deaths, given allegations over the weekend by police that there is evidence to suggest "calculation and deliberation" in the rampage.
Holmes is being held in connection with the early Friday morning shootings that left 12 dead and 58 wounded, and the subsequent discovery of his booby-trapped apartment, which authorities believe he rigged before leaving for the Century Aurora 16 multiplex.
Authorities have been tight-lipped about a possible motive in the case, and police spokesman Frank Fania told CNN late Sunday that Holmes has been uncooperative with investigators and requested an attorney.
Arapahoe County public defender James O'Connor has been assigned to the case. The Colorado Judicial Department declined to say whether Holmes requested a public defender. A telephone call by CNN to O'Connor's office was not immediately returned.
Holmes' court appearance will come a few hours before his family is expected to break their silence with a statement.
The family, which lives in San Diego, has not spoken publicly since the allegations against Holmes. They issued a short statement Friday saying they did not wish to be disturbed "at the time of this tragic event."
Lisa Damiani, an attorney representing the family, told CNN the statement would be made at her San Diego office.
Over the weekend, Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates told reporters that there was "evidence of, I think, some calculation and deliberation."
Holmes received many deliveries over the past four months to his home and work addresses, which police believe begins to explain how he got his hands on some of the materials used in the attack and those found at his apartment, Oates said.
Meanwhile, the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where Holmes enrolled in 2011 as a doctoral candidate in its neuroscience program, was investigating whether Holmes received any of the alleged shipments while working as a research assistant at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora.
University spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery would not comment on reports that authorities were looking into whether Holmes allegedly used his position to obtain materials used to booby-trap his apartment.
As of late Sunday, at least 17 people remained hospitalized -- eight in critical condition -- in five area hospitals.
During a visit to Aurora on Sunday, President Barack Obama met with survivors and the families of those killed, and thousands of residents gathered in the city for a prayer vigil that drew state and local officials.
"I confessed to them that words are always inadequate in these kinds of situations, but that my main task was to serve as a representative of the entire country and let them know that we are thinking about them at this moment, and will continue to think about them each and every day," Obama told reporters after the meeting at the University of Colorado Hospital.
"It reminds you that even in the darkest of days, life continues and people are strong and people bounce back and people are resilient," the president said, after describing the recovery of some victims. "Out of this darkness, a brighter day is going to come."
Though much attention has been paid the past couple of days to the "perpetrator of this evil act," that spotlight will fade, leaving behind just the good memories of those affected by the tragedy, he said.
Aurora is bracing for another emotional week as families begin making funeral arrangements.
It was not immediately known when the coroner would release the bodies, though it was expected to occur early this week.
It also became clear that more people may have been killed if the gunman's semiautomatic rifle had not jammed.
One survivor, Josh Nowlan, suffered gunshot wounds, but said he is happy just to be alive. He wouldn't be, he said, if the gunman had continued to fire the weapon.
"I know I wouldn't be here. If that gun did not jam, I am full certain that I probably would not be here," he said from his hospital bed Saturday.
A law enforcement source, who spoke Sunday with CNN on condition of anonymity, said the rifle jammed because of a problem with the 100-shot magazine feeding it.
The military-style AR-15 had a separately purchased drum magazine, which can have trouble feeding bullets into the firing chamber if the gun is fired rapidly, the source said.
Investigators say the rifle was one of three guns used by the suspect, along with a shotgun and a .40-caliber pistol.
SOURCE:CNN
South Sudan Makes New Peace Offer to Sudan
South Sudan has unveiled proposals to advance peace talks with Sudan, including billions of dollars in financial concessions.
The two countries went to the brink of war in April, after failing to resolve issues on borders, oil and citizenship stemming from the South's independence last year.
South Sudan says it would pay more than previously offered to use Sudan's oil pipelines, needed to export southern oil. It also offered greater debt forgiveness and a cash transfer of more than $3 billion.
South Sudan also proposed the United Nations and African Union organize a referendum by the end of this year to determine the status of the contested Abyei region.
Disputes over who was eligible to vote led to cancellation of a planned Abyei referendum in early 2011.
South Sudanese negotiators say they presented their offer to Sudan and African Union mediators late Sunday in Addis Ababa. There was no immediate response from Sudan.
South Sudan said Monday that its proposal aims to achieve “permanent and lasting peace, security and prosperity for both nations.”
Multiple rounds of AU-hosted talks between the two Sudans have produced almost no progress.
Attacks Kill 103 Across Iraq
Iraqi officials say a wave of bombings and shootings has killed at least 103 people and wounded nearly 200 others in one of the deadliest attacks in Iraq this year.
The worst attack was in Taji, 20 kilometers north of Baghdad, where nearly 40 people were killed and scores more wounded. A series of explosions at a housing complex was followed by a later blast that killed and wounded a number of police who had arrived at the scene.
Authorities said the attacks Monday included gunmen killing at least 15 Iraqi soldiers at a military base in northeastern Iraq, a series of explosions in the northern city of Kirkuk, as well as a car bombing in Baghdad.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The violence comes after jihadist websites posted a message Saturday, purportedly from the leader of al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq, saying the group is starting a “new phase.” The audio message from a speaker identified as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi says the Islamic State of Iraq is planning to attack court officials, and to free prisoners.
In June, the group claimed responsibility for a wave of car bombings that killed 72 people and wounded nearly 260 others.
Tens of Thousands Flee Clashes in Northeast India
More than 30,000 people have fled their homes in northeast India to escape fighting between indigenous tribes and Muslim settlers.
Officials in Assam state said Monday at least 18 people have been killed in recent days in clashes over land rights.
The New Delhi government has sent in troops to quell the fighting and opened shelters for those displaced.
Animosity and accusations of land-stealing have long simmered in the region between members of the ethnic Bodo community and the thousands of mostly Bengali Muslim settlers, many of whom came from the former East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh in 1971.