February, 2017

• 9 February

  US home price gains rise in the fourth quarter

    Bloomberg Home price gains accelerated in the fourth quarter, with increases reported in 89 percent of US metropolitan areas, as competition heated up for a record-low supply of listings, the National Association of Realtors said. The median price of an existing single-family home rose from a year earlier in 158 of the 178 areas measured, the group said in ...

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• 9 February

  Nokia to buy Comptel for $370 million

  

    Bloomberg Nokia Oyj agreed to buy Comptel Oyj for 347 million euros ($370 million) to add technology that helps phone carriers manage their networks, part of a push into software and services as network-gear sales sputter. Comptel shareholders will get 3.04 euros a share in cash, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said in a statement Thursday. That’s 29 percent more than ...

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• 9 February

  UK house buyers lose interest as weak supply represses market

    Bloomberg Interest from UK house buyers slipped to a five-month low in January amid waning affordability and a diminishing supply of properties for sale. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its measure of new buyer inquiries fell to 5 percent from 6 percent a month earlier. That came as instructions from sellers also declined, remaining in negative territory ...

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• 9 February

  Thyssenkrupp drops on negative free cash flow

  

    Bloomberg Thyssenkrupp AG, the German steelmaker in the midst of a corporate transformation, dropped the most in three months after reporting negative free cash flow widened in the first quarter. While the company posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter profit as steel prices recovered, negative free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions doubled to 1.74 billion euros ($1.86 billion) due to ...

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• 9 February

  Trump slams judiciary, his court nominee Gorsuch hits back

  

    WASHINGTON / AP President Donald Trump’s extended criticism of the judiciary prompted a rebuke from his nominee for the Supreme Court, who told a senator the president’s comments were “demoralizing and disheartening.” Judge Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated by Trump to the nation’s high court last week, made the comments Wednesday after Trump accused an appellate court considering his ...

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• 9 February

  Hacker talks about links with Russian spy agency

    MOSCOW / AP A member of a Russian hacking group involved in blackmailing top officials says that it had contacts with Russia’s top domestic security agency. Alexander Glazastikov said in an interview with independent Dozhd television aired on Thursday that the Federal Security Service, or FSB, had offered the Shaltai Boltai (Humpty Dumpty) group to work under its control. ...

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• 9 February

  Danes see Russia as a ‘leader’ with ‘advanced capabilities’

    COPENHAGEN / AP Denmark’s cybersecurity agency sees Russia as “a leader” when it comes to hacking, saying that the country has for “a long time invested intensively in its cyber capabilities.” The Danish position is similar to that reached by others in the Nordic region where national security agencies recently have pointed fingers at Russia for illicit online activities. ...

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• 9 February

  NATO drones kill 11 IS fighters

    KABUL / AP An Afghan official says NATO drone strikes killed 11 IS militants, including two senior commanders, in the eastern Nangarhar province. Mohammad Hussain Mashraqiwal, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, identified the two commanders killed in Wednesday’s strikes as Mohammed Omar Sadiq and Omar Farooq, adding that another six people were wounded. US Navy Cpt. Bill ...

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• 9 February

  Malaysia’s ‘Rohingya aid ship’ arrives in Yangon

  

    YANGON / AP A Malaysian ship carrying 2,300 tons of food and medicine to help members of Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority arrived in Yangon on Thursday as rights groups accuse the army of mass killings, rapes and other crimes targeting the ethnic group. The “Food Flotilla for Myanmar” arrived following a sweeping counterinsurgency campaign in Rakhine state, where ...

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• 9 February

  China praises Trump’s letter to Xi, belated well-wishes

    BEIJING / AP China praised US President Donald Trump on Thursday for expressing a desire for a “constructive relationship” in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, even though the leaders have not spoken directly since Trump’s inauguration. Trump sent belated well-wishes for the Lunar New Year in a letter from the White House on Wednesday. He had been ...

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