EU fails to agree bank supervisor

4 December 2012 Last updated at 15:25 ETEU finance ministers have failed to reach agreement on setting up a single supervisor for eurozone banks after a meeting in Brussels.Establishing a single supervisor under the European Central Bank (ECB) is seen as the first step in setting up a Europe-wide banking union.But German and French ministers in particular clashed over the plans.German Finance Minister...

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WestJet embraces tech to woo business travelers

TORONTO (Reuters) – WestJet Airlines Ltd will use technological innovation, including a new Internet ticket booking system, to help it transform from a no-frills carrier to a lower-cost full-service airline courting lucrative corporate travelers, its chief executive said on Monday.Canada’s second-biggest airline plans to launch a series of technology systems, most notably the new online booking engine,...

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News Corp shutting down iPad newspaper ‘The Daily’ on December 15th

News Corp’s iPad newspaper “The Daily” is officially dead. Launched in February 2011, The Daily was a “ bold experiment in digital publishing and an amazing vehicle for innovation,” but like so many pioneering ideas, it “could not find a large enough audience quickly enough” to keep the publication going, according to Rupert Murdoch, the Chairman of News Corporation and Chairman and CEO...

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Additional copies of ‘Lincoln’ headed to theaters

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Lincoln” is marching to more movie theaters.Disney, which distributed the DreamWorks film, is making additional prints of director Steven Spielberg‘s historical saga starring Daniel Day-Lewis to meet an unexpected demand that has left some moviegoers in Alaska out in the cold.“To say that we’re encouraged by the results to date or that they’ve exceeded our expectations is an understatement,”...

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Drug industry treading water on R&D productivity

LONDON (Reuters) – Drug companies are becoming more efficient in hunting for new treatments, though this has yet to be reflected in improved investment returns, according to a report on Tuesday.Low productivity in research labs is the biggest single challenge facing the global pharmaceutical industry, which is struggling to replenish its medicine chest after a wave of patient expiries that peaked...

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UK economy ‘not as bad in 2012′

3 December 2012 Last updated at 19:07 ETThe British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has increased its forecast for UK growth for 2012, but still expects the economy to shrink.The UK will shrink by 0.1% this year, less than the 0.4% contraction it had predicted previously, the BCC said.That is “entirely due to the stronger-than-expected” growth in the last quarter, helped by the Olympic Games.But it now...

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Official: Syria moving chemical weapons components

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and allied intelligence have detected Syrian movement of chemical weapons components in recent days, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday, as the Obama administration strongly warned the Assad regime against using them.A senior defense official said intelligence officials have detected activity around more than one of Syria‘s chemical weapons sites in the last week. The...

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Euro zone crisis drags down European ad spending: report

LONDON (Reuters) – The euro zone crisis has left Western Europe the only world region to see a fall in advertising spending this year, market research group ZenithOptimedia said.The forecasting group said advertising expenditure in Western Europe fell 2.2 percent to $ 106.8 billion this year compared with an average increase of 3.3 percent worldwide.North American ad spending rose 4.1 percent to $...

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Young down by boardwalk for benefit show

NEW YORK (AP) — Neil Young said Sunday that he couldn’t see performing in the area devastated by Superstorm Sandy without doing something to help people who were affected by it.Young and his longtime backing band, Crazy Horse, will hold a benefit concert for the American Red Cross‘ storm relief effort Thursday at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. The New Jersey coastline areas were...

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Diabetes may be linked to hearing loss: study

(Reuters) – Diabetes has already been tied to an increased risk of kidney and cardiovascular troubles, nerve damage and vision loss, and now a Japanese study finds diabetics to be more than twice as likely as those without the disease to have hearing impairment.In a review of past research on the issue, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, scientists found that younger...

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