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London: A worldwide probe into suspected rigging of foreign exchange trading has reached HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank revealed on Monday as it announced also a jump in quarterly profits. The London-based bank revealed that global regulators are investigating a number of firms, including HSBC, “relating to trading on the foreign exchange market”. HSBC added that it was “cooperating with the investigations which are at an early stage”. It comes as the British bank announced a 28-percent increase in net profit to $3.2 billion (2.37 billion euros) during the three months to the end to September on major cost-cutting and lower bad debt charges. HSBC had posted profit after tax of $2.5 billion in the third quarter of ...

November 5, 2013 at 1:02 am | News Desk

Washington: Windows phone giant Nokia got another success under its Windows phone flag as company ranked 4th largest manufacture in US. There was a time when Samsung and Apple were trying to play catch up with Nokia. The Finnish company had never seen major success with its smartphones in the U.S., which at the time ran the its own smartphone operating system called Symbian. The software ran on Nokia’s phones and was also licensed by other smartphone makers, including Sony. Nokia tried a few times to focus on making a name for itself in the U.S. market, but its smartphones never saw major sales and usually they were not even available from a carrier. Nokia was the world’s largest mobile phone maker from 1998 to 2012. The compan...

November 4, 2013 at 10:45 am | News Desk

Washington: Motorola promo card confirms the specs of Motorola’s upcoming budget device Motorola Moto G. Company is eyeing to target the low end smartphone market with its upcoming flagship device Motorola Moto G. A holiday-themed promotional card that was intended for a Phones4u store has hit the web courtesy of GSMArena, showing off the Moto G by Motorola. The promo card reveals the smartphone’s spec listing and confirms that it is a mid-range offering. The Moto G will feature a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 display with an edge-to-edge design covered in Gorilla Glass to give it extra protection. It will run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean when it’s released. The device will be powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and include 8GB of in...

November 4, 2013 at 10:45 am | News Desk

Washington: As Apple release its first iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina display, now company will be aiming to make an early impact in the smartphone market with its upcoming device Apple iPhone 6. According to reports earlier this year, Apple will be releasing more than one device this year likely iPhone 5S, iPad 5, iPad Mini 2 and iPhone 6. Among those rumored devices Apple iPhone 6 is the most prominent and it is expected to come at the end of this year. But according to new reports, Apple iPhone 6 have been delayed till the next year. According to rumors and clues the device likely to make its debut in the first quarter of the next year like Samsung Galaxy S4’s early Launch. Here is a brief summary regarding the iPhone 6: The p...

November 4, 2013 at 10:45 am | News Desk

LONDON: England launched their November campaign with a come-from-behind 20-13 victory over Australia at Twickenham on Saturday as the Wallabies’ bid for a Grand Slam fell at the first hurdle. England were 13-6 down early in the second half and would have been 10 points adrift had Quade Cooper kicked a penalty. But two tries in seven minutes from captain Chris Robshaw and fly-half Owen Farrell turned the tide as England regained the Cook Cup against a Wallaby side they will face in the pool phase of the 2015 World Cup in England. Defeat extended Australia’s poor 2013 record to eight defeats from 11 matches, with just three wins. “You’ve got to give it to the English,” Australia captain Ben Mowen told Sky Sports...

November 3, 2013 at 1:19 am | News Desk

Rio de Janeiro: Eike Batista’s debt-ridden EBX empire appears to be on its last legs as the Brazilian magnate desperately tries to sell assets and lure investment to keep his sinking ship afloat. In three years, EBX, a vast conglomerate of commodities and energy companies, has seen its value shrink from $43.5 billion to less than $3 billion today. Wednesday, oil giant OGX, once the jewel in the EBX crown, was forced to file for bankruptcy protection after debt-restructuring talks with its creditors failed. With a total debt pile estimated at $5.4 billion, OGX has 60 days to present a restructuring plan while creditors have 30 days to come forward and then vote on whether to accept the plan. The process can last six months. Thursday, c...

November 3, 2013 at 1:05 am | News Desk

Berlin: Bayern Munich equalled the record for the longest unbeaten run in the history of the Bundesliga with a 2-1 win at Hoffenheim on Saturday. The hard fought result was enough to extend their remarkable record of not having lost a top-flight game in more than a year. In doing so, they have equalled the all-time Bundesliga record of 36 matches unbeaten set by Hamburg between January 1982 and January 1983. They can own the record outright by avoiding defeat against neighbours Augsburg next weekend. Pep Guardiola’s side trailed at the Rhein-Neckar Arena in Sinsheim when teenage defender Niklas Suele converted in the 34th minute after Manuel Neuer made a hash of dealing with a corner. However, the visitors were level inside five minut...

November 3, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk

Niamey: Niger has rounded up close to 150 migrants crossing the Sahara to Algeria in the past two days, in a crackdown on illegal migration after 92 people died of thirst trying to make the same desert journey. The grisly discovery Wednesday of the bodies of mostly women and children left stranded in the harsh Sahara desert after their trucks broke down, has prompted Niamey to clamp down on migrant trafficking networks. A security source said Saturday that around 100 migrants, mostly men and some children, had been stopped in the desert and placed in police cells in the northern town of Arlit, a transit point for people seeking passage to Algeria. “The migrants are being held at the gendarmerie but we do not yet know what will become ...

November 3, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk

London: Spy agencies in Germany, France, Spain and Sweden are carrying out mass surveillance of online and phone traffic in collaboration with Britain, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the Guardian newspaper reported Saturday. Britain’s GCHQ electronic eavesdropping centre — which has a close relationship with the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) — has taken a leading role in helping the other countries work around laws intended to limit spying, the British newspaper said. The report is likely to prove embarrassing for governments including those of Germany and Spain, which had denounced earlier reports that the NSA was electronically spying on their citizens. Saturday’s report said...

November 3, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk

Abu Dhabi: Sebastian Vettel shook off any last vestiges of a hangover on Friday when he clocked the fastest time ahead of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in second free practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The newly-crowned quadruple world champion, who is seeking to secure his seventh successive victory, was third quickest in morning practice, but responded in style in the afternoon. His fastest lap time of one minute and 41.335 seconds lifted him one-tenth of a second clear of Webber in a session run in cooling conditions and under dazzling floodlights at the ultra-modern Yas Marina Circuit. The ambient temperature dropped by 14 degrees during the session after recordings of 35 degrees Celsius for the air and 46 for the track earlier in ...

November 2, 2013 at 1:49 am | News Desk

A Transportation Security Administration agent was killed and several others wounded when a man with an assault rifle opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport’s Terminal 3 on Friday. The attacker has also been shot by armed police officers and taken into custody. The shooting took place around 9:20 a.m. PT, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a briefing. A union spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees in Washington confirmed that a TSA agent was killed. Within an hour of the shooting, the situation seemed to be under control, with no suggestion of further gunfire. A triage area outside the airport – with three coloured mats laid out for wounded people – was se...

November 2, 2013 at 1:37 am | News Desk

Tokyo: Nissan on Friday launched a sweeping management overhaul to “rejuvenate” its top ranks while slashing its full-year profit forecast, as the Japanese automaker cited a sluggish European market and vehicle recall costs. The firm now expects to earn 355 billion yen ($3.62 billion) in the fiscal year to March, down from an earlier 420 billion yen forecast. Despite the slimmed-down forecast, Japan’s number-two automaker said its half-year net profit rose 6.5 percent from a year ago as sales jumped 14.7 percent. “Nissan’s results reflect improved demand for our new products in Japan and the Americas,” chief executive Carlos Ghosn said. “This was offset by difficult conditions in Europe, volatile de...

November 2, 2013 at 1:32 am | News Desk

Washington: After the months of being rumored, Google finally introduces its new Android operating system, Android 4.4 KitKat. Google has slightly tweaked the look of Android 4.4 KitKat as a subtle change that gives the OS some nice visual changes. The transition from Jelly Bean to KitKat is not as dramatic as the one from iOS 6 to iOS 7. One of Google’s main focuses was to try and get rid of the term “Android fragmentation”, which is a term that Apple has been using to take jabs at its rival. So many Android devices out don’t receive OS updates or even access to Google’s Play Store, and are usually sold at a very cheap price. This keeps a large segment of the Android population on older versions of Android fro...

November 2, 2013 at 1:20 am | News Desk

Dubai: Pakistan beat South Africa by 66 runs in second One-day International here in Dubai on Friday to level the five-match series 1-1.  Pakistan’s legspinner Shahid Afridi and offspinner Mr magician Saeed Ajmal bowled out South Africa for 143. Afridi took 3-26 and declared man of the match while Ajmal  grabbed 2-15 and choked South Africa’s top order with plenty of variations to dismiss the Proteas in 40.3 overs for its second lowest ever ODI score against Pakistan. Earlier, Paceman Ryan McLaren (4-34), who remained unbeaten on 29, and Morne Morkel (3-38) combined for seven wickets to dismiss Pakistan for 209 in 49.4 overs. South Africa won the first match by one-run. The News Tribe – UK-based bilingual news ...

November 2, 2013 at 1:17 am | News Desk

Moscow: Intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is ready to assist a German probe into US spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel but also wants to talk directly to the US Congress, a German lawmaker who met the fugitive said Friday. Snowden had late on Thursday met German Green party lawmaker Hans-Christian Stroebele at an undisclosed location in Moscow to discuss his revelations that Washington for years monitored Merkel’s mobile phone, which has caused an uproar in Europe. On his return to Germany, Stroebele published a letter from Snowden and said the American was ready to testify to the US Congress to shed light on “possibly serious offences”. The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, who began work at an undisclose...

November 2, 2013 at 1:11 am | News Desk

Washington: Google finally reveals its highly anticipated flagship device Google Nexus 5 with new operating system. The device is built with the contribution of LG. The manufacturer is well-known for the quality of its displays and the Nexus 5 definitely does not disappoint in this department. It boasts a pixel density of 445 pixels-per-inch on its 4.95-inch Full HD display. It has a higher pixel density than its two main rivals, just beating the Samsung Galaxy S4, which has a pixel density of 441 and topping Apple’s iPhone 5s, which packs in 326 pixels-per-inch. It is also the first device to ship with Google’s latest version of Android, Android 4.4 Kitkat. The update brings a few new features and has been optimized to use less...

November 2, 2013 at 1:11 am | News Desk