Skip to main content

Posts

Mexico's Urbi defaults on interest payment

Mexico's third-largest homebuilder, Urbi Desarrollos, on Monday said it will not meet a $6.4 million interest payment due since last month. _0"> The company had previously sought a 30-day grace period to make the payment on its 2016 bonds, but that expired on May 19. Urbi, which is already facing lawsuits for missed debt payments, said in April it hired advisers to help it review options including restructuring debt. The company, like its larger rivals Geo and Homex , has been struggling to make debt payments amid a slump in home sales.   Mexicans are increasingly spurning the cheap, suburban homes built by the country's top three builders in favor of older homes closer to city centers.

UPDATE 1-Blackstone, Pactera insiders make $680 mln offer

Pactera Technology International Ltd said on Monday that Blackstone Group LP, together with the company's management, made a $680.3 million non-binding proposal to take China's largest technology outsourcing firm private.   Pactera said it expected its board of directors to form a special committee of independent directors to consider the consortium's offer of $7.50 per share. Pactera shares surged 31.1 percent to $6.90. Suspicion over accounting standards has been a major drag on U.S.-listed Chinese companies, giving management at some companies an opportunity to team up with private equity firms and make offers that capitalize on big discounts to peers on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets. Prior to Monday's announced proposal, Pactera shares were down 33.8 percent this year. By comparison, the NASDAQ, where it is listed, is up 15.9 percent. Pactera was trading at 3.3 times its projected 12-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortiza

Doctors take pregnant woman, 37, with 'severe mental disorder' to High Court to stop her having an abortion

A pregnant woman with a severe mental disorder who wants to have an abortion has been taken to the High Court by doctors trying to stop her. Her four-day case started today as Mr Justice Holman will decide whether the unnamed 37-year-old, who is 23 weeks pregnant, is capable of making decisions about terminating her unborn child. The judge made an order - at the start of the hearing today - saying neither the woman nor the health authority responsible for her care should be identified. Case: Doctors have taken a woman with a 'mental disorder' to the High Court to stop her having an abortion Lawyers representing the health authority have told the judge that the woman suffers with a 'chronic and severe mental disorder'. 'She is pregnant and she has requested a termination of her pregnancy,' they added, in a written statement given to the judge.   More... Parents of girl, five, who drowned at Egyptian hotel: 'We left our daughter with her 15-year-old

Lord Ashcroft warns Tories on verge of 'spiral of irrelevance' as Cameron faces revolt

Gay marriage laws are expected to clear their latest hurdle in the Commons tonight, after Labour agreed to back it in a series of votes. David Cameron has faced down his backbenchers to press ahead with his plan for same-sex weddings, despite warnings the party is haemorrhaging grassroots support. It came after former Tory donor Lord Ashcroft warned the party risks being plunged into a 'spiral of irrelevance'. David Cameron is facing a Commons defeat tonight on gay marriage that could cost the Exchequer £4billion The Prime Minister had been facing a Commons defeat tonight on gay marriage, amid warnings rebel demands to allow heterosexual couples to have civil partnerships could cost the Exchequer £4billion. Mr Cameron is also under growing pressure after backing party co-chairman Lord Feldman against claims he called Eurosceptic activists 'mad, swivel-eyed loons'. Lord Ashcroft, a former Tory party treasurer called for an end to the the rows over Europe, gay ma

U.S. justices endorse FCC authority in cellphone tower case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has authority to try to speed up the process for installing wireless communications towers when local governments have been slow to act. The case hinged on a federal law requiring state and local governments to act on tower-siting applications within a "reasonable period of time."   In a 6-3 vote, the court said that the agency has leeway to interpret ambiguity in the law about the extent of its regulatory authority. The FCC had decided that 90-day and 150-day deadlines relating to decisions on cellphone towers were fair, and a federal appeals court upheld its decision. AT&T Inc., Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group Plc supported that view. But Los Angeles, San Antonio, Arlington, Texas, and the New Orleans city council said the federal government had interfered with their power to enforce

Russian capsule carrying mice and lizards lands safely after month-long space mission - but not many passengers survived

A Russian space capsule carrying animals including mice, lizards, newts and gerbils has landed back on Earth after spending a month in space. The animals were subjected to various tests, during and after the trip, so Russian scientists could test the effects weightlessness had on their skeletons, nervous systems, muscles and hearts. The Bion-M capsule carrying the animals made the successful landing in the Orenburg Region, about 745 miles southeast of Moscow, but all the gerbils died, as did the majority of the mice and newts. Scroll down for video A Bion-M capsule, like the one pictured, carried the animals, including mice, geckos, snails and plants into space attached to the Soyuz 2-1A rocket. The capsule was designed to support its living cargo for up to six months but only spent 30 days in space. The capsule's orbit reached heights of 345 miles above Earth during its mission Among the animals on board the Bion-M capsule were 45 mice, left, and 15 geckos,