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The Obama administration is unlikely to make a decision on the Canada-to-Nebraska Keystone XL pipeline until late this year as it painstakingly weighs the project's impact on the environment and on energy security, a U.S. official and analysts said on Friday. The decision may not be made until November, December or even early 2014, said a U.S. official, as President Barack Obama will not rush the process, which still has a number of stages to work through. One of those stages has not even begun yet and will run for months. "The president has to be able to show that the administration looked under every stone to ensure it knew as much as it possibly could about the impact of Keystone," said the official, who did not want to be named given the sensitive nature of the project. Analysts agreed that a decision would not be made by this summer as the State Department had suggested when it issued an environmental review on the pipeline on March 1. The State Department is

SoftBank Corp is playing it rough in its attempt to keep Dish Network Corp from breaking up its $20.1 billion deal to take control of Sprint Nextel Corp. The Japanese telecom company, which owns 33 percent of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, has told banks that their financing of Dish's $25.5 billion rival offer for Sprint could hurt their chances of landing a role in a highly anticipated public offering of the Chinese e-commerce giant, two sources familiar with the situation said. SoftBank, Dish and Sprint declined to comment. A source close to Alibaba said on Friday that while SoftBank is a major investor, it does not make decisions for Alibaba's management. Alibaba has no timetable for an IPO yet and has not hired underwriters. Softbank's unusual move is the latest sign that the battle for the control of Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, is fast turning into a no-holds-barred brawl between Softbank founder Masayoshi Son and Dish's Charlie Ergen. SoftBank agre

A lawsuit filed on Friday alleged that laboratory equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc ( id="symbol_TMO.N_0"> TMO.N ) sold a Mexican plant last year without revealing that a drug cartel was operating there, the Wall Street Journal reported. _0"> The Reynosa, Mexico-based manufacturing facility, part of a larger deal between Opengate Capital Group LLC and Thermo Fisher, was occupied by gangsters from the Gulf Cartel, the Journal reported Saturday. The private equity firm filed the lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles. The report said the lawsuit alleged that Thermo Fisher acted in bad faith by withholding documents and directing employees to conceal the drug gang's presence at the facility. Opengate alleged gangsters brandished weapons at employees and parked their cars and "tractor-trailers filled with unknown cargo" at the facility, the newspaper reported. The firm did not specify damages sought, it said. The suit said that the co

With the Dow and the S&P 500 setting another string of record closing highs this week, the old Wall Street adage "Sell in May and Go Away" is starting to look weak. Closing out the second week of May, the Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 2.3 percent for the month. For the year, the benchmark S&P 500 is up a stunning 14.6 percent. Some analysts say that when the market starts off this strong, it tends to keep the upward momentum going until the end of the year. "Instead of 'Sell in May and Go Away,' we may be setting up for a surprise May rally," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, Ohio. "What's encouraging is that small-cap stocks have been outperforming the market recently. It's a sign that the market is going for even the riskiest sectors." Both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 topped major milestones for the first time in early May, with the D

Major central banks did not face calls to do more to boost the world economy when Group of Seven finance officials met on Saturday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said. Before the meeting Britain's finance minister, George Osborne, said ministers would "consider what more monetary activism can do to support the recovery" - something that he is keen for the Bank of England to do. But Draghi said the ECB, which cut interest rates to a record low last week, did not come under pressure to take further steps. "There wasn't any call to do more," he told reporters after the meeting. "It is quite clear that all central banks have done a lot, each one within its own mandate. So (the meeting) was just taking note of this ... All of us have really been active." The ECB is also looking at whether it can do more to promote small business lending in the euro zone via asset-backed securities (ABS), but Draghi said the central bank was bette

Japanese long-term interest rates should not shoot higher as a result of money flowing out of government bonds, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Saturday. _0"> Kuroda added, however, that it would be natural for long-term rates to rise over time if Japan meets its goal of pushing inflation up towards two percent. He said a shift in funds from Japanese government bonds to stocks and into lending was already taking place but that the BOJ was increasing its balance of JGB holdings at an annual pace of 50 trillion yen. "The BOJ dealt with short-term volatility in bond prices by adjusting its market operations," Kuroda told reporters after a two-day meeting of G7 finance officials. "I do not expect a sudden spike in long-term bond yields. In the long-run, if the economy recovers and inflation heads towards two percent, we might see nominal interest rates rise but that's natural." Finance Minister Taro Aso said the G7 had leveled no cri

Group of Seven finance officials agreed on Saturday to redouble efforts to deal with failing banks and gave a green light to Japan's drive to galvanize its economy. British finance minister George Osborne said the finance ministers and central bankers meeting 40 miles outside London focused on unfinished bank reforms, with signs that plans for a euro zone banking union are fraying. "It is important to complete swiftly our work to ensure that no banks are too big to fail," Osborne told reporters after hosting a two-day meeting in a stately home set in rolling countryside. "We must put regimes in place ... to deal with failing banks and to protect taxpayers and to do so in a globally consistent manner," he said. The emergency rescue of Cyprus after a near meltdown in March served as a reminder of the need to finish an overhaul of the banking sector, five years after the world financial crisis began. Germany has come under pressure to give more support t

Bloomberg LP customers, including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury, were examining on Saturday whether there could have been leaks of confidential information, even as the media company restricted its reporters' access to client data and created a position to oversee compliance in a bid to assuage privacy concerns. The financial data and news company, whose computer terminals are widely used on Wall Street, had allowed journalists to see some information about terminal usage, including when customers had last logged in, and how often they used messaging or looked up data on broad categories, such as equities or bonds. Bloomberg CEO Daniel Doctoroff said in a statement on Friday that the firm restricted reporters' access last month after a client complained. The client, Goldman Sachs Group Inc ( id="symbol_GS.N_0"> GS.N ), flagged the matter to Bloomberg after a news service reporter in Hong Kong asked the bank about a partner's employment st

London remains the top financing centre for the global transport industry, although it faces stiff competition from New York and capitals in Asia Pacific as companies seek to tap more funding sources, a survey showed on Friday. Some 37 per cent of respondents from the global aviation, rail and shipping sectors ranked London as the key financial centre for transport, followed by New York at 14 percent and Singapore at 7 percent, the survey by international law firm Norton Rose found. "London and New York remain key financial centres for the transport industry but are looking over their shoulders at Asia which is growing in importance," said Harry Theochari, global head of transport at Norton Rose. Of those canvassed, 43 percent from the rail industry said London was most favoured as a financing hub, followed by 40 percent in the shipping sector and 31 percent in aviation. The annual survey by Norton Rose, now in its fourth year, is one of the transport sector's lead

BlackBerry will offer technology to separate and make secure both work and personal data on mobile devices powered by Google Inc's Android platform and by Apple Inc's iOS operating system, the company said on Thursday. The new feature could help BlackBerry sell high-margin services to enterprise clients even if many, or all, of their workers are using smartphones made by BlackBerry's competitors. That may be crucial for the company as it has lost a vast amount of market share to the iPhone and to Android devices, such as Samsung Electronics Co's ( id="symbol_005930.KS_0"> 005930.KS ) Galaxy line. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said he expects BlackBerry's device management software to gain traction this year, and boost revenue next year. "Supporting devices with the best, most secure, and easiest-to-use mobile solution should enable RIM to transform into what we believe is an attractive model," he said in a note to clients. The offering

Synonymous with film photography, lilacs and classical music, Rochester offers an unusual array of attractions for a mid-sized U.S. city that brought industrial prowess to a scenic river gorge on Lake Ontario's southern shore. From top-ranked golf courses and national-landmark house museums to a children's emporium of play and America's oldest municipal park-garden cemetery, the city in western New York is crammed with surprises for visitors of all interests. Its glacier-carved linchpin is a trio of waterfalls trumpeting the Genesee River's thunderous descent into Lake Ontario. Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most out of a short stay in Rochester (pop. 210,855), variously known over two centuries as the Flour City, the Flower City and, less so of late, the World's Image Center. FRIDAY 5:30 p.m. - Dinner at Dinosaur Barbecue (www.dinosaurbarbque.com), a honky tonk rib joint tucked into a former railroad station overlooking th

Spending a night between destinations in a stopover city and need a place to stay? Online boutique hotel experts Mr & Mrs Smith (www.mrandmrssmith.com) have come up with 10 hotels for a memorable stopover. Reuters has not endorsed this list. _0"> 1. Best for resort relaxation: Capella Singapore, Singapore Languishing on Sentosa Island, just a 15-minute taxi hop south of the city centre, Capella Singapore hotel in Singapore feels a relaxing world away. A tranquil resort, the 112-room heritage-modern hybrid has a graceful colonial building, art works dotted around the manicured grounds and a triple-tier pool with South China Sea views. 2. Best for gourmet dining: The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, China A day-spa with 113 contemporary guest rooms, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hong Kong gives good stopover. This stylish skyscraper is in the heart of Central's retail district. After a hard day's shopping, bag a table at two-Michelin-starred Amb

For British student Carly Connor a trip to London for a city break would be impossible if she had to pay for a hotel so instead she rents a room in a Londoner's home. Connor, 26, is among a growing number of people taking advantage of a surge in the number of homeowners offering to rent out a room for a night or longer, with the cash a welcome addition to recession-squeezed budgets. This new wave of hospitality sweeping the travel industry was sparked by the success of "couch surfing", where people could go online to book a free bed in a home, and is being led by a blitz of new websites that let tourists bypass resorts and hotels. "A lot of the time you find yourself with a host who is more than happy to point you in the direction of a few local hot spots that you otherwise would have missed entirely," Connor told Reuters. But the increasing popularity of peer-to-peer rentals has lawmakers on the alert in some countries, scrutinising tax, health and safet

Peregrine Financial Group's bankruptcy estate may have "viable" claims against JPMorgan Chase & Co and U.S. Bancorp for harm done to clients of the now-failed brokerage, and may pursue them in court, Peregrine's trustee said in a filing this week. _0"> The trustee, Ira Bodenstein, wants the federal bankruptcy court in Chicago to put on hold a lawsuit by the firm's former clients against the father-son duo that formerly ran the brokerage and the banks that handled their business. In the filing, Bodenstein said the lawsuit could interfere with his efforts to return money to creditors and former Peregrine Financial customers. The firm, once one of the largest U.S. independent futures brokerages, filed for bankruptcy last July after its founder and CEO Russell Wasendorf Sr. confessed to bilking his clients of more than $100 million in a nearly 20-year-long fraud. Wasendorf Sr. is now serving what is expected to be a lifelong sentence in a high-secur

Farrah Abraham LAX fight is in talk over internet as it started trending on the popular news site. Farrah Abraham can't keep her name out of the headlines. On May 11, TMZ reported that she got into a fight at the LAX airport. The fight was with a bag check lady. The entire fight was about an over-sized duffle bag and it ended up with the police officers showing up. Farrah had a bag that was too big to be her carry on and was told that she had to check it. She was not okay with this decision and it ended in a big fight. The bag check lady says that Farrah Abraham was rude to her and that is what started it all. She called the lady trash and even asked for her supervisor just because she was told she was required to check her bag. She went to Twitter to say that she will never fly with American Airlines again. At this time, TSA is reporting they have no record of the incident. American Airlines is not returning calls about the incident either.

Hewlett-Packard Co ( id="symbol_HPQ.N_0"> HPQ.N ) must defend against a lawsuit accusing former management at the world's largest personal computer maker of defrauding shareholders by abandoning a business model it had long touted, causing more than $16 billion of market value to be wiped out. District Judge Andrew Guilford in Santa Ana, California said shareholders had raised a "strong inference" that officials including former Chief Executive Leo Apotheker in June and July 2011 misled them about HP's commitment to the WebOS operating system and related products, including the TouchPad tablet PC. "It is far from implausible that a corporate executive who had spent months building excitement and momentum around important, new technology products might recklessly misrepresent the inability to deliver on those promises," the judge wrote in a decision dated May 8 and made public the next day. The lawsuit was filed after Apotheker shocked inve

Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc have mounted an aggressive challenge to Michael Dell's controversial $24.4 billion offer to take Dell Inc private, offering $21 billion in cash to shareholders while vying to wrest control of the company from its co-founder. Michael Dell, major shareholders such as Southeastern and billionaire activist investor Icahn are waging a battle over the future of the world's third largest personal computer maker, once a tech-industry high flyer, but now struggling to evolve as people embrace smartphones and tablet computers. Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake want to take the company private for $13.65 per share, making it the largest buyout since the 2008 financial crisis. But many shareholders, including Southeastern and T. Rowe Price, complain that offer severely undervalues the company. Instead, Icahn and Southeastern, two of Dell's biggest shareholders, proposed a deal that gives shareholders $12 of cash for

The Dow and S&P 500 ended at record highs on Friday, and stocks posted a third consecutive week of gains as a rise in Google and other technology shares offset a slide in energy stocks. Nasdaq led gains, boosted by a 1 percent rise in Google's ( id="symbol_GOOG.O_0"> GOOG.O ) stock, which also led the S&P 500's rise. Indexes were flat for much of the session but managed a late-day surge. On Thursday, the S&P 500 broke a five-day streak of record closing highs. Stocks have risen on the Federal Reserve's accommodative monetary stance and some encouraging corporate earnings , but analysts said momentum could wane without further positive signs. "I think it's going to hard to maintain these levels in the short term," said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management, which has about $13 billion in assets. "There are not a lot of positive catalysts to keep it going," she said, not

A new "jumbo" option contract on the popular S&P 500 tracking ETF debuted on the BOX Options Exchange on Friday, but at least one rival has opted not to list the product for now because of concerns it will hurt liquidity in existing options on the fund. The new product, known as the Jumbo SPY Options, is ten times the size of a traditional options contract on the fund, and is designed for institutional investors who prefer larger-sized contracts when executing their strategies. Its introduction comes at a time when competing exchanges are trying to innovate and meet the demand of their customers. "There are 11 option exchanges competing for order flow and innovation is the lifeblood of their future growth," said Andy Nybo, head of derivatives at research firm TABB Group. BOX received the go-ahead from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week to trade the Jumbo SPY contract. Other option venues can list the contract after submitting a rule fil

T. Rowe Price Group ( id="symbol_TROW.O_0"> TROW.O ) lost one of its top stock fund managers on Friday, as Joseph Milano quit to pursue other opportunities. _0"> Milano, who ran the $4 billion New America Growth Fund( id="symbol_PRWAX.O PRWAX.O ) for the past decade, will be replaced by Dan Martino, manager of the Baltimore firm's Media and Telecommunications Fund ( id="symbol_PRMTX.O PRMTX.O ) and related accounts, spokesman Brian Lewbart said. Milano could not be immediately reached. _1"> Under Milano, the New America fund has been among the better performers in its category, according to data from Lipper, a unit of Thomson Reuters. _2"> The fund gained an average of 9.15 percent a year over the past 10 years through the end of April, better than 62 percent of similar funds. Over the past five years, the fund's average annual return of 6.74 percent beat 79 percent of its peers. But the fund's performance lagged this ye

A meeting of U.S. Fiat dealers to discuss future products, including the arrival of Alfa Romeo models, has twice been postponed and no new date has been set, several Fiat dealers said this week. Some of the 204 U.S. Fiat dealers are struggling to turn a profit selling several versions of the Fiat 500 subcompact and some dealers said they anxiously await more details from Chrysler and its Italian parent, Fiat SpA ( id="symbol_FIA.MI_0"> FIA.MI ), on plans to expand products beyond what has been already announced. Fiat returned to the U.S. market in March 2011 with 40 dealers after a 16-year absence selling a single product, the two-door Fiat 500, largely known outside North America as the Cinquecento. The Italian carmaker, led by hard-charging Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne, took over management of Chrysler after the No. 3 U.S. automaker's 2009 bankruptcy, partly on the promise it would make the company less reliant on gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUV

Bank of America Corp ( id="symbol_BAC.N_0"> BAC.N ) has fired back at New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman after he threatened to sue the bank for violating the terms of a $25 billion settlement designed to end mortgage servicing abuses. In a letter to Schneiderman, lawyers for Bank of America said they were "surprised and disappointed" the attorney general thought the bank engaged in "flagrant violations" of the timeline to process mortgage modifications. The lawyers also said Schneiderman cannot sue until the bank has an opportunity to cure any alleged violations. "Bank of America has not committed any potential violations ... let alone failed to cure those potential violations," attorneys Meyer Koplow and Theodore Mirvis, of Wachtell, Lipton Rosen & Katz, wrote in the May 7 letter. Reuters obtained a copy of the letter on Friday. Schneiderman announced on Monday that he planned to sue Bank of America and Wells Fargo &

SoftBank Corp has asked investment banks not to finance a rival bid for Sprint Nextel Corp by Dish Network Corp, saying this could hurt the banks' chances of gaining a role in the highly anticipated public offering of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Japanese telecom company SoftBank, which is a big shareholder in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba with a 33 percent stake, is locked in an escalating bidding war with Dish, after the U.S. satellite TV provider made a $25.5 billion proposal for Sprint in April. SoftBank, which has an existing agreement with Sprint to buy 70 percent of the U.S. wireless carrier for $20.1 billion, has heavily criticized Dish's offer, saying the rival bid does not have committed financing in place. Dish, which has said it would need to raise $9 billion in debt to finance the offer, is in the process of lining up financing, but is encountering challenges partly because banks have come under pressu

In Las Vegas this week, hedge fund investors rubbed shoulders with big-name managers, Hollywood heavies and political swells against a Bellagio hotel backdrop of glitz and gambling. For the fifth straight year, private jets dropped off billionaire managers to schmooze clients and share success recipes with legions of hedge fund faithful who came on commercial airliners for the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, which ran from Tuesday evening through Friday. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of conference sponsor SkyBridge Capital and affectionately known as "the Mooch," played host to Daniel Loeb, one of the few managers producing big returns this year; Al Pacino; former French President Nicolas Sarkozy; and former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. For many of the people attending what has become the $2.25 trillion industry's biggest annual event, the caliber of the panelists (including Jane Buchan who runs PAAMCO and Leon Cooperman who runs Omega Advisors) and the cha