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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

Barclays Plc ( id="symbol_BARC.L_0"> BARC.L ), the first bank to settle with authorities over alleged manipulation of the Libor interest rate, on Monday won the dismissal of a U.S. lawsuit by shareholders who claimed they lost money because of the British bank's activity. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said investors who owned Barclays' American depositary shares did not show that Barclays and other defendants, including former Chief Executives John Varley and Bob Diamond, misled them about Libor or took too long to reveal potential liabilities. She also said the investors failed to show that alleged Libor manipulation between August 2007 and January 2009 caused them to lose money through June 2012, when Barclays reached a $453 million settlement with U.S. and European regulators. "The notion that the market would fail to digest three years of non-fraudulent submission rates and other more detailed financial information, and would inst

Long Island Power Authority, a state-owned New York utility company that was criticized for its response during last year's Superstorm Sandy, will see most of its operations taken over by a private company, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. _0"> Public Service Enterprise Group Inc ( id="symbol_PEG.N_0"> PEG.N ), a private utility in neighboring New Jersey, will take over management of LIPA's operations next year. Lawmakers faulted a bifurcated system where operations were partly run through a services agreement with UK power company National Grid Plc ( id="symbol_NG.L NG.L ).   _1"> Sandy in October left more than 90 percent of the 1.1 million LIPA customers on Long Island without power, some for more than two weeks. LIPA's services agreement with National Grid is due to expire at the end of 2013. PSE&G was already set to take over as the system's operator but the governor's proposal will see that role expande

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Jo White, is on board with calls for a broad review of the framework of the U.S. equity market, which has been roiled by software glitches over the past year, an SEC commissioner said on Monday. _0"> White, who took over the SEC in February, has not discussed the issue in detail and nothing concrete has been decided, Commissioner Daniel Gallagher said after 20 industry officials discussed equity market structure at a roundtable. "We haven't talked too much in depth on market structure issues," Gallagher said. "I know that she is on board with the idea that it is a huge issue and we need to resource it and come up with a plan. "We have to do a holistic review. Nobody is arguing against it," said Gallagher, who had urged a wide-ranging review of the U.S. equity marketplace in a widely commented speech in October. Monday's roundtable was convened by Representative Scott Garrett, a Repu

More than a dozen of the biggest U.S. banks have questioned a proposed accounting change meant to boost reserves for risky loans, saying the results would be vastly different from those of a similar rule being developed by global standard-setters. A key reform arising out of the 2007-08 global financial crisis, the proposal would require banks to look ahead and reserve for expected losses on the day a loan is made. Currently, banks do not have to reserve for risky loans until there are signs of a loss.   Reserves were criticized as being "too little, too late" during the global crisis, when major banks were buffeted by defaults on loans and other debt. Many had to be bailed out because they had not set aside enough for losses. Numerous banking regulators have called for more timely reserves, though critics have also warned that proposed accounting changes would make quarterly earnings more volatile as banks adjust their expectations for losses. In a letter to account

Goldman Sachs Group Inc ( id="symbol_GS.N_0"> GS.N ) shareholders should vote against the Wall Street bank's executive compensation proposal because the board has "failed to link pay with performance," proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis said in a report on Monday. Shareholders should also vote against director James Johnson, Glass Lewis said, because of his position as chair of the compensation committee and prior roles at public companies that suffered financial issues and scandals. In its criticism of Goldman's pay packages, Glass Lewis said the company sets short-term compensation on a "purely discretionary basis" that is not in shareholders' best interest. The Federal Reserve has been pushing Wall Street banks to use more formulaic metrics in determining executive compensation, Reuters reported in March. "We believe shareholders benefit when incentive awards are determined on the basis of metrics with pre-established goals and ar

1939 Jay-Z look-alike staggering American public! Do you believe in time-traveler? A black-and-white photograph found on the official page Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture featuring a male figure that is similar to Jay-Z. Yeah! The photo actually depicts a black man who is very similar to Jay- Z, so anyone who saw it would actually think that the man in the photo is Jay-Z himself. The photo was taken in 1939 recorded on the streets of New York. For your info, photographer who responsible for the photo is Sid Grossman that is known as one of the professional photographers of his era, so do you believe in time-traveler? A detail of the photo is a male figure leaning on a fence with a view straight at the camera. This photo is really amazing New York public today because it is very similar to Jay- Z, a rapper whose face often appeared in various media, TV, Internet, and newspaper. Many famous people are impressed by the photo, and one of them is A. Sylviane Diouf,

Out go the themed rooms and groupings of artists at London's Tate Britain gallery, and in comes a pure, sunlit, chronological walk through British art from 1540 to the present. The world's leading collection of British paintings and sculpture on Monday threw open a permanent gallery so radically refurbished and reorganized that every one of the 500-odd works on display had to be rehung. "What I wanted to try and do was to have a complete chronology that wouldn't be interrupted by exhibitions," said Director Penelope Curtis.   She denied that the Tate was "dumbing down" for the average tourist, saying the layout offered better access to everyone from school children to art experts, put works in context with their contemporaries, and would be uncompromised by temporary shows. The "BP Walk through British Art" winds around the perimeter of the building, beginning in 1540 with portraits by the likes of Hans Holbein and Anthony van Dyck, then

The $23 billion sale of ketchup maker H.J.Heinz Co ( id="symbol_HNZ.N_0"> HNZ.N ) to Berkshire Hathaway Inc ( id="symbol_BRKa.N BRKa.N ) and buyout firm 3G Capital, Avis Budget Group's ( id="symbol_CAR.O CAR.O ) takeover of Zipcar, and the $6.9 billion leveraged buyout of BMC Software ( id="symbol_BMC.O BMC.O ), have one common link: Kirkland & Ellis LLP. _1"> The law firm, which served as a legal adviser on those deals as well as several other of the largest transactions of the year, with a combined deal value of $56.6 billion, has jumped to ninth place in the ranking of merger advisers, up from 18th in 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data released on Monday. _2"> Just four years ago in 2009, Kirkland ranked 72nd in the legal league table. _3"> When ranked by the number of deals with a value of $100 million or more, Kirkland was the second-biggest merger adviser, having worked on 70 deals so far this year, Thomson Re

Retail sales unexpectedly rose in April, pointing to underlying strength in the economy and leading forecasters to bump up second-quarter growth estimates. The surprise gain in retail sales, which account for about 30 percent of consumer spending, was the latest sign of resilience in an economy that has been hit by belt-tightening in Washington as the government tries to cut its budget deficit. "It's more indication that our economy is growing. It's not growing as rapidly as a lot of people would like, but things are improving," said Tom Hall, an economics professor at Miami University's Farmer School of Business in Oxford, Ohio. Retail sales edged up 0.1 percent after a 0.5 percent drop in March as households bought automobiles, building materials and a range of other goods, the Commerce Department said on Monday. Economists had expected a decrease of 0.3 percent.   So-called core sales, which strip out automobiles, gasoline and building materials and corr

Stocks closed little changed on Monday, pausing after hitting record highs last week, but strength in healthcare issues helped to keep declines in check. The S&P 500 healthcare sector .SPXHC climbed 0.7 percent and was the day's best performer.   Shares of Theravance ( id="symbol_THRX.O_1"> THRX.O ) jumped 17.9 percent to $41.20 after Irish drugmaker Elan ( id="symbol_ELN.I_2"> ELN.I ) ( id="symbol_ELN.N ELN.N ) agreed to a $1 billion deal to buy 21 percent of the royalties that Theravance receives from GlaxoSmithKline ( id="symbol_GSK.L GSK.L ) ( id="symbol_GSK.N GSK.N ) for its respiratory drugs. _3"> The day's flat close followed a third straight week of gains on the major indexes, with both the Dow and S&P 500 setting record closing highs last week. The S&P 500 remains up 14.5 percent for the year so far. _4"> While some analysts argue the long-term trend is still higher, many see momentum waning i

The researcher whose report prompted a spike in health stocks last month appears to have relied on lobbyists rather than U.S. government insiders who had direct knowledge of a pending healthcare decision, according to emails reviewed by Reuters. The messages could help bolster Height Securities LLC's claim that its analyst was essentially doing what reporters, lobbyists and others in Washington do every day: trying to figure out what the government is going to do next.   The small research shop is among the brokerages, law firms and other "political intelligence" operations that have drawn scrutiny over concerns that they may have facilitated insider trading by passing along tips that moved markets. Height Securities has drawn inquiries from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley since it correctly predicted on April 1 that President Barack Obama's administration would keep certain medical payment rates in place, prom

Walmart ( id="symbol_WMT.N_0"> WMT.N ) called on the Bangladesh government on Monday to stop production at one apparel factory and investigate the condition at another until workers' safety could be assured. _0"> The unusual action followed the death of more than 1,100 people in the collapse of a factory in Bangladesh.   "The government of Bangladesh did the responsible thing last week by closing factories believed to be dangerous," Rajan Kamalanathan, Walmart vice president of ethical sourcing, said in a statement. Walmart said that it had stopped production at Stitch Tone Apparels factory because it had discovered that a neighboring factory had structural problems. It also said inspectors who had been contracted by Walmart had reported a potentially dangerous condition at another one of the factories Walmart uses, Liz Apparels factory. The inspectors notified the government, the factory owner and other companies that contract with the facilit

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie's auction house raised nearly $32 million for environmental causes on Monday at a charity art auction. DiCaprio, the star of the new film "The Great Gatsby," organized the so-called The 11th Hour Auction along with his foundation and Christie's to protect the last wild places on Earth and their endangered species.   The 33 works of art, many of which were created for and donated to the auction by the artists, sold for $31.74 million in spirited bidding in a packed auction house. Art collectors from around the globe also placed bids by telephone. "All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you," DiCaprio told the audience at the end of the auction, which raised more than double the pre-sale estimate. In addition to the sale, which set records for 13 artists including Carol Bove, Joe Bradley, Mark Grotjahn, Raymond Pettibon and Mark Ryden among others, a $5 million matching donation for three of the lots and $1.15

Out go the themed rooms and groupings of artists at London's Tate Britain gallery, and in comes a pure, sunlit, chronological walk through British art from 1540 to the present. The world's leading collection of British paintings and sculpture on Monday threw open a permanent gallery so radically refurbished and reorganized that every one of the 500-odd works on display had to be rehung. "What I wanted to try and do was to have a complete chronology that wouldn't be interrupted by exhibitions," said Director Penelope Curtis.   She denied that the Tate was "dumbing down" for the average tourist, saying the layout offered better access to everyone from school children to art experts, put works in context with their contemporaries, and would be uncompromised by temporary shows. The "BP Walk through British Art" winds around the perimeter of the building, beginning in 1540 with portraits by the likes of Hans Holbein and Anthony van Dyck, then

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit against United Continental Holdings Inc's United Airlines that was brought by a woman who claimed she was not promptly provided a wheelchair in an airport when she asked for one. The opinion, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, said federal law did not pre-empt the woman's personal injury claims under state law. A representative for United could not immediately be reached for comment. Mark Meuser, an attorney for plaintiff Michelle Gilstrap, who has difficulty walking, said some lower court judges had disagreed about whether individuals should be able to bring claims for injuries in an airplane or terminal. "This is a really big deal for disabled Americans across the country," Meuser said. Gilstrap had difficulty walking due to a collapsed disc in her back and osteoarthritis, according to the court opinion. During two separate plane trips in 2008 and 2009, she alleged that United failed

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 offerin

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

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 saf

Standard Chartered ( id="symbol_STAN.L_0"> STAN.L ) shares fell and the cost of insuring its debt against default jumped on Monday after U.S. activist investor Muddy Waters said it had bet against the bank because of its "deteriorating" loan quality. _0"> Muddy Waters' founder Carson Block told a conference in Las Vegas last week he had bet against Standard Chartered debt because the market is underestimating the risk that is in the bank's loan book, a spokesman for the short seller said.   Block, whose company says it analyses the true worth of Chinese companies, argued that while Standard Chartered is diversified across emerging markets, a slowdown in China will lead to "considerable stress" at the lender. Block was buying 5-year credit default swaps (CDS) for the bank, which is insurance against a default and yields a profit for buyers on any rise, the spokesman added. Standard Chartered's 5-year CDS jumped almost 13 perce

German airline Lufthansa ( id="symbol_LHAG.DE_0"> LHAG.DE ) said on Monday that April passenger traffic in terms of revenue seat kilometers was flat from a year earlier. _0"> It added that the monthly passenger load factor, a measure of passenger aircraft utilization, narrowed 0.2 percentage points to 78.3 percent.   (Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Christoph Steitz)

Kuwait is studying plans by its airline to buy 25 Airbus jets, a source with knowledge of the matter said, in the most sweeping overhaul since part of its fleet was seized after Iraq invaded the Gulf state in 1990. The proposal calls for state-owned Kuwait Airways KA.UL to buy 25 new Airbus jets and to lease a further 13 to upgrade its fleet but needs government approval, the source said. It could be signed by the end of this month.   The move comes months after Kuwait was awarded $500 million by Iraqi Airways for damage caused when former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces seized aircraft and parts, ending a two-decade row over compensation. The Kuwaiti airline's aircraft buying committee judged that Airbus made the most attractive offer in a tender process which included bids from Boeing ( id="symbol_BA.N_1"> BA.N ) and Bombardier ( id="symbol_BBDb.TO_2"> BBDb.TO ), the source said. The source declined to be named because the deal still n

Spain and Portugal called on Monday for the euro zone to complete a banking union as Germany underscored legal hurdles before a central element of the plan to deal with failing banks can be introduced. "It is indispensable that we stick to the agreed calendar on banking union and that we take steps to make sure families and small companies receive credit," Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters.   "Banking union is the credibility test of the European Union," he said, after meeting Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who backed his calls for progress on Europe's most ambitious reform of the financial crisis. The call came as finance ministers from the euro zone met in Brussels, ahead of which German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble reiterated the need for a change to EU treaties to underpin the new system of bank resolution. "When a bank is wound up, money and jobs are usually lost. Those affected will seek redress. If th