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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 class="mandelbrot_refrag"> 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 class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China Sea views. 2. Best for gourmet dining: The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China   true       A day-spa with 113 contemporary guest rooms, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hong Kong gives good stopover. This styli

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 class="mandelbrot_refrag"> hotels .   true       "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

The law firms Squire Sanders and Patton Boggs said on Friday they had agreed to combine, striking a deal that is expected to save Patton Boggs from growing financial strain. In a news release, the two firms said they would begin operating under the name Squire Patton Boggs effective June 1. Partners at 1,300-lawyer Squire Sanders voted on Friday, after 300-lawyer Patton Boggs, known for its lobbying presence in Washington, D.C., had earlier approved the combination.   true       The combination was held up on Thursday because of concerns within Squire Sanders over the role Patton Boggs played in a legal battle between class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Chevron Corp ( id="symbol_CVX.N_0"> CVX.N ) and a group of Ecuadorean villagers, Patton Boggs managing partner Edward Newberry said. Starting in 2010, Patton Boggs had advised the villagers on a plan to enforce an $18 billion pollution judgment against Chevron that the oil giant said was obtained through fraud.

U.S. safety regulators said on Friday that it is likely that more than 13 people died in General Motors cars recalled earlier this year for defective ignition switches. The automaker told Reuters it had raised the number of crashes associated with faulty ignition switches but stood by its count for the number of fatalities. GM recalled 2.6 million older models, including Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion, to replace defective switches that can cause engines to shut off while driving, leading to a sudden loss of power steering, power brakes and the failure of air bags to deploy in a crash.   true       GM has linked the switch to 13 deaths in cars built and sold between model years 2003-2010. It has never fully explained how it arrived at the figure. Spokesman Jim Cain on Friday said that GM recently informed regulators that it had identified about a dozen more crashes connected with the ignition switch in addition to the previous 35 in had counted. In response to a query from Reut

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> EBay Inc initially believed that its customers' data was safe as forensic investigators reviewed a network security breach discovered in early May and made public this week, a senior executive told Reuters on Friday. class="mandelbrot_refrag"> EBay has come under fire over its handling of the cyberattack, in which hackers accessed personal data of all 145 million users, ranking it among the biggest such attacks launched on a corporation to date. "For a very long period of time we did not believe that there was any eBay customer data compromised," global marketplaces chief Devin Wenig said, in the first comments by a top eBay executive since the e-commerce company disclosed the breach on Wednesday.   true       EBay moved "swiftly to disclose" the breach after it realized customer data was involved, he said. Wenig would not say when the company first realized that the cyberattackers accessed customer

Sales of new U.S. single-family homes rose in April and the stock of houses on the market hit a 3-1/2 year high, but economists said the market was still not clearly gaining steam. Sales increased 6.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000 units, the Commerce Department said on Friday. The rise ended two straight months of declines and beat Wall Street expectations, but sales remained in line with their sluggish first-quarter average.   true       "The data have yet to show a meaningful pickup in activity early on in the spring following the unusually harsh winter," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. But investors welcomed the report and snapped up homebuilder shares, such as class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Lennar Corp ( id="symbol_LEN.N_0"> LEN.N ) and D.R. Horton Inc ( id="symbol_DHI.N_1"> DHI.N ). A run-up in mortgage rates and home prices over the last year has weighed on the market. Sales

Bank of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank still has policy options left if it were to ease monetary policy further to fend off risks that may threaten the achievement of its price target. _0"> Kuroda repeated his view that the world's third-largest class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy is making steady progress toward meeting the BOJ's 2 percent price target, with core consumer inflation having reached 1.3 percent for four straight months in March. "But we are ready to adjust policy, be it further monetary easing or something else, if changes in economic and financial developments derail the path toward meeting the price target," he said in an interview with the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Nikkei class="mandelbrot_refrag"> business daily published on Saturday.   true       Kuroda said the BOJ will not ease incrementally in response to temporary fluctuatio

Whatever investors are worried about right now, those concerns are not showing up in Wall Street's fear gauge. That scares some. On the other hand, it more than likely means that class="mandelbrot_refrag"> stocks will keep taking things slow and steady. The class="mandelbrot_refrag"> CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, or VIX, closed on Friday at 11.36, its lowest level since March 2013. That means investors see less risk ahead, particularly with the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> S&P 500 .SPX ending at a record high again on Friday. With the typically slow summer months just ahead and little on the horizon to shake the market from its current course, investors could be looking at even lower VIX levels, some analysts said.   true       "It's not that there's no likelihood of a correction. It's that people don't perceive anything to derail the train at this point," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief market analyst at cl

Upscale department store operator class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Nordstrom Inc ( id="symbol_JWN.N_0"> JWN.N ) is reaching out to potential buyers for its store-branded credit cards, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. _0"> Nordstrom has approached class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Citigroup Inc ( id="symbol_C.N C.N ), class="mandelbrot_refrag"> JPMorgan Chase & Co ( id="symbol_JPM.N JPM.N ), class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Capital One Financial Corp ( id="symbol_COF.N COF.N ) and Toronto-Dominion Bank ( id="symbol_TD.TO TD.TO ), among other companies to test interest in its credit cards, the report said. _1"> The company, which has yet to set a date to solicit initial offers, is informally approaching buyers for the portfolio, Bloomberg said, citing one of the sources.   true       _2"> Nordstrom plans to reach out to other top issuers of cred

Wall Street class="mandelbrot_refrag"> banks , big metal merchants and the London Metal Exchange face a lawsuit alleging they have artificially inflated zinc prices, expanding a high-profile legal case that has until now centered on the larger class="mandelbrot_refrag"> aluminum market. In a filing on Friday, Duncan Galvanizing, one of the oldest galvanizers in the United States, accused class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Goldman Sachs Group Inc ( id="symbol_GS.N_0"> GS.N ), class="mandelbrot_refrag"> JPMorgan Chase & Co ( id="symbol_JPM.N_1"> JPM.N ), the LME and metal warehouse operators of conspiring since 2010 to manipulate the U.S. zinc price. The suit, registered in the Southern District of New York, is the first to include allegations over the impact of warehousing on the smaller, niche zinc market. Zinc is used to coat class="mandelbrot_refrag"> steel to protect against corrosion

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Euro zone class="mandelbrot_refrag"> banks need to be strong enough to support a pick up in credit demand to keep the euro zone recovery going, European Central Bank Executive Board member Yves Mersch said on Saturday. _0"> Tougher regulatory standards and a stronger sense of risk-aversion in the wake of the financial crisis have led class="mandelbrot_refrag"> banks to scale back lending and raised interest rates on loans. That has made it more difficult for companies, especially smaller and medium-sized ones, to obtain credit to fund expansion or growth.   true       Mersch said the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> euro zone had started to recover and was reaching a point where companies could no longer rely on their own funds but were increasingly in need of external funding to keep growing. "We are seeing tentative signs from survey data that credit demand in the euro area is starting

Deutsche Post ( id="symbol_DPWGn.DE_0"> DPWGn.DE ) is aiming for a top spot in the global logistics market for online shopping, its chief executive told a German weekly, adding small acquisitions could help achieve this. _0"> "Indeed, we want to be a global leader in logistics services for the e-commerce sector. In class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Germany , we're the number one already," Frank Appel told Euro am Sonntag in an interview published on Saturday. Deutsche Post, the world's biggest postal and logistics group, is best known internationally for its DHL parcel delivery class="mandelbrot_refrag"> business but it is keen to win more work from the global boom in online shopping.   true       E-commerce is expanding rapidly, with online class="mandelbrot_refrag"> retail sales in Europe seen doubling from 2012 levels to around 323 billion euros ($440 billion) by 2018, market research firm Mintel foreca

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday a route to supply gas to class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China via western Siberia may be implemented faster than the eastern route, through which Moscow has agreed to ship the fuel to its Asian neighbor. _0"> Moscow and Beijing clinched a $400 billion gas deal this week after years of talks, which will help class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Russia to diversify gas supplies away from Europe, its main export market. "The second project, if Chinese partners are positive towards it, may be implemented even faster than the eastern one," Putin said on Saturday.   true       State-run Gazprom ( id="symbol_GAZP.MM_0"> GAZP.MM ) has yet to build a pipeline to carry 38 billion class="mandelbrot_refrag"> cubic meters of gas annually to class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China from 2018 through East Siberia. Russia and China have agreed a $25 billion prepayment under

Germany's Angela Merkel stressed the importance of Europe striking a free trade deal with the United States on Saturday, but added she would not allow the import of chlorine-washed chicken - a sticking point in negotiations. _0"> The United States and European Union are making headway on a free trade pact, but remain at odds over U.S. exports of beef and chicken that fail to meet tough EU safety standards. The European Union is closed to U.S. beef from cattle raised with growth hormones and to chlorine-washed chicken, which consumers fear make the food unsafe.   true       The United States sees EU food safety rules as veiled protectionism for European farmers and insists any restrictions be based on scientific evidence. "There will be no import of chlorine-washed chicken from the United States. I have prevented it for years and will continue to do so. There is no question about that," Merkel said during a European election rally speech in Worms in southern

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding ( id="symbol_ROG.VX_0"> ROG.VX ) expects sales from its diagnostic division to grow faster in the United States than the market trend and it will not reduce prices despite reimbursement cuts in the U.S. health programme, an executive said. In April, the U.S. released final reimbursement rates for 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, which insurers and Wall Street analysts say represents a cut of about 3 percent. That comes after a year in which the government cut payments by about 6 percent. "Reimbursement will continue to come under pressure as all healthcare funding comes under pressure," Roland Diggelmann, chief operating officer of Roche Diagnostics Global, told Reuters in Dubai. "There are reimbursement reductions, but we also see an increase in testing volumes."   true       Roche's diagnostics class="mandelbrot_refrag"> business had sales worth 10.5 billion Swiss francs ($11.72 billion) last year, a

Investors this week will be watching the results of elections that could deal a blow to political parties that are key to reform efforts in the European Union and could also fan instability in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Ukraine . The class="mandelbrot_refrag"> bonds of some struggling class="mandelbrot_refrag"> euro zone governments sold off last week as investors worried about expected gains for anti-EU parties in European Parliament votes in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Greece and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Italy . In class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Greece , a strong showing by parties opposed to the terms of its EU-led bailout may hurt the fragile coalition government, potentially paving the way for a new national vote.   true       In class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Italy , a poor result for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's party could undermine his drive for swift reforms, which he promi

The world's largest hotelier, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) ( id="symbol_IHG.L_0"> IHG.L ), has rejected a 6 billion pound ($10.1 billion) takeover offer from a U.S. bidder, Sky News reported, citing unidentified sources. _0"> Sky said IHG's board met a few weeks ago to consider the offer, but turned it down on the grounds it was too low. A spokeswoman for IHG, which runs 4,700 class="mandelbrot_refrag"> hotels with brands such as Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Intercontinental, declined to comment on the report.   true       Sky said the identity of the bidder was unclear, but cited analysts as saying it might have been Starwood class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Hotels & Resorts ( id="symbol_HOT.N_1"> HOT.N ) or a specialist investment fund such as Starwood Capital. Sky said IHG was braced for the bidder to return with a new offer, or for a rival suitor to come for

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Chevron Corp ( id="symbol_CVX.N_0"> CVX.N ) is making the oil-rich Permian shale formation a top investment priority, aiming to turn its West Texas acreage into one of its top five assets by 2020, Vice Chairman George Kirkland said in an interview. The move is a return home of sorts for the second-largest U.S. oil company, which has operated in the Permian since the 1920s. But until now, it has been slow to follow rivals in West Texas who over the last five years have deployed new techniques to recover previously unreachable oil. "We have such a good acreage position and we're looking for a high production over a long period of time, Kirkland said. "In 2020, we'll be looking at (the Permian) as one of our top five assets in the whole company."   true       As part of a choreographed plan to show Wall Street it's serious about the Permian, Chevron is taking the rare step of holding its 2014 shareholde

Far be it from us to offer tips to class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Warren Buffett , the most celebrated stock picker of his age, but here goes: The Oracle of Omaha has suggested he will hunt for his next "elephant" - his favorite word for big acquisitions -- among energy companies. That could dovetail with the bet he made in 2009 when he bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, which has turned into an indirect play on the U.S. oil production renaissance: BNSF moves about a third of oil-by-rail, a surging segment of freight rail. So, we have some ideas. Reuters screened for U.S. and Canadian companies with relatively low debt and market capitalizations above $5 billion, among other criteria.   true       First, because Buffett's class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Berkshire Hathaway ( id="symbol_BRKa.N_0"> BRKa.N ) has about $49 billion to spend, he's said he's looking at capital intensive companies, which offer plenty of chan