The powerful public employee union ANEP and the Restaurant Chamber have combined forces to aid restaurant table staff who may be fired in the wake of an earlier Constitutional court decision regarding tips. The ruling squeezed restaurateurs who, with the addition of tips, were forced to pay more to Social Security benefits and severance pay. So restaurant owners have been firing their table sta...

By Matt Scuffham LONDON | Sat Dec 8, 2012 7:03am EST LONDON (Reuters) - For Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) Chief Executive Stephen Hester, the biggest turnaround in corporate history is not over. Hester, who has shrunk RBS by 700 billion pounds ($1.1 trillion) since he began repairing its balance sheet four years ago, can count on at least three ...

By George Georgiopoulos ATHENS | Sat Dec 8, 2012 6:22am EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece is set to purchase back about half of its debt owned by private investors, broadly succeeding in a bond buyback that is key to the country's international bailout, a Greek government official said on Saturday. Greek and foreign bondholders offered the targeted 3...

ATHENS | Sat Dec 8, 2012 3:17am EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Foreign investors have offered between 15 and 16 billion euros ($19.4-20.7 billion) of Greek government bonds in a debt buy-back programme, according to an initial estimate given by newspapers on Saturday. The plan is central to efforts by Greece's euro zone and International Monetary Fund lenders to...

By Jennifer Ablan and Matthew Goldstein and Emily Flitter Fri Dec 7, 2012 11:43pm EST (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are investigating Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund for possible insider trading in the shares of the popular diet company Weight Watchers International Inc, according to people familiar with the matter. The investigation focu...

By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:58pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors typically sell stocks to cut their losses at year end. But worries about the "fiscal cliff" - and the possibility of higher taxes in 2013 - may act as the greatest incentive to sell both winners and losers by December 31. The $600 billion of automatic ta...

By Soyoung Kim and Nick Brown NEW YORK | Fri Dec 7, 2012 6:34pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - US Airways Group Inc has made a formal merger proposal to American Airlines parent AMR Corp and its creditors that could value the combined airline at around $8.5 billion, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Details of the proposal emerged as ...

By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK | Fri Dec 7, 2012 5:58pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saying a strike now appears likely, the union representing Boeing Co's (BA.N) 23,000 engineers held picket-line training this week to prepare for a work stoppage that could disrupt billions of dollars worth of plane deliveries and help Airbus catch up to Boeing on jet desig...

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK | Fri Dec 7, 2012 5:50pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and U.S. Bancorp (USB.N) can be sued over a pension fund's allegations they failed to protect investors while acting as trustees of mortgage-backed securities for Washington Mutual Inc, a federal judge ruled on Friday. U.S. District Judge K...

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 7, 2012 5:01pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies kept up their slow but steady hiring pace in November, defying predictions that Superstorm Sandy would deal a big blow to the labor market. While the unemployment rate fell to a near four-year low of 7.7 percent, that was only because many Americans gave up...

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK | Fri Dec 7, 2012 4:33pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 advanced modestly on Friday, though another sell-off in Apple depressed technology shares and kept the Nasdaq negative, overshadowing a sharply better-than-expected jobs report. Trading was light, continuing the week's trend of slight moves a...

By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS | Fri Dec 7, 2012 4:31pm EST NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - While millions of TV viewers focus on the outcome of the upcoming Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans, executives at Mercedes-Benz USA will be waiting for a late-game commercial introducing the car they hope will bring them thousands of new, younger customers. Marking only...

By Suzanne Barlyn Fri Dec 7, 2012 4:02pm EST (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch may be one step closer to ending its battle with former brokers who say the firm denied them deferred compensation when they left after the brokerage was bought by Bank of America Corp (BAC.N). Merrill Lynch and lawyers for some ex-brokers have agreed to changes in a proposed $40-milli...

By Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 7, 2012 3:21pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc was fined $1.5 million to settle charges it failed to supervise its traders and allowing one futures dealer to hide billions in dollars from sight and causing a $118 million loss. Ex-Goldman trader Matthew Marshall Taylor in 2007 camouflaged an...

The Chamber of Industry opposed a rate increase by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, citing lack of control in the state run company's expenditures. A statement from the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (ICRC) reads: Industrialists have opposed rate increase requested by ICE for 2013 -Requests have been made to ARESEP to review and correct estimates of demand in order not to...

By Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay and Rod Nickel Fri Dec 7, 2012 12:48pm EST (Reuters) - Glencore International Plc won approval from China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday for its C$6 billion ($6 billion) purchase of Canadian grain handler Viterra Inc, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for the long-delayed deal. The takeover, one of the largest in the global ag...

Fri Dec 7, 2012 9:06am EST (Reuters) - Aetna Inc (AET.N) on Friday said it agreed to pay as much as $120 million to settle litigation over its practices on the payment of claims for services by providers with which Aetna does not have a contract. The agreement calls for Aetna to pay $60 million, plus as much as $60 million more following a claims submission perio...

NEW YORK | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:50am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The stock index futures recovered from earlier losses to advance on Friday after data showed non-farm payrolls came in above expectations at 146,000 and the unemployment rate dipped to 7.7 percent. S&P 500 futures rose 7.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by ...

OTTAWA | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:48am EST OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada refused to offer any hints on Friday on the timing of a decision on a bid by China's CNOOC Ltd for energy company Nexen Inc.. "Whatever the date, appropriate notice will be given," Andrew MacDougall, a spokesman for Prime Minister's Stephen Harper, told Reuters by email.Canada's industry minis...

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 7, 2012 9:10am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employment grew faster than expected in November, but a drop in the unemployment rate to nearly a four-year low as people gave up the search for work suggested the labor market was still tepid. Nonfarm employment increased by 146,000 jobs last month, the Labor Depart...

TOKYO | Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:19am EST TOKYO (Reuters) - A high-ranking Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) executive believes that it will take the automaker a year to recover from the effects of a diplomatic row between Japan and China, the Kyodo news agency reported on Friday. Calls for boycotts of Japanese goods in response to a territorial dispute over the Senka...

Fri Dec 7, 2012 8:17am EST (Reuters) - Glencore International Plc won approval from China's Ministry of Commerce for its C$6 billion ($6 billion) purchase of Canadian grain handler Viterra Inc, clearing the last regulatory hurdle for the long-delayed deal. The takeover, one of the largest in the global agriculture industry in years, was originally expected to clo...

FRANKFURT | Fri Dec 7, 2012 7:54am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Key Euribor bank-to-bank lending rates fell on Friday, a day after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank discussed cutting interest rates at its December meeting but in the end decided to leave them unchanged at 0.75 percent. Draghi said on Thursday there had been "a wide d...

By Karolina Tagaris ATHENS | Fri Dec 7, 2012 7:21am EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece says it is sticking to plans to close its offer to buy back its own bonds from investors on Friday in a deal that should meet a debt writedown target set by its international lenders. The government said it would shield the country's banks from any lawsuits over los...

By Eva Kuehnen and Sakari Suoninen FRANKFURT | Fri Dec 7, 2012 7:20am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The central banks of Germany and Austria on Friday forecast barely any economic growth in 2013, with the Bundesbank flagging risks of a recession in the euro zone's biggest economy as the debt crisis hits the bloc's core. The Bundesbank expects Germany...

GENEVA | Fri Dec 7, 2012 6:22am EST GENEVA (Reuters) - Average salaries in developed countries are expected to have risen by no more than inflation this year, the International Labour Organization said on Friday. Developed country wages failed to keep up with inflation in both 2008 and 2011, but remained about 5 percent above the 2000 level in real terms...

Thu Dec 6, 2012 6:35pm EST (Reuters) - Flight attendants of Compass Airlines, a feeder service for Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N), said they sought arbitration by the National Mediation Board (NMB) that will allow them to strike if management fails to negotiate a new agreement. The flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), sai...

By John McCrank NEW YORK | Thu Dec 6, 2012 6:26pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Political, fiscal, and regulatory uncertainty in the United States is hampering capital investment in the country and beyond, Tom Kloet, chief executive of TMX Group (X.TO), Canada's biggest exchange operator, said on Thursday. Kloet, a Chicago native who guided TMX throug...

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK | Thu Dec 6, 2012 6:03pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday, a day ahead of the key monthly jobs report, as a rebound in shares of Apple helped boost technology shares. Traders were reluctant to bet heavily a day before the Friday release of the November employment report. Just 5.62 bill...

By Deepa Seetharaman DETROIT | Thu Dec 6, 2012 4:29pm EST DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co's (F.N) C-Max and Fusion hybrids fell about 20 percent short of its fuel economy claims, Consumer Reports magazine said after running tests on both models. The influential magazine said the Fusion hybrid delivered 39 miles per gallon both on the highway an...

By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Jennifer Hoyt Cummings Thu Dec 6, 2012 4:22pm EST (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) will shift the way advisers in its wealth management business are paid next year, cutting bonuses tied to the amount of revenue they bring in and rewarding them instead for growing assets and loans. Advisers, who learned of the new plan Thursday ...

By Jessica Wohl CHICAGO | Thu Dec 6, 2012 4:15pm EST CHICAGO (Reuters) - The falloff in visits to U.S. stores the week after Thanksgiving was not as steep this year as last, as retailers appear to be doing a better job of luring shoppers during the holiday season, the founder of shopper counting firm ShopperTrak said. So what exactly is ShopperTr...

By Yves Clarisse and Catherine Bremer PARIS | Thu Dec 6, 2012 3:46pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - A politically charged deal between the French government and ArcelorMittal to preserve jobs at an ailing steelworks looked at risk of unraveling on Thursday after the global steel giant ditched a bid to run an EU-funded project there. ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS...

By Christine Murray LONDON | Thu Dec 6, 2012 2:37pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Coffee chain Starbucks (SBUX.O) said it could pay about 20 million pounds in corporation tax in Britain over the next two years, surrendering to widespread public criticism over allegations of tax avoidance. "We are making a commitment that we will propose to pay a signifi...

SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Dec 6, 2012 2:19pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel's outgoing chief executive, Paul Otellini, said he expected to be replaced by a company insider and also signaled that the top chipmaker could open its factories to strategic customers. Otellini's comments at a Sanford Bernstein investor conference on Wednesday stoked speculation ...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK | Thu Dec 6, 2012 10:05am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple's market capitalization fell below $500 billion on Thursday as shares of the world's most valuable listed company continued to slide after suffering their worst one-day decline in nearly four years. Shares of Apple In...

By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS | Thu Dec 6, 2012 10:03am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European governments should coordinate their efforts to root out tax avoidance costing them around 1 trillion euros ($1.31 trillion) every year, the European Union's executive body said on Thursday. The European Commissi...

By Rhys Jones and Kirstin Ridley LONDON | Thu Dec 6, 2012 9:58am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Aerospace and defense group Rolls-Royce may face prosecution after Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) ordered it to hand over details of possible bribery and corruption in China and elsewhere, the company sai...

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 6, 2012 9:55am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - At the request of a federal mediator, Boeing Co (BA.N) and the union representing its 23,000 engineers suspended talks on new labor contracts for the rest of the year. The move came Wednesday, a day after the mediator joined the negotiations in Seattle...

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 6, 2012 9:39am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened higher on Wednesday on signs of urgent moves in Europe to rescue Spain's troubled banks, but comments from the ECB president disappointed a market hoping for further stimulus to tackle the euro zone's debt crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 87.42 points, or 0.72 perc...