Asian shares retreat, Nikkei hit hard as yen stays firm

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares retreated from multi-month highs on Wednesday amid caution as the earnings season gathers pace, with Tokyo stocks falling to three-week closing lows in response to a firm yen. "Asian markets have been climbing steadily and it's natural for investors to want to book profits as the region's earnings season begins in full force later this month," said Hirokazu...

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IHT Rendezvous: IHT Quick Read: Jan. 22

NEWS Barack Hussein Obama ceremonially opened his second term on Monday with an assertive Inaugural Address that offered a robust articulation of modern liberalism in America, arguing that “preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.” Peter Baker reports from Washington. The President made addressing climate change the most prominent policy vow of his second Inaugural...

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BlackBerry Z10 compared to iPhone 5 on camera [video]

Alongside BGR’s own extensive BlackBerry 10 walkthrough, Austrian website Telekom Presse has uploaded another video comparing Research in Motion’s (RIMM) not-so-secret BlackBerry Z10 smartphone to the iPhone 5. The company’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system seems to be a mix between iOS and Android, while adding some unique features. The video showcases the BlackBerry voice assistant app,...

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Vera Wang Reveals Details of Michelle Kwan's Wedding Dress

By Cynthia Wang 01/21/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Michelle Kwan and Clay Pell Courtesy of Caitlin Maloney Although she was a singles figure skater throughout her successful career, Michelle Kwan did have one steadfast partner on the ice – fashion designer Vera Wang."I...

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Center-Left Defeats Merkel’s Party in State Vote

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s main rivals pulled off an upset in a regional election, eking out a one-seat majority that will usher the opposition Social Democrats into power in the state of Lower Saxony, months ahead of balloting for the national Parliament. Preliminary results released on Monday showed the center-left bloc of the Social Democrats and the Greens securing a one-seat...

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RIM mulls licensing out software: CEO in paper

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Research in Motion will look into strategic alliances with other technology companies once it has launched its new BlackBerry 10 models, its chief executive told a German newspaper.German-born CEO Thorsten Heins told daily Die Welt in an interview published on Monday that the group’s strategic review could lead to the sale of RIM’s hardware production or the sale of licenses...

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Asian shares retreat from highs, yen volatile before BOJ

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares pulled back from multimonth highs on Monday, while the yen firmed after touching a new low in choppy trade ahead of a Bank of Japan policy decision that is expected to deliver bold monetary easing measures. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> edged down 0.2 percent despite pockets of strength in Australia,...

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IHT Rendezvous: China's "Lamborghini" coefficient: Who's Getting Richer, Who Poorer?

BEIJING — Search the word Gini, or “jini,” for Gini coefficient, the well-known measure of income inequality, on China’s biggest microblogging site and the first result today was for Lamborghini, the Italian luxury sports car (in Chinese, the two words share a similar sound in the last part of the car’s name.)That’s very ironic because the Gini coefficient measures income inequality and the Lamborghini,...

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Jimmy Kimmel Channels a Cooler Bill Nye

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:RELATED: When Chocolate Rain Met ‘Call Me Maybe’; Obama Boy Has a Crush, TooIf our science teachers were...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Earnings, money flows to push stocks higher

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With earnings momentum on the rise, the S&P 500 seems to have few hurdles ahead as it continues to power higher, its all-time high a not-so-distant goal. The U.S. equity benchmark closed the week at a fresh five-year high on strong housing and labor market data and a string of earnings that beat lowered expectations. Sector indexes in transportation...

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