Sun Life, Khazanah to buy Aviva/CIMB Malaysia insurance business for $563 million – sources

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A consortium of Canada’s Sun Life Financial Inc and Malaysian state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd has agreed to buy British insurer Aviva plc’s Malaysian insurance joint venture with CIMB Group for about 1.7 billion ringgit ($ 563 million), sources said on Sunday, helping the Canadian company to expand its Asian foot print.Sun Life Financial Inc (SLF.TO) and Khazanah...

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Durant's 42 helps send Lakers to 6th straight loss

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Durant hit a 3-pointer in the final second of the first half and did a full reverse somersault to celebrate a 16-point lead. The Thunder were running the Lakers out of their own building, and not even Kobe Bryant could stop them.Oklahoma City is again clearly among the best teams in the Western Conference, and the struggling Lakers may not have enough time left in the season...

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Saudi execution: Brutal and illegal?

STORY HIGHLIGHTSSaudi authorities beheaded Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan womanShe was convicted of killing a baby of the family employing her as a housemaidThis was despite Nafeek's claims that the baby died in a choking accidentBecker says her fate "should spotlight the precarious existence of domestic workers"Jo Becker is the Children's Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch and author of...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Attention turns to financial earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After over a month of watching Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street can get back to what it knows best: Wall Street. The first full week of earnings season is dominated by the financial sector - big investment banks and commercial banks - just as retail investors, free from the "fiscal cliff" worries, have started to get back into the markets. ...

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Researchers: NFL's Seau had brain disease

When he ended his life last year by shooting himself in the chest, Junior Seau had a degenerative brain disease often linked with repeated blows to the head.Researchers from the National Institutes of Health said Thursday the former NFL star's abnormalities are consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.The hard-hitting linebacker played for 20 NFL seasons with San Diego, Miami and New...

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Why global labor reforms are vital

STORY HIGHLIGHTSSaudi authorities beheaded Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan womanShe was convicted of killing a baby of the family employing her as a housemaidThis was despite Nafeek's claims that the baby died in a choking accidentBecker says her fate "should spotlight the precarious existence of domestic workers"Jo Becker is the Children's Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch and author of...

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BRIT Awards hand posthumous nomination to Winehouse

LONDON (Reuters) – Scottish singer Emeli Sande joined folk act Mumford and Sons and indie rockers Alt-J with three BRIT Award nominations apiece on Thursday, but the biggest surprise was a posthumous nod for Amy Winehouse 18 months after she died.Winehouse was included in the “British female solo” category, in which she was up against Sande, Jessie Ware, Paloma Faith and Bat for Lashes.She was shortlisted...

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American Express cuts 5,400 jobs

10 January 2013 Last updated at 17:05 ETAmerican Express has announced plans to cut 5,400 jobs worldwide from its total workforce of 63,500 by the end of 2013.The credit card provider said it took almost $ 600m (£370m) in after-tax charges in the fourth quarter of 2012.The company said that these charges would halve its net profit for the quarter from $ 1.2bn to $ 637m.It said the majority of the...

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2013 home equity rates forecast

Interest rate forecastIf you are lucky enough to have equity in your home, you should be able to obtain a home equity loan with a low rate in 2013.These rates should remain stable this year, says John Walsh, president of Total Mortgage Services, in Milford, Conn.“I don’t see that changing much in 2013,” Walsh says.Rate movement in 2012The average rate for the typical $ 30,000 home equity loan — which...

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Stock index futures point to flat open

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures indicated a flat-to-slightly lower open on Wall Street on Friday, with some traders citing nervousness ahead of results from financial group Wells Fargo due later in the day. Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were flat by 04.30 EST, while futures for the Dow Jones were 0.1 percent lower. "There's maybe a little bit of nervousness...

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