Warning over hidden customer data

16 November 2012 Last updated at 18:47 ETThe UK government has repeated its threat to legislate if businesses do not voluntarily release data gathered on customers who ask to see it. An initiative called Midata calls on firms to provide details to the public in a “machine-readable” format.Ministers had warned in August...

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Canadian October home sales dip, latest sign of cooling

TORONTO (Reuters) – Sales of existing homes in Canada fell in October from September and year-over-year sales were down as well, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Thursday in the latest signal that the housing market is slowing.The industry group for Canadian real estate agents said sales were down 0.1 percent in October from September. Actual...

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Exclusive: Facebook offering e-retailers sales tracking tool

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc wants more credit for making online cash registers ring.Facebook will begin rolling out on Friday a new tool which will allow online retailers to track purchases by members of the social network who have viewed their ads. The tool is the latest of the new advertising features Facebook...

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After Garbo, Leigh, no defining “Anna Karenina”: Knightley

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Film adaptations of “Anna Karenina” have featured the likes of Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh, but Keira Knightley isn’t fazed about measuring up to such silver screen luminaries with a new cinematic take on Leo Tolstoy‘s classic novel.The British actress’s turn in the title role in the timeless story about a beautiful married socialite...

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Exclusive: U.S. drug testing firm probed for alleged fraud, intimidation

(Reuters) – A federal grand jury in Boston is investigating Millennium Laboratories of San Diego, a fast-growing private company selling urine drug testing services to pain clinics across the United States.The company not only is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegations of health care fraud but also for intimidating former employees,...

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China’s commerce minister voted out in rare congress snub: sources

BEIJING (Reuters) – China‘s commerce minister was surprisingly blocked from a spot on the ruling Communist Party’s elite body during a conclave this week, sources said, a rare snub for an official that could raise questions about trade policies during his tenure.The failure of Chen Deming to secure a seat on the 25-member Politburo marks one of the few...

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Jamaica to abolish slavery-era flogging law

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica is preparing to abolish a slavery-era law allowing flogging and whipping as means of punishing prisoners, the Caribbean country’s justice ministry said Thursday.The ministry said the punishment hasn’t been ordered by a court since 2004 but the statutes remain in the island’s penal code. It was administered with strokes...

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In UK, Twitter, Facebook rants land some in jail

LONDON (AP) — One teenager made offensive comments about a murdered child on Twitter. Another young man wrote on Facebook that British soldiers should “go to hell.” A third posted a picture of a burning paper poppy, symbol of remembrance of war dead.All were arrested, two convicted, and one jailed — and they’re not the only ones. In Britain, hundreds of...

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With TV and film production heading overseas, should Uncle Sam get into showbiz?

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Is it time for Uncle Sam to go Hollywood?With the exodus of film and TV production to foreign shores – and with the states’ incentives plans frequently out-gunned by countries outside the U.S. – there is some thought that it may be time for the federal government to step in. The idea of the...

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Brain Lesions Linked to Women Who Suffer From Migraines

Dutch researchers studying headaches have linked a higher-than-normal incidence of brain lesions to women who suffer from migraines. However, they found no relationship between the severity, frequency, or number of migraines and the progression of the lesions.Scientists from the Leiden University Medical Center followed subjects — patients who had migraines...

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