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Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>A padlock is displayed at the Alert Logic booth during the 2016 Black Hat cyber-security conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. August 3, 2016. REUTERS/David Becker

MOSCOW (Reuters) - (This December 2 story corrects to show the 2 billion rubles is combined amount stolen from accounts in central bank and commercial banks, not from central bank alone; clarifies that the figures are total stolen in cyberattacks for the year to date)

Hackers stole more than 2 billion rubles ($31 million) from correspondent accounts at the Russian central bank and from accounts in commercial banks, the bank said on Friday, the latest example of an escalation of cyber attacks on financial institutions around the globe.

Central bank official Artyom Sychyov discussed the losses at a briefing, saying that the hackers had attempted to steal about 5 billion rubles. He said the figures were the totals recorded stolen, or the target of attempted theft, in cyber attacks over the course of 2016.

Sychyov was commenting on a central bank report released earlier in the day, that told of hackers breaking into accounts there by faking a client’s credentials. The bank provided few other details in its lengthy report.

Financial regulators around the world have recently urged banks to beef up cyber security in the wake of a string of high-profile heists on banks around the world.

Fears about attacks on banks have mounted since February when unknown cyber criminals stole $81 million in funds that Bangladesh’s central bank had on deposit at the New York Fed. Law enforcement agencies around the globe are hunting for the criminals who stole the money using fraudulent wire-transfer requests sent over the SWIFT bank messaging network.

Separately, Russia said on Friday that it had uncovered a plot by foreign spy agencies to sow chaos in the country’s banking system via a coordinated wave of cyber attacks and fake social media reports about banks going bust.

($1 = 63.8300 rubles)</s>HERZOGENRATH (dpa-AFX) - President Barack Obama blocked the acquisition of the U.S. business of Aixtron by Grand Chip Investment GmbH (Grand Chip) and certain of its direct and indirect shareholders (together, the Purchasers), according to a statement Friday by the Treasury Department. 



The order directs the Purchasers and Aixtron to take all steps necessary to fully and permanently abandon the proposed acquisition of Aixtron's U.S. business not later than 30 days after the date of the order.



The Treasury Department said the ban follows a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS, which confidentially reviews foreign acquisitions solely on national-security grounds.



'The national security risk posed by the transaction relates, among other things, to the military applications of the overall technical body of knowledge and experience of Aixtron,' according to the statement.



Grand Chip is a special purpose investment owned by investors in China, some of whom have Chinese government ownership, according to the Treasury statement. 



Aixtron makes equipment for the semiconductor industry, including Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD)systems used to build compound semiconductor materials. Aixtron's U.S. business includes its wholly owned subsidiary, Aixtron, Inc., which is organized and headquartered in California.



The proposed acquisition was to be funded in part by Sino IC Leasing Co. Ltd., which belongs to an industrial investment fund established by the Chinese government to develop the country's integrated circuit industry, the Treasury added.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX</s>China to US: Avoid politics in purchase of German semiconductor company

BEIJING — China appealed to Washington and Berlin to avoid injecting politics into the proposed takeover of a German maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment following a report President Obama plans to oppose it as a security risk.

The proposed $740 million acquisition of Aixtron SE by Fujian Grand Chip, a semiconductor maker, is "normal business activity," said a foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang.

Bloomberg News reported Obama was preparing to veto the deal, marking the third time Washington has blocked a Chinese corporate takeover on security grounds. The German newspaper Handelsblatt reported earlier that Germany was warned by U.S. intelligence that Aixtron's technology could be used for military purposes.

"Since it's a normal commercial activity, it will be carried out following the rule of markets and business," said Geng. "We hope the external parties will not over-interpret that or make any political intervention."

Chinese companies have made a multibillion-dollar string of acquisitions in Europe to obtain technology and brands including Club Med, Pirelli tires and Volvo Cars.

Many Europeans welcome the influx of money at a time when economic growth is struggling. But China faces criticism from European business leaders that they are blocked from making similar acquisitions in its state-dominated economy.

Aixtron, based in Herzogenrath, says its headquarters, research and development operations and existing technology will remain at its current sites.

The German government announced Monday it was reconsidering whether to allow the takeover. A spokeswoman cited "security-related questions" but gave no explanation.

In 2012, Obama blocked Chinese-owned Ralls Corp. from building a wind farm near a naval base in Oregon. In 1990, then-President George Bush blocked the purchase of MAMCO Manufacturing Inc., a maker of aircraft parts, by a Chinese state-owned company.</s>LONDON — U.S. President Barack Obama is poised to block a Chinese company from buying Germany’s Aixtron SE, people familiar with the matter said, which would mark only the third time in more than a quarter century that the White House has rejected an investment by an overseas buyer as a national security risk.

The president is expected Friday to uphold a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. that the sale of the semiconductor-equipment supplier to China’s Grand Chip Investment GmbH should be stopped, according to the people who asked not to be identified as the details aren’t public.

Blocking the $714 million acquisition would mark the second time Obama has rejected a deal on national security grounds. The first was in 2012 when he stopped Chinese-owned Ralls Corp. from developing a wind farm near a Navy base in Oregon. Before that, in 1990 then-President George H.W. Bush stopped a Chinese acquisition of MAMCO Manufacturing Inc., an aircraft-parts maker.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS, reviews purchases of U.S. companies by foreign buyers and pays particular attention to purchases of technology, especially when it has defense applications. It has a say in the Aixtron deal because the company has a subsidiary in California and employs about 100 people in the U.S., where it generates about 20 percent of its sales.

Aixtron technology can be used to produce light-emitting diodes, lasers, transistors, solar cells, among other products, and can have military applications in satellite communications and radar. Northrop Grumman Corp., a major U.S. defense contractor, is among its customers, according to a Bloomberg supply chain analysis.

The decision comes at a crucial moment for U.S.-China relations. President-elect Donald Trump has accused China of carrying out unfair trade practices that hurt U.S. workers. He has vowed to brand the country a currency manipulator and said he would impose tariffs on Chinese goods. Meanwhile, Chinese companies are investing more in the U.S. than ever. Chinese foreign direct investment in America reached a record $15.3 billion in 2015, according to Rhodium Group.

Notable investments by Chinese companies include the purchase of Smithfield Foods Inc. by WH Group Ltd. in 2013 and China National Chemical Corp.’s bid for Syngenta AG, which CFIUS cleared in August. Dalian Wanda Group Co. is expanding in Hollywood with its purchases of film producer Legendary Entertainment LLC and the second-biggest U.S. cinema operator, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.

CFIUS doesn’t comment on its reviews because they’re confidential. National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Home declined to comment, as did an Aixtron representative. Grand Chip didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment, while the China phone number listed on its regulatory filings was disconnected.

Chinese investment in the U.S. has drawn growing concern from Capitol Hill. Lawmakers pushed the Government Accountability Office to review whether CFIUS’s scope should be expanded. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, also wrote to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew saying that he’s concerned about the growing number of acquisitions of U.S. companies by Chinese state-owned buyers.

Schumer promised Congress would work on legislation to expand CFIUS’s oversight.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said last month in a report to Congress that CFIUS should be authorized to stop Chinese state-owned enterprises from acquiring U.S. companies, saying Beijing uses the firms as "a tool to pursue social, industrial and foreign policy objectives."

CFIUS determined Aixtron’s sale to Grand Chip Investment, announced in May, raised unresolved national security concerns and should be abandoned, Aixtron said Nov. 18. Aixtron and Grand Chip rejected that position and planned to continue negotiations with the government, according to the statement. By law, the U.S. president has 15 days to decide on a CFIUS matter after the panel completes its investigation and must issue an executive order to block a deal. CFIUS rulings are rarely referred to the president for a decision before being resolved in some other way.

When a deal raises security risks, the companies can try to negotiate conditions to resolve government concerns, such as a requirement that only U.S. citizens handle certain products and services. When CFIUS concerns can’t be resolved the sale is often abandoned rather than going to the president for a formal rejection.

———

 With assistance from Ben Scent, David Ramli and Justin Sink. Kirchfeld reported from London and McLaughlin from Washington.

 

 ©2016 Bloomberg News

 Visit Bloomberg News at www.bloomberg.com

 Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</s>HERZOGENRATH (dpa-AFX) - German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron (AIXG) said that it will explore with its Chinese suitor after President of the United States blocked the acquisition of the U.S. business of Aixtron by Grand Chip Investment GmbH, an indirect subsidiary of Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP .



'The bidder and Aixtron are evaluating the impact of the Order on the conditions to be fulfilled under the takeover offer and will coordinate with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to examine the consequences of the Order on the takeover process,' Aixtron said in a statement.



It added the presidential order was limited to Aixtron's U.S. business and did not prohibit the acquisition of Aixtron shares and American depositary shares by GCI.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX</s>German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron will explore with its Chinese suitor what can be salvaged of the planned takeover after a U.S. presidential order ruled the deal posed a national security risk, the company said on Saturday.

U.S. President Barack Obama blocked China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) from acquiring Aixtron's U.S. business, the Treasury Department said on Friday.

"The bidder and Aixtron are evaluating the impact of the Order on the conditions to be fulfilled under the takeover offer and will coordinate with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to examine the consequences of the Order on the takeover process," Aixtron said in a statement.

It added the presidential order was limited to Aixtron's U.S. business and did not per se prohibit the acquisition of Aixtron shares and American depositary shares FGC.

Aixtron has previously said that scrapping the proposed deal would mean it would have to cut costs and jobs would be at risk.</s>WASHINGTON — Citing a national security risk, President Barack Obama on Friday blocked a Chinese investor's proposed takeover of Aixtron SE, a German maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, a rare move that drew objections from Beijing and complaints that the U.S. was injecting politics into the deal.

Obama ordered Fujan Grand Chip to "fully and permanently abandon" its proposed acquisition of Aixtron SE's California-based subsidiary, Aixtron, Inc. The decision upheld a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which reviews foreign purchases of U.S. companies.

The decision threatens to jeopardize the larger deal, which is under scrutiny Berlin and is valued at $740 million.

In a statement issued Friday evening, the Treasury Department cited the president's power to suspend or block acquisition where there is "credible evidence that the foreign interest exercising control might take action that threatens to impair national security." Aixtron's technology has "military applications," the statement said.

It is only the third time Washington has blocked a Chinese corporate takeover on security grounds.

China had appealed to Washington and Berlin to avoid injecting politics into the proposed takeover.

"Since it's a normal commercial activity, it will be carried out following the rule of markets and business. We hope the external parties will not over-interpret that or make any political intervention," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, shortly before Washington announced the order.

Chinese companies have made a multibillion-dollar string of acquisitions in Europe to obtain technology and brands including Club Med, Pirelli tires and Volvo Cars.

Many Europeans welcome the influx of money at a time when economic growth is struggling. But China faces criticism from European business leaders that they are blocked from making similar acquisitions in its state-dominated economy.

Aixtron, based in Herzogenrath, says its headquarters, research and development operations and existing technology will remain at its current sites.

The German government announced Monday it was reconsidering whether to allow the takeover. A spokeswoman cited "security-related questions" but gave no explanation.

In 2012, Obama blocked Chinese-owned Ralls Corp. from building a wind farm near a naval base in Oregon. In 1990, then-President George Bush blocked the purchase of MAMCO Manufacturing Inc., a maker of aircraft parts, by a Chinese state-owned company.</s>Obama, on Friday, is expected to uphold the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' (CFIUS) recommendation that Aixtron's sale to the Chinese investment fund be stopped, Bloomberg said, citing sources. bloom.bg/2geoLp4

Obama's office could not be reached for comment immediately by Reuters outside regular business hours.

In November, Aixtron said that the CFIUS told the company it would recommend that its pending takeover by Fujian be blocked.

The German firm said CFIUS, which reviews deals that may be national security risks, had told the chip equipment maker that it plans to recommend to the U.S. president that the deal be blocked due to security concerns, and that it had advised the companies to drop the deal.

The last time a president blocked a deal on national security grounds was in 2012, when Obama stopped a privately owned Chinese company from building wind turbines close to a Navy military site in Oregon, due to national security concerns.

The German government, in October, withdrew its approval for the deal.

The deal, announced in May, valued Aixtron at 670 million euros ($715.56 million).

Aixtron and Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund could not be immediately reached by Reuters for comment.</s>U.S. employers add 178K jobs as unemployment sinks to 4.6 percent

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a solid 178,000 jobs in November, reflecting the steady economy President-elect Donald Trump will inherit. And the unemployment rate hit a nine-year low of 4.6 percent, though mainly because many people stopped looking for jobs and were no longer counted as unemployed.

Even so, Friday’s report from the Labor Department reflected a resilient job market that is helping drive the U.S. economy. The economy this year has added an average of 180,000 jobs a month — more than enough to lower the unemployment rate over time.

The pace of hiring is keeping the Federal Reserve on track to raise short-term interest rates at its next meeting in less than two weeks.

How a Trump administration could shape the internet

Under a President Donald Trump, cable and phone companies could gain new power to influence what you do and what you watch online — not to mention how much privacy you have while you’re at it.

Many experts say that Republicans who generally oppose regulation are likely to take charge at the Federal Communications Commission, the government’s primary telecom regulator. That alone could mean the end of rules designed to protect privacy and individual choice on the internet. Those rules were enacted over the past several years under the Obama administration.

Job deals like Carrier’s often fall short of political hype

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — When President-elect Donald Trump announced a deal to save hundreds of jobs at a Carrier plant in Indiana, it came with a cost to state taxpayers of about $7 million in tax breaks and grants.

Similar jobs-for-subsidies deals are struck nearly every day around the country by governors, mayors and other officials. But it’s debatable whether the economic impact ultimately lives up to the political hype.

Some projects fall short of their promises. Economists say other business deals likely would have occurred even without the incentives. And in some places, it’s hard for the public to track the exact amount of state and local subsidies that get provided.

Ford recalls 680,000 cars, seat belt may not hold in crash

DETROIT (AP) — Ford is recalling more than 680,000 midsize sedans mainly in North America because the front seat belts may not hold people in a crash.

The recall covers certain 2013 to 2016 Ford Fusion, 2013 to 2015 Lincoln MKZ and 2015 and 2016 Ford Mondeo cars.

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore regulators announced Friday fines amounting to over $5.3 million for two banks that were found to have breached money laundering rules in dealings with an indebted Malaysian state fund.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore fined the local branch of Standard Chartered Bank, which is headquartered in London, 5.2 million Singapore dollars ($3.6 million) for “significant lapses” in customer due diligence measures and controls.

In Macedonia’s fake news hub, teen shows AP how it’s done

VELES, Macedonia (AP) — On the second floor of a noisy sports center in the Macedonian town of Veles, a teenage purveyor of fake news cracked open his laptop and laid out his case for why lying is more lucrative than the truth.

Real news gets reported everywhere, he argued. Made-up stories are unique.

“The fake news is the good news,” the 18-year-old said, pointing to a graph showing his audience figures, which reached into the hundreds of thousands, a bling watch clasped firmly around his wrist. “A fake news article is way more opened than any other.”

China to US: Avoid politics in purchase of Germany’s Aixtron

BEIJING (AP) — China appealed to Washington and Berlin to avoid injecting politics into the proposed takeover of a German maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment following a report President Obama plans to oppose it as a security risk.

The proposed 670 million euro ($740 million) acquisition of Aixtron SE by Fujian Grand Chip, a semiconductor maker, is “normal business activity,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House on Friday overwhelmingly backed a $611 billion defense policy bill that rejects a number of President Barack Obama’s key proposals for managing the nation’s vast military enterprise.

Lawmakers passed the legislative package, 375-34. The bill now goes to the Senate where a vote is expected early next week.

The bill, crafted after weeks of talks between House and Senate negotiators, prohibits Obama from following through on his longstanding campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The bill also bars the Pentagon from reducing the number of military bases even though senior U.S. defense officials said there is excess capacity, and it awards U.S. troops their largest pay raise in six years. Obama had recommended a smaller pay increase.

No more ‘Melania Trump’ underwear or honey for Slovenians

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — No more Melania Trump honey, cakes, shoes and underwear for Slovenians.

The future U.S. first lady has hired a law firm in her native country to protect her name and image from being used on numerous products that have sprung up since her husband, Donald Trump, was elected president.

Natasa Pirc Musar, director of the Pirc Musar&Partnerji law firm, said Friday that the use of the name “Melania Trump” for commercial purposes without approval of her client would be against the law in the small Alpine state and would represent a violation of personal rights.

Next test for pipeline protesters: the North Dakota winter

CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — So far, the hundreds of protesters fighting the Dakota Access pipeline have shrugged off the heavy snow, icy winds and frigid temperatures that have swirled around their large encampment on the North Dakota grasslands.

But if they defy next week’s government deadline to abandon the camp, demonstrators know the real deep freeze lies ahead, when the full weight of the Great Plains winter descends on their community of nylon tents and teepees. Life-threatening wind chills and towering snow drifts could mean the greatest challenge is simple survival

The Dow lost 21.51 points, or 0.1 percent, to 19,170.42. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.87 points to 2,191.95. The Nasdaq composite added 4.55 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,255.65.

Benchmark U.S. crude added 62 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $51.68 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for pricing international oils, picked up 52 cents, or 1 percent, to $54.46 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline picked up 1 cent to $1.56 a gallon. Heating oil added 1 cent to $1.66 a gallon. Natural gas lost 7 cents, or 2 percent, to $3.44 per 1,000 cubic feet.
United States President Barack Obama blocks China's Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund's acquisition of the U.S. semiconductor business of German-based Aixtron because of national security concerns. The German Economy Ministry withdrew its approval in October.