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Oracle Corp missed expectations for software sales and subscriptions for the second straight quarter, sending its shares plunging as investors worried CEO Larry Ellison may have trouble getting the technology giant back on track. On Thursday, Oracle executives forecast that new software sales and subscriptions will rise 0 percent to 8 percent this quarter and blamed weakness in the past quarter on disappointing sales in Asia and Latin America.   Oracle, which is trying to fend off Salesforce.com and other increasingly aggressive rivals focused on providing software over the cloud or Internet, plans to move its stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange in July from the Nasdaq , a major win for the older bourse. Executives said the move was in shareholders' best interests, without elaborating. Oracle also said it would double its quarterly dividend to 12 cents a share. "Organic growth is slowing and the company has a lot of pressures it has to deal with. They're la

Oracle Corp missed expectations for software sales and subscriptions for the second straight quarter, sending its shares plunging as investors worried CEO Larry Ellison may have trouble getting the technology giant back on track. On Thursday, Oracle executives forecast that new software sales and subscriptions will rise 0 percent to 8 percent this quarter and blamed weakness in the past quarter on disappointing sales in Asia and Latin America. Oracle, which is trying to fend off Salesforce.com and other increasingly aggressive rivals focused on providing software over the cloud or Internet, plans to move its stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange in July from the Nasdaq , a major win for the older bourse. Executives said the move was in shareholders' best interests, without elaborating. Oracle also said it would double its quarterly dividend to 12 cents a share. "Organic growth is slowing and the company has a lot of pressures it has to deal with. They're late

The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. _0"> Headlines Global sell-off raises turbulence fears () EU data authorities threaten to fine Google   () Germany blocks Turkey's bid to join EU () Swiss banks warned about risk levels () Pre-takeover Cadbury's aggressive tax avoidance exposed _0"> () _1"> _2"> Rio delays shipments from flagship Mongolian mine _3"> () _4"> _5"> Overview _6"> _7"> U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's announcement that the U.S. central bank plans to pull back on its $85 billion in monthly asset purchases sent global equities, bonds and commodities into a tizzy on Thursday and has fuelled fears that the world is entering a fresh phase of financial turbulence. _8"> _9"> U.S. Internet giant Google Inc has been for the first time threatene

A start-up asteroid mining firm that launched a crowd-funding campaign to gauge interest in a planned space telescope reached its $1 million goal, company officials said on Thursday. Bellevue, Washington-based Planetary Resources intends to build and operate telescopes to hunt for asteroids orbiting near Earth and robotic spacecraft to mine them.   The company, whose financial backers include Google's founders, also envisions a companion educational and outreach program to let students, museums and armchair astronomers make use of the first telescrope that Planetary Resources plans to build, called Arkyd. Three weeks ago, Planetary Resources launched a crowd-funding initiative on Kickstarter to assess interest in the project and set a goal of raising $1 million by June 30. "It surpassed that amount Wednesday night," company spokeswoman Stacey Tearne wrote in an email. "We currently have 12,000-plus backers who have pledged just over $1.07 million," Tearne

Apple Inc, on trial for allegedly colluding to raise the price of e-books, said on Thursday an adverse ruling would have a "chilling effect" on how businesses investigate new markets. If Apple was found guilty, it would "send shudders through the business community" by condemning the ordinary negotiations that companies undertake to enter new markets, the company's lawyer, Orin Snyder, said on the last day of the trial.   "We submit a ruling against Apple on this record sets a dangerous precedent," Snyder said. The U.S. Justice Department accuses Apple of conspiring with U.S. publishers beginning in late 2009 to increase the price of e-books in an effort to undercut the pricing established by then-dominant Amazon.com Inc. The publishers have settled with the government. Throughout closing arguments Thursday, Apple found itself fighting back against tough questioning by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote. At one point on Thursday, Cote asked if it w

Box, the closely watched data storage company, is shifting its growth strategy ahead of an initial public offering that could come in 2014, Chief Executive Aaron Levie told the Reuters Global Technology Summit . In its early years as a scrappy startup, Levie advocated a sales strategy that sought to convince individual employees or small units within larger companies to use his service for free, before charging them for additional features.   The 8-year-old Mountain View, California-based company has swapped that "freemium" business model and is now investing heavily in selling directly to chief information officers at the top of the corporate hierarchy, Levie said. He acknowledged the expense associated with such a strategy but said it was necessary. "You get to a certain scale where that business model hits a limit. There's no way to sell to Procter & Gamble, Coke, Disney, Walmart" without a direct sales effort, Levie said at the summit in San Franci

A spike in sales of "The Sopranos" DVDs, downloads and merchandise based on the mafia series following star James Gandolfini's death may only be short-lived and likely won't provide much of a windfall for HBO and its parent Time Warner Inc. Sales of DVDs on the retail site Amazon shot up in the hours immediately following the 51-year-old star's death in Italy on Wednesday. "The Sopranos: The Complete Series," which sells for $124.99 on the site, by late Thursday had jumped to second place among best-sellers from 1,463 on that list.   The series' first season was also ranked No. 4 on Apple's iTunes list. "It's a one-day wonder, and it won't last," said Alan Gould, media analyst with Evercore Partners, who follows Time Warner. Old episodes will likely generate a lot of streaming, especially since kids are home from college, but it's unlikely to last beyond four to six months, said TV consultant, Adam Armbruster, a partn

A spike in sales of "The Sopranos" DVDs, downloads and merchandise based on the mafia series following star James Gandolfini's death may only be short-lived and likely won't provide much of a windfall for HBO and its parent Time Warner Inc. Sales of DVDs on the retail site Amazon shot up in the hours immediately following the 51-year-old star's death in Italy on Wednesday. "The Sopranos: The Complete Series," which sells for $124.99 on the site, by late Thursday had jumped to second place among best-sellers from 1,463 on that list. The series' first season was also ranked No. 4 on Apple's iTunes list. "It's a one-day wonder, and it won't last," said Alan Gould, media analyst with Evercore Partners, who follows Time Warner. Old episodes will likely generate a lot of streaming, especially since kids are home from college, but it's unlikely to last beyond four to six months, said TV consultant, Adam Armbruster, a partner

Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, will give birth to the future heir to the British throne in the same hospital where the late Princess Diana gave birth to Princes William and Harry, royal sources said on Wednesday. _0"> The new royal baby, who will become third in line to the throne behind grandfather Prince Charles and father Prince William, will be born in the private Lindo wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London.   The sources said the royal couple have still not been told the sex of the baby which is due next month as they want it to be a surprise. However speculation about the baby's sex has swirled since March when the duchess accepted a teddy saying: "Thank you, I'll take this for my d.." Bookmaker William Hill said this dropped "d" led to such wide speculation that the baby was a girl that it suspended all bets on gender just weeks later while rival bookmaker Paddy Power paid out on bets that it was

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toured the impoverished country's east coast last month in a 95-foot luxury yacht, a boat that could be prohibited under U.N. sanctions, a website that tracks events in the reclusive state said. _0"> North Korea is banned from importing luxury goods under layers of U.N. sanctions imposed for its nuclear and missile tests.   The NK News website said the yacht, a Princess 95MY made by British-based Princess Yachts, was possibly a recent purchase. The Washington-based website gave no evidence for when the boat was bought. North Korea's KCNA news agency released a photograph of Kim on May 28 that showed him walking along a dock with military officers. The starboard side of a luxury boat is visible to the right of the picture. Will Green, sales director for Princess Yachts International, told NK News it suspected the boat was a 95MY. "Given we launched the 95MY some years ago, many of them will have since changed hands on the priv

One of the world's most visited cities but also famous for its rudeness, Paris has embarked on a campaign to improve its reputation and better cater to the needs of tourists. _0"> Waiters, taxi drivers and sales staff in the French capital all too often come off as impolite, unhelpful and unable to speak foreign languages say local tourism chiefs, who are handing out a manual with guidelines on better etiquette.   A six-page booklet entitled "Do you speak Touriste?" contains greetings in eight languages including German, Chinese and Portuguese and advice on the spending habits and cultural codes of different nationalities. "The British like to be called by their first names," the guide explains, while Italians should be shaken by the hand and Americans reassured on prices. Of the Chinese, the fastest-growing category of tourists visiting the City of Light, the guide says they are "fervent shoppers" and that "a simple smile and hello

Young teenagers who make up the second wave of millennials, the generation that began in the 1980s, are more resilient, adaptable and tech savvy than their older counterparts, according to a new study. The 70 million millennials, or Generation Y, have been dubbed the entitled or me generation. Younger millennials, aged 13-17, are very different in outlook, planning and use of technology than 20-somethings.   "The younger millennials have a more practical view of the world than older millennials did at the same age," said Alison Hillhouse, of MTV Insights, which conducted the study. "For today's 20-somethings when they were teenagers their future looked rosy, easier and bright," she added in an interview. "Younger millennials are thinking, planning earlier. Even in their early teens they are worried about their future, their job prospects and paying off college debts more than the first wave of millennials who came of age during the economic boom of th

Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were handed a 20-month suspended prison sentence and a heavy fine on Wednesday for hiding hundreds of millions of euros from the Italian tax authorities. The design duo, who are nearly as famous as the stars they dress, were not present in court in Milan and will lodge an appeal against their conviction on charges that they have always denied. "We will read the reasons for the verdict, and we will appeal," Massimo Dinoia, one of the pair's defense lawyers, said after the hearing.   Public prosecutor Gaetano Ruta had asked for a two-and-a-half year jail term. However, the two designers will have to pay 500,000 euros as a first instalment of a fine that could reach 10 million euros ($13.4 million). The judge acquitted the pair of charges that they had filed inaccurate tax returns. The success of Dolce and Gabbana's sexy corset dresses and sharply tailored suits favored by celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, Kate

Days after Kaoru Shimada and other Japanese mothers rallied in Tokyo this year to press for more public daycare, she was shocked to read a local politician's blog blasting their "shameless" demands and asserting kids should be raised at home. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to take steps, including expanding daycare, to help mobilize women power as part of his "Abenomics" plan to end economic stagnation and engineer growth in a country beset by an ageing, shrinking population. But that economic imperative is colliding with a conservative worldview, shared by many ruling party politicians as well as top business executives, that sees women's proper place as in the home, not in offices, factories or boardrooms. "My first impression was that he was mocking us," said Shimada, a 29-year-old system engineer with a toddler son, referring to the comments by blogster Yutaro Tanaka, a local assembly member from Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LD

One of U.S. celebrity chef Paula Deen's employers said on Thursday it was monitoring the controversy over her admission that she has used a racial slur in the past, while Deen's own company said the cooking star does not condone racism. In a May 17 court deposition that surfaced on Wednesday, Deen, who is white, was asked if she had used the so-called N-word, a racial epithet directed against African-Americans, to which she responded: "Yes, of course."   The Food Network, which broadcasts two popular shows featuring Deen and her Southern cooking, said it was keeping an eye on the flap resulting from her statements that have been widely criticized on social media. "Food Network does not tolerate any form of discrimination and is a strong proponent of diversity and inclusion," the network said. The videotaped deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit by a former employee of Paula Deen Enterprises, Lisa Jackson, who is suing Deen and her brother Earl &quo

Fewer drivers will take to the road during the Independence Day holiday in part due to a sluggish economy, but also because people will take less time off, travel group AAA said on Thursday. _0"> The group expects 40.8 million people to travel 50 miles or more from home during the July 4 break and 34.4 million of them will drive, a drop of about 0.7 percent from the estimated 34.7 million who drove last year.   "This projection is due to the calendar effect of one fewer day in the holiday period and economic growth that is not robust enough to offset the impact of the sequester, and the effect of the end of the payroll tax cut on American families," AAA President and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Darbelnet said. Darbelnet was referring to government spending cuts known as the sequester that were triggered on March 1 after lawmakers failed to agree on a deficit reduction package, as well as the expiry of a Social Security tax cut this year. July 4 fell on a W

Four in 10 U.S. adults are now caring for a sick or elderly family member as more people develop chronic illnesses and the population ages, a new study has found. "More health care is happening at home," said Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life project and the study's lead author. "As more people are able to be saved by medical advances, their lives are being extended, but they're also being sent home medically fragile. It's caregivers who are the first line of defense."   Researchers, which found that the number of caregivers increased 10 percent between 2010 and 2013, surveyed 3,014 adults nationwide and found that most caregivers were between 30 and 64 years old. Fox also said the slow U.S. economy could explain why family members are becoming more responsible for care. With fewer or depleted savings, many people are less able to hire professional help, she said. About half of the United S

Palestinian farmers sow tobacco sprouts in the rocky earth of the northern West Bank, reaping a harvest that provides a reliable livelihood in the struggling occupied territory. From planting, drying and rolling, the local cottage industry has put dozens of whole families to work and has defied high levels of unemployment and poverty.   But pressures on their business are growing. Tobacco production and other parts of the rural economy, which have long eluded formal government regulation, are coming under the radar of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as it seeks to bolster its revenues and alleviate a massive debt burden. In recent months the PA has begun clamping down on farmers who package and sell hand-rolled cigarettes around the villages, accusing them of smuggling and has even begun arresting some workers. While the government maintains that building a modern economy depends on the rule of law, its critics say the moves to stamp out black market trading is another example of

Five of the six most expensive office areas in the world are in Asia, as demand by global companies to locate their outstripped the supply, according to a semiannual report released on Thursday by real estate services company CBRE Inc. For the third consecutive time, Hong Kong's Central business district had the highest overall occupancy cost, which includes local taxes and service charges. Hong Kong's Central averaged $235.23 per square foot annually at the end of March, leading London's West End at $222.58. Beijing's Finance Street followed at $195.07 per square foot with Beijing's central business district right behind at $187.06.   "Demand is coming from a lot multinational corporations who want to place a stake into these developing economies," said Raymond Torto, CBRE's global chief economist. "When they look around some of these cities, they want to be in the best locations because there's not a lot of good infrastructure. You want

People will always want to watch movies in theatres despite the growing trend of watching videos at home and on mobile devices, the head of giant movie system maker Imax said. _0"> "People are social animals and I don't think they want to be chained to their couches, mobile devices and tablets. They want to go out," Richard Gelfond, chief executive of Canada-based Imax, told the annual President's Conference in Israel on Thursday.   "They recognize the fact that (filmmakers) Steven Spielberg and James Cameron may be better at telling a story than a 16 year old over the Internet. I think they can exist side by side." Special effects-driven movies, in particular, "cannot be adequately captured" on a mobile device, Gelfond said. "You need to go to a theatre to appreciate them. If you are going to leave home you want a dramatically different experience than in the home." Imax also designs and manufactures theatre systems and th

Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were handed a 20-month suspended prison sentence and a heavy fine on Wednesday for hiding hundreds of millions of euros from the Italian tax authorities. The design duo, who are nearly as famous as the stars they dress, were not present in court in Milan and will lodge an appeal against their conviction on charges that they have always denied.   "We will read the reasons for the verdict, and we will appeal," Massimo Dinoia, one of the pair's defense lawyers, said after the hearing. Public prosecutor Gaetano Ruta had asked for a two-and-a-half year jail term. However, the two designers will have to pay 500,000 euros as a first instalment of a fine that could reach 10 million euros ($13.4 million). The judge acquitted the pair of charges that they had filed inaccurate tax returns. The success of Dolce and Gabbana's sexy corset dresses and sharply tailored suits favored by celebrities such as Kylie Minogue, Kate

With a heat wave gripping Alaska, strange things have been happening under the midnight sun. Anchorage residents, who a month ago shivered through an unseasonably cold spring and a surprise May snowstorm, have donned swimsuits and depleted stores of fans to ward off record heat in the state's largest city. Temperatures have run as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, with daytime highs in Anchorage climbing into the 80s in recent days, and the sudden onset of atypical warmth has been blamed for unleashing wildfires and flooding alike.   Moose have been spotted near lawn sprinklers around Anchorage and at least one invaded someone's kiddie pool. Pet reptiles, normally confined to heated indoor spaces because of Alaska's cold outdoors, are making rare public appearances. Park managers at Goose Lake, one of Anchorage's few outdoor swimming spots, had to eject a pet iguana named "Godzilla," along with some pet snakes and a turtle that patrons brought

Big hats and fancy frocks are an integral part of Royal Ascot and organizers of Britain's glamorous racehorse meeting want to keep it that way by charging for fashion failures this year. Royal Ascot, a 300-year-old highlight of Britain's social calendar attended by Queen Elizabeth and other royals, has taken a stand against shrinking skirts and novelty outfits, issuing strict guidelines about what to wear to the five-day event.   In the Grandstand, where tickets start from 43 pounds ($65), the rules stipulate no strapless dresses or bare midriffs for women and no branded clothing or fancy dress while skirts must be a "modest" length and men need a shirt and tie. Turn left into the exclusive Royal Enclosure and women must wear hats, with headpiece-style fascinators banned, and men have to be attired in top hats, morning dress and black shoes. Although royal decorum may have been a little more exuberant than usual on Thursday after her majesty's horse Estimate