By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc's chief executive officer defended the company's tax record at a Tuesday Senate hearing where lawmakers said the maker of iPads, iPods and Mac computers kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries to avoid U.S. taxes. The hearing marked another foray …

By Arshad Mohammed MUSCAT (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Oman on Tuesday for Raytheon Co's signing of an estimated $2.1 billion arms deal and to consult on Syria and Iran, U.S. officials said. Oman is expected to sign a letter of intent to purchase a ground-based air defence system that would help protect …

CAIRO (Reuters) - The number of tourists visiting Egypt rose in the first four months of 2012, the cabinet said on Tuesday, but analysts say the sector is still suffering from the aftermath of the country's 2011 uprising. The revolt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak sparked more than two years of protests, riots and political …

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Europe could face a decade of stagnation unless it makes big reforms and should heed the lessons of Japan, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said on Tuesday as he highlighted Japan's bold moves to bolster growth. In his final speech as Canadian central bank chief before taking over the Bank of England …

By Patrick Temple-West and Poornima Gupta WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Using an unusual global tax structure, Apple Inc has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries to pay little or no taxes to any government, a Senate report on the company's offshore tax structure said on Monday. ...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks ended little changed on Monday, with indexes hovering near record levels as concerns about a correction cut earlier gains that had been prompted by news about a flurry of acquisitions. The Dow and the S&P 500 briefly hit all-time intraday highs. Early in the session, investors' …

By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force plans to start operational use of Lockheed Martin Corp.-built F-35 fighter jets in mid-2016, a year earlier than planned, using a similar software package as the Marine Corps, two sources familiar with the plans said on Monday. The Air Force's decision to accelerate …

By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's top banking regulator said on Tuesday she is focused on the risk Canada's big banks face from low interest rates and real estate lending, but is happy that the housing market is moving into more balanced territory. Julie Dickson, head of the Office of the Superintendent of …

By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc will argue for a comprehensive corporate tax reform that will levy a "reasonable tax" on foreign earnings and is not dependent on a company's revenue when it goes before a Senate panel on Tuesday to explain its offshore tax practices. In prepared testimony released by …

By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks gained on Tuesday after Home Depot raised its profit outlook, while JPMorgan rose after its chief executive won a vote of confidence from shareholders. Shares of the two companies helped lift the blue-chip Dow as the broader market picked up steam in the early afternoon, sending …

By David Henry TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co's outspoken chairman and chief executive, won a vote of confidence on Tuesday as shareholders decided to let him keep his chairman title by an even greater margin than last year. Dimon could not claim total victory at the bank's annual meeting. Three …

By David Henry TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co's Jamie Dimon appears headed for a victory in a shareholder vote on whether he will keep his dual roles as chairman and chief executive of the largest U.S. bank, according to reports on Tuesday. A bitter, months-long shareholder campaign demanding more oversight …

By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp said its Japanese suitor SoftBank Corp granted it a waiver allowing it to consider a $25.5 billion rival bid by Dish Network Corp, as pressure mounts on SoftBank to sweeten its offer for the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier. Sprint said its recommendation in favor of the SoftBank …