1. Most popular videos of 2010


    From the iPad to a bus siege in Manila to top model gaffes and bejeweled bras, 2010 was an eventful year. Reuters videographers were on the scene at many of these major stories to bring viewers the latest news, often at great risk to themselves as seen by the tragic death of a Reuters cameraman in Thailand.  Their work, sometimes daring, sometimes fun, prompted our audience to click and share. Here’s a look at the most popular video from each month. JANUARY: Apple ready for big device debut The launch of Apple’s iPad was a highly anticipated event and it propelled this preview video to the most popular for January. FEBRUARY: Luge crash death overshadows Games The Vancouver Winter Olympic Games began with tragedy after Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed while on a training run. The horrific circumstances of the crash and what this meant for the upcoming Games kept viewers clicking on this video. MARCH: A monorail that gets you pedaling Weird and wonderful technological advancements are guaranteed to peak reader attention and this pedal-powered vehicle was no exception. APRIL: Reuters Thai riot video released Reuters cameraman Hiro Muramoto was tragically killed during violent riots in Thailand. Seven minutes of film taken by Muramoto illustrated how the scrappy street protest turned deadly on a balmy Bangkok night. MAY: Spanish bullfighter gored Bullfighting, while often controversial, makes for compelling video footage as the drama is played out in the bullring. Perhaps the bull’s triumph against the bullfighter is what kept viewers watching this video? JUNE: U.S. woman sets world’s fattest goal In a culture that promotes weight-loss through popular culture phenomenons such as the “Biggest Loser”, this New Jersey woman’s attempt to be the world’s fattest woman at 1,000 pounds intrigued viewers. JULY: Bank for India’s sex workers The old adage of adding sex to a headline to catch people’s attention, certainly is true for this video that was released in 2007 but saw a resurgence of traffic this year. AUGUST: Bloody end to Manila hostage drama When a former policeman took a group of tourists hostage in Manila, the bungled police operation to rescue them played out on TV screens across the globe. SEPTEMBER: Soros: Gold “not safe” Whatever billionaire investor George Soros says is golden as this popular clip of his interview with Reuters Global Editor at large Chrystia Freeland shows. OCTOBER: Red faces over top model gaffe The excruciating moment when an Australian top model host realizes she has announced the wrong winner of the contest made for great TV and got our readers sharing this embarrassing video. NOVEMBER: Bejeweled bra exposed in NY The reasons behind the success of this video leave little to the imagination, as does the lingerie it exposes…

     
  2. Will Obama’s jobs plan find traction?


    President Barack Obama proposes a jobs package heavily weighted toward tax cuts for workers and businesses to help boost the economy. The challenge will be rallying enough popular support to pressure Republicans to get behind his plan, despite their vehement opposition to most of his agenda.   Will Obama’s jobs plan pass Congress? Yes Yes, with significant revisions No View Results

     
  3. Will Obama’s jobs plan find traction?


    President Barack Obama proposes a jobs package heavily weighted toward tax cuts for workers and businesses to help boost the economy. The challenge will be rallying enough popular support to pressure Republicans to get behind his plan, despite their vehement opposition to most of his agenda.   Will Obama’s jobs plan pass Congress? Yes Yes, with significant revisions No View Results

     
  4. UPDATE 1-Bellway profit jumps 51 pct, eyes more sales growth


    * Hikes dividend by 30 percent* Eyes volumes 5 pct higher in current financial yearLONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - British homebuilder Bellway posted a 51 percent rise in full-year profit, prompting it to hike its dividend by nearly a third and to predict further increases in sales volumes and selling prices over the next year.Bellway, which operates from over 200 sales outlets across the UK, posted a pretax profit of 67.2 million pounds ($106 million) in the 12 months to end-July, compared with 44.4 million last year.That was towards the top end of market expectations, which had already edged higher after an upbeat trading update from the company in August. Forecasts ranged between 58 million and 67.7 million pounds, with the average at 63.8 million, according to 18 forecasts on Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.”Bellway aims to continue to increase both volumes and average selling prices … the board is confident of delivering these improvements over the next twelve months but, as ever, remains mindful of current economic uncertainties,” said chairman Howard Dawe in a statement on Tuesday.Bellway is aiming to increase the number of sites and sales volumes by up to 5 percent during the year, and said it expects further improvements in prices and margins.UK housebuilders have trimmed the fat off their businesses in recent years as a dearth of mortgages continues to cripple housing sales, also prompting builders to shift their product mix towards more popular family-sized homes.Housebuilders have also refocused their activities on the more lucrative market in the crowded south-east of England. Recent figures show that asking prices in the south of the country have risen over 5 percent since the start of the credit crunch, while they’ve fallen 9.4 percent in the north, resulting in the biggest disparity between the two regions since records began in August 2002.Bellway had already said in August that the number of completions in the year to end-July had risen by 7 percent to 4,922, while the average selling price of homes sold rose 7 percent to 175,613 pounds, prompting it to predict forecast-beating results.Shares in the Newcastle-based builder, which said it would pay a final dividend of 8.8 pence, closed at 677.5 pence on Monday, valuing the group at 826 million pounds.

     
  5. Google jumps as investors cheer mobile growth


    In August, Google said it will acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The deal will give Google access to one of the largest patent libraries in the wireless industry as well as hardware manufacturing operations that will allow it to develop its own line of smartphones. [nL3E7JF1LD]The company is plowing money into its fast-growing mobile business which competes with iPhone-maker Apple. Google’s Android mobile software now powers 190 million devices, up from 135 million in mid-July.”While Google is large and well-followed, we still see the company as an underappreciated mobile play,” BofA Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post said in a research note.”We see Google as a 15 percent grower, warranting a premium valuation to the large cap technology sector.”However, Post — an analyst with a five-star rating, according to Starmine data for the accuracy of his earnings estimates on the company — cut his price target to $720 from $740 citing the complex Motorola buy as a near-term overhang.Some investors worry that a move to build its own phones could jeopardize support for Google’s free Android mobile software from other phone manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and HTC CorpMany other brokerages raised their price targets on the company, some by as much as 10 percent.Collins Stewart raised its price target on the stock to $795 from $725 — 42 percent higher than its current levels.The increasing usage of tablets in a manner more similar to PCs than phones is driving more queries and paid clicks to Google, JP Morgan said in a note.”We expect this trend to continue, and for Google to be the primary beneficiary as it likely has 90 percent plus share of mobile search — even higher than on the desktop,” it said.According to Thomson Reuters StarMine data, 13 analysts rate Google a “strong buy,” 20 rate the stock a “buy” and four others rate it a “hold,” with a mean price target of $716.17.Google’s Frankfurt-listed shares were trading up 7 percent, while its Nasdaq-listed stock rose to $599.60 in morning trade.

     
  6. RHJ in talks with General Atlantic over BHF: report


    RHJ needs to get a deal done by November, by which time its rights to exclusive negotiations with Deutsche Bank expire, FTD said.Deutsche Bank and RHJ declined to comment.Earlier this month Germany’s markets regulator BaFin told RHJ that it believed the private equity house was unable to fund the deal and therefore needed to withdraw its application to buy BHF.In July, RHJ International said it was in exclusive negotiations to acquire BHF, adding that it planned to finance the purchase with the support of co-investors.The costs of funding BHF once it is split from Deutsche Bank have risen due to strains in the inter-bank lending market, a factor that has deterred potential partners for co-investor Kleinwort Benson.Deutsche Bank has been on the lookout for a buyer ever since it inherited BHF through the 1 billion-euro purchase of Sal. Oppenheim in March 2010.Deutsche Bank’s initial plan to sell BHF to LGT LGT.UL, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein, was scuppered in April after the deal was blocked by German regulator BaFin.BHF is a 150-year-old institution with roughly 1,500 employees and 40 billion euros ($53 billion) in client assets under management.