** MTN Group , Africa’s largest mobile operator, is in talks to acquire Vodacom’s wireless unit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bloomberg said on Tuesday, citing two unidentified sources.** Danone SA is in talks with Japanese beverage firm Suntory Holdings about a sale of the French group’s water assets, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.** Saudi Arabia’s Savola Group on Monday signed an agreement to buy a 78 percent stake in two Egyptian firms for 557 million Egyptian Pounds ($97.8 million), it said in a statement on Tuesday.** Danish energy group DONG Energy will enter the UK natural gas sales market through the acquisition of gas sales and marketing company Shell Gas Direct, part of energy group Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L), for 30 million pounds ($47.3 million).** ITV , Britain’s biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, has agreed to buy Channel Islands broadcaster Channel Television from Yattendon, bringing an independent corner of its regional network under its ownership.** Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp said on Tuesday it plans to buy Inquisitive Minds, a U.S. maker of children’s software, for $13 million to expand its offering of applications.

** MTN Group , Africa’s largest mobile operator, is in talks to acquire Vodacom’s wireless unit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bloomberg said on Tuesday, citing two unidentified sources.** Danone SA is in talks with Japanese beverage firm Suntory Holdings about a sale of the French group’s water assets, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.** Saudi Arabia’s Savola Group on Monday signed an agreement to buy a 78 percent stake in two Egyptian firms for 557 million Egyptian Pounds ($97.8 million), it said in a statement on Tuesday.** Danish energy group DONG Energy will enter the UK natural gas sales market through the acquisition of gas sales and marketing company Shell Gas Direct, part of energy group Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L), for 30 million pounds ($47.3 million).** ITV , Britain’s biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, has agreed to buy Channel Islands broadcaster Channel Television from Yattendon, bringing an independent corner of its regional network under its ownership.** Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp said on Tuesday it plans to buy Inquisitive Minds, a U.S. maker of children’s software, for $13 million to expand its offering of applications.

* EU watchdog ESMA set to get banning powers* News conference called for 1700 GMTBRUSSELS, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The European Union hopes to finalise a law on Tuesday that could ban certain credit default swaps (CDS) to curb what some policymakers see as hedge funds bets on the euro zone crisis.The measure has been deadlocked for months because of a split between the European Parliament and EU states, who have joint say. Both sides meet on Tuesday afternoon with a news conference scheduled for just after 1700 GMT.”The final point of negotiation relates to the ban on naked sovereign credit default swaps (CDS), those used for a purely speculative aim,” said Pascal Canfin, the French Green Party member who is leading the parliamentary team.Parliament voted to ban CDS contracts, a form of insurance against default, where the holder does not own any of the underlying government debt being insured.EU states say this is a step too far and propose curbing short-selling of the government debt itself, and only if the country in question agrees.”During this final trilogue, parliament and the council (of EU states) must reach an agreement on banning naked CDS,” Canfin said.Policymakers accused hedge funds last year of using CDS contracts to bet on a Greek default, a step they said made it more expensive for the EU to rescue Greece. It prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to call for the draft law.But a study for the European Parliament said a ban on naked CDS would have “detrimental effects on liquidity and the price discovery process of credit risk”.Hedge funds say the CDS market is too small to manipulate the far bigger sovereign debt market and that government bond prices have tumbled in Greece and elsewhere in the euro zone because of investor worries over the level of public debt.DISCLOSURESThe measure aims to avoid a repeat of confusing unilateral national curbs on short-selling in financial shares in 2008 after the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers.Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Greece reintroduced short-selling curbs this summer while other EU states like Britain refused to join in.Such curbs are disputed by exchanges and some academics, and failed this summer to stop a rout in French banking shares as the euro zone crisis sent investors scurrying.The European Securities and Markets Authority would have powers to override national supervisors and impose temporary pan-EU share short-selling bans in times of market turmoil.The new law will also impose reporting requirements on short positions in shares and sovereign debt.Shorting stocks would only be allowed if prior arrangements have been made to borrow the stock to ensure prompt settlement of trades or that there is reasonable certainty the stock will be available.

By Matt SpetalnickWASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama urged Republicans on Saturday to stop picking “ideological fights” and focus instead on job creation efforts as he pressed Congress to begin voting next week piece by piece on his defeated jobs package.With an eye to the 2012 election, Obama is working with fellow Democrats to break into parts his $447 billion jobs bill — which Republicans blocked in the Senate on Tuesday — and challenge their opponents to show where they stand.He used his weekly radio speech to showcase his strategy of painting the Republicans as obstructionists impeding his drive to revive the stalled economy and reduce stubbornly high unemployment, considered crucial to his re-election prospects.But, in the Republicans’ Saturday radio address, Representative Kevin McCarthy countered that his party was pursuing concrete ideas to jump-start the economy and called on Obama to “come off the campaign trail and get to work.”Republicans say Obama’s original package was laden with what they see as wasteful spending and counterproductive tax hikes for wealthier Americans, and say he seems more interested in demonizing them than working to find common ground.The deadlock has raised concerns that political dysfunction in Washington will block any major steps to spur hiring before November 2012 presidential and congressional elections.”Republicans (in the House of Representatives) spent the past couple days picking partisan ideological fights,” Obama said, citing Republican proposals over the past week to ease environmental regulations and restrict abortion funding.But Obama, who has adopted an increasingly populist tone to promote his jobs plan as his poll ratings languish near the lows of his presidency, said he would give Republicans “another chance to spend more time worrying about your jobs than keeping theirs.”“Next week, I’m urging members of Congress to vote on putting hundreds of thousands of teachers back in the classroom, cops back on the streets and firefighters back on the job,” he said, identifying the first piecemeal proposal he wants lawmakers to bring up. “And if they vote ‘no’” on that, they’ll have to tell you why.”Obama was referring to a portion of his jobs package that is seen having little chance of winning Republican support — giving billions of dollars in aid to states to prevent layoffs of teachers and support the hiring of police and firefighters.POLL SHOWS SUPPORT FOR OBAMA PLANA Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll this week showed the public, by a 2-to-1 margin, backed Obama’s jobs plan through a mixture of stimulus spending and tax cuts. Democratic leaders propose financing it with a 5.7 percent surtax on millionaires.Senate Republicans offered a largely repackaged plan of their own on Thursday that featured calls for tax reform and cuts plus repeal of Obama’s U.S. healthcare overhaul and lifting prohibitions on offshore energy exploration.”By finding ways to support small business and promote entrepreneurship, we can rev up our economy and grow the jobs we need,” McCarthy said. “And this shouldn’t be an exercise of partisan gamesmanship or credit-claiming.”Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, have in the past backed some components of Obama’s package, such as a payroll tax cut, but suggest they may not do so again.Obama said he wanted other elements of his plan put to a vote in coming weeks, including infrastructure spending, small-business tax breaks, preventing middle-class tax hikes from kicking in next year and extending unemployment aid.Obama, who has spent the past month barnstorming across the country touting his jobs package, will make a bus tour from Monday to Wednesday through North Carolina and Virginia, two election battleground states.

Regis, which operates salons under the Supercuts and Sassoon Salon brand names, has also reduced its debt by over $490 million in less than three years, it said in the letter.In August, Starboard, which owns about 5.2 percent of Regis stock, said in a letter to Regis that it should sell its non-core assets and cut costs, and proposed the nomination of three members to its board.The company said it was willing to seat one Starboard nominee on its board, giving Starboard more than 10 percent board representation.Chief Executive Paul Finkelstein and President Randy Pearce wrote to shareholders saying this was a “reasonable and proportionate level of representation.”Regis shares closed at $16.06 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.