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| Abe vows to revive Japanese economy, sees no escalation with China Friday, Feb 22, 2013 07:11 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Americans on Friday "I am back and so is Japan" and vowed to get the world's third biggest economy growing again and to do more to bolster security and the rule of law in an Asia roiled by territorial disputes. Abe had firm words for China in a policy speech to a top Washington think-tank, but also tempered his remarks by saying he had no desire to escalate a row over islets in the East China Sea that Tokyo controls and Beijing claims. "No nation should make any miscalculation about firmness of our resolve. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Pistorius goes free on $113,000 bail Friday, Feb 22, 2013 09:35 AM PST  PRETORIA (Reuters) - A South African court granted bail on Friday to Oscar Pistorius, charged with the murder of his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, after his lawyers successfully argued the "Blade Runner" was too famous to flee justice. The decision by Magistrate Desmond Nair drew cheers from the Paralympics star's family and supporters. Pistorius himself was unmoved, in marked contrast to the week-long hearing, when he repeatedly broke down in tears. Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000) and postponed the case until June 4. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House brings out Republican Cabinet member to warn on cuts Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:36 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Struggling to get Americans to take notice of looming spending cuts, the White House brought out the only Republican member of the Cabinet on Friday to argue its case that Congress needs to act soon to avoid a major disruption of air travel across the country. ... Full Story | Top |
| Moody's strips Britain of triple-A rating in major blow to Osborne Friday, Feb 22, 2013 05:32 PM PST  LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Britain suffered its first ever sovereign ratings downgrade from a major agency on Friday when Moody's stripped the country of its coveted top-notch triple-A rating, dealing a major blow to finance minister George Osborne. Moody's said weak prospects for British economic growth, which have thrown the government's deficit reduction strategy off course, lay behind its decision to cut the rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boeing proposes full 787 battery fix to FAA: sources Friday, Feb 22, 2013 06:02 PM PST  WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Friday gave U.S. aviation regulators its plan to fix the volatile battery aboard its new 787 Dreamliner, even though investigators have not yet determined what caused the batteries to overheat on two planes last month. Boeing did not propose abandoning the lithium-ion batteries and is not working on a backup or longer-term fix for the problem that has grounded its entire fleet of 50 Dreamliners for nearly five weeks, three sources familiar with the plan said. The company and the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Radioactive waste leaking from six tanks at Washington state nuclear site Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:17 PM PST SEATTLE (Reuters) - Six underground storage tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation along the Columbia River in Washington state were recently found to be leaking radioactive waste, but there is no immediate risk to human health, state and federal officials said on Friday. The seeping waste adds to decades of soil contamination caused by leaking storage tanks at Hanford in the past and threatens to further taint groundwater below the site but poses no near-term danger of polluting the Columbia River, officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon suspends F-35 flights due to engine blade crack Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:33 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Friday suspended the flights of all 51 F-35 fighter planes after a routine inspection revealed a crack on a turbine blade in the jet engine of an F-35 test aircraft in California. It was the second grounding of the warplane in two months and marked another setback for the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon's biggest weapons program. The program has already been restructured three times in recent years and may face further cutbacks if Congress does not avert budget reductions due to take effect on March 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Manhunt underway for suspects in fatal Las Vegas strip shooting Friday, Feb 22, 2013 02:23 PM PST  (Reuters) - A multi-state manhunt was under way on Friday for the men who shot dead an aspiring rapper as he drove on the Las Vegas Strip in a Maserati, touching off a fiery crash that killed a cab driver and his passenger. Las Vegas police have not named any suspects in the dramatic pre-dawn shooting in the heart of the desert resort city on Thursday, but said they were still hunting for a black Range Rover used in the incident. One or more gunmen in the apparently brand-new luxury sport utility vehicle opened fire on a silver Maserati being driven by 27-year-old Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rockets hit Aleppo, killing at least 29: monitor Friday, Feb 22, 2013 02:11 PM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rockets struck eastern districts of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, on Friday, killing at least 29 people and trapping a family of 10 in the ruins of their home, activists in the city said. "There are families buried under the rubble," said an activist called Baraa al-Youssef, speaking by Skype after visiting the scene in his Ard al-Hamra neighborhood. "Nothing can describe it, it's a horrible sight." Video footage posted by several activists showed a burning building and people carrying the wounded to cars to be ferried to hospital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed officials point to fiscal benefits of bond buying Friday, Feb 22, 2013 01:27 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two top Federal Reserve officials offered a fresh defense of the U.S. central bank's asset-buying program on Friday, arguing that it helps the nation's fiscal health by boosting the economy. The comments from Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren and Fed Governor Jerome Powell amounted to an effort to inoculate the central bank against political pressures that might mount if it faces losses on its massive bond portfolio when interest rates finally rise. ... Full Story | Top |
| Moody's strips UK of coveted triple-A debt rating Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:44 PM PST  NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain suffered its first ever sovereign ratings downgrade from a major agency on Friday, after Moody's stripped the country of its coveted top-notch triple-A rating, dealing a major blow to finance minister George Osborne. Moody's cut Britain's rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, with a stable outlook, blaming weak prospects for Britain's economy over the coming years which have thrown the government's deficit reduction strategy off course. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boeing proposes full 787 battery fix to FAA: sources Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:54 PM PST  WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Friday gave U.S. aviation regulators its plan to fix the volatile battery aboard its new 787 Dreamliner, even though investigators have not yet determined what caused the batteries to overheat on two planes last month. Boeing did not propose abandoning the lithium-ion batteries and is not working on a backup or longer-term fix for the problem that has grounded its entire fleet of 50 Dreamliners for nearly five weeks, three sources familiar with the plan said. The company and the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cuba's Raul Castro jokingly hints at possible retirement Friday, Feb 22, 2013 12:34 PM PST  HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro, who is expected to begin a second five-year term on Sunday, jokingly told reporters on Friday that he was planning his retirement but left open just when he would step down. "I'm going to retire," said a grinning Castro in the company of visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Castro urged reporters to pay close attention to the National Assembly meeting this weekend, when a Council of State and president will be elected. "I'm going to turn 82, I have a right to retire already," Castro said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Six Washington state nuclear tanks leaking: governor's office Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:20 PM PST SEATTLE (Reuters) - Six tanks at Washington state's Hanford Nuclear Reservation are leaking radioactive waste, but the leak has not posed an immediate public health risk, Governor Jay Inslee's office said on Friday. Inslee spokeswoman Lisa Harper said that outgoing U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu had informed the governor on Friday that the leak involved six tanks. She said the leak had not been stopped. (Reporting By Eric Johnson; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Paul Thomasch) Full Story | Top |
| Obama says across-the board cuts are not inevitable Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:10 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he does not believe it is inevitable that Congress will let deep automatic spending cuts go into effect March 1. Obama and congressional Republicans are at loggerheads over government spending and taxes, and do not appear to be on track to prevent the cuts, known as sequestration, from going into effect as scheduled. Obama said that if allowed to take place, the reductions would slow the U.S. economy, with a ripple effect on growth around the world. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. air travel delays loom after sequester: LaHood Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:22 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. air travel system faces widespread disruptions if automatic government spending cuts go into effect next week, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Friday in an effort to pressure congressional lawmakers to delay the cuts. LaHood painted a dismal picture of delayed and canceled flights, shuttered control towers and airports, and irate air travelers from coast to coast if across-the-board spending cuts are allowed to take place under the process known as sequestration. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five killed in Islamist car bomb attacks in north Mali Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:21 AM PST  GAO, Mali (Reuters) - Five people were killed in a remote Malian town on Friday in car bomb attacks by Islamists on Tuareg MNLA rebels with close links to French forces, a spokesman for the Tuareg fighters said. Violence in northern Mali underscores the risk of French and African forces becoming entangled in a messy guerrilla war as they try to help Mali's weak army counter bombings and raids by al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants. ... Full Story | Top |
| Defense cuts jeopardize NATO's effectiveness, Panetta warns Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:02 AM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Defense cuts and U.S. budget gridlock are jeopardizing NATO's effectiveness, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned on Friday. Leaving his last NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels, Panetta joined those warning of the effects of deep Defense cuts in many Western countries and said it would be an "irresponsible act of political dysfunction" if the U.S. Congress permitted sweeping across-the-board Defense cuts to take place. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO considers post-2014 Afghan force of 8,000-12,000 Friday, Feb 22, 2013 09:34 AM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Allies are discussing keeping a training force of between 8,000 and 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after most foreign soldiers leave in 2014, the United States said on Friday. NATO-led forces are gradually handing over responsibility for security to their Afghan counterparts as the bulk of foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of next year. "A range of 8-12,000 troops was discussed as the possible size of the overall NATO mission," Pentagon spokesman George Little said after a NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sizzling prices heat up wage talks in Argentina Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:35 AM PST  BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A stagnant economy and one of the world's highest inflation rates are making Argentina's annual wage talks thornier than ever this year just as President Cristina Fernandez turns her attention to mid-term elections. Fernandez, who hails from the left of the Peronist party that has dominated Argentine politics since the late 1940s, has an increasingly difficult relationship with the unions and that is raising the risk of strikes ahead of the October elections. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Bankrupt San Bernardino picks twice bankrupt manager Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:56 AM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The bankrupt city of San Bernardino has hired a new city manager who, according to court filings, has twice declared personal bankruptcy and was recently ousted from the board of a small community's water company after being sued by shareholders. The city council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to hire Allen J. Parker, 71, as its city manager on an annual salary of almost $222,000. He replaces an interim city manager who resigned last month because, according to friends, she was exasperated by the city's internal divisions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Congo's neglected state miner hankers for past glory Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:50 AM PST  KAMBOVE, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - At the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo's southern mining belt, Kambove once churned out tonne upon tonne of copper for Gecamines, a sprawling conglomerate that used to make up 60 percent and more of the country's exports. Now, inside the rust-streaked corrugated iron walls of the Kambove copper plant, the conveyor belts run erratically and the corroded walkways have holes so large that visitors can see through to the workers milling below. ... Full Story | Top |
| France ready to start Mali withdrawal despite attack: army chief Friday, Feb 22, 2013 10:53 AM PST  OTTAWA (Reuters) - France is still ready to start pulling its forces out of Mali next month despite a rebel attack on the key northern town of Gao, the French head of the armed force said on Friday. Admiral Edouard Guillaud, chief of the defense staff, told reporters after a speech in Ottawa that he was not surprised by Thursday's attack in Gao, when 15 Islamists were killed by French and Malian troops. France's defense minister had earlier said Paris could start pulling out troops in early March. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia's new premier promises inclusive government Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:24 AM PST  TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's prime minister-designate Ali Larayedh, a hardliner from the main Islamist Ennahda party, said on Friday he hoped to form a "government of all Tunisians", but opposition leaders swiftly signaled discontent. Tunisia plunged into political crisis on February 6 when the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on February 6 ignited the biggest street protests since the overthrow of strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two years ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Global central banks will keep taking it easy Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:34 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Central banks are in a deep easy-money hole of their own digging that they will have to start filling in at some point. But that day still looks quite some way off. Indeed, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are staking out a much bolder stance, brushing aside warnings from some that they might be stoking currency wars by depreciating their currencies or sowing the seeds of asset bubbles and inflation. For Japan, inflation would be a solution, not a problem, after years of gently falling prices. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran appears to advance in construction of Arak nuclear plant Friday, Feb 22, 2013 03:58 AM PST  VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran appears to be advancing in its construction of a research reactor Western experts say could offer the Islamic state a second way of producing material for a nuclear bomb, if it decided to embark on such a course, a U.N. report showed. Iran has almost completed installation of cooling and moderator circuit piping in the heavy water plant near the town of Arak, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a confidential report issued to member states late on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Gulf Coast oil spillers about to face day in court Friday, Feb 22, 2013 04:30 AM PST  (Reuters) - Nearly three years after a deepwater well rupture killed 11 men, sank a rig and spewed 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP and the other companies involved are scheduled to face their judge in court. The trial over the worst U.S. offshore oil spill is set to start Monday in New Orleans before a federal judge and without a jury. Few expect the case, seen lasting several months, will be decided by the judge. An eleventh-hour settlement this weekend is a possibility, but legal experts expect a resolution, at least with the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU offers banks chance to cut fines in rate-fixing probe: sources Friday, Feb 22, 2013 04:26 AM PST  PARIS (Reuters) - The European Commission wants to conclude its investigation into the fixing of lending benchmarks Euribor and Libor this year and has offered several banks under suspicion the possibility of a settlement to reduce hefty fines, sources said. If the banks were to agree to such a settlement, it would allow the EU's antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia to wrap up his investigation as soon as this year and before his term as antitrust commissioner draws to a close in late 2014. ... Full Story | Top |
| A day with Brazil's ambitious but indebted shoppers Friday, Feb 22, 2013 08:09 AM PST  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - As Fernanda Castro waits in line to pay for a new blender at a store in a Sao Paulo shantytown, the hairdresser recounts horror stories of friends who fell into debt and struggled to get out. "I don't want that to happen to me," she said. "I avoid using the credit card now. I'm afraid of it." After a spending spree in recent years, Brazilian consumers are acquiring more conservative habits. But in a hopeful sign for the economy, they are still pressing ahead with big-ticket purchases of TVs and living room sets by relying on a tactic that is still new to many - saving. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia accuses U.S. of double standards over Syria Friday, Feb 22, 2013 01:40 PM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States on Friday of having double standards on Syria, saying it had blocked a U.N. Security Council statement condemning a car bomb attack in Damascus. Washington denied it had blocked the statement and said it had only asked for balance. The disagreement was likely to sour the atmosphere before Lavrov meets newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry next week in Berlin. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian opposition says Assad cannot be part of deal Friday, Feb 22, 2013 02:35 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - The opposition Syrian National Coalition is willing to negotiate a peace deal to end the country's civil war but President Bashar al-Assad must step down and cannot be a party to any settlement, members agreed after debating a controversial initiative by their president. The meeting of the 70-member Western, Arab and Turkish-backed coalition began on Thursday before Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem is due for talks in Moscow, one of Assad's last foreign allies, and as U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi renews efforts for a deal. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia leases planes to Cuba, writes off Soviet debt Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 08:33 PM PST  HAVANA (Reuters) - Russia will lease eight jets worth $650 million to its Cold War- era ally Cuba and will partially write off the country's multi-billion-dollar, Soviet-era debt under agreements signed during Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Havana on Thursday. Moscow will write off part of the $30 billion debt and will offer a 10-year refinancing plan for the remaining amount, according to the preliminary agreement, Russia's industry and trade minister Denis Manturov told reporters on the sidelines of the talks. ... Full Story | Top |
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