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| China military sends air patrols through new defense zone Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 07:34 PM PST  By Ben Blanchard and Roberta Rampton BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft into its new air defense zone over the East China Sea on Thursday, state news agency Xinhua said, raising the stakes in a standoff with the United States, Japan and South Korea. Japan and South Korea also flew military aircraft through the zone on Thursday while Washington sent two unarmed B-52 bombers into the airspace earlier this week in a sign of support for its ally Japan. China last week announced that foreign aircraft passing through its new air defense zone - including passenger planes - would have to identify themselves to Chinese authorities. The zone includes the skies over islands at the heart of a territorial dispute between Japan and China. Full Story | Top |
| Nikkei pauses on profit-taking, yen hits 5-yr low vs euro Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 07:18 PM PST  Investors also held back from chasing other regional equities higher, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific outside Japan index steadying after reaching its highest close in a week on Thursday. Japan's benchmark Nikkei dipped 0.1 percent, though it is still up 9.7 percent this month as the yen slumped against the euro and dollar. Investors have been using the yen as a funding currency for carry trades with the Bank of Japan committed to keeping ultra-loose monetary policy to shore up growth -- in contrast to the U.S. Federal Reserve which is moving towards unwinding its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying campaign. The Japanese currency hit a five-year low versus the euro at 139.705 yen, and a six-month trough of 102.61 yen to the dollar. Full Story | Top |
| Protesters target Thai PM's party, government seeks to avoid violent confrontation Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 06:45 PM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government demonstrators plan to march towards the headquarters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's ruling party on Friday, forging ahead with a campaign to overthrow her after rejecting her call for dialogue. Yingluck breezed through a parliamentary no-confidence vote on Thursday but that failed to pacify protesters who accuse her of abusing her party's majority to push through laws that strengthen the behind-the-scenes power of self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra. Though the number of protesters appear to be dwindling since the start of the week, a hard-core remain determined to target symbols of the "Thaksin regime" to weaken a leader they call a puppet, and government they say has lost its mandate to rule. The protest leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, a deputy prime minister in the previous government, rejected Yingluck's televised plea for talks. Full Story | Top |
| Nicaraguan committee passes change to remove presidential term limits Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 06:40 PM PST  By Ivan Castro MANAGUA (Reuters) - A Nicaraguan parliamentary committee on Thursday approved a constitutional change to remove presidential term limits, which could allow incumbent Daniel Ortega stay in power for years and has raised concerns about democracy in the country. The plan put forward this month by Ortega's ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front was passed by the four Sandinista members of the seven-strong committee, paving the way for a full vote on the package of changes in December. The Sandinistas hold 63 of the 92 seats in Nicaragua's National Assembly, giving the party the two-thirds majority needed to change the constitution in a vote due by December 15. Alba Palacios, a Sandinista member of the assembly, said the package originally containing 39 changes had been broadened to include 42, though she did not give details of the new ones. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. military: 'improvised launch device' found near Air Force base in Japan Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 05:20 PM PST An "improvised launch device" was found outside the United States' Yokota Air Force base in Tokyo on Thursday night but there were no injuries and no damage, a U.S. military spokesman in Japan said. Residents near the base in western Tokyo called police last night to report hearing explosions, national broadcaster NHK said, adding that police found several metal pipes pointing at the base in a field some 300 meters (yards) away. Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan's Karzai stands alone in high-stakes game with U.S. Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 05:17 PM PST  By Maria Golovnina and John Chalmers KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai's stubborn refusal to sign a pact that would keep thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014 is a high-risk gamble that Washington will give in to his demands, one that has left him isolated as the clock runs down on his presidency. Diplomats said he may have overplayed his hand, raising the risk of a complete U.S. withdrawal from a country where Western troops have fought Taliban militants for the past 12 years. It also risks a backlash at home by critics who believe Karzai is playing a dangerous game with Afghanistan's future security. "I don't know if he fully realises the risks," said U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, the U.S.-led coalition's top commander. Full Story | Top |
| More than 40 killed in depot blast in Libya, more clashes in east Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:57 PM PST By Ghaith Shennib and Ayman al-Warfalli TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - More than 40 people were killed on Thursday in an explosion at an army depot in southern Libya after locals tried to steal ammunition, officials said, while four soldiers died in clashes in the restive eastern part of the country. The incidents highlighted the turmoil in Libya where the government is trying to restore order in the oil-producing country, which is awash with weapons after the 2011 ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya's nascent military is struggling to secure army bases and curb Islamist militants, militias and gangs who fought in the uprising against Gaddafi but refuse to disarm and control parts of the country. The four soldiers were killed in Benghazi as clashes erupted between army special forces and militant Islamists of the Ansar al-Sharia group, officials said. Full Story | Top |
| Britain should scrap plan to ban khat drug: lawmakers Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:37 PM PST  By Peter Griffiths LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's plan to ban khat, a leafy plant chewed as a stimulant in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula, should be dropped because it could alienate immigrants and damage counter-terrorism operations, lawmakers said on Friday. Parliament's Home Affairs Committee, a panel with influence but no legal power, said the ban was not based on any evidence of medical or social harm. Banning the use of khat, or qat, would create tension between the police and immigrants, particularly Somalis who have settled across Britain, the committee said in a report. It would also be seen as a betrayal by Kenya, where growing khat is a big source of income in some areas, the panel added. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico leftists exit pact, raising hope for deeper energy reform Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:27 PM PST  By Ana Isabel Martinez and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's main leftist party said on Thursday it had pulled out of a cross-party pact on economic reform, raising hopes that the government will agree to a more far-reaching plan to attract private investment for the oil industry. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, is hoping its energy reform will spur faster economic growth, and the departure of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) from the accord is likely to push the debate closer to a more business-friendly proposal backed by the center-right. Unveiling his plan to shake up the state-controlled oil and gas industry in August, President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed offering investors profit-sharing contracts to try and reverse a slump in crude output, which is down by a quarter since 2004. But the PRI has no majority in Congress and its natural ally on energy reform, the conservative National Action Party (PAN), has proposed a more radical opening of the oil sector, including concessions and production-sharing contracts. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine, EU fail to salvage trade pact Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:15 PM PST  By Justyna Pawlak and Adrian Croft VILNIUS (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich failed on Thursday to salvage an ambitious free-trade pact with the European Union despite a warning that Ukraine was risking its future by turning its back on the deal. Ukraine and the 28-nation EU had aimed to sign an ambitious trade and cooperation agreement at Thursday's summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, which would have marked a historic westwards shift by the former Soviet republic away from Russia's orbit. But, under intense pressure from Moscow, Yanukovich renounced plans last week to sign the agreement in favour of closer ties with Russia, dealing a blow to the EU's efforts to build closer relations with former Soviet republics. Yanukovich still flew in for the meeting - held to discuss the EU's four-year-old outreach program for Ukraine and five other east European countries. Full Story | Top |
| British consumer morale dips for second month in November - GfK Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:12 PM PST  Market research company GfK's monthly consumer confidence index fell to -12 from -11 in October, wrong-footing analysts who had expected a small rise. The survey showed Britons were more pessimistic about their own finances and less willing to splash out on big-ticket items despite a brighter economic outlook. Full Story | Top |
| Masked artist makes sticky issue out of radiation in Japan Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:10 PM PST  By Sophie Knight TOKYO (Reuters) - With his face hidden behind sunglasses and a white surgical mask, the artist is almost as invisible as the radioactive contamination he is protesting against - yet his stickers are graphic reminders of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Known as 281 Antinuke, Japan's answer to Banksy has covered Tokyo streets in images depicting politicians as vampires and children being shielded from radioactive rain to highlight the consequences of a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. The disaster and the response by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) stoked anti-nuclear sentiment and the biggest public protests in Japan since the 1960s, but the movement has since lost momentum. "Perhaps because everyone believes people telling them on television that everything is fine, they don't seem so worried," 281 Antinuke told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Americans mark Thanksgiving Day with travel, parades, shopping Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 04:00 PM PST  By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans gathered on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving by stuffing turkeys and braving cold winds along parade routes, while others started the holiday shopping earlier than ever in a trend that some argued went against the spirit of the holiday. With retailers offering "Black Friday" deals before Thanksgiving tables were even set on Thursday, critics circulated online petitions and a handful of franchise owners said they had defied corporate orders by keeping their stores closed for the holiday. "It bothers me that this country is allowing them to dictate time away from our families," Holly Cassiano, who refused to open her Sears franchise in Plymouth, New Hampshire, told CNN. A Pizza Hut restaurant manager in Elkhart, Indiana, who was fired for refusing to keep the restaurant open on Thanksgiving said the worldwide pizza chain had offered to rehire him and he was considering it. Full Story | Top |
| Asian shares steady, yen pinned at four-year low versus euro Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 03:39 PM PST  By Dominic Lau TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were steady on Friday, with Japanese stocks poised for another strong session as the yen languished at a four-year trough against the euro and six-month low versus the dollar. Investors have been using the yen as a funding currency for carry trades with the Bank of Japan committed to keeping ultra-loose monetary policy to shore up growth -- a contrast with the U.S. Federal Reserve which is moving towards unwinding its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying campaign. The Japanese currency was quoted at 139.25 to the euro, a fresh four-year low, and stood at 102.33 yen to the dollar, within striking distance from a six-month high of 102.375 hit on Thursday. The yen is down 4.2 percent versus the euro, heading for its worst monthly performance since March, while it is off 4 percent against the greenback, on track for its biggest one-month fall since January. Full Story | Top |
| Pizza Hut offers to rehire manager who refused to open on holiday Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 03:31 PM PST  franchise in Indiana is mulling over a rehire offer from the worldwide pizza chain after he was fired for refusing to open the restaurant on Thanksgiving Day. Tony Rohr, 28, said he was told to write a letter of resignation after deciding to give his employees at the Elkhart, Indiana, store the holiday off. He told South Bend, Indiana, station WSBT-TV that he instead wrote a letter explaining why the store, part of Yum Brands Inc, should be closed, and then he was fired. Pizza Hut's corporate office said in a statement it "strongly recommended that the local franchisee reinstate the store manager, and they have agreed." Although the choice to open on a holiday is made at the local level, most U.S. franchise locations are closed on Thanksgiving, it said. Full Story | Top |
| Australia surprises with rejection of $2.55 billion GrainCorp takeover by ADM Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 02:59 PM PST  By Lincoln Feast and Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia rejected the A$2.8 billion ($2.55 billion) takeover of GrainCorp on Friday, bowing to pressure from grain growers in a rare and surprising decision. The deal had been seen as the first test of the conservative government's vow that Australia was "open for business" after the victory of Tony Abbott's Liberal Party in elections in September. Treasurer Joe Hockey said he was rejecting the proposal on national interest grounds after Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) failed to reach a consensus recommendation. Full Story | Top |
| Britain, Argentina in fresh row over drilling in Falklands: media Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 02:53 PM PST  (Reuters) - Argentina triggered a fresh diplomatic row with Britain on Thursday over the disputed Falkland Islands after the country's Congress passed a law that establishes criminal sanctions for the "illegal exploration" of hydrocarbons in the Argentine continental shelf, according to the Guardian newspaper. the banning of individuals and companies from operating in Argentina; and the confiscation of equipment and any hydrocarbons that would have been illegally extracted". In its response, the British Foreign Office said, "The UK government unequivocally supports the right of the Falkland Islanders to develop their natural resources for their own economic benefit." "Argentine domestic law does not apply to the Falkland Islands or South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which are UK overseas territories," the Foreign Office said. Full Story | Top |
| Quebec delays balancing its budget; opposition irked Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 02:51 PM PST  It will take Quebec two years longer than promised to eliminate its budget deficit, the government of Canada's second-largest provincial economy said on Thursday, earning the rebuke of opposition politicians and raising the prospect of a 2014 election. The separatist government of predominantly French-speaking Quebec had said it would balance the budget in the current 2013-14 fiscal year, but now expects that to happen in 2015-16, said the provincial finance minister, Nicolas Marceau. He forecast a budget deficit of C$2.5 billion ($2.4 billion) this year and a shortfall of C$1.75 billion in 2014-15, citing weak growth and disappointing revenues. Quebec would have had to raise taxes or impose broad spending cuts to achieve its original budget target for this year, Marceau said. Full Story | Top |
| Journal withdraws controversial French Monsanto GM study Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 02:50 PM PST  By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - The publisher of a controversial and much-criticized study suggesting genetically modified corn caused tumors in rats has withdrawn the paper after a yearlong investigation found it did not meet scientific standards. Reed Elsevier's Food and Chemical Toxicology journal, which published the study by the French researcher Gilles-Eric Seralini in September 2012, said on Thursday the retraction was because the study's small sample size meant no definitive conclusions could be reached. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a statement in November 2012 saying the study by Seralini, who was based at France's University of Caen, had serious defects in design and methodology and did not meet acceptable scientific standards. In its retraction statement, the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal said that in light of these concerns, it too had requested to view the raw data from the study. Full Story | Top |
| Stores open early on Thanksgiving but shoppers in no rush Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 02:14 PM PST  Some early U.S. shoppers headed to stores on Thanksgiving Day in search of discounted holiday gifts on a day long reserved for American families to bond over turkey and football. Kmart, Old Navy and Lord & Taylor were some of the stores that opened their doors on Thursday morning, as each company did last year. Macy's Inc and a slew of other stores are opening later on Thanksgiving for the first time ever in a bare-knuckle brawl for a bigger slice of holiday sales. With six fewer shopping days this year than in 2012, retailers who reap nearly half of annual profits during the winter holiday season are nibbling away at the Thanksgiving holiday. Full Story | Top |
| India's Lodha buys Canadian London embassy building for $530 million Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 02:03 PM PST Canada has sold a large embassy building in London's luxury Mayfair district to Indian developer Lodha Dwellers Pvt Ltd for $530 million (324.2 million pounds), the Canadian foreign ministry said on Thursday. Canada wanted to dispose of the large six-storey building in Grosvenor Square because it plans to consolidate all diplomatic activities in another official Canadian property on Trafalgar Square. Canada was advised by Savills PLC. Foreign embassies are abandoning London's premier addresses such as Mayfair and Kensington as the world of diplomacy changes in the face of security risks and new technology. The sale also reflects the Conservative government's desire to put the Canadian foreign service on a more business-oriented footing, in part by disposing of its more opulent buildings. Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic needs many more peacekeepers: E.U. Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:57 PM PST  By Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Central African Republic needs up to four times more peacekeepers than are now deployed to quell a worsening sectarian conflict and provide security for aid workers, the European Union's top humanitarian official said. The country has descended into chaos since the Seleka coalition of rebels, many of them from neighboring Chad and Sudan, ousted President Francois Bozize in March. France is preparing to boost its force in its anarchic former colony to at least 1,000 soldiers once a U.N. resolution is passed next week to improve security until a 3,600-strong African Union (AU) force is operational. Two sources also said France's ambassador to Central African Republic was being replaced, replicating a change of its envoy in Mali two months after French troops launched a mission there earlier this year to oust al Qaeda-linked militants. Full Story | Top |
| With a midnight meeting, delicate new balance emerges in Pakistan Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:42 PM PST  By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Just after midnight in early October, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and a coterie of his closest advisers met at his palatial Lahore home and made his toughest decision since coming to power - picking the new army chief. The meeting took place only hours after Pakistan's all-powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani suddenly announced he would retire in November, scotching rumors he was seeking to extend his tenure. Sharif saw Kayani's departure as a chance to limit the sway of an institution that has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 66-year history. "We have to say 'no' to the Kayani doctrine," the insider quoted Sharif as saying at the meeting. Full Story | Top |
| Draft Egypt constitution strengthens army as talks drag on Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:40 PM PST  By Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's new constitution would strengthen the army's hand and could ban Islamist parties outright, according to a draft published in state media on Thursday, though the drafting body missed a self-imposed deadline for finalizing the text. Mohamed Salmawy, spokesman for the 50-member assembly, had said the committee would announce it had completed the draft on Thursday. The constitution, expected to be put to a referendum in December, will be a milestone in the army's plans for a political transition, due to culminate in parliamentary and presidential elections next year. It underscores the new balance of power after the military deposed Islamist head of state Mohamed Mursi in July following mass protests against his rule. Full Story | Top |
| Iran shakes up foundation controlled by Ayatollah's business empire Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:37 PM PST  By Steve Stecklow LONDON (Reuters) - A multi-billion dollar organization controlled by Iran's supreme leader shook up the management of its charity division, appointing as its new chief a man involved in the confiscation of thousands of properties from Iranian citizens. Aref Norozi was named director general of the Barakat Foundation, Iran's state news agency reported on Wednesday. The foundation is a unit of a massive business empire controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that is known as Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam. The report by the Islamic Republic News Agency stated that Setad's president, Mohammad Mokhber, had ordered the appointment of Norozi, who once headed Setad's real-estate division and served on the boards of several Setad-linked companies. Full Story | Top |
| Retailer fires Latvia chairman for comments on roof collapse Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:31 PM PST  Lithuanian retail chain Maxima Group fired the chairman of its Latvian operations on Thursday after he stirred a furor by saying he felt no real sense of responsibility for a supermarket roof collapse in Riga that killed 54 people. The chairman, Gintaras Jasinskas, told a news conference he did not see that anyone at Maxima should resign after the collapse that had already brought down Latvia's government. I can look people in the eye," Jasinskas told journalists. On Wednesday, Latvia's Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis resigned over the tragedy that shattered the Baltic state, leaving the country without a government just weeks before it is due to join Eurozone in January. Full Story | Top |
| No gold bars but higher salaries for London bankers with bonus cap Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:21 PM PST  By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - In the 1990s, London-based investment banks rewarded top employees with gold bars, fine wine and oriental carpets to dent the impact of higher payroll taxes. Now, with public anger at banking excess near all time highs, they are looking at less flashy ways to cope with curbs on bonuses, including a new monthly allowance. European rules due to take force in January say bankers' bonuses cannot exceed annual salary, or twice that if shareholders approve, to curb the sort of excessive risk-taking blamed for the 2008-09 financial crisis. At least 10,000 bankers, most of them in London, take home more than half a million euros (415,335 pounds), according to industry sources, more than 10 times the average wage in wealthier European states. Full Story | Top |
| China military sends air patrols through new defense zone: Xinhua Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:20 PM PST China's military sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft on patrol into disputed air space over the East China Sea on Thursday, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported, quoting a spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Air Force. The move raises the stakes in a standoff with the United States, Japan and South Korea over the zone. Japan and South Korea sent their own military aircraft through the air space on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian police arrest leading activist for urging protests Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:20 PM PST Egyptian police arrested a leading activist on Thursday for calling for protests in breach of a new law that heavily restricts demonstrations. Alaa Abdel Fattah, a symbol of the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, was arrested at his home, security officials said. The protest law passed on Sunday has heightened fears about the future of political freedoms in Egypt after the military deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July. It gives the Interior Ministry the right to ban any meeting of more than 10 people in a public place. Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Letta must confirm new coalition in parliament: president Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:19 PM PST  Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta must ask parliament to confirm its backing of his government after centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party withdrew its support two days ago, the country's president said on Thursday. Since Letta won a confidence vote in the Senate over the 2014 budget without the backing of Forza Italia on Tuesday, the confirmation is likely to be a procedural formality done at the request of Berlusconi's party. Forza Italia had been a member of the ruling right-left coalition since April, when it was put together to end a political stalemate that followed a deadlocked national election in February. After meeting a Forza Italia delegation, President Giorgio Napolitano said "there will no doubt be a parliamentary passage to mark the shift from the grand coalition government to the one that won confidence over the budget," a spokesman in his office said. Full Story | Top |
| In Vietnam, weary apparatchiks launch quiet revolution Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:15 PM PST  By Martin Petty HANOI (Reuters) - The Vietnam of today wasn't what Le Hieu Dang had hoped for when he joined the Communist Party 40 years ago to liberate and rebuild a country reeling from decades of war and French and U.S. occupation. The socialist system of the late revolutionary Ho Chi Minh has been corrupted, he says, by a shift to a market economy tightly controlled by one political party that has given rise to a culture of graft and vested interests. But in Vietnam, where politics is taboo, free speech is stifled and the image of unity in the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) sacrosanct, analysts say the significance of comrades speaking out publicly cannot be understated. The CPV-dominated National Assembly on Thursday approved amendments to a 1992 constitution that, despite a public consultation campaign, entrench the party's grip on power at a time when discontent simmers over its handling of land disputes, corruption and an economy suffocated by toxic debt amassed by state-run firms. Full Story | Top |
| In the Gandhi political bastion, India's rural poor eye Modi's promise Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 01:13 PM PST  By Mayank Bhardwaj and Jo Winterbottom SHIVGARH, India (Reuters) - If Sonia Gandhi and her Congress party need evidence that their policies of subsidies and safety nets for India's poor may no longer be enough to keep their support, they need look no further than her own constituency of Rai Bareli. In the family borough in the northern heartland, which has been loyal to India's most powerful dynasty from the days of first Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru, voters want electricity, hospitals and roads, more than the cheap food on offer. Instead, even in such a bastion of Congress support as Rai Bareli district, opposition leader Narendra Modi's message of growth and investment is gaining ground, despite critics' misgivings about his hardline Hindu nationalist roots and a perceived bias against the nation's minority Muslims. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico leftists exit pact, may boost case for energy reform Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:56 PM PST  By Ana Isabel Martinez MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The head of Mexico's main leftist party said on Thursday it had pulled out of a cross-party pact on economic reform, which could push the government toward a more radical plan to spur investment in the oil industry wanted by conservatives. Such a move could herald more intense opposition in the street to President Enrique Pena Nieto's plans to open up the state-run energy industry to greater private investment. Party of the Democratic Revolution Chairman Jesus Zambrano said the PRD was being left out of talks over the energy overhaul, and would leave the pact definitively unless the situation changed. "If they don't correct this, there is no point." Mexico's peso extended gains following the announcement. Full Story | Top |
| Spain passes law that may open the door to fracking Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:53 PM PST Spain's parliament passed an environmental impact law on Thursday that could open the door to hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a controversial method of extracting shale gas that has not been used up to now in the country. The government said it would evaluate hydraulic fracturing, the first mention in a Spanish law of the technology, which has been banned in France and Bulgaria. Lawmakers in the northern region of Cantabria had unanimously voted in April to ban fracking on environmental grounds, dashing the center-right government's hopes to develop a region believed to be rich in shale gas. Spain, in the grips of a severe economic downturn marked by high unemployment, imports around three-quarters of its energy needs and fracking could help relieve its dependence on foreign sources of fuel. Full Story | Top |
| One killed, nine injured in shelling of Russian embassy in Damascus Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:49 PM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - One Syrian was killed and nine others were injured during a mortar shelling of the Russian embassy in Damascus, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday. One mortar round landed at the embassy's premises and the other exploded close to it, the statement posted on www.mid.ru said, killing and injuring local residents, including guards. "We consider them (shellings) acts of terrorism, whose executors and those inciting and supervising them, should receive a deserved punishment," the ministry said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dutch privacy watchdog says Google breaks data law Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:45 PM PST  By Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Google's practice of combining personal data from its many different online services violates Dutch data protection law, the country's privacy watchdog said on Thursday after a seven-month investigation. The Dutch Data Protection Authority, or DPA, asked Google to attend a meeting to discuss its concerns, after which it would decide whether to take any action against the cloud services, Internet search and advertising giant, which could include fines. Google, responding to the Dutch authority's findings, said it provided users of its services with sufficiently specific information about the way it processed their personal data. We have engaged fully with the Dutch DPA throughout this process and will continue to do so going forward," Google said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Monte Paschi says cap increase deal with banks expires in January Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:43 PM PST  By Silvia Aloisi MILAN (Reuters) - A preliminary commitment by banks to underwrite Monte dei Paschi's 3-billion-euro ($4 billion) capital increase expires at the end of January, the Italian bank said in a document showing why it needs to press on with the cash call. If no capital increase is launched by that date, the pre-underwriting agreement with a pool of 10 banks would come to an end and Monte dei Paschi would have to restart negotiations to form a new consortium guaranteeing the rights issue, it said. Monte dei Paschi's board approved the capital increase earlier this week as it seeks to pay back a 4.1 billion euros state bailout and avert nationalization. Full Story | Top |
| SPD tries to overcome grassroots skepticism on Merkel deal Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:32 PM PST  By Stephen Brown and Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats began a do-or-die campaign on Thursday to persuade nearly half a million grassroots members, many skeptical about governing with conservative Angela Merkel again, to back their "grand coalition" in a ballot. Germany has already waited two months since the election for a new government. After Merkel and the SPD finally agreed the terms of an alliance, it must now wait until mid-December while the SPD seeks endorsement in an unprecedented poll of members. More than 474,000 card-carrying members will receive postal ballots within days asking whether they agree to the terms set out in a 185-page document signed by Merkel, her Bavarian ally Horst Seehofer and SPD Chairman Sigmar Gabriel on Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| Afghan president condemns U.S. airstrike that killed a child Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:24 PM PST  President Hamid Karzai said U.S. forces had bombed a home in southern Afghanistan, killing a small child and wounding two women, and condemned the attack as a sign of disregard for civilian lives, his spokesman said on Thursday. The strike could not have come at a worse time, as Karzai is engaged in a stand-off with the U.S. government over a bilateral security agreement that will decide whether U.S. troop stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014. "It shows that U.S. forces have no respect for the decisions of the Loya Jirga and life of civilians in Afghanistan," said Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi. "If such operations continue, there will be no agreement." The United States has threatened to pull its troops out of Afghanistan after 2014 - an outcome known as the "zero option", as it did in Iraq two years ago - unless a deal is clinched by the end of this year, Karzai, however, has so far refused to sign, despite getting approval from the Loya Jirga last week. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico leftists temporarily exit reform-building pact Thursday, Nov 28, 2013 12:14 PM PST  The leader of Mexico's main leftist political party said on Thursday it had temporarily pulled out of a cross-party pact aimed at forging economic reforms, saying they were being sidelined in talks over a key energy reform. Such a move could bode for more intense opposition in the street to President Enrique Pena Nieto's plans to open up the state-run energy industry to greater private investment. PRD Chairman Jesus Zambrano said the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) was being left out of talks over the energy overhaul, and would definitively unless the situation changed. Full Story | Top |
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