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| Japan pivots to counter Chinese navy Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 08:10 PM PST China's growing maritime power has emerged as the biggest challenge to the Japanese military since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Tokyo this year halted a decade of declining military outlays with an 0.8 per cent increase to 4.9 trillion yen ($48 billion) Defense outlays next year are expected to increase more sharply by about 3 per cent according to senior Japanese military officials. Japanese military analysts believe their navy still holds a clear advantage in technology and firepower over its Chinese rival but the gap is closing. "The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force is the second-largest and second-most capable navy next to the U.S. navy," says retired Admiral Yoji Koda. Full Story | Top |
| Hewlett-Packard, CEO Whitman ordered to defend securities class action Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 07:27 PM PST  A California federal judge has ordered Hewlett-Packard Co and Chief Executive Meg Whitman to defend a securities shareholder class action that claims they knew statements about HP's acquisition of software company Autonomy were misleading. Senior District Judge Charles Breyer issued his ruling in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday. The ruling also dismissed claims against five other former directors and executives of the information technology supplier, including one-time CEO Leo Apotheker. The securities class action against HP and its executives was brought last November by investors including lead plaintiff PGGM Vermogensbeheer B.V., a Dutch pension administrator operating in the healthcare and social work sectors. Full Story | Top |
| Defying China, U.S. bombers fly into East China Sea zone Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 06:58 PM PST  By Phil Stewart and Tim Kelly WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Two unarmed U.S. B-52 bombers on a training mission flew over disputed islands in the East China Sea without informing Beijing, defying China's declaration of a new airspace defense zone and raising the stakes in a territorial standoff. The flight did not prompt a response from China, the Pentagon said, and the White House urged Beijing to resolve its dispute with Japan over the islands diplomatically, without resorting to "threats or inflammatory language". Also defying Beijing, Japan's two biggest airlines - Japan Airlines and ANA Holdings - said they would stop giving flight plans and other information to Chinese authorities from Wednesday when passing through the zone. Full Story | Top |
| Atheist group erects 'Good without God' billboards in California Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:38 PM PST By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - As the Christmas season approaches in the United States, a group of non-believers in the California capital are planning to erect billboards explaining why they are atheists in hopes of bringing broader visibility to their lack of religious faith. The 55 billboards that will soon dot the Sacramento landscape will feature pictures of local residents and slogans such as "Good without God," and follow similar campaigns in other major U.S. cities in recent years. "Those of us who are free from religion, who work to keep dogma out of government, science, medicine and education, have a lot to offer society," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, which sponsored the ads. The billboards set to go up in Sacramento on the day after Thanksgiving are part of the increasingly loud arguments between many deeply religious Christians whose faith has informed U.S. conservative politics for a generation, and a vocal cohort of secular, often younger voters who want to keep religion out of public life. Full Story | Top |
| Auto sector adds spark to Japan's electronic components industry Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:37 PM PST  By Nobuhiro Kubo and Yoshiyuki Osada TOKYO/OSAKA (Reuters) - Japanese electronic component makers are looking beyond a fickle smartphone market that once lured them with rocketing growth, tying their fortunes more closely to the most resilient of Japan's big industries: automobiles. Component makers such as Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd and TDK Corp are capitalizing on rising demand for electronics like those that make cars safer with automatic braking or less polluting with engine controllers. In contrast, Murata and others are having an up-and-down ride shipping components for Apple Inc's iPhones, while declining smartphone orders were a factor in January when TDK slashed its full-year operating profit forecast. Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi faces expulsion from parliament over tax fraud sentence Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:19 PM PST  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi faces one of the heaviest blows of his 20-year political career on Wednesday when the Senate votes on stripping him of his seat in parliament over a conviction for tax fraud. The vote will be the culmination of months of political wrangling and is almost certain to lead to Berlusconi's expulsion from the upper house, opening an uncertain new phase for one of Italy's most divisive political figures. The 77-year-old media billionaire, who has dominated politics for two decades, has already pulled his party out of Prime Minister Enrico Letta's ruling coalition after seven months in government, accusing leftwing opponents of mounting a "coup d'etat" to eliminate him. The Senate is due to vote at around 7.00 p.m. (1800 GMT) to declare Berlusconi ineligible for parliament after he was convicted of masterminding a complex system of illegally inflated invoices to cut the tax bill for his Mediaset television empire. Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Letta wins confidence vote as Berlusconi moves to opposition Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:18 PM PST  By Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a confidence vote on the 2014 budget, reinforcing his coalition government a day before the Senate is expected to ban center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi from parliament over a tax fraud conviction. Berlusconi's Forza Italia party voted against the so-called Stability Law, which it described as "completely mistaken, with neither head nor tail", formalizing its break with Letta after seven months in his left-right coalition. The measure passed in the Senate shortly after midnight with a majority of 171 to 135, helped by the votes of rebel senators who broke away from Berlusconi earlier this month. "From today we are in opposition and the grand coalition is over," said Renato Brunetta, lower house leader of Berlusconi's center-right party, now rebranded as Forza Italia, the name of the movement the billionaire media tycoon used to enter politics 20 years ago. Full Story | Top |
| HP enterprise sales pickup stirs turnaround hopes Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:12 PM PST  By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co beat revenue forecasts as sales growth in its enterprise group inspired cautious optimism about the company's turnaround plan, and its shares rallied more than 7 percent. Revenue from the sprawling enterprise group, which Chief Executive Meg Whitman is focused on expanding as personal computer sales crumble globally, climbed 2 percent, aided by a 10 percent rise in server sales and 3 percent growth of the networking business. Wall Street had low expectations for HP following a disappointing third-quarter performance, and after rivals such as International Business Machines Corp and Cisco Systems Inc had reported poor results. The pickup in enterprise hardware revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter - coming after a 9 percent slide in sales from the same division in the previous three months - helped shore up confidence in Whitman's turnaround effort. Full Story | Top |
| EU demands protection against U.S. data surveillance Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 05:07 PM PST  By John O'Donnell BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission called on Tuesday for new protection for Europeans under United States' law against misuse of personal data, in an attempt to keep in check the U.S. surveillance revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding said she wanted Washington to follow through on its promise to give all EU citizens the right to sue in the United States if their data is misused. "I have ... made clear that Europe expects to see the necessary legislative change in the U.S. sooner rather than later, and in any case before summer 2014," she said. The remarks underline a growing sense of unease in Europe at a delicate moment in transatlantic relations, when the globe's two biggest economies seek a trade pact to deepen ties. Full Story | Top |
| Detroit retirees drop objection to interest-rate swap deal Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:53 PM PST  By Joseph Lichterman DETROIT (Reuters) - The committee representing Detroit's retirees in bankruptcy proceedings on Tuesday withdrew its objection to a deal Detroit reached to end some interest-rate swap agreements. The Official Committee of Retirees dropped its objection so the group, which represents about 23,500 retired city workers, could focus on negotiations on other issues with the city, a person familiar with the retiree committee's thinking said. The agreement that Detroit's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, signed with swaps dealers Merrill Lynch Capital Services and UBS AG would end the interest-rate swap agreements at a discount rate of as much as 25 percent. In exchange, Detroit would save more than $70 million and the city would be able to stop making monthly payments from casino tax revenue to the counterparties. Full Story | Top |
| British engineer Amec eyeing Foster Wheeler takeover: report Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:49 PM PST is eyeing a takeover of U.S.-listed engineering company Foster Wheeler AG in a potential deal that could create a 5 billion pound ($8 billion) energy services group, The Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources. The Times said Amec, which provides services and equipment for the oil and gas, mining, nuclear and renewable energy sectors, has appointed Goldman Sachs A spokesman for Amec declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-SAC analyst takes stand in Steinberg's insider trading trial Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:48 PM PST  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government's main witness in the insider trading case against Michael Steinberg took the stand Tuesday to testify against his former boss at Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors. Jon Horvath, a former analyst who pleaded guilty to insider trading charges last year and faces up to 45 years in prison, told jurors he is cooperating with the government in hopes that he will not get anything close to the maximum prison term. "I'm hoping to avoid jail time," Horvath, 44, said. Steinberg is the first employee of SAC to face trial in the long-running investigation of Cohen's hedge fund that resulted in its $1.2 billion plea deal earlier this month. Full Story | Top |
| Britain's bankers to face annual checks under draft laws Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:41 PM PST  A proposal for a new licensing regime, put forward by the opposition Labour party, unexpectedly won the support of peers in the upper house of British parliament by a narrow margin of five votes on Tuesday. Chancellor George Osborne could yet try to overturn the proposal before it becomes law. The defeat for the government comes after it conceded ground on another contentious part of the new banking laws earlier in the day by asking the Bank of England to decide whether it needs more powers to control bank risk-taking. Full Story | Top |
| Cuba suspends consular services in U.S., blames embargo Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:16 PM PST  By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - Cuba is shutting down nearly all of its consular services in the United States until further notice after it said no bank would handle its business, the government announced on Tuesday, blaming the situation on the longstanding U.S. economic embargo. The decision threatens to disrupt a recent surge in travel between the United States and Cuba on the eve of the busy holiday season, as well as the Obama administration's "people-to-people" policy of increased contact with Cuba. The Cuban Interests Section, Havana's diplomatic mission in Washington, said in a news release that it was informed in July by its bank, M&T Bank, that it would no longer provide banking services to foreign missions. The Obama administration tried to convince M&T to keep the account active, according to a U.S. official. Full Story | Top |
| New clashes between army, Islamists in Libya's Benghazi Tuesday, Nov 26, 2013 04:07 PM PST  New clashes between the Libyan army and Islamists erupted in the eastern city of Benghazi early on Wednesday, wounding several people, security sources and residents said. Libya's military is struggling to curb Islamist militants and militias who fought in the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi but refuse to disarm and control parts of the OPEC producer. Fighting broke out on Monday between army special forces and members of the Ansar Sharia in Libya's second-largest city, killing at least nine people before the Islamists retreated from their main base. Full Story | Top |
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