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| Australia publishes asylum seeker identities, raising safety concerns Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 08:13 PM PST  By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia has inadvertently made public the identities of almost 10,000 asylum seekers, the department of immigration said on Wednesday, raising concerns it could help locate people fleeing persecution and thus place them in greater danger. A file published on a government website by mistake held the names, nationalities and locations of nearly a third of all people held in Australia's immigration detention network. The lapse was first reported by The Guardian Australia website, which informed the government of the breach, leading it to block access to the information. "The file has been removed and the department is investigating how this occurred to ensure that it does not happen again." The incident comes as Prime Minister Tony Abbott's tough stance on asylum seekers has been receiving fresh scrutiny after a series of events, including violent riots, involving its policy of transferring asylum seekers to third countries. Full Story | Top |
| El Salvador president fine after hip operation: wife Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:51 PM PST  El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes is recovering following an emergency hip operation on Tuesday after he hurt himself in a fall, his wife said. Funes, 54, fell in the presidential residence as he got dressed for an official event, first lady Vanda Pignato said. He is the first president from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the left-wing party formed by the guerilla group that had battled U.S.-backed right-wing governments during the country's 1980-1992 civil war. An ex-Marxist guerrilla from the FMLN is set to win El Salvador's presidency in a March vote by 10 percent over a right-wing challenger who promised a crackdown on crime, according to a recent poll. Full Story | Top |
| Health experts warn of water contamination from California drought Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:49 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California's drought has put 10 communities at acute risk of running out of drinking water in 60 days, and worsened numerous other health and safety problems, public health officials in the most populous U.S. state said on Tuesday. "The drought has exacerbated existing conditions," said Mark Starr, deputy director of the California Department of Public Health. The contamination warning comes days after President Barack Obama announced nearly $200 million in aid for the parched state, including $60 million for food banks to help people thrown out of work in agriculture-related industries as farmers leave fields unplanted and ranchers sell cattle early because the animals have no grass for grazing. The California Farm Bureau estimates the overall impact of idled farmland will run to roughly $5 billion, from in direct costs of lost production and indirect effects through the region's economy. Full Story | Top |
| Looking for Syria options, U.S. remains cool to using force Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:48 PM PST  By Steve Holland and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite a forthcoming review of options in the deteriorating Syria crisis, the White House on Tuesday signaled that President Barack Obama remains wary of any direct U.S. involvement in the three-year-old civil war. U.S. policy toward Syria appears to be approaching a crossroads, with peace talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and his armed opponents having failed for now and Russia unwilling or unable to pressure its ally Assad to cede power. The White House is beginning to take a new look at options in Syria, a process that could take several weeks, U.S. officials have said. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine police charge protesters after nation's bloodiest day Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:24 PM PST  By Pavel Polityuk and Marcin Goettig KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian riot police charged protesters occupying a central Kiev square early on Wednesday after the bloodiest day since the former Soviet republic, caught in a geopolitical struggle between Russia and the West, won its independence. Police battled their way into Independence Square, center of three months of protests against President Viktor Yanukovich, and demonstrators, some armed with clubs and wearing helmets and body armor, were losing ground. Smoke billowed from burning tents and piles of tires and wood as thousands of protesters were pushed back on to the center of the square, a Reuters cameraman said. At least 14 protesters and seven policemen were killed in violence that erupted in Kiev on Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. judge dismisses price-fixing claim against hotels, websites Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:23 PM PST By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of major U.S. hotel chains and online travel companies on Tuesday won the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit accusing them of an industry-wide conspiracy to fix the online prices of hotel rooms. U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle in Dallas found that the lawsuit, brought by consumers who claimed they paid inflated prices for their rooms, failed to adequately show that such a conspiracy existed. Instead, she said, the agreements between each hotel chain and each online operator could be explained by "rational business interests" rather than anti-competitive behavior. The hotel companies include Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc, InterContinental Hotels Group Plc and Marriott International Inc while the online agencies include Expedia Inc, Orbitz Worldwide Inc and Priceline Com Inc. A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday night. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters to rally against PM after deadly Bangkok clashes Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:15 PM PST  By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters seeking to oust Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra plan to rally at her temporary office on Wednesday, creating another potential flashpoint a day after five people were killed in gun battles in Bangkok. The protests are the latest installment of an eight-year political battle broadly pitting the Bangkok middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Tuesday's clashes were some of the worst between protesters and security forces since the campaign to unseat Yingluck began in November. The Erawan Medical Center, which monitors Bangkok hospitals, said on Wednesday one police officer and four protesters had been killed and 65 wounded. Full Story | Top |
| Georgia House votes to allow weapons in bars, churches Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:07 PM PST  By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - Georgia lawmakers on Tuesday voted to allow bars and churches to decide for themselves whether to let gun owners carry weapons into their buildings. The measure heads for the state Senate after the members of Georgia's House of Representatives approved the legislation with a 119-56 vote, according to the chamber's Twitter account. The rights of gun owners became a major political issue in 2012, when the United States experienced a rash of mass shootings, including a massacre that claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut. Gun-control and gun-rights advocates have turned their respective efforts to statehouses after gun control legislation stalled in the U.S. Congress. Full Story | Top |
| Australia aims for global growth agreement at G20 meeting Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:00 PM PST  By Ian Chua SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will use its presidency of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies to push for agreements on strengthening global growth and to generate ideas on funding public infrastructure, Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Wednesday. However, Hockey's push to reach a hard target for growth drew skepticism ahead of a weekend meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in Sydney. The G20, which represents about 85 percent of the world economy and 75 percent of global trade, will also discuss taxation and the withdrawal of the Federal Reserve's extraordinary stimulus, which has unsettled some emerging markets. "There will be discussions about tapering and what it means for the global economy. Full Story | Top |
| NZ court rules Megaupload warrant legal, dealing blow to Dotcom Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:56 PM PST  A New Zealand court on Wednesday ruled that the search warrant used in the arrest of Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom on U.S. online piracy charges was legal, dealing a blow to the internet entrepreneur who is fighting extradition to the United States. The decision will benefit U.S. prosecutors who say the Megaupload website cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds by letting users store and share copyrighted material, such as movies and TV shows. If Dotcom is extradited, the ensuing copyright case could set a precedent for internet liability laws and, should he win, could force entertainment companies to rethink online distribution methods. Wednesday's ruling overturned an earlier High Court decision that the search warrants were vague and enabled police to seize materials irrelevant to the charges against Dotcom. Full Story | Top |
| El Salvador castaway vows will not return to sea Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:52 PM PST  By Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - A fisherman from El Salvador who says he spent 13 months adrift in the Pacific Ocean, surviving on turtle blood and fish and birds caught with his bare hands, vowed he would not venture back out to sea as he left hospital on Tuesday. Jorge Salvador Alvarenga, 37, was found in January on a remote coral atoll in the Marshall Islands, saying he had survived at sea for more than a year. "No. For the moment no," Alvarenga said, telling reporters he will not return to the sea as he left the hospital with family members, stopping to raise his hand in a victory sign. Another fisherman who had set out with Alvarenga died weeks into the ordeal. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. border agent shoots, kills person in California scuffle Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:46 PM PST By Marty Graham SAN DIEGO, California (Reuters) - A U.S. border agent on patrol in Southern California shot and killed a suspected illegal immigrant during a confrontation not far from the border with Mexico, after the agent was pelted with rocks, officials said. "Fearing for his life the agent discharged his service issued weapon, resulting in the death of one assailant," the U.S. Border Patrol said in a statement after the incident in the Otay Mountain area near the Mexican border east of San Diego. The Border Patrol said the agent had been trying to arrest several suspected illegal immigrants when he was hit by rocks, one of which struck him in the head. Two suspected illegal immigrants were arrested during the incident, which took place before 7 a.m. (1500 GMT), the Border Patrol said. Full Story | Top |
| China probes another ally of retired domestic security chief Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:37 PM PST  A former aide to retired Chinese security tsar Zhou Yongkang is being investigated for corruption, the government said, the latest move targeting associates of Zhou, himself the subject of a graft probe. The ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog said late on Tuesday that Ji Wenlin, a vice governor of the southern island province of Hainan, was being investigated for suspected serious breaches of party discipline and the law, the usual euphemism for graft. President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning corruption is a threat to the Communist Party's very survival. Ji was shifted to Hainan province, better known in China for its pristine beaches and resorts, late in 2010. Full Story | Top |
| Minimum wage hike urged for Los Angeles hotel workers Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:34 PM PST  By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three Los Angeles City Council members have launched a bid to nearly double the minimum wage for hotel workers in the U.S.'s second-largest metropolis to $15.37 an hour, among the highest rates proposed for any of the country's private-sector workers. The "living wage" proposal would apply to about 11,000 workers at hotels in Los Angeles with more than 100 rooms, helping to lift employees out of poverty and spur the city economy, supporters of the proposal said. The hotel sector immediately voiced opposition to the proposed wage hike, saying it unfairly singles out one industry for mandatory pay rises and would likely force some hotels to scale back operations or the number of workers they hire. Employers in other sectors and hotel owners in neighboring jurisdictions are generally required to pay their workers no more than $8 an hour, the current state minimum wage in California which is set to rise to $9 this summer. Full Story | Top |
| Opposition supporters flood Caracas after Lopez arrest Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:31 PM PST CARACAS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of protesters against President Nicolas Maduro's government blocked Caracas streets on Tuesday after the arrest of hardline opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Opposition supporters crowded around a military vehicle taking Lopez into custody, while demonstrators also took to streets in other parts of the Venezuelan capital, paralyzing traffic, Reuters reporters around the city said. (Reporting by Eyanir Chinea; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Venezuela opposition leader Lopez gives himself up Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:31 PM PST By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has handed himself over to security forces to face charges of fomenting unrest that has killed four people in the South American nation. The following are facts about him: * A former mayor of the affluent Chacao district of Caracas, Lopez has emerged in recent months as a hardline leader of those in the opposition who seek an immediate end to President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government. His strategy of high-profile rallies and demonstrations has run counter to the moderate wing of the opposition, which is more focused on improving shoddy public services and highlighting the problems with the Socialist Party's state-led economic model. * Lopez briefly ran as one of five presidential hopefuls in the 2012 opposition primary that picked a unified leader to run against Hugo Chavez. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela opposition leader surrenders, protesters flood streets Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:31 PM PST  By Eyanir Chinea and Jorge Silva CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces arrested opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez on Tuesday on charges of fomenting unrest that has killed at least four people, bringing tens of thousands of his angry supporters onto the streets of Caracas. Opposition leaders hope Lopez's arrest will galvanize street demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro, though there is no immediate sign the protests will topple the socialist leader. "I am handing myself over to an unfair justice system," the protest leader told supporters, standing on a platform next to a statue of Cuban poet and independence hero Jose Marti. Minutes later, he surrendered to military officers, pumping his fist and then stepping into the military vehicle with a Venezuelan flag in one hand and a white flower in the other. Full Story | Top |
| Arizona lawmaker proposes $30 million U.S.-Mexico border 'virtual fence' Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:31 PM PST  By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona could spend $30 million to construct a "virtual fence" to ensure the federal government is securing the U.S.-Mexico border from drug smugglers and illegal immigrants under a measure that has narrowly advanced in the state legislature. State Senator Bob Worsley has proposed putting 300 watch towers, complete with the latest technology, to put what he called extra "eyes on the ground" capable of watching over the roughly 350 miles of border Arizona shares with Mexico. "People in my state don't trust what the federal government is telling us when it comes to border security," said Worsley, a Republican. "I'm not sure that it's a good, wise use of money just to tell the federal government, 'ha ha we can see what you're doing and we don't agree with what you're doing,'" Republican Senator Chester Crandell said during committee debate. Full Story | Top |
| Darker U.S. homebuilder mood not just due to bad weather Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:13 PM PST  A plunge in U.S. homebuilder confidence reported on Tuesday reflects a range of problems facing the construction industry seven years after the housing crash, challenges that go deeper than the severe winter weather blamed for much of the gloom. The National Association of Home Builders said on Tuesday that builder confidence dropped 10 points between January and February, from 56 to 46, the largest drop since the survey began in 1985. But economists, analysts and builders say the decline in confidence is deep-seated and has lingered due to the widespread destruction suffered by the construction sector when the housing market collapsed. The housing crash has left in its wake a glut of vacant existing homes in many cities that has done more than the weather to dampen new home construction, experts say. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. soldier convicted of Iraq rape, murders found hanged in prison Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:12 PM PST The death on Saturday of Steven Dale Green, 28, at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona, was being investigated as a suicide, the paper said. Green was convicted in 2009 of the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her father, mother and 6-year-old sister in Mahmudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. conservative 'Joe the Plumber' a union man? 'You betcha,' he says Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:04 PM PST  By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - An Ohio man who rose to fame as "Joe the Plumber" by challenging then-presidential candidate Barack Obama on tax policy in 2008 has taken a unionized job with one of the U.S. Big Three automakers, he said on his website. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, a conservative, announced on Sunday that he recently had the "fortune of being hired by a great company", Chrysler Corporation, where all workers must be United Automobile Workers union members. "Can a conservative work safely and soundly in a union environment - in a shop filled with union workers, activists, voters and life-long supporters of the Democrat Party? "Most union workers have not been mean, and quite a few asked me questions and talked with me and are cool with me," he wrote. Full Story | Top |
| Argentina asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear bonds case Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 06:00 PM PST  By Lawrence Hurley and Kevin Gray WASHINGTON/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking to reverse lower court decisions ordering the country to pay $1.33 billion to hedge fund creditors in a case Argentine officials warn could force it to default on its sovereign debt. The appeal followed a November 18 decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York denying Argentina's petition for a rehearing in a decade-long legal battle with bondholders who refused to accept the country's two debt-restructuring offers after the country defaulted on $100 billion in 2002. The Argentine government said through its embassy in Washington the lower court orders "threaten the well-being of Argentina and its citizens, as well as of the countless holders of performing Argentine debt, many of whom are U.S. institutional investors and individuals." Argentina is seeking to reverse the rulings that say the country must make full payment to the "holdout" creditors led by hedge funds Aurelius Capital Management and NML Capital Ltd, a unit of billionaire Paul Singer's Elliott Management Corp. Argentina argues the funds bought the debt at a deep discount after the default and sought to thwart the country's efforts to restructure its debt in which it paid its creditors less than full value of the bonds. Full Story | Top |
| Leftist Mexican lawmakers present medical marijuana bill Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Left-wing Mexican senators on Tuesday presented an initiative to legalize medical marijuana, saying a new approach was needed to speed up drug liberalization and help end a cycle of cartel violence that has killed tens of thousands. Mexico has been shaken by a wave of gang-related violence since former President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on drug cartels seven years ago, and there is growing pressure both domestically and regionally to explore new ways of tackling the problem. "Seventy thousand dead, 26,000 disappeared and an incalculable number of internally displaced are more than sufficient reason to look for an alternative model," congressman Fernando Belaunzaran told reporters. The proposal is one of several efforts by members of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) to decriminalize cannabis. Full Story | Top |
| Montana judge admits fault for blaming victim of rape Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 05:26 PM PST  A Montana judge, under fire for suggesting a 14-year-old girl was partly to blame for being raped by a teacher, admitted on Tuesday that he violated judicial standards and invited censure from the state's highest court, documents show. Judge G. Todd Baugh drew fierce public criticism last year when he sentenced the former teacher, 54-year-old Stacey Rambold, to just a month in prison for the 2007 sexual assault of his student, Cherice Moralez, who later killed herself. In a complaint filed with the Montana Supreme Court earlier this month, a Montana panel that oversees jurists sought to discipline him over the sentence as well as for saying the girl appeared "older than her chronological age," and "as much in control of the situation" as her teacher. The Montana Judicial Standards Commission said Baugh undermined public confidence in the judiciary, created an appearance of impropriety and "justified the unlawful sentence by blaming the child victim," according to papers from the commission. Full Story | Top |
| Elderly nun sentenced to nearly three years for Tennessee nuclear break-in Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 05:15 PM PST  By Melodi Erdogan and Jennifer Brake KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A U.S. judge sentenced an 84-year-old nun, Sister Megan Rice, on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for breaking into a Tennessee military facility used to store enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. Two others accused in the case, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, were sentenced to 62 months in prison. The three were convicted of cutting fences and entering the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in July 2012, embarrassing U.S. officials and prompting security changes. Full Story | Top |
| Shark attacks down last year but fatalities up Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:54 PM PST By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Shark attacks fell to a five-year low in 2013 but the number of fatalities rose to 10, up from an average of six deaths in recent years, according to a report released on Monday. There were 72 confirmed shark attacks in 2013, with Florida leading the globe with 23 and Hawaii with 13, according to the University of Florida's annual International Shark Attack File. (Shark study: http://r.reuters.com/zac96v) Those attacks resulted in two deaths in Australia and two deaths on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. Brazil, Hawaii, Jamaica, New Zealand and South Africa each had one death as well as Diego Garcia, a coral atoll in the British Indian Ocean where the U.S. operates a naval facility. Full Story | Top |
| Deadline looms as Panama Canal, consortium seek end to cost dispute Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:51 PM PST  By Lomi Kriel and Sonya Dowsett PANAMA CITY/MADRID (Reuters) - The Panama Canal and a Spanish-led construction consortium expanding the major global waterway discussed options on Tuesday to keep the multibillion-dollar project afloat amid a dispute over costs, but any deal seemed unlikely ahead of a looming deadline. "The Panama Canal Authority reports that despite efforts to agree with (consortium) Grupos Unidos por el Canal to resume work on the new locks project, positions between the parties remain apart," the canal authority said in a statement. Canal administrator Jorge Quijano last Wednesday set a target of no more than a week to reach a deal to jump-start the project, a deadline that will lapse in the coming hours. Quijano had previously warned that the canal could terminate the contract with the consortium and push ahead with a third party if a deal proves elusive. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. military tears down Army base site of mass killing in Texas Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:39 PM PST By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - The U.S. military has demolished the building at a Texas base where a former Army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage in 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others, military officials said on Tuesday. The central Texas military base is where soldiers prepare to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. Nidal Hasan, an American-born Muslim, opened fire on unarmed soldiers preparing for deployment on November 5, 2009 in what he later called retaliation for U.S. wars in the Muslim world. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to announce $6.5 billion loan deal for Southern Co nuclear plant Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:36 PM PST By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will announce that it has finalized $6.5 billion in loan aid to build the country's first new nuclear reactors in more than 30 years, sources said on Tuesday. The announcement, expected on Wednesday, follows four years of wrangling between the government and energy company Southern Co over the terms of the loan agreement, which was initially offered in February 2010 to support the construction of two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia. The conditional agreement totaling $8.3 billion provided loan aid to Southern's Georgia Power unit as well as project co-owners Oglethorpe Power and Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG). Full Story | Top |
| Diageo credits its export success to EU, warns UK not to leave: FT Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:12 PM PST  (Reuters) - Diageo Plc , the world's biggest spirits company has warned against Britain leaving the European Union, crediting the bloc's global trade deals for the company's whisky exports success, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The maker of Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Guinness beer has the biggest production center in the UK, which generates about 3.9 billion pounds of Scotch whisky exports. In an interview with the FT, Diageo Chief Executive Ivan Menezes said it would be difficult to sell British-made brands across the world without the advantages of the EU's 31 international trade agreements, recently concluded with countries such as Colombia and South Korea. (http://link.reuters.com/kac96v) "The major benefit for Diageo, for our industry, is in global trade and in having the EU as a significant bloc promoting global trade," Menezes told the FT. Full Story | Top |
| Iran, powers hold 'substantive' nuclear talks; U.S., Iranians meet Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:11 PM PST  By Parisa Hafezi and Louis Charbonneau VIENNA (Reuters) - Six world powers and Iran began "substantive" talks on Tuesday in pursuit of a final settlement on Tehran's contested nuclear program in the coming months despite caveats from both sides that a breakthrough deal may prove impossible. Senior U.S. and Iranian officials met separately for 80 minutes on the sidelines of the negotiations in Vienna. Details were not given, but such bilateral talks were inconceivable before the 2013 election of Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, as president of Iran. "The conversation was productive and focused mainly on how the comprehensive talks will proceed from here," a senior U.S. State Department official said on condition of anonymity after Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman's meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to boost network of advisers on trade negotiations Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:10 PM PST  The United States will boost its network of trade advisers to give a stronger voice to public health, development and consumer safety experts, Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday. In a speech aimed at combating domestic opposition to free trade deals, Froman said increasing exports created more and better-paying jobs and urged Americans to get behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. The TPP, currently being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim countries, is under fire from interest groups ranging from unions and environmental lobbyists, who fear an erosion of U.S. standards, to conservative Republicans wanting a bigger role for Congress in deciding trade priorities. "Skeptics need to assess what a world without TPP would mean," Froman said in a speech at the left-leaning Center for American Progress think tank. Full Story | Top |
| Florida man in loud music killing felt victimized -jail tapes Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:09 PM PST  By Susan Cooper Eastman JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida man convicted at the weekend of attempted murder in a dispute over loud rap music felt he was victimized by four teenagers he shot at, according to tapes of jailhouse telephone calls released by prosecutors on Tuesday. Michael Dunn, 47, is facing a minimum sentence of 60 years in prison in the November 2012 shootings at a Jacksonville gas station. In the telephone recordings released by the Florida State Attorney's office as standard practice, Dunn is heard claiming his innocence to his fiancée Rhonda Rouer while he is being held awaiting trial. They attacked me ... I was the victor, but I was the victim, too." The case has revived debate over racial profiling and Florida's gun-friendly self-defense laws after the jury deadlocked on a first-degree murder charge over the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who was sitting in the back seat of the teens' Sport Utility Vehicle. Full Story | Top |
| Britain sets out new test to limit EU migrant benefits Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:07 PM PST  By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain laid out new rules on Wednesday designed to limit the access that migrants from other European Union states have to the country's welfare system. British Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking to curb immigration into Britain in an effort to quell concerns about migrants entering the country to claim benefits, referred to as 'benefits tourism'. The move may also stop voters defecting to the anti-immigration UK Independence Party. "The British public are rightly concerned that migrants should contribute to this country, and not be drawn here by the attractiveness of our benefits system," said Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith. Full Story | Top |
| UK allows Scotland to issue its own debt - at a price Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:06 PM PST  By David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government granted Scotland the power to raise debt in its own name on Wednesday, in a move aimed at showing Scots that they can enjoy some benefits of independence while remaining part of the United Kingdom. Scotland votes in September on whether to dissolve the 307-year-old union with England, and last week British Chancellor George Osborne said an independent Scotland would be unable to keep the pound, independence campaigners' preferred option. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond responded that this was against Britain's own economic interests, and that an independent Scotland might refuse to take on its share of Britain's debt if it is not part of a formal currency union. Full Story | Top |
| Fed adopts tough capital rules for foreign banks Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:06 PM PST  By Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Tuesday adopted tight new rules for foreign banks to shield the U.S. taxpayer from costly bailouts, ceding only minor concessions despite pressure from abroad to weaken the rule. Foreign banks with sizable operations on Wall Street such as Deutsche Bank and Barclays had pushed back hard against the plan because it means they will need to transfer costly capital from Europe. The Fed, which oversees foreign banks, gave them a year longer to meet the standards, and applied it to fewer banks than in a first draft, but the rule was largely unchanged from when it was first proposed in December 2012. "The most important contribution we can make to the global financial system is to ensure the stability of the U.S. financial system," Fed Governor Dan Tarullo, in charge of financial regulation, said in a speech at a board meeting at which the Fed unanimously adopted the rule. Full Story | Top |
| British Columbia unveils LNG tax, sees budget surpluses Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 04:01 PM PST By Julie Gordon and Jennifer Kwan VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuters) - British Columbia on Tuesday provided long-awaited details on a new income tax for its nascent liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, as Canada's westernmost province released its second consecutive balanced budget. The coastal province is eyeing a two-tier tax that would apply to income from the liquefaction of natural gas, the process of cooling gas into a liquid to be transported by ship, at facilities in British Columbia. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. whistleblower Snowden wins student role at Scottish university Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 03:57 PM PST  U.S. intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has been elected to the post of student rector at Glasgow University in Scotland, one of Britain's oldest universities. Snowden, living in temporary asylum in Russia after disclosing U.S. government secrets on surveillance programs and other activities, faces criminal charges in the United States after fleeing last year first to Hong Kong and then Russia. The former National Security Agency contractor was nominated for the post by a group of students at the university after receiving Snowden's approval through his lawyer. University officials said the computer analyst beat three other candidates in an online vote that attracted a record turnout to win the three-year role of rector at the university, which dates back to 1451. Full Story | Top |
| Ohio gay couple sues after being denied Obamacare coverage Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 03:48 PM PST (Reuters) - A gay couple in Ohio filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday, charging they were unable to obtain family coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law because the state of Ohio does not recognize their same-sex marriage. The plaintiffs, Alfred Cowger and Anthony Wesley of Gates Mills, Ohio, have been together since 1986 and were married in New York state in 2012, six years after adopting a daughter, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Ohio. The suit names the U.S. government and the state of Ohio as defendants, charging they violated the plaintiffs' constitutional rights by refusing to recognize their married status, thereby preventing them from enrolling in family coverage under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. After the family moved to the Cleveland area from Pennsylvania in 2010, the three were covered under the same non-group family health insurance policy purchased from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Ohio. Full Story | Top |
| Elderly nun sentenced to 35 months for Tennessee nuclear break-in Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 03:47 PM PST A U.S. judge sentenced an 84-year-old nun, Sister Megan Rice, on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for breaking into a Tennessee defense facility where enriched uranium for nuclear bombs is stored. Fellow peace activists Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed were sentenced to 62 months in prison. The three were convicted of cutting fences and entering the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in July 2012, embarrassing U.S. officials and prompting security changes. The three were convicted by a federal jury last May of damaging national defense premises under the sabotage act, which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, and of causing more than $1,000 of damage to U.S. government property. Full Story | Top |
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