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| G20 support builds to adopt ambitious target for global growth Friday, Feb 21, 2014 08:05 PM PST  By Wayne Cole and Gernot Heller SYDNEY (Reuters) - The world's top 20 economies may agree to set an ambitious target for faster global growth at a weekend meeting in Sydney, where major central banks are also being urged to coordinate policies to avoid "surprises" that could roil emerging markets. Opening the two-day meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers on Saturday, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said support was building for setting a numerical goal for growth. If adopted, the plan would mark a departure for the G20, as previous attempts to set fiscal and current account targets have dissolved into bickering. And while a target would largely be aspirational, it would mark a sea change from recent meetings where the debate was all about growth versus budget austerity. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. soldier killed, 7 injured during training exercise at Fort Bragg Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:29 PM PST (Reuters) - A U.S. Army soldier was killed and seven were injured during a training exercise involving a large gun at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Friday, officials at the base said. The 82nd Airborne Division soldiers were participating in an early morning live-fire training exercise with a M777 light, towed howitzer gun when the incident occurred, the Army said in a statement. The Army said two medics provided life-saving care to the wounded at the scene. The Army did not release the identities of the soldiers as it was informing next of kin. Full Story | Top |
| Obama meets with Dalai Lama, upsetting China Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:00 PM PST  By Roberta Rampton and Sui-Lee Wee WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama on Friday, prompting the Chinese government to ask why the White House ignored Beijing's warnings that the meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would damage ties. China's vice foreign minister, Zhang Yesui, summoned Daniel Kritenbrink, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in China, on Friday night to condemn the meeting as interference in China's internal affairs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. China calls the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, a "wolf in sheep's clothing" who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet. Full Story | Top |
| China summons U.S. official over meeting between Obama and Dalai Lama Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:00 PM PST China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned on Friday a senior U.S. embassy official in China after U.S. President Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama at the White House despite warnings from Beijing the meeting would damage ties. Zhang summoned Daniel Kritenbrink, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in China, on Friday night, according to a statement posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Putin agree on need to ensure Ukraine deal works Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:33 PM PST  By Lesley Wroughton and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Friday that a deal aimed at halting bloody clashes between government forces and protesters in Ukraine needs to be implemented quickly so that the country stabilizes, a U.S. official said. The two leaders spoke by phone after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and opposition leaders signed a European Union-mediated peace deal. The White House said details of the agreement are consistent with what the United States had been urging, such as a de-escalation of the violence, constitutional change, a coalition government and early elections. This is not least because of the horrible, horrible violence of the last two days," the official said. Full Story | Top |
| Some victims in California tribal office shooting were relatives Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:29 PM PST (Reuters) - A woman who opened fire at an eviction hearing at a Native American tribal office in a California killed her brother, niece and nephew plus a fourth person, officials said on Friday, one day after the attack. Cherie Rhoades, 44, has been arrested but not charged in the attack and is expected to be arraigned in court in Alturas on Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for the Modoc County District Attorney's Office. Rhoades is accused of using two semi-automatic handguns to fatally shoot her 50-year-old brother, 19-year-old niece and 30-year-old nephew in Alturas, about 30 miles south of the Oregon border, said Alturas City Clerk Cary Baker, an acting spokeswoman for the small town of about 2,800 residents. Full Story | Top |
| California lawmaker indicted on bribery, corruption charges Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:09 PM PST  By Dan Whitcomb and Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California state senator has been indicted on federal charges that he took $100,000 in bribes from a businessman and from undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood movie executives in exchange for steering legislation in their favor, prosecutors said on Friday. Democrat Ron Calderon, 56, has agreed to turn himself in on Monday to face two dozen counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and other charges, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte said at a news conference to announce the charges. "Senator Calderon is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and using the powers of his elected office to enrich himself and his brother Tom, rather than for the benefit of the public he was sworn to serve," Birotte said. State senate leader Darrell Steinberg called on Calderon, a veteran legislator and member of a political dynasty going back several decades in California, to resign or take a leave of absence. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Madoff aide on trial in N.Y. wins dismissal of two counts Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:04 PM PST  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - One of five former Bernard Madoff aides on trial for abetting his massive Ponzi scheme will face two fewer counts when the case goes to a jury, after a judge agreed to throw out charges that he arranged for his son to get a no-show job at the firm. In an opinion filed late on Friday, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan federal court granted Daniel Bonventre's motion to dismiss the counts, which charged him with violating federal law by causing false documents to be filed with the Department of Labor. However, Swain denied motions from Bonventre and from two other defendants, portfolio manager Annette Bongiorno and Joann Crupi, to dismiss a number of other counts related to alleged tax violations. The five defendants, who also include former computer programmers Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, have said they were duped by Madoff into believing the business was legitimate. Full Story | Top |
| Detroit's bankruptcy plan spares pensions from deepest cuts Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:58 PM PST  Detroit's blueprint for dealing with $18 billion in debt and emerging from municipal bankruptcy requires cuts to worker pensions and even deeper cuts for bondholders, setting the stage for a new round of negotiations and court challenges. The potentially precedent-setting plan the city filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Friday would cut retired worker's pensions by up to 30 percent while owners of bonds deemed unsecured would lose up to 80 percent of their investment. The fact that voter-approved general obligation bonds were lumped into the city's $12 billion unsecured debt pile has roiled the U.S. municipal bond market. Retirees and pension funds argued the proposed cuts go too deep, while bond insurers complained that bondholders were being treated unfairly and forced to bear most of the losses. Full Story | Top |
| Defense argues Cole bombing mastermind should not face death Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:58 PM PST  By Medina Roshan FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - Defense lawyers for the Saudi man charged with masterminding the 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 American sailors argued on Friday he should not face the death penalty because the murders were not premeditated. The move was among several pre-trial motions heard in the murder case against Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, viewed by closed-circuit television at Fort Meade. The charges Nashiri is faced with - among them murder, terrorism and conspiracy - carry the death penalty. In arguing for dismissal of the death penalty in his case, lawyers for the 49-year-old Saudi national challenged the constitutionality of several facets of the military commissions, among other arguments. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government seeks to cut Medicare payments to insurers Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday proposed a cut in payments to private health insurers for 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, a move Republican lawmakers said would hurt benefits for the elderly and disabled. The proposal, released in a document by a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, appeared to cut payments by more than the 6 to 7 percent the insurance industry had expected, one Wall Street analyst said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Univ. of Mississippi seeks to question students about noose on statue Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:34 PM PST By Emily Le Coz JACKSON, Mississippi (Reuters) - The University of Mississippi wants to question three white male students who may have been involved in draping a noose and a Confederate flag over a statue of James Meredith, the African-American student who braved segregationist mobs to integrate the school in 1962, campus police said on Friday. Calvin Sellers, the university chief of police, said attorneys for the three 19-year-olds from Georgia wanted campus police to produce an arrest warrant before they would allow them to question the students about the act of vandalism, which occurred early on Sunday. "The University Police Department had gathered enough evidence by late Wednesday to bring charges through the student judicial process against two of the students, and both state and federal authorities were working in close coordination to determine whether criminal charges were applicable," the university said in a statement on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Hagel decides not to pursue top medal for celebrated U.S. Marine hero Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:14 PM PST  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has reviewed the case of a Marine sergeant honored for heroism in Iraq and agreed with two other Pentagon chiefs that the evidence is insufficient to merit the highest military award for valor, the Pentagon said on Friday. Supporters have criticized the department for denying Marine Sergeant Rafael Peralta's nomination for the Medal of Honor for his actions in Fallujah in 2004, when pulled a grenade under his body to shield his comrades from the explosion, even as he was already dying of a fatal head wound. "After extensively familiarizing himself with the history of Sergeant Peralta's nomination, Secretary Hagel determined the totality of the evidence does not meet the 'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' Medal of Honor award standard," the Pentagon said in a statement. While Defense Secretary Robert Gates initially denied the Medal of Honor nomination, he approved Peralta for the Navy Cross, the second-highest military award for valor for members of the Navy and Marine Corps. Full Story | Top |
| Coach to plead not guilty in Missouri girl's kidnap, murder: defense Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:10 PM PST  A seventh-grade football coach was ordered held without bail on Friday and will plead not guilty to the kidnap and murder of a 10-year-old girl snatched off a Springfield, Missouri, street and later found dead in his basement, his lawyer said. Craig Michael Wood, 45, accused of abducting Hailey Owens from a neighborhood in Springfield, made his first court appearance on Friday over a video monitor from the Greene County Jail. Witnesses said Hailey was walking along a street shortly before 5 p.m. on Tuesday when a man driving a pickup truck pulled alongside her. Witness calls to police about the abduction triggered multiple Amber Alerts in Missouri and neighboring states. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan official, patients killed as military plane crashes in Tunisia Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:08 PM PST  An Islamist official in Libya's government and 10 other passengers and crew were killed when a military plane carrying medical patients crashed near Tunisia's capital early on Friday, officials said. The Libyan Antonov aircraft went down after the pilot tried to land in farmland near Grombalia town south of Tunis, Tunisia's TAP state news agency reported. Sheikh Meftah Daouadi, undersecretary at the Libyan Ministry of Martyrs which looks after families of fighters killed in Libya's 2011 revolution, was among the dead, said a spokesman for his organization, the Operations Room for Libyan Revolutionaries. The veteran Islamist fighter took part in the revolt against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Full Story | Top |
| From jail, Venezuela protest leader urges resistance Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:01 PM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's jailed protest leader urged supporters on Friday to keep demonstrating peacefully against President Nicolas Maduro despite violence that has killed at least six people and rocked the OPEC member nation. "I'm fine, I ask you not to give up, I won't," Leopoldo Lopez told his followers in a handwritten note passed to his wife at Caracas' Ramo Verde prison and then posted on the Internet. The 42-year-old Lopez, a Harvard-educated economist and one of the few surviving relatives of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar, spearheaded protests against the socialist government that began at the start of February. At least six people have died, five from gunshots, and one run over by a vehicle, as the protests have degenerated into violence in Caracas and other cities around Venezuela, especially in the western Andean region. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. says assures Ukraine of its support in IMF talks Friday, Feb 21, 2014 04:54 PM PST By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has assured Ukraine it will have "strong support" from Washington in seeking an IMF-backed economic program to stabilize the country's economy after months of crippling street violence, a State Department official said on Friday. A fragile peace deal between Ukraine's government and opposition was struck late on Thursday, ending months of violence in which 77 people were killed. The agreement was also an opportunity to stabilize Ukraine's economy and resume talks with the International Monetary Fund, the senior State Department official said, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity. Ukraine has failed to fully implement previous economic programs, which have required politically difficult reforms. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey signs $3.5 billion deal for Sikorsky helicopters Friday, Feb 21, 2014 04:27 PM PST Turkey signed a deal worth $3.5 billion on Friday to buy helicopters from United Technologies Corp's Sikorsky Aircraft unit, finalizing an order originally agreed upon in 2011, the prime minister said. The 109 helicopters, a version of Sikorsky's popular Black Hawk, will be assembled in Turkey. The main contractor is Turkish Aerospace Industries with components to be supplied by Sikorsky, Aselsan and other Turkish companies. Sikorsky said the deal marked the start of an important partnership with Turkish industry. Full Story | Top |
| Junior coalition partner poised to quit Cyprus government Friday, Feb 21, 2014 04:05 PM PST A junior partner in Cyprus's center-right government said on Saturday it was poised to quit the coalition in disagreement over a decision to restart peace talks on the ethnically split island. A spokeswoman for the Democratic Party said members of its executive committee decided to recommend to its key decision-making body withdrawal from the government, which it has been a member of for a year. The central committee of the Democratic Party was scheduled to meet on February 26 to discuss the recommendation. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu relaunched stalled peace talks on the island on February 11 in an attempt to end one of Europe's longest-running conflicts. Full Story | Top |
| New York police surveillance of Muslims constitutional: judge Friday, Feb 21, 2014 04:04 PM PST By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's secret police surveillance of mosques, Muslim businesses and a Muslim student group in New Jersey did not violate the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. U.S. District Judge William Martini in Newark, New Jersey, threw out a lawsuit brought by several New Jersey Muslims who claimed the New York Police Department illegally targeted them for undercover monitoring solely because of their religion. The plaintiffs in the case, led by Syed Farhaj Hassan, a U.S. Army reservist, claimed the program impaired their freedom of expression, caused them to stop attending religious services and threatened their careers. In a 10-page ruling, Martini said the city had persuasively argued that its surveillance was intended as an anti-terrorism, not an anti-Muslim, measure. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government proposes cut to insurer payments for Medicare Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:55 PM PST  The U.S. government on Friday proposed a cut in payments to private health insurers for 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, a move Republican lawmakers said would hurt benefits for the elderly and disabled. The proposal, released in a document by a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, appeared to cut payments by more than the 6 to 7 percent the insurance industry had expected, one Wall Street analyst said. Insurers have said they could only maintain benefits if there was no change in payments for 2015 from 2014. Many factors go into determining the government's total reimbursement to insurers. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Putin discuss Syria concerns, Iran talks by phone: White House Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:54 PM PST  President Barack Obama telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to talk about several global crises where the two powers have not seen eye-to-eye, including Syria's civil war, ongoing talks on Iran's nuclear program, and violence in Ukraine, the White House said. On Syria, the leaders spoke about talks to find a political solution to the war, and the need for the Syrian government "to adhere to its commitment to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons program," the White House said. They also discussed "concerns over the humanitarian crisis and the necessity of a strong U.N. Security Council resolution on the issue," the White House said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro calls for dialogue with Obama Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:48 PM PST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday called on U.S. President Barack Obama to hold dialogue with Venezuelan authorities, only days after expelling three U.S. diplomats on charges they were stirring up violent protests. (Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Chris Reese) Full Story | Top |
| Southwest gets two free Reagan slots but won't use them -report Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:46 PM PST  Southwest Airlines said on Friday they will not use two of the 56 take-off and landing slots at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport which they received from American Airlines Group . Southwest purchased 54 of the slots from American Airlines in a sale ordered in November by the U.S. Justice Department. Bloomberg reported that Southwest had been given the additional slots. The slots at Reagan airport became available because of a Justice Department settlement with US Airways and American Airlines. Full Story | Top |
| Harsh weather, tight supply sink U.S. home sales Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:40 PM PST  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Severe cold weather and a shortage of houses on the market pushed U.S. home resales to an 18-month low in January, the latest indication economic activity has hit a soft patch. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday that home sales dropped 5.1 percent last month to an annual rate of 4.62 million units, the lowest level since July 2012. The Realtors group said unseasonably cold weather was partly to blame, but it also acknowledged some fundamental weakness, with fewer homes on the market to choose from and higher mortgage rates and prices reducing affordability. "Some housing activity will be delayed until spring," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. Full Story | Top |
| UAW challenges result of Tennessee VW plant union vote Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:25 PM PST  The United Auto Workers filed an appeal with the U.S. government on Friday, asking it to set aside the results of an election last week in which workers at a Tennessee Volkswagen plant voted not to join the union. Citing what it called "interference by politicians and outside special interest groups," the UAW said the U.S. National Labor Relations Board would investigate the election and decide if there are grounds to scrap it and hold a new one. The move by the union escalates a battle with anti-union Republicans that has intensified as the UAW, its membership rolls in decline, has tried hard to organize workers at foreign-owned, non-union auto plants across the American South. They said labor law does not limit what can be said in a union election campaign by politicians, as long as they are stating their own views and not doing the bidding of management. Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus junior coalition partner poised to quit government Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:23 PM PST A junior partner in Cyprus's center-right government said it was poised to quit the coalition in disagreement over a decision to restart peace talks on the ethnically-split island. A spokeswoman for the Democratic Party said members of its executive committee decided to recommend to its key decision-making body withdrawal from the government which it has been a member of for a year. The central committee of the Democratic Party was scheduled to meet on February 26 to discuss the recommendation. Full Story | Top |
| Hagel praises Ukraine for keeping military out of crisis Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:21 PM PST U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel commended Ukraine on Friday for keeping its armed forces on the sidelines of the country's political crisis, in a long-awaited call with his Ukrainian counterpart after multiple attempts to reach him this week. The Pentagon had told reporters on Thursday that it had been unable to connect with anyone at Ukraine's Defense Ministry in recent days, as violence flared in Kiev and Ukraine named a new head of the armed forces general staff. Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich agreed to give up powers, hold early elections and form a government of national unity. Throughout it all, Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedev said in the call with Hagel, his country's armed forces kept their focus "on protecting defense facilities and equipment," the Pentagon said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Drive as I say, not as I do? New York mayor's convoy seen speeding Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:17 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday he remained committed to reducing speed limits and cutting down on traffic deaths in the city, a day after a local television news crew captured his convoy speeding and ignoring stop signs. His proposals include reducing many city speed limits to 25 miles per hour from 30 miles per hour, and increasing the number of speed-tracking cameras. De Blasio's caravan was filmed by a crew from WCBS-TV driving up to 15 miles per hour above the speed limit and blasting past two stop signs as the mayor sat in the passenger seat of the lead car. De Blasio's transportation and security is provided by the New York City Police Department. Full Story | Top |
| Bank tax seen in plan coming from U.S. Congress's top tax writer Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:12 PM PST A bank tax similar to one that President Barack Obama once proposed may be part of a broad tax reform package expected to be floated on Wednesday by the top Republican tax writer in the U.S. Congress, lobbyists and analysts said on Friday. Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, was considering the bank tax in a draft plan for tax reform, they said late Friday. Camp's bank tax proposal is "a traditional Washington trial balloon," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Guggenheim Securities LLC. "By now, the sponsors know the reaction and have to decide whether to include it in the final version." A spokeswoman for the Ways and Means Committee declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| Dallas sports insurer wants prize money back from Lance Armstrong Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:09 PM PST  By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - Lawyers for Lance Armstrong went to court in Dallas on Friday, to try to block a sports insurance company from re-opening an arbitration decision forcing the firm to pay $12 million in bonuses to the disgraced cyclist. Dallas-based SCA Promotions said that Armstrong lied for years about using performance-enhancing drugs and has sued to re-open the 2006 arbitration decision made before he finally admitted to doping. The bonus money from SCA is for three of Armstrong's seven Tour de France championships, which were rescinded because of doping. Dallas County Judge Tonya Parker was expected to rule next week on whether the arbitration can be revisited, her office said. Full Story | Top |
| California's fracking opponents introduce new moratorium bill Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:01 PM PST  By Rory Carroll SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California lawmakers have unveiled a new bill that would halt fracking and other controversial oil extraction practices in the state until a comprehensive review of their impact is complete, reigniting a legislative debate that fracking opponents lost last year. The bill, introduced Thursday by state senators Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles and Mark Leno of San Francisco, would put the brakes on fracking until the completion of a multi-agency review of the economic, environmental and public health impacts. It would also broaden the scope of a study called for as part of a bill introduced separately last year, since passed into law, that required oil companies to disclose more data about their activities. The proposed, expanded study would include health risks posed by fracking to low-income residents like those living near Los Angeles' Inglewood Oil Field, the nation's largest urban oil field where both fracking and acid is being used, according to Mitchell, who represents the predominately minority community. Full Story | Top |
| Obama meets with Dalai Lama despite China warnings Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:53 PM PST By Roberta Rampton and Sui-Lee Wee WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama at the White House on Friday after warnings from Beijing that the meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would "seriously damage" ties with Washington. The private meeting lasted about an hour, although the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was not seen by White House photographers as he entered or exited the complex. The White House sidestepped questions about whether it was worried Obama's meeting - his third with the Dalai Lama - would upset its relationship with China. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine peace deal halts violence but crowds still angry Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:44 PM PST  By Sabine Siebold and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - A breakthrough peace deal for Ukraine halted two days of violence that had turned the center of the capital into a war zone and killed 77 people, bringing sweeping political change that met many demands of the pro-European opposition. Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich agreed to give up powers, hold early elections and form a government of national unity. Parliament voted for changes to the legal code that could see the release of Yanukovich's jailed rival, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. By nightfall, opposition leaders who signed the deal were addressing peaceful crowds from a stage in Independence Square, which for the previous 48 hours had been an inferno of blazing barricades and protesters were shot dead by police snipers. Full Story | Top |
| Art collectors sue for $40 million over labeling Keith Haring works 'fakes' Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:25 PM PST By Curtis Skinner NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several collectors filed a $40 million lawsuit on Friday against the foundation of late New York City painter Keith Haring, which has publicly stated roughly 80 works owned by the dealers are fakes. The collectors said they purchased the artwork from friends of Haring, including a New York City disc jockey. The foundation, however, rejected the artworks' authenticity in 2007 and refused to review additional evidence provided later by the collectors before stating they were fakes, according to the lawsuit in Manhattan district court. Representatives for the Keith Haring Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Full Story | Top |
| Fed officials wanted more power over Wall Street during 2008 crisis Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:11 PM PST  By Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. central bankers thought they should get more regulatory powers in return for providing cheap cash to Wall Street banks during the 2008 credit crisis, according to Federal Reserve transcripts released on Friday. Powerful investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley had access to a raft of measures to prop up markets during the 2008 credit meltdown, but the Federal Reserve had little say over them. "I am just a little worried about being taken advantage of here," Richard Fisher, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in a March 2008 conference call of the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Full Story | Top |
| Same-sex couples allowed to wed in Cook County, Illinois Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:56 PM PST  By James B. Kelleher CHICAGO (Reuters) - Same-sex couples in Illinois' Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago, can wed immediately and do not have to wait to tie the knot until a new state law legalizing gay marriage takes effect in June, a federal judge ruled on Friday. Illinois lawmakers approved same-sex marriage late in 2013, effective on June 1, and several couples had sued Cook County Clerk David Orr for the right to marry immediately. "There is no reason to delay further when no opposition has been presented to this court and committed gay and lesbian couples have already suffered from the denial of their fundamental right to marry," said U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman in Chicago. Coleman had ruled in December that Cook County same-sex couples could obtain an emergency marriage license ahead of June if one partner had a life-threatening illness, and some same-sex couples have been issued a license on that basis. Full Story | Top |
| United Technologies' Sikorsky unit to cut 600 jobs Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:56 PM PST  By Andrea Shalal HUNTSVILLE, Alabama (Reuters) - Sikorsky Aircraft, the helicopter unit of United Technologies Corp , on Friday said it would lay off 600 workers beginning in the next few weeks, citing continued "challenging and unstable economic conditions." Company spokesman Paul Jackson said the layoffs would affect mostly employees in Connecticut, home to about 8,200 of Sikorsky's total workforce of 16,500. Full Story | Top |
| FDA seeks to modernize over-the counter drug reviews Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:55 PM PST By Toni Clarke and Bill Berkrot WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing sweeping changes to how it regulates over-the-counter drugs from aspirin to allergy medications to make it easier to react to new information on a product's safety or recommended use. As one example, the FDA has sought to lower the dosage of painkiller acetaminophen from 500 milligrams in widely used products such as "extra strength" Tylenol to 325 mg, based on current knowledge of the liver damage the drug can cause. "We believe the OTC dose should be changed, but it will take a long, long process because it can only change through rulemaking," FDA spokeswoman Andrea Fischer said in an emailed statement. In contrast, the FDA was able to act swiftly to require such a change for prescription pain treatments that contain acetaminophen. Full Story | Top |
| Ergen balks at treatment under LightSquared's restructuring plan Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:51 PM PST  By Nick Brown NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charlie Ergen, the largest creditor of bankrupt wireless venture LightSquared, on Friday objected to a framework of the company's restructuring plan that would pay him in the form of a note while giving other lenders cash payouts. In papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, Ergen, through his investment vehicle SP Special Opportunities, asked Judge Shelley Chapman to rule that the plan is not financially feasible, and to do so before parties devote resources to obtaining creditor support for it. LightSquared's $33 million bankruptcy loan is set to run out around the end of March. Ergen is the chairman of Dish Network Corp, but insists he amassed his roughly $1 billion chunk of LightSquared's senior loan debt on his own behalf. Full Story | Top |
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