| | |
| Pakistan army launches new air strikes near Afghan border Monday, Feb 24, 2014 07:44 PM PST Pakistan's army launched new air strikes targeting militant hideouts in the tribal region of North Waziristan on Tuesday, killing at least 27 people, military officials said. North Waziristan residents have been trickling out of the troubled region in recent days anticipating a full-scale military offensive, leaving their homes and villages behind and settling in more peaceful areas such as Bannu, Kohat and Peshawar. "The militants had captured a stretch between South Waziristan and North Waziristan and had established training centers where they were also preparing suicide bombers," said one military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Fifteen were killed in the South Waziristan side of the border, while 12 were killed in North Waziristan." The latest air strikes mainly took place in the Shawal valley and Dattakhel areas of North Waziristan where militant training facilities and compounds are said to be located. Full Story | Top |
| Peru's keeps finance minister in cabinet shuffle, names fifth PM Monday, Feb 24, 2014 07:22 PM PST  By Marco Aquino and Patricia Velez LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's President Ollanta Humala reappointed his finance minister in a major cabinet reshuffle late on Monday that also replaced the mines minister and made the current housing minister his fifth prime minister. Finance Minister Luis Miguel Castilla had offered his resignation to Humala earlier on Monday, three government sources said, following a spat with the outgoing prime minister over a bid to raise the minimum wage. Humala chose Housing Minister Rene Cornejo, the former head of the state investment promotion agency Proinversion, to be his new prime minister after making eight changes to his cabinet in Monday night's televised swearing-in ceremony. Cornejo, described by some as a Humala loyalist, had been housing minister since the beginning of Humala's presidency in July 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Arrest of son of 'Shorty' Guzman aide led to Mexico kingpin's capture Monday, Feb 24, 2014 07:17 PM PST  By John Shiffman and Gabriel Stargardter WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The arrest of the son of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman's deputy at the U.S.-Mexico border was an important break in the operation that led to the drug lord's capture, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said on Sunday. Following the arrest of Serafin Zambada-Ortiz, subsequent wiretaps and phone records of others provided investigators with leads that played a role in the arrest of Guzman, two people familiar with the matter said. Guzman, who long ran the feared Sinaloa Cartel and was Mexico's most wanted criminal, was caught on Saturday in his native northwestern state of Sinaloa with help from U.S. agents. One of several key elements in Guzman's downfall started with the arrest of Zambada-Ortiz, the son of Guzman's deputy, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who could now be in line to take over from his boss. Full Story | Top |
| Quest for more lethal U.S. warship could raise cost Monday, Feb 24, 2014 07:14 PM PST  By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's decision to stop building the current class of coastal warships after 32 vessels and focus on ships with more firepower and protection will result in higher costs, U.S. defense officials said on Monday. Clark said Hagel's approach would help the Navy achieve its goals for the mine-hunting and anti-submarine warfare missions, while bridging to a new more lethal and survivable ship. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Boehner to have rare, private Oval Office meeting Tuesday Monday, Feb 24, 2014 07:12 PM PST  By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After an acrimonious year where they failed to agree on almost anything, President Barack Obama will host Republican Speaker John Boehner for a rare one-on-one meeting on Tuesday, the White House said. Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said Obama reached out to Boehner with the invitation, and that a "broad set of topics" would be discussed. "The President and the Speaker are looking forward to discussing a range of items on the legislative agenda," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. That was during the days of the looming "fiscal cliff," when the two leaders sought but ultimately failed to find a "grand bargain" on tax reform and spending cuts during deficit reduction talks. Full Story | Top |
| Canada's finance minister undecided on 2015 run amid health issues Monday, Feb 24, 2014 07:08 PM PST  By Louise Egan MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has not yet decided whether to run for office again in the 2015 general election, he told Reuters on Tuesday, amid speculation he may step down before then to attend to health issues. He had long been one of the most vocal cabinet ministers in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government and gave frequent speeches to promote the government's agenda. TIGHT-LIPPED ON CANADIAN DOLLAR He would not be drawn into reacting to earlier remarks made by Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics and an economics professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, that the value of the Canadian dollar was too strong and the Bank of Canada should commit to keep interest rates low for longer or adopt an easing bias in order to weaken the currency. "I think he's talking about monetary policy and the role of the Bank of Canada and not fiscal policy. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. House Republican tax plan would cut top rate: Washington Post Monday, Feb 24, 2014 07:06 PM PST A tax reform package due to be unveiled this week by U.S. House Republicans would slash the top income tax rate to 25 percent from 39.6 percent and levy a surtax on some of the most affluent households, the Washington Post reported on Monday. The plan by Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the tax-writing House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, would also reduce the seven existing U.S. tax brackets to two, which would be set at 10 percent and 25 percent, according to the Post. Citing an analysis by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, the Post said the plan did not indicate which of the many tax breaks would be sacrificed to make possible the lower rates. Full Story | Top |
| Costa Rica seeks court ruling on Nicaragua border dispute Monday, Feb 24, 2014 06:53 PM PST Costa Rica will ask the International Court of Justice to settle a decade-old maritime border dispute with Nicaragua related to potential oil concessions, President Laura Chinchilla said on Monday. Costa Rica plans to file a complaint with the court at The Hague on Tuesday in which it will ask the court to determine its borders with Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, she said in a statement. The dispute dates back to 2002 when Nicaragua published maps detailing oil concessions, some of which were in waters claimed by Costa Rica. Full Story | Top |
| Court orders Rogers Communications pay C$500,000 in ads case Monday, Feb 24, 2014 06:30 PM PST Rogers Communications Inc was ordered to pay C$500,000 ($451,700) by an Ontario court that said Canada's largest wireless company did not conduct adequate tests to back up a claim that its Chatr discount brand had better coverage than rivals. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling was reached on Friday and disclosed on Monday by Canada's Competition Bureau, an independent law enforcement agency. The court had earlier dismissed Competition Bureau claims that Rogers had used misleading advertising to promote Chatr, which Rogers launched several years ago to fend off new entrants such as Wind Mobile. At that point, the Competition Bureau had sought a fine of C$10 million. Full Story | Top |
| Explosion, gunfire ring out near Bangkok protest site Monday, Feb 24, 2014 06:28 PM PST  By Pairat Temphairojana BANGKOK (Reuters) - An explosion and gunfire rang out near a sprawling anti-government protest site in the Thai capital early on Tuesday after the protesters' leader warned that government supporters were planning to bring armed militants to Bangkok. Weeks of unrest, in which protesters have barricaded key intersections of the city, have been interrupted by occasional bombs and gunfire, with one blast killing a woman and a young brother and sister in a central shopping district on Sunday. There was another explosion and gunfire near one protest site on the edge of Bangkok's Lumpini Park in the early hours, national security chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Parents of dead teen vow to fight Florida's self-defense law Monday, Feb 24, 2014 06:04 PM PST  By Susan Cooper Eastman JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - The parents of Jordan Davis, a Florida teenager who was killed by a middle-aged man in a gas station dispute over loud rap music, plan to campaign to reform the state's self-defense law that they blame for their son's death. To be a champion, not just for him, but for everyone," the teen's mother, Lucia McBath, told Reuters on Monday. Michael Dunn, a white, 47-year-old software engineer, was convicted on February 15 on three counts of attempted murder for opening fire on a car of black teenagers during an argument in November 2012 in the parking lot of a Jacksonville gas station. Dunn testified that he feared for his life, drawing comparisons to the trial of George Zimmerman, the former central Florida neighborhood watchman who was acquitted last year of murder after saying he shot a 17-year-old unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in self-defense. Full Story | Top |
| Amanda Bynes pleads no contest in 2012 drunken driving case Monday, Feb 24, 2014 05:52 PM PST  Former teen star Amanda Bynes on Monday pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor driving offense in Los Angeles stemming from a 2012 accident in which she struck a sheriff's patrol car. The lawyer for Bynes, 27, entered the plea to the charge of reckless driving with an alcohol component, Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison said. Bynes, who starred in her own Nickelodeon sketch comedy TV series "The Amanda Show" at age 13, was sentenced by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Edward Moreton to three years' probation and three months of alcohol education programs. Last year she was placed in psychiatric care for starting a small fire in front of a home in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks. Full Story | Top |
| Peru's Humala names fifth PM, keeps finance minister in cabinet shuffle Monday, Feb 24, 2014 05:50 PM PST  LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's President Ollanta Humala named his housing minister as his fifth prime minister on Monday in a cabinet shuffle that reappointed his widely respected finance but replaced his energy and mines minister. Finance Minister Luis Miguel Castilla had tendered his resignation to Humala - three government sources said earlier on Monday - following a dispute with outgoing cabinet chief Cesar Villanueva over a potential increase to the minimum wage. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani village gives girls pioneering sex education class Monday, Feb 24, 2014 05:33 PM PST  By Amjad Ali JOHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - In neat rows, the Pakistani girls in white headscarves listened carefully as the teacher described the changes in their bodies. Sex education is common in Western schools but these ground-breaking lessons are taking place in deeply conservative rural Pakistan, a Muslim nation of 180 million people. Publicly talking about sex in Pakistan is taboo and can even be a death sentence. Almost nowhere in Pakistan offers any kind of organised sex education. Full Story | Top |
| California lawmaker pleads innocent to corruption charges Monday, Feb 24, 2014 05:00 PM PST  By Dan Whitcomb and Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California state senator pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges he took bribes from a businessman as well as from undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood film executives to shepherd legislation in their favor. Ron Calderon, a Democrat and a member of a California political dynasty that goes back several decades, had turned himself in earlier in the day to face two dozen counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Today is just the first step in a long process to seek justice for a corrupt politician," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mack Jenkins said outside court following the hearing. But Calderon's attorney, Mark Geragos, asked the public not rush to judgment against his client, who he said remained in relatively good spirits despite trying circumstances. Full Story | Top |
| LinkedIn jumpstarts China expansion with Chinese language site Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:57 PM PST By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Professional social networking website LinkedIn Corp launched a Chinese language version of its website on Monday, a move that could jumpstart its expansion into the world's largest Internet market by users even as the company acknowledged it will have to police what some of them say on its website. LinkedIn Chief Executive Jeff Weiner acknowledged in a blog post on Monday that the company would have to censor some of the content that users post on its website in order to comply with Chinese rules. But Weiner said the benefits of providing its online service to people in China outweighed those concerns. He vowed that the company would be "transparent" about its practices as it builds its presence in a country it said is home to one in five of the "knowledge workers" that are LinkedIn's core audience. Full Story | Top |
| Canada regulators say TransCanada safety practices need work Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:53 PM PST By Julie Gordon VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canadian regulators said on Monday that an audit of TransCanada Corp's safety practices found the country's No. 2 pipeline company operated safely for the most part, but identified some key areas where it needs to improve. The National Energy Board said the Calgary-based company, which is developing the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, was found to be compliant in five of nine sub-elements of the review. "The Board finds that TransCanada has identified the majority, and most significant, of its hazards and risks, however there are areas where the company was found to be out of compliance," the agency said in a statement. TransCanada was found to be non-compliant in the categories of hazard identification, risk assessment and control; Full Story | Top |
| Turkish PM's office says Erdogan recordings are faked Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:39 PM PST  Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office said voice recordings on YouTube purportedly of Erdogan telling his son to dispose of large sums of money on the day news broke of a graft inquiry into his government were fake and "completely untrue". Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the audio recordings, which were posted on the video sharing site late on Monday. In the recordings, a voice supposedly of Erdogan can be heard asking his son to remove the money from his home. The recordings are purportedly of Erdogan and his son Bilal discussing how to reduce the funds to "zero" by distributing them among several businessmen. Full Story | Top |
| Cameroon frees French national after 17 years behind bars Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:37 PM PST Cameroon authorities have freed a French national whose 17-year imprisonment on corruption charges became a source of tension between the two countries and drew appeals from France's president and the U.N. human rights agency. Michel Atangana, 49, a French national of Cameroon origin, and former Cameroon Health Mnister Titus Edzoa, were found guilty in 1997 of embezzling about $2.3 million and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Before their imprisonment, Edzoa, 69, a former adviser to Cameroon's long-serving President Paul Biya, resigned from his cabinet position and announced he would challenge Biya in the 1997 election. Full Story | Top |
| UAW chief says VW vote tainted by outside 'threats' Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:34 PM PST  By Peter Henderson and Richard Cowan OAKLAND, Calif./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the United Automobile Workers said on Monday the union's appeal of a failed organizing vote at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee will focus on the actions of outsiders, not VW -- in a clear reference to remarks by Senator Bob Corker, an outspoken UAW critic. Corker defended himself, saying he had the right as an elected official to speak out ahead last week's vote, in which workers rejected the UAW's bid to represent them. Late last week, the UAW asked the U.S. National Labor Relations Board to investigate the organizing vote, citing what it characterized as "interference by politicians and outside special interest groups." The UAW spent two years trying to persuade the workers there to unionize and lost despite cooperation from VW management . Full Story | Top |
| Obama seeks change in how U.S. pays to fight wildfires Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:27 PM PST President Barack Obama will ask Congress in his budget proposal next week to change the way it pays for the soaring costs of fighting wildfires, the White House said on Monday, noting the new approach will ensure more money goes to preventing fires. Obama met on Monday with governors from western states that have had massive fires in recent years, including Arizona, Colorado and Oregon, to discuss the approach. "Population growth near forest and range lands, past management practices and a changing climate have dramatically increased wildfire risk and the resulting cost," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. The Agriculture and Interior department currently base their fire-fighting budgets on a 10-year average of costs, which left them underfunded for 8 of the past 10 years, and forced to draw from fire prevention programs to make up the costs. Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM Renzi wins confidence vote, pledging tax cuts, reform Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:24 PM PST  By James Mackenzie and Naomi O'Leary ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won his first confidence vote in parliament, pledging to cut labour taxes, free up funds for investment in schools and pass wide institutional reforms to tackle Italy's economic malaise. Facing parliament for the first time, the 39-year-old Renzi who is Italy's youngest premier, sketched out an ambitious program of change in an hour-long speech delivered in his trademark quickfire style interspersed with occasional jeers from the opposition benches. "If we lose this challenge, the fault will be mine alone," he told the Senate. Backed by his own center-left Democratic Party (PD), the small center-right NCD party, centrists and other minor groups, Renzi won the backing of the upper house by 169 votes to 139 in a vote taken in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Full Story | Top |
| Former NFL kicker Erxleben sentenced to 7-1/2 years for fraud Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:11 PM PST Former NFL kicker Russell Erxleben was sentenced on Monday to 7-1/2 years in prison for running a fraudulent investment scheme that took in about $2 million trading in post-World War One German government bonds and a painting. The sentence, handed out in a federal court in Austin, came from a plea deal negotiated by U.S. prosecutors and the defense, said David Gonzalez, an attorney for Erxleben. The 57-year-old former stand-out kicker with the University of Texas also sought money from investors to purchase a financial interest in a painting supposedly by French artist Paul Gauguin, according to the document submitted by U.S. prosecutors and signed by Erxleben. Erxleben has been in federal prison before. Full Story | Top |
| Budget cuts to slash U.S. Army to smallest since before World War Two Monday, Feb 24, 2014 04:01 PM PST  ) By David Alexander and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Monday it would shrink the U.S. Army to pre-World War Two levels, eliminate the popular A-10 aircraft and reduce military benefits in order to meet 2015 spending caps, setting up an election-year fight with the Congress over national defense priorities. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, previewing the Pentagon's ideas on how to adapt to government belt-tightening, said the defense budget due out next week would be the first to look beyond 13 years of conflict, shifting away from long-term ground wars like Iraq and Afghanistan. He cautioned, however, that the country needed to be clear-eyed about the risks posed by lower budget levels, which would challenge the Pentagon to field a smaller yet well-trained force that could cope with any adversary, but might not be able to respond simultaneously to multiple conflicts. "Budget reductions inevitably reduce the military's margin of error in dealing with these risks, as other powers are continuing to modernize their weapons portfolios." The cuts come as the Pentagon is attempting to absorb nearly a trillion dollars in reductions to projected spending over a decade. Full Story | Top |
| Asia stocks cheered as merger frenzy spurs Wall St. Monday, Feb 24, 2014 03:57 PM PST  By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian share markets looked set for a bounce on Tuesday as Wall Street sped to historic highs amid more mergers buzz, while gold and oil prices extended their recent rallies. The upbeat mood among investors in the United States and Europe might help calm nerves about China after talk of credit tightening knocked property shares there on Monday. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 hit an intra-day record as the Nasdaq punched to peaks last seen almost 14 years ago, when the technology bubble imploded. In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares added 0.64 percent. Full Story | Top |
| New Italy PM Renzi wins Senate confidence vote Monday, Feb 24, 2014 03:51 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - New Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won his first confidence vote in parliament after pledging to cut labour taxes and pass broad institutional reforms to bring life back into a moribund economy. In a vote which concluded in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Senate supported the confidence motion needed to confirm his new government in office by 169 votes in favour to 139 against. Renzi must now win a confidence vote on Tuesday in the lower house, where his center-left Democratic Party has a strong majority. (Reporting by Naomi O'Leary and James Mackenzie) Full Story | Top |
| Egypt government resigns, paving way for Sisi to seek presidency Monday, Feb 24, 2014 03:25 PM PST By Asma Alsharif and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's government resigned on Monday, paving the way for army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to declare his candidacy for president of a strategic U.S. ally gripped by political strife. After the July overthrow of elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and subsequent crackdown on Islamists and liberals with hundreds killed and thousands jailed, critics say Cairo's military-backed authorities are turning the clock back to the era of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, when the political elite ruled with an iron fist in alliance with top businessmen. The outgoing government "made every effort to get Egypt out of the narrow tunnel in terms of security, economic pressures and political confusion," Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a live nationwide speech. Beblawi, who was tasked by interim President Adly Mansour with running the government's affairs until the election, did not give a clear reason for the decision. Full Story | Top |
| Harsh weather tests optimism over U.S. economy Monday, Feb 24, 2014 03:19 PM PST  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Unusually cold weather will take a bite out of U.S. economic growth this quarter, but a rebound seems likely on the horizon and expectations for stronger growth this year have not changed. Economists estimate that freezing temperatures and the ice and snow storms that have blanketed much of the nation will shave as much as half a percentage point from gross domestic product in the first quarter. "The slowdown is testing everyone's optimism about the economy, but so far it's just a soft patch. The economy will regain strength," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester Pennsylvania. Full Story | Top |
| Governors clash over Obama's quest to raise minimum wage Monday, Feb 24, 2014 03:05 PM PST  Democratic and Republican state governors emerged from talks with President Barack Obama on Monday in a civil mood - until the topic moved to raising the minimum wage. Two governors traded sharp partisan blows on the subject, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, accusing Obama of focusing on raising the minimum wage at the expense of creating new jobs. "What I worry about is that this president, the White House, seems to be waving the white flag of surrender," said Jindal, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, who was at an annual conference of governors in Washington. "The Obama economy is now the minimum wage economy. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico kingpin Guzman seeks to block U.S. extradition Monday, Feb 24, 2014 03:03 PM PST  By Anahi Rama MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Lawyers for Mexican drugs kingpin Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman on Monday filed an injunction to block any move to extradite him to the United States after he was captured and charged with drugs and arms trafficking, an official said. Guzman, Mexico's most wanted criminal and boss of the feared Sinaloa Cartel, was caught in the northwest of the country with help from U.S. agents in a pre-dawn raid on Saturday. According to a Mexican justice official, Guzman's lawyers filed the injunction on Monday after the spokesman for a U.S. federal prosecutor said he planned to seek the capo's extradition to face trial in the United States. Earlier on Monday, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman said an extradition decision would "be the subject of further discussion between the United States and Mexico". Full Story | Top |
| Second Madoff aide testifies at trial, denies knowledge of fraud Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:57 PM PST  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Longtime Bernard Madoff assistant Annette Bongiorno on Monday testified that she had no idea her boss was operating a vast Ponzi scheme, despite the decades she spent helping run the trading business where it originated. Bongiorno said she recorded backdated trades, sometimes months after the fact, but never suspected there was anything illegal about it. "Did anyone ever suggest to you that there was something wrong with that practice?" her lawyer, Roland Riopelle, asked her. Bongiorno is on trial in Manhattan federal court along with four other Madoff employees, all accused of aiding the fraud. Full Story | Top |
| Pill mix-up led to Kennedy 'drugged driving' trial: defense Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:46 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere WHITE PLAINS, New York (Reuters) - A Kennedy family member's groggy behavior after her 2012 arrest for side-swiping a tractor trailer in New York was not the result of a criminal act but of mistakenly taking a sleeping pill instead of thyroid medication, her lawyers argued at her trial Monday. Kerry Kennedy, 54, daughter of assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving while impaired. "This case is about a mistake, plain and simple," defense attorney Gerald Lefcourt said in his opening statement in Westchester County Court in White Plains, about 35 miles north of New York City. Her mother, Ethel Kennedy, widow of Senator Kennedy, was also in the courtroom as Lefcourt described Kennedy as a devout Roman Catholic and a devoted humanitarian and mother who would never willfully drive while impaired. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. eyes funding for Ukraine alongside IMF program Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:43 PM PST By Lesley Wroughton and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it was ready to provide financial assistance to Ukraine to complement a loan program from the International Monetary Fund in the aftermath of the ouster of Ukraine's president Viktor Yanukovich. Two days after the dramatic departure of pro-Moscow Yanukovich after bloody clashes in Kiev, the White House sought to apply subtle pressure on Russia to let events unfold in Ukraine without interfering. This message has been delivered in recent days from President Barack Obama on down. Full Story | Top |
| Deutsche Bank to pay $20 million to settle Brazil charges Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:29 PM PST  Deutsche Bank AG agreed on Monday to pay $20 million to settle charges in Brazil that Europe's largest investment bank by revenue helped manage funds embezzled by former city of São Paulo officials in the 1990s, a prosecutor said on Monday. Deutsche Bank is expected to deposit the proceeds from the settlement within the next 60 days, Silvio Marques, a prosecutor in the case, said in a phone interview. Marques said that more than $200 million from a scheme allegedly run by former mayor Paulo Maluf and other officials moved freely within Deutsche Bank accounts. Courts in Brazil and the island of Jersey have found Maluf, currently a lower house lawmaker, guilty for several charges, while other lawsuits related to corruption allegations while he was mayor of São Paulo between 1993 and 1996 are still under analysis. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. freezes assets of work-at-home Web firms promising thousands Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:21 PM PST (Reuters) - A U.S. district court in Utah has frozen the assets of several Internet business coaches accused of lying to customers about their potential earnings after signing up for the services, the Federal Trade Commission said on Monday. The companies are Essent Media LLC, Net Training LLC, YES International, Coaching Department, and Apply Knowledge, the FTC said in a statement. The commission, which voted 4-0 to sue the Utah-based defendants, filed a lawsuit against them this month. "This case halts a massive scam that bilked consumers out of millions for useless work-at-home kits and business coaching services," said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. Full Story | Top |
| UAW appeal in VW vote to center on outsiders Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:19 PM PST (Reuters) - The head of the United Automobile Workers said on Monday that the union's appeal of a failed organizing effort at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will focus on the actions of outside parties, not the German automaker itself. In an interview with Reuters, UAW President Bob King said, "Corporate VW acted with great integrity," in the run-up to last week's election. "It was certainly not the company." Late last week, the UAW asked the U.S. National Labor Relations Board to investigate the vote, citing what it characterized as "interference by politicians and outside special interest groups." The election loss at the Chattanooga plant was a blow to the UAW, which spent two years trying to persuade the workers there to unionize, but still lost, even with the support of VW. A number of anti-union Republicans, including Bob Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga who now represents Tennessee in the U.S. Senate, urged the VW workers to reject the union, making statements that the UAW says were "threats" that swayed the results. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. rights boss seeks international probe into Sri Lanka war crimes Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:17 PM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations' human rights chief called on Monday for an international inquiry into war crimes committed by both sides during Sri Lanka's civil war, saying the government had failed to do its own credible investigation. In a much anticipated report ahead of a U.N. Human Rights Council debate next month that could order action on the issue, Navi Pillay recommended an "independent, international inquiry mechanism, which would contribute to establishing the truth where domestic inquiry mechanisms have failed." The United States plans to propose a resolution against Sri Lanka at the meeting and Pillay's report, based on her visit to the country last August, adds to pressure on the government. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration, in 18 pages of comments as long as Pillay's report, rejected the recommendations as "arbitrary, intrusive and of a political nature". Many thousands of civilians were killed, injured or remain missing after the 25-year conflict between government forces and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended in May 2009, Pillay said in her report to the Geneva forum. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela says new forex market to take wind out of black market Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:15 PM PST By Eyanir Chinea and Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top economy official vowed on Monday that a new currency exchange platform would undermine the spiraling black market for U.S. dollars by adding a market-based mechanism to existing currency controls. Economy Vice President Rafael Ramirez told reporters that the system known as Sicad 2 would be based on supply and demand and would create an exchange rate through a bond swap system known locally as "permuta." Sicad 2 will add a third rate to the 11-year-old currency controls that sell dollars at 6.3 bolivars for preferential goods and at 11.8 for other items, both of which are far below the 87 bolivars that greenbacks fetch on the black market. "The enemy is the parallel exchange rate, we are going to bring it down." Venezuela has maintained currency controls since 2003, but has sought to overhaul them over the last year amid product shortages that resulted from businesses struggling to import products. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. court voids Indiana school's short hair rule for boys Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:14 PM PST A divided federal appeals court on Monday said an Indiana school district's policy requiring that boys who want to play interscholastic basketball cut their hair short violated federal equal protection laws. By a 2-1 vote, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling and ruled in favor of Patrick and Melissa Hayden, who had challenged a Greensburg, Indiana, school policy that restricted how their son and other boys wear their hair but did not similarly restrict girls. Circuit Judge Ilana Rovner wrote that there was "no rational, let alone exceedingly persuasive" reason to treat boys and girls differently, even though schools had "substantial leeway" in light of their pedagogical and caretaking roles to establish grooming codes generally. The case arose after the Haydens' son, identified in court papers as A.H. and now 17, was removed in the fall of 2010 from his junior high basketball team after refusing to cut his hair above the ears, eyebrows and collar. Full Story | Top |
| Several Arizona lawmakers backtrack on bill critics dub as anti-gay Monday, Feb 24, 2014 02:14 PM PST By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A trio of Republican Arizona state lawmakers urged a veto on Monday of controversial legislation decried by critics as anti-gay that would let businesses refuse service to customers when doing otherwise would violate their religious beliefs. The three state senators, who initially voted in favor of the measure, said in a letter to Republican Governor Jan Brewer that the proposal had been mistakenly approved in haste and had already caused "immeasurable harm" to Arizona's national image. "While our sincere intent in voting for this bill was to create a shield for all citizens' religious liberties, the bill has instead been mischaracterized by its opponents as a sword for religious intolerance," the senators wrote in letter, by state Senators Adam Driggs, Steve Pierce and Bob Worsley. Some 17 U.S. states and the District of Columbia now recognize gay marriage in a trend that has gained momentum since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that legally married same-sex couples nationwide are eligible for federal benefits. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment