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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 |
| Dongfeng deal buys time and new blood for Peugeot Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 08:08 PM PST  By Samuel Shen and Laurence Frost SHANGHAI/PARIS (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen and China's Dongfeng have agreed a 3 billion euro ($4.1 billion) capital tie-up that brings the troubled French carmaker new leadership, more time to turn its business around and an end to two centuries of family control. Peugeot, Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd and the French government have signed a non-binding outline agreement, China's second biggest carmaker announced on Wednesday, confirming an earlier Reuters report. Peugeot Chief Executive Philippe Varin and former Renault executive Carlos Tavares, who will replace Varin when the deal is finalized, must now explain how the fresh capital can be used to improve the bottom line, analysts said. "Expectations are running high," London-based ISI Group analyst Erich Hauser said in a note. Full Story | Top |
| Herbalife raises forecast as China drives fourth-quarter sales Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:53 PM PST  (Reuters) - Herbalife Ltd , the nutrition products company accused by billionaire investor William Ackman of being a pyramid scheme, raised its forecast for the first quarter of 2014 on strong sales growth in China. The company's China sales rose more than 120 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, the fastest of any region worldwide, prompting the firm to estimate adjusted profit of $1.25 to $1.29 per share in the first quarter this year. Direct sales models have recently come under fire in China. Authorities launched a probe into Herbalife rival NU Skin Enterprises Inc last month after state media published reports that it brainwashed its members. Full Story | Top |
| Standard Chartered considers HK consumer finance unit sale -sources Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:37 PM PST  HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Standard Chartered Plc is seeking buyers for its Hong Kong consumer finance business, in a deal worth $500 million to $700 million, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The London-based bank is working with an advisor to sell PrimeCredit Ltd, which it acquired in 2004, via an auction likely to kick off in next few weeks, the people said. "We don't comment on market speculation," a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Standard Chartered said in an email to Reuters. Standard Chartered is also selling its South Korean consumer finance business and is planning to sell its Swiss private bank, Reuters previously reported. Full Story | Top |
| GM readying aluminum-body trucks by late 2018: WSJ Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:27 PM PST (Reuters) - General Motors Co is working towards a largely aluminum-bodied pickup truck by late 2018, under pressure from federal fuel efficiency standards, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. GM recently locked-in supply contracts with Alcoa Inc and Novelis Inc and both suppliers are now working to increase their aluminum sheet production to supply the next-generation GM pickup, according to the Journal. (http://link.reuters.com/ruc96v) The No. 1 U.S. auto maker has been working to put its full-size pickup trucks on a severe diet to meet future U.S. fuel economy standards and stay competitive with rival Ford Motor Co . Full Story | Top |
| Running takes the exotic route in Asia Tuesday, Feb 18, 2014 07:25 PM PST By Saikat Chatterjee HONG KONG, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Out for a jog one day in the sleepy Laotian town of Luang Prabang, Michael Gilmore got an idea. He had just run a half-marathon at the temple ruins of Angkor Wat in neighbouring Cambodia, so why not set up something similar in Laos? After months of work to woo sponsors, about 400 runners assembled in a narrow street opposite the royal palace last October for the first half-marathon in Luang Prabang. "Destination races are catching on quickly in Asia, as organisers realise it just takes an extra marginal shift to get more people to a new place," said Gilmore, a British national who works in equity sales at HSBC in Singapore. 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 |
| 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 |
| 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. 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 |
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