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| Iran shuts reformist paper over comments on law Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 08:09 PM PST Iranian authorities shut a reformist newspaper on Thursday, less than a week after its launch, because it published comments critical of Islamic criminal law. "Aseman" (Sky) newspaper, a weekly magazine turned newspaper aligned with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, had quoted a political science professor describing eye-for-an-eye punishment as "inhumane." "The newspaper was banned for spreading lies and insulting Islam," an official from Tehran's Prosecutor's office told the official IRNA news agency. Numerous articles by Iran's hardline Fars News agency had called for the paper's closure, reflecting conservative displeasure with any challenge to shariah law, which mandates equal retribution for a crime. The paper's managing director, Mohamad Ghouchani, was also prosecuted, the semi-official ISNA news agency said without elaborating. Full Story | Top |
| G20 aspires to faster economic growth, roadmap sketchy Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 07:09 PM PST  By Wayne Cole and Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - The world's top economies have adopted a soft target of adding at least 2 percentage points to growth over five years, a source said, signaling optimism that the worst of crisis-era austerity was behind them. There was a nod to concerns by emerging nations that the Federal Reserve consider the impact of its policy tapering, with the communique saying central banks would be mindful of the effects on the global economy. The G20 communique also stated that it "deeply regrets" that progress on giving emerging nations more say in the International Monetary Fund had stalled, the source said. The growth plan borrows wholesale from an IMF paper prepared for the G20 meeting, which estimated that structural reforms would raise world growth by about 0.5 percentage points per year over the next five years, boosting global output by $2.25 trillion. Full Story | Top |
| Samsung to unveil first smartwatches with own Tizen platform Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 06:53 PM PST  Samsung Electronics Co is to unveil on Sunday its first wearable smartwatch powered by its Tizen platform in its latest attempt to distance itself from Google Inc and enhance its software and services. Samsung has been jointly developing its mobile platform with Intel Corp, as the dominance of Google's free Android software, which Samsung uses for its Galaxy line of products, continues to grow and is now used in almost 80 percent of the global smartphone market. The launch also underscores Samsung's desire to come up with new products to revive slowing momentum in its mobile business, the tech giant's biggest earnings driver, as sales of high-end smartphones have eased in many advanced markets. For the new Galaxy Gear 2 and Neo 2, to be unveiled at an annual trade fair in Barcelona on Sunday, Samsung has not significantly upgraded the hardware on offer. Full Story | Top |
| Commitment on central bank communication unlikely at G20: Canada Fin Min Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 06:15 PM PST  Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he does not expect a commitment for advanced economies to articulate monetary policy more clearly to be in the Group of 20 (G20) communique due later on Sunday. Flaherty said the figure for additional global growth that members at the meeting of finance members of the group in Sydney were seeking agreement on would be framed as an aspiration, rather than a target. Full Story | Top |
| G20 to agree to target extra 2 percent growth over five years: source Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 05:22 PM PST The world's financial leaders will agree on Sunday to implement reforms and policies that would aim to accelerate global economic growth by an extra 2 percentage points over five years, a G20 official said. "The G20 is likely to agree on aiming at reforms and polices that could increase GDP by 2 percent on top of the current trajectory in five years. Full Story | Top |
| Seeking cheap stocks, chaos no problem? Try Libya Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 05:05 PM PST  Ever since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya's government has been struggling to establish law and order and assert control over a vast desert nation awash with arms. But despite the turmoil, Libya's stock market is getting ready for the first launch of Islamic investment funds, the most prominent bourse debut since the eight-month uprising. Authorities also hope a regulator, another novelty for Libya, will bring transparency to an opaque market and put it on the radar of risk-willing investors. "We need stability," said Ahmed Karoud, the energetic bourse director, whose office is almost as large as the trading room. Full Story | Top |
| Five snowmobilers found safe after lost in Wyoming mountains Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 04:58 PM PST Five snowmobilers were found safe on Saturday after going missing Thursday in the Bighorn Mountains of north central Wyoming, officials said. The adult men were found together at about 1 p.m. local time after an extensive 30-hour search, said Lt. Mark Conrad, a spokesman for the Sheridan County Sheriff's Office. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook's big buy, WhatsApp messaging app, back up after outage Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 03:28 PM PST  By Ros Krasny and Christine Stebbins WASHINGTON (Reuters) - WhatsApp, the rapidly expanding mobile messaging app, suffered an outage for more than three hours on Saturday, frustrating users just days after its acquisition by Facebook for $19 billion. We are so sorry for the downtime...," WhatsApp tweeted to its more than 1 million Twitter followers on Saturday around 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT). Facebook referred questions on the outage to WhatsApp representatives, who did not immediately respond. On Saturday, some of those users took to other forms of social media, including blogs and Twitter to report the outage and vent their frustration. Full Story | Top |
| Apple promises fix 'very soon' for Macs with failed encryption Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 02:33 PM PST  By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Saturday it would issue a software update "very soon" to cut off the ability of spies and hackers to grab email, financial information and other sensitive data from Mac computers. Confirming researchers' findings late Friday that a major security flaw in iPhones and iPads also appears in notebook and desktop machines running Mac OS X, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Reuters: "We are aware of this issue and already have a software fix that will be released very soon." Apple released a fix Friday afternoon for the mobile devices running iOS, and most will update automatically. Once that fix came out, experts dissected it and saw the same fundamental issue in the operating system for Apple's mainstream computers. That started a race, as intelligence agencies and criminals will try to write programs that take advantage of the flaw on Macs before Apple pushes out the fix for them. Full Story | Top |
| G20 united on need to tackle tax reform: Australian Treasurer Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 01:41 PM PST  Finance officials of the world's 20 major economies discussed the impact of the Federal Reserve's withdrawal of stimulus on emerging markets and were united on the need to address problems of tax minimization, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Sunday. "There was extensive discussion of the impact of tapering on emerging economies and it was an excellent discussion," Hockey told a media briefing ahead of the final day of a weekend meeting. Full Story | Top |
| Thirteen billboards, one paint-shop worker helped defeat union at VW plant in Chattanooga Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 01:31 PM PST  By Kevin Drawbaugh and Nick Carey WASHINGTON/CHATTANOOGA (Reuters) - In the aftermath of the United Auto Workers' crushing defeat in a vote to represent workers at Volkswagen's sole U.S. factory, a key question remains unanswered: did conservative politicians and anti-union groups work together to stymie the union? In an appeal to the National Labor Relations Board on Friday, the UAW said there was a "coordinated effort" by state politicians, anti-union groups and Tennessee's U.S. Senator Bob Corker to coerce a no vote in the February 12-14 election. However, through the interviews a more complete picture emerges of how at least five national organizations and one grassroots group - all apparently operating independently - mounted a formidable threat to the UAW and helped thwart what many initially viewed as the favorite to win the election. How that loose coalition was able to help defeat the UAW could provide a blueprint for conservative groups to oppose the union as it presses on with its campaign for representation in its first foreign-owned auto plant in the U.S. South. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria court rules central bank governor can't be arrested pending plea Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 01:31 PM PST  A Nigerian court has issued an order on the security agencies, barring them from arresting suspended Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi, after he was briefly detained and his passport seized at the airport, a document viewed by Reuters showed. Justice Buba Ibrahim issued the order on Friday, after Sanusi complained that his detention had breached his right to freedom of movement, since he had not yet been charged with committing the financial malpractices for which he was suspended. President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Sanusi on Thursday, removing an outspoken critic of his government's record on corruption, citing "acts of financial recklessness". Since the suspension, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati has accused the central bank of procurement irregularities during Sanusi's tenure, most of them dating back to 2011. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Air Force reveals ‘neighborhood watch' spy satellite program Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 01:12 PM PST  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The United States plans to launch a pair of satellites to keep tabs on spacecraft from other countries orbiting 22,300 miles above the planet, as well as to track space debris, the head of Air Force Space Command said. The previously classified Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) will supplement ground-based radars and optical telescopes in tracking thousands of pieces of debris so orbital collisions can be avoided, General William Shelton said at the Air Force Association meeting in Orlando on Friday. The two-satellite network, built by Orbital Sciences Corp will drift around the orbital corridor housing much of the world's communications satellites and other spacecraft. The Air Force currently tracks about 23,000 pieces of orbiting debris bigger than about 4 inches. Full Story | Top |
| Lake of fire and luxurious lambskin at Milan fashion week Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 01:10 PM PST  By Isla Binnie MILAN (Reuters) - Models stalked around a fiery lake at Roberto Cavalli and were swathed in luxurious lambskin at Bottega Veneta in Milan on Saturday for the city's biannual women's fashion week. A pattern of scarlet flames licked around the hem of a black evening gown and beaded flapper dresses reflected blue spotlights and the glow of real fire at Cavalli's show. Bottega Veneta chose powdery pink, grey and beige for shearling coats, linear crepe dresses and pleated skirts, adding the occasional flash of purple, emerald green and red. Italy's national chamber of fashion (CNMI) expects the industry to make 62.5 billion euros ($85.91 billion) in revenue in 2014, returning to sales growth after two years in decline. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich refused exit from country: Interfax Saturday, Feb 22, 2014 12:43 PM PST Ukraine's border authorities said on Saturday it had refused to allow President Viktor Yanukovich to leave the country, Interfax news agency said. Yanukovich subsequently got off the plane and left in a waiting car, it said. Full Story | Top |
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