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| Mt. Gox resigns from Bitcoin Foundation: WSJ Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:24 PM PST  (Reuters) - Mark Karpeles, chief executive of Mt. Gox, the embattled Toyko-based bitcoin exchange, resigned on Sunday from the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the situation. Earlier this month, Mt. Gox, the best-known digital marketplace operator, said a halt on withdrawals would continue indefinitely after it detected "unusual activity. Mt. Gox is one of the industry representatives on the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, which advocates for the virtual currency. Charles Shrem, another prominent member, resigned earlier this year after being arrested in connection with an alleged drug scheme involving his bitcoin currency exchange. Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon to propose shrinking Army, scrapping some jets: report Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:10 PM PST  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will propose on Monday a reduction in the size of the U.S. Army to its smallest size since before World War Two and scrapping a class of Air Force attack jets, the New York Times reported on Sunday. The plans, which the paper said were outlined by several Pentagon officials on condition of anonymity, would be aimed at reducing defense spending in the face of government austerity after a pledge by President Barack Obama to end U.S. involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "You have to always keep your institution prepared, but you can't carry a large land-war Defense Department when there is no large land war," the Times quoted a senior Pentagon official as saying. Full Story | Top |
| Self-proclaimed protectors of Kiev look to Ukraine's east Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:01 PM PST By Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - Some wear black balaclavas and grubby army fatigues, others wield spiked iron clubs, all united in a common goal to protect Kiev in the power vacuum following the ouster of president Viktor Yanukovich. In the months of anti-government protests that culminated in fatal gun battles and the fall of the president, a hard core of demonstrators has coalesced into units of about 100 men, forming the vanguard of the fight to bring down Yanukovich and recalibrate Ukraine towards Europe. It was these groups, known as 'sotnyi', that took control of Yanukovich's offices after he fled the capital late on Friday. Their men continue to patrol the streets, standing guard outside state buildings or marching two-by-two through the crowds on Kiev's Independence Square, widely known as Maidan and the crucible of an East-West tug-of-war over this country of 46 million. Full Story | Top |
| Olympics-What do you do with a mountain resort with Games gone? Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 08:00 PM PST (repeats with no changes to text) By David Ljunggren and Olga Petrova ROSA KHUTOR, Russia, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Stanislav Kuznetsov has a headache like no other: it measures 780,000 square metres and covers a large expanse of Russian mountainside. The Gorky Gorod resort in the snowy Caucasus peaks above Sochi was packed during the Winter Olympics. Now the Games are ending, Kuznetsov's job is to keep filling the nine hotels. "We are seriously thinking about the future," said Kuznetsov, deputy chairman of the board at Russian state lender Sberbank, which owns 92 percent of Gorky Gorod. Full Story | Top |
| Boeing's machinist union in St. Louis approves contract extension Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:47 PM PST  (Reuters) - Boeing Co's machinists' union in St. Louis approved a seven and a half year contract extension that will keep the company's unionized employees away from a defined benefit retirement plan. The workers will shift from a defined pension to a 401(k)-style retirement benefit system on January 1, 2016, Boeing said in a statement on Sunday. Boeing said it expects the changes in the retirement plan to result in non-cash pension curtailment charges of about $80 million to first-quarter GAAP earnings. Full Story | Top |
| China confident can maintain same growth pace in trade this year Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:24 PM PST  China is confident of maintaining around the same pace of growth in foreign trade this year as last year, the Ministry of Commerce said on Monday. Shen Danyang, the spokesman for the ministry, also noted that exports may see some fluctuation in the first quarter of this year due to seasonal factors, according to a statement on the ministry's website, www.mofcom.gov.cn China's exports grew 7.9 percent for all of 2013 compared with the previous year, while imports rose 7.3 percent, missing an official 8 percent growth target. Full Story | Top |
| Shares weaken as China slumps, dollar firms after muted reaction to G20 Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 07:04 PM PST  By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks dropped and the dollar firmed on Monday, as investors looked past the Group of 20's latest commitment to spur faster global growth and turned their focus back to the impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve's stimulus withdrawal. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.6 percent, while Japan's Nikkei stock average added 0.1 percent, paring earlier gains. Full Story | Top |
| CNN ending British journalist Piers Morgan's prime-time show Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 06:58 PM PST  By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CNN has decided to end the marquee prime-time talk show hosted by veteran British journalist Piers Morgan, the cable news network said on Sunday. A date for the final broadcast of Piers Morgan Live on CNN had not been determined and a spokeswoman did not immediately say if Morgan would remain at the network in any other role. A source at CNN said network president Jeffrey Zucker had made the decision to cancel the show following a series of discussions with Morgan about its future. Morgan, 48, could not immediately be reached for comment but acknowledged in a New York Times interview published on Sunday that as a Brit he did not always connect with American audiences, a problem that showed itself in the program's ratings. Full Story | Top |
| BOE's Carney dismisses bank concerns on capital proposals -report Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 06:03 PM PST  (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney dismissed banks' concerns about new capital requirement proposals and said they have to stop refusing to follow new international rules, in an interview published on Monday in the Sydney Morning Herald. Carney rejected claims by banks that proposed standards being discussed by G20 members in Sydney were so strict that they could lead to an explosion in shadow banking and sow the seeds of the next crisis. Full Story | Top |
| Big consumer companies cut costs, Wall Street wants bolder steps Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 05:15 PM PST  By Lisa Baertlein and Martinne Geller BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - Investors are growing impatient with the makers of global brands like Cadbury chocolate, Campbell Soup and Tide laundry detergent, as these stalwart consumer products companies try to boost profits through cost cuts and brand makeovers while smaller rivals take risks and grab market share. Organic and soy milk seller WhiteWave Foods Co, privately owned yogurt maker Chobani Greek and Keurig coffee brewer seller Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc have shaken up their categories and chalked up enviable growth while big companies such as ConAgra Foods Inc, Danone S.A. and General Mills Inc struggle. Full Story | Top |
| Fantasy and furs draw Milan fashion week to positive end Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 04:51 PM PST  By Isla Binnie MILAN (Reuters) - Hooded models walked in an enchanted forest and fox-fur mixed with lambskin on Milan's catwalks on Sunday as the city's women's fashion week drew to an end in a positive mood. A frosty oak tree rose from beneath the stage in a flurry of snow at Dolce and Gabbana before models glided out in clothes stitched with squirrels, foxes and childlike flowers. Salvatore Ferragamo showed a textured collection of furry coats, metallic dresses and leopard-print skirt suits for autumn and winter, in a startlingly bright white room. As Italy installs a new government and struggles to emerge from recession, the national chamber of fashion (CNMI) is strongly promoting a sector it forecasts will earn 62.5 billion euros ($85.63 million) in revenue in 2014. Full Story | Top |
| Indonesian copper smelters at risk as mining policy misfires Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 03:59 PM PST By Michael Taylor and Wilda Asmarini JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian policies to force miners to process raw materials at home are misfiring, as disputes over the new rules disrupt plans to invest nearly $4 billion in copper smelters to cater for miners such as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono imposed a controversial mining law on January 12, but the rules have left the mining sector in turmoil. The tax ratchets up sharply before an outright export ban from 2017 and Freeport and Newmont Mining Corp, which produce 97 percent of Indonesia's copper, have halted all exports and are locked in talks with the government because they say the tax breaches their contracts. This has deepened uncertainty on plans to construct three copper smelters, since the firms building them say they need firm supply guarantees from Freeport and Newmont to put in place financing so they can proceed. Full Story | Top |
| Stocks sluggish, dollar firms as G20 reaction muted Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 03:56 PM PST  MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was struggling to turn positive, while Australian shares shed about 0.1 percent. Economists surveyed remain skeptical that the central bank will achieve its 2 percent inflation target by early next year. Full Story | Top |
| India's Bajaj to launch four-wheel vehicle but it's not a car Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 03:46 PM PST  By Aradhana Aravindan MUMBAI (Reuters) - It's got four wheels and seatbelts, but Bajaj Auto , the creator of India's first quadricycle, would rather you didn't call it a car. Bajaj Auto is marketing the RE60 as a more stable and comfortable alternative to the three-wheeled autorickshaws ubiquitous on India's roads even though it looks like a small hatchback car and is expected to cost less. But that didn't stop executives from India's top automakers such as Tata Motors from comparing it to a car and finding its safety features come up short. Rajiv Bajaj, the company's managing director, insists the RE60 is neither a car nor an autorickshaw. Full Story | Top |
| World's oldest Holocaust survivor, Alice Herz-Sommer, dies in UK Sunday, Feb 23, 2014 03:40 PM PST By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - A 110-year-old woman believed to be the oldest survivor of the Holocaust and who endured the ordeal partly through her passion for music, has died in London, her family said on Sunday. Alice Herz-Sommer, who is said to have counted writer Franz Kafka among her family friends and is the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary, was a Jewish pianist and musician from Prague in what is today the Czech Republic. In 1943, the Nazis sent her and her young son to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where tens of thousands of people lost their lives. Her grandson, Ariel Sommer, confirmed her death in London on Sunday, saying: "Alice Sommer passed away peacefully this morning with her family by her bedside. Full Story | Top |
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