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| EU seeks peace as Ukraine death toll hits 75 Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 05:54 PM PST  By Richard Balmforth and Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - European Union ministers sought to broker a political settlement in Ukraine after gun battles between police and anti-government protesters brought the death toll to 75 in two days of the worst violence in the country since Soviet times. Three hours of fierce fighting in Kiev's Independence Square, which was recaptured by the protesters, left the bodies of over 20 civilians strewn on the ground, a short distance from where President Viktor Yanukovich was meeting the EU delegation. The ministers, from Germany, France and Poland, embarked on "a night of difficult negotiations" with Yanukovich and the opposition, said EU officials, who hoped a plan for an interim government and early elections could bring peace. "Talks of Polish, German, French foreign ministers at Yanukovich's office still going on. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela protesters, troops clash, death toll at six Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 06:52 PM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Security forces and protesters fought around Venezuela on Thursday in streets blocked by burning barricades and a supporter of socialist President Nicolas Maduro was shot dead, the sixth fatality from more than a week of violence. Maduro said a "fascist bullet" killed Alexis Martinez, a brother of a ruling Socialist Party legislator, in the central city of Barquisimeto. The protesters, mostly students, want Maduro to resign, and blame his government for violent crime, high inflation, shortages of goods and alleged repression of opponents. The most sustained clashes on Thursday were in the western Andean states of Tachira and Merida, which have been especially volatile since hardline opposition leaders called supporters onto the streets in early February. Full Story | Top |
| Angry and unpaid, Thai farmers poised for airport protest Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 06:25 PM PST  By Pairat Temphairojana BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of Thai farmers threatened to head for Bangkok's main airport in their tractors on Friday in protest against non-payment in a controversial rice subsidy scheme, heaping pressure on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down. The rice program was among the populist policies pioneered by Yingluck's billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister central to a conflict that has divided Thais for years and triggered protests, violent at times, that have paralyzed parts of the capital for weeks. It was not immediately clear what the farmers planned to do at the airport or how long they would stay, but the convoy evoked memories of 2008 when anti-Thaksin protesters blockaded Bangkok's airports and held crippling rallies against two Thaksin-backed governments. "We are not sure where we will set up camp, but we will not leave the capital until we are paid for every grain of rice sold," former member of parliament Chada Thaiseth said on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| China urges Obama to cancel meeting with Dalai Lama Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 07:39 PM PST  China urged the United States on Friday to scrap plans for U.S. President Barack Obama to meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama later in the day, warning that the planned meeting would "seriously damage" ties between the countries. The White House National Security Council said Obama would meet the Dalai Lama at the White House on Friday in a show of concern about China's human rights practices. Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama is a "gross interference" in China's internal affairs, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on the ministry's website. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. leads pushback against emerging market angst at G20 Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 07:49 PM PST  As finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 developed and emerging gather ahead of a weekend meeting in Sydney, many are already talking at cross purposes. Emerging nations want the U.S. Federal Reserve to calibrate its winding down of stimulus so as to mitigate the impact on their economies. "Emerging markets need to take steps of their own to get their fiscal house in order and put structural reforms in place," U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said at a financial conference in Sydney ahead of the ministerial meetings. That was a sentiment very much echoed by the finance ministers of Japan and Britain. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council to vote on Syria aid resolution Saturday Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 05:24 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council will vote on Saturday on a resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria, where the United Nations says 9.3 million people need help, although it is unclear if Russia and China will support or veto the draft. Australian U.N. Ambassador Gary Quinlan, who co-authored the text with envoys from Jordan and Luxembourg, told reporters the vote would be held at 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) on Saturday. Russia, supported by China, has shielded its ally Syria on the U.N. Security Council during the three-year-long civil war. Full Story | Top |
| Consortium resumes work on Panama Canal expansion Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 06:39 PM PST  By Lomi Kriel and Sonya Dowsett PANAMA CITY/MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish-led consortium resumed expansion work on the Panama Canal on Thursday, raising hopes the two sides will finally draw a line under an acrimonious stand-off over massive cost overruns. As workers returned to the construction site after a stoppage lasting more than two weeks, a source close to the consortium led by Spanish builder Sacyr and Italy's Salini Impregilo said it had resolved internal disagreements over the key issue of financing. "The restarting of the works is being done in a way that will enable it to reach full pace in the shortest time possible," the consortium said in a statement. A source close to negotiations between the consortium and the Panama Canal Authority confirmed that work had resumed. Full Story | Top |
| Obama budget proposal to drop Social Security cuts Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 03:30 PM PST  By Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday dropped a measure to trim cost-of-living increases in Social Security from an upcoming budget proposal in an election-year move that may insulate fellow Democrats facing heat from senior voters. The White House said Obama's budget proposal for the 2015 fiscal year, to be released on March 4, will not include a plan he made last year that represented an effort to gain some Republican support and break through congressional gridlock. Dropping the offer this year is a sign Democrats are girding for November congressional elections and in no mood to risk supporting proposals that could cost them votes from seniors on Election Day on November 4. Obama had offered to make a controversial change in how the government calculates inflation for Social Security and other federal benefits in a way that could lead to cuts in benefits for some Americans. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief wants 3,000 more troops for Central African Republic Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 04:30 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday appealed to the international community to send an additional 3,000 troops and police to Central African Republic to combat worsening sectarian violence until a likely U.N. peacekeeping force is established. He told the U.N. Security Council he would shortly report to the 15-member body with a recommendation for a U.N. peacekeeping force with a robust mandate to protect civilians and promote stability in the landlocked former French colony. The people of the Central African Republic do not have months to wait," he said. "The international community must act decisively now." Ban proposed that an international force of African, French and European troops be increased by a third within weeks to 12,000 soldiers and police. Full Story | Top |
| World powers and Iran make 'good start' towards nuclear accord Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 09:57 AM PST  By Justyna Pawlak and Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - Six world powers and Iran made a "good start" in talks in Vienna towards reaching a final settlement in the decade-old stand-off over Tehran's nuclear program, but conceded their plan to get a deal in the coming months was very ambitious. By late July, Western governments hope to hammer out an accord that would lay to rest their suspicions that Iran is seeking the capability to make a nuclear bomb, an aim it denies, while Tehran wants a lifting of economic sanctions. "We have had three very productive days during which we have identified all of the issues we need to address in reaching a comprehensive and final agreement," European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters. Senior diplomats from the six nations, as well as Ashton and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, will meet again on March 17, also in Vienna, and have a series of further discussions ahead of the July deadline. Full Story | Top |
| Anti-Putin protesters face verdict after 'show trial' in Russia Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 04:05 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court is expected to jail eight anti-Kremlin protesters on Friday, sending a message that President Vladimir Putin will brook no challenge to his rule as Ukraine burns and casting a shadow over the final days of the Sochi Olympics. The mother of one of the defendants said the violence in Kiev, where an estimated 67 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters since Tuesday, increased the chance of a harsh verdict in the trial. The eight defendants are charged with assaulting police during clashes at an anti-Putin rally on May 6, 2012, the day before he was sworn in for a third Kremlin term after weathering the biggest opposition unrest of his rule. Putin tacked back before the Olympics, a major prestige project, engineering the release of two women from Pussy Riot and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was widely seen as a political prisoner after more than 10 years in jail. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela protests rumble as demonstrators, troops face off Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 02:52 PM PST By Andrew Cawthorne and Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces and demonstrators faced off in streets blocked by burning barricades in several provincial cities on Thursday as protests escalated against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government. The protesters, mostly students, want Maduro to resign, and blame his government for violent crime, high inflation, product shortages and alleged repression of opponents. Thursday's most serious unrest was in the western Andean states of Tachira and Merida, which have been especially volatile since hardline opposition leaders called supporters onto the streets in early February demanding Maduro's departure. In the city of San Cristobal, which some residents are describing as a "war zone", many businesses remained shut as students and police faced off again. Full Story | Top |
| Poor turnout in Libyan vote for constitution-drafting body Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 01:28 PM PST  By Ulf Laessing and Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyans trickled to the polls on Thursday to elect an assembly to draft a constitution, with the paltry turnout reflecting deep political disillusion with the chaos pervading Libya since Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule ended in 2011. Less than 498,000 people cast ballots, the election commission said, out of one million who had registered to vote - a number far lower than the three million who did so before the 2012 parliamentary election. Live footage from Libyan television cameras in major polling stations across the North African country showed mostly empty rooms. Explosions rocked five polling stations at dawn in the eastern town of Derna, an Islamist stronghold, but no one was hurt. Full Story | Top |
| Jobless claims fall, weather clouds factory picture Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 10:43 AM PST  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting the labor market continues to steadily improve despite severe weather that could hold back hiring again this month. Cold temperatures continue to inflict pain on the economy, with other reports on Thursday showing a surprise drop in factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region this month and a spike in electricity and heating fuel prices in January. Weather has definitely been a factor in keeping things slow," said Alan MacEachin, an economist at Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, Virginia. "Looking at everything right now, I don't know how we can get a good picture for probably at least a couple of months." Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 336,000, the Labor Department said. Full Story | Top |
| Consortium resumes work on Panama Canal expansion Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 03:52 PM PST  By Lomi Kriel and Sonya Dowsett PANAMA CITY/MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish-led consortium resumed expansion work on the Panama Canal on Thursday, raising hopes the two sides will finally draw a line under an acrimonious stand-off over massive cost overruns. As workers returned to the construction site after a stoppage lasting more than two weeks, a source close to the consortium led by Spanish builder Sacyr and Italy's Salini Impregilo said it had resolved internal disagreements over the key issue of financing. "The restarting of the works is being done in a way that will enable it to reach full pace in the shortest time possible," the consortium said in a statement. A source close to negotiations between the consortium and the Panama Canal Authority confirmed that work had resumed. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council to vote on Syria aid resolution Saturday Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 02:30 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council will vote on Saturday on a resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria, where the United Nations says 9.3 million people need help, although it is unclear if Russia and China will support or veto the draft. Australian U.N. Ambassador Gary Quinlan, who co-authored the text with envoys from Jordan and Luxembourg, told reporters the vote would be held at 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) on Saturday. Russia, supported by China, has shielded its ally Syria on the U.N. Security Council during the three-year-long civil war. Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street sees sense in Facebook's $19 billion WhatsApp buy Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 01:39 PM PST  Facebook Inc's purchase of fast-growing messaging startup WhatsApp for an eye-popping $19 billion largely won approval from analysts, who said the deal made strategic sense as it will solidify the social network's position as a leader in mobile. Facebook shares closed up 2.3 percent at $69.63 after falling as much as 3 percent in early trading as investors got over the initial sticker shock of the deal value. At least two brokerages downgraded their recommendations on Facebook to "hold" but the overwhelming majority of analysts remain positive on the stock. Facebook is paying more than double its annual revenue for a chat program that has little revenue. Full Story | Top |
| EU seeks peace as Ukraine death toll hits 75 Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 02:14 PM PST European Union ministers sought to broker a political settlement in Ukraine after gun battles between police and anti-government protesters brought the death toll to 75 in two days of the worst violence in the country since Soviet times. Three hours of fierce fighting in Kiev's Independence Square, which was recaptured by the protesters, left the bodies of over 20 civilians strewn on the ground, a short distance from where President Viktor Yanukovich was meeting the EU delegation. The ministers, from Germany, France and Poland, embarked on "a night of difficult negotiations" with Yanukovich and the opposition, said EU officials who hoped a plan for an interim government and early elections could bring peace. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria suspends anti-graft central bank governor Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 08:47 AM PST  By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi on Thursday, removing an increasingly outspoken critic of the government's record on tackling rampant corruption in Africa's leading energy producer. Trading in the naira currency resumed after the central bank intervened with dollar sales, by which time debt markets were closed. Sanusi, who was due to end his term in June, had been presenting evidence to parliament that he said showed the state oil company Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) failed to remit $20 billion that it owed to federal government coffers. NNPC has repeatedly denied Sanusi's allegations. Full Story | Top |
| Wal-Mart forecast disappoints as grocery business struggles Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 09:40 AM PST  The struggles of the low-income U.S. consumer are playing out in Wal-Mart Stores Inc's grocery aisles. Wal-Mart shares fell 2.2 percent in morning trading. To combat sluggish sales, broaden its customer base and fend off aggressive rivals, Wal-Mart said it was doubling the number of smaller new stores it originally planned to open this year. Wal-Mart's U.S. comparable sales, e-commerce and sales at stores open at least a year, fell for the fourth quarter in a row, slammed by a drop in its grocery business and aggressive price cuts during a tough holiday shopping season. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt puts three Al Jazeera journalists on trial Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 09:41 AM PST  By Seham el-Oraby CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt put three Al Jazeera journalists on trial on Thursday on charges of aiding members of a "terrorist organization", in a case that human rights groups say shows the authorities are trampling on freedom of expression. The journalists, wearing white prison outfits, appeared in metal cages, a Reuters witness said. Six others identified as Al Jazeera journalists are being tried in absentia. Three of the Qatar-based television network's journalists - Peter Greste, an Australian, Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian-Egyptian national, and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian - were detained in Cairo on December 29 and remain in custody, Al Jazeera said. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey's embattled Erdogan seeks wider powers for spy agency Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 09:35 AM PST  By Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Battling a corruption scandal, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is seeking broader powers for his intelligence agency, including more scope for eavesdropping and legal immunity for its top agent, according to a draft law seen by Reuters. The proposals submitted by Erdogan's AK Party late on Wednesday are part of what his opponents regard as an authoritarian backlash against the graft inquiry. The bill gives the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) the authority to conduct operations abroad and tap pay phones and international calls. "This bill will bring the MIT in line with the necessities of the era, grant it the capabilities of other intelligence agencies, and increase its methods and capacity for individual and technical intelligence," the draft document said. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Murdoch editor Brooks launches hacking defense, acquitted on one charge Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 07:48 AM PST  By Michael Holden and Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks's meteoric rise to wield vast power from the pinnacle of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper empire should not be held against her when jurors decide whether she is guilty of phone-hacking, her lawyer told a London court on Thursday. Brooks, a close friend of the last three British prime ministers, took the stand for the first time on day 62 of her trial, explaining how she rose from an ordinary background to become one of Murdoch's leading editors in a matter of years. The case centers on widespread phone-hacking by journalists at the 168-year-old News of the World Sunday tabloid, which Murdoch closed amid huge public anger in July 2011, and on other allegations of crimes by staff on its sister daily paper The Sun, both of which she used to edit. Brooks was cleared of one of the five charges on Thursday on the judge's instruction - that of authorizing a payment to acquire a picture of Prince William in a bikini - but faces four other charges, which she denies. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters take to Facebook to target businesses linked to PM Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 06:02 AM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters campaigning to oust Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra turned to Facebook and other social media to attack businesses linked to her family on Thursday and rallied outside the offices of a property developer whose share price tumbled. Yingluck's government appears increasingly hemmed in by opponents and the judicial system, lacking the fiscal powers to fund key policies and warned by a court on Wednesday that it cannot use a state of emergency to disperse protesters. Four protesters and a police officer were killed on Tuesday, in the deadliest clashes since the unrest began in November, when police attempted to reclaim sites near government buildings that have been occupied for weeks. The protesters are seeking to unseat Yingluck and stamp out what they see as the malign influence of her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a self-exiled former premier regarded by many as the real power behind the government. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria suspends anti-graft central bank governor Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 06:40 AM PST  By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi on Thursday, removing an increasingly outspoken critic of the government's record on tackling rampant corruption in Africa's leading energy producer. Trading in the naira currency resumed after the central bank intervened with dollar sales, by which time debt markets were closed. Sanusi, who was due to end his term in June, had been presenting evidence to parliament that he said showed the state oil company Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) failed to remit $20 billion that it owed to federal government coffers. NNPC has repeatedly denied Sanusi's allegations. Full Story | Top |
| Consumer prices rise marginally Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 05:55 AM PST  Consumer prices rose in January as unseasonably cold weather boosted demand for electricity and heating fuel, but inflation pressures remained muted. The Labor Department said on Thursday its Consumer Price Index edged up 0.1 percent, with increases in the cost of household energy accounting for most of the increase. The CPI had risen 0.2 percent in December and last month's gain was in line with economists' expectations. In the 12 months to January, consumer prices advanced 1.6 percent after increasing 1.5 percent in December. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion in deal shocker Wednesday, Feb 19, 2014 10:55 PM PST  Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock in a landmark deal that places the world's largest social network closer to the heart of mobile communications and may bring younger users into the fold. The WhatsApp deal is worth more than Facebook raised in its own IPO and underscores the social network's determination to win the market for messaging. Founded by a Ukrainian immigrant who dropped out of college, Jan Koum, and a Stanford alumnus, Brian Acton, WhatsApp is a Silicon Valley startup fairy tale, rocketing to 450 million users in five years and adding another million daily. "No one in the history of the world has ever done something like this," Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on a conference call on Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| World economic recovery struggling to gain traction Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 04:24 AM PST  By Jonathan Cable and Adam Rose LONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's vast factory sector contracted again this month and the expected acceleration in euro zone business activity failed to materialize, highlighting the fragile state of a global economy. A survey out of China reinforced concerns of a minor slowdown in the world's second biggest economy while a sister index underscored an ongoing divergence between France, the bloc's second biggest economy, and the rest of the 18-member currency union. "The euro zone is most at risk of a global demand shock given the chills emanating from China's deleveraging across emerging markets, North America's current 'frozen' growth patch and the fact that the U.S. is exporting less of its growth to the rest of the world," said Lena Komileva at G+ Economics. "Today's poor PMI numbers add to the raft of survey and activity data showing that growth momentum in China is clearly slowing after having peaked last summer," said Nikolaus Keis at UniCredit. Full Story | Top |
| China aims for Nanjing's history to speak loudly on Japan Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 03:36 AM PST  By John Ruwitch NANJING, China (Reuters) - China pressed a propaganda campaign against Japan this week with a guided visit to the site of the 1937 Nanjing massacre, holding up proof to refute doubts by some in Japan about the extent of the atrocity or even that it happened at all. China's ties with Japan have long been poisoned by what China sees as Japan's failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China before and during World War Two. China is determined to sustain the memories. Full Story | Top |
| Have a cigar: Cuba and Europe to write a business plan Wednesday, Feb 19, 2014 10:08 PM PST  By Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Eleven months before Barack Obama's historic handshake with Raul Castro, Europe staged its own show of friendliness with Cuba. It all happened one hot January day last year at an EU-Latin America summit in Chile. Castro cheerily waved alongside European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso for the official group picture and then, as the photo gathering broke up, German Chancellor Angela Merkel shook his hand. But all this warmth at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in South Africa has brought no radical change and the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, imposed in 1962, remains. Full Story | Top |
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