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| Ukraine peace deal halts violence but crowds still angry Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:44 PM PST  By Sabine Siebold and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - A breakthrough peace deal for Ukraine halted two days of violence that had turned the center of the capital into a war zone and killed 77 people, bringing sweeping political change that met many demands of the pro-European opposition. Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich agreed to give up powers, hold early elections and form a government of national unity. Parliament voted for changes to the legal code that could see the release of Yanukovich's jailed rival, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. By nightfall, opposition leaders who signed the deal were addressing peaceful crowds from a stage in Independence Square, which for the previous 48 hours had been an inferno of blazing barricades and protesters were shot dead by police snipers. Full Story | Top |
| Obama meets with Dalai Lama, upsetting China Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:00 PM PST  By Roberta Rampton and Sui-Lee Wee WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama on Friday, prompting the Chinese government to ask why the White House ignored Beijing's warnings that the meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would damage ties. China's vice foreign minister, Zhang Yesui, summoned Daniel Kritenbrink, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in China, on Friday night to condemn the meeting as interference in China's internal affairs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. China calls the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, a "wolf in sheep's clothing" who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet. Full Story | Top |
| From jail, Venezuela protest leader urges resistance Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:01 PM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's jailed protest leader urged supporters on Friday to keep demonstrating peacefully against President Nicolas Maduro despite violence that has killed at least six people and rocked the OPEC member nation. "I'm fine, I ask you not to give up, I won't," Leopoldo Lopez told his followers in a handwritten note passed to his wife at Caracas' Ramo Verde prison and then posted on the Internet. The 42-year-old Lopez, a Harvard-educated economist and one of the few surviving relatives of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar, spearheaded protests against the socialist government that began at the start of February. At least six people have died, five from gunshots, and one run over by a vehicle, as the protests have degenerated into violence in Caracas and other cities around Venezuela, especially in the western Andean region. Full Story | Top |
| California lawmaker indicted on bribery, corruption charges Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:09 PM PST  By Dan Whitcomb and Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California state senator has been indicted on federal charges that he took $100,000 in bribes from a businessman and from undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood movie executives in exchange for steering legislation in their favor, prosecutors said on Friday. Democrat Ron Calderon, 56, has agreed to turn himself in on Monday to face two dozen counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and other charges, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte said at a news conference to announce the charges. "Senator Calderon is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and using the powers of his elected office to enrich himself and his brother Tom, rather than for the benefit of the public he was sworn to serve," Birotte said. State senate leader Darrell Steinberg called on Calderon, a veteran legislator and member of a political dynasty going back several decades in California, to resign or take a leave of absence. Full Story | Top |
| Harsh weather, tight supply sink U.S. home sales Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:40 PM PST  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Severe cold weather and a shortage of houses on the market pushed U.S. home resales to an 18-month low in January, the latest indication economic activity has hit a soft patch. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday that home sales dropped 5.1 percent last month to an annual rate of 4.62 million units, the lowest level since July 2012. The Realtors group said unseasonably cold weather was partly to blame, but it also acknowledged some fundamental weakness, with fewer homes on the market to choose from and higher mortgage rates and prices reducing affordability. "Some housing activity will be delayed until spring," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government seeks to cut Medicare payments to insurers Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday proposed a cut in payments to private health insurers for 2015 Medicare Advantage plans, a move Republican lawmakers said would hurt benefits for the elderly and disabled. The proposal, released in a document by a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, appeared to cut payments by more than the 6 to 7 percent the insurance industry had expected, one Wall Street analyst said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria submits new 100-day plan for removal of chemical weapons Friday, Feb 21, 2014 12:54 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria has submitted a new 100-day plan for the removal of its chemical weapons after failing to meet a February 5 deadline, but the international mission overseeing the operation believes it can be done in a shorter time frame, diplomats said on Friday. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons executive committee met on Friday in The Hague to discuss the joint OPCW and U.N. mission amid growing international frustration at Syria falling behind on its commitments. The Syrian government, locked in a three-year-old war with rebels seeking President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow, failed to meet the February 5 OPCW deadline to move all of its declared chemical substances and precursors out of the country. The final deadline under the OPCW plan is for all of Syria's declared chemical materials to be destroyed by June 30. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Renzi to be sworn in Saturday after unveiling cabinet Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:42 PM PST  By Steve Scherer and James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italian center-left leader Matteo Renzi promised on Friday to start work on reforms immediately, after he named a new cabinet and formally accepted the mandate to form an administration he said would stay in place until 2018. He confirmed that OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan, who was forced to hurry back from Australia, would take over at the economy ministry where he will play a central role in Renzi's bid to revitalize Italy's stagnant economy. With a cabinet boasting no star names, the success or failure of the government will be down to the ambitious Renzi, who forced out party rival Enrico Letta last week after a stream of criticism over the slow pace of economic reforms. At 39, he will be Italy's youngest prime minister and heads a cabinet made up mainly of ministers in their 40s and 50s, half of them women, continuing the rejuvenation of the elderly caste which used to run Italian politics. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Ally targets March IPO to raise up to $4.5 billion, government exit Friday, Feb 21, 2014 09:39 AM PST  Ally Financial Inc is hoping for an initial public offering of as much as $4.5 billion next month, sources familiar with the matter said, in a deal that would allow the U.S. government to make a profit on its crisis-era bailout of the auto lender. Only the U.S. Treasury Department, which owns 37 percent of the former General Motors Co unit, is expected to sell stock in the IPO. Both the government and Ally are hoping it would be able to sell the stake in one go, which would translate to a roughly $4.5 billion IPO at the valuations being considered, the sources said. At the very least, Ally is expecting the U.S. government will be able to sell $2 billion worth of stock in the IPO, which is roughly the money that the company still owes Treasury. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Murdoch editor Brooks denies having affair with Coulson Friday, Feb 21, 2014 11:05 AM PST  By Kate Holton LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks fought back tears at the Old Bailey on Friday as she detailed her "car crash" private life and dysfunctional relationship with fellow editor Andy Coulson as part of her defense against phone-hacking allegations. Taking the stand for the second day, the 45-year-old close friend of Rupert Murdoch and the last three British prime ministers, said she had had periods of "physical intimacy" with Coulson but denied a prosecution charge that they had a six-year affair. Prosecutor Andrew Edis had opened the trial in October by arguing that the close nature of the relationship between the two former editors of the News of the World tabloid meant they both knew as much as the other about the criminal activities of journalists on the paper. Three senior journalists and a private investigator have admitted conspiracy to hack phones. Full Story | Top |
| California lawmaker indicted on bribery, corruption charges Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:25 PM PST By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California state senator has been indicted on federal charges that he accepted some $100,000 in bribes from a businessman and undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood movie executives in exchange for steering legislation in their favor, prosecutors said on Friday. Democrat Ron Calderon, 56, has agreed to turn himself in on Monday to face two dozen counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and other charges, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. Calderon's brother, Tom Calderon, a former member of the California State Assembly, was also named in the U.S. District Court indictment and charged with conspiracy and seven counts of money laundering. Tom Calderon, 59, has surrendered to federal authorities and was expected to face an arraignment on Friday, Mrozek said. Full Story | Top |
| Fannie Mae profits push taxpayers into black on housing bailout Friday, Feb 21, 2014 09:32 AM PST  By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fannie Mae said on Friday it would soon send the U.S. Treasury a dividend of $7.2 billion that will make taxpayers whole for the 2008 bailout of the mortgage-financing giant and its sibling company Freddie Mac. Unlike other companies rescued during the financial crisis, however, the firms will remain under government control until Congress or the courts decide their fate. "It's good news for taxpayers that Fannie Mae is profitable and sending dividends to the Treasury," Fannie Mae President and Chief Executive Officer Timothy Mayopoulos said on a call with reporters. "But I don't think that our profitability should be interpreted as a reason for delaying housing finance reform." In announcing the payment, Fannie Mae said it posted net income of $6.5 billion for the three-month period that ended December 31, its eighth straight quarterly profit. Full Story | Top |
| Obama meets with Dalai Lama despite China warnings Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:53 PM PST By Roberta Rampton and Sui-Lee Wee WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama held low-key talks with the Dalai Lama at the White House on Friday after warnings from Beijing that the meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would "seriously damage" ties with Washington. The private meeting lasted about an hour, although the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was not seen by White House photographers as he entered or exited the complex. The White House sidestepped questions about whether it was worried Obama's meeting - his third with the Dalai Lama - would upset its relationship with China. Full Story | Top |
| From jail, Venezuela protest leader urges resistance Friday, Feb 21, 2014 01:53 PM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's jailed protest leader urged supporters on Friday to keep demonstrating peacefully against President Nicolas Maduro despite violence that has killed at least six people and rocked the OPEC member nation. "I'm fine, I ask you not to give up, I won't," Leopoldo Lopez told his followers in a handwritten note passed to his wife at Caracas' Ramo Verde prison then posted on the Internet. The 42-year-old Lopez, a Harvard-educated economist and one of the few surviving relatives of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar, spearheaded protests against the socialist government that began at the start of February. At least six people have died, five from gunshots, and one run over by a vehicle, as the protests have degenerated into violence in Caracas and other cities around Venezuela, especially in the western Andean region. Full Story | Top |
| 11 die in attack by militants on Somali president's compound Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:04 AM PST  By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 11 people were killed when Islamist militants attacked the Somali presidential compound on Friday, blasting through a gate with a car bomb and fighting a gunbattle with guards. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was unharmed in the assault on the heavily-fortified compound known as Villa Somalia, which also houses other government agencies. Al Shabaab, a group linked to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility. The president said the incident would not stop his government's work to rebuild Somalia after decades of war. Full Story | Top |
| Security staff strike brings chaos to Frankfurt airport Friday, Feb 21, 2014 10:47 AM PST  By Victoria Bryan and Peter Maushagen FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A strike by security staff at Frankfurt airport caused dozens of flight cancellations and delayed thousands of passengers, bringing chaos to Europe's third largest hub on Friday, the busiest day of the week for travelers. Trade union Verdi had called on around 5,000 staff who carry out security checks on passengers, baggage and freight at the airport to strike for the entire day to push for their pay to be brought into line with counterparts at other German airports. Hoards of people jostling to get to the front of lines at check-in and service desks thronged the airport, which usually handles 150,000 passengers on a typical Friday. Some 90 flights were cancelled, with Lufthansa scrapping nearly 40, but the biggest problem was getting people through check-in and thinly-staffed security, airport operator Fraport said. Full Story | Top |
| Unpaid Thai farmers call off airport tractor protest Friday, Feb 21, 2014 04:12 AM PST  By Pairat Temphairojana and Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai farmers, angry at not being paid under a rice subsidy scheme, called off a protest tractor drive to Bangkok's main airport on Friday after an assurance they would get their money, some welcome news for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The subsidy 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. The farmers had said they wanted to make a symbolic protest, with no plans to block air traffic as in 2008, when protesters forced Bangkok's two main airports to close. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey scraps coup plot courts in battle over judiciary Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:21 AM PST  By Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish lawmakers on Friday abolished special courts which had convicted hundreds of alleged military coup plotters, as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan battles a new foe he sees as using influence in the judiciary to try to unseat him. Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party is widely held to have relied heavily on U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen's influence in the police and judiciary in breaking the power of the army, which carried out three coups between 1960 and 1980 and forced an Islamist-led government from power in 1997. Now Erdogan is battling a corruption scandal he sees as contrived by Gulen's Hizmet (Service) movement, and has already dismissed or reassigned thousands of police and hundreds of judges and prosecutors in a bid to purge its influence. Parliament passed a law in the early hours, proposed by the AK Party, abolishing the special courts which convicted hundreds of army officers and others in the high-profile "Sledgehammer" trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan official, patients killed as military plane crashes in Tunisia Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:35 AM PST  An Islamist official in Libya's government and 10 other passengers and crew were killed when a military plane carrying medical patients crashed near Tunisia's capital early on Friday, officials said. The Libyan Antonov aircraft went down after the pilot tried to land in farmland near Grombalia town south of Tunis, Tunisia's TAP state news agency reported. Sheikh Meftah Daouadi, undersecretary at the Libyan Ministry of Martyrs which looks after families of fighters killed in Libya's 2011 revolution, was among the dead, said a spokesman for his organization, the Operations Room for Libyan Revolutionaries. The veteran Islamist fighter took part in the revolt against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Full Story | Top |
| Eight Russians convicted of attacking police at anti-Putin protest Friday, Feb 21, 2014 09:42 AM PST  By Gabriela Baczynska and Ian Bateson MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian judge on Friday convicted eight defendants of rioting and assaulting police at a protest against Vladimir Putin, in what one of his leading critics called a "show trial" designed to make clear the president would tolerate no dissent. In a show of force outside the courthouse, police pushed into a crowd of hundreds that had gathered to support the defendants, grabbing people one by one and hauling them away. Moscow police said they detained about 200 people for attempting to violate public order. The convictions, which activists had anticipated, coincided with political turmoil in neighboring Ukraine, where dozens have died in violence the Kremlin blames on militant government opponents it accuses the West of encouraging. Full Story | Top |
| Japan to review testimony of women who served in wartime brothels Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:54 AM PST  By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will review the testimony of South Korean women who served in wartime brothels, a senior official said on Friday, but he gave no indication whether Tokyo might water down a 1993 apology on the issue that has long caused friction with its neighbors. The possibility of a revision to the landmark apology, known as the Kono Statement, drew outrage from South Korea and China, from where many of the "comfort women" - as the women who served in the brothels are known in Japan - were recruited. The move comes as remarks on the wartime past by aides to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe raise concerns about his increasingly conservative agenda, aimed at bolstering the military and recasting history with a less apologetic tone. Japan's ties with South Korea are frayed by a territorial row and the legacy of its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula, including the question of compensation and an apology to women forced to serve in military brothels in World War Two. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. leads pushback against emerging market angst at G20 Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:12 AM PST  By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The world's rich nations pushed back on Friday against emerging market complaints about the spillover effects of their monetary policies, saying they had to get their own houses in order and get with the agenda of boosting global growth. As finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 developed and emerging countries 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 and financial markets. A draft of the communique, reported by Bloomberg News, highlighted how the push for growth had trumped concerns about volatility in emerging markets that had threatened to overshadow the meeting. Full Story | Top |
| Fears of Syria militancy expand influence of Saudi prince Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:36 AM PST  By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, perhaps the most powerful younger prince in the ruling al-Saud family, is shaping Riyadh's new emphasis on protecting the kingdom from a fresh wave of Islamist militancy inspired by the war in Syria. The United States pulled out the stops for him when he visited Washington last week to prepare for President Barack Obama's fence-mending trip to Riyadh next month. Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Central Intelligence Agency chief John Brennan, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey and National Security Agency director Keith Alexander all sat down with the 54-year-old, a veteran of Saudi Arabia's fight against al Qaeda. Prince Mohammed seems likely to be a central figure in the world's top oil exporter for decades to come. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria's central bank governor to challenge suspension in court Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:09 AM PST  By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's graft-fighting Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said on Friday he would go to court to challenge his suspension by the president, saying he did not want his job back but wanted to question the legality of the move. President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Sanusi on Thursday, removing an increasingly outspoken critic of the government's record on tackling rampant corruption in Africa's top oil producer. Since the suspension, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati has listed alleged procurement irregularities at the central bank during Sanusi's tenure, most of them dating back to 2011. 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. Full Story | Top |
| Wal-Mart's China syndrome a symptom of international woes Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 09:08 PM PST  By Nandita Bose and Adam Rose MUMBAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, famed for its low prices, has stumbled in the one major market where consumers say price is less of a driver in their buying decisions: China. There, consumers say they want food that is safe and authentic, and, after 17 years, Wal-Mart is changing its approach, closing some big-box stores that never quite caught on with locals. "We're closing some stores because we got enamored with growth," said Raymond Bracy, head of corporate affairs at Walmart China. We're focusing on quality first." Getting China right is crucial for Wal-Mart's international ambitions. Full Story | Top |
| Iran boosts military support in Syria to bolster Assad Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 10:04 PM PST  By Jonathan Saul and Parisa Hafezi LONDON/ANKARA (Reuters) - As Syria's war nears the start of its fourth year, Iran has stepped up support on the ground for President Bashar al-Assad, providing elite teams to gather intelligence and train troops, sources with knowledge of military movements say. This further backing from Tehran, along with deliveries of munitions and equipment from Moscow, is helping to keep Assad in power at a time when neither his own forces nor opposition fighters have a decisive edge on the battlefield. Assad's forces have failed to capitalize fully on advances they made last summer with the help of Iran, his major backer in the region, and the Hezbollah fighters that Tehran backs and which have provided important battlefield support for Assad. Shi'te Iran has already spent billions of dollars propping up Assad in what has turned into a sectarian proxy war with Sunni Arab states. Full Story | Top |
| The signals that opened Renzi's path to Italian power Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:18 AM PST  By Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - Matteo Renzi espoused two rules on his path to power: don't govern without being elected, and don't rely on the establishment that has long called the shots in Italian politics. Capitalizing on signs of support from special interest groups in industry and the media, he has staged a bold power play that should see the 39-year-old installed as Italy's youngest prime minister next week. Dining with President Giorgio Napolitano that Monday evening, Renzi said he could no longer wait to lead his country, according to people briefed on their conversation. Delay might squander the political momentum he had to drive vital economic and electoral reforms, Renzi told Napolitano, who is almost 50 years his senior and the man with the power to name prime ministers in Italy. Full Story | Top |
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