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| Defense argues Cole bombing mastermind should not face death Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:58 PM PST  By Medina Roshan FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - Defense lawyers for the Saudi man charged with masterminding the 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 American sailors argued on Friday he should not face the death penalty because the murders were not premeditated. The move was among several pre-trial motions heard in the murder case against Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, viewed by closed-circuit television at Fort Meade. The charges Nashiri is faced with - among them murder, terrorism and conspiracy - carry the death penalty. In arguing for dismissal of the death penalty in his case, lawyers for the 49-year-old Saudi national challenged the constitutionality of several facets of the military commissions, among other arguments. Full Story | Top |
| Motor racing-Brazilian Nasr gets Williams reserve role Friday, Feb 21, 2014 04:30 PM PST Felipe Massa's Williams Formula One team have signed another Brazilian with Felipe Nasr joining the former world champions as test and reserve driver for 2014. Williams said the 21-year-old would take part in three tests this year - including the current one in Bahrain - and five Friday practice sessions at grand prix weekends as well as simulator work at the Grove factory. "I'm really happy to be joining the Williams family," Nasr, a former British Formula Three champion, said in a statement on Saturday. Full Story | Top |
| Thirteen unlucky for TSX as win streak ends at 12 days Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:19 PM PST By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index eased to its first loss in two weeks on Friday as declining bank stocks offset gains in telecom and resource-related companies. The index also got a lift from fertilizer maker Agrium Inc , whose shares jumped a day after the company reported quarterly results. Adding to the upward momentum, telecom companies Telus Corp and BCE Inc got a bounce a day after it was revealed they paid much less than rival Rogers Communications Inc in a government auction of wireless airwaves. Bank of Nova Scotia was the single biggest weight on the index, down 1 percent at C$63.32. Full Story | Top |
| California's fracking opponents introduce new moratorium bill Friday, Feb 21, 2014 03:01 PM PST  By Rory Carroll SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California lawmakers have unveiled a new bill that would halt fracking and other controversial oil extraction practices in the state until a comprehensive review of their impact is complete, reigniting a legislative debate that fracking opponents lost last year. The bill, introduced Thursday by state senators Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles and Mark Leno of San Francisco, would put the brakes on fracking until the completion of a multi-agency review of the economic, environmental and public health impacts. It would also broaden the scope of a study called for as part of a bill introduced separately last year, since passed into law, that required oil companies to disclose more data about their activities. The proposed, expanded study would include health risks posed by fracking to low-income residents like those living near Los Angeles' Inglewood Oil Field, the nation's largest urban oil field where both fracking and acid is being used, according to Mitchell, who represents the predominately minority community. Full Story | Top |
| Wall St. dips with S&P 500's record high in sight Friday, Feb 21, 2014 02:33 PM PST  By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped on Friday on options-related trading, with the S&P 500 facing resistance as it flirts with its record high even as economic data continues to underwhelm. Shares declined late in the session due in part to trades related to options expiration, according to market participants. U.S. home resales, also known as existing home sales, fell more than expected in January and hit an 18 month-low as the combination of cold weather and a lack of housing stock sidelined potential buyers. Traders have selectively dismissed weak economic data, which is being blamed on the extreme weather that has affected large swaths of the United States. Full Story | Top |
| Federal water allocation for drought-stricken California farms cut to zero Friday, Feb 21, 2014 11:05 AM PST  The worsening drought in California will force a first-ever complete cutoff of federally supplied irrigation water to most farm districts throughout the state's Central Valley heartland this year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said on Friday. The projected 2014 zero allocation to all but a handful of agricultural districts supplied by the federally run Central Valley Project comes three weeks after forecasts of similarly drastic cuts were announced by managers of a separate water-delivery system operated by the state. California grows roughly half of all U.S. fruits and vegetables, most of that in the Central Valley, and ranks as the No. 1 farm state by value of agricultural products produced each year. Full Story | Top |
| Winds batter southeast after snowstorm, tornadoes blast Midwest Friday, Feb 21, 2014 09:46 AM PST  (Reuters) - A powerful storm that blasted the north central United States with heavy, wet snow and damaging tornadoes pushed onward Friday, threatening more twisters, severe thunderstorms and high winds in the southeastern states, forecasters said. The damaging winds came "very, very close" to a private school with children inside, Laurens County manager Bryan Rogers said. The storm, called a panhandle hook for its origin in the panhandles of Oklahoma or Texas and its twisting shape, triggered concerns about damaging winds and possible tornadoes from parts of South Carolina through North Carolina, Virginia, southern Maryland and Delaware, forecasters said. "There is a pretty extensive line of storms that extends from just west and southwest of Washington D.C. all the way down to the Florida panhandle," said Jeremy Grams, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center. Full Story | Top |
| Uganda leader puts anti-gay law on hold to seek more scientific advice Friday, Feb 21, 2014 09:08 AM PST  By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has put a bill imposing strict penalties for homosexuality on hold to give scientists a chance to prove that homosexuality could be triggered by genes and is not a "lifestyle choice". Homosexuality is taboo in African countries and illegal in 37. Museveni dismissed the U.S. threat, but said in a statement dated February 18 and seen by Reuters on Friday that he would not sign the proposed law until after hearing from scientists. Presidential spokesman, Tamale Mirundi, told Reuters on Friday the bill would be on hold for now "until more conclusive research is done, and that's what the president is saying in that letter." The bill, which was introduced in 2009, initially proposed a death sentence for homosexual acts, but was amended to prescribe jail terms including life in jail for what it called aggravated homosexuality. Full Story | Top |
| Ariad to add activist investor Alex Denner to board Friday, Feb 21, 2014 08:10 AM PST (Reuters) - Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc, which has been struggling with safety concerns involving its only approved drug, said it agreed to add two directors backed by its second-largest investor Sarissa Capital Management to its board. Ariad shares rose 3 percent to $8.98 in early trading. The company said Alexander Denner - investor Carl Icahn's former healthcare lieutenant and Sarissa's chief investment officer - will assume one of the seats. The other director would be selected by the board, "subject to Denner's concurrence," Ariad said. Full Story | Top |
| Gabon tells Total to pay $805 mln in taxes Friday, Feb 21, 2014 07:23 AM PST  By Jean-Rovys Dabany LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's government has told French oil major Total's local subsidiary to pay $805 million in taxes it owes for 2008 to 2010, in a case watched closely by potential new investors in the West African country's energy sector. Total Gabon said it would challenge the tax demand, which follows a state audit of the former OPEC member's petroleum industry that began in 2010. Total is the oldest foreign petroleum company in Gabon and owns 58.28 percent of Total Gabon, with the Gabonese government holding 25 percent. "The administration deplores (Total's) attitude, characterized by a tendency to pay attention only to one's point of view," Gabon's director general of taxes, Joel Ogouma, said in a statement sent to Reuters on Friday but dated Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| South African pension fund defends investment in Camac Energy Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:45 AM PST South Africa's state-owned pension fund defended its investment in U.S. oil firm Camac Energy Inc, saying on Friday it was justified in agreeing to pay more than five times the then market value of Camac's shares for a 30 percent stake. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages 1.4 trillion rand of South African government employee retirement funds, agreed in November to pay $270 million for shares issued by Camac equating to a 30 percent stake. Camac's total stock market value at the time was around $150 million. "PIC's entry valuation is at a discount of 30 percent to the net asset valuation of Camac Energy," Elias Masilela, chief executive officer of the PIC, said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| EU Agency backs respiratory drugs for approval Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:43 AM PST European regulators recommended the approval of a clutch of drugs to treat respiratory diseases on Friday, including two from GlaxoSmithKline and another from Teva Pharmaceuticals. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said four of the drugs recommended for approval were intended to treat the symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that typically affects smokers, while another two were for asthma and COPD. Israeli drugmaker Teva received the nod for a combination of budesonide and formoterol, delivered by its Spiromax multi-dose dry powder inhaler, for the regular treatment of asthma and for the symptomatic treatment of patients with severe COPD. Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria's central bank governor to challenge suspension in court Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:36 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 - though he does not want his job back, he wants to show that the move was illegal. President Goodluck Jonathan suspended Sanusi on Thursday, removing an outspoken critic of his government's record on corruption in Africa's top oil producer. 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. Sanusi told Reuters in a phone interview that the bank had followed correct procurement procedures, and he had already answered questions about the allegations by the authorities. Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Eskom warns of rolling blackouts Friday, Feb 21, 2014 06:28 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African state power utility Eskom declared a fresh power emergency on Friday and said it might have to implement rolling blackouts in residential urban areas. Eskom had declared an emergency on Thursday following outages at some of its generating units, but lifted it earlier on Friday. However, it said the national grid remained on "high alert". Full Story | Top |
| Extreme U.S. winter roils natural gas market, upends some trading strategies Friday, Feb 21, 2014 05:43 AM PST  By Jeanine Prezioso NEW YORK (Reuters) - When volatility returned to the U.S. natural gas market this winter after years of sleepy trade, the wild price swings created unexpected winners and losers. Meanwhile, smaller, nimble hedge funds who correctly bet that winter gas supplies would quickly diminish as power generators scrambled to find last minute supplies, ended January with some of their best gains on record. The sharp price moves have called into question the conventional wisdom that natural gas would remain in a narrow range for months due to ample supply and have left a number of traders and analysts wondering if the volatility is here to stay. U.S. natural gas futures prices gained as much as 50 percent this year, breaking the $6 mark for the first time since 2010, a far cry from the $2 seen in 2012. Full Story | Top |
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