| | |
| China calls for calm and restraint in Ukraine crisis Friday, Mar 07, 2014 08:04 PM PST China called for calm and restraint in the Ukraine crisis on Saturday, saying that the issue should be resolved through talks and political means. Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged all parties to keep in mind the fundamental interests of all ethnic communities in Ukraine and interests of regional peace and stability. China has said it will not interfere in what it considers an internal affair and that it respects the Ukrainian people's decisions. The conflict resulted from the overthrow last month of President Viktor Yanukovich after protests in Kiev that led to violence. Full Story | Top |
| Daughter of Obama's former pastor convicted in fraud case Friday, Mar 07, 2014 07:39 PM PST By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - The daughter of President Barack Obama's former pastor was convicted on Friday of laundering thousands of dollars from a state grant for a Chicago-area job-training program, federal prosecutors said. A federal jury took less than two hours to find Jeri Wright, 48, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, guilty on all counts for her part in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief's husband, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. The $1.25 million state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother's Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald Evans Jr. Wright, a close friend of the couple, took as much as $11,000 from checks worth more than $30,000 that were supposed to be for work related to the grant, prosecutors said. Full Story | Top |
| China says no room for compromise with Japan on history, territory Friday, Mar 07, 2014 07:35 PM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday that there was no room for compromise with Japan on questions of history and territory. 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's anger over the past is never far from the surface, and relations have deteriorated sharply over the past 18 months because of a dispute over a chain of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Writing by Ben Blanchard) Full Story | Top |
| China says will not permit chaos or war on Korean peninsula Friday, Mar 07, 2014 07:22 PM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday that China will not permit chaos or war on the Korean peninsula, and that peace can only come through denuclearization. China is North Korea's most important diplomatic and economic supporter, though Beijing's patience with Pyongyang has been severely tested following three nuclear tests and numerous bouts of saber rattling, including missile launches. (Reporting by Michael Martina; Writing by Ben Blanchard) Full Story | Top |
| Putin's body language studied for clues to decision-making: Pentagon Friday, Mar 07, 2014 07:08 PM PST By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It turns out all those years Russian leader Vladimir Putin was cavorting bare-chested outdoors, demonstrating his judo skills and darting whales, a Pentagon researcher may have been studying him for clues to his behavior. The Office of Net Assessments, a sort of internal think tank for the U.S. secretary of defense, has spent $300,000 annually since 2009 for research to study the body language and movement patterns of key global leaders, one of them being Putin, who has served as Russia's president and prime minister. Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, said Putin had been studied in 2008, along with Russia's then-President Dmitry Medvedev, and again in 2012. Full Story | Top |
| California bill seeks to curb sexually explicit Internet bullying by teens Friday, Mar 07, 2014 07:02 PM PST  By Laila Kearney SARATOGA, California (Reuters) - Teenagers who share sexually explicit images of others on the Internet to harass them could soon face tougher punishment under California legislation proposed on Friday, spurred by the suicide of a teen after images of her sexual assault were circulated to other students. The new bill, dubbed Audrie's Law after 15-year-old Audrie Pott, who killed herself in Los Altos in September 2012, is the latest effort by lawmakers in California and other states to curb online cruelty that has been blamed for a number of teen suicides. The law would make it a crime for juveniles, those under age 18, to take or distribute images of a sexual nature of a minor with the intent to harass, shame or intimidate the person, said Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen, who helped draft the legislation. The proposed law would also allow juveniles to be tried as adults if they are accused of sexually assaulting an intoxicated, developmentally disabled or otherwise incapacitated person. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-NFL player wanted for rape will stay in California for now Friday, Mar 07, 2014 06:59 PM PST  By Brandon Lowrey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former NFL player Darren Sharper, facing California charges of drugging and raping two women, will not immediately be sent to Louisiana where he is wanted on suspicion of rape in a separate incident, a judge ruled on Friday in an extradition hearing. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Renee Korn ordered the 38-year-old former defensive back, who is under investigation for sex crimes in several U.S. states, to remain held behind bars in Los Angeles pending another hearing on Thursday. Sharper, who played 14 years in the National Football League and helped the New Orleans Saints to a 2010 Super Bowl title, is accused of drugging four women in Los Angeles and raping two of them. He faces similar accusations in Louisiana. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico telecoms regulator reins in Slim and his empire Friday, Mar 07, 2014 06:30 PM PST  By Tomas Sarmiento and Christine Murray MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's telecommunications watchdog on Friday slapped regulations on Carlos Slim's telephone company America Movil and two of his financial and industrial companies, as it seeks to rein in the multi-billionaire and boost competition. Mexico is trying to open up its phone and TV industries following the passage last year of wide-ranging telecoms reform meant to claw back the vast market shares enjoyed by Mexico's media players. America Movil controls about 80 percent of Mexico's fixed-line business via its Telmex unit and some 70 percent of the mobile sector through its Telcel unit. As was widely expected, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) declared America Movil "dominant," meaning it has an outsized share of the market. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine standoff intensifies; Russia says sanctions will 'boomerang' Friday, Mar 07, 2014 06:18 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman and Andrew Osborn MOSCOW/SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Russia said any U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine will boomerang back on the United States and that Crimea has the right to self-determination as armed men tried to seize another Ukrainian military base on the peninsula. In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against "hasty and reckless steps" that could harm Russian-American relations, the foreign ministry said on Friday. It was the second tense, high-level exchange between the former Cold War foes in 24 hours over the pro-Russian takeover of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin said after an hour-long call with U.S. President Barack Obama that their positions on the former Soviet republic were still far apart. Full Story | Top |
| Ohio couple found guilty of enslaving woman and child Friday, Mar 07, 2014 05:47 PM PST By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - An Ohio couple was convicted on Friday of holding captive a cognitively disabled woman and her young child, who were forced to eat dog food and threatened with a large snake, federal prosecutors said. A jury found Jordie Callahan, 27 and Jessica Hunt, 32, guilty of engaging in labor trafficking, conspiracy and forced labor after a three-week trial in a Youngstown federal court. Prosecutors told jurors during the trial that Callahan threatened to kill the adult victim if she did not engage in sex acts with him, clean the apartment, go to the store and care for the couple's numerous dogs and reptiles. Prosecutors also said the victims were beaten, threatened with pit bulls and a 130-lb (60-kg) Burmese python, fed dog food and made to crawl on the floor while wearing a dog collar as they were being held captive in a room in the couple's Ashland apartment, some 85 miles northeast of Columbus. Full Story | Top |
| California bill would ban orca shows, captive breeding Friday, Mar 07, 2014 05:27 PM PST By Dana Feldman SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - A California lawmaker introduced a bill on Friday to ban live performances and captive breeding of killer whales in the state, a measure that would force the SeaWorld San Diego marine theme park to end is popular "Shamu" shows. The measure was introduced by state Assemblyman Richard Bloom, who told a news conference his interest in the issue was sparked by last year's documentary "Blackfish," dealing with the treatment of killer whales at SeaWorld parks. The film, which SeaWorld has criticized as a misleading, inaccurate piece of animal rights propaganda, explores circumstances leading to the 2010 death of a top SeaWorld trainer, Dawn Brancheau, who was pulled underwater and drowned by an orca she had worked and performed with in Florida. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Army general's accuser gives tearful account of alleged sex crimes Friday, Mar 07, 2014 05:25 PM PST  By Colleen Jenkins FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) - A U.S. Army general twice forced a female captain to engage in oral sex when she tried to break off their illicit sexual relationship during their deployment in Iraq in 2011, the woman said during an emotional account on Friday at his military trial. The junior officer testified that Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair grabbed her by the back of the neck and sexually assaulted her after she tried to explain she was fed up with their adulterous affair and needed to move on. The rare court-martial of a high-ranking U.S. military official is unfolding in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, amid a growing debate among U.S. lawmakers over how best to curb sexual assault in the military. "It involves a lot of consensual sex," the lead prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Stelle, said during opening statements on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia's Anwar convicted of sodomy, political future in doubt Friday, Mar 07, 2014 04:10 PM PST  By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - A Malaysian court convicted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy and sentenced him to five years in prison on Friday, shattering his plan to take control of the country's richest state and stoking political tension in the Southeast Asian nation following a divisive national election last year. The former deputy prime minister, who was previously jailed for six years on sodomy and corruption charges, will not be jailed immediately as his lawyers won a stay of the sentence pending an appeal. But the ruling bars Anwar from running for a seat in the state assembly of Selangor this month, a move that would likely have paved the way for him to become chief minister of Malaysia's most populous state - a potent platform from which to attack the government ahead of the next national election. This has been choreographed," he added, saying the government had underestimated "the wrath of the people." A government spokesman said that Malaysia had an "independent judiciary." "This is a case between two individuals and is a matter for the courts, not the government," the spokesman said. Full Story | Top |
| British budget forecasts blurred by tax clampdown benefits Friday, Mar 07, 2014 04:01 PM PST Britain's budget forecasts are in danger of becoming too reliant on hard-to-predict windfalls from the fight against tax avoidance, lawmakers said on Saturday. The government has projected that by tightening its rules to reduce legal tax avoidance the state could net 6.8 billion pounds in new revenue over the next six years. That has made it a significant part of plans to cut the country's budget deficit. Full Story | Top |
| Obama visits Florida ahead of bellwether special election Friday, Mar 07, 2014 03:47 PM PST  By Roberta Rampton MIAMI (Reuters) - President Barack Obama gave a feel-good campaign-style speech at a gymnasium packed with screaming high school students on Friday, sketching out the main points of his populist agenda ahead of a special election in Florida on Tuesday. Obama did not mention the race for the House of Representatives seat that had been held by the late Republican Bill Young in a congressional district that includes St. Petersburg, a city north of Miami. The White House said it was a coincidence that his speech came just before the election. Obama and his family plan to spend the rest of his weekend in Florida, at a lush Key Largo private resort. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Jefferies trader convicted of fraud in U.S. bond probe Friday, Mar 07, 2014 03:41 PM PST  By Richard Weizel NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - A federal jury on Friday found former Jefferies Group Inc trader Jesse Litvak guilty of defrauding clients on mortgage bond trades made after the financial crisis. Litvak, 39, was convicted on all 15 counts he faced, including 10 of securities fraud. He faced up to 20 years in prison on each securities fraud count. Prosecutors accused Litvak of cheating clients out of more than $2 million between 2009 and 2011 by inflating bond prices, lying about how much Jefferies paid for them and inventing sellers. Full Story | Top |
| Fight over tobacco settlement money could cost Pennsylvania millions Friday, Mar 07, 2014 03:32 PM PST By Daniel Kelley PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Lawyers for the state of Pennsylvania asked a judge on Friday to throw out an arbitration ruling that could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars from the landmark 1998 settlement with the nation's tobacco companies. Under the settlement, the nation's four largest tobacco companies promised to pay nearly $200 billion over 25 years to 46 states to settle lawsuits that claimed cigarette-related public health costs. A September 2013 arbitration ruling found that six states - including Pennsylvania - failed to "diligently enforce" that law in 2003. As a consequence, those states could lose some of their share of the tobacco settlement fund. Full Story | Top |
| Obama phoned Merkel on Friday to discuss Ukraine situation: White House Friday, Mar 07, 2014 03:28 PM PST FLORIDA CITY, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama telephoned German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday from his vacation resort in Key Largo, Florida, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the White House said. No other details were immediately available. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Tension escalates over hunting of pregnant bison outside Yellowstone Friday, Mar 07, 2014 03:19 PM PST By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Angered by the killing of pregnant bison outside Yellowstone National Park, a Native American tribal member tried to deliver a bloody bison heart to Montana's governor this week, the latest skirmish over the management of the iconic animal. James St. Goddard, a member of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana and former member of the tribe's governing council, said he found the heart where hunters from another tribe discarded it after gutting a bison killed when many females are well along in their pregnancies. Are we all ignorant of our own Indian culture?" said St. Goddard, who was prevented by authorities from presenting the bison heart to Montana Governor Steve Bullock at his office in Helena. St. Goddard's protest, which was not sanctioned by the Blackfeet Nation, highlighted controversy over practices - which have divided some tribal members - in which bison that stray out of Yellowstone have been killed in extended tribal hunting seasons. Full Story | Top |
| Fired for gay marriage, Seattle-area Catholic school official sues Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:58 PM PST A suburban Seattle Catholic school vice principal who was fired in December for violating religious doctrine by marrying his same-sex partner, on Friday sued the school and the Archdiocese of Seattle for wrongful dismissal. Mark Zmuda, who was also a swim coach at Eastside Catholic School, said he took the job after reading a school policy, since removed from its website, that it does not discriminate on the basis of an employee's sexual orientation or marital status. "I was told I could either divorce or be fired," Zmuda told reporters at his lawyer's Seattle office. "How could anyone ask anyone else to make that kind of choice?" Same-sex marriage became legal in Washington state in November 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Costa Rica opposition group says to scrap 2021 carbon neutrality target Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:57 PM PST By Marcelo Teixeira SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Costa Rica's leading opposition group, PAC, expected to win a four-year presidential term next month, will drop the country's commitment to carbon neutrality by 2021, an official said. The leftist group's candidate, Luis Guillermo Solis, should be elected president in an April 6 runoff vote after ruling party candidate Johnny Araya announced on Wednesday that he was abandoning the campaign. "We don't think it would be possible to reach carbon neutrality by 2021, because the most important tasks to reduce emissions in the country are yet to be done," Patricia Madrigal, the Citizens' Action Party environmental adviser, told Reuters this week. She said changes in the transport and energy sectors, to increase fuel efficiency and renewables production, are necessary because the nation lacks the means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in key sectors by the target date. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. extends Terremark contract as HealthCare.gov host Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:56 PM PST  The Obama administration said on Friday Verizon Communications Inc's Terremark unit will remain under contract as host of the federal website HealthCare.gov to better ensure a smooth end to Obamacare's open enrollment period on March 31. Terremark's contract with the Department of Health and Human Services was due to expire on March 30, the day before the end of open enrollment for 2014, a time when high daily volumes are expected as consumers from 36 states rush to use to website to sign up for subsidized private health insurance. It would be extended for up to seven months, according to federal documents. Hewlett-Packard Co has been named to replace Terremark as website host and operator of the department's federal data center as part of Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Full Story | Top |
| Stocks may extend rally after strong jobs data Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:54 PM PST  That bet has helped equities shrug off bearish data and geopolitical uncertainties in Ukraine, taking the S&P 500 to a series of record highs. "We're hoping the payroll report means we're on a stronger footing going ahead and that we can get more robust growth going forward," said Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer of Fiduciary Trust Co in Boston. Full Story | Top |
| Greece, lenders will miss March 10 deadline for rescue loan deal: sources Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:50 PM PST  Greece and its international lenders will miss a self-imposed March 10 deadline to clinch a deal that will release the next tranche of the country's rescue loans, three senior Greek government sources said late on Friday. Greece and representatives of the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had hoped to conclude the latest review of the country's reform progress under the terms of its international bailout by Monday, when euro zone finance ministers meet in Brussels. Full Story | Top |
| Two men plead guilty after video shows them harassing Florida manatees Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:42 PM PST Two men pleaded guilty to harassing an endangered species after a video on Facebook showed them luring manatees to a dock and jumping on them, prosecutors said on Friday. Taylor Blake Martin and Seth Andrew Stephenson, both 22, face up to a year in prison and a $50,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Orlando. The Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act prohibits molesting or disturbing manatees, which are classified as endangered in Florida. According to prosecutors, the video showed Stephenson attracting the manatees with a water hose to a boat dock in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and then Martin jumping on an adult manatee and a calf. Full Story | Top |
| Pennsylvania lawyer's ad starring smiling thugs draws criticism Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:17 PM PST By Elizabeth Daley PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - A Pittsburgh lawyer's online ad showing smiling robbers, drug dealers and prostitutes flashing thumbs up and thanking him for getting them off the hook has garnered tens of thousands of views and drawn fire from a local bar association. One fictional criminal pauses while climbing out a window, carrying a laptop to say "Thanks Dan," to the camera, while a pair of men carrying handguns offer a similar message before pulling ski masks over their faces in the three-minute, 27-second ad posted on YouTube by criminal defense attorney Daniel Muessig. Muessig, a 2012 University of Pittsburgh Law School graduate, then makes his own pitch: "Trust me, I may have a law degree, but I think like a criminal." The spot has been viewed more than 80,000 times since Muessig posted it on Thursday, and the 32-year-old attorney said he believed the tongue-in-cheek approach would appeal to possible clients. "I wanted to give people something that would be memorable and entertaining." Tom Loftus, spokesman for the Allegheny County Bar Association, said he found the ad "insulting to Pittsburgh lawyers and lawyers across the country, who take great pride in their profession." He said he worried that the video could be misinterpreted: "There could be kids watching it, or people who don't even understand what tongue-in-cheek means, and what they'll see is: if you commit a crime this attorney will get you off without any explanation." Muessig defended the spot but said he would take it down if law enforcement or a legal professional organization asked him to. Full Story | Top |
| Rand Paul urges conservatives to elect 'lovers of liberty' Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:15 PM PST  By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Rand Paul, a potential 2016 White House contender, on Friday accused President Barack Obama of restricting civil liberties and urged conservatives to "stand with me" in electing a president who would protect personal rights. In a starkly libertarian speech, the senator from Kentucky condemned National Security Agency electronic surveillance, detention without trial programs and what he said were other encroachments on civil rights under the Obama administration. But unlike other Republican speakers at the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference, Paul said the issues were bigger than the two major political parties. I'm talking about electing lovers of liberty," Paul told the cheering crowd. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. border agents told to be less aggressive against stone-throwers Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:14 PM PST The U.S. Border Patrol told its agents on Friday that when they confront suspected illegal immigrants crossing the frontier who throw rocks at them, they should try to take cover or move away rather than immediately open fire. Michael J. Fischer, head of the Border Patrol, said in a conference call with reporters that immigrant smugglers were increasingly using rock-throwing as a way to drive away patrols. Since 2010, agency personnel have opened fire 43 times, killing 10 people, in response to 1,713 rock-throwing attacks against them, Fischer said in the preface to a directive he issued to agents. In the directive, Fischer told agents not to open fire "unless the agent has a reasonable belief, based on the totality of the circumstances, to include the size and nature of the projectiles, that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious injury." Instead of firing at rock-throwers, the directive said, "agents should obtain a tactical advantage in these situations, such as seeking cover or distancing themselves from the immediate area of danger." Border patrols have been criticized in recent years over concerns that agents may have sometimes been too quick to open fire. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. deadly pig virus cases on the rise Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:03 PM PST (Reuters) - Cases of the deadly Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, a highly contagious pig disease, are increasing across the U.S. farm belt, a group of animal health researchers said. Confirmed cases of PEDv increased by 252 in the week ending March 1, bringing the total number to 4,106 in 26 states, according to data released on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Animal Health Laboratory Network. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. judge throws out fine against commercial drone pilot Friday, Mar 07, 2014 02:01 PM PST  By Eric Beech WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has thrown out a fine by the Federal Aviation Administration against the operator of a small commercial drone, a decision that could open up the nation's skies to more unmanned-aircraft flights. The case involved a $10,000 fine levied by the FAA against Raphael Pirker for operating a drone while filming a commercial in 2011 for the University of Virginia, a violation of the agency's ban on the commercial use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Administrative law judge Patrick Geraghty dismissed the fine on Thursday and ruled that the agency's prohibition was not enforceable because it was based on a policy statement outside of the formal rule-making process. "Policy statements are not binding on the general public," Geraghty, a judge with the National Transportation Safety Board, wrote in his decision. Full Story | Top |
| Canada orders railways to boost grain shipments to ease logjam Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:59 PM PST  By Rod Nickel and David Ljunggren WINNIPEG, Manitoba/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's government took the drastic step on Friday of forcing the country's two major rail companies to each ship at least 500,000 tons of grain per week to ease a massive backlog that is hurting farmers. Record crops of wheat and canola, along with frigid weather, have overwhelmed Canadian National Railway Co and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd , resulting in overdue orders for tens of thousands of grain cars. "Farmers are becoming increasingly frustrated by the continued poor performance of the railways. The railways dropped the ball. Full Story | Top |
| In twist, Mexico says non-telecom Slim firms dominate telecoms Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:54 PM PST By Alexandra Alper and Tomas Sarmiento MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's telecoms regulator on Friday declared two of billionaire Carlos Slim's major financial and industrial companies "dominant" in telecommunications, but has yet to slap the tag on Slim's flagship telecom company. It is widely expected that Slim's telecom company America Movil will be declared dominant, or having an outsized share in its market, although a spokesman said the company has not yet been notified. Mexico is trying to spur competition in its tight-knit phone and TV industries through a wide-ranging telecoms overhaul passed last year. The newly empowered Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) deemed Slim's bank Inbursa and conglomerate Grupo Carso, which both have direct or indirect stakes in America Movil, dominant in telecoms given their "economic interests," the companies said on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. job growth offers upbeat sign for weather-beaten economy Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:39 PM PST By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth accelerated sharply in February despite the icy weather that gripped much of the nation, easing fears of an abrupt economic slowdown and keeping the Federal Reserve on track to continue reducing its monetary stimulus. Employers added 175,000 jobs to their payrolls last month after creating 129,000 new positions in January, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate, however, rose to 6.7 percent from a five-year low of 6.6 percent as Americans flooded into the labor market to search for work. "It reinforces the case for the economy being stronger than it's looked for the last couple of months," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. Full Story | Top |
| White House plays down speedy role for U.S. natural gas in Ukraine Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:38 PM PST By Roberta Rampton ON BOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House on Friday appeared to play down the possibility of changing U.S. policy on exporting natural gas to address the situation in Ukraine. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One that policy changes would not have an immediate effect and noted that natural gas stocks in Europe were above normal levels because of a mild winter. "There is no indication currently that there's much risk of a natural gas shortage in the region," he said. Europe and Ukraine are key export markets for natural gas from Russia, which has historically shut down pipelines as a pressure tactic. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. FAA will appeal ruling on commercial drone use Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:35 PM PST The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday said it would appeal a ruling by an administrative law judge in the case against the operator of a small commercial drone, that could favor the use of more unmanned aircraft. In a statement, the FAA said it was appealing Thursday's ruling, which rejected a fine against the operator for filming a commercial using a drone, to the full National Transportation Safety Board. Full Story | Top |
| Chevron's U.S. win in Ecuador case looms over cases elsewhere Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:22 PM PST  By Mica Rosenberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ecuadorean villagers who are trying to get billions of dollars from Chevron Corp for pollution in the Amazon jungle are ready to refocus their fight on pending suits in other countries after a setback in the United States. A scathing judgment issued by a U.S. judge this week against their lawyer will cast a long shadow over cases filed in Canada, Brazil and Argentina, where the plaintiffs are seeking Chevron assets as payment because the oil giant no longer has a presence in Ecuador. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down a 500-page decision that found American lawyer Stephen Donziger used "corrupt means" to help villagers from the Lago Agrio region win the historic $18 billion judgment against Chevron in Ecuador in 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Three killed in Cairo clashes, 48 wounded across Egypt Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:19 PM PST  Three protesters were killed and dozens wounded as Muslim Brotherhood supporters and police clashed across Egypt on Friday, the health ministry and security sources said. Security sources said two were killed in street battles with the police in the Cairo district of Alf Maskin and a third in the capital's Abbaseya. The Interior Ministry said it had arrested 47 people it said were Brotherhood members during the violence, which broke out after Friday prayers. Police cars were burned by protesters in at least two Cairo districts. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. investigates two French banks for sanctions violations: source Friday, Mar 07, 2014 01:07 PM PST  By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are investigating whether two French banks violated anti-money laundering rules and economic embargoes on countries like Iran, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Regulators in New York and Washington are looking at potential violations by Credit Agricole and Societe Generale of U.S. economic sanctions imposed against the countries, the source said. In addition to the Iran sanctions violations, the investigation is looking at whether the banks broke embargoes against Cuba and Sudan, according to the source. The agencies involved include the U.S. Treasury Department, the Justice Department, the New York State Department of Financial Services and the Manhattan District Attorney's office, the source said. Full Story | Top |
| JPMorgan whistleblower gets $63.9 million in mortgage fraud deal Friday, Mar 07, 2014 12:48 PM PST  A whistleblower will be paid $63.9 million for providing tips that led to JPMorgan Chase & Co's agreement to pay $614 million and tighten oversight to resolve charges that it defrauded the government into insuring flawed home loans. The payment to the whistleblower, Keith Edwards, was disclosed on Friday in a filing with the U.S. district court in Manhattan that formally ended the case. In the February 4 settlement, JPMorgan admitted that for more than a decade it submitted thousands of mortgages for insurance by the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs that did not qualify for government guarantees. JPMorgan also admitted that it had failed to tell the agencies that its own internal reviews had turned up problems. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. special forces sent to train Iraqi special forces in Jordan Friday, Mar 07, 2014 12:46 PM PST  By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States recently sent a small number of special forces soldiers to Jordan to train with counterparts from Iraq and Jordan, a new step in the Obama administration's effort to help Baghdad stamp out a resurgent al Qaeda threat, a U.S. defense official said on Friday. The U.S. contingent was dispatched to take part in a training exchange with counterterrorism forces from Iraq and Jordan, allowing the administration to provide a modest new measure of support to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment