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| BOJ keeps stimulus in place, downgrades exports in warning sign Monday, Mar 10, 2014 09:18 PM PDT  By Stanley White and Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan maintained its massive monetary stimulus on Tuesday on the view that growth in the economy and consumer prices remains on track, but it downgraded its view of exports in a warning that external demand will continue to disappoint. The BOJ did upgrade its view of capital expenditure and turn more optimistic about industrial production, showing more confidence in domestic demand before a sales tax increase scheduled for April 1. However, this optimism is unlikely to ease concerns that domestic demand will weaken after the tax hike and that exports will not be strong enough to support growth, which could increase calls for more monetary stimulus. "It is not an atmosphere where the BOJ will ease immediately even if it downgrades growth forecasts as core consumer prices have been hovering in a range higher than previously expected," said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities. Full Story | Top |
| U.S.-Russian space trio lands safely despite bad weather Monday, Mar 10, 2014 09:16 PM PDT  An American astronaut and two Russians who carried a Sochi Olympic torch into open space landed safely and on time on Tuesday in Kazakhstan, defying bad weather and ending their 166-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). "Safe arrival back on Earth," said a NASA TV announcer while all-terrain rescue and recovery vehicles were shown trundling across a snowy steppe to the capsule. "The crew are reported to be in good health," NASA said. Inside the capsule were former ISS commander Oleg Kotov and flight engineers Sergei Ryazansky and Michael Hopkins from NASA. Full Story | Top |
| Joe McGinniss, author of 'Fatal Vision,' dies at 71 Monday, Mar 10, 2014 09:06 PM PDT Journalist Joe McGinniss, an author who got up close to his subjects for revealing books such as "The Selling of the President" and "Fatal Vision," died on Monday at age 71, his friend and attorney said. McGinniss died of complications from prostate cancer at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, lawyer Dennis Holahan said in an email. His 1983 book "Fatal Vision" became a classic of the true crime genre and was based on unlimited access he gained to former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald and his attorneys during MacDonald's 1979 murder trial in the deaths of his pregnant wife and two young daughters in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. cancer doctors urge payment fix as cases set to rise Monday, Mar 10, 2014 09:05 PM PDT  U.S. cancer doctors are worried about their ability to handle an expected surge in cancer cases in the coming years as they face cuts to government health plans and efforts to reduce payments to physicians. The influential American Society of Clinical Oncology, in a report released on Tuesday, cited estimates that cancer will become the leading killer in the United States by 2030 as the population ages, while treatment costs reach new heights. The group is calling on the U.S. Congress to help stabilize payments to doctors under the Medicare insurance program for the elderly. "What you are seeing from Medicare as well as others is they continue to constrain the revenues to practices. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Chobani seeks to sell stake at $2.5 billion valuation -sources Monday, Mar 10, 2014 08:47 PM PDT  By Olivia Oran NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chobani, the Greek yogurt maker that has grown into a U.S. sensation, is looking to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value the company at around $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The company is working with Bank of America Corp as it considers selling roughly 20 percent, and is speaking to consumer companies and private equity firms to gauge their interest, the people said on Monday. Chobani, based in New Berlin, New York, previously held discussions with banks about pursuing an initial public offering, but switched gears in the face of mounting competition from other Greek yogurt companies, the people said. Representatives for Chobani did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Bank of America declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| China to launch private bank pilot program Monday, Mar 10, 2014 08:46 PM PDT  China will launch pilot programs testing the development of privately owned banks in Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong, the country's bank regulator Shang Fulin said on Tuesday. The pilot, which was approved by China's government in January, is the first tentative step by the country to open its hitherto closely guarded banking sector to private investors. An article appearing in the official party mouthpiece People's Daily on Tuesday named companies that have been approved to participate in the pilot project, including e-commerce giants Alibaba and Tencent - both of which have been competing to market high-yielding wealth management products online. It did not give names of these banks. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft counts on shooter game 'Titanfall' to fire up Xbox One sales Monday, Mar 10, 2014 08:13 PM PDT  By Malathi Nayak SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is betting on making sci-fi combat game "Titanfall" a hit big enough to boost sales of its Xbox One videogame device, helping it catch up in terms of sales with rival Sony Corp's PlayStation 4 console. Retailers are gearing up to get in on the buzz that has built up around the release of the game, one of the most anticipated new products for the latest version of the Xbox, by hosting over 6,000 midnight launch events worldwide. On sale from Tuesday exclusively for the Xbox One and personal computers, the $60 game allows players to go toe-to-toe as soldiers, or take control of giant robots in a war-torn urban setting. "We're making a big bet that 'Titanfall' is going to be a blockbuster launch for Xbox," Yusuf Mehdi, head of marketing and strategy for Microsoft's Xbox group, said in an email interview. Full Story | Top |
| Flooding in central Montana strands hundreds, forces evacuations Monday, Mar 10, 2014 07:59 PM PDT Floods that washed out rural roads in central Montana left hundreds of people stranded on Monday and forced the evacuation of 30 homes in one small town, as forecasts predicted more rain and snow that could worsen conditions in the region. Floods also threatened to inundate three towns in north-central Wyoming where vast ice formations blocked the flow of the Bighorn River and caused it to spill from its banks. In Montana, a network of dirt roads linking rural Montana neighborhoods and ranches outside of Roundup were submerged in water or washed out by Monday, making them impassable, said Tara Gates, volunteer with the Musselshell County Disaster and Emergency Services. Governor Steve Bullock declared a flood emergency, allowing him to mobilize Montana National Guard troops and direct other resources to affected communities, and local authorities scrambled to devise plans to deliver food and supplies to an estimated 400 people who were cut off by the flooding. Full Story | Top |
| GM hires law firms it works with to probe recall response Monday, Mar 10, 2014 07:42 PM PDT  By Ben Klayman, Paul Lienert and Nick Brown DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Monday said it had hired two outside law firms to probe the company's response to ignition-switch problems on cars that have been linked to 13 deaths, but both firms have done business with GM, raising questions of conflict of interest. The review will be led by Jenner & Block chairman Anton "Tony" Valukas, who won wide regard for investigating Lehman Brothers after the financial services firm collapsed in 2008. But GM has worked with Jenner & Block since 2002, and at least two of the automaker's former top attorneys, Robert Osborne and Elmer Johnson, were partners at the Chicago law firm. GM said lawyers from the firm King & Spalding, which represented GM during some of its bankruptcy proceedings and some other litigation work since, will also work on the recall review ordered up by CEO Mary Barra. Full Story | Top |
| A missing plane and emotional reunion, played live on Twitter Monday, Mar 10, 2014 07:40 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Hours before Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was scheduled to depart on Saturday, a U.S. woman tweeted to her co-worker who was on a business trip that she was feeling ill and overworked. The anguish and relief played out live on Twitter. Reuters could not independently confirm whether the man, who goes by the Twitter name @KaidenDL, was indeed booked on the flight. Cylithria Dubois, in an emailed response to Reuters, said Kaiden was her "love and business partner". Full Story | Top |
| China deploys 10 satellites to help in search for Malaysia jet Monday, Mar 10, 2014 07:12 PM PDT China has deployed 10 satellites to help in the massive air and sea search for a missing Malaysian airliner, the People's Liberation Army Daily said on Tuesday. The satellites will use high-resolution earth imaging capabilities, visible light imaging and other technologies to "support and assist in the search and rescue operations for the Malaysian Airlines aircraft", the newspaper said in an article that was also carried on the defense ministry's website. Dozens of ships and aircraft from 10 countries scoured the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam as questions mounted over possible security lapses and whether a bomb or hijacking attempt could have brought down the Boeing 777-200ER which took off from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. China has urged Malaysia to speed up the search for the plane. Full Story | Top |
| Rock group Kiss tackles tricky spectacle of indoor football Monday, Mar 10, 2014 07:01 PM PDT  By Eric Kelsey ANAHEIM, California (Reuters) - Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock band Kiss put down their instruments, wiped away the face paint and unveiled their own arena football franchise on Monday, promising to pair the niche sport with the pyrotechnic theater of their concerts. Seated outside the Honda Center arena in Anaheim, California, the two sixty-somethings stayed true to their trademark self assurance and bravado in their plan to turn an indoor version of American football played on a smaller field with a heavy emphasis on high scores into a top entertainment draw in Southern California. We set our own trail," Stanley told media assembled outside the arena, which is home to hockey's Anaheim Ducks and only a few miles down the road from Walt Disney Co's Disneyland theme park. They aim to go where others have failed in a place with no shortage of entertainment and recreation alternatives. Full Story | Top |
| The dawning of the age of genomic medicine, finally Monday, Mar 10, 2014 06:20 PM PDT  (This March 6 story has been corrected to fix spelling of test to verifi from Verify in paragraph 33) By Julie Steenhuysen LA JOLLA, California (Reuters) - When President Bill Clinton announced in 2000 that Craig Venter and Dr. Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute had succeeded in mapping the human genome, he solemnly declared that the discovery would "revolutionize" the treatment of virtually all human disease. The expectation was that this single reference map of the 3 billion base pairs of DNA -- the human genetic code -- would quickly unlock the secrets of Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer and other scourges of human health. As it turns out, Clinton's forecast was not unlike President George Bush's "mission accomplished" speech in the early days of the Iraq war, said Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Translational Science Institute, which is running a meeting On the Future of Genomic Medicine here March 6-7. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela says police killed government agent in bungled arrest of protester Monday, Mar 10, 2014 05:48 PM PDT By Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan prosecutors accused a policeman on Monday of shooting dead a young female intelligence agent that he mistook for a kidnapper after her plainclothes team forced a suspected protester into their car. The incident took place on Friday in a wealthy eastern part of Caracas, in an area where hooded opposition demonstrators clash nightly with riot police. With various state security agencies operating in the capital's opposition-governed Chacao district, many residents had feared a confrontation between them and the separate police force that works for the municipality and its mayor. In grainy security camera footage, members of national intelligence agency Sebin were seen grappling with a young man who was apparently carrying home groceries, before pushing him into the back of an unmarked car. Full Story | Top |
| Libya says halts tanker outside rebel port, plans military offensive Monday, Mar 10, 2014 05:25 PM PDT  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya on Monday stopped a North Korean-flagged tanker that had loaded oil from a rebel-held port, after naval forces briefly exchanged fire with the rebels, officials said. They also said the government will assemble forces to "liberate" all occupied ports, raising the stakes over a blockage that has cut off vital oil revenue. The conflict over oil wealth is increasing fears that the OPEC producer may slide deeper into chaos or even splinter as the fragile government fails to rein in dozens of militias that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority. The rebels, who have seized three ports and partly control a fourth in the North African country, said they had dispatched forces to central Libya to deal with any government attack. Full Story | Top |
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