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| Ukraine appeals to the West as Crimea turns to Russia Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 08:42 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn and Alastair Macdonald SEVASTOPOL/KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's government appealed for Western help on Tuesday to stop Moscow annexing Crimea but the Black Sea peninsula, overrun by Russian troops, seemed fixed on a course that could formalize rule from Moscow within days. With their own troops in Crimea effectively prisoners in their bases, the new authorities in Kiev painted a sorry picture of the military bequeathed them by the pro-Moscow president overthrown two weeks ago. The prime minister, heading for talks at the White House and United Nations, told parliament in Kiev he wanted the United States and Britain, as guarantors of a 1994 treaty that saw Ukraine give up its Soviet nuclear weapons, to intervene both diplomatically and militarily to fend off Russian "aggression". Full Story | Top |
| Alibaba buys ChinaVision stake for $804 million; gains TV, movie content Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:56 PM PDT  China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding has agreed to buy a controlling stake in ChinaVision Media Group Ltd for $804 million, giving it access to TV and movie content as competition in the world's biggest Internet market becomes increasingly cutthroat. The pact, which sent ChinaVision's stock surging, comes amid a flurry of deals as Alibaba, social media giant Tencent Holdings Ltd and search engine Baidu Inc seek to expand into each other's turf. This week Tencent said it was taking a stake in China's No. 2 online retailer JD.com, with the new partnership gunning for Alibaba's Achilles heel - its weakness in mobile. ChinaVision and Alibaba said they will establish a strategic committee to explore future opportunities in online entertainment and media-related areas. Full Story | Top |
| SoftBank CEO says Sprint could shake up U.S. 'oligopoly' Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:38 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief executive officer of Japan's SoftBank Corp on Tuesday called the U.S. wireless market an oligopoly plagued by slow speeds and high prices and said his company's Sprint Corp could shake up the competition, but it would require a scale that Sprint cannot reach alone. Masayoshi Son, the billionaire CEO of SoftBank, in his first public speech to a U.S. audience since his company gained control of Sprint last year, lambasted the U.S. wireless market as offering "pseudo-competition." Son did not directly speak about his efforts to engineer a merger of Sprint and T-Mobile US Inc, the No. 3 and No. 4 U.S. wireless carriers, but told reporters he hoped to meet again sometime with U.S. regulators, who so far have given a cold shoulder to such a deal. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. courts dismiss two suits against shareholder activist Chevedden Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:37 PM PDT  BOSTON (Reuters) - Shareholder activist John Chevedden has won favorable rulings in separate federal suits brought by Omnicom Group Inc and EMC Corp, breaking a pattern of legal setbacks for the private investor. Chevedden, who lives near Los Angeles, is well-known in corporate governance circles for the proposals he files at scores of companies each year calling for changes such as having an independent board chairman. Some companies have successfully sued to block his measures. In January, advertising company Omnicom sued Chevedden in U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea trade deal draws fire from Canadian auto sector Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:31 PM PDT  By Susan Taylor TORONTO (Reuters) - A new free trade agreement with South Korea will throw a wrench into Canada's auto sector recovery, union leaders and an automaker warned on Tuesday, highlighting the pressure on an industry already struggling with competition from Mexico. The pact, which immediately drew fire from Ford Motor Co of Canada Ltd and Canada's largest private-sector union, underscores problems with the size and cost of cars being produced in the country's industrial heartland, experts said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia air force chief denies saying lost plane tracked to west Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:17 PM PDT  By Stuart Grudgings KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's air force chief has denied saying military radar tracked a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner over the Strait of Malacca, adding to the mystery surrounding the fate of flight MH370, which vanished on Saturday with 239 people aboard. A massive air and sea search now in its fifth day has failed to find any trace of the Boeing 777, and the last 24 hours have seen conflicting statements and reports over what may have happened after it lost contact with air traffic controllers. Malaysia's Berita Harian newspaper on Tuesday quoted Air Force chief Rodzali Daud as saying the plane was last detected by military radar at the northern end of the Strait of Malacca at 2.40 a.m. on Saturday, hundreds of kilometers off course. Full Story | Top |
| Vietnam scales down search for missing Malaysian jet Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:01 PM PDT PHU QUOC ISLAND, Vietnam (Reuters) - Vietnam said on Wednesday it was scaling back the search in Vietnamese waters for a Malaysian Airlines jetliner missing for four days, a senior Vietnamese official said. "We still have plans to search with a few flights today, while other activities are suspended," Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu, who heads the Vietnam search, told reporters. Tieu said searches by ships were being suspended. ... Full Story | Top |
| Front companies, embassies mask North Korean weapons trade: U.N. Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:55 PM PDT  By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has developed sophisticated ways to circumvent United Nations sanctions, including the suspected use of its embassies to facilitate an illegal trade in weapons, a United Nations report issued on Tuesday said. It said North Korea was also making use of more complicated financial countermeasures and techniques "pioneered by drug-trafficking organizations" that made tracking the isolated state's purchase of prohibited goods more difficult. The report, compiled by a panel of eight U.N. experts, is part of an annual accounting of North Korea's compliance with layers of U.N. sanctions imposed in response to Pyongyang's banned nuclear weapons and missile programs. "From the incidents analyzed in the period under review, the panel has found that (North Korea) makes increasing use of multiple and tiered circumvention techniques," a summary of the 127-page report said. Full Story | Top |
| China says search efforts for missing plane to be expanded to land areas Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:52 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China's air force will add two planes to the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, the country's civil aviation chief said on Wednesday, adding that search and rescue efforts would be broadened to include land areas. Li Jiaxiang, chairman of the Civil Aviation Adiministration of China, made the comments on the sidelines of China's annual parliament. In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation has so far found no trace of the aircraft days after it disappeared carrying 239 passengers and crew. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hong Kong's ChinaVision stock set to soar after Alibaba buys control Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:31 PM PDT HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares of ChinaVision Media Group Ltd are set to open up 290 percent after China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding agreed to buy a controlling stake in the Hong Kong-listed television program services supplier. Shares of ChinaVision, which were suspended on February 25 and resumed trading on Wednesday, are set to open at HK$2.50 per share, compared with its previous close of HK$0.64 per share. That compares with 1.1 percent fall indicated for the benchmark Hang Seng Index. A unit of Alibaba has agreed to buy 12. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tax fight looms large in Energy Future restructuring Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:21 PM PDT  By Nick Brown and Billy Cheung NEW YORK (Reuters) - As Energy Future Holdings prepares for what could be one of the largest-ever U.S. bankruptcies, some of its private-equity lenders are pushing a breakup of the company that could reap them more than $1 billion in tax savings, two people close to the matter said this week. But such an arrangement could provoke a challenge from the U.S. government, since it would result in a multi-billion-dollar capital gains tax bill that the bankrupt entity is unlikely to be able to afford. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia air force denies tracking missing jet to Strait of Malacca Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:18 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's air force chief denied a media report that the military last tracked a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control when it disappeared four days ago. "I wish to state that I did not make any such statements," air force chief Rodzali Daud said in a statement on Wednesday. The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, runs along Malaysia's west coast. ... Full Story | Top |
| Louisiana man fined $600 after drunken fight with wife aboard flight Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:06 PM PDT A judge in the Cayman Islands fined a Louisiana man $600 on Tuesday for forcing a Delta Air Lines flight to make an emergency landing after he got into a drunken argument with his wife aboard the plane on their anniversary. Michael Foret, 33, was escorted from a Delta Air Lines plane by police when it landed in the Cayman Islands on Sunday night. On Tuesday, Foret, who had been held in police custody, appeared before a Cayman Islands judge, his lawyer, Ben Tonner, said. Foret was fined for disruptive behavior aboard a commercial flight, he said. Full Story | Top |
| Top Citigroup executives take lead on Banamex probe: WSJ Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 05:51 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Top Citigroup Inc executives Manuel Medina-Mora and Brian Leach are taking the lead on an internal probe into alleged fraud at the U.S. bank's Mexican unit Banamex, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Citigroup said in February it had discovered at least $400 million in fraudulent loans at its Mexico subsidiary and said employees may have been involved in the apparent crime. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. military braces for budget battles with Congress Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 05:45 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. defense officials are bracing for a brutal season of budget negotiations, warning U.S. lawmakers that the U.S. military will gradually become unable to respond to emerging crises if Congress blocks the Pentagon's plans to cut military compensation, close bases and retire entire fleets of aircraft. Senior officials have also begun mapping out in stark terms what additional weapons and capabilities will be sacrificed if Congress does not reverse mandatory budget cuts that are due to resume in fiscal 2016 under a process known as sequestration. ... Full Story | Top |
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