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| Planes, ships race to beat bad weather in search for Malaysian jet Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 04:30 PM PDT  By Jane Wardell and Rujun Shen SYDNEY/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Aircraft and ships scouring the southern Indian Ocean for wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 were racing to beat bad weather on Thursday and reach an area where new satellite images showed what could be a debris field. The international search team has been bolstered to 11 military and civilian aircraft and five ships that will criss-cross the remote search site with weather conditions forecast to deteriorate later in the day. New satellite images have revealed more than 100 objects that could be debris from the Boeing 777, which is thought to have crashed on March 8 with the loss of all 239 people aboard after flying thousands of miles off course. "We have now had four separate satellite leads, from Australia, China and France, showing possible debris," Malaysian Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Sisi to run for president, vows to tackle militancy Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 04:50 PM PDT  By Tom Perry and Mahmoud Mourad CAIRO (Reuters) - Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted Egypt's first freely elected leader, declared his candidacy on Wednesday for a presidential election he is expected to easily win. Sisi toppled Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last July after mass protests against his rule and has emerged as the most influential figure in an interim administration that has governed since then. "I am here before you humbly stating my intention to run for the presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt," Sisi said in a televised address to the nation. "Only your support will grant me this great honor." A Sisi presidency would mark a return to the days when Egypt was led by men from the military, a pattern briefly interrupted by Mursi's one year in office after his 2012 victory in Egypt's first democratic presidential election. Full Story | Top |
| U.S., EU to work together on tougher Russia sanctions Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 03:06 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Lidia Kelly BRUSSELS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union agreed on Wednesday to work together to prepare possible tougher economic sanctions in response to Russia's behavior in Ukraine, including on the energy sector, and to make Europe less dependent on Russian gas. U.S. President Barack Obama said after a summit with top EU officials that Russian President Vladimir Putin had miscalculated if he thought he could divide the West or count on its indifference over his annexation of Crimea. Leaders of the Group of Seven major industrial powers decided this week to hold off on sanctions targeting Moscow's economy unless Putin took further action to destabilize Ukraine or other former Soviet republics. "If Russia continues on its current course, however, the isolation will deepen, sanctions will increase and there will be more consequences for the Russian economy," Obama told a joint news conference with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Full Story | Top |
| Bank of America to pay $9.3 billion to settle mortgage bond claims Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 06:47 PM PDT  By Margaret Chadbourn and Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank of America agreed to pay $9.3 billion to settle claims that it sold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac faulty mortgage bonds, helping the bank to end one of the largest legal headaches it still faced from the financial crisis. The settlement, announced on Wednesday, includes $6.3 billion in cash and the rest in securities that Bank of America will purchase from the two housing finance entities. The second-largest U.S. bank by assets said it had now resolved around 88 percent of its total exposure to securities at issue in the mortgage bond litigation it has faced. Bank of America's first-quarter profits could take a substantial hit from the deal. Full Story | Top |
| Fed bars shareholder payouts from Citi, four others Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 06:55 PM PDT  By Emily Stephenson and David Henry WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday rejected Citigroup Inc's plans to buy back $6.4 billion of shares and boost dividends, saying the bank is not sufficiently prepared to handle a potential financial crisis. The decision marks the second time in three years that Citigroup has failed to win the Fed's approval for its plan to return money to shareholders, known as the "capital plan." Officials at the bank never saw the rejection coming, a source close to the matter said on Wednesday. The rejection underscores that whatever strides Citi's chief executive, Michael Corbat, has made in fixing the bank's difficulties, he still has work to do. Shares of Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank, fell 5.4 percent to $47.45 in after-hours trading. Full Story | Top |
| Ninety people still missing after Washington state mudslide Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 08:51 PM PDT  By Bryan Cohen ARLINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - The number of people missing after a landslide sent a wall of mud crashing into dozens of rural Washington state homes dropped to 90 on Wednesday, as officials reported finding more bodies but acknowledged some victims' remains may never be recovered. Officials had earlier said additional remains had been found in the devastation zone about 55 miles northeast of Seattle on Wednesday, but declined to say how many until they had been removed and sent to a medical examiner's office. "My son's best friend is out there, missing," said John Pugh, 47, a National Guardsman who lives in the neighboring village of Darrington. And it will be for a long time." Asked whether he expected the death toll to rise significantly, Governor Jay Inslee told CNN: "Yes, I don't think anyone can reach any other conclusion." "It's been very sad that we have not been able to find anyone living now for probably 36 or 48 hours," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Durable goods orders rise, but capex looks weak Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 09:01 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rebounded in February, but a surprise drop in a gauge of planned spending on capital goods pointed to sluggish economic growth this quarter. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday orders for durable goods increased 2.2 percent, ending two straight months of declines. Durable goods are items like toasters and aircraft that are meant to last three years or more. However, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft unexpectedly fell 1.3 percent after rising 0.8 percent in January. Full Story | Top |
| Jury convicts bin Laden son-in-law on terrorism charges Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 10:23 AM PDT  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, was found guilty of terrorism-related charges on Wednesday following a three-week trial that offered unusually vivid details of the former al Qaeda leader's actions in the days after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Abu Ghaith, 48, a Kuwait-born Muslim cleric, faces life in prison after a federal court jury in New York convicted him of conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to provide material support for terrorists, and providing such support. Abu Ghaith's court-appointed lawyer, Stanley Cohen, said there were several issues he would raise on appeal. They include U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan's decision to bar testimony from Pakistan-born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man the U.S. government accuses of masterminding the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Full Story | Top |
| Kuwait summit merely papers over Arab rifts Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 11:46 AM PDT  By Sylvia Westall and Amena Bakr KUWAIT (Reuters) - Arab leaders, at loggerheads over inter-Arab issues including Egypt and Syria, offered little evidence of progress after a two-day summit in Kuwait focused largely on avoiding further splits. Gulf opposition to Qatar's financial backing for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist rebels in Syria burst into the open last month when Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain followed suit. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.S. to require casinos to vet high rollers' funds - sources Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 12:33 PM PDT  By Brett Wolf ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - U.S. casinos may soon have to vet where their high rollers' funds come from under a requirement being developed by the U.S. Treasury Department, according to two people familiar with the matter. Under current law, casinos are required to report suspicious activity. The new rule, which is being considered by Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) unit and would make such obligations explicit, is in the early stages and may take a year or more to complete, the people familiar with the proposal said. FinCEN spokesman Steve Hudak declined to comment on "any potential rule making," but said the Treasury bureau "continually examines its rules, and periodically considers updates, to ensure their continued effectiveness". Full Story | Top |
| South Africa mediator resumes talks with striking platinum union Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 10:01 AM PDT  By Ed Stoddard and Xola Potelwa JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's government mediator met with the striking Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) on Wednesday to restart talks aimed at ending a crippling platinum strike now entering its tenth week. The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration said in a statement it would separately meet companies Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin this week, but industry sources said as of late Wednesday no date for that meeting had been set. Crucially, there are still no scheduled face-to-face talks between the two sides and the Lonmin chief executive told staff to take voluntary leave, as there appears to be no end in sight to the strike that has cut 40 percent of global platinum output. "Unfortunately, the strike looks set to continue despite our best efforts to seek a solution with AMCU," Ben Magara said in an internal staff memo dated March 25 and seen by Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Bank of America to pay $9.3 billion to settle mortgage bond claims Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 03:42 PM PDT By Margaret Chadbourn and Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bank of America agreed to pay $9.3 billion to settle claims that it sold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac faulty mortgage bonds, helping the bank to end one of the largest legal headaches it still faced from the financial crisis. The settlement, announced on Wednesday, includes $6.3 billion in cash and $3.2 billion in securities that Bank of America will purchase from the two housing finance entities. The second-largest U.S. bank by assets said it had now resolved around 88 percent of its total exposure to securities at issue in the mortgage bond litigation it has faced. Bank of America's first-quarter profits could take a substantial hit from the deal. Full Story | Top |
| Obama tells EU to do more to cut reliance on Russian gas Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 09:18 AM PDT  By Robin Emmott and Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told the European Union on Wednesday it cannot rely on the United States alone to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, as relations with Moscow chill over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. Speaking on a visit to Brussels to discuss trade relations and the Ukraine crisis, Obama said concluding a new transatlantic trade pact, now under negotiation, would make it easier for Washington to license more gas exports. The EU relies on Russia for about a third of its oil and gas, and tensions with Moscow have heightened concerns among its 28 members about the security of their energy supplies. Some 40 percent of that gas is shipped through Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| FAA tells Boeing to fix 747-8 software to avoid crash Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 03:55 AM PDT  The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday ordered an immediate fix to the latest version of Boeing Co's 747-8 plane, saying a software glitch could cause it to lose thrust when close to landing and fly into the ground. The FAA's so-called airworthiness directive covers Boeing's 747-8 and 747-8F planes with certain General Electric Co engines. It calls for replacing defective software with a new, improved version. Boeing's website said it had delivered 66 of the four-engine jets, the company's largest, to customers worldwide since the model was introduced in October 2011. Full Story | Top |
| China to try former mining magnate and his gang next week Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 07:56 AM PDT The trial of a Chinese former mining magnate and the "mafia-style" gang he ran will begin in central China next week on charges including murder, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday. Liu Han, the former chairman of Hanlong Mining, which attempted to take over Australia's Sundance Resources Ltd, led his gang on a crime spree for more than a decade, focused on China's southwestern province of Sichuan, state media have said previously. The probe into Liu is one of the highest-profile cases against a private businessman since President Xi Jinping took power last year, vowing to battle corruption. Full Story | Top |
| Car, plane deals to get Franco-Chinese presidential treatment Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 06:08 AM PDT  By Andrew Callus PARIS (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping and French counterpart Francois Hollande are set to oversee the signing of two industrial co-operation deals in Paris on Wednesday, the business highlights of a meeting that carries a strong investment theme. Chinese carmaker Dongfeng is set to deepen ties with PSA Peugeot Citroen, buying a 14 percent stake as part of a recapitalization deal for the struggling French carmaker. Peugeot and Dongfeng plan to extend an existing joint venture and Chinese production to enter new Southeast Asian markets and to jointly develop new vehicles and technologies. At the same ceremony Airbus is set to agree the sale to China of at least 150 aircraft worth $20 billion, and possibly as many as 200, in a deal that could include both planes and helicopters. Full Story | Top |
| Obama brokers Japan, South Korea talks as Pyongyang fires missiles Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 01:24 AM PDT  By Thomas Escritt and Linda Sieg THE HAGUE/TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama brought together the leaders of Japan and South Korea for their first face-to-face talks as a North Korean ballistic missile launch underscored the need for Washington's two key Asian allies to repair their strained ties. Washington hopes the three-way summit will improve relations between Seoul and Tokyo, which are clouded by the legacy of Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula and Seoul's concerns that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to rewrite Japan's wartime past with a less apologetic tone. The United States wants to strengthen the allies' combined response to regional concerns such as North Korea's banned weapons programs and China's growing assertiveness in disputed waters. Full Story | Top |
| Washington mudslide yields more bodies, but not all may be found Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 04:39 PM PDT  By Jonathan Kaminsky DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Search teams picked through mud-caked debris for a fifth day on Wednesday looking for scores of people still missing in a deadly Washington state landslide, as officials reported finding more bodies while acknowledging that some victims' remains may never be recovered. The latest tally did not include an unspecified number of bodies that state police spokesman Bob Calkins said had been found on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, local emergency management officials sought to fend off criticism of property development that was permitted just across the river from the caved-in slope after previous landslides in the area. "My son's best friend is out there, missing," said John Pugh, 47, a National Guardsman who lives in the neighboring village of Darrington. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook to buy virtual reality goggles maker for $2 billion Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 10:20 AM PDT  By Alexei Oreskovic and Malathi Nayak SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will acquire two-year-old Oculus VR Inc, a maker of virtual-reality glasses for gaming, for $2 billion, buying its way into the fast-growing wearable devices arena with its first-ever hardware deal. The acquisition, which comes hot on the heels of its $19 billion deal for messaging service WhatsApp, marks a big bet by Facebook to anticipate the next shift in an evolving technology industry, at a time when consumers are increasingly abandoning their PCs for smartphones. On Tuesday, Facebook said virtual-reality technology could emerge as the next social and communications platform. "The history of our industry is that every 10 or 15 years there's a new major computing platform, whether it's the PC, the Web or now mobile," Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call with analysts and media on Tuesday to discuss the acquisition. Full Story | Top |
| Hungary to ignore critics with landslide for Orban Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 07:32 AM PDT  By Gergely Szakacs and Christian Lowe BATONYTERENYE, Hungary (Reuters) - Barring a major upset, Hungarians will enthusiastically re-elect Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party for another term in April. When Orban first became prime minister in 1998, aged 35, he stripped his office and replaced the fittings with items used by his pre-war predecessors, scavenged from elsewhere in the building, former spokesman Gabor Borokai told Reuters. The aim was to re-connect with one of the brief periods in Hungary's history when it was proud and independent, a key theme in his popularity, which appears undented by external criticism. Over the past four years, the United States and European Union have accused Orban of eroding Hungary's democratic checks and balances and of harming free speech. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. says U.N. report lays blame on Syria government for hindered aid Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 08:26 AM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. report on how Syria's neediest civilians are often not accessible to humanitarian relief workers makes it clear that the government of President Bashar al-Assad shoulders most of the blame, a U.S. official said on Tuesday. A month after the 15-member U.N. Security Council achieved rare consensus to approve a resolution demanding rapid, safe and unhindered aid access in Syria, including across borders, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said in a new report that the situation "remains extremely challenging. His report, which was delivered to council members on Sunday but has not been officially released, criticized both the government and rebels for hindering access to civilians caught in the crossfire of the three-year civil war. But in Washington's view, Ban's report was especially damning for the government. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. banks brace for second Fed health check in a week Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 12:50 AM PDT  By Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. banks will tell shareholders on Wednesday how much they plan to pay out after the U.S. Federal Reserve unveils whether they can afford the cost and still be robust enough to weather the next crisis. Last week, the Fed said that all but one of 30 banks had passed a model run of a simulated crisis similar to 2007-09 credit meltdown. The exercise, in which banks had to show how they would cope with a halving of the stock market, is an increasingly important benchmark for the Fed to make banks safer and have them rely less on borrowing to fund their business. All of the banks except Zions Bancorp stayed above the five percent threshold for the top-tier capital requirement. Full Story | Top |
| China says supports international financial aid for Ukraine Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 02:35 AM PDT  China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday that international financial bodies ought to be offering aid to Ukraine to ensure its economic stability, though it stopped short of saying whether Beijing would participate in such efforts. Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak says he is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a loan package of $15 billion to $20 billion because the economy had been severely weakened by months of political turmoil and mismanagement. U.S. President Barack Obama has also urged the IMF to reach agreement swiftly on a financial support package for Kiev, which would unlock additional aid from the European Union and Washington. Asked about aid for Ukraine, China, whose President Xi Jinping discussed Ukraine with Obama on Monday, said that the government "upholds the maintaining of Ukraine's financial stability". Full Story | Top |
| Mt. Gox says working with police in missing bitcoin probe Tuesday, Mar 25, 2014 10:33 PM PDT  By Sophie Knight TOKYO (Reuters) - In the first confirmation of a criminal investigation at Mt. Gox, the failed Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange said on Wednesday it was working with the police "with regard to the disappearance" of bitcoins worth some $490 million at current prices. Mt. Gox said in a brief statement on its website that it had submitted records and documents to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police as part of its civil rehabilitation application. It was not immediately clear if the police investigation was looking into those missing funds. A representative on a helpline for Mt. Gox creditors told Reuters the exchange had been working with the police as of "two days ago." Lawyers for Mt. Gox were not immediately available to comment. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian authorities dismiss criticism over Russian flights Wednesday, Mar 26, 2014 05:03 AM PDT  MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of putting lives at risk by preventing Russian pilots and crew disembarking from passenger flights but the Ukrainian authorities said the report distorted the facts. Citing information from Russian carrier Aeroflot, the Foreign Ministry said Ukrainian border officials were denying entry to Russian crews landing in Ukraine in violation of safety regulations allowing for rest periods after flights. "Russia insists on an unconditional cessation of these irresponsible practices by Ukraine which endanger the safety of civil aviation flights," the ministry said in a statement. Tension is high between Moscow and Kiev following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region last week and the overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president last month. Full Story | Top |
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