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| Crimea votes to join Russia, Obama orders sanctions Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 05:03 PM PST  By Alissa de Carbonnel and Luke Baker SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Crimea's parliament voted on Thursday to join Russia, and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum in 10 days, in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian region that drew a sharp riposte from U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama ordered sanctions on those responsible for Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, including bans on travel to the United States and freezing of their U.S. assets. He echoed European Union leaders and the pro-Western government in Ukraine in declaring that the proposed referendum would violate international law. Obama also held a one-hour call on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, their second phone conversation in the past six days, and urged him to accept the terms of a potential diplomatic solution to the crisis. Full Story | Top |
| Three-month low in U.S. jobless claims offers hope for labor market Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 10:09 AM PST By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits hit a three-month low last week, suggesting some strength in a labor market that has been hobbled by severe weather. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits tumbled 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, their lowest level since the end of November, the Labor Department said. "Initial claims returned to a more normal level, consistent with healthy labor market conditions," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York. Stocks on Wall Street were trading high on the claims data, while prices for U.S. Treasury debt fell. Full Story | Top |
| Big budget cuts pose 'tough, tough choices' for Pentagon: Hagel Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 04:09 PM PST  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned on Thursday that "tough, tough choices are coming" if the Pentagon implements deep future spending cuts required by law, including whether to slash the Army to 420,000 soldiers and decommission an aircraft carrier. Hagel told a House of Representatives committee that a return to steep budget cuts in 2016 and beyond would force the Army to cut 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers more than currently planned and the Marine Corps to trim another 7,000 troops. The cuts would "compromise our national security," the Pentagon chief told the House Armed Services Committee. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Syria to miss deadline to destroy 12 chemical arms sites-sources at OPCW Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 01:05 PM PST By Anthony Deutsch THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Syria will miss a major deadline next week in the program to destroy its chemical weapons production facilities, sources at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Thursday. Syria declared 12 production facilities to the OPCW and has until March 15 to destroy them under a deal agreed with the United States and Russia. Damascus has already missed several deadlines laid out in the agreement. "That will definitely be missed," said an official involved in discussions with Syria, referring to the March 15 deadline. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.S. Navy aims to put 22 Boeing fighters on 'unfunded' list - sources Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 05:48 PM PST  By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy plans to add 22 Boeing electronic attack jets to a list of "unfunded" priorities requested by Congress, but the document must still be vetted by senior Pentagon officials, who have underscored their commitment to Lockheed Martin Corp's next-generation F-35 fighter jet, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the military services in a memo on Thursday they could respond to the House Armed Services Committee's request, but said the lists should be coordinated with his office and that of General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to a defense official. The defense official and multiple other sources spoke on Wednesday and Thursday on condition of anonymity because the unfunded priorities lists have not yet been formally submitted to Congress. Full Story | Top |
| Man called Bitcoin's father denies ties, leads LA car chase Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 07:07 PM PST  By Aron Ranen and Brandon Lowrey TEMPLE CITY, California (Reuters) - A Japanese American man thought to be the reclusive multi-millionaire father of Bitcoin emerged from a modest Southern California home and denied involvement with the digital currency before leading reporters on a freeway car chase to the local headquarters of the Associated Press. Satoshi Nakamoto, a name known to legions of bitcoin traders, practitioners and boosters around the world, appeared to lose his anonymity on Thursday after Newsweek published a story that said he lived in Temple City, California, just east of Los Angeles. Newsweek included a photograph and a described a short interview, in which Nakamoto said he was no longer associated with Bitcoin and that it had been turned over to other people. The magazine concluded that the man was the same Nakamoto who founded Bitcoin. Full Story | Top |
| Apple loses bid for U.S. ban on Samsung smartphone sales Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 10:54 AM PST  By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday rejected Apple's request for a permanent sales ban in the United States against some older Samsung smartphones, a key setback for the iPhone maker in its global patent battle. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, ruled that Apple Inc had not presented enough evidence to show that its patented features were a significant enough driver of consumer demand to warrant an injunction. Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd have been litigating for nearly three years over various smartphone features patented by Apple, such as the use of fingers to pinch and zoom on the screen, as well as design elements such as the phone's flat, black glass screen. Apple was awarded more than $900 million by U.S. juries but the iPhone maker has failed to sustain a permanent sales ban against its rival, a far more serious threat to Samsung, which earned $7.7 billion last quarter. Full Story | Top |
| Two dead in Venezuela violence as protests drag on Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 01:13 PM PST  Demonstrators have for weeks staged rallies and set up barricades to demand the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro, leading to clashes with security forces and government supporters. Motorcycle drivers clearing a barricade in the middle-class neighborhood of Los Ruices were attacked by residents from nearby buildings who threw rocks and later shot at them, National Guard Gen. Manuel Quevedo told Reuters. The motorcyclist who was killed, Jose Cantillo, who was in his early twenties, was shot in the neck, Quevedo said. "Make no mistake, the National Guard and the armed forces are going to continue patrolling the streets to restore order," he said in an interview at the scene of the events. Full Story | Top |
| Niger extradites Gaddafi's son Saadi to Libya Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 11:26 AM PST  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi, his special forces commander who fled abroad during Libya's 2011 revolution, was imprisoned in Tripoli on Thursday after Niger agreed to send him back from house arrest there. Saadi, who had a brief career as soccer player in Italy and often lived the playboy life during his father's rule, is the first of Gaddafi's sons the central government has managed to arrest since the former dictator was overthrown. Gaddafi's more prominent son Saif al-Islam, long viewed as his heir, has been held captive by fighters in western Libya who refuse to hand him over to a government they deem too weak to secure and try him. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. says west of Central African Republic 'cleansed' of Muslims Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 12:28 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Most Muslims have been driven out of the western half of conflict-torn Central African Republic, where thousands of civilians risk of being killed "right before our eyes," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday. The bleak warning came as the country's foreign minister pleaded with the U.N. Security Council to urgently approve a U.N. peacekeeping force to stop the killing. "Since early December we have effectively witnessed a 'cleansing' of the majority of the Muslim population in western CAR," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told a meeting of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council on the crisis in the impoverished and landlocked country. The council is considering a U.N. proposal for a nearly 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to stop the country from sliding toward what a top U.N. rights official called "ethnic-religious cleansing." If approved, the U.N. force would likely not be operational before late summer. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Russia wants IMF to move ahead on reforms without U.S. - sources Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 08:16 AM PST  By Anna Yukhananov and Lidia Kelly WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian officials are pushing for the International Monetary Fund to move ahead with planned reforms without the United States, which could mean the loss of the U.S. veto over major decisions at the global lender, sources said. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov brought up the idea at a meeting of top finance officials from the Group of 20 nations in Sydney late last month, two G20 sources told Reuters this week. The failure of the U.S. Congress to approve IMF funding has held up reforms agreed in 2010 that would double the Fund's resources and give more say to emerging markets like China. The United States is the only country that holds a controlling share of IMF votes, meaning its approval is necessary for any major decision to go forward. Full Story | Top |
| Crimea votes to join Russia, Obama orders sanctions Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 01:35 PM PST By Alissa de Carbonnel and Luke Baker SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum in 10 days' time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian region that drew a sharp riposte from U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama ordered sanctions on those responsible for Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, including bans on travel to the United States and freezing of their U.S. assets. He echoed European Union leaders and the pro-Western government in Ukraine in declaring that the proposed referendum would violate international law. The sudden acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority and has effectively been seized by Russian forces, formally under Moscow's rule came as EU leaders held an emergency summit groping for ways to pressure Russia to back down and accept mediation. Full Story | Top |
| Five Afghan soldiers killed in air strike by NATO-led force Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 07:53 AM PST Five Afghan soldiers were killed on Thursday in an air strike by the NATO-led force in Afghanistan's eastern province of Logar, Afghan officials and the coalition said. Coalition airstrikes on friendly targets have helped widen a rift between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the United States, cementing his resolve not to sign a bilateral security deal to let U.S. troops remain in the country after 2014. "We condemn the attack on the Afghan National Army in Logar," said Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for Karzai. "Right now a discussion in the province is going on between Afghan officials and foreign forces to find out the reason for this attack," he said, describing the attack as having targeted a new outpost of the Afghan army. Full Story | Top |
| Witness feared Pistorius might kill himself after shooting girlfriend Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 08:04 AM PST  By Mike Hutchings PRETORIA (Reuters) - One of the first people on the scene after Oscar Pistorius shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp told a court on Thursday he feared the Olympic and Paralympic star, now on trial for murder, might kill himself with the same gun. Testifying on the fourth day of the trial, neighbor Johan Stipp said he entered the athlete's home, minutes after hearing screams and shots, to find the distraught South African sprinter kneeling over the lifeless body of a woman. I thought she was a burglar and I shot her," Stipp quoted the 27-year-old Pistorius as saying. Stipp, a doctor, went on to describe his futile attempts to revive Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate who had been dating Pistorius for a few months. Full Story | Top |
| France's Sarkozy to sue over secret audio recordings: lawyers Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 09:10 AM PST  By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are to file a legal complaint over secret audio recordings made of them by an adviser during the 2012 election campaign, lawyers for the couple said on Thursday. Revelations that Patrick Buisson, part of Sarkozy's inner circle, recorded hours of talks with the conservative leader and his entourage have caused uproar in the opposition UMP party weeks before local elections. Sarkozy is expected by many to contest the 2017 presidential election after his defeat by Francois Hollande two years ago. "Mr Nicolas Sarkozy and Mrs Carla Bruni-Sarkozy cannot accept that remarks made in private were recorded and published without their consent," lawyers Thierry Herzog and Richard Malka said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Amid carnage of war, Syria readies for Assad re-election Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 05:29 AM PST  After three years of grinding conflict, the destruction of whole city districts and an exodus of refugees all triggered by an uprising against his rule, Bashar al-Assad is quietly preparing to be re-elected. Authorities are once again organizing demonstrations in support of Assad, accused by opponents of massacres of civilians. Just 18 months ago, Assad's grip over his capital seemed to be slipping as rebels gained ground around Damascus. Since then his forces have consolidated control in central Syria. Full Story | Top |
| IBM China workers strike over terms in $2.3 billion Lenovo deal Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 06:16 AM PST  More than 1,000 workers at an IBM factory in southern China have gone on strike against the terms of their transfer to Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd caused by the U.S. company's $2.3 billion sale of its low-end server business. Several workers gather outside gate of the International Business Machines Corp factory in Shenzhen on Thursday said production remains suspended for a fourth straight day. "So far, we've heard nothing from the management or the government in response to our demands," said Hou Hongbo, a 10- year worker at the factory. "The company's attitude so far is to ignore us, but the entire production remains shut down." The workers want higher pay if they choose to transfer to Lenovo or higher severance packages if they choose to leave. Full Story | Top |
| Niger extradites Gaddafi's son Saadi to Libya Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 06:56 AM PST  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi, his special forces commander who fled abroad during Libya's 2011 revolution, was imprisoned in Tripoli on Thursday after Niger agreed to send him back from house arrest there. Saadi, who had a brief career as soccer player in Italy and often lived the playboy life during his father's rule, is the first of Gaddafi's sons the central government has managed to arrest since the former dictator was overthrown. Gaddafi's more prominent son Saif al-Islam, long viewed as his heir, has been held captive by fighters in western Libya who refuse to hand him over to a government they deem too weak to secure and try him. Full Story | Top |
| Iran to get second tranche of payment under nuclear deal: IRNA Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 03:29 AM PST  Iran will soon receive a second installment of previously frozen assets which are being returned to it under an interim nuclear agreement with world powers, the official IRNA news agency quoted its central bank chief as saying. The official, Valiollah Seif, said on Wednesday that the new funds would be transferred to Iran's account "in the next three days", but did not state the amount. Under a November 24 accord reached in Geneva, Iran is to scale back its nuclear activities for six months in exchange for sanctions relief from six major powers: Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Iran agreed to suspend enrichment of uranium to 20 percent fissile concentration - a relatively short technical step away from the level required for nuclear bombs - and is taking action to neutralize its holding of the material. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. seeks 'talk and trade' to rebuild India ties Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 03:52 AM PST  By Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The United States sought on Thursday to rebuild rocky ties with India, while stressing it would tackle differences "head on" in pursuit of its drive to quintuple bilateral trade in a decade. That spat forced a trip to India by Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal, Washington's point person for South Asia, to be rescheduled. "Like any trading partners, we do have our differences, but the willingness to talk about them indicates that we are indeed confident, mature partners," Biswal said in a speech to an invited audience. President Barack Obama wants to bring about a strategic "rebalancing" towards Asia and expand trade with the region of more than 4 billion people that Washington believes could account for half of global economic output by 2050. Full Story | Top |
| Fed chair vows to 'do all that I can' to boost weak U.S. economy Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 09:27 PM PST  By Ann Saphir, Alexandra Alper and Jonathan Spicer SEATTLE/ MEXICO CITY/ WASHINGTON (Reuters) - F ederal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen vowed on Wednesday to "do all that I can" to boost a U.S. economy where unemployment is too high and inflation is too low. "The economy is stronger and the financial system is sounder," added Yellen, who succeeded Ben Bernanke on February 1. "We have come a long way, but we have farther to go." The brief comments were a broad reiteration of what she told two congressional committees last month: that the United States appears to be clawing its way back from the 2007-2009 recession but that the Fed is in no rush to tighten policy. Speaking clear across the country, San Francisco Fed chief John Williams gave a more upbeat assessment of the economy, and suggested that rate hikes could come as soon as next year. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. jobless claims tumble to three-month low Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 06:06 AM PST  The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected and hit a three-month low last week, a sign of strength in a labor market that has been hobbled by severe weather. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits falling to 338,000 in the week ended March 1. A Labor Department analyst said no states were estimated and there were no special factors affecting the state level data. Full Story | Top |
| In Ukraine's Crimea, a tense and surreal standoff Thursday, Mar 06, 2014 03:15 AM PST  By Alissa de Carbonnel KERCH, Ukraine (Reuters) - Holed up on their bases, Ukraine's besieged servicemen and the Russians surrounding them in Crimea are locked in a standoff that at times is tense and at others surreal. Almost a week after Russian forces began their swift and bloodless takeover of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, there is a standoff as the two sides dig in and play a waiting game. "Where it was possible they made a show of it ... They came and pushed the door in, but you can't come push our door," said Major Alexei Nikiforov, deputy commander of a Ukrainian marine battalion in Kerch, just across a narrow strait from Russia. Russian navy ships have blockaded the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian officials say, portraying it as part of efforts to seal off the Ukrainian servicemen and force them to surrender or change sides. Full Story | Top |
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