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| Japan may suggest smaller whale catch after ICJ blow Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:46 PM PDT  Japan could try to rescue its Antarctic whaling program by sharply reducing catch quotas after the highest U.N. court ordered a halt, rejecting Tokyo's argument that the catch was for scientific purposes and not mainly for human consumption. The judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was a blow to Japan's decades-old "scientific whaling" program, although Tokyo - which said it would abide by the ruling - might be able to resume Antarctic whaling if it devises a new, more persuasive program that requires killing whales. "We want to properly consider our country's response after carefully examining the contents of the ruling." The government was likely to submit to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) a new "scientific whaling" program with sharply reduced catch quotas in an effort to resume the annual hunts, the Asahi newspaper said on Tuesday The outlook was tough, however, with more than half of the IWC members now opposed to whaling, the newspaper said. Full Story | Top |
| Protest-hit China city says no plant without public support Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:33 PM PDT A city in southern China which has been the site of violent protests against a proposed chemical plant said it will not go ahead with the project if a majority of residents object to it, as authorities seek to head off more unrest. Photos posted on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblog service, have showed hundreds of demonstrators marching along the streets over the past two days, an overturned car in flames and protesters laying bloodied on the road. "If the majority of people are against it, the city government won't make a decision contrary to public opinion," it said. Maoming residents have been protesting the production of paraxylene, a chemical used to make fabrics and plastic bottles at a plant run by the local government and state-owned Sinopec Corp, China's biggest refiner. Full Story | Top |
| Green Investment Bank buys wind farm stakes from DONG, RWE Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:25 PM PDT  The UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) investing in green energy projects has acquired stakes in two offshore wind farms owned by Denmark's Dong Energy and Germany's RWE Innogy, respectively, for nearly 500 million pounds. The GIB, working with 3.8 billion-pound in capital provided by the government, has purchased a 50 percent stake jointly with Japan's Marubeni in DONG Energy's planned Westermost Rough offshore wind farm off the east cost of England. The bank also announced a 10 percent stake purchase in RWE Innogy's Gwynty Mor project, the largest offshore wind farm under construction in Europe, for 220 million pounds. The GIB said DONG Energy and RWE's proceeds from the sales would be re-invested in Britain's renewable energy market. Full Story | Top |
| Government picks Babcock and Fluor for 7 billion pounds nuclear decommissioning Monday, Mar 31, 2014 08:15 PM PDT By Li-mei Hoang and Brenda Goh LONDON (Reuters) - Britain awarded a 7-billion-pound contract to manage the decommissioning of nearly half its nuclear sites to engineering contractors Babcock and U.S. group Fluor in one of the largest government contracts ever put out to tender. The 14-year deal covers some of Britain's oldest nuclear power sites include Hinkley, Sizewell and Dungeness. Britain has moved to outsource large swathes of its public sector services over the last 30 years, a practice which has been heavily criticised in recent months after contractors such as G4S and Serco were found to have overcharged the government on contracts. Full Story | Top |
| Russian prime minister angers Ukraine by visiting Crimea Monday, Mar 31, 2014 05:07 PM PDT  By Darya Korsunskaya SIMFEROPOL, Crimea (Reuters) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev flaunted Russia's grip on Crimea by flying to the region and holding a government meeting there on Monday, angering Ukraine and defying Western demands to hand the peninsula back to Kiev. But in a gesture that could ease tension in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War, Russia pulled some troops back from near Ukraine's eastern frontier - a move the United States said would be a positive sign if it is confirmed as a withdrawal. President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he had ordered a partial drawdown in the region, Merkel's spokesman said. Full Story | Top |
| Scale of Guinea's Ebola epidemic unprecedented: aid agency Monday, Mar 31, 2014 03:55 PM PDT By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea faces an Ebola epidemic on an unprecedented scale as it battles to contain confirmed cases now scattered across several locations that are far apart, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday. The warning from an organization with experience of tackling Ebola in Central Africa comes after Guinea's president appealed for calm as the number of deaths linked to an outbreak on the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone hit 80. The outbreak of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases has spooked a number of governments with weak health systems, prompting Senegal to close its border with Guinea and other neighbors to restrict travel and cross-border exchanges. Figures released overnight by Guinea's health ministry showed that there had been 78 deaths from 122 cases of suspected Ebola since January, up from 70. Full Story | Top |
| Sherritt files proxy, urges rejection of dissident's nominees Monday, Mar 31, 2014 03:51 PM PDT By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian miner Sherritt International Corp on Monday urged its shareholders to back its slate of nominees for the company's board of directors over a slate put forward by activist investor George Armoyan. Sherritt filed its proxy circular on Monday, and in a letter to investors Chairman Harold Stephen assailed Armoyan as someone with no experience in Sherritt's lines of business, and said Armoyan has a poor track record on corporate governance matters and no credible new ideas for creating value beyond what management is already doing. Armoyan is chief executive of Clarke Inc, a Halifax, Nova Scotia-based investment holding company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The announcement came just after Sherritt, a nickel, oil and gas producer, completed a visit with analysts and investors to its key growth project, the Ambatovy nickel mine and plant in Madagascar. Full Story | Top |
| N.Y. judge lets Chevron bring fraud claims against Patton Boggs Monday, Mar 31, 2014 03:12 PM PDT  By Casey Sullivan NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York judge has allowed Chevron Corp to sue Patton Boggs over claims that the Washington law and lobbying firm engaged in fraud while trying to enforce a multibillion-dollar environmental judgment for a group of Ecuadorean villagers. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan gave his ruling on Monday in Manhattan federal court, saying he had "difficulties" with Patton Boggs' argument that a New York court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. "This is about holding accountable all those who are responsible for trying to enforce this travesty of justice that occurred in Ecuador," Chevron's lawyer, Randy Mastro, said in an interview. "Now there will be the opportunity to hold Patton Boggs accountable for its role." Patton Boggs general counsel Charles Talisman in a statement called Chevron's claims "baseless and unlikely ever to proceed to litigation on the merits." He said the case was in its early stages and there were still jurisdictional arguments being made. Full Story | Top |
| FDA panel votes in favor of two anti-infective drugs Monday, Mar 31, 2014 03:01 PM PDT By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave favorable reviews on Monday to two new medications to treat acute bacterial skin infections. The panel voted unanimously that Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc's tedizolid and Durata Therapeutics Inc's dalbavancin showed substantial evidence of safety and efficacy. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its expert panels but typically does so. Cubist's shares closed up 4.4 percent at $73.15. Full Story | Top |
| East Libyan rebels close to deal to reopen ports - state media Monday, Mar 31, 2014 02:10 PM PDT By Feras Bosalum and Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Libya are close to reopening three oil ports they have occupied since the summer to press Tripoli for autonomy and a greater share of oil revenue, a leader from the rebels' tribe told state media on Monday. "There are indications of an imminent breakthrough," Saleh Atawich, the top Magharba leader, said of talks with the government mediated by tribal elders, according to LANA state news agency. Atawich is from the same tribe as port rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran but also close to government thinking. Three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, the oil standoff is one of the major challenges to Libya's weak central government as the blockade drains state coffers, adding to Western worries the country is sliding deeper into instability. Full Story | Top |
| TSX rises on Fed remarks, posts ninth month of gains Monday, Mar 31, 2014 02:09 PM PDT  By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index gained on Monday after the U.S. Federal Reserve's assurance of continued support for the economy lifted sentiment and helped drive up shares of financial and energy companies. Fed Chair Janet Yellen said measures by the central bank to boost the U.S. economy will be necessary for some time to come. The Toronto stock market's benchmark index recorded its ninth straight monthly gain. "It speaks to the fact that the TSX has come back in favor this quarter," said Elvis Picardo, a strategist at Global Securities in Vancouver. Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street rises on Yellen's view; S&P scores modest first quarter gain Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:45 PM PDT  By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, with the S&P 500 ending both March and the first quarter of 2014 with moderate gains, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen relieved concerns about a rate hike coming earlier than expected. This was the fifth straight quarterly rise for both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, though it was the smallest three-month advance for both since the fourth quarter of 2012. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 rose for a second straight month in March. Gains were broad, with nine of the S&P 500's 10 sector indexes rising for the day. Full Story | Top |
| Durata's anti-infective drug shows efficacy, safety: FDA panel Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:41 PM PDT (Reuters) - Durata Therapeutics Inc's drug to treat acute bacterial skin infections shows substantial evidence of safety and efficacy, a panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Monday. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its expert panels but typically does so. The intravenous drug, which would be sold under the brand name Dalvance if approved, is designed to be given in two doses, the first on day one and the second on day eight. The latest clinical trials were designed to show the drug was not inferior, in terms of efficacy, to a control arm that included vancomycin or vancomycin followed by Pfizer Inc's linezolid, which is sold under the brand Zyvox. Full Story | Top |
| China summons Manila envoy over South China Sea legal case Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:30 PM PDT By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - China summoned the Philippines ambassador on Monday to lodge a strong complaint over Manila's seeking of international arbitration in a festering territorial dispute over the South China Sea. The Philippines filed the case against China on Sunday at an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, subjecting Beijing to international legal scrutiny over the waters for the first time. The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, said on Sunday that the right of any state to use dispute resolution mechanisms under the Convention on the Law of the Sea should be respected. On Monday, the U.S. State Department accused China's coastguard of "harassment" of Philippine vessels and called its attempt on Saturday to block a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll, "a provocative and destabilizing action." Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told the Philippines' ambassador that Beijing was "extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed" to the case Manila had brought to The Hague, repeating that China did not accept it and would not participate. Full Story | Top |
| NHTSA chief: GM did not share critical information with U.S. agency Monday, Mar 31, 2014 01:15 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defended his agency's decision not to open a formal investigation into defective ignition switches in some General Motors cars and pointed a finger at the automaker for not sharing information with the agency. In testimony prepared for a congressional hearing on Tuesday, NHTSA acting Administrator David Friedman said: "GM had critical information that would have helped identify this defect." GM has recalled 2.6 million cars to repair a defective ignition switch that is linked to at least 13 deaths. ... Full Story | Top |
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