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| China to 'declare war' on pollution, premier says Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 07:20 PM PST  China is to "declare war" on pollution, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday at the opening of the annual meeting of parliament, with the government unveiling detailed measures to tackle what has become a hot-button social issue. It is not uncommon for air pollution in parts of China to breach levels considered by some experts to be hazardous. Full Story | Top |
| Obama eyes boost in space taxi spending, Jupiter moon mission Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 06:06 PM PST  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's 2015 NASA budget plan includes funding for a robotic mission to an ocean-bearing moon of Jupiter and could help boost commercial ventures to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA officials said on Tuesday. The White House is requesting a $17.5 billion budget for the U.S. space agency in the fiscal year that begins October 1. That marks a 1 percent decrease from NASA's 2014 budget. But NASA could also have access to an additional $900 million from Obama's proposed Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative, a $56 billion fund for special projects that is separate from the regular budget. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Germany's Merkel discuss potential resolution to Ukraine crisis Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 05:59 PM PST  By Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday about a potential resolution to the crisis ignited by Russian intervention in Ukraine's Crimea region, a senior administration official said. Under the proposal, Russia would pull back its forces in Crimea to their bases in the region, limit the Russian troop numbers to a Ukraine-mandated ceiling of 11,000, and allow in international monitors to ensure the human rights of ethnic Russians are being protected, the official said. The so-called off-ramp out of the crisis would allow for direct discussions between the Russians and the new Ukraine government with the potential for some international mediation. Ukraine elections in May would proceed. Full Story | Top |
| Yosemite bears turn health nuts with junk food off menu Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 05:02 PM PST By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bears in Yosemite National Park in California have adopted the wildlife version of a health food diet after increased safety measures largely blocked them from scavenging for food in campgrounds over the last 15 years, a study showed on Tuesday. An estimated 350 to 400 black bears roam Yosemite, one of the most popular U.S. tourist destinations. Interactions between the park's bears and people reached a record level in 1998 as the animals raided campgrounds and broke into cars in search of groceries and leftovers, according to Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman. After recording 1,584 human-bear interactions that year, the park east of San Francisco adopted a policy in 1999 that included placing bear-resistant food storage containers at campgrounds and cracking down more forcefully on people leaving out items like chips or bread, Gediman said. Full Story | Top |
| Putin: military force would be 'last resort' in Ukraine Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 05:02 PM PST  By Vladimir Soldatkin and Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin delivered a robust defense of Russia's actions in Crimea and said on Tuesday that he would use force in Ukraine only as a last resort, easing market fears that East-West tension over the former Soviet republic could lead to war. Russian forces fired warning shots in a confrontation with Ukrainian servicemen at an air base, and Russian navy ships were reported to have blockaded the strait separating the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula from Russia. At his first news conference since the crisis began, Putin said Russia reserved the right to use all options to protect compatriots who were living in "terror" in Ukraine but that force was not needed for now. His comments, coupled with the end of Russian war games near Ukraine's borders, lifted Russian bonds and stock markets around the world after a panic sell-off on Monday. Full Story | Top |
| Japan's embrace of Russia under threat with Ukraine crisis Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 04:59 PM PST By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Russia's incursion into Ukraine is setting off alarm bells in Tokyo, where officials worry that any push by Japan's Western allies to impose economic penalties will undermine its drive to improve relations with Moscow. While U.S. President Barack Obama and other G7 leaders of advanced economies talk of sanctions or other punitive responses, Japanese officials say ties with Moscow remain on track. There has been no change in the direction of economic and resource diplomacy between Japan and Russia, Trade Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday. Full Story | Top |
| China vows to cut industrial capacity faster, fight pollution Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 04:50 PM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - China will cut excess industrial capacity a year earlier than planned and fight pollution through reforms in energy pricing to boost non-fossil fuel power, the government said on Wednesday. To ensure food security, Beijing also said it will expand the scope of agricultural subsidies for grains and other commodities, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's economic planner, said in its 2014 work document. The government will continue to implement annual stockpiling programs for corn, rapeseed and sugar, the NDRC said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. warns of possible humanitarian disaster in South Sudan Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 04:34 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - If the fighting in South Sudan prevents people from planting crops over the next three months, the country will be headed for a humanitarian disaster, the humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations in South Sudan said on Tuesday. Although the warring parties agreed to a cessation of hostilities on January 23, fighting has continued in parts of South Sudan. Toby Lanzer, the deputy U.N. special representative and humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said it was crucial that the South Sudanese be able to plant their crops in March, April and May to ensure there is a harvest this year. "Right now what the people of South Sudan, what the civilians need most, is the ability to move their cattle, tend to their fields and plant," he told Reuters in an interview. Full Story | Top |
| Keystone XL pipeline will be built, TransCanada CEO predicts Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 04:24 PM PST  By Ernest Scheyder HOUSTON (Reuters) - The controversial Keystone XL pipeline will receive President Obama's blessing and be built to transport crude oil from Canada to Texas, TransCanada Corp Chief Executive Russ Girling predicted on Tuesday. Girling's confidence helps project a sense of inevitability around the $5.4 billion project, which supporters say would create badly needed jobs, and offset a recent unfavorable Nebraska court ruling and more than five years of political wrangling in Washington. "It is the next pipeline that is going to be built" in the United States, Girling said in an interview at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. It's the right thing to do." Girling sought to reassure many of the Canadian company's customers attending the conference, the largest gathering of energy companies in the world, that Keystone XL ultimately would open and be able to transport their crude oil to Texas refineries. Full Story | Top |
| Passive smoking causes irreversible damage to kids' arteries Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 04:10 PM PST  By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Exposure to second-hand smoke in childhood causes irreversible damage to children's arteries - increasing their risk of heart attacks or strokes when they grow up, according to a large international study published on Wednesday. The research, which lends weight to campaigns for smoking to be banned in private cars and homes, found passive smoking leads to a thickening of children's artery walls, adding some 3.3 years to the age of blood vessels by adulthood. Full Story | Top |
| Ecuador $9.5 billion ruling against Chevron was corrupt: U.S. judge Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 03:59 PM PST  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - An American lawyer used "corrupt means" to secure a multi-billion-dollar pollution judgment against Chevron Corp in Ecuador, a U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday, a major setback for Ecuadorean villagers hoping to collect on the award. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York said he found "clear and convincing evidence" that attorney Steven Donziger's legal team used bribery, fraud and extortion in pursuit of an $18 billion judgment against the oil company issued in 2011. The villagers had said Texaco, later acquired by Chevron, contaminated an oil field in northeastern Ecuador between 1964 and 1992. Ecuador's high court cut the judgment to $9.5 billion last year. Full Story | Top |
| Fed official: U.S. economic risks from Ukraine seem manageable Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 03:25 PM PST By Jonathan Spicer NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday he is closely following the crisis in Ukraine for potential effects on U.S. economic growth and volatility in commodity prices, but said that so far he sees no undue risks. "It's something I'm watching really carefully for potential implications for growth," Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond Fed, told the Council of Economic Education. "We obviously worry first about the disruptions of the commodity markets ... and volatile commodity prices." Russia's military intervention in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula has driven up oil markets. But crude oil prices eased on Tuesday after President Vladimir Putin told reporters that Russia would only use force as a "last resort." Lacker, speaking to reporters following his speech in New York, said that while there is a potential risk to the U.S. economy, he is reassured by the stability in commodity markets. Full Story | Top |
| Accused of fraud against Chevron, lawyer is defiant in defeat Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 03:21 PM PST By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - Steven Donziger, the Harvard-educated lawyer who has waged a two-decade battle against Chevron Corp over pollution in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador, is not one to accept defeat quietly. Hours after a federal judge in New York ruled on Tuesday that he had used bribery and fraud to secure a $9.5 billion judgment against the oil company in Ecuador in 2011, Donziger promised to appeal and said the judge had let his "implacable hostility toward me ... infect his view of the case." Critics, including Chevron, have painted Donziger as nothing short of a criminal, a lawyer who took advantage of a corruptible judicial system to buy a favorable judgment. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw a trial last fall on racketeering allegations brought by Chevron against Donziger, made it clear he was in the former camp, writing that there was "clear and convincing evidence" that Donziger had paid a judge to ghostwrite the Ecuadorean opinion. The trial pitted the enormous resources of Chevron, represented by the powerful law firm Gibson Dunn, against Donziger's smaller team of lawyers, activists and volunteers, a contrast Donziger has noted several times. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Details of U.S. President Obama's fiscal year 2015 budget Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 03:21 PM PST (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama released his fiscal year 2015 budget request to Congress on Tuesday, and lawmakers will promptly ignore it. Obama outlined how he would parcel out $1.014 trillion on government agencies' discretionary programs ranging from the military to national parks. The level, barely above this year's spending cap of $1.012 trillion, was set by a recent budget deal and forces Obama to make some difficult cuts to fund the programs he wants. If the president wants to spend more, he will have to sell Congress on the idea of raising additional revenues. Full Story | Top |
| New Jersey condo site explosion kills one, injures seven Tuesday, Mar 04, 2014 03:10 PM PST By Daniel Kelley PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - An explosion in a condominium development in southern New Jersey's Ewing Township on Tuesday killed one person, injured seven others and damaged dozens of homes, police said. A spokeswoman for utility company PSE&G said workers had been called to the development shortly before noon after a gas line was damaged. The body of the victim was found some distance away from the explosion, and it was not immediately clear if it was a worker or resident, said Ewing Township Police Lieutenant Ron Lunetta at a news briefing. Fifty-five units in the condominium development were damaged, some very badly, Lunetta said. Full Story | Top |
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