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| Quebec separatists lose election, referendum avoided Monday, Apr 07, 2014 09:24 PM PDT  By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The anti-separatist Quebec Liberal Party won a majority government in provincial elections on Monday, eliminating the possibility of a new referendum on independence from Canada for several years and crushing the separatist Parti Quebecois. The election in the mainly French-speaking province had turned into a referendum on whether to hold another vote on separating from Canada, and the answer appeared to be a resounding "Non." The Quebec Liberals had warned incessantly that the Parti Quebecois, which had called the election in a bid to turn their minority government into a majority, would launch a referendum if it succeeded. Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois, who is expected to lose her seat, announced she would resign as party head in view of the electoral defeat. The Liberals led in 70 of the 125 races, and the Parti Quebecois led in just 30, its lowest since 1989. Full Story | Top |
| GM to invest $450 million in two Michigan plants: Detroit News Monday, Apr 07, 2014 09:19 PM PDT  (Reuters) - General Motors Co is expected to announce on Tuesday a $450 million investment plan in two of its Michigan plants to bolster its electric car research and production capabilities, the Detroit News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The investment is expected to add 1,400 jobs and it will be divided between GM's Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant and Brownstown township battery assembly facility in Michigan, the newspaper said. GM's head of manufacturing for North America will be speaking at an Automotive Press Association lunch on Tuesday, he said. Full Story | Top |
| Most midsize SUVs fail tough U.S. crash tests Monday, Apr 07, 2014 09:09 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Most of the midsize SUVs did not fare well in a new small overlap front-crash test conducted by an influential U.S. safety group, in yet another jolt to the industry already shaken by safety concerns. Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain from the General Motors Co were the only vehicles to earn the highest rating of "good" in the test, according to results released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) on Tuesday. Out of the nine participating models, Toyota Motor Corp's Highlander was rated "acceptable" while rest of the group earned "marginal" or "poor" ratings. The worst performers in the test were Mazda Motor Corp's CX-9 and Honda Motor Co's Pilot, which sustained "significant structural collapse," IIHS said. Full Story | Top |
| BOJ stands pat, keeps upbeat view despite Japan slowdown Monday, Apr 07, 2014 08:57 PM PDT  By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan stuck to its existing monetary stimulus on Tuesday, confident that it did not need further support measures to beat chronic deflation even as a sales tax hike clouds the outlook for the world's third-largest economy. The central bank maintained its upbeat view on the economic outlook and affirmed its conviction that Japan is on track to meet its 2 percent inflation target by around April next year, signaling that no further easing was on its near-term horizon. But it did take note of its own "tankan" survey last week that showed companies see a worse impact on consumers from the April 1 sales tax hike than from the previous increase in 1997. "Japan's economy continues to recover moderately as a trend, albeit with some fluctuations caused by the tax hike," the BOJ said in a statement announcing the policy decision. Full Story | Top |
| Asian shares shrug off losses, yen holds gains Monday, Apr 07, 2014 08:55 PM PDT  By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks shrugged off their early losses and steadied on Tuesday, though Japanese shares slumped as the yen clung to its gains even after the Bank of Japan held policy steady. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added about 0.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average bucked the regional trend and slumped 1.1 percent to touch its lowest levels in a week and a half. The BOJ kept monetary policy steady on Tuesday and maintained its view the economy is likely to continue recovering moderately, signaling its confidence the country is making steady progress toward meeting the bank's price target. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. movie studios sue Megaupload, founder Dotcom Monday, Apr 07, 2014 08:26 PM PDT  By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several major U.S. studios filed a copyright infringement lawsuit on Monday against the file-sharing website Megaupload and its ebullient founder, Kim Dotcom. Megaupload, which U.S. authorities shuttered in 2012, facilitated a "massive copyright infringement of movies and television shows," according to a statement issued by the Motion Picture Association of America on Monday. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, all MPAA members, are Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp, Disney Enterprises Inc, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Productions, Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. "Megaupload wasn't a cloud storage service at all, it was an unlawful hub for mass distribution," Steven Fabrizio, an attorney for the MPAA, said in the statement. Full Story | Top |
| Japan, fresh from Australia pact, says U.S. trade talks 'difficult' Monday, Apr 07, 2014 08:19 PM PDT  Japan, fresh from clinching a basic trade deal with Australia after years of negotiations, said it hoped for a similar result with the United States and for a regional pact, but cautioned that talks were "difficult." Japan and the United States are pushing for a two-way trade deal, a crucial part of a broad U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) before U.S. President Barack Obama arrives in Japan later this month, with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman arriving for talks with Economy Minister Akira Amari. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confirmed a basic agreement on a deal on Monday, overcoming sticking points on beef and automobiles that had long stymied an agreement, and agreed to work towards signing it as soon as possible. Full Story | Top |
| Samsung's lower first quarter estimate highlights smartphone challenges Monday, Apr 07, 2014 08:09 PM PDT  Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Tuesday said it is on track to post its second straight quarter of profit decline, as slowing smartphone sales growth continued to weigh on earnings. The South Korean tech giant estimated that its January-March operating profit fell by 4.3 percent to 8.4 trillion won ($7.96 billion), slightly below an average forecast of 8.5 trillion won by 40 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The world's biggest smartphone maker is counting on the fifth version of its flagship Galaxy S smartphone, which goes on sale globally from Friday, to right the ship and prove the firm's staying power as a mobile innovator. Underscoring the challenges, Samsung priced the S5 about 10 percent cheaper than the S4 even though main rival Apple Inc is not widely expected to update its line-up until September. Analysts said the company's efforts to rein in component costs and make products that appeal to a wider audience will be crucial as Samsung braces for what could be its first annual profit decline in three years. Full Story | Top |
| Britain plans tighter controls on betting machines Monday, Apr 07, 2014 07:52 PM PDT  By Keith Weir LONDON (Reuters) - Britain plans to tighten controls on the high-stakes gambling machines whose numbers have grown rapidly in town centre betting shops in recent years, sparking a warning from the gaming industry that hundreds of jobs could be put at risk. But bookmakers said in a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday that changes to tax and regulation of the machines would cost the industry 350 million pounds a year and could put more than 2,000 betting shops out of business. In addition, the government now says it wants to make voluntary warnings introduced by bookmakers last month tougher and mandatory, hoping to guard against an increase in problem gambling. Shares in leading gaming companies William Hill and Ladbrokes were down 1 percent and 2 percent respectively by 1400 GMT, while the FTSE 100 index of leading shares was down 0.7 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Creditors say Detroit bankruptcy plan lacks needed details Monday, Apr 07, 2014 07:30 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Creditor objections flowed into a U.S. bankruptcy court on Monday, claiming a document supporting Detroit's plan to deal with $18 billion of debt and other obligations is missing crucial details. Labor unions, bond insurers, bondholders, city retiree groups and Michigan county governments met Monday's deadline set by the court and filed laundry lists of objections to the city's disclosure statement. That statement explains how Detroit came to file the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in July 2013 and how the city plans to treat its scores of secured and unsecured creditors in order to exit bankruptcy. Detroit's biggest union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25, whose members face cuts in retirement benefits, wrote that "the city has failed to provide large amounts of critical information." The union also said the city was remiss in not addressing any fallout from pension cuts. Full Story | Top |
| Barclays settles Libor 'test case' before UK trial Monday, Apr 07, 2014 07:29 PM PDT  By Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays has reached a settlement with a UK care home operator weeks before the start of a court case that was seen as a test case for whether customers might sue banks over the manipulation of Libor interest rates. Barclays had been accused by the care home operator of mis-selling products linked to benchmark interest rates and senior Barclays employees and former executives, including former chief executive Bob Diamond, had been due to testify at the trial. The case was being closely watched by banks and their customers, after Barclays and several other lenders were fined for manipulating Libor or its euro equivalent Euribor. If Barclays had lost it was expected to open the door for more bank clients to claim they were mis-sold products linked to Libor. Full Story | Top |
| Ministers summoned for fresh grilling on Royal Mail sell-off Monday, Apr 07, 2014 07:28 PM PDT  Business Secretary Vince Cable was on Monday summoned to face lawmakers for a third time over the government's privatisation of Royal Mail, after a watchdog report last week said the postal company had been sold off too cheaply. In October last year the government sold 60 percent of Royal Mail at 330 pence per share, ending 500-years of state control and raising 2 billion pounds for the public purse. Full Story | Top |
| Labour party targets non-London voters with devolution plan Monday, Apr 07, 2014 07:24 PM PDT  Ed Miliband will on Tuesday appeal to voters living outside London by offering to double the spending powers of regions and cities in England if his Labour party wins the next election. Labour have a 4 percentage point opinion poll lead over Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives heading into a 2015 election. Identifying devolution as path to greater prosperity outside London, Miliband will offer a two-fold increase in the funding under the control of English cities and regions if they come up with an economic strategy to generate well-paid jobs. "We need a prosperous London, but we also need to build prosperity outside it," Miliband will say according to extracts of his speech released in advance. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. House panel to vote on swaps regulator mandate Monday, Apr 07, 2014 07:21 PM PDT  By Douwe Miedema WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four U.S. lawmakers launched a bill on Monday to rewrite the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), giving more leeway to smaller players in the derivative markets it oversees. The agency became one of the most prolific reformers of Wall Street after the financial crisis under its previous Chairman Gary Gensler, who was frequently criticized for his hard-nosed style and sometimes-hasty adoption of new rules. In a so-called reauthorization bill to fine-tune the CFTC's mandate, the chairman and the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee drew up a list of changes to many of the controversial rules the agency has written. "The CFTC's rulemaking process has been less than ideal. Full Story | Top |
| Search for missing Malaysia plane set to move to sea floor Monday, Apr 07, 2014 05:55 PM PDT  Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, said the month-long hunt was at a critical stage given the black box recorder batteries were dying - or had died. An Australian ship that picked up signals consistent with the beacons from aircraft black box recorders over the weekend had not registered any further pulses, Houston said. "The locator beacon has a shelf life of 30 days and we are now passed that time and as a consequence there is a chance that the locator beacon is about to cease transmission, or has ceased transmission," Houston told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. Full Story | Top |
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