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| Bus crash kills 23, injures 17 in southwest Haiti Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:30 PM PDT By Amelie Baron PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A bus crash in southwest Haiti killed 23 people and injured 17 on Saturday, authorities said. The mayor of the city of Jeremie, Ronald Etienne, told Reuters that the cause of the accident was not known. The accident occurred near the coastal town of Roseau, east of Jeremie, according to media reports. Haiti's rural road infrastructure is in poor shape though foreign assistance after the 2010 earthquake has led to improvements on the national two-lane highway in the southwest. Full Story | Top |
| U-2 spy plane caused widespread shutdown of U.S. flights: report Saturday, May 03, 2014 04:34 PM PDT A U-2 spy plane caused a computer glitch at a California air traffic control center that led officials to halt takeoffs on Wednesday at several airports in the Southwestern United States and ground planes bound for the region from other parts of the country, NBC reported on Saturday. The computer problem at a Federal Aviation Administration center slowed the journeys of tens of thousands of arriving and departing passengers at Los Angeles International Airport, one of the busiest in the country. Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas were among other facilities affected by the order to keep planes grounded. So were flights in other parts of the country that were bound for the wide swath of airspace in the Southwestern United States managed by the FAA's Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center. Full Story | Top |
| PayPal says new executive leaves after disparaging tweets Saturday, May 03, 2014 04:00 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - PayPal, the payment processing arm of eBay Inc, said on Saturday that it parted ways with a recently-hired strategy executive after he posted a series of disparaging and at times indecipherable tweets. "Rakesh Agrawal is no longer with the company," PayPal said on Saturday in a Twitter message. "Treat everyone with respect. No excuses. PayPal has zero tolerance." Agrawal, who was hired about two months ago, could not immediately be reached for comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Buffett defends Coke, BNSF at Berkshire annual meeting Saturday, May 03, 2014 03:16 PM PDT  By Luciana Lopez OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett on Saturday defended his recent controversial vote on executive pay at Coca-Cola Co and disappointing performance at railroad BNSF, as investors grilled him on his Berkshire Hathaway Inc conglomerate at its annual shareholder meeting. The investment guru was peppered with questions at the meeting, part of a mostly festive weekend that Buffett calls "Woodstock for Capitalists," following concerns that Berkshire last year missed Buffett's five-year growth target for the first time in his 49 years at the helm. Buffett, 83, and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 90, took the stage at a downtown Omaha arena as they faced off with the audience and a hand-picked panel often excusing recent worries at the sprawling conglomerate. Berkshire, he said, is designed to perform best when markets are at their worst, unlike in 2013 when the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 30 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Adidas investor says loses confidence in management: report Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:23 PM PDT  By Joern Poltz FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Adidas AG's failure to narrow the market share gap with rival sportswear maker Nike Inc means shareholders should refuse to back the German company's management, a top investor was quoted as saying. Ingo Speich, a fund manager with Union Investment, told German weekly Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung the company had failed to narrow the gap with Nike and he had lost confidence in management as a result. "Even at home, in Germany as well as in Europe, Nike is gaining market share from Adidas," Speich is reported to have told the paper, according to an advance copy of an article set to be published on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| Alitalia, creditors working on plan to woo Etihad at key meeting Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:23 PM PDT  By Lisa Jucca MILAN (Reuters) - Alitalia and its creditors are rushing to finalize by Tuesday a proposal aimed at persuading Gulf-based airline Etihad to invest in the loss-making Italian carrier, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday. One of the options under discussion envisages hiving off a large chunk of Alitalia's 800 million euros ($1.11 billion) of debt into a separate company, a source told Reuters confirming details of an earlier report by Italian daily Il Messaggero. The plan was discussed at a meeting in Milan on Friday between executives of the loss-making airline and four Italian creditor banks including top Italian lenders UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo . Alitalia Chief Executive Gabriele Del Torchio is flying to the Gulf on Monday and will meet Etihad's boss James Hogan on Tuesday, the source said. Full Story | Top |
| Beckham's Miami stadium plan hits stormy waters Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:11 PM PDT By David Adams MIAMI, May 3 (Reuters) - David Beckham's dream of building a futuristic waterfront stadium in Miami that would house his own professional soccer team has turned into a "not in my backyard" clash, pitting the retired English superstar against one of the world's top cruise lines. Royal Caribbean Cruises is at the forefront of efforts to block Beckham's plans to build a 25,000 seat open-air stadium next to the port of Miami. The cruise line is spearheading a group called the Miami Seaport Alliance, which has paid for full-page newspaper ads and TV and radio spots opposing Beckham's plans. "A soccer stadium at PortMiami is downright nutty," according to one ad by the alliance. Full Story | Top |
| Buffett endorses Airbnb to combat hefty Omaha hotel prices Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:56 PM PDT By Jonathan Stempel OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett on Saturday gave an endorsement for the online home rental service Airbnb Inc, after receiving many complaints from Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders about how many Omaha hotels had jacked up room rates on the weekend of the company's annual meeting. Buffett said it is understandable that rates might rise, given that Berkshire's annual meeting now attracts some 38,000 shareholders - roughly two-thirds from outside the area - for what is Omaha's largest annual tourism event other than the baseball College World Series. Full Story | Top |
| Boy who survived flight in wheel well 'no longer in Hawaii' Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:30 PM PDT  A 15-year-old Somali boy who survived a nearly six-hour trip from California to Hawaii stowed away in the wheel well of an airplane has left protective custody in Hawaii, officials said on Saturday. The teenager was "no longer in Hawaii" according to a brief statement from Hawaii's Department of Human Services. The boy has been in protective custody in Hawaii since he sneaked into the wheel compartment of a Boeing 767 that took off April 20th from San Jose International Airport. His mother, Ubah Mohamed Abdulle, said in a radio interview with the Voice of America that she had fled Somalia and was living in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Full Story | Top |
| GM recalls nearly 52,000 SUVs for inaccurate fuel gauge Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:28 PM PDT  General Motors Co is recalling 51,640 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia SUVs of the 2014 model year because faulty software may cause the fuel gauge to read inaccurately, U.S. regulators said on Saturday. "An inaccurate fuel gauge may result in the vehicle unexpectedly running out of fuel and stalling, increasing the risk of a crash," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on its website. GM said in a letter to NHTSA the fuel gauge reading could be off by as much as one-quarter of a tank. Full Story | Top |
| Buffett says willing to partner with 3G again on 'very large' deals Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:19 PM PDT Warren Buffett on Saturday said Berkshire Hathaway Inc would team up again with 3G Capital on more transactions, perhaps very large ones, despite criticism of the Brazilian investment firm's decision to cut thousands of jobs at HJ Heinz & Co. "I think 3G does a magnificent job of running businesses," Buffett said at Berkshire's annual meeting. "We're very likely to partner with them, perhaps on some things that are very large." Berkshire had nearly $49 billion of cash as of March 31 and doesn't pay a dividend, leaving Buffett and his deputies to look for capital-spending opportunities and takeovers. Smead Capital CEO Bill Smead told Reuters Insider that Berkshire may be eyeing "a huge acquisition" potentially worth around $58 billion, after Buffett's comments regarding 3G Capital. Full Story | Top |
| Berkshire housing executive laments dearth of first-time buyers Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:36 PM PDT By Jonathan Stempel OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - The chief executive of a real estate brokerage business owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc said the U.S. housing market is more than halfway through its recovery from its recent depths, held back by a paucity of buyers able to obtain financing for their first homes. Ron Peltier, chief executive of HomeServices of America Inc, said "our industry is probably in the sixth inning of a nine-inning recovery," with very strong activity in coastal markets such as Miami, Boston, New York and Silicon Valley, and in the market for higher-end homes across the country. It's troubling." Peltier spoke in an interview on the sidelines of Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Full Story | Top |
| 'F.B.I.' actor Efrem Zimbalist dies in California: reports Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:22 PM PDT Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who portrayed the indefatigable Inspector Lewis Erskine on the long-running U.S. television series "The F.B.I.", died on Friday at the age of 95, according to media reports. Zimbalist died at his home in Solvang, California, his daughter, actress Stephanie Zimbalist, and his son Efrem Zimbalist III, said in a statement, Hollywood trade magazine Variety and other media reported. From the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, Zimbalist was one of the top stars on U.S. television, playing a private detective on the ABC series "77 Sunset Strip" from 1958 to 1964 before his stint on "The F.B.I." on the same network from 1965 to 1974. Zimbalist, the son of opera singer Alma Gluck and concert violinist Efrem Zimbalist Sr., also appeared in about 20 movies - usually in supporting roles but sometimes as the leading man. Full Story | Top |
| Brooks CEO says his shoes fit Buffett better Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:17 PM PDT (The story officially corrects 10th paragraph to reflect Brooks saying it is now based in Seattle.) By Jonathan Stempel OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett once called his 1993 purchase of Dexter Shoe Inc "the worst deal that I've made," but owning athletic shoe maker Brooks Sports Inc, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary, may make him feel like less of a heel. Brooks became part of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc in 2006 when its parent, the sporting goods maker Russell, was sold to Berkshire's Fruit of the Loom unit. Berkshire spun out Brooks as a separate business unit in 2012. While Brooks is a small piece of Buffett's empire, accounting for barely one-quarter of 1 percent of Berkshire's revenue, Jim Weber, its chief executive since 2001, said it's the kind of business Buffett likes: focused, easy to follow, and following a long-term strategy. Full Story | Top |
| SAC's Steinberg asks for two-year sentence Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:08 PM PDT  By Casey Sullivan and Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Steinberg, a portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors who was found guilty last year on insider trading charges, has asked for a two-year sentence, far shorter than the term recommended by probation officials. In a 65-page sentencing memo, Steinberg's lawyer Barry Berke referred to his "character and broader life accomplishments" in arguing that his sentence should be only two years in prison. A report by the court's probation department recommended that Steinberg be sentenced to a prison term of 4-1/4 to 5-1/4 years for his December conviction on one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and four counts of securities fraud. "Mr. Steinberg is a man of many admirable individual characteristics — but more than that, he is a giver and a doer, someone whose contributions to the happiness, success and well-being of his family, friends, and many others are second to none," Berke wrote to U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan. Full Story | Top |
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