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| Dozens die in Odessa, rebels down Ukraine helicopters Friday, May 02, 2014 03:13 PM PDT  By Maria Tsvetkova SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed in a fire and others were shot dead when fighting between pro- and anti-Russian groups broke out on the streets of Odessa on Ukraine's Black Sea coast on Friday, opening a new front in a conflict that has split the country. In the east, pro-Russian separatists brought down two Ukrainian military helicopters involved in a pre-dawn operation to try to dislodge the militants from their strongholds in the town of Slaviansk. The separatists said three of their number had been killed, and two civilians, while the defense ministry said two crew from the downed helicopters died and two other servicemen were killed when separatists attacked them on Friday evening. "Heavy fighting is continuing," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. jury orders smartphone maker Samsung to pay Apple $120 million Friday, May 02, 2014 06:38 PM PDT  By Dan Levine SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Friday ordered Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to pay $119.6 million to Apple Inc, far less than Apple had sought and marking a big loss for the iPhone maker in the latest round of their globe-spanning mobile patent litigation. During the month-long trial in a San Jose, California, federal court, Apple accused Samsung of violating patents on smartphone features including universal search, while Samsung denied wrongdoing. On Friday, the jury found the South Korean smartphone maker had infringed two Apple patents. Apple and Samsung have been litigating around the world for three years. Full Story | Top |
| First U.S. case of deadly MERS virus confirmed: CDC Friday, May 02, 2014 03:54 PM PDT  A healthcare worker who had traveled to Saudi Arabia was confirmed as the first U.S. case of Middle East Respiratory Virus (MERS), an often fatal illness, raising new concerns about the rapid spread of such diseases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The male patient traveled via a British Airways flight on April 24 from Riyadh to London, where he changed flights at Heathrow airport to fly to the United States. He landed in Chicago and took a bus to an undisclosed city in Indiana. According to the Indiana State Department of Health, the man visited the emergency department at Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana, on April 28 and was admitted that same day. Full Story | Top |
| Hundreds killed, thousands missing in Afghan landslide Friday, May 02, 2014 12:32 PM PDT  By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 2,000 are missing after a landslide smashed into a village in a mountainous area of north Afghanistan on Friday, and rescue teams were struggling to reach the remote area. Triggered by heavy rain, the side of a mountain collapsed into the village in Argo district at around 11 a.m. (2.30 a.m. ET) as people were trying to recover their belongings and livestock after a smaller landslip hit their homes a few hours earlier. At least 100 people were being treated for injuries, according to Colonel Abdul Qadeer Sayad, a deputy police chief of Badakhshan, which borders Tajikistan. Seasonal rains and spring snow melt have caused heavy destruction across large swathes of northern Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. job growth jumps, but shrinking labor force a blemish Friday, May 02, 2014 01:52 PM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers hired workers at the fastest clip in more than two years in April, pointing to a rebound in economic growth after a dreadful winter and keeping the Federal Reserve on track to end bond purchases this year. The brightening outlook was, however, tempered somewhat by a sharp increase in the number of people dropping out of the labor force, which pushed the unemployment rate to a 5-1/2-year low of 6.3 percent. "It lends significant legitimacy to the positive tone in the wide array of post-February economic reports, which have all been consistently pointing to a significant pick-up in economic growth momentum this quarter," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York. About 806,000 people dropped out of the labor force in April, unwinding the previous months' gains. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. bankruptcy judge urges settlement on GM ignition defects Friday, May 02, 2014 11:27 AM PDT  By Nick Brown NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Friday urged settlement talks in a dispute between General Motors Co and plaintiffs seeking compensation for the lost value of their cars stemming from a massive recall over a faulty ignition switch, though neither side seemed ready to negotiate quite yet. Judge Robert Gerber, of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, said he would welcome the prospect of a resolution that avoided a "monstrous battle." "Frankly, it would be great if whatever money is available for injured people could go to them, and not to litigation costs and attorneys' fees," Gerber said at a court conference with GM and the plaintiffs. Gerber is the same judge who in 2009 oversaw GM's whirlwind Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Now facing dozens of lawsuits over a faulty ignition switch that has led to the recall of some 2.6 million vehicles, GM is asking Gerber to enforce the so-called bankruptcy shield, in a pre-emptive move aimed at staving off dozens of lawsuits from customers who say they took a financial hit from the recall. Full Story | Top |
| AstraZeneca rejects Pfizer's raised bid of $106 billion Friday, May 02, 2014 08:42 AM PDT  By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc increased its offer for AstraZeneca Plc to 63 billion pounds ($106 billion) on Friday, but the British company promptly rejected the proposal, which would create the world's biggest pharmaceuticals company. AstraZeneca's board said the offer undervalued the company "substantially" and was not an adequate basis on which to engage with its suitor. Industry analysts and investors said that raised the possibility that Pfizer would now take the takeover plan, which would boost its pipeline of cancer drugs and create significant tax and cost savings, direct to AstraZeneca shareholders. One AstraZeneca investor said Pfizer management had made clear in meetings this week that it wanted a friendly deal but it was determined to the see the transaction completed and a hostile bid was a potential "tool". Full Story | Top |
| U.S. factory orders up, durable goods revised higher Friday, May 02, 2014 07:32 AM PDT  The Commerce Department said on Friday new orders for manufactured goods increased 1.1 percent. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which is seen as a measure of business confidence and spending plans, increased 3.5 percent, the largest rise since January 2013, rather than the previously reported 2.2 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Chevron's profit drops on lower production, crude prices Friday, May 02, 2014 06:08 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil producer, posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday on lower global production and crude oil prices. The company posted net income of $4.51 billion, or $2.36 per share, compared with $6.18 billion, or $3.18 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts, though, expected earnings of $2.51 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Globally, Chevron's production fell 2 percent to 2.59 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed). The average price Chevron received for its crude oil fell as well. ... Full Story | Top |
| Northern Ireland police extend Gerry Adams detention in 1972 murder probe Friday, May 02, 2014 01:00 PM PDT  By Padraic Halpin ANTRIM, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Northern Ireland police extended the detention of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams by two days on Friday to give detectives more time to question him about a 1972 murder, raising the stakes in a case that has rocked the British province. Adams' arrest over the killing of Jean McConville was among the most significant in Northern Ireland since a 1998 peace deal ended decades of tit-for-tat killings between Irish Catholic nationalists and mostly Protestant pro-British loyalists. Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a Sinn Fein member and close Adams ally, said the decision by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to seek an extension confirmed his view that the arrest was politically motivated. Full Story | Top |
| Jury reaches verdict in Apple-Samsung patents trial Friday, May 02, 2014 04:49 PM PDT  SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - The jury has reached a verdict on Friday in a patent trial between Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, which will be read in a San Jose, California federal courtroom shortly, according to a court official. During the month-long trial, Apple accused Samsung of violating patents on smartphone features including universal search, while Samsung denied wrongdoing. (Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebel offensive encroaches on last chemical stockpile Friday, May 02, 2014 09:33 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian rebel offensive aimed at easing a government siege east of Damascus has brought fighting closer to the last declared stockpile of President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons, according to diplomats and activists. Syria has been removing 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons under a deal reached last year which averted Western military strikes, after a sarin gas attack on rebel-held suburbs around the Syrian capital in August. Full Story | Top |
| Bombs, protests hit Egypt in run-up to presidential election Friday, May 02, 2014 01:55 PM PDT  By Shadia Nasralla and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Two suicide bombings in Egypt's South Sinai killed a soldier and wounded at least eight people and two other bombs killed two people in Cairo on Friday, less than four weeks before a presidential election is due to be held, official sources said. In other violence in the port city of Alexandria, two people were shot dead when supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi clashed with residents, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Militant attacks and other political violence have spiraled since the army overthrew Mursi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, last July after mass protests against his rule. Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the action, is expected to win the presidential election on May 26 and 27. Full Story | Top |
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