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| Bitter struggle over Internet regulation to dominate global summit Monday, Nov 26, 2012 08:07 PM PST  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An unprecedented debate over how the global Internet is governed is set to dominate a meeting of officials in Dubai next week, with many countries pushing to give a United Nations body broad regulatory powers even as the United States and others contend such a move could mean the end of the open Internet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Satellite photo shows increased activity at North Korean launch site Monday, Nov 26, 2012 07:35 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new satellite image shows a marked increase in activity at a North Korean missile launch site, pointing to a possible long-range ballistic missile test by Pyongyang in the next three weeks, according to satellite operator DigitalGlobe Inc. The imagery was released days after a Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, reported that U.S. intelligence analysts had detected moves that were seen as preparation by North Korea for a long-range missile launch as early as this month. DigitalGlobe, which provides commercial satellite imagery to the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain favours credentials over countrymen for BoE's top job Monday, Nov 26, 2012 07:34 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Britain's choice of a Canadian to run the Bank of England could usher central bankers into the realm of globe-trotting elites that dominate the top jobs in business and sports. When Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney takes over the Bank's next summer, as announced Monday, it will be the first time a foreigner has held the top position at a major national central bank. Britons are used to not worrying about nationality and embracing professional credentials instead, allowing foreigners to run their national football teams as well as top companies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain favors credentials over countrymen for BoE's top job Monday, Nov 26, 2012 07:32 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Britain's choice of a Canadian to run the Bank of England could usher central bankers into the realm of globe-trotting elites that dominate the top jobs in business and sports. When Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney takes over the BoE next summer, as announced Monday, it will be the first time a foreigner has held the top position at a major national central bank. Britons are used to not worrying about nationality and embracing professional credentials instead, allowing foreigners to run their national soccer teams as well as top companies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada's Carney named as Bank of England chief Monday, Nov 26, 2012 07:32 PM PST  LONDON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Britain named Canadian central bank chief Mark Carney on Monday to head the Bank of England, springing the surprise choice of a foreigner to push reform of its troubled financial system. A former Goldman Sachs investment banker who at the Bank of Canada guided the Canadian economy through the global economic crisis, Carney will succeed Mervyn King who retires in July. Carney, who already plays a leading role in setting global banking rules, defended his departure from Canada and signaled that bigger problems awaited him in London. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian jets bomb rebel bases near Turkey border Monday, Nov 26, 2012 07:26 PM PST  BUKULMEZ, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes bombed two rebel bases near the Turkish border on Monday sending hundreds of people fleeing across the frontier. The attacks on the Free Syrian Army positions (FSA) in Atima and nearby Bab al-Hawa came a day before NATO and Ankara were due to start assessing where to station surface-to-air missiles on the Turkish side of the 900-km (560-mile) boundary. Turkey, a big supporter of rebels fighting to oust Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly scrambled jets along the border. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rice to discuss Libya with McCain, lawmakers this week: aides Monday, Nov 26, 2012 06:38 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice will meet with lawmakers this week to discuss her controversial remarks about the September attack in Benghazi, Libya, that have caused hurdles for her potential promotion to secretary of state. The move, announced shortly after a top critic said he would be open to speaking to her, could fuel speculation that she is gunning for the nation's top diplomatic job. Republicans have attacked Rice for appearing on TV talks shows shortly after the September 11 attack on the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Privacy groups ask Facebook to withdraw proposed policy changes Monday, Nov 26, 2012 06:25 PM PST  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two privacy advocacy groups urged Facebook Inc on Monday to withdraw proposed changes to its terms of service that would allow the company to share user data with recently acquired photo-application Instagram, eliminate a user voting system and loosen email restrictions within the social network. The changes, which Facebook unveiled on Wednesday, raise privacy risks for users and violate the company's previous commitments to its roughly 1 billion members, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bankrupt San Bernardino to halt payments to Calpers, bondholders Monday, Nov 26, 2012 06:22 PM PST  SAN BERNARDINO, California (Reuters) - Bankrupt San Bernardino, California, voted on Monday to present a plan to a bankruptcy judge that seeks to balance its budget through deferring payments to the state's public employee pension fund and to the city's bondholders. San Bernardino's council passed the plan after the judge overseeing its request for bankruptcy protection demanded an orderly budget be filed in court by Friday, November 30. ... Full Story | Top |
| Euro zone, IMF reach deal to cut long-term Greek debt Monday, Nov 26, 2012 06:07 PM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on reducing Greece's debt on Monday in a breakthrough to release urgently needed loans to keep the near-bankrupt economy afloat. After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece's international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros, cutting it to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Key elements of the Greek debt deal with the euro zone and IMF Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:49 PM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund agreed on steps late on Monday to reduce Greece's public debt and help the country regain market access next decade. Below are the main elements of the agreement. - Greece will reach a primary surplus target of 4.55 percent of gross domestic product only in 2016, rather than 2014, to give the economy a better chance to start growing again. - Greece will organize a debt buy-back of its bonds held by private investors. The buy-back will take place by Dec 12. ... Full Story | Top |
| Comments from euro zone finance ministers, officials Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:40 PM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on reducing Greece's debt in a breakthrough to release urgently needed loans to keep the near-bankrupt economy afloat. After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece's international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros, cutting it to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. Following are comments after their talks: FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER PIERRE MOSCOVICI "We made progress with solutions that are realistic. ... Full Story | Top |
| Man arrested in Britain over killing of Northern Irish policeman Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:37 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - A man from Northern Ireland was arrested in Britain on Monday in connection with the death of Northern Ireland policeman Ronan Kerr, who was killed in April last year when a bomb exploded under his car, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said. The 22-year-old man, from Omagh in County Tyrone, was detained in Milton Keynes, England, as police widened their investigation to northwest England. Police said they were conducting searches in Northern Ireland and northwest England. Kerr, 25, was the first policeman killed in the British-controlled province for two years. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Despite 2011 disaster, pro-nuclear party could win power in Japan Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:35 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese voters look likely to hand victory to a party that favors nuclear power in the first election since the March 2011 Fukushima radiation disaster - a result a baffled Greenpeace activist likens to one of the "wonders of the world". But even if the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) wins the December 16 election, it will not reflect any groundswell of popular support for nuclear power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Schapiro stepping down at SEC, Walter to step in Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:23 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, will step down next month after a tumultuous four years spent rehabilitating the agency's battered reputation, handing the reins temporarily to a close ally. SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter, a career regulator who has sided with Schapiro on most of the critical issues before the agency, was named chairman-designate and could serve until December 2013, buying time for President Barack Obama to win Senate approval for a long-term replacement. ... Full Story | Top |
| New SEC head faces fights on several fronts, legal straitjacket Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:23 PM PST BOSTON (Reuters) - Mary Schapiro's successor as head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is going to have to hit the ground running. With an ongoing battle over regulating the $2.5 trillion money market fund industry, some 63 unfinished rule makings required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law and continuing fears about market stability and high frequency trading, the new top securities regulator will have a lengthy list of critical issues to address on day one. And it will all have to be done under prickly circumstances. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thousands march in Rio over oil dispute, pressuring Rousseff Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:18 PM PST  RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - As many as 200,000 people demonstrated in Rio de Janeiro on Monday to urge Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to veto a bill that local officials say could cost Rio state billions of dollars in lost oil revenue and cripple plans to host the World Cup and Olympics. Late Monday, a person familiar with the president's plans said Rousseff is planning to veto at least part of the bill, particularly a portion that redefines royalty payments for existing oil production in Brazil. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bin Laden movie "Zero Dark Thirty" based on first-hand accounts Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:09 PM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The makers of a Hollywood movie about the U.S. operation to kill Osama bin Laden denied asking for classified material for their film, but say they did conduct interviews with a CIA officer and others at the heart of the decade-long hunt for the al Qaeda leader. "It was all based on first-hand accounts so it really felt very vivid and very vital and very, very immediate and visceral of course which is very exciting as a filmmaker," Kathryn Bigelow, director of "Zero Dark Thirty," told ABC News in an interview airing on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| IMF's Lagarde welcomes Eurogroup agreement to support Greece Monday, Nov 26, 2012 05:01 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday welcomed a European agreement to cut Greece's debt pile to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, calling it a "substantial contribution to the sustainability of its debt." IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement she would recommend the IMF board approve the next loan tranche for Athens once Europe has delivered on its commitments, in particular promises to buy back Greek debts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Revenge of the nerds as banks see risk, compliance hiring boom Monday, Nov 26, 2012 04:51 PM PST SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Tough regulations aimed at banks have jolted demand for compliance, risk and legal officers, creating one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal job market for the financial industry. Traditionally one of the least glamorous jobs in the sector, these staff are in hot demand at a time when nearly all other parts of the banking industry are getting cut. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York, New Jersey put $71 billion price tag on Sandy Monday, Nov 26, 2012 04:21 PM PST  (Reuters) - New York state and New Jersey need at least $71.3 billion to recover from the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy and prevent similar damage from future storms, according to their latest estimates. The total, which could grow, came as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday the state will need $41.9 billion, including $32.8 billion to repair and restore damaged housing, parks and infrastructure and to cover lost revenue and other expenses. The figure also includes $9.1 billion to mitigate potential damage from future severe weather events, Cuomo said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chicago offers to pause school closings after 2013 cuts Monday, Nov 26, 2012 04:18 PM PST CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Monday he wants a five-year moratorium on closing public schools after anticipated cuts in 2013, but the teachers union called his gesture a "sleight of hand." The third-largest school district in the United States, which was hit with a strike by public school teachers in September, was already facing a financial crisis that was made worse by granting pay rises to teachers. The school district forecasts a $1 billion deficit next year and is widely expected to try to balance its budget in part by closing public schools. ... Full Story | Top |
| Euro zone ministers want to try Greek debt buy-back at 35 cents a euro: source Monday, Nov 26, 2012 04:12 PM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers have agreed to launch a voluntary buyback of Greek debt and will offer private investors 35 cents for each euro of Greek bonds they hold, a source familiar with the discussions of the ministers said. The debt buyback is one of a series of measures euro zone finance ministers have agreed with the IMF to try to reduce Greek debt to around 124 percent of GDP by 2020, from a forecast 190 percent next year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex Deutsche Bank CEO criticizes successor for skipping hearing Monday, Nov 26, 2012 04:03 PM PST  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The former head of Germany's Deutsche Bank Josef Ackermann criticized his successor Anshu Jain on Monday for not agreeing to appear at a German parliamentary hearing this week on Libor manipulation. Politicians have already accused Indian-born Jain, who became co-head of Germany's largest bank in June, of "chickening out" by sending his chief compliance officer in his place. "I always took these tasks upon myself," Ackermann said at a conference organized by business daily Handelsblatt in Frankfurt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Firms swapping euro zone for emerging markets: survey Monday, Nov 26, 2012 04:02 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly one in two companies have already reduced their exposure to the euro zone because of the bloc's debt and banking problems, according to a study released on Tuesday by Accenture. But the consulting firm also found that half of euro zone businesses are looking to take advantage of the crisis by seeking acquisitions in the 17-currency area. For Chinese companies, that figure rises to 71 percent. Accenture surveyed 450 companies, 96 percent of which have annual revenues of at least $1 billion. ... Full Story | Top |
| California man accused in plot to join al Qaeda denied bail Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:57 PM PST RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A California man accused alongside three co-defendants of conspiring to provide support to al Qaeda and Taliban militants plotting attacks against Americans overseas was ordered held without bail on Monday by a federal judge. Arifeen David Gojali, 21, was arrested with two others last week outside a southern California apartment complex by authorities who said the trio had imminent plans to travel to Afghanistan via Mexico and Turkey to prepare for "violent jihad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pro-settler Israeli hardliners sweep Netanyahu party vote Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:53 PM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Pro-settler hardliners swept a vote on Monday held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, effectively tossing four of his closest allies and backers of Middle East diplomacy off a list of candidates running with him in a January 22 election. Party members ranked candidates on a list for the national poll to determine which of dozens already nominated could actually be elected to parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian Kurds seek to re-unite divided ranks Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:41 PM PST ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Rival Syrian Kurdish parties have agreed to re-unify their ranks and push for federalism in Syria after a previous pact that was not implemented, but the new deal has already been undermined by the reluctance of one faction to fall into line. Syria's Kurds see the civil war ravaging their country as an opportunity to gain the rights they have long been denied under President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, who deprived thousands of citizenship. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police probe how Romney security data became New York City parade confetti Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:40 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police are investigating how shredded documents revealing confidential information, including details about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's motorcade, wound up as confetti on a Manhattan sidewalk during the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Bits of shredded paper from the Nassau County Police Department could still be found on Monday afternoon in the cracks of the sidewalks along Central Park, according to Saul Finkelstein, the eyewitness who first alerted authorities to the problem. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt opposition snubs Mursi plan to ease decree crisis Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:39 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will press ahead with a protest on Tuesday to demand the scrapping of a decree extending his powers, rejecting the Islamist's attempt to defuse a crisis that has brought violence back to Cairo's streets. Mursi was accused of giving himself the powers of a modern-day pharaoh when he issued the decree last week that prevents legal challenges to any decision he takes until a new parliament is elected. ... Full Story | Top |
| Experts to exhume Arafat, seek evidence of poison Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:37 PM PST  RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The body of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday by a team of international experts trying to discover if he was poisoned, as many Palestinians believe. French magistrates opened a murder inquiry in August into Arafat's death in Paris after a Swiss institute said it had discovered high levels of radioactive polonium on his clothing, which was supplied by his widow, Suha. Arafat, who led the Palestinians' bid for a state through years of war and peace, died in Paris aged 75 in 2004 after a short, mysterious illness. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU-IMF agree on measures to cut Greek debt-to-GDP Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:31 PM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Monday to lower the interest rate charged on loans made to Greece and to return profits made on Greek bonds by the European Central Bank to Athens, allowing the country to cut its debt. After nearly 10 hours of talks, the ministers agreed that the interest rate on bilateral loans to Greece would be reduced by 100 basis points to 50 basis points above the cost of financing once Athens has reached a primary surplus of 4.5 percent of GDP, a source familiar with the discusssions said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Officials probe how mentally ill man got gun used in Alabama shooting Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:28 PM PST BAY MINETTE, Alabama (Reuters) - Investigators in Alabama are trying to determine how a man with a history of mental illness obtained a gun he used to kill a sheriff's deputy and wound another when they responded to a 911 call at his trailer, a prosecutor said on Monday The man, 53-year-old Michael Jansen, initially opened fire from inside the trailer on Friday after three officers went to his home following a call from his mother that he was behaving erratically, according to police. Jansen was killed in the gunfight near the southern Alabama city of Fairhope. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. chief says crises show need for interfaith amity Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:20 PM PST  VIENNA (Reuters)- The violent crises in Syria, Gaza and Mali show how important it is for different religions to work together to promote understanding rather than sow hatred, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Monday. Addressing the opening of a new Saudi-backed interfaith centre in Vienna, he said the Syrian conflict was "taking on troubling sectarian dimensions" and "unrest (continues) between Israelis and Palestinians. ... Full Story | Top |
| LA money manager gets no jail in NY corruption case Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:06 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Los Angeles money manager Elliott Broidy was spared jail time and a felony conviction on Monday for his role in a "pay to play" scheme at the New York state pension fund. Justice Lewis Bart Stone reduced Broidy's felony to a misdemeanor and sentenced him to a conditional discharge. Broidy, 55, admitted making nearly $1 million in gifts for New York state pension fund officials, including $75,000 in travel expenses for luxury trips to Israel and Italy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: For Obama, could 10,000 troops in Afghanistan be too many? Monday, Nov 26, 2012 03:01 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama publicly scoffed at the idea of keeping 10,000 troops in Iraq. So could he really be persuaded to keep that many in Afghanistan after the war formally ends in 2014? The 10,000 figure is well within a preliminary range put forward by the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, and which is informing deliberations by the Obama administration, one U.S. official said. ... Full Story | Top |
| With "fiscal cliff" deadline nearing, parties still at odds Monday, Nov 26, 2012 02:59 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress on Monday called on President Barack Obama to detail long-term spending cuts to help solve the country's fiscal crisis, while holding firm against the income tax rate increases for the wealthy that Democrats seek. In a further sign of tense relations between negotiators who are trying to avert a year-end "fiscal cliff" of steep tax increases and spending cuts, the White House expressed doubts that "balanced" deficit reductions can be achieved merely by limiting tax breaks and cutting spending, as Republicans propose. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ohio inmate loses bid to stay his execution because of weight Monday, Nov 26, 2012 02:45 PM PST CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A federal judge said on Monday that an Ohio death row inmate weighing more than 450 pounds cannot be given a stay of execution because of his obesity. Ronald Post, 53, is scheduled to be executed January 16 for the 1983 aggravated murder of hotel clerk Helen Vantz in Elyria, Ohio. Since his first appeal in 1997, Post's attorneys have argued that his weight, of more than 450 pounds, in combination with the state's death penalty drug protocols creates a certainty of, "substantial risk for serious and psychological pain" and a "torturous and lingering death. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Jersey's Christie, more popular than ever, seeks re-election Monday, Nov 26, 2012 02:44 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican star who has enjoying record-high popularity for his hands-on approach to Superstorm Sandy, on Monday filed papers announcing his intention to seek a second term next November. Christie, a popular surrogate on Republican Mitt Romney's failed presidential campaign, delivered the keynote address at the Republican National Convention this summer and is considered a popular choice to run for president in 2016. ... Full Story | Top |
| Euro zone, IMF agree to cut Greek debt to 124 percent/GDP in 2020 Monday, Nov 26, 2012 02:33 PM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund agreed on Monday that Greek public debt should fall to 124 percent of GDP in 2020 through a package of extra debt cutting measures totaling 20 percent of GDP, officials said. The agreement emerged during talks in Brussels among finance ministers from the 17 euro zone countries, the European Central Bank and the IMF on how to make Greek debt sustainable. "It's going very slow, but we have financing and a Debt Sustainability Analysis. We've filled the financing gap until the end of program in 2014. ... Full Story | Top |
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