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| U.S. government heads toward shutdown, Senate rebuffs House talks Monday, Sep 30, 2013 08:45 PM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government was headed toward a major shutdown over Republican efforts to halt President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms using a temporary spending bill as last minute maneuvers failed to resolve deep differences between Democrats and Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the House Republican offer of a panel to work out a deal on an emergency spending bill negotiation "with a gun to our head. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: U.S. shutdown strategy - Many advisers keep clients in stocks Monday, Sep 30, 2013 03:54 PM PDT  By Lauren Young NEW YORK (Reuters) - Should I stay or should I go? The looming U.S. government shutdown has plenty of investors asking if it's time to exit the stock market or stay put. Stock prices have been under pressure in recent days in anticipation that the government may shut down on Tuesday if lawmakers are unable to agree on a spending bill. With the S&P 500 less than 3 percent from its all-time high, some advisers said the threat of a shutdown is a chance to reap some gains in a market that could be ripe for a correction anyway. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare push accelerates as government shutdown nears Monday, Sep 30, 2013 02:29 PM PDT  By David Morgan and Sharon Begley (Reuters) - The Obama administration accelerated its push to persuade individual Americans to sign up for the most extensive overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in 50 years, even as the program's foes in Congress fought to delay its launch with the threat of a federal government shutdown. The new online health insurance marketplaces at the heart of President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, are set to open on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: JPMorgan settlement complicated by Washington Mutual - sources Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:26 PM PDT  By Karen Freifeld and Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co's possible $11 billion settlement of government mortgage probes has been complicated by a dispute with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp over responsibility for losses at the former Washington Mutual Inc, said people familiar with the matter. The dispute, between the largest U.S. bank and the FDIC, could leave the federal agency on the hook for billions the bank is expected to pay as part of the settlement and substantially reduce the amount of the penalty JPMorgan actually pays to the government, some analysts said. ... Full Story | Top |
| At U.N., Syria compares rebel violence to 9/11 attacks Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:09 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria's foreign minister on Monday compared what he described as an invasion of foreign terrorists across his country to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, remarks that Washington dismissed as offensive and disingenuous. In a speech to the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem also said that "terrorists from more than 83 countries are engaged in the killing of our people and our army" under the appeal of global jihad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu to Obama: Tighten sanctions if Iran defies West Monday, Sep 30, 2013 05:59 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and Dan Williams WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged President Barack Obama on Monday to step up sanctions on Iran if it pursues its nuclear drive even as Tehran exchanges overtures with Washington and restarts negotiations with the West. Seeking to reassure Israel about the emerging U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran, Obama said Tehran must prove its sincerity with actions, insisted that Washington would not ease sanctions prematurely and reaffirmed U.S. readiness to resort to military action if all else fails. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jury set for billionaire Mark Cuban's insider trading trial Monday, Sep 30, 2013 06:17 PM PDT  By Jana J. Pruet DALLAS (Reuters) - Seven women and three men were chosen Monday as jurors in the civil trial of Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team, who faces charges of insider trading in shares of a little-known Internet search company. Cuban, 55, is accused of selling his 600,000 shares of the former Mamma.com Inc nearly a decade ago, on June 28 and 29, 2004, soon after learning from Chief Executive Guy Fauré that the company was planning an equity offering that could dilute his 6.3 percent stake. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Two U.S. generals ousted over failure to secure Afghan base Monday, Sep 30, 2013 05:44 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Marine Corps on Monday effectively fired two U.S. generals over their failure to defend a major base in Afghanistan from a deadly Taliban attack last year, in an extraordinary and rare public censure. Two Marines were killed and eight personnel were wounded when Taliban insurgents breached what a military investigation determined was inadequate security at Camp Bastion, in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. ... Full Story | Top |
| CNN, NBC scrap Hillary Clinton TV projects Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:26 PM PDT  By Liana B. Baker and Gabriel Debenedetti (Reuters) - Two television projects focused on Hillary Clinton got the axe on Monday after the programs became embroiled in partisan wrangling, including threats by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to boycott presidential debates sponsored by CNN and NBC. The filmmaker for CNN said he could not complete the project because he'd received no cooperation from either Democrats or Republicans, while industry sources said NBC's move had nothing to do with the RNC, the Clintons or NBC News, which is run separately from NBC's entertainment unit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi faces obstacles in bid to topple government Monday, Sep 30, 2013 01:16 PM PDT  By Giselda Vagnoni ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi on Monday faced dissent within his People of Freedom Party, complicating his plans to bring down Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition government. But even if Letta survives a confidence vote on Wednesday the prospects for stability and reform in Italy look more fragile than ever as he will face a larger and stronger opposition backed by Berlusconi's media empire. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 3 killed in fiery crash of small jet in California Monday, Sep 30, 2013 03:59 PM PDT By Dana Feldman SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - At least three people, including a wealthy California construction executive, were believed killed in the fiery crash-landing of a small jet at Santa Monica airport after a flight from Idaho's Sun Valley resort area, officials said on Monday. The twin-engine Cessna Citation 525A veered off the right side of the runway as it touched down at Santa Monica Municipal Airport west of Los Angeles on Sunday evening, slammed into a hangar and burst into flames, airport and federal safety officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu to Obama: Tighten sanctions if Iran defies West Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:20 PM PDT By Matt Spetalnick and Dan Williams WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday to step up sanctions on Iran if it pursues its nuclear drive even as it exchanges overtures with Washington and restarts negotiations with the West. Seeking to reassure Israel about the emerging U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran, Obama said Tehran must prove its sincerity with actions, insisted that Washington would not ease sanctions prematurely and reaffirmed U.S. readiness to resort to military action if all else fails. ... Full Story | Top |
| Two U.S. generals ousted over failure to secure Afghan base Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:24 PM PDT By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Marine Corps on Monday effectively fired two U.S. generals over their failure to defend a major base in Afghanistan from a deadly Taliban attack last year, in an extraordinary and rare public censure. Two Marines were killed and eight personnel were wounded when Taliban insurgents breached what a military investigation determined was inadequate security at Camp Bastion, in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. ... Full Story | Top |
| Deadlocked Congress takes U.S. government to brink of shutdown Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:03 PM PDT By David Lawder and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress, still in partisan deadlock on Monday over Republican efforts to halt President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms, was on the verge of shutting down most of the U.S. government starting on Tuesday morning. With the law funding thousands of routine government activities set to expire at midnight, Republicans in the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon chief, at Korean DMZ, says U.S. will not cut force in Korea Monday, Sep 30, 2013 09:19 AM PDT  By David Alexander PANMUNJOM, Korean Demilitarized Zone (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel toured the Korean DMZ on Monday under the watchful eye of North Korean soldiers and said the Pentagon had no plans to reduce its 28,500-member force in the South despite budget constraints. "This is probably the only place in the world where we have always a risk of confrontation," Hagel said after visiting a blue, single-story building with a corrugated metal roof where talks are held with North Koreans in the truce village of Panmunjom. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel plans to talk with SPD and Greens on coalition Monday, Sep 30, 2013 08:05 AM PDT  By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel will hold preliminary coalition talks with the Social Democrats (SPD) on Friday and also plans to meet with the Greens, as she tries to play her potential partners off against each other at the start of a tough horse-trading marathon. The SPD are seen as the chancellor's most likely partner, but they said on Monday they would not be rushed into a deal, suggesting the formation of a new government could drag on until January. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria at U.N. compares militant onslaught to 9/11 attacks Monday, Sep 30, 2013 03:51 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria's foreign minister on Monday compared what he described as an invasion of foreign terrorists across his country to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, remarks that Washington dismissed as offensive and disingenuous. In a speech to the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem also said that "terrorists from more than 83 countries are engaged in the killing of our people and our army under the appeal of global Takfiri jihad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill three Egyptian policemen, one soldier in Sinai Monday, Sep 30, 2013 09:48 AM PDT By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Gunmen killed three policemen and a soldier in Egypt's Sinai region on Monday, security sources said, and Islamist militants released a video of an earlier drive-by shooting of an army colonel, highlighting growing security risks to the government. Violent disorder has gripped the Sinai Peninsula since the army overthrew elected President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist, in July, plunging the most populous Arab nation into turmoil. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian judge orders new DNA tests on knife in Knox retrial Monday, Sep 30, 2013 02:18 PM PDT  By Catherine Hornby FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian judge presiding over the retrial of American student Amanda Knox on Monday ordered new DNA tests on the knife that prosecutors say was used to kill her British roommate in 2007. Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty in 2009 of murdering 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. They were acquitted on appeal in 2011 but the acquittal was later quashed by Italy's supreme court. Neither appeared in court on Monday for the first hearing in the retrial. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey presents reforms aimed at pressing Kurdish peace process Monday, Sep 30, 2013 08:34 AM PDT  By Jonathon Burch and Gulsen Solaker ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey on Monday announced reforms seen as designed to salvage a peace process with Kurdish insurgents, including changes to the electoral system, broadening of language rights and permission for villages to use their original Kurdish names. The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said the proposals, presented by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, were not enough to satisfy Kurdish militants who this month halted their withdrawal from Turkish territory. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yemen's army retakes base seized by Qaeda militants Monday, Sep 30, 2013 10:45 AM PDT  ADEN (Reuters) - Yemeni special forces retook an army base and freed several hostages hours after al Qaeda militants disguised as security personnel seized the site in southeast Yemen, killing at least four soldiers, a military official said on Monday. Dozens of militants had stormed the headquarters of the army's Second Division in the city of al-Mukalla and captured some military personnel. At least nine soldiers were wounded, the official said. "The anti-terrorism special forces clashed with al Qaeda militants and killed a number of them," the official said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Car bombs kill 54 in Shi'ite districts of Baghdad Monday, Sep 30, 2013 12:34 PM PDT  By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Car bombs killed at least 54 people in mostly Shi'ite Muslim areas of Baghdad on Monday as suspected Sunni Muslim militants pursued a campaign to plunge Iraq back into sectarian strife. Altogether 14 bombs shook Baghdad, the deadliest of them in Sadr City, where a white car blew up near where men had gathered to seek work, killing seven people, including two soldiers. "The driver said he would move the car soon, but it exploded a few minutes later," said Abu Mohammed, a worker at the scene, where bits of molten metal lay among cars wrecked in the blast. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Supreme Court meets to consider hearing Argentina bonds case Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:10 AM PDT By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to meet behind closed doors on Monday to decide whether to hear a high-profile appeal by Argentina over its battle with hedge funds that refused to take part in two debt restructurings that sprang from the country's 2002 default. Argentina has appealed an October 2012 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in which the court said the government had broken a contractual obligation to treat bondholders equally. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel showcases Iranian spy case as Netanyahu visits U.S. Monday, Sep 30, 2013 05:36 AM PDT  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A man arrested on suspicion of being an Iranian spy appeared in an Israeli court on Monday and some Israeli analysts questioned the timing of the affair, suggesting it was being showcased as part of efforts to discredit Tehran's new opening to Washington. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew on Sunday to the United States for a visit focused on Iran's nuclear program, Israel's Shin Bet security service announced that Ali Mansouri had been arrested on September 11 on suspicion of spying for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. ... Full Story | Top |
| Driving Iran's change: Economic threats, strategic opportunities Monday, Sep 30, 2013 03:24 AM PDT  By William Maclean and Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Behind Iran's overtures to Washington lie pent-up pressures for change - from sanctions and internal dissent to regional turmoil - that are shaping a rare chance to end decades of hostility. For new President Hassan Rouhani, speed is of the essence. Sanctions are squeezing Iran's oil exports, economic misery is palpable, Arab Spring contagion poses a persistent threat and involvement in Syria's civil war is a drain on hard-pressed resources. ... Full Story | Top |
| Investors fret over Italian political uncertainty Monday, Sep 30, 2013 05:56 AM PDT  By Lisa Jucca and Agnieszka Flak MILAN (Reuters) - Investors shunned Italian government bonds and shares on Monday after Silvio Berlusconi pulled the rug from under Prime Minister Enrico Letta's frail coalition government by ordering five center-right ministers to quit. Berlusconi's decision, which comes as the media tycoon is facing eviction from parliament after a tax fraud conviction, has left the euro zone's third-largest economy without a functioning government. Italy's political strife may ripple beyond the country's borders, particularly if new elections result. ... Full Story | Top |
| Election risk rattles Italian government bonds Monday, Sep 30, 2013 04:03 AM PDT  By Marius Zaharia LONDON (Reuters) - Political instability put Italy's bonds under heavy selling pressure on Monday after five ministers from former premier Silvio Berlusconi's party stepped down at the weekend, increasing the risk of new elections. Yields rose and were at a three-month high over safe haven German equivalents. The cost of insuring Italian debt against default also climbed. Both remained well off crisis levels, however. The resignations were set off by clashes at a Friday cabinet meeting over an imminent sales tax hike. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jury selection begins in insider trading trial of Mark Cuban Monday, Sep 30, 2013 11:14 AM PDT  By Jana J. Pruet DALLAS (Reuters) - Jury selection began on Monday in the civil trial of Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team, who faces charges of insider trading in shares of a little-known Internet search company nearly a decade ago. Cuban, 55, is accused of selling his 600,000 shares of the former Mamma.com Inc on June 28 and 29, 2004, soon after learning from Chief Executive Guy Fauré that the company was planning an equity offering that could dilute his 6.3 percent stake. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon chief, at Korean DMZ, says U.S. will not cut force in Korea Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:51 PM PDT  By David Alexander PANMUNJOM, Korean Demilitarized Zone (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel toured the Korean DMZ on Monday, at times under the watchful eye of North Korean soldiers, and said the Pentagon had no plan to reduce its 28,500-member force in the South despite budget constraints. "This is probably the only place in the world where we have always a risk of confrontation," Hagel said after touring a single-story building with a corrugated metal roof where talks are held with North Koreans on Conference Row in the truce village of Panmunjom. ... Full Story | Top |
| Typhoon leaves 74 missing in China as Thailand, Vietnam brace for floods Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:36 PM PDT  BEIJING/BANGKOK (Reuters) - Seventy-four Chinese fishermen were missing on Monday after a typhoon sunk three fishing boats in the South China Sea as Thailand and Vietnam braced for torrential rain and flooding. The ships were hit by Typhoon Wutip on Sunday as they navigated gales near the Paracel Islands, about 330 km from China's island province of Hainan, state news agency Xinhua said, citing sources with the Hainan maritime search and rescue center. Rescuers had rescued 14 survivors, the sources said. The boats were sailing from the southern province of Guangdong. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslims in hiding in Myanmar after sectarian strife flares Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 11:02 PM PDT YANGON (Reuters) - Terrified Muslims hid in their homes in northwest Myanmar on Monday after armed police dispersed a Buddhist mob that torched houses and surrounded a mosque in the latest outbreak of sectarian tension. Clashes between majority Buddhists and Muslims have killed at least 237 people and left more than 150,000 homeless since June 2012. The violence threatens to undermine political and economic reforms launched in the two years since a quasi-civilian government replaced a military junta. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Success, compromise, ageing erode Europe's Greens Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:55 PM PDT By Paul Taylor PARIS (Reuters) - Europe's Greens have got the blues. The anti-nuclear environmentalist movement that burst into politics in the 1980s as a youthful third force has suffered a string of setbacks in Germany and France, raising questions over its future. Germany's Greens, trailblazers of political ecology, lost ground in a September 22 general election, finishing fourth on 8.4 percent behind the radical Left party, and failing to secure the coalition they wanted with the center-left Social Democrats. The party's senior leaders resigned. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian political crisis threatens to split Berlusconi camp Monday, Sep 30, 2013 03:41 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's bid to push Italy into new elections faces a test on Monday when he meets lawmakers from his center-right party who have shown growing unease over his shock decision to pull support from Prime Minister Enrico Letta's coalition. Berlusconi's decision to order the five ministers from his People of Freedom (PDL) party to resign from Letta's cabinet has plunged Italy into political chaos and left the euro zone's third-largest economy without a functioning government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel's Netanyahu to press Obama for no let-up on Iran pressure Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:14 PM PDT  By Dan Williams and Matt Spetalnick NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will warn President Barack Obama at a meeting on Monday that Iran's diplomatic "sweet talk" cannot be trusted and will urge him to pressure Tehran to prevent it being able to make a nuclear bomb. While Obama will attempt to reassure Netanyahu that he will not act prematurely to ease sanctions on Iran, growing signs of a U.S.-Iranian thaw have rattled Israel and could make for a tense encounter between the two leaders, who have not always seen eye-to-eye on the Iranian nuclear dispute. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shanghai free trade zone no game-changer for Hong Kong, for now Sunday, Sep 29, 2013 10:00 PM PDT  By Saikat Chatterjee and James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) - The launch of a Shanghai free trade zone heralds a new chapter in China's drive to promote the yuan currency but it is unlikely to pose a competitive threat to Hong Kong any time soon and could instead provide more opportunities in the former British colony. Underpinned by its strong rule of law and freedoms under the "one country, two systems" formula since it was handed over to China 16 years ago, Hong Kong is a long-time beneficiary of preferential economic policies. ... Full Story | Top |
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