| | |
| China's Xi says wants peaceful handling of South China Sea disputes Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 09:13 PM PDT  JAKARTA (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday China wants territorial disputes in the South China Sea with Southeast Asian nations to be handled peacefully and through talks. Xi, in an address to Indonesian parliamentarians in Jakarta, also said China aimed for bilateral trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to reach $1 trillion by 2020. (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel) Full Story | Top |
| Motorcyclist charged in New York attack on SUV driver is released on bail Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 09:07 PM PDT By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - The first motorcyclist to be charged for his alleged role in last Sunday's attack on an SUV driver who was chased for miles along a Manhattan highway by dozens of bikers was released on bail on Wednesday. Christopher Cruz, 28, of New Jersey, was freed on $1,500 cash bail on Wednesday after being formally charged with unlawful imprisonment and reckless driving, authorities said. A second biker who was arrested on Tuesday by New York police and charged in the attack went free on Wednesday, after Manhattan prosecutors declined to pursue a case against ... Full Story | Top |
| South Carolina drops extradition order for Baby Veronica's biological father Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 09:04 PM PDT By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - The biological father of "Baby Veronica," a Native American girl who was at the heart of a protracted custody battle, will not be extradited to South Carolina to face felony charges for interfering with her adoption, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said on Wednesday. Fallin said in a statement that she canceled an extradition warrant for Dusten Brown, the father of "Baby Veronica", after South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley withdrew her request for extradition. "My heart goes out to Dusten Brown as well as the Capobianco family. ... Full Story | Top |
| China official services PMI hits six-month high, supported third-quarter pickup Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 08:11 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's services sector expanded at the fastest pace in six months in September as demand grew, cementing a modest pickup in the world's second-largest economy. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the non-manufacturing sector rose to 55.4 in September - the highest reading since March - from 53.9 in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday. A reading above 50 indicates activity in the sector is accelerating, while one below 50 indicates it is slowing. ... Full Story | Top |
| MF Global trustee plans to return more customer funds Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 08:08 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The trustee liquidating the brokerage unit of MF Global Holdings Ltd has asked a federal bankruptcy judge for permission to return remaining funds to U.S. customers who traded on domestic exchanges. Wednesday's request by court-appointed trustee James Giddens would reallocate money earmarked for general unsecured creditors to customers of the brokerage, who have a higher-priority payback status. The move could bring closure to customers who have waited nearly two years to fully recover their money, which became tied up when MF Global went bankrupt on October 31, 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| BP wins reprieve over Gulf spill payouts: U.S. appeals court Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 08:04 PM PDT  By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - BP Plc won a legal reprieve in its effort to force the administrator of a settlement related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to tighten standards in assessing claims, potentially sparing the oil company billions of dollars of extra costs. A divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday directed U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who in March had approved administrator Patrick Juneau's evaluation methods, to take a fresh look at which claims are legitimate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Firms controlled by Asia's richest man face Australian tax fight Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 08:00 PM PDT  SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian Tax Office is pursuing unpaid taxes from companies controlled by Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing, that relate to profits made in the country's power, gas and water industries. The Federal Court recently ruled against two companies related to Li's Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd , ordering they pay A$776 million ($726.92 million) in unpaid tax and penalties. ... Full Story | Top |
| Leader of Greek far-right Golden Dawn party jailed pending trial Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 07:59 PM PDT  By Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - The leader of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party was sent to jail pending trial on charges of belonging to a criminal group, a court official told Reuters early on Thursday, the first such action in decades against an elected party chief. Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos appeared before investigating magistrates and a prosecutor during a six-hour plea session to respond to charges of founding and participating in a criminal organization. "He will be jailed pending trial," the court official said on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Jury clears promoter of liability in Michael Jackson's death Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 07:48 PM PDT  By Eric Kelsey and Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles jury cleared concert promoter AEG Live of liability on Wednesday in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Michael Jackson, in a trial that offered a glimpse into the private life and final days of the so-called King of Pop. The verdict, which concluded that the doctor the company hired to care for the singer was not unfit for his job, capped a sensational five-month trial that was expected to shake up the way entertainment companies treat their most risky talent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Navy-Air Force game to go ahead, despite shutdown -official says Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 06:58 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Navy-Air Force football game will go ahead this Saturday despite the government shutdown, since the military academy game will be paid for without using any funds appropriated by Congress, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday. The same goes for an Army football game this weekend against Boston College, the spokesman said. Future games will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, congressional leaders still deadlocked on shutdown Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 06:40 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met with Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress on Wednesday to try to break a budget deadlock that has shut wide swaths of the federal government, but there was no breakthrough and both sides blamed each other. After more than an hour of talks, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said Obama refused to negotiate, while House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of trying to hold the president hostage over Obamacare. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama tells congressional leaders he won't negotiate on shutdown, debt Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 05:27 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama stressed to congressional leaders on Wednesday that he will not negotiate with Republicans over a government shutdown or raising the U.S. debt limit, the White House said. After more than an hour of talks at the White House that did not lead to a breakthrough, the White House issued a statement saying that Obama remains hopeful that "common sense will prevail" in the budget standoff. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republican Speaker Boehner says Obama refused to negotiate in White House meeting Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 05:20 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner emerged from White House talks on Wednesday to say that President Barack Obama again refused to negotiate with them to end a government shutdown. After more than an hour of talks between Obama and congressional leaders, the top Republican in Washington told reporters it was a polite conversation, but essentially made no progress. (Reporting By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; Editing by Stacey Joyce) Full Story | Top |
| Mali president dissolves army reform committee Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 05:08 PM PDT  By Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's new president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, on Wednesday dissolved an army reform committee dominated by former members of a military junta after blasting disgruntled officers for staging an unruly protest at a military base earlier this week. Officers who participated in a military coup last year fired into the air on Monday in the southern garrison town of Kati, close to the capital, Bamako, in protest at not receiving promotions they said had been promised. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazilian police stop Indians from storming Congress Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:43 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian police used pepper spray to stop hundreds of protesting Indians from storming Congress on Wednesday, clamping down on the second day of indigenous rights marches. Tribes across Brazil blocked highways and occupied government offices to oppose what they see as a steady undermining of their rights to ancestral lands by farmers supported by politicians in disputes that have occasionally turned violent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian prosecutors seek JPMorgan indictment for Paschi-Antonveneta deal: report Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:41 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Siena prosecutors requested that JPMorgan Chase & Co stand trial for obstructing regulators as part of a wider probe into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA's purchase of Banca Antonveneta SpA , Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. According to the Bloomberg report, prosecutors allege JPMorgan withheld information from Italian regulators about a 1 billion euro ($1.36 billion) financing the New York-based bank arranged for Monte Paschi's takeover of Antonveneta in 2008. ... Full Story | Top |
| Democrats say Obama rejected Republican arguments on government shutdown in meeting Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:22 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged from more than an hour of talks with Obama, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican and other congressional leaders to say Obama told Republicans "he will not stand" for their tactics. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Jackson case will change the tune for concert, artist insurance Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:13 PM PDT  By Sue Zeidler LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When Britney Spears takes the stage this December for the first of a heavily hyped 100-show two-year residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, the loudest cheers may come from her insurance underwriters. Along with the sound engineers and roadies who help stage a concert, insurance underwriters play a large role in making sure a star can get onstage and grab the microphone. Insurers are also key during those times when stars do not show and concerts get canceled. ... Full Story | Top |
| Global stocks, dollar pressured as U.S. shutdown drags on Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:11 PM PDT  By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar stayed under pressure in Asia on Thursday in what looked likely to be another jittery session for stock markets as President Barack Obama met congressional leaders to try and break a deadlock on the U.S. government shutdown. So far investors have been wagering that some deal would be reached in time to avoid lasting damage to the economy, although another fight over the debt ceiling still looms. ... Full Story | Top |
| In rural Georgia, U.S. government shutdown gets mixed reception Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:09 PM PDT By Steve Norder ROME, Georgia (Reuters) - In the bustling, tree-lined business district of Rome, Georgia, deli owner Charlie Schroeder lauded Republican Representative Tom Graves this week for his pivotal role in shutting down the U.S. government for the first time in 17 years. "It is like the sequester," said Schroeder, 64, referring to this year's deep cuts in government spending. "The administration made us think the world will end. As far as I can see, nothing was hurt. We need to do whatever we need to get rid of Obamacare. ... Full Story | Top |
| Judge orders monitor appointed to oversee controversial Arizona sheriff Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:09 PM PDT  By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday ordered a monitor be appointed to oversee the work of hard-line Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio to ensure that his officers no longer use racial profiling, especially of Latinos, when cracking down on illegal immigration. U.S. District Judge Murray Snow had in May ordered the Maricopa County sheriff to stop using race as a factor in law enforcement decisions, in response to a lawsuit brought by Hispanic drivers that tested whether police could target illegal immigrants without profiling U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Marketplace of vice, 'Silk Road' meets its end Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:08 PM PDT By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - Before it was shut down by U.S. agents this week, people looking to buy street drugs, hire hackers or hitmen, and acquire stolen e-commerce accounts anonymously online could go to Silk Road, the Amazon.com of vice. For more than two years, according to U.S. authorities, the website allowed users to buy and sell illegal goods and services on the assumption that they were safe from the law. The buyers were cloaked by technology designed to keep identities secret and transactions were processed with bitcoin digital currency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fired U.S. executive pleads guilty to assaulting 19-month-old baby Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:06 PM PDT By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - A man accused of slapping a crying toddler on an airplane and using a racial slur pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of assault. Former aerospace executive Joe Rickey Hundley, 61, was accused of striking a 19-month-old boy in the face on board a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta on February 8. In March, Hundley, who lives in North Carolina, entered a plea of not guilty but changed his plea on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shutdown, debt fight highlight Republican distance from 'big business' Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:05 PM PDT  By Gabriel Debenedetti and James B. Kelleher (Reuters) - Big business, a traditionally powerful but pragmatic player in Republican policy-making, has found itself outflanked and marginalized by smaller conservative groups opposed to compromise in the country's current fiscal crisis and the looming showdown over the debt ceiling. As the shutdown of the government approaches its third day, business leaders and groups like the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea's ruling party takes early lead in legislative polls Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:04 PM PDT  CONAKRY (Reuters) - The party of Guinean President Alpha Conde has taken an early lead, according to the first results from weekend legislative polls published by the elections commission late on Wednesday. The National Electoral Commission (CENI) initially said it would take days longer than expected to release a result but pledged earlier on Wednesday to announce tallies as they trickled in from 12,000 polling stations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Emerging market firms to reshape corporate world: report Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 04:02 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - The number of large emerging market companies will surge in coming years and they will become competitors but also customers for rich-country firms, according to a new study. Almost three-quarters of today's 8,000 companies with annual revenue of $1 billion or more are based in advanced economies. By 2025, another 7,000 will have joined their ranks, with seven out of 10 of them based in emerging economies, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) projects. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston bomb suspect's lawyers want prison restrictions eased Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:54 PM PDT  BOSTON (Reuters) - Lawyers for accused Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev asked a judge on Wednesday to lift sweeping restrictions on his ability to communicate from prison, claiming the measures are hindering his defense and violating his right to free speech. The U.S. Department of Justice in August imposed special limits on Tsarnaev barring him from speaking with other inmates or the outside world except in specific circumstances directly related to his defense, as a way to keep him from inciting or triggering other attacks. Tsarnaev's lawyers said in a motion filed in U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| How U.S. government shutdown ripples across nation Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:53 PM PDT By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) - Science was put on hold, normally bustling stores went quiet and families depending on government aid feared losing their baby food as a government shutdown rippled across the country. The budget impasse in Washington shut all but essential U.S. government services for the second straight day on Wednesday, while neither political party appeared willing to budge. Republicans want to tie continued government funding to measures that would undercut Obama's signature healthcare law, while Obama and his Democrats say that is a non-starter. ... Full Story | Top |
| BP's well control exec says he was unprepared for U.S. Gulf blowout Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:46 PM PDT  By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - BP's manager in charge of controlling the Macondo blowout in 2010 was never trained to permanently plug a ruptured oil well and said in court on Wednesday the British company was not fully prepared for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. On day three of the second phase of a federal trial in New Orleans over the accident in the Gulf of Mexico, BP's James Dupree also said "yes" when asked if the company was "starting from scratch" when it scrambled to stop the leak. The U.S. District Court trial could lead to fines of more than $17 billion. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government scrambles to provide access to Obamacare sites Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:45 PM PDT  By David Morgan and Lewis Krauskopf (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday scrambled to add computer capacity to handle an unexpectedly large number of Americans logging onto new online insurance marketplaces created under Present Barack Obama's healthcare reform law. Technical glitches and heavy traffic slowed Tuesday's launch of the marketplaces, particularly for the federal Healthcare.gov website serving 36 states. ... Full Story | Top |
| Justice Scalia says has not expressed view on gay marriage Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:39 PM PDT  MEDFORD, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, one of four justices to dissent from a June decision by the court that struck down a portion of a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, said on Thursday he has not given his views on the constitutionality of gay marriage itself. "I haven't expressed my view about gay marriage," Scalia, a noted conservative said, adding that the decision itself only applied to a narrow piece of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gambia pulls out of 'neo-colonial' Commonwealth Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:38 PM PDT BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia has withdrawn from the Commonwealth, the 54-member grouping including Britain and most of its former colonies, branding it a "neo-colonial institution," according to a statement released by the West African nation on Wednesday. "The government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism," read a statement broadcast on state television. No further reason for the decision was given. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clashes flare at pro-Mursi march in Egyptian city, one dead Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:37 PM PDT  ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - A high school student was killed when opponents and supporters of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi clashed in the city of Suez on Wednesday night, medical and security sources said. The two sides exchanged gunfire and threw petrol bombs after supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mursi chanted anti-army slogans as they marched in the city, the sources said. Abdullah Mohamed Attia, 17, died from a bullet wound, the state news agency reported. The student was a supporter of Mursi, the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tom Clancy, U.S. master of spy thriller novels, dies at 66 Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:33 PM PDT  By Scott Malone (Reuters) - Best-selling U.S. author Tom Clancy, who thrilled readers with vivid descriptions of soldiers and spies in novels including "The Hunt for Red October" and "Patriot Games," has died at 66, his publisher said on Wednesday. Clancy, whose books sold more than 100 million copies, died on Tuesday in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, Penguin said. "I'm deeply saddened by Tom's passing," said David Shanks, a Penguin executive who had worked with Clancy from the start of his writing career through the upcoming "Command Authority," which is due out in December. ... Full Story | Top |
| LA jury reaches verdict in Michael Jackson wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:33 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles jury reached a verdict on Wednesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of pop singer Michael Jackson against concert promoter AEG Live, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Superior Court said. The verdict, which will be read at 3:30 p.m. PT (2230 GMT), caps a five-month trial that opened a window into the singer's private life and final days. Jackson's mother, Katherine, and his three children sued AEG Live over the singer's 2009 death at age 50 in Los Angeles from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. spy agency tested tracking cell phone locations Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 03:07 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has tested its ability to collect Americans' cellular telephone location data but does not have a program to collect that information, the NSA's director, General Keith Alexander, said on Wednesday. Alexander told a Senate Judiciary committee hearing on the government's electronic eavesdropping that the NSA received data samples in 2010 and 2011 to test its ability to handle such information, but the data were never used for any other purposes. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. expels three Venezuelan diplomats in tit-for-tat move Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:53 PM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Washington has expelled Venezuela's highest-ranking diplomat in the United States and two others from its embassy in retaliation for Venezuela's booting out three American diplomats accused of fomenting sabotage, both governments said on Wednesday. The flare-up appears to derail some tentative moves to improve relations between Caracas and Washington since President Nicolas Maduro took over this year from the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, whose 14-year rule was halted by cancer. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, congressional leaders hold White House talks over government shutdown Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:50 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders began a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, a White House official said, as they tried to find a way to end a government shutdown. In the meeting were House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Washington Republican, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top Democrat, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Extended government shutdown would pinch housing recovery Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:37 PM PDT By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government shutdown will soon begin to delay the approval process for mortgages and could threaten the nascent housing recovery if it stretches to mid-October or beyond. Because thousands of federal workers have been furloughed, lenders are not able to verify borrowers' income and other data with the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration, making it difficult to authorize loans. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Tenet stands out by experimenting with core model of Obamacare Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 02:31 PM PDT  By Susan Kelly (Reuters) - Patients and investors gauging the impact of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law on hospitals, clinics and other providers need look no further than Tenet Healthcare Corp, the country's No. 3 for-profit hospital chain. The Dallas, Texas-based company stands out among its peers for experimenting with a core concept of the legislation - the lofty goals of coordinating treatment in a single, integrated system that reins in costs by improving care. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment