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| Suncor to go ahead with Fort Hills oil sand project, profit up Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 09:05 PM PDT , Canada's largest oil and gas company, said on Wednesday it was moving ahead with its Fort Hills oil sands project in Northern Alberta, with first production expected as soon as the fourth quarter of 2017. The C$13.5 billion ($12.9 billion) project, located some 500 km (310 miles) north of Edmonton, Alberta, is a joint venture with France's Total SA Suncor separately said its third-quarter profit rose 10 percent, boosted by record production from its Oil Sands segment and favorable pricing for western Canadian crude oil. That beat the average analyst estimate of 87 Canadian cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Suncor's cash flow, a glimpse of its ability to pay for new projects like Fort Hills, fell 7 percent to C$2.5 billion, or C$1.69 per share, from C$2.7 billion, or C$1.79. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico plan to beef up tax revenues nears final Senate approval Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 08:49 PM PDT By Michael O'Boyle, Miguel Gutierrez and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Senate on Wednesday was close to passing a package of measures to bolster the country's weak tax revenues, including higher taxes for the rich, levies on sugary drinks and junk food, as well as a charge on stock market gains. After giving general approval to the fiscal bill late on Tuesday, the Senate must still vote on divisive sections that lawmakers want to repeal or amend, a process which has been held up by opposition from conservatives. The fiscal reform is one the main planks of President Enrique Pena Nieto's economic agenda, and although it will not raise as much new revenue as had originally been hoped, it has prompted vigorous attacks from opponents and lobbyists. Disputes over the bill, which aims to introduce a new top income tax rate of 35 percent, risk complicating negotiations over other reforms sought by the Revolutionary Institutional Party, which lacks a majority in Congress. Full Story | Top |
| China's state media calls for strong action on Tiananmen attack Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 08:43 PM PDT  By Michael Martina TURPAN, China (Reuters) - Chinese state media demanded severe punishment on Thursday after the government blamed militants from restive Xinjiang for an attack in Tiananmen Square, as the exiled leader of the region's Uighur minority called for an independent probe. An SUV burst into flames on Monday after being driven into a crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the symbolic centre of China's power structure and one of the country's most closely guarded areas. Police said it was a "terrorist attack" carried out by people from Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, and announced they had caught five accomplices who were planning holy war. "Maintaining the capital's security and stability is a responsibility of utmost importance." The English-language China Daily said the perpetrators will "go down in history as murderers not heroes". Full Story | Top |
| Fatal plane crash in Nashville may have gone unnoticed for hours Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 08:38 PM PDT (Reuters) - A fatal plane crash at Nashville International Airport earlier this week may have gone unnoticed for hours, the Nashville Tennessean newspaper reported on Wednesday. A single-engine Cessna crashed at the airport some time after 2 a.m. on Tuesday, killing the pilot, but the wreckage was not discovered until about 8:45 a.m., said Jay Neylon, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, during a press conference aired on NewsChannel5.com. The exact timing of the crash is unknown, Neylon said. The Canadian pilot, Michael Callan, 45 of Windsor, Ontario, was killed in the crash, the Tennessean reported. Full Story | Top |
| UK consumer morale dips for first time in six months - GfK Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 08:25 PM PDT  British consumer confidence fell in October for the first time in six months, a survey showed on Thursday. The drop, only the second this year, followed news that British households face a sharp jump in gas and electricity bills. Market research company GfK's monthly consumer confidence index dipped to -11 from -10 in September, wrong-footing analysts who had expected a rise to -8. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. food group faces legal trouble in fight over GMO labeling Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 07:44 PM PDT A lobbying group for major U.S. food manufacturers continues to run afoul of campaign finance laws in the way that it has contributed funds to block a measure that would require labeling of genetically modified foods in Washington state, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the state's attorney general. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he will amend a lawsuit filed October 16 to raise the total amount he alleges the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) illegally concealed to $11 million, from the $7.2 million in the original complaint. GMA represents some of the world's largest food and beverage companies and is lobbying heavily against the measure known as I-522 that is set for a public vote in Washington state on November 5. GMA is the largest contributor to the "No on 522" campaign. Full Story | Top |
| Marvin Gaye's family sues 'Blurred Lines' composers Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 07:31 PM PDT  Family of late soul singer Marvin Gaye sued R&B recording artists Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement on Wednesday, accusing them of stealing from the Motown legend's musical composition for the hit single "Blurred Lines." The suit was filed as a counter-claim to a case brought preemptively by Thicke and Williams in August seeking a court ruling to establish that "Blurred Lines" did not infringe on Gaye's rights to his 1977 hit, "Got to Give it Up," as members of his family had said publicly. The suit by three of Gaye's children cited excerpts of magazine interviews given by Thicke to support their contention that he had admitted to drawing on "Got to Give it Up" when producing and recording "Blurred Lines." Thicke sang the raunchy, percussive R&B song, which topped song charts around the world this year and ranked as the biggest U.S. pop hit of the summer, at this year's MTV Video Music Awards in a provocative performance featuring pop singer Miley Cyrus. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook smashes analyst targets but executive comments spook Street Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 06:23 PM PDT  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc posted strong growth in its mobile advertising business on Wednesday but rattled investors after saying that it did not plan to boost the frequency of ads shown to users. In July, Facebook said it was showing one ad per 20 stories in the newsfeed, but Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman told analysts Wednesday that the current ratio, although slightly higher than 5 percent, would not increase much more going forward. Ebersman's comments, combined with remarks suggesting that young teenage users in the U.S. were beginning to use Facebook less frequently, soured the mood abruptly on an afternoon when the company topped Wall Street's targets with a whopping 60 percent increase in revenue, driven by its accelerating mobile business. But Greenfield said he believed investors were over-reacting, noting that increasing advertising prices, rather than the volume of ads, is more important for growth in Facebook's topline. Full Story | Top |
| Starbucks CEO Schultz resigns from Square Inc's board Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 06:23 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Privately-owned mobile payments company Square Inc said Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz had resigned from the board 15 months after joining one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups. Square, founded in 2009 by Twitter Inc co-creator Jack Dorsey, said it named David Viniar as a replacement. Viniar was most recently the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. "Howard's guidance has helped Square grow as a company and as a business. Schultz joined Square's board in August last year by investing $25 million in a deal to use its technology to process debit and credit card payments at the coffee chain's stores. Full Story | Top |
| Canada gives ConocoPhillips okay for exploratory drilling in Far North Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 06:04 PM PDT  Canada's National Energy Board on Wednesday approved ConocoPhillips's application to start exploratory drilling in the Northwest Territories, the first time the federal regulator has granted authorization for horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Canada's Far North. The independent NEB, whose responsibilities include safety, protection of the environment and conservation of resources, gave ConocoPhillips permission to drill two wells near Norman Wells, 728 miles from Yellowknife, the territorial capital, and 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle. ConocoPhillips won a land use permit and water license from the local authorities in June, the NEB said in a press release. Full Story | Top |
| US Airways, American consider merger settlement: sources Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:42 PM PDT  and American Airlines are considering giving up takeoff and landing slots at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport to win regulator approval of their $11 billion merger, two people familiar with the matter said. The airlines are hoping to reach a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department before the trial, due to begin November 25, paving the way for a deal that would create the world's largest air carrier, the sources said. The companies' stock prices have climbed in anticipation of a deal, and they rose further on Wednesday after a Dow Jones report on a potential proposal to overcome regulatory concerns. closed up 4.3 percent at $7.30 and US Airways Group Inc ended 0.94 percent higher at $22.58. Full Story | Top |
| Fed maintains strong stimulus as U.S. growth stumbles Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:37 PM PDT  By Pedro da Costa and Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve extended its support for a soft U.S. economy on Wednesday, sounding a bit less optimistic about growth as it announced plans to keep buying $85 billion in bonds per month. In announcing the decision, the Fed nodded to weaker economic signals that have been due in part to a fiscal fight in Washington that shuttered much of the government for 16 days earlier this month. The central bank noted that the recovery in the housing market had lost some steam and suggested some frustration at how slowly the labor market was healing. However, it also dropped a phrase expressing concern about a run-up in borrowing costs, suggesting greater comfort with the current level of interest rates. Full Story | Top |
| Obama blames 'bad apple' insurers for canceled coverage Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:31 PM PDT  By Roberta Rampton and David Morgan BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that "bad apple" insurance companies, not his signature healthcare law, are to blame for hundreds of thousands of people losing their coverage in the past few weeks. As administration officials scrambled to fix technical problems on an online insurance marketplace that is central to the success of the Affordable Care Act, Obama blamed private insurers for a separate problem that has critics questioning his honesty. The president has repeatedly promised that people who are happy with their health plans would not have to change coverage because of the law, known as Obamacare. But the termination of individual policies has given his Republican opponents additional ammunition to criticize the program they have tried to stop since its inception in Obama's first term. Full Story | Top |
| Asian markets take glancing blow from Fed Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:22 PM PDT  By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian markets suffered a glancing blow on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy outlook was deemed less dovish than some had wagered on, lifting both bond yields and the dollar. Yet the losses were modest with MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off just 0.2 percent. Shares in Australia lost a tenth of a percent while Japan's Nikkei eased 0.3 percent. Helping sentiment were expectations the Bank of Japan's policy meeting on Thursday would see it carry on with a massive stimulus program that has shown tentative signs of breaking the grip of deflation. Full Story | Top |
| White House concerned over Senate vote on mortgage regulator Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:13 PM PDT  The Obama administration expressed concern on Wednesday that Republicans may block a vote in the U.S. Senate on the nomination of the president's choice to regulate mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Senate scheduled a procedural vote on the nomination of Representative Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, for early afternoon on Thursday. Watt is expected to win the support of all Democrats and the two independents who vote with them, a total of 55, assuming New Jersey Senator-elect Cory Booker is sworn in by then, which is expected to happen. The North Carolina Democrat needs to attract at least 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to win the procedural vote and move to a final up-or-down vote. Full Story | Top |
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