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| Washington heads into fifth day of shutdown, no end in sight Friday, Oct 04, 2013 07:14 PM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro and Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington headed into the fifth day of a partial government shutdown with no end in sight even as another, more serious conflict over raising the nation's borrowing authority started heating up. The U.S. House of Representatives prepared for a Saturday session but with no expectations of progress on either the shutdown or a measure to raise the nation's $16.7 trillion debt ceiling. Congress must act by October 17 in order to avoid a government debt default. ... Full Story | Top |
| Icahn caves on Dell again, will not seek share rights Friday, Oct 04, 2013 09:05 AM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Activist investor Carl Icahn, who ended his months-long campaign against Michael Dell's planned buyout of Dell Inc last month, on Friday signaled his final retreat from the struggling personal computer maker. The billionaire, who opposed Michael Dell's $25 billion offer to take Dell private, tweeted he will no longer seek "appraisal rights" for his shares, a legal process under which investors can try to get a Delaware court to determine the fair value of the stock. "I withdrew my demand for appraisal of my Dell shares. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Cisco, Google, SAP discussing BlackBerry bids - sources Friday, Oct 04, 2013 05:17 PM PDT  By Nadia Damouni, Soyoung Kim and Nicola Leske NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd, on the block as its smartphone business struggles, is in talks with Cisco Systems, Google Inc and SAP about selling them all or parts of itself, several sources close to the matter said. Such a deal would be an alternative to the preliminary agreement reached weeks ago with a group, led by BlackBerry's biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings, to take the company private for about $4.7 billion, a bid which has faced some skepticism because of financing questions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Shutdown strategy has wide U.S. Republican support Friday, Oct 04, 2013 12:41 PM PDT  By Caren Bohan and Fred Barbash WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eager to exploit divisions among Republicans, Democrats have hammered the message that the U.S. government shutdown is the work of a small segment of House of Representatives Republicans on the far right. In fact, support for the tactic that led to the shutdown - now in its fourth day - has proven to be far more solid and widespread among House Republicans than the Democratic portrayal. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least four killed in Egypt as Islamists mount bold protests Friday, Oct 04, 2013 12:36 PM PDT By Maggie Fick and Hadeel Al Shalchi CAIRO (Reuters) - At least four people died in clashes on Friday as supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi mounted their boldest marches since troops crushed their protest camps demanding his reinstatement on August 14. An Egyptian army vehicle fired live rounds in the direction of Brotherhood supporters who had been pushed back by security forces when they tried to enter Cairo's Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of Egypt's 2011 uprising. ... Full Story | Top |
| Evacuations ordered as Tropical Storm Karen nears U.S. coast Friday, Oct 04, 2013 03:22 PM PDT  By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying areas south of New Orleans on Friday as a weakened Tropical Storm Karen closed in on the Louisiana coast after disrupting U.S. energy output in the Gulf of Mexico. Karen's top winds were holding at 50 mph, down from 65 mph a day earlier, and National Hurricane Center forecasters in Miami said the storm was expected to strengthen somewhat but remain a tropical storm. Oil output in the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian Senate panel recommends Berlusconi's expulsion Friday, Oct 04, 2013 09:10 AM PDT  By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - An Italian Senate committee on Friday recommended that former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi be expelled from parliament after his conviction for tax fraud, paving the way for a final decision this month that could seal his political fate. The recommendation to kick out the man who has dominated Italian politics for the past two decades was taken by a cross-party committee of 23 Senators dominated by the center-right leader's political opponents. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria submits further details of its chemical arms program Friday, Oct 04, 2013 01:42 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria has given international experts additional details about its chemical weapons program that go beyond a September 21 declaration of its poison gas arsenal, the United Nations said on Friday. The team consists of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Netherlands, with help from U.N. personnel. Last week, the U.N. Security Council demanded the elimination of Syria's chemical arsenal. U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel, SPD welcome further talks on German government Friday, Oct 04, 2013 08:57 AM PDT  By Erik Kirschbaum and Sarah Marsh BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's conservatives and the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) agreed to meet again in 10 days to explore forming a "grand coalition" government after an initial three-hour meeting on Friday was called constructive by both sides. The German chancellor's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) emerged as the dominant party from the September 22 election but need a coalition partner and Friday's meeting marked the start of complex horse-trading that could last two months or more. ... Full Story | Top |
| Switzerland probes banks over possible forex rigging Friday, Oct 04, 2013 09:25 AM PDT  By Caroline Copley and Albert Schmieder ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's financial markets regulator is working with authorities in other countries to investigate possible manipulation in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market potentially involving multiple banks. Regulators and investors are concerned about the integrity of financial benchmarks in the wake of a global investigation into the rigging of benchmark interest rates that has so far led to four financial firms, including Switzerland's largest bank UBS, being fined around $2.7 billion and seven men being charged. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad says Turkey will pay for backing Syrian rebels Friday, Oct 04, 2013 12:56 PM PDT  By Ece Toksabay ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told Turkey it will pay a heavy price for backing rebels fighting to oust him, accusing it of harboring "terrorists" along its border who, he said, would soon turn on their hosts. In an interview with Turkey's Halk TV due to be broadcast later on Friday, Assad called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan "bigoted" and said Ankara was allowing terrorists to cross into Syria to attack the army and Syrian civilians. ... Full Story | Top |
| Washington still deadlocked on shutdown and debt ceiling Friday, Oct 04, 2013 04:07 PM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro and Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington headed into the fifth day of a partial government shutdown with no end in sight even as another, more serious conflict over raising the nation's borrowing authority started heating up. The U.S. House of Representatives prepared for a Saturday session but with no expectations of progress on either the shutdown or a measure to raise the nation's $16.7 trillion debt ceiling. Congress must act by October 17 in order to avoid a government debt default. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu struggles to set the terms in Iranian dispute Friday, Oct 04, 2013 06:56 AM PDT  By Dan Williams NEW YORK (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Iran's new president was a "wolf in sheep's clothing", but he himself looked increasingly like a lone wolf as his allies seek to bring Tehran into the fold. After years of worrying about Iran's disputed nuclear ambitions, Netanyahu took to the stage at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday and made his most explicit threat yet to attack the Islamic republic unless it ends its atomic program. ... Full Story | Top |
| Youths burn church, riot in Kenya's Mombasa after imam killed Friday, Oct 04, 2013 09:34 AM PDT  By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Young Muslims set fire to a church, burned tires and clashed with police in Kenya's main port city of Mombasa on Friday, leaving at least four people dead after the killing of an Islamic cleric which his followers blamed on security forces. The shooting of Sheikh Ibrahim Omar ignited religious tensions in the commercial and tourism hub, two weeks after Islamist militants killed at least 67 people in a raid on a Nairobi shopping mall. The imam and three other men were found dead in a car on Mombasa's outskirts on Thursday night, police said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alex Rodriguez sues Major League Baseball, Selig Friday, Oct 04, 2013 04:27 PM PDT  By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez has sued Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig and accused them of trying to destroy his reputation and his career. The embattled third baseman also filed an additional malpractice lawsuit against the Yankees team doctor Chris Ahmad and a New York hospital for misdiagnosing a hip injury, according to MLB.com. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. aviation body agrees on emissions deal Friday, Oct 04, 2013 06:46 AM PDT  By Valerie Volcovici and Barbara Lewis MONTREAL/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United Nations' civil aviation body has reached outline agreement on a global scheme to curb airline carbon emissions, casting a shadow over a rival EU plan to lower pollution from planes. The executive committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreed late on Thursday on a roadmap to create the world's first global, market-based scheme by 2020. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republican leader Boehner keeps hard line in U.S. budget standoff Friday, Oct 04, 2013 09:50 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Friday said the House will not vote on a "clean" spending bill without conditions to end the government shutdown, and demanded spending cuts in exchange for raising the government's borrowing limit. "I don't believe we should default on our debt," Boehner told reporters after meeting with his Republican caucus. But he added, "If we are going to raise the amount of money we can borrow, we ought to do something about our spending problem and lack of economic growth. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Americans eye cheap home refueling for natural gas cars Friday, Oct 04, 2013 05:32 AM PDT By Edward McAllister NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Connie Jones arrives home from her job as an information technology manager in Chandler, Arizona, she parks her car in her garage and fills it up with natural gas. It is a convenience that relatively few Americans can enjoy. "We hook it up, turn it on, and it fills up overnight," said Connie's husband Travis, who bought a natural gas home refueling unit in January 2012. With natural gas at $1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: After chemical horror, besieged Syrian suburb defiant Friday, Oct 04, 2013 04:49 AM PDT  (The identity of the reporter has been withheld for security reasons) ZAMALKA, Syria (Reuters) - Sixteen-year-old Mohammad al Zeibaa lost his entire family in the sarin gas attack east of Damascus six weeks ago, surviving the world's deadliest chemical weapons strike in a quarter century only because he was out working a hospital night shift. Mohammad's father, who rushed to the scene to help survivors, died from the effects of the sarin, as did his mother and five brothers and sisters who stayed at home. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bank of Japan warns of severe global impact from U.S. fiscal standoff Friday, Oct 04, 2013 03:20 AM PDT  By Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) - A prolonged U.S. budget standoff would hit global markets very hard, the Bank of Japan warned on Friday as it said it was ready to top up its existing massive stimulus if the recovery underway in the world's third-largest economy was threatened. But for now, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda saw no need to ease policy further as Japan was on the path to escape deflation and, if international risks receded as hoped, government fiscal stimulus would further boost growth next year. The U.S. budget deadlock and fears of an unprecedented U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama cancels Asia tour over shutdown; raises questions on U.S. pivot Friday, Oct 04, 2013 06:12 AM PDT  By Steve Holland and James Pomfret WASHINGTON/NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called off plans to visit Asia and attend two summits because of the U.S. government shutdown, raising questions about the strategic "pivot" to the region that he announced just two years ago. Obama had planned to depart on Saturday for a four-nation, week-long trip. He canceled visits to Malaysia and the Philippines earlier this week because of his budget struggle in the U.S. Congress and said late on Thursday he would not attend the regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei. ... Full Story | Top |
| India announces warm-up for world's biggest election Friday, Oct 04, 2013 05:30 AM PDT  By Sruthi Gottipati NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will hold five state elections in November and December, authorities said on Friday, kicking off a contest that is expected to boost the profile of Hindu nationalist opposition leader Narendra Modi ahead of a general election next year. The polls, set to begin on November 11, are seen as a warm-up for the national elections, which will be the world's biggest democratic exercise. Both polls will test the popularity of Modi's promise of economic growth and clean governance at a time India is suffering its worst slowdown in a decade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Latest Myanmar violence blamed on religious and ethnic extremists Friday, Oct 04, 2013 12:32 AM PDT  By Jared Ferrie THANDWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - The Buddhist mob mutilated and burned Khin Naing so severely his son couldn't recognise the body, one of series of attacks that suggest a resurgence of a monk-led movement in Myanmar accused of stoking violence against Muslims. Flies were buzzing around the bloodied patch of earth outside a ransacked mosque in Tha Phyu Chai village where police removed Khin Naing's body after he was hacked to death by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. ... Full Story | Top |
| China elevates Malaysia ties, aims to triple trade by 2017 Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 11:23 PM PDT  By Yantoultra Ngui KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - China and Malaysia agreed on Friday to elevate bilateral ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership", aiming to boost military cooperation and nearly triple two-way trade to $160 billion by 2017. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak spoke soon after U.S. President Barack Obama canceled a week-long tour of four Asian nations, including Malaysia, due to the U.S. government shutdown. ... Full Story | Top |
| Workers and employers face off at U.S. Supreme Court Friday, Oct 04, 2013 04:54 AM PDT  By Lawrence Hurley and Amanda Becker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Workplace disputes pepper the docket of cases the U.S. Supreme Court will take up during a nine-month term starting on Monday, with the justices having delivered a string of victories to businesses and employers in their last term. Organized labor will feature in two of the cases. In one, an employee seeks to limit the power of public-sector unions to collect dues. In the other, an employee aims to limit the ability of private-sector unions to sign up members. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro stuck in shadow of 'El Comandante' Chavez Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 10:10 PM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne CIUDAD CARIBIA, Venezuela (Reuters) - Hovering over a sun-baked mountain one day in his presidential helicopter, Hugo Chavez had a dream: to build a utopian city that would showcase socialism in Venezuela. Slowly and chaotically over the years that followed, the late president's pet project - conceived a decade into his rule and named "Ciudad Caribia" for the country's indigenous Carib people - began to take shape on the mountain 10 km (6 miles) northwest of the capital, Caracas. "This was his dream. ... Full Story | Top |
| Family identifies woman who died after Washington car chase Friday, Oct 04, 2013 01:15 PM PDT By Richard Weizel and Mark Hosenball STAMFORD, Conn./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Family members have identified the body of a woman who died after a tense car chase through the streets of Washington that prompted a lockdown of the U.S. Capitol, their lawyer said Friday. Miriam Carey's family members plan to discuss the incident later on Friday, when they return to their New York home, attorney Eric Sanders said in a posting on his law firm's Facebook page. They identified her body at the office of the medical examiner in Washington, Sanders said. ... Full Story | Top |
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