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| Federal appeals court reinstates abortion restrictions in Texas Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 06:13 PM PDT  (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated restrictions on abortion providers in Texas, siding with Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott who had asked for an emergency ruling while a lower court ruling was being appealed. The decision means that during the appeal doctors who perform abortions in Texas will have to get agreements with local hospitals to admit patients under a sweeping new anti-abortion law, according to court documents. Full Story | Top |
| Enrollment in Obamacare very small in first days: documents Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 06:16 PM PDT  By Susan Cornwell and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Enrollment in health insurance plans on the troubled Obamacare website was very small in the first couple of days of operation, with just 248 Americans signing up, according to documents released on Thursday by a U.S. House of Representatives committee. The Obama administration has said it cannot provide enrollment figures from HealthCare.gov because it doesn't have the numbers. The federal website, where residents of 36 states can buy new healthcare plans under President Barack Obama's law, was launched on October 1. "We do not have any reliable data around enrollment, which is why we haven't given it to date," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told lawmakers on Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| Fannie Mae sues nine banks for rigging Libor Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 06:14 PM PDT  By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae sued nine of the world's largest banks on Thursday, accusing them of colluding to manipulate interest rates and seeking more than $800 million of damages. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government-controlled mortgage company accused the banks of conspiring for many years to suppress Libor, or the London Interbank Offered Rate, including during the 2008 financial crisis. Libor underpins hundreds of trillions of dollars of transactions, and is used to set interest rates on such things as credit cards, student loans and mortgages. But according to Thursday's 71-page lawsuit, "defendants' promises and representations regarding the legitimacy of Libor were false," causing Fannie Mae to lose money on swaps, mortgages, mortgage securities and other transactions. Full Story | Top |
| Senate panel passes plan to restrict but keep mass surveillance Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 06:28 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle and Joseph Menn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Intelligence Committee approved legislation on Thursday that would tighten controls on the government's sweeping electronic eavesdropping programs but allow them to continue. In a classified hearing, the panel voted 11-4 for a measure that puts new limits on what intelligence agencies can do with bulk communications records and imposes a five-year limit on how long they can be retained. Despite growing national concern about surveillance, the "FISA Improvements Act" would not eliminate programs that became public this year after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents describing how the government collects far more internet and telephone data than previously known. "The NSA call-records program is legal and subject to extensive congressional and judicial oversight, and I believe it contributes to our national security. Full Story | Top |
| Obama halted NSA spying on IMF and World Bank headquarters Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:49 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has ordered the National Security Agency to stop eavesdropping on the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank as part of a review of intelligence gathering activities, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. The order is the latest move by the White House to demonstrate that it is willing to curb at least some surveillance in the wake of leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden of programs that collect huge quantities of data on U.S. allies and adversaries, and American citizens. Full Story | Top |
| AIG earnings point to room for improvement-analysts Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 04:13 PM PDT  AIG, which saw sour derivative bets threaten the company's future five years ago, saw stronger commercial lines business. Analysts said they had expected better results in its consumer lines business. AIG "is becoming a normal company," Sanford C. Bernstein & Co analyst Josh Stirling said. "They're making great progress in fixing their underwriting in their commercial lines business, but still have more progress to make in consumer lines. Full Story | Top |
| German MP meets Snowden, says he is willing to come to Germany for inquiry Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:19 PM PDT  By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - A German lawmaker said he met Edward Snowden in Moscow on Thursday and the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor was willing to come to Germany to assist investigations into alleged U.S. surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Hans-Christian Stroebele, a legislator for the opposition Greens party, told German broadcaster ARD it was clear Snowden "knew a lot" and that he would share details of their surprise meeting including a letter from Snowden addressed to the German government and chief federal prosecutor on Friday. "He made it clear he knows a lot and that as long as the National Security Agency (NSA) blocks investigations..., he is prepared to come to Germany and give testimony, but the conditions must be discussed," said Stroebele. Germany is a close ally of the United States. Full Story | Top |
| Syria meets deadline to destroy chemical production facilities Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 07:42 PM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has destroyed or rendered inoperable all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament program, the international chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which won the Nobel Peace prize this month, said its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country. Syria "has completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable," it said, meeting a November 1 deadline for the work. The next target date is November 15, by when the OPCW and Syria must agree to a detailed plan of destruction, including how and where to destroy more than 1,000 metric tonnes of toxic agents and munitions. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. to allow expanded electronic device use on flights Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:59 PM PDT  Airline passengers will soon be able to use certain electronic devices throughout their entire flight after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ended a long-standing ban on Thursday. Mobile phone calls remain barred under Federal Communications Commission rules. Delta Air Lines Inc and JetBlue Corp quickly filed plans with the FAA to show that their aircraft can tolerate radio signals from electronic devices, a condition required by the regulator. The change is likely to boost the use of gadgets such as Amazon Inc's Kindle readers or Apple Inc's iPad. Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch editors Brooks, Coulson had affair, British hacking trial told Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:24 PM PDT By Kate Holton and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid, had a six-year affair at the time their reporters hacked phone messages of politicians and royalty, a London court heard on Thursday. Revealing their close ties, prosecutor Andrew Edis said the intimacy of their relationship indicated both knew as much as the other about the criminal activities of senior journalists on the paper. Brooks and Coulson are on trial accused of conspiring to hack into phones of high-profile public figures or those close to them and also making illegal payments to public officials, charges they deny. What effect did it have?" Edis told the court. Full Story | Top |
| Syria meets deadline to destroy chemical production facilities Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:01 PM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has destroyed or rendered inoperable all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament program, the international chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which won the Nobel Peace prize this month, said its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country. Syria "has completed the functional destruction of critical equipment for all of its declared chemical weapons production facilities and mixing/filling plants, rendering them inoperable," it said, meeting a November 1 deadline for the work. The next target date is November 15, by when the OPCW and Syria must agree to a detailed plan of destruction, including how and where to destroy more than 1,000 metric tonnes of toxic agents and munitions. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare website gets new tech experts; oversight pressure grows Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 02:50 PM PDT By Susan Cornwell and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said it has brought in experts from top technology companies including Google Inc and Oracle Corp to fix the HealthCare.gov website, as Republicans press for details about the botched October 1 launch that prevented millions of Americans from signing up for new insurance plans. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it had added dozens of technology experts and engineers to its round-the-clock effort to fix the technical glitches on the site that is key to the implementation of President Barack Obama's healthcare restructuring law. Giving some of the first details of who might be leading the tech fix, HHS officials identified two experts by name: Michael Dickerson, a website reliability engineer on leave from Google, and Greg Gershman, a Baltimore-based innovation director with the firm Mobomo and who previously worked for the White House and the General Services Administration. "We are doing everything we can to assist those contractors to make HealthCare.gov a highly performant, highly reliable, highly secure system." Oracle CEO Larry Ellison told shareholders at the company's annual meeting on Thursday in Redwood City, California. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: EU, IMF coordinate on Ukraine as Russia threat looms Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:31 AM PDT  By Luke Baker and Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is in advanced discussions with the International Monetary Fund on providing standby financing to Ukraine should the country come under economic pressure from Russia later this year, senior EU officials have told Reuters. Ukraine is expected to sign a free trade and association agreement with the European Union at a summit in Lithuania on November 28-29, as long as it meets remaining conditions, including releasing former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko from prison. Ex-Soviet Ukraine's shift closer to the EU and away from Russia's sphere of influence has irritated Moscow, which has threatened to interrupt gas supplies to its neighbor and has demanded Kiev repay outstanding loans. For Moscow it cuts to the heart of a sense of diminished power in its backyard, with Ukraine seen by many in Russia as culturally and historically Russian. Full Story | Top |
| Senate Republicans block Obama nominee for housing post Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:19 AM PDT  By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked President Barack Obama's nominee to oversee mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, likely derailing his chances of securing the position. The defeat on a procedural vote for the nominee, Democratic Representative Mel Watt of North Carolina, came despite an aggressive White House push to round up support. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid switched his vote from yea to nay at the last minute to reserve the right to bring back Watt's nomination to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Only two Republicans - Senator Richard Burr, who is from Watt's home state, and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio - voted yea. Full Story | Top |
| Senate panel passes plan to restrict, not end, surveillance Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 03:59 PM PDT By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Intelligence Committee approved legislation on Thursday to tighten controls on the government's sweeping electronic eavesdropping programs, but allows them to continue. In a classified hearing, the panel voted 11-4 for a measure that puts new limits on what intelligence agencies can do with bulk communications records and imposes a five-year limit on how long they can be retained. Despite growing national concern about surveillance, the "FISA Improvements Act" would not eliminate the program, which became public earlier this year when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked information that the government collects far more internet and telephone data than previously known. "The NSA call-records program is legal and subject to extensive congressional and judicial oversight, and I believe it contributes to our national security. Full Story | Top |
| Iran and big powers end expert talks without comment Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:37 AM PDT Iran and six world powers ended an expert-level meeting over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities on Thursday, but there was no immediate word on whether they had come any closer to an elusive breakthrough deal. The two-day meeting was meant to prepare for the next round of political negotiations on November 7-8, building on a diplomatic opening created by the election of Hassan Rouhani as new Iranian president. Rouhani, a pragmatist and a former chief nuclear negotiator for Iran, took office in August promising to try to resolve the dispute after years of confrontation and secure an easing of sanctions that have damaged Iran's oil-dependent economy. Western diplomats had said the talks at the U.N. complex in Vienna could help define the contours of any preliminary agreement on scaling back Iran's uranium enrichment in return for an easing of sanctions. Full Story | Top |
| Pimco's Gross urges 'privileged 1 percent' to pay more tax Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 10:59 AM PDT  By Sam Forgione and Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, urged fellow members of the "privileged 1 percent," earning the highest incomes, to support higher U.S. taxes on carried interest and capital gains to help the economy. Gross, co-founder and co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., said in his latest investment outlook letter on Thursday that the super wealthy "should be paddling right alongside and willing to support higher taxes on carried interest, and certainly capital gains readjusted to existing marginal income tax rates." Carried interest refers to a large portion of the investment gains realized by private equity managers and executives at some venture capital firms, real estate and hedge funds. Gross, who oversees roughly $2 trillion in assets, noted that billionaires Warren Buffett and Stanley Druckenmiller, founder of Duquesne Capital Management and one of the best performing hedge fund managers of the past three decades, have advocated similar proposals. Full Story | Top |
| No shutdown in U.S. Midwest as business activity index surges Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 07:47 AM PDT  By Alister Bull and Pedro da Costa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Business activity in the U.S. Midwest surged past expectations in October as new orders hit their highest level since 2004, countering recent evidence of soft economic growth. Weekly unemployment claims also fell, in welcome news for the nation's battered labor market after the impact of a government shutdown on furloughed federal workers diminished. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago business barometer jumped to 65.9 from 55.7, the strongest reading since March 2011 and well above the most optimistic forecast in a Reuters poll. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Troika put return Greek visit on ice due to budget hole Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 11:35 AM PDT  By Martin Santa and Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - International inspectors are set to put on hold a trip to Athens because they have been unable to bridge differences with Greece over how to close a 2 billion euro ($2.7 billion) hole in its 2014 budget, euro zone officials said. A team of officials from the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank - known as the Troika - visits Athens regularly to check progress on its bailout commitments and decide whether to release the next tranche of loans. "There are growing differences between Athens and the Troika," one euro zone official said, adding that the planned trip was, for now, on ice. "The Greeks are saying: 'We are doing enough', and the Troika says they need new steps to close the budget," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Obama administration says shares views with lawmakers on tax reform Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 07:14 AM PDT  The Obama administration on Thursday called on Congress to engage it on tax reform, saying plans currently considered by lawmakers "share much in common" with the White House's approach to the issue. "There is no reason why we cannot start with the substantial policy areas that we agree on and come together to find common ground," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told an investment summit. Lew's comments came a day after U.S. lawmakers launched a new round of budget talks with pledges to work toward easing automatic government spending cuts. Many analysts doubt that a substantial agreement on tax reform will be reached before mid-term congressional elections in November 2014, although lawmakers crafting reform plans such as Democratic Senator Max Baucus And Republican Representative Dave Camp continue to push for a deal. Full Story | Top |
| Bavarian conservatives get boost from EU on foreign-driver road toll plan Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 07:48 AM PDT  Bavarian conservatives have received an unexpected boost from Brussels for a controversial plan to impose a motorway toll on foreign drivers, giving impetus to their push for the idea in German talks to form a coalition government. The idea faces strong opposition from the other parties in the talks, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). In effect, German drivers would end up paying the same amount as previously, while the extra income from foreign drivers would be spent on infrastructure projects. The main problem is linking the road toll system and the tax system, as that could be seen as discriminatory. Full Story | Top |
| Niger says 92 migrants found dead in Sahara after failed crossing Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 08:36 AM PDT By Abdoulaye Massalatchi NIAMEY (Reuters) - Rescuers have found the bodies of 92 migrants, most of them women and children, strewn across the Sahara desert in northern Niger after their vehicles broke down and they died of thirst, authorities said on Thursday. Rescue worker Almoustapha Alhacen said the bodies - 52 children, 33 women and seven men from Niger - were found on the route from the northern mining town of Arlit to the Algerian border. Northern Niger lies on a major corridor for illegal migration and people-trafficking from sub-Saharan African into north Africa and across the Mediterranean into Europe. Rescuers said the doomed convoy of women and children was puzzling. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Russian banks strengthen ties with blacklisted Syrian lenders Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 06:55 AM PDT  By Thomas Grove MOSCOW (Reuters) - Intent on supplying his government with arms, oil and food, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has turned to Russian banks to access world markets, and the lenders could open more doors to him, despite a risk of isolation from the U.S. banking system. U.S. sanctions aimed at forcing Assad to end the violence in Syria's two-and-a-half-year civil war forbid its own banks from dealing with Syria's central bank and the Commercial Bank of Syria. U.S. senators asked Treasury Secretary Jack Lew last month to put Russian banks that deal with them on a list prohibiting U.S. banks from doing business with them, in an attempt to pressure them into ending their relationships with Assad. While Assad has used second-tier Russian banks to pay for air defense systems and fighter jets, the Commercial Bank of Syria has also opened accounts in the small Moscow-based lender Tempbank and is in talks with the bank to expand ties. Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian Islamists call for daily protests before Mursi trial Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 06:34 AM PDT  Supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi called on Thursday for daily protests in the four days before his trial on November 4, raising the danger of more violence in a crisis that has already cost hundreds of lives. Mursi, who was ousted by the army on July 3 after mass demonstrations against his rule, is due to appear in court on Monday along with 14 other senior Muslim Brotherhood figures on charges of inciting violence. The trial could further inflame tensions between the Brotherhood and the army-backed interim government as it struggles to restore stability in the most populous Arab state. "The Alliance calls on all proud, free Egyptians to gather in the squares in protest against these trials... starting on Friday," the Brotherhood and its allies said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Congo army says hunting rebels deep into mountain bases Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 05:56 AM PDT By Kenny Katombe GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo's army said on Thursday it was hunting rebels deep into forests and mountains along the border with Rwanda and Uganda, the last insurgent hideouts after they were driven from towns they held during a 20-month rebellion. Ugandan mediators said talks had restarted on Wednesday in Kampala between the government and M23 rebels, but Kinshasa's U.N.-backed army appears on the verge of defeating the most serious uprising to plague the mineral-rich east since the end of the last major war a decade ago. Clashes were reported in the hills above Bunagana, the last rebel-controlled town to fall this week, and around Runyoni, a hill that was the birthplace of the rebellion last year. This defeat led to the U.N. force and mandate being bolstered, an overhaul of Congo's army command and pressure on rebel support, changing the tide of the fighting. Full Story | Top |
| China state media calls for stern action after Tiananmen attack Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 07:02 AM PDT By Michael Martina TURPAN, China (Reuters) - Chinese state media demanded severe punishment on Thursday to put down what China has said is a holy war aimed at Beijing by Islamist militants from the restive Xinjiang region. Security has been strengthened in both Beijing and in Xinjiang in the far west after an SUV ploughed through bystanders in the capital's iconic Tiananmen Square on Monday and burst into flames. The exiled leader of Xinjiang's Muslim Uighur minority called for an independent probe into the crash, in which the three occupants of the vehicle and two bystanders were killed and dozens were injured. U.S.-based Rebiya Kadeer said she did not believe any kind of organized extremist Islamic movement was operating in Xinjiang, a view shared by rights groups and some experts. Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch staff turned to hacking in 'dog-eat-dog' world, court hears Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 05:29 AM PDT By Kate Holton and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Reporters on Rupert Murdoch's News of the World repeatedly hacked the phones of senior politicians and even rival journalists in a desperate bid to get ahead on salacious front-page stories, a London court heard on Thursday. Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, two of Britain's most high profile former newspaper editors, are on trial with six others accused of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages and make illegal payments to find exclusives when they ran the now defunct Sunday tabloid and its daily sister tabloid, the Sun. "In the dog-eat-dog world of journalism, in this frenzy to get this huge story, and to try and get something better or at least as good as what everyone else has got, that is what you do if you're Ian Edmondson," said prosecutor Andrew Edis. "You hack the competition." Edmondson, one of those on trial, ran the news gathering desk at the tabloid when Coulson, later Prime Minister David Cameron's media chief, was the editor. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela seeks to tame 'Wild West' motorcycle chaos Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 06:10 AM PDT By Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Choking traffic, causing pileups and even ambushing drivers, Venezuela's hordes of motorcyclists are an increasingly high-profile problem for the new government of President Nicolas Maduro. Some also see them as shock troops of the late Hugo Chavez, who pushed through radical socialist policies during his 14 years in power before dying from cancer in March. Most of these "motorizados" - a term that can be applied to almost anyone who works on a bike - in Caracas say they are just trying to scrape a living as taxis and couriers in a congested city that desperately needs them, and are being blamed unfairly for the crimes of a few rogues. He faces a huge test to crack down on the lawlessness often associated with the motorizados while still retaining their many working-class votes. Full Story | Top |
| Mexican tax plan weakened further, nears final approval Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 09:49 AM PDT  By Miguel Gutierrez, Michael O'Boyle and Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Senate on Thursday made new cuts to a tax reform plan that President Enrique Pena Nieto proposed to increase the nation's anemic tax take before sending the bill back to the lower house of Congress for final approval. The bill, which includes higher taxes for the rich as well as levies on junk food and on stock market gains, is a cornerstone of a wider reform agenda that Pena Nieto is pushing to lift lackluster growth in Latin America's No. 2 economy. After conservative opponents walked out of the Senate, refusing to support the legislation, ruling party leaders struck a deal with leftist lawmakers on changes to income tax rates that would lower the bill's projected tax take. It would then fall to Pena Nieto to sign it into law. Full Story | Top |
| Libya rescues 84 emigrants off Tripoli coast Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:13 AM PDT Libya's navy has rescued 84 African emigrants from a boat that was foundering off its coast, state news agency Lana said, after hundreds drowned this month trying to reach Europe. They were brought to the port of Zawiya for processing by the country's department for illegal emigrants. Hundreds of people have died this month trying to reach Lampedusa, an island south of Sicily, by boat from North Africa. Many have come via Libya, which is facing a breakdown of civilian rule two years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Full Story | Top |
| Japan lawmaker breaks taboo with nuclear fears letter for emperor Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 04:13 AM PDT  A Japanese lawmaker handed Emperor Akihito a letter on Thursday expressing fear about the health impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, breaking a taboo by trying to involve the emperor in politics. Taro Yamamoto, who is also an anti-nuclear activist, gave Akihito the letter during a garden party, setting off a storm of protest on the Internet from critics shocked at his action. "I wanted to directly tell the emperor of the current situation," Yamamoto told reporters, referring to the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo, which has been leaking radioactivity since it was battered by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli troops kill Palestinian during West Bank raid: medics Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 01:27 AM PDT Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during a clash in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian witnesses and medical officials said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the soldiers had been on an overnight raid in a village near the city of Jenin, when about 50 Palestinians started hurling rocks at them. Ahmed Imad Yusef, 21, was shot in the chest during the confrontation, medical workers said. The military spokeswoman said reports of a Palestinian casualty were being investigated. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. jobless claims declined by 10,000 last week Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 05:31 AM PDT  WASHINGTON, Oct 31 - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits declined largely as expected last week as the impact of a California computer glitch worked its way out of the report. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined by 10,0000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. A Labor Department analyst said California, which had been dealing with a backlog, reported no carryover in claims last week from previous weeks. Technical problems as California converted to a new computer system have distorted the claims data since September, which had made it hard to get a clear read of labor market conditions. Full Story | Top |
| BOJ raises GDP forecast, holds line on inflation Thursday, Oct 31, 2013 12:26 AM PDT  The central bank did revise up its economic growth forecast for the 2014 fiscal year beginning next April to 1.5 percent, judging the world's third-largest economy could keep growing above its potential despite a sales tax increase next year. As widely expected, the BOJ had earlier kept intact its intense monetary stimulus launched in April, under which it aims to double base money via asset purchases to meet its target of lifting inflation to 2 percent in roughly two years. In its semi-annual outlook report, the BOJ kept its forecasts for core consumer inflation in fiscal 2014 and 2015 at 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent respectively, excluding the increase in the sales tax, a sign it is on track to meet its goal. Even though it did not formally forecast inflation reaching 2 percent, economists worry the BOJ is expecting too much from government stimulus designed to offset the impact of the rise in the 5 percent sales tax rate to 8 percent next April. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Putin targets Dagestan insurgents as Olympics loom Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:22 PM PDT  By Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ahead of the Sochi Olympics in February, Russia is taking saliva samples from religiously conservative Muslim women, according to locals in the North Caucasus, gathering DNA so authorities can identify the body parts if any become suicide bombers. The move coincides with a drive by President Vladimir Putin to crack down on an Islamist insurgency in Dagestan, a province in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains east of the Winter Games sites in Sochi. Under Putin, authorities seem to have given up trying to deal with the conflict through dialogue with adherents of the strict Salafist strand of Islam that is the militants' religion. On October 21, a suicide bombing that killed six people in Volgograd, a major city north of Sochi, was blamed on a woman from Dagestan. Full Story | Top |
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