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| Nikkei nears 5-1/2 year peak as yen sags; rupiah, baht slide Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:59 PM PST  By Dominic Lau TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were in a buoyant mood, with Japanese stocks charging towards a 5-1/2 year peak on Thursday after the yen fell sharply on the back of relatively positive U.S. economic data, while two major regional currencies slumped. U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week and the November Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer confidence improved from a preliminary reading, while the Chicago PMI held up better than expected last month after surging in October. Full Story | Top |
| Japan defense update to stress air, sea safety amid China worries Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:55 PM PST By Linda Sieg and Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO (Reuters) - An update of Japan's long-term defense policy to be unveiled next month will call for stronger air and maritime surveillance capabilities and the improved ability to defend far-flung isles as concerns rise about China's growing military assertiveness. The policy review, in the works since hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office last December, is being finalised as tensions mount between Japan and China over tiny islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. "China is proceeding with wide-ranging and rapid modernization of its military strength and expanding and stepping up activities in the sea and air surrounding Japan," the draft said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. affirms support for Japan in islands dispute with China Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:55 PM PST  By Mark Felsenthal and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States pledged support for ally Japan on Wednesday in a growing dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea and senior U.S. administration officials accused Beijing of behavior that had unsettled its neighbors. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel assured his Japanese counterpart in a phone call that the two nations' defense pact covered the small islands where China established a new airspace defense zone last week and commended Tokyo "for exercising appropriate restraint," a Pentagon spokesman said. China's declaration raised the stakes in a territorial standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the area, which includes the tiny uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Full Story | Top |
| Pope slams 'throwaway culture' that discards unemployed youth Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:32 PM PST  By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Pope Francis took on the issue of high youth unemployment in his first interview aired exclusively in his home country of Argentina on Wednesday, warning that today's "throwaway culture" had discarded a generation of young Europeans. A day after issuing an 84-page platform for his eight-month-old papacy that blasted unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny," the pontiff used the interview aired on the TN TV channel to link high European unemployment to its twin problem of neglecting older people who are past their earning prime. "It's a throwaway culture that discards young people as well as its older people. In some European countries, without mentioning names, there is youth unemployment of 40 percent and higher," he added. Full Story | Top |
| Troubled HealthCare.gov to switch website hosting to HP Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:24 PM PST  By Margaret Chadbourn and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The agency in charge of the troubled HealthCare.gov website said on Wednesday is it switching providers of Web hosting services, the latest change for the website at the heart of President Barack Obama's health care reforms. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it is replacing data center services from Verizon Communications Inc's Terremark subsidiary, with services from Hewlett-Packard Co. Terremark's data center experienced issues in late October that caused outages across the system, prompting embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to phone Verizon's chief executive to discuss the problems. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Enforcing rules in air zone will stretch China's air force and navy Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:14 PM PST  By Greg Torode and Adam Rose HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's military could struggle to cope with the demands for intensified surveillance and interception if it tries to enforce the rules in its new air defense zone over islands at the heart of a territorial dispute with Japan. Regional military analysts and diplomats said China's network of air defense radars, surveillance planes and fighter jets would be stretched by extensive patrols across its Air Defense Identification Zone, roughly two-thirds the size of Britain. But some noted that even limited action could still spark alarm across a nervous region - and serve China's desire to pressure Japan. China published the coordinates of its zone in the East China Sea over the weekend and warned it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly in the airspace. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. judge dismisses Apple consumer lawsuit over data privacy Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:07 PM PST  A California federal judge has dismissed a consumer lawsuit over data privacy against Apple Inc, saying the plaintiffs had failed to show they had relied on any alleged company misrepresentations and that they had suffered harm. The four plaintiffs claimed in 2011 that Apple had violated its privacy policy, saying the iPhone maker had designed its iOS environment to easily transmit personal information to third parties that collect and analyze such data without user consent or detection. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California dismissed the case. "Plaintiffs must be able to provide some evidence that they saw one or more of Apple's alleged misrepresentations, that they actually relied on those misrepresentations, and that they were harmed thereby," Koh said in the November 25 ruling. Full Story | Top |
| Washington Post headquarters building sold for $159 million Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 06:30 PM PST  The headquarters of the Washington Post is being sold to Carr Properties, a real estate investment company, for about $159 million, the newspaper's former owner said on Wednesday. Graham Holdings Co, which sold the Post to Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos for $250 million in August, said in a statement the sale of the headquarters in downtown Washington was scheduled to be completed in March and included land next to the building. The Post will rent its newsroom from the building's new owner while it looks for a new headquarters. Graham Holdings, owned by Donald Graham and his family, former owners of the paper, operates businesses including Kaplan education services, and online, print and television news. Full Story | Top |
| Vale to pay $9.6 billion Brazil tax bill after big discount Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 05:39 PM PST said on Wednesday that it agreed to pay 22.325 billion reais ($9.61 billion) in taxes on profit from overseas operations, accepting an offer from Brazil's government that cuts a disputed back-tax bill in half. Without the discount, Vale estimated its disputed tax bill at 45 billion reais ($19.4 billion). While Vale agreed to end lawsuits contesting the payments for the 2003-2012 period in exchange for the discount, Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira said the company still considers the Brazilian assessment unfair "double taxation". Brazil, Vale says, is charging tax its subsidiaries already paid to foreign governments. Full Story | Top |
| Panama freeing most of North Korean crew in smuggled arms case Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 05:34 PM PST  By Lomi Kriel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama is freeing most of the 35 North Korean crew members it detained more than four months ago for smuggling Cuban weapons aboard a ship, a senior government official said on Wednesday. Tomas Cabal, head of the anti-terrorism section of Panama's Foreign Ministry, said 32 of the crew of the Chong Chon Gang would be freed and should leave the country by Thursday. The three most senior members, including the captain, still face charges of threatening Panama's security by seeking to move undeclared weapons through the Panama Canal. However, the state prosecutor for organized crime, Nathaniel Murgas, later told reporters that his office was still analyzing the North Korean authorities' request to release the men. Full Story | Top |
| Hot springs are passe - Japan's tourist towns covet casinos Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:53 PM PST  By Nathan Layne and Junko Fujita OTARU/SASEBO, Japan (Reuters) - Ageing and shrinking, Japan's country towns want to gamble away their economic and demographic woes. With lawmakers planning to submit legislation soon to open Japan to casino gambling, likely in time for the 2020 Olympics, several small cities, hot spring towns and tourist destinations are pushing to get one of the coveted licenses. Japan is one of the world's last untapped gaming markets and, with a wealthy population and proximity to China, could generate $15 billion annually from casinos, industry experts say. So far, the cities of Tokyo and Osaka have garnered much of the attention, but even towns like Sasebo, a once-proud shipbuilding center in southern Japan, and the ageing port city of Otaru to the north, are hoping to set up casinos to draw tourists, generate tax revenues and reverse demographic decline. Full Story | Top |
| Barclays Capital ordered to pay $2.1 million to NY trader Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:40 PM PST  (Reuters) - Barclays Capital Inc has been ordered to pay $2.1 million to a New York-based trader it fired last year in connection with the alleged rigging of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, according to arbitration documents. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the United States ordered Barclays Capital to pay Dong Kun Lee $2.1 million in damages in their award dated Nov 15. According to regulatory filings, on July 30, 2012 Barclays dismissed Dong (Don) Kun Lee, a derivatives trader, for allegedly engaging "in communications involving inappropriate requests relating to Libor". A London-based spokesman for Barclays Plc declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. calls for urgent help for Philippine farmers after typhoon Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:40 PM PST  Philippine farmers need urgent assistance to avoid a "double tragedy" befalling rural survivors of the typhoon that hit the country earlier this month, the United Nations' food agency said on Wednesday. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said more than $11 million is needed to help clean and clear agricultural land and de-silt irrigation canals in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which killed at least 3,900 people when it struck on November 8. That is in addition to the $20 million already requested by FAO to help farmers fertilize, irrigate and maintain their crops to ensure the next harvests in 2014, the Rome-based agency said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| 'Oldboy' serves up gritty revenge for Thanksgiving audience Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:33 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Holiday movies are often filled with feel-good messages and festive cheer, but as the United States whets its appetite for the Thanksgiving weekend, psychological drama "Oldboy" attempts to serve up a platter of old-fashioned revenge. "Oldboy," based on Korean director Park Chan-wook's 2003 film of the same name, tells the story of Joe Doucett, an alcoholic washout who is kidnapped and held in a small motel room for 20 years, then released back into society. The theme of revenge is what director Spike Lee said enticed him to re-imagine Park's dark, twisted art house film that featured extreme violence, torture and incest. "That's why the revenge genre (in film) has always been a staple, because you can live off your revenge through somebody else." The film, released in U.S. theaters on Wednesday, stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen and Sharlto Copley and serves up a paranoid-filled cinematic alternative over the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Argentina's YPF says Repsol deal will attract oil investment Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:23 PM PST  By Karina Grazina BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The compensation deal being negotiated between Argentina's YPF will open opportunities for foreign companies to invest in the South American country's untapped oil and natural gas resources, YPF chief Miguel Galuccio told Reuters on Wednesday. The board of Repsol unanimously agreed on Wednesday to start formal talks with Argentina over a compensation offer for YPF assets that Buenos Aires seized last year. "Signing a deal between Repsol and the Argentine state will provide the confidence necessary to form new alliances with potential investors and drive non-conventional exploration," Galuccio told Reuters in an interview conducted by email. Full Story | Top |
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