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| Over 600 passengers, crew fall ill on Royal Caribbean cruise Monday, Jan 27, 2014 07:25 PM PST (Reuters) - The number of passengers and crew who fell ill aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship climbed to more than 600 on Monday, many of them vomiting and suffering diarrhea. The updated sick count aboard the Explorer of the Seas, which cut short its Caribbean cruise and was expected to dock in New Jersey on Wednesday, is more than double the 300 originally thought to have been felled by gastrointestinal illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among those sick were some of the onboard entertainers, which caused shows to be canceled, passengers said. Another ill passenger, Arnee Dodd of Connecticut, wrote on Twitter: "I've been sick and quarantined... Everything I touch goes in a biohazard bag." Passenger Brittany Ann Schneider, who did not get sick, told Reuters that for two to four days she saw few people. Full Story | Top |
| China says New York Times reporter broke visa rules, will leave Monday, Jan 27, 2014 07:23 PM PST  China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that a China-based reporter for the New York Times broke rules on residence visas and would be leaving the country before the end of the week, in a case which could sour Beijing's relations with Washington. The issue of media freedom for foreign reporters in China has attracted high-level concern in the United States, especially over worries that the government is denying visas for organizations that carry negative stories about China. Last month, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden expressed concern, while on a visit to Beijing, over China's efforts to restrict the activities of foreign news organizations. Neither the New York Times Co nor Bloomberg News has been given new journalist visas for more than a year after they published stories about the wealth of family members of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and current President Xi Jinping, respectively. Full Story | Top |
| Asian shares pinned at five-month lows, Turkey in spotlight Monday, Jan 27, 2014 07:14 PM PST  By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were pinned near five-month lows on Tuesday as concerns that slower growth in China and reduced U.S. monetary stimulus could hurt some emerging economies dependent on exports and foreign capital. Japan's Nikkei hit 2 1/2-month intraday low before recouping the losses to trade 0.2 percent above its previous close. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan also briefly dipped to a five-month low, extending a 3.8 percent loss in the past three days and last stood almost flat. Investors drew some comfort from the news that a Chinese trust firm had reached an agreement to resolve a troubled high-yield investment product, just days away from what could have been a precedent-setting default in China's shadow banking system. Full Story | Top |
| Congressional negotiators reach deal on U.S. farm bill Monday, Jan 27, 2014 06:49 PM PST  By Eric Beech WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House and Senate negotiators on Monday reached a bipartisan agreement on the long-overdue U.S. farm bill that ends a pricy direct subsidy to farmers while expanding government-backed crop insurance programs, and trims spending on food stamps for poor Americans by about one percent. "We've got a bill that makes sense, works for farmers and ranchers and consumers and families that need help, and protects our land and water and our wildlife," Debbie Stabenow, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told Reuters. The agreement on a new five-year bill came after lawmakers spent weeks ironing out differences over food stamps, dairy price supports and other issues contained in earlier House and Senate legislation. "I cannot march backwards and deliver more spending, more regulations and more waste." The 949-page conference agreement will be brought up for a vote in the House of Representatives "as early as this week," according to a statement from Stabenow. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Senate subcommittee sets hearing on consumer data security Monday, Jan 27, 2014 06:44 PM PST The U.S. Senate banking panel has scheduled a subcommittee hearing for next week on safeguarding consumers' financial information following the theft of data at retailers such as Target Corp and Neiman Marcus, the committee said on Monday. Witnesses at the subcommittee on national security and international trade and finance hearing next Monday will include officials from the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, the American Bankers Association and National Retail Federation, the committee said in a statement. A data breach over the holiday shopping season at Target, the third-largest U.S. retailer, resulted in the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records with customer information such as addresses and telephone numbers. Full Story | Top |
| Quentin Tarantino sues Gawker over links to leaked movie script Monday, Jan 27, 2014 06:34 PM PST  Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino filed a lawsuit against media outlet Gawker for copyright infringement in a U.S. district court in Los Angeles on Monday, after the website published links to download the script for his latest movie, entitled "The Hateful Eight." Gawker editor John Cook denied the publication had infringed on copyright in a post published on Gawker.com on Monday. He said Gawker did not leak Tarantino's 146-page Western movie script and only published a link to a website where the script could be downloaded. In court documents, writer-director Tarantino claimed Gawker Media promoted and disseminated unauthorized, downloadable copies of the leaked screenplay. Full Story | Top |
| Brutal cold shuts schools, delays travel in U.S. Midwest Monday, Jan 27, 2014 06:21 PM PST  By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bitter cold and high winds from the arctic pushed wind chills to dangerous levels across the U.S. upper Midwest on Monday, forcing officials to close schools and slowing public transit and river traffic. A winter storm system is forecast to move through the U.S. South on Tuesday, bringing snow, freezing rain and high winds as bitter cold temperatures continue in the Midwest, according to the National Weather Service. Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and other parts of the upper Midwest are forecast to have a second consecutive day of subzero highs on Tuesday, while most of the Northeast will see highs in the single digits and teens on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Accuweather.com. National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Krein blamed the weather on a surge of arctic high pressure out of Canada that has spread over the upper Midwest and central plains. Full Story | Top |
| Venture capitalist Perkins apologizes for Nazi analogy Monday, Jan 27, 2014 06:16 PM PST By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Legendary venture capitalist Tom Perkins apologized for comments comparing the treatment of wealthy Americans to the Nazi's persecution of Jews, although he stood by his belief in the danger of demonizing the rich. "I deeply apologize to you and anyone who has mistaken my reference to Kristallnacht as a sign of overt or latent anti-Semitism," he said in an interview Monday on Bloomberg Television. "This is not the case." Perkins, 81, sparked criticism when he likened the Nazi party's war on Jews to what he called "the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich'," in a letter published Saturday in the Wall Street Journal. "Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930," he wrote, referring to the 1938 attack on Jews in Nazi Germany and Austria. Full Story | Top |
| 'Marlboro Man' who later warned against smoking dies of lung disease Monday, Jan 27, 2014 06:09 PM PST By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Eric Lawson, one of several actors who depicted the "Marlboro Man" cowboy in a long-running series of cigarette ads for Philip Morris and later appeared in an anti-tobacco message for the American Cancer Society, has died of lung disease. He was 72, and died at his home in the central California town of San Luis Obispo of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which the U.S. surgeon general has linked to smoking. Full Story | Top |
| Global smartphone shipments top one billion for first time in 2013: IDC Monday, Jan 27, 2014 06:04 PM PST Global smartphone shipments topped 1 billion units for first time in 2013, climbing 38.4 percent from the previous year to 1.004 billion units, research firm IDC said. Smartphones made up 55.1 percent of all mobile phone shipments last year from just over two-fifths in 2012, IDC said. Samsung Electronics Co's market share edged up one percentage point year-on-year to 31.3 percent to keep its place as the world's biggest smartphone vendor, while second-place Apple Inc's fell from 18.7 percent to 15.3 percent, according to IDC. Huawei Technologies Co, LG Electronics and Lenovo Group were third, fourth and fifth largest respectively, each with a market share of just under five percent in 2013. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-strategist must arbitrate whistleblower claim against UBS: U.S. judge Monday, Jan 27, 2014 05:57 PM PST  A former UBS AG employee must arbitrate a claim that he was terminated for disclosing to superiors that he was pressured to publish misleading research reports. U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan found that Trevor Murray, who was fired in February 2012, could not cite the prohibitive provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to avoid arbitrating a retaliation claim arising under the Dodd Frank Act. Sarbanes-Oxley is a 2002 law that created enhanced accounting standards for publicly traded U.S. companies after a series of accounting scandals. "Plaintiff cannot recast his claim to arise under Sarbanes-Oxley in order to benefit from the prohibition of predispute arbitration agreements afforded under that statute," Judge Polk Failla wrote of Murray's case. Full Story | Top |
| Apple's iPhone sales, revenue forecast fall short; shares slide Monday, Jan 27, 2014 05:26 PM PST  Lower-than-expected holiday iPhone sales and a weak revenue forecast by Apple Inc renewed fears about Chinese demand and a tepid global market, wiping 8 percent off company stock. This year was to have been Apple Inc's watershed moment in China, when a long-awaited deal with the nation's largest carrier was to have propelled it back toward the top ranks of its most crucial market, clawing back ground from rival Samsung Electronics. Instead, the forecast for the March quarter - when Apple is expected to have reaped the fruits of that long-awaited deal - raises questions of whether investors had over-estimated that arrangement, and broader concerns about flagging demand for smartphones and tablets in general. "There's no doubt that shipments (to China Mobile) are lower than almost anybody expected," said Pacific Crest Securities' Andy Hargreaves. Full Story | Top |
| Shares in Apple's Japan suppliers stumble over iPhone sales Monday, Jan 27, 2014 05:22 PM PST Shares in Apple Inc's Japanese component makers took a beating on Tuesday after the U.S. tech giant missed Wall Street's target for iPhone sales over the key holiday shopping season and offered a weaker-than-expected outlook. The world's most valuable technology company sold a record 51 million iPhones in the December quarter, but that was shy of the 55 million or so analysts had expected, reflecting intense competition from arch-rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd during the crucial period. Apple shares sagged 8 percent in after hours trading following the announcement. The results weighed on Apple's Japanese suppliers, with Alps Electric Co Ltd, Taiyo Yuden Co Ltd, TDK Corp and Nitto Denko Corp down between 0.9 and 3.9 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon notifies Congress of possible F-16 upgrades for UAE Monday, Jan 27, 2014 05:01 PM PST  The Pentagon has notified Congress of a possible sale of weapons and other equipment valued at $270 million that would be part of a larger, multibillion-dollar deal for 30 more F-16s that is still under discussion by Lockheed Martin Corp and the United Arab Emirates. Lockheed is continuing to negotiate with UAE about a direct commercial sale of the F-16s, but congressional approval is needed for some of the equipment that would go on the jets. Lockheed declined comment on the timing of a possible sale of additional F-16s to UAE, which acquired its current Block 60 F-16s in the early 2000s. "We continue to work with the UAE to ensure their fleet is well maintained and up to date. Full Story | Top |
| Ride service Uber faces new lawsuit after fatal San Francisco crash Monday, Jan 27, 2014 04:56 PM PST By Dan Levine and Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The family of a young girl killed by a driver affiliated with fast-growing private transportation service Uber sued the company on Monday, adding to Uber's growing list of legal problems. On New Year's Eve Sofia Liu, 6, died after she, her younger brother and their mother were hit by a car in a San Francisco cross-walk, according to the lawsuit. At the time of the crash, driver Syed Muzzafar was logged on to the Uber X smartphone app and was available to provide rides, the lawsuit said. In a statement immediately after the San Francisco crash, Uber said the tragedy did not involve a vehicle "doing a trip on the Uber system," and that Uber "deactivated" the driver's account. Full Story | Top |
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