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| Charter takes rejected Time Warner Cable bid to investors Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:56 PM PST  By Liana B. Baker and Nicola Leske NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charter Communications Inc on Monday formally offered to acquire larger rival Time Warner Cable for $37.3 billion, sparking what is likely to be a contentious battle for control of the No. 2 U.S. cable operator. Charter, the No. 4 cable operator, proposed paying $132.50 per share - barely higher than where Time Warner Cable shares closed on Monday - consisting of around $83 per share in cash and its own stock. Malone's Liberty Media Corp owns 27 percent of Charter. Time Warner Cable shareholders would get 45 percent ownership in the combined company. Full Story | Top |
| Iran deal progress dampens push for new U.S. sanctions bill Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:59 PM PST  By Patricia Zengerle and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is more likely to win his battle with the U.S. Congress to keep new sanctions on Iran at bay now that world powers and Tehran have made a new advance in talks to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Despite strong support for a bill in the Senate to slap new sanctions on the Islamic Republic, analysts, lawmakers and congressional aides said on Monday that the agreement to begin implementing a nuclear deal on January 20 makes it harder for sanctions supporters to attract more backers. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, was one of several of the 59 co-sponsors who said there is no clamor for a vote any time soon. Sixteen of Obama's fellow Democrats are among the co-sponsors of the measure requiring further cuts in Iran's oil exports if Tehran backs away from the interim agreement, despite Iran warning that it would back away from the negotiating table if any new sanctions measure passed. Full Story | Top |
| Google gains entry to home and prized team with $3.2 billion Nest deal Monday, Jan 13, 2014 05:15 PM PST  By Alexei Oreskovic and Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc took its biggest step to go deeper into consumers' homes, announcing a $3.2 billion deal to buy smart thermostat and smoke alarm-maker Nest Labs Inc, scooping up a promising line of products and a prized design team led by the "godfather" of the iPod. Nest will continue to operate as its own distinct brand after the all-cash deal closes, Google said on Monday. The deal is the second largest in Google's history after the $12.5 billion acquisition of mobile phone maker Motorola in 2012. Like the Motorola deal, which marked Google's first major foray into hardware, the Nest acquisition gives Google a stepping stone into an important new market at a time when consumer appliances and Internet services are increasingly merging. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lawmakers unveil $1.1 trillion spending bill, no Obamacare increase Monday, Jan 13, 2014 07:54 PM PST  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiators in the U.S. Congress on Monday unveiled a $1.1 trillion spending bill that aims to prevent another government shutdown while boosting funding levels slightly for military and domestic programs - but not for "Obamacare" health reforms. With a deadline looming at midnight Wednesday for new spending authority, lawmakers will still need a three-day stop-gap funding extension to ensure enough time for passage of the spending bill this week. The measure eases across-the-board spending cuts by providing an extra $45 billion for military and domestic discretionary programs for fiscal 2014, to a total of $1.012 trillion. The shutdown was prompted largely by disputes over funding for "Obamacare" health insurance reforms. Full Story | Top |
| Thai protesters target ministries, threaten bourse Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:39 PM PST  By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Protesters trying to topple Thailand's government said they would tighten the blockade around ministries on Tuesday and a hardline faction threatened to storm the stock exchange, while many major intersections in the capital Bangkok remained blocked. The turmoil is the latest chapter in an eight-year conflict pitting the Bangkok-based middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier who was ousted by the military in 2006. Many ministries and the central bank were forced to work from back-up offices on Monday after protesters led by Suthep Thaugsuban stopped civil servants getting to work. "We must surround government buildings, closing them in the morning and leaving in the afternoon," Suthep told supporters late on Monday, urging them to do that every day until Yingluck steps down. Full Story | Top |
| House Democrats request probe into Target card breach Monday, Jan 13, 2014 07:07 PM PST  By Mark Hosenball and Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers called on Monday for a congressional inquiry into the hacking of credit and debit card data of tens of millions of customers of No. 3 U.S. retailer Target Corp during the holiday shopping season. Target has said a breach of its networks resulted in the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records with customer information. In a letter to Jeb Hensarling, the committee's Republican chairman, 17 committee Democrats, led by ranking member Maxine Waters, asked for a "full Financial Services Committee hearing." The letter said a hearing should review current consumer protection laws and determine what could be done to ensure the future security of consumers' card information. Hensarling said in a statement on Monday night that "Americans have a right to expect that the personal information they turn over to private companies and government agencies will be protected and kept secure from loss, unauthorized access or misuse." "The House Financial Services Committee has held, and will continue to hold, hearings on the security of information collected by these agencies and financial institutions and will continue to press for accountability of all those who collect personal consumer data," Hensarling added. Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court casts skeptical eye on Obama's appointment power Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:07 PM PST  By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court signaled a willingness on Monday to rein in President Barack Obama's power to temporarily fill senior government posts without the Senate's approval, a move that would curb his ability to bypass a gridlocked Congress. Most of the nine justices expressed skepticism, during 90 minutes of oral arguments, about so-called recess appointments Obama made to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in 2012. The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case by June that has the potential to shift the balance of power between the White House and the Senate. While both are now controlled by Democrats, Republicans hope to win control of the Senate in congressional mid-term elections in November. Full Story | Top |
| World powers, Iran eye February start to nuclear settlement talks Monday, Jan 13, 2014 02:50 PM PST By Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Big powers and Iran are likely to start talks on a final settlement to the long dispute over its nuclear ambitions in February, shortly after a six-month deal curbing its atomic activity takes effect, a diplomatic source said on Monday. If successful, the next round of negotiations could head off the risk of lingering mistrust spiraling out of control into a wider Middle East war over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. Led by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the talks will face the challenge of defining a permissible scope of Iranian nuclear activity that would lay to rest Western concerns that it could yield an atomic weapon. In return, Iran - which denies having any intention to "weaponise" the enrichment of uranium for nuclear energy - wants governments in the United States and Europe to end painful economic sanctions. Full Story | Top |
| Youth participation low in early Obamacare enrollment Monday, Jan 13, 2014 02:57 PM PST  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new private health plans available under Obamacare drew in fewer young and healthy Americans than needed for the administration to make healthcare reform a market success in the first wave of enrollment, an official report showed on Monday. Twenty-four percent of the 2.2 million people who signed up for private coverage between October 1 and December 28 belonged to a target audience of 18- to 34-year-olds, according to the first administration report to provide a demographic breakdown on enrollment in the new plans offered under President Barack Obama's healthcare law. That compares with a target of closer to 38 percent set before the program's botched October 1 rollout, when administration officials believed that about 2.7 million of a forecast 7 million enrollees for 2014 would be between 18 and 35. Health policy experts say the administration may still get closer to that ratio by the time enrollment closes at the end of March, when more young Americans are expected to sign up to avoid the law's penalty for not having any coverage. Full Story | Top |
| Egyptians vote in constitutional referendum seen boosting Sisi Monday, Jan 13, 2014 02:18 PM PST  By Michael Georgy CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians vote on Tuesday in a constitutional referendum, the first ballot since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Mursi and an event likely to spawn a presidential bid by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Few doubt that Egyptians, who staged mass protests against Mursi's rule before his ouster, will turn out in big numbers and vote "yes" in the two-day referendum, a milestone in the army-backed government's political road map. Sisi deposed Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected head of state, in July. His Islamist foes see Sisi as the mastermind of a coup that kindled the worst internal strife in Egypt's modern history and brought back what critics call a police state. Full Story | Top |
| Embattled N.J. Governor Christie faces probe over Sandy funds Monday, Jan 13, 2014 04:18 PM PST  By Barbara Goldberg and Margaret Chadbourn NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators are looking into whether embattled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie misused about $2 million in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for an ad campaign that put him in the spotlight in an election year, officials said on Monday. Already enmeshed in a scandal over snarled traffic at the George Washington Bridge, Christie, a likely 2016 Republican presidential contender, is now being audited by the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an agency spokesman said. The probe began after HUD received a request from Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, the spokesman said. The inspector is focusing on a federally financed $25 million marketing campaign intended to draw visitors back to the Jersey Shore as the area struggled to rebuild from the damage unleashed by Sandy in late 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Google to acquire Nest for $3.2 billion in cash Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:50 PM PST By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc took its biggest step to go deeper into consumers' homes, announcing a $3.2 billion deal to buy smart thermostat and smoke alarm-maker Nest Labs Inc, scooping up a promising line of products and a prized design team led by the "godfather" of the iPod. Nest will continue to operate as its own distinct brand after the all-cash deal closes, Google said on Monday. The deal is the second largest in Google's history after the $12.5 billion acquisition of mobile phone maker Motorola in 2012. "Nest Labs appears to be focused on thermostats and smoke alarms, but it's not far-fetched to see Google expanding this technology into other devices over time," said Shyam Patil, an analyst at Wedbush. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. and Russia say Syria aid access and local ceasefire possible Monday, Jan 13, 2014 10:56 AM PST  By Warren Strobel PARIS (Reuters) - Syria's government and some rebels may be willing to permit humanitarian aid to flow, enforce local ceasefires and take other confidence-building measures in the nearly three-year-old civil war, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday. Kerry said that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov "talked today about the possibility of trying to encourage a ceasefire. Maybe a localized ceasefire, beginning with Aleppo," Syria's largest city. "And both of us have agreed to try to work to see if that could be achieved." Syrian rebels backed by Washington have agreed that, if the government commits to such a partial ceasefire, "they would live up to it", Kerry said. Full Story | Top |
| Charter offers to buy Time Warner Cable in public appeal to shareholders Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:37 PM PST By Liana B. Baker and Nicola Leske NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charter Communications Inc formally offered on Monday to acquire larger rival Time Warner Cable for $37.3 billion, signaling the start of what is likely to be a contentious battle for control of the No. 2 U.S. cable operator. Charter, the No. 4 cable operator, proposed paying $132.50 per share - barely higher than where Time Warner Cable shares closed on Monday - consisting of around $83 per share in cash and its own stock. Time Warner Cable shareholders would get 45 percent ownership in the combined company. Charter said on Monday that it held discussions with Time Warner Cable, which is led by Chief Executive Officer Rob Marcus, but the company wanted a higher bid and talks have not been constructive. Full Story | Top |
| House Democrats request probe into Target card breach Monday, Jan 13, 2014 12:44 PM PST  By Mark Hosenball and Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic members of the Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives have called on the panel to investigate the hacking of credit and debit card data belonging to millions of customers of retailer Target Corp. The request piggybacks on a similar move by Senate Democrats on Friday as lawmakers respond to the massive breach at Target, the No. 3 U.S. retailer, during the holiday shopping season, which resulted in the theft of about 40 million credit and debit card records and 70 million other records containing customer information. In a letter to Jeb Hensarling, the committee's Republican chairman, 17 committee Democrats, led by ranking member Maxine Waters, asked for a "full Financial Services Committee hearing." It was unclear whether the committee's Republican majority would respond to the request. After the request from Senate Democrats last week, Senate Banking Committee leaders have confirmed they plan to hold a hearing on data security issues in late January. Full Story | Top |
| Agreement reached on details of $1 trillion spending bill: Mikulski Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:59 PM PST By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiators in the U.S. Congress have reached agreement on a $1 trillion spending bill aimed at keeping the federal government open through September 30, Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Barbara Mikulski said on Monday. Mikulski told reporters that the measure will reverse planned military pension cuts for disabled veterans and does not contain any provision that blocks the implementation of "Obamacare" health insurance reforms. But asked whether President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law will get an increase in funding, she declined to answer, saying only, "Obamacare lives another day." The spending measure fills in the details of a budget agreement passed in December, following a 16-day shutdown of many government agencies in October that was prompted largely by disputes over Obamacare funding. Another shutdown was scheduled to occur at midnight Wednesday if Congress failed to approve new spending authority, and a three-day temporary extension will be needed to get the full spending bill passed this week. Full Story | Top |
| Japan's Suntory to buy U.S. spirits maker Beam for $13.6 billion cash Monday, Jan 13, 2014 01:11 PM PST  By Martinne Geller and Olivia Oran LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Suntory Holdings Ltd on Monday said it would buy U.S. spirits company Beam Inc for $13.6 billion cash in a deal that would make the Japanese company the world's third-largest spirits maker. Including the assumption of Beam's net debt, the deal is valued at $16 billion. It brings together Beam's Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbons, Courvoisier cognac and Sauza tequila with Suntory's Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki and Kakubin Japanese whiskies, Bowmore Scotch whisky and Midori liqueur. Once the acquisition is completed, Suntory will become the third largest whiskey company and the fifth largest malt whiskey company by volume, according to International Wine & Spirit Research. Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court will not hear Arizona abortion law appeal Monday, Jan 13, 2014 10:13 AM PST  By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an appeals court ruling that said an Arizona law banning abortions starting at 20 weeks of gestation is unconstitutional, meaning the restrictive state law is struck down. The high court's decision not to hear the state's appeal means that a May 2013 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that invalidated the law, saying it violated "unalterably clear" legal precedents, remains intact. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, signed the bill into law in April 2012. The last time the Supreme Court took up an abortion case was in 2007 when it ruled 5-4 to uphold a federal law that banned a late-term abortion procedure. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Erdogan may prevail at high cost in Turkey's political civil war Monday, Jan 13, 2014 10:41 AM PST  By Nick Tattersall and Asli Kandemir ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan looks to have the upper hand in a civil war rocking Turkey's political establishment, but his bid to break the influence of a potent Islamic cleric could roll back reforms and undermine hard-won business confidence. What erupted a month ago as a damaging inquiry into alleged government corruption has spiraled into a battle over the judiciary with potentially much further-reaching consequences for the country's international image and Erdogan's own future. "There is considerable risk of Turkey losing the gains in credibility and investment it has won in the past decade," a senior Turkish banker said, declining to be named for fear of repercussions for publicly criticizing the government. Despite fist fights in parliament, the opposition looks unable to prevent Erdogan's plan to put the appointment of judges, held to be under the sway of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, more under government control. Full Story | Top |
| Sharon funeral highlights conflicting views of Israeli leader Monday, Jan 13, 2014 11:06 AM PST By Matt Spetalnick SYCAMORE FARM, Israel (Reuters) - Israel buried former prime minister Ariel Sharon at his family farm on Monday, celebrating the military achievements of a man regarded as a war hero at home but as a war criminal by many in the Arab world. Eulogized first in a ceremony in Jerusalem, and later in the green fields of his estate, speakers hailed a life entwined with that of Israel since its 1948 creation, gently alluding as well to the controversies that also defined his career. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former British prime minister Tony Blair laid wreaths at his grave, 10 km (6 miles) from the border of the Gaza Strip, with the army on high alert lest any rockets be fired out of the Palestinian territory. Two missiles were launched into southern Israel soon after the funeral ended, the army said. Full Story | Top |
| No resistance as crowds occupy Thai capital in festive protest Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:42 AM PST By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters occupied parts of central Bangkok on Monday, ratcheting up a two-month agitation to force the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and meeting no resistance. Police and soldiers maintained a low profile as the "Shutdown Bangkok" drive got under way in the city of about 12 million people. The mood was festive, with many protesters singing and dancing in the streets. "Don't ask me how long this occupation will last," protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said in a speech to supporters carried by the movement's BlueSky television channel. Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian leader signs anti-gay law, drawing U.S. fire Monday, Jan 13, 2014 10:59 AM PST  By Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill on Monday that criminalizes same-sex relationships, defying Western pressure over gay rights and provoking criticism from the United States. The bill, which contains penalties of up to 14 years in prison and bans gay marriage, same-sex "amorous relationships" and membership of gay rights groups, was passed by the national assembly last May but Jonathan had delayed signing it into law. Presidency spokesman Reuben Abati told Reuters he had now done so. As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, anti-gay sentiment and persecution of homosexuals is rife in Nigeria, so the new legislation is likely to be popular. Full Story | Top |
| IAEA gains more Iran access, but not enough for bomb probe Monday, Jan 13, 2014 08:41 AM PST  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog's increased access in Iran to monitor a landmark agreement with world powers still falls short of what it says it needs to investigate suspicions that Tehran may have worked on designing an atomic bomb. It is also a far cry from the wide-ranging inspection powers the International Atomic Energy Agency had in Iraq in the 1990s to help unearth and dismantle Saddam Hussein's clandestine nuclear program after the first Gulf war. Nevertheless, the IAEA will see its role in Iran expand significantly under the November 24 interim accord between the country and the six major powers, the implementation of which will start next Monday. Since the deal is only preliminary, the IAEA and its investigation may gain more prominence in later talks on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program, but it remains to be seen how far it will go. Full Story | Top |
| Iraq's Maliki to revive Sunni militia role against al Qaeda Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:07 AM PST By Suadad al-Salhy and Alistair Lyon BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in a striking change of course, is embracing the Sunni Muslim tribal fighters whose role in combating al Qaeda he had allowed to wither after U.S. troops left two years ago. Al Qaeda-linked militants, feeding off widespread Sunni resentment at perceived mistreatment by his Shi'ite-led government, swept into the cities of Falluja and Ramadi two weeks ago in an embarrassing setback to Maliki. Maliki has used al Qaeda's resurgence to muster foreign support for his government, which has otherwise disappointed the United States and allies by moving close to Iran and its failure to forge consensus with the once-dominant Sunni minority. "We are happy that the whole world stood by us in an unprecedented way," the 63-year-old Maliki, who has been in office since 2006, told Reuters on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| Fighting halts polio vaccination in northern Syria Monday, Jan 13, 2014 09:57 AM PST  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Heavy fighting has prevented health workers from getting polio vaccine to an estimated 100,000 Syrian children in the northeastern province of Raqqa, United Nations aid agencies said on Monday, appealing for access. The crippling infectious disease was confirmed in 17 children in Syria in October, the first outbreak there since 1999. A nationwide campaign was launched in November to vaccinate some 2 million Syrian children under five each month until May. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) condemned the halt of the immunization campaign in Raqqa province due to intense fighting in Syria's civil war. Full Story | Top |
| Britain promises to honor all state debt as Scottish vote approaches Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:30 AM PST By Belinda Goldsmith and William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - Britain sought on Monday to reassure bondholders by promising to honor all 1.2 trillion pounds ($2.2 trillion) of UK government debt regardless of whether Scots vote for independence in a referendum this year. But with the terms of any Scottish breakaway yet to be defined, it was unclear how the Treasury would work out the "fair and proportionate share" of Britain's liabilities that it wants Scots to take on if they vote to end a 307-year-old union with England. The governments would also have to work out in detail the terms on which Scotland would reimburse the Treasury for its share of the debt and how it would raise the funds. Nationalist leader Alex Salmond said Scotland was willing to finance its share of the UK's debt as long as an independent Scotland also received a share of the UK's assets, including retaining the use of the British pound and the Bank of England as the lender of last resort. Full Story | Top |
| UAE premier: Egypt's Sisi could run as a civilian Monday, Jan 13, 2014 06:11 AM PST  The United Arab Emirates prime minister said on Monday Egypt's army chief should not run as a military man for president, but if he stood as a civilian that would be a personal matter, the Gulf state's official news agency reported. A story outlining the views of premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum appeared on the WAM agency several hours after he gave an interview to the BBC, in which he was quoted as saying Sisi was better off staying in the military than running for president. The UAE, along with the Gulf's dominant Sunni Muslim state Saudi Arabia, championed army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi after he deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last year. They have since given Egypt billions of dollars in economic aid. Full Story | Top |
| Dubai ruler calls for Iran sanctions to be lifted: BBC Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:50 AM PST  The ruler of Dubai, a Gulf trade and investment hub with strong links to Iran, said in remarks broadcast on Monday that the international community should ease sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Under a deal struck in November, Iran is expected to curb its nuclear activity in exchange for a limited easing of the international sanctions. The pact will come into force January 20, Iran and world powers agreed on Sunday. Asked whether he thought it was time to lift the sanctions, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, told British broadcaster the BBC: "I think so and give Iran a space... Iran is our neighbor and we don't want any problem, he said, adding that "everybody will benefit". Full Story | Top |
| With data vulnerable, retailers look for tougher security Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 10:33 PM PST  By Ross Kerber and Phil Wahba BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top retail trade group executive on Sunday called for tougher security standards that could mean more spending for the industry, its banks and business partners after a series of data breaches at major merchants. Stores and card processing companies have reported a steady stream of security breaches for years without a major backlash from consumers, such as those disclosed by TJX Cos in 2007 and by Heartland Payment Systems Inc in 2009. But the latest thefts - including attacks on Target Corp and Neiman Marcus - have involved a broad set of merchants and could mark a watershed moment for security standards as calls grow for changes in the protection of consumer information. One sign of the change is a new enthusiasm for payment cards that store customer information on computer chips and require users to type in personal identification numbers. Full Story | Top |
| After North Korea, emotional Rodman urges no politics for a day Monday, Jan 13, 2014 03:54 AM PST  By Megha Rajagopalan BEIJING (Reuters) - Retired U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman appealed on Monday for the world to set aside politics, if only for a day, as he arrived in China from North Korea where he sparked an outcry with comments over an American imprisoned there. The 52-year-old angered many people in the United States with an interview last week in which he implied that Kenneth Bae, a U.S. missionary imprisoned by North Korea, was to blame for his incarceration rather than authorities there. Rodman, who calls himself a friend of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, apologized for the comments made during his visit to North Korea with a group of fellow U.S. basketball players. "I'm not the president, I'm not an ambassador, I'm Dennis Rodman, just an individual, just showing the world a fact that we can actually get along and be happy for one day." He then appeared to be overcome with emotion and seemed to start crying as he moved away from the media, repeating "I'm sorry". Full Story | Top |
| '12 Years a Slave, 'American Hustle' take top Golden Globes Monday, Jan 13, 2014 12:10 PM PST  By Mary Milliken BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) - The film "12 Years a Slave" took the coveted Golden Globe for best drama and "American Hustle" won best musical or comedy on Sunday in a kick-off to the Hollywood awards season that foreshadows a wide scattering of honors for a year crowded with high-quality movies. Only two films garnered more than one award at the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards, an important but not entirely accurate barometer for the industry's highest honors, the Academy Awards to be held on March 2. "American Hustle," a romp through corruption in the 1970s directed by David O. Russell, was the top winner with three Globes for its seven nominations, while modest AIDS film "Dallas Buyers Club" starring Matthew McConaughey, took home two acting awards for him and co-star Jared Leto. British director Steve McQueen's brutal depiction of pre-Civil war American slavery in "12 Years a Slave," based on a true story of free black man Solomon Northup who was sold into slavery, only won one award out of its seven nominations. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Gold mine stirs hope and anger in shattered Greece Monday, Jan 13, 2014 01:34 AM PST  By Deepa Babington and Lefteris Papadimas OURANOUPOLI, Greece (Reuters) - A Canadian quest to mine for gold in the lush forests of northern Greece is testing the government's resolve to prove Europe's most ravaged economy is open again for business. The Skouries mine on Halkidiki peninsula - a landscape of pristine beaches and rolling hills dotted with olive groves - is among the biggest investments in Greece since it sank into a debt crisis four years ago. But it has set Greece's desperate need for finance to rebuild the economy against the interests of its vital tourism industry, and aroused anger on the peninsula - site of the famed Mount Athos monasteries - over the environmental cost. Vancouver-based Eldorado Gold Corp took over the project in 2012, promising to invest $1 billion over the next five years as part of a plan to mine eventually source up to 30 percent of its global gold production in Greece. Full Story | Top |
| UK confirms debt pledge ahead of Scottish referendum Monday, Jan 13, 2014 01:53 AM PST  The British government confirmed on Monday that it will take responsibility for all British government debt should Scotland vote for independence in September, a move it hopes will avoid jitters in bond markets ahead of the referendum. "In the event of Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, the continuing UK government would in all circumstances honor the contractual terms of the debt issued by the UK government," the Treasury said in a statement. An independent Scotland would be responsible for "a fair and proportionate share" of Britain's liabilities but a share of the outstanding debt would not be transferred to Scotland, it said, adding the terms of repayment would be subject to negotiation. Full Story | Top |
| Israel boosts security for Sharon funeral near Gaza border Sunday, Jan 12, 2014 11:29 PM PST  By Dan Williams and Matt Spetalnick JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel beefed up security for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral near the Gaza border on Monday and warned the enclave's Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will attend. Sharon died at the age of 85 on Saturday after eight years in a coma caused by a stroke. A memorial service will be held on Monday in parliament in Jerusalem and an afternoon funeral near the Sharon family farm some 10 km (6 miles) from Gaza. An Israeli security source said Israel had "passed the message" to Gazan authorities to prevent any rocket fire during the funeral. Full Story | Top |
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