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| Exclusive: U.S. readies financial sanctions against Ukraine: congressional aides Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 05:46 PM PST  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is preparing financial sanctions that could be imposed on Ukrainian officials and protest leaders if violence escalates in the political crisis gripping Ukraine, congressional aides said on Wednesday. Congressional aides, who asked not to be identified by name because of the sensitive subject, said they had discussed the sanction preparations with administration officials. They said final details of the package have not been worked out, but it could be put in place quickly against government officials - or leaders of the protest movement - in case of widespread violence. Six people have been killed in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities in protests that erupted more than two months ago after President Viktor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union under pressure from Russia. Full Story | Top |
| Obama promotes retirement savings plan on State of Union road trip Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 01:36 PM PST  By Jeff Mason WEST MIFFLIN, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - President Barack Obama set in motion a plan to help middle-income Americans save for retirement on Wednesday on a road trip to highlight themes from a State of the Union speech devoted to narrowing the gap between the rich and poor. At events at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh and earlier at a Costco retail store in outside Washington, Obama made good on his promise in Tuesday's speech to focus on reducing income inequality - with or without the cooperation of Congress. Obama signed a presidential order directing Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to establish a government-backed investment option called myRA that permits people with little to no savings to set aside as little as $5 in payroll deductions. "If you worked hard all your life, you deserve a secure retirement," Obama told about 1,500 plant workers. Full Story | Top |
| Russia to await new Ukraine government before fully implementing rescue: Putin Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 06:10 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman and Richard Balmforth MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine on Wednesday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $15 billion bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs. Putin repeated a promise to honor the lifeline agreement with Ukraine in full, but left open the timing of the next aid installment as Kiev struggles to calm more than two months of turmoil since President Victor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union. A day after Prime Minister Myeloma Azarov resigned on Tuesday, hoping to appease the opposition and street protesters, Russia tightened border checks on imports from Ukraine in what looked like a reminder to Yanukovich not to install a government that tilts policy back towards the West. Full Story | Top |
| Lenovo to buy Google's Motorola in China's largest tech deal Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 07:32 PM PST  By Nadia Damouni, Nicola Leske and Gerry Shih NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Lenovo Group said on Wednesday it agreed to buy Google Inc's Motorola handset division for $2.91 billion, in what is China's largest-ever tech deal as Lenovo buys its way into a heavily competitive U.S. handset market dominated by Apple Inc. It is Lenovo's second major deal on U.S. soil in a week as the Chinese electronics company angles to get a foothold in major global computing markets. Lenovo last week said it would buy IBM's low-end server business for $2.3 billion. The deal ends Google's short-lived foray into making consumer mobile devices and marks a pullback from its largest-ever acquisition. Google paid $12.5 billion for Motorola in 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Mobile ad revenue lifts Facebook past Wall Street targets Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 06:52 PM PST  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc delivered its strongest revenue growth in two years, beating Wall Street targets as the Internet company's mobile ad sales continued to accelerate. Shares of Facebook surged 12 percent to $59.98 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. The world's largest social networking company said that revenue from mobile ads represented 53 percent of its total advertising revenue in the last three months of the year, or $1.24 billion, versus the 49 percent proportion that mobile ads represented in the third quarter. Facebook said it now has 1.23 billion monthly users, with 945 million accessing the service on a smartphone or tablet. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Syria has shipped out less than 5 percent of chemical weapons Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 06:25 PM PST  By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Syria has given up less than 5 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and will miss next week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deliveries, in two shipments this month to the northern Syrian port of Latakia, totalled 4.1 percent of the roughly 1,300 tonnes of toxic agents reported by Damascus to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Damascus needs to show it is still serious about relinquishing its chemical weapons, the sources told Reuters. The issue is to be discussed at a meeting of the OPCW's executive council on Thursday in The Hague, a senior U.S. State Department official told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey's Erdogan visits Iran to improve ties after split over Syria Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 07:46 AM PST  By Parisa Hafezi ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan visited Iran on Wednesday to bolster trade and energy ties, state TV said, in what also looked like a bid to defuse tensions over Syria by capitalizing on Tehran's diplomatic opening to regional rivals and the West. Iran has been a strong strategic ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting his opponents and giving refuge to rebel fighters. But Iran's election last June of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who says he wants to thaw its ties with the West, and shared concern over the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, have spurred hopes of a Turkish-Iranian rapprochement. While deep divisions remain between Ankara and Tehran over the conflict in Syria, diplomats and government officials say both sides want to mend a relationship that could be pivotal to the fast-changing political map of the Middle East. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Thailand braces for violence as PM Yingluck's charm runs out Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:08 PM PST  By Andrew R.C. Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - Six unmarked vehicles with pitch-black windows threaded quietly through Bangkok's northern suburbs on a recent Thursday afternoon. Inside one sat the curiously unruffled figure at the heart of Thailand's latest political maelstrom: caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. That Yingluck's convoy is now so keen to avoid attention - it even stopped at some red lights - is a small victory for the thousands of protesters who first poured onto Bangkok's streets three months ago to try to topple her government. For them, Yingluck, 46, is the hated puppet of her billionaire elder brother Thaksin, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 military coup and now lives abroad to avoid a two-year jail sentence for corruption. Full Story | Top |
| Bulgarian president seeks a referendum on voting rules Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 02:13 PM PST  Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev proposed on Wednesday to ask the public how election rules might be changed and boost their low trust in political institutions in the wake of massive protests last year. Plevneliev proposed a national referendum in which Bulgarians will have their say on whether they want to elect some lawmakers directly rather than from party lists, voting made obligatory and electronic voting allowed. At present, Bulgarians can choose 240 parliament members only from party lists. Full Story | Top |
| South Korea urges North to hasten reunions but vows to continue drills Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 02:09 PM PST  South Korea urged the North on Wednesday to speed efforts for reunions of families separated since the war that divided the neighbors, but vowed to continue joint military drills with the United States, despite protests from Pyongyang. Uncertainty remained whether the North would keep its pledge to hold the reunions ahead of the start of the drills, but the South said it would not use the military exercises as a means to secure the family event. The North proposed the family reunions last week in a move welcomed by both China, its sole major ally, and the United States. But the North has yet to respond to a call by the South for the event to be held over six days in February and for a meeting to hammer out location and logistics. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan frees seven detainees accused of coup plot Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 11:30 AM PST  By James Macharia and Richard Lough NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan freed seven senior political figures on Wednesday who had been arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup, partially meeting a rebel demand at peace talks focused on ending weeks of fighting. President Salva Kiir accused his former vice president Riek Machar of starting fighting between rival groups of soldiers in the capital Juba in mid December in a bid to seize power - a charge denied my Machar. Authorities detained the 11 men, including former justice minister John Luk Jok, on suspicion of being involved, as clashes between government troops and now rebel fighters loyal to Machar quickly spread, killing thousands. South Sudan's current Justice Minister Paulino Wanawilla Unago had prepared the ground for the release on Tuesday, saying no evidence had been found against the seven. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey aims to scrap special courts in battle over judiciary Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:58 AM PST  By Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA (Reuters) - The Turkish government plans to abolish special courts which tried alleged coup plotters, it said on Wednesday, a move seen as part of the ruling AK Party's efforts to counter forces hostile to it in the judiciary. Closing the courts that have convicted hundreds of army officers and others in recent years may also be aimed at winning Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan support from secularists as he fends off what he calls "a dirty plot" by former allies, judicial observers say. "We will be taking a historical step that we should already have taken, as a state of law," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters. "There will no longer be different criminal courts within the judiciary and different methods of investigation." The government has removed thousands of police chiefs and more than a hundred prosecutors since a corruption investigation in December that led to three cabinet resignations and which Erdogan called an attempted coup by a "parallel state". Full Story | Top |
| Thailand to deploy 10,000 police in capital to secure voting Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 03:30 AM PST By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's government will deploy 10,000 police in the capital for Sunday's election, which protesters have promised to disrupt as part of their drawn-out attempt to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Even though Yingluck's ruling party is certain to win, not enough candidates have been able to register to provide a quorum in the new parliament after the election. Full Story | Top |
| Russia to await new Ukraine government before fully implementing rescue-Putin Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 03:29 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman and Richard Balmforth MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine on Wednesday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $15 billion bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs. Putin repeated a promise to honor the lifeline agreement with Ukraine in full, but left open the timing of the next aid installment as Kiev struggles to calm more than two months of turmoil since President Viktor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union. A day after Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned on Tuesday, hoping to appease the opposition and street protesters, Russia tightened border checks on imports from Ukraine in what looked like a reminder to Yanukovich not to install a government that tilts policy back towards the West. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Syria has shipped out less than 5 percent of chemical weapons Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 03:37 PM PST  By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Syria has given up less than 5 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and will miss next week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deliveries, in two shipments this month to the northern Syrian port of Latakia, totaled 4.1 percent of the roughly 1,300 tonnes of toxic agents reported by Damascus to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Damascus needs to show it is still serious about relinquishing its chemical weapons, the sources told Reuters. Failure to eliminate its chemical weapons could expose Syria to sanctions, although these would have to be supported in the U.N. Security Council by Russia and China, which have so far refused to back such measures against President Bashar al-Assad. Full Story | Top |
| Wary of Obamacare, some Republicans sign up anyway Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 09:15 AM PST  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Julie Davis has every reason to be skeptical of Obamacare: She's a Republican, her father is a physician who is wary of socialized medicine and her insurance was canceled because of new requirements imposed by the healthcare law this year. But the 44-year-old filmmaker says her decision to seek coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform was a practical one, made with little political angst but plenty of doubt over whether the program will really benefit her family. Davis's choice underscores the disconnect between Washington politics - particularly the Republican Party's push to kill Obama's Affordable Care Act and portray the law as an ill-devised social program bound to fail - and the experiences of at least some rank-and-file party members who are finding practical reasons to sign up. The discrepancy may complicate GOP efforts to use voter dissatisfaction over Obamacare's troubled launch to win control of the Senate in November. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli ruling coalition wobbles as U.S. peace proposal looms Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 11:51 AM PST  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A pending U.S. framework proposal to propel stumbling Israeli-Palestinian peace talks forward chipped away on Wednesday at a troubled alliance between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an ultranationalist ally in his governing coalition. Adding to the fray was a warning by centrist Finance Minister Yair Lapid that any failure of U.S.-brokered peace talks could cause a "dramatic setback" in Israel's economy, citing boycott threats against Israel already heard in the West. No date has been announced for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to unveil his blueprint for an Israeli-Palestinian deal, but new skirmishing between Netanyahu and far-right partner Naftali Bennett suggested crunch time was near. Bennett's Jewish Home party advocates annexation of some of the West Bank - occupied territory that Palestinians seek for a state - and it has threatened to end its partnership with Netanyahu if, he says, any handover of land of biblical significance to Jews were in the offing. Full Story | Top |
| Brahimi says no substantive progress on Syria but hopeful Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 02:36 PM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Mariam Karouny GENEVA (Reuters) - International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Wednesday that he does not expect to achieve anything substantive in the first round of Syria talks ending on Friday, but hoped for a more productive second round starting about a week later. "We talked about the TGB (Transitional Governing Body), but of course it is a very, very preliminary discussion and more generally of what each side expects," Brahimi told reporters. Opposition and government sides said they agreed to use the "Geneva communiqué", a document endorsed by world powers at a conference in June 2012, and which sets out the stages needed to end the fighting and agree on a political transition. "We have agreed that Geneva 1 is the basis of the talks," opposition spokesman Louay al-Safi told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| IAEA visits Iranian mine as part of nuclear transparency pact Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 07:23 AM PST  DUBAI/VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear inspectors visited an Iranian uranium mine for the first time in nearly a decade on Wednesday, Iranian media reported, as Tehran gradually opens up its disputed nuclear program to greater international scrutiny. A three-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) went to the Gchine mine near the southern Gulf port city of Bandar Abbas, a spokesman for Iran's atomic energy organization said. The IAEA was last there in 2005. They "are now conducting their inspection," Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying on the web site of Press TV, Iran's English-language state television. Full Story | Top |
| Obama warns divided Congress that he will act alone Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 09:49 PM PST  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to bypass a divided Congress and take action on his own to bolster America's middle class in a State of the Union address that he used to try to breathe new life into his second term after a troubled year. Standing in the House of Representatives chamber before lawmakers, Supreme Court justices and VIP guests, Obama declared his independence from Congress by unveiling a series of executive orders and decisions - moves likely to inflame already tense relations between the Democratic president and Republicans. While his rhetoric was high flying, Obama's actions were relatively modest, collectively amounting to an outpouring of frustration at the pace of legislative action with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and able to slow the president's agenda. "I'm eager to work with all of you," Obama told the lawmakers gathered for the annual speech. Full Story | Top |
| NATO's Rasmussen criticizes Russian pressure on Ukraine Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 12:28 AM PST  NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen criticized Russia on Wednesday for pressuring Kiev not to sign a free trade pact with the European Union, a move that triggered mass protests. Ukraine, caught in a tug-of-war for influence between Moscow and Brussels, has been rocked by protests since it walked away from the EU association deal two months ago. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned and deputies rolled back anti-protest laws to try to defuse the crisis. "An association pact with Ukraine would have been a major boost to Euro-Atlantic security, I truly regret that it could not be done," Rasmussen told le Figaro daily. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Mubarak-era networks return for new military man in Egypt Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:07 PM PST  By Maggie Fick SHEBIN EL KOM, Egypt (Reuters) - When an uprising toppled Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak, men like Ahmed Saif who helped run his vast patronage network melted away. Three years later, Saif and other former members of Mubarak's party are back in action in the populous countryside, offering everything from refrigerators for newlyweds to welfare-like stipends to the poor in exchange for votes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republicans respond and respond to Obama State of Union Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 08:46 PM PST  By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress responded in competing voices on Tuesday to President Barack Obama's annual State of the Union address as various wings of the party vied to advance their prescriptions for the country's best way forward. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who delivered the sanctioned Republican response to Obama, queued up long-standing party doctrine that "champions free markets and trusts people to make their own decisions, not a government that decides for you." McMorris Rodgers, a five-term congresswoman from Washington state, took a broad swipe at Obamacare, the 2010 landmark healthcare law that Republicans have tried to repeal, delay or significantly alter nearly 50 times since its enactment. "We've all talked to too many people who have received cancellation notices they didn't expect or who can no longer see the doctors they always have," McMorris Rodgers said of the Affordable Care Act, which got off to a troubled start. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.S. banking regulator, fearing loan bubble, warns funds Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 12:22 AM PST  A U.S. bank regulator is warning about the dangers of banks and alternative asset managers working together to do risky deals and get around rules amid concerns about a possible bubble in junk-rated loans to companies. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has already told banks to avoid some of the riskiest junk loans to companies, but is alarmed that banks may still do such deals by sharing some of the risk with asset managers. "We do not see any benefit to banks working with alternative asset managers or shadow banks to skirt the regulation and continue to have weak deals flooding markets," said Martin Pfinsgraff, senior deputy comptroller for large bank supervision at the OCC, in a statement in response to questions from Reuters. Among the investors in alternative asset managers are pension funds that have funding issues of their own, he said. Full Story | Top |
| In Bernanke's final act, Fed cuts stimulus despite market turmoil Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 02:14 PM PST  By Jonathan Spicer and Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided to trim its bond purchases by another $10 billion as it stuck to a plan to wind down its extraordinary economic stimulus despite recent turmoil in emerging markets. The action was widely expected, although some investors had speculated that the U.S. central bank might put its plans on hold given the jitters overseas. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who hands the Fed's reins to Vice Chair Janet Yellen on Friday, managed to adjourn his last policy-setting meeting without any dissents from his colleagues. In addition to proceeding with plans to scale back its bond buying, the Fed made no changes to its other main policy plank: its pledge to keep interest rates low for some time to come. Full Story | Top |
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