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| Venezuela shuffles economic team, keeps forex rate Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 07:44 PM PST  By Eyanir Chinea and Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro named an army general as the new finance minister in a reshuffle of his economic team on Wednesday and said there would be no currency devaluation this year despite a soaring black market for dollars. The cabinet changes do not suggest any major shift in the country's state-dominated economy, as the new economic team retains many of the same policy-makers that helped the late Hugo Chavez advance the OPEC nation's drive toward socialism. Venezuela in 2013 saw slowing economic growth and soaring inflation that Maduro blames on an opposition-backed "economic war" but that critics call the result of decaying price and currency controls now widely linked to corruption. Maduro tasked new finance minister Rodolfo Marco with "building a new financial model that can allow for all these investments we need, that will allow the expansion of a financial system at the service of the country." Marco, who participated in the failed 1992 coup that thrust Chavez to fame and did jail time with him afterwards, previously held the post of Public Banks Minister, which will now be merged with the finance ministry. Full Story | Top |
| China confirms hypersonic missile carrier test Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 06:05 PM PST China has flight-tested a hypersonic missile delivery vehicle in a move that was scientific in nature and not targeted at any country, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. They are beefing up military spending and ties with Washington. "Our planned scientific research tests conducted in our territory are normal," the Beijing Defence Ministry said in a faxed response to Reuters. "These tests are not targeted at any country and at any specific goals." The statement confirmed a report by the online Washington Free Beacon newspaper that the hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) was detected flying at 10 times the speed of sound over China last week. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Labor Department to probe Florida's jobless benefits website Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 05:03 PM PST By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. Department of Labor officials will travel to Florida to investigate the state's troubled unemployment compensation website following criticism it is failing to get jobless benefits to laid-off workers, an official said on Wednesday. Florida's economic development chief told a legislative committee on Wednesday that he was "frustrated" by glitches in the $63 million website and related services. He said the state government would consider additional penalties against Deloitte, the website's designer. "The state's unemployment website is a dismal failure, and Governor Rick Scott is responsible," state Senator Geraldine Thompson, a Democrat from Orlando, said at a news conference. Full Story | Top |
| Experimental gene therapy improves sight in patients going blind Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 04:29 PM PST By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Toby Stroh was in his 20s when his doctor told him he would go blind in his 50s, and his years of playing tennis and being able to drive or work could be gone long before that. Now aged 56, two years after his retina was deliberately infected with a virus carrying a gene to correct a protein deficiency that was destroying its cells, he is a regular on the tennis court and has a successful career in law. "For the last 30 years I've been living under the insidious inevitability of going blind," Stroh told reporters at a briefing about his experimental treatment. "Now there is a very real prospect I will continue to be able to see." Stroh is one of a handful of patients with an inherited cause of progressive blindness called choroideremia who took part in an early stage trial of a potential gene therapy treatment designed to correct a genetic defect that means retina cells gradually die. Full Story | Top |
| Wet, wetter; dry, drier: U.S. oceanographer has hit with climate-change haiku Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 04:28 PM PST  An American oceanographer who helped write an international report on climate change has condensed several of its key findings - such as how choices made today may shape the future world - into a collection of succinct poems in the Haiku style. The poems came to Gregory Johnson, a 20-year veteran of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as he pored over an executive summary of "Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis," while holed up in his Seattle home on a recent weekend with the flu, he said. "I thought that if I tried distilling these ideas into haiku, maybe that would help fix them in my mind," said Johnson, a lead author on the chapter of the report dealing with the effects of global warming on oceans. "This was not intended for anything but my own personal consumption." After penning the poems and painting watercolors accompanying each of them, Johnson, heartened by feedback from friends and family, agreed to publish them on the website of the Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based environmental policy think-tank. Full Story | Top |
| Comedians have psychotic personality traits, study finds Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 04:23 PM PST By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Having an unusual personality structure could be the secret to making other people laugh, scientists said on Thursday after research showed that comedians have high levels of psychotic personality traits. "The creative elements needed to produce humor are strikingly similar to those characterizing the cognitive style of people with psychosis - both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder," said Gordon Claridge of the University of Oxford's department of experimental psychology, who led the study. "Equally, manic thinking - which is common in people with bipolar disorder - may help people combine ideas to form new, original and humorous connections." The researchers recruited 523 comedians - 404 men and 119 women - and asked them to complete an online questionnaire designed to measure psychotic traits in healthy people. The same questionnaire was also completed by 364 actors - who are also used to performing in front of an audience - as a control group, and the comedians' and actors' results were compared to each other as well as a general group of 831 people who had non-creative jobs. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Senate hearing urges quicker commodity limits on banks Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 03:52 PM PST  By Anna Louie Sussman WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers at a Senate hearing on Wednesday pushed financial regulators to speed up efforts to limit Wall Street's role in physical commodities markets, pressing for a pivotal policy shift after a decade of deepening trade. The packed hearing, which lasted over an hour, offered senators a chance to delve further into the Fed's thinking, pressing Michael Gibson, its director of bank supervision and regulation, on why the central bank is not moving immediately to impose new rules. "The Fed's proposal yesterday is a timid step, it was too slow in coming, and there is still too much that we do not know about these activities and investments," said Senator Sherrod Brown, who led the hearing. The panel also questioned whether banks should be forced to disclose more about the size and scope of their commodities activities and if banks' involvement in those markets has inflated the costs of key raw materials, such as aluminum. Full Story | Top |
| Amarin says FDA delays decision on Vascepa trial design Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 02:55 PM PST (Reuters) - Amarin Corp Plc said U.S. health regulators delayed their decision to reconsider a rescinded agreement that could support a marketing application for an expanded use of the company's blood fat-lowering drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had in October revoked a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) agreement covering a large late-stage trial of the drug, Vascepa. Following an appeal from Amarin, the regulator said it would determine by January 15 whether it would reconsider that decision. ... Full Story | Top |
| FDA advisory panel backs Merck's blood clot-preventing drug Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 02:31 PM PST Merck & Co Inc's experimental blood clot-preventing drug vorapaxar should be approved to reduce the risk of further heart problems in people who have suffered a recent heart attack, an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Wednesday. The FDA is not bound to follow the advice of its advisory panels but typically does so. Results from a trial known as TRA 2P were "robust," panelists said, and justified approval for patients who had suffered a heart attack. "I think this drug addresses a real unmet medical need," said Dr. Philip Sager, consulting professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Full Story | Top |
| TSX hits 2-1/2 year high as global growth picture brightens Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 01:52 PM PST  By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index climbed on Wednesday to its highest in 2-1/2 years as the World Bank's bullish forecast for global economic growth helped fuel broad gains and higher oil prices provided support to energy shares. The World Bank raised its forecast for global growth for the first time in three years as advanced economies started to pick up pace, led by the United States. The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark index has gained in six of the last seven sessions, with its resource sectors, which had a lackluster 2013, beginning to gather steam. It is very much keeping with the thesis that strong global growth benefits the TSX," said Elvis Picardo, strategist and vice president of research at Global Securities in Vancouver. Full Story | Top |
| Super Bowl security will be massive, N.J. law enforcement officials say Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 01:45 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - Law enforcement officials said on Wednesday they have looked at every possible contingency to prepare for the threat of crime, severe weather or attack during the Super Bowl in New Jersey, one of the largest and most-watched sporting events in the world. More than 80,000 fans are expected to attend the February 2 football extravaganza at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, deemed to be the first mass transit Super Bowl because the stadium across the Hudson River from Manhattan is accessible by train and bus. "We are approaching this basically from an air, land and sea concept," said Lt. Colonel Edward Cetnar of the New Jersey State Police at a security briefing held at the stadium. "Every counter-measure that we have is going to be put into place for the game." More than 100 local, state and federal law agencies are working with the National Football League's private security team to prepare for the championship game and the events leading up to it. Full Story | Top |
| S&P 500 closes at record on bank earnings, data Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 01:33 PM PST  By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 climbing to an all-time closing high after strong earnings from Bank of America and data signaled that the economy was improving. Bank of America Corp climbed 2.3 percent to $17.15 and gave one of the biggest boosts to the S&P 500 after the second-largest U.S. bank said its quarterly profit surged by nearly $3 billion on an increase in revenue. The report came a day after both JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co also posted better-than-expected earnings, though Wells Fargo's mortgage lending slowed to the lowest level in five years. "So far so good with bank earnings this season, and it is very positive that we're seeing significant declines in foreclosures, which is very positive for the economy," said David Kelly, chief global strategist for JPMorgan Funds in New York. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. rules for oil on railcars not likely before 2015: agency Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 01:12 PM PST  By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Safety standards for tank cars carrying crude oil and other hazardous material that have been involved in several recent derailments are not likely to come before next year, the U.S. Department of Transportation said on Wednesday. A spate of explosive derailments, including one in Quebec last July which killed 47 people, another last month in North Dakota and as recently as last week in New Brunswick, Canada, has led to concerns over the safety of shipping crude oil by rail. Officials have asked the shipping industry for input on how to make tank cars more safe, particularly in light of fiery incidents involving crude shipments that jumped the tracks. For many producers, moving crude oil on railcars has been the preferred means of bringing the product to refineries. Full Story | Top |
| Brain injuries like Schumacher's can destroy lives: study Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 01:03 PM PST  By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - People with severe head injuries like the one that left Michael Schumacher in critical condition have permanently altered brains that make the victims more likely to become mentally ill and die prematurely, scientists said on Wednesday. Brain experts said most health services fail to make the link between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and long-term mental consequences, meaning patients can fall through the net into depression, behavioral problems and crime. While Schumacher, a wealthy and famous former motor-racing driver well supported by family, friends and doctors, is in a far better position that most with TBI, he will nevertheless still have a changed brain and will need to readjust and cope. "If Schumacher survives he will not be Schumacher. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lawmakers, frustrated by South Sudan violence, question aid Wednesday, Jan 15, 2014 11:37 AM PST  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers expressed deep frustration on Wednesday over the wave of violence in South Sudan, questioning whether it made sense for Washington to continue sending hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the fledgling democracy. Four weeks of fighting, often along ethnic lines, has been ringing alarm bells in Washington over the prospect that the conflict could spiral into full-blown civil war, spawning atrocities or making South Sudan the world's next failed state. U.S. Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the latest fighting "infuriating," and blamed it largely on South Sudanese leaders' unwillingness to build an inclusive state. "It appears that the greatest threat to South Sudan post-independence is South Sudan itself," the California Republican said at a hearing on the turmoil. Full Story | Top |
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