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| Obama urges Guantanamo closure this year, shift from 'permanent war footing' Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 07:04 PM PST By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told Americans on Tuesday that 2014 should be the year to finally close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay as the United States winds down its military role in Afghanistan and shifts away from a "permanent war footing." In his annual State of the Union address, Obama renewed his old vow - dating back to the start of his presidency five years ago - to shut the internationally condemned jail at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, and he called on Congress for further action to help him do so. "This needs to be the year Congress lifts the remaining restrictions on detainee transfers and we close the prison at Guantanamo Bay," Obama said. "Because we counter terrorism not just through intelligence and military action, but by remaining true to our constitutional ideals and setting an example for the rest of the world." Obama stopped short of offering any new prescriptions on how he intends to empty Guantanamo of its remaining 155 prisoners. Full Story | Top |
| Obama touts 'responsible' energy development measures, climate goals Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 06:21 PM PST By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled new measures on Tuesday to address climate change that aim to promote the country's abundant shale gas and oil resources while balancing concerns about their impact on the environment. In his fifth State of the Union address, Obama highlighted several new and existing measures to expand clean energy production, chiefly by using executive powers that are not dependent on action by a divided Congress. Among the proposals cited by Obama, among a series of measures not needing Congressional action, was a plan for new incentives to encourage the country's fleet of medium and heavy duty trucks to run on natural gas and alternative fuels. Those incentives will complement new fuel efficiency standards that the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation will issue later this year for heavy duty trucks, the White House said. Full Story | Top |
| Cuba challenges neighbors on poverty, then faces own critics Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro challenged Latin American leaders to show the political will to improve health care and education, then heard from his own critics after Cuban authorities stifled a protest outside the confines of a regional summit. Castro's speech also listed a series of Latin American grievances that directly or indirectly involve the United States, attempting to unify the 33 countries at the summit against their neighbor to the north, which was not invited. "We have every possibility to abolish illiteracy," Castro told leaders of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). "We should have the political will to do it." While Castro advised fellow leaders on how to manage their economies, Cuban dissidents and the United States admonished the Cubans for thwarting a protest. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. rests its case in insider trading trial of SAC's Martoma Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:10 PM PST  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Steven A. Cohen tried to sell stock as quietly as possible as SAC Capital Advisors unwound positions at the center of an insider trading trial, the hedge fund's head trader said on Thursday. The testimony came as the government called its final witnesses in the trial of former portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, putting the case within days of its conclusion. Martoma, 39, is accused of using inside information about a drug trial to trade in the stock of Elan Corp Plc and Wyeth that helped SAC Capital make profits and avoid losses of $276 million. Full Story | Top |
| GMO critics protest at Monsanto meeting; resolutions fail Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:00 PM PST  Critics of genetically modified crops protested at Monsanto Co's annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, calling for the world's largest seed company to provide a report on contamination in non-GMO crops and to stop fighting mandatory labels on foods containing GMO ingredients. The requests came in the form of two shareholder resolutions that were backed by environmental, food safety and consumer activist groups. The resolutions come at a time of heightened debate over the spread of genetically modified crops. Outside the meeting at Monsanto's headquarters in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, about two dozen protesters waved signs criticizing the $15 billion agrichemical and seed company, and 10 people were arrested as they attempted to disrupt traffic. Full Story | Top |
| Study finds feeling short makes people prone to paranoia Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 04:02 PM PST People who experience social situations from a lower height - in other words short people - are more prone to feelings of paranoia, inferiority and excessive mistrust, according to research published on Wednesday. In a study in the journal Psychiatry Research, scientists showed that making a person's virtual height lower than it actually is can make them feel worse about themselves and more fearful that others are trying to harm them. The research shows how low self-esteem can lead to paranoid thinking, the scientists said, and will be used to develop more effective psychological treatments for severe paranoia, a serious mental health problem. Height is taken to convey authority and we feel taller when we feel more powerful," said Daniel Freeman of Britain's University of Oxford, who led the study. Full Story | Top |
| Remains of 55 bodies found near former Florida reform school Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 03:27 PM PST By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE (Reuters) - Excavations at a makeshift graveyard near a now-closed reform school in the Florida Panhandle have yielded remains of 55 bodies, almost twice the number official records say are there, the University of South Florida announced on Tuesday. "This is precisely why excavation was necessary," said USF professor Erin Kimmerle, head of the research project. "The only way to truly establish the facts about the deaths and burials at the school is to follow scientific processes." On a hillside in the rolling, tall-pine forests near the Alabama-Georgia border, a team of more than 50 searchers from nine agencies last year dug up the graves to check out local legends and family tales of boys, mostly black, who died or disappeared without explanation from the Dozier School for Boys early in the last century. The University of South Florida was commissioned to look into deaths at the school in the Panhandle city of Marianna, after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the presence of 31 official grave sites in 2010. Full Story | Top |
| Winter storm brings 'once in decade' ice, snow to Southern states Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:33 PM PST  By Kathy Finn NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A rare blast of snow, sleet and ice hit the U.S. South on Tuesday, prompting three states to declare a state of emergency, closing the New Orleans airport and causing chaos on roads for drivers unaccustomed to the dangerously slick conditions. Temperatures in parts of those regions could feel as cold as minus 30 Fahrenheit (minus 34 Celsius) on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina each declared a state of emergency, telling motorists to stay off the roads. "Residents should not overreact but should make plans now to ensure they are prepared for prolonged freezing conditions and icy roadways," Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said. Full Story | Top |
| Medivation prostate cancer drug impresses in pre-chemo study Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:01 PM PST Medivation Inc's drug for advanced prostate cancer significantly delayed progression of the disease and extended survival in a large, late stage study of patients who had not yet received chemotherapy, likely paving the way for an expanded approval of the medicine. Xtandi, a pill known chemically as enzalutamide, is already approved to treat patients whose prostate cancer has spread and who had previously been treated with chemotherapy. Medivation and its Xtandi commercial partner, Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma Inc, said they expect to apply for the expanded approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European regulators early this year, based on the data from the Phase III trial called Prevail. In the 1,700-patient study of men with metastatic prostate cancer who have failed hormone deprivation therapy but had few or no symptoms, Xtandi reduced the risk of death by 29 percent and the risk of the disease worsening, known as progression free survival, by 81 percent compared with a placebo. Full Story | Top |
| TSX snaps three-day losing streak, investors eye Fed Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:48 PM PST  By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index recovered on Tuesday, snapping a three-day losing streak, as investors eyed a Federal Reserve meeting for signs of a further scaling-back of the U.S. central bank's monetary stimulus. Fears about China's economic growth outlook and another possible move by the Fed to trim its bond-buying program have weighed on investor sentiment since last week. Further, recent sharp drops in emerging market currencies, such as the Argentine peso and Turkish lira, threw global markets into disarray. Global markets remained jittery ahead of any signal from the Fed as well as a decision by Turkey's central bank as to whether to raise interest rates in an attempt to stabilize the currency. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan rebel leader should face treason charge: minister Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:42 PM PST  By Carl Odera and Andrew Green JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar and six others should be tried for treason for their role in weeks of bloodshed, the justice minister said on Tuesday, threatening to heighten tensions in already troubled peace talks. Minister Paulino Wanawilla Unago cushioned the blow by saying seven other political figures, arrested after the violence erupted, would be released, partly meeting one of the rebels' demands at the negotiations. President Salva Kiir accused Machar, the vice president he sacked in July, of launching a coup in the world's newest country. Unago said he believed there was enough of a case to take Machar and his six associates, who include Pagan Amum, the former Secretary General of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), to court. Full Story | Top |
| Biden urges Ukraine president to find compromise amid crisis Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:38 PM PST U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich about the country's crisis by phone for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, and encouraged him to look for more ways to compromise with the opposition, the White House said. In the call, which was initiated by Yanukovich, Biden welcomed progress made by the Ukrainian parliament in repealing anti-protest laws and urged him to look at other measures. "These include an amnesty law and a new government that can bring political unity, win the confidence of the Ukrainian people, and take Ukraine in the direction of Europe by strengthening democratic institutions and making the reforms necessary to achieve economic prosperity," the White House said. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. suggests removal of Syria chemicals unnecessarily delayed Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:37 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested in a report on Tuesday that an operation to remove Syria's chemical weapons had been unnecessarily delayed and urged the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to speed up the process. Under a deal negotiated by Russia and the United States, Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal after an August 21 sarin gas attack, which killed hundreds of people and led to threats of U.S. air strikes. Ban said in a report to the U.N. Security Council, dated January 27 but made publicly available on Tuesday, that a December 31 deadline for removing Syria's worst chemicals had been missed. Syria has said the operation faces security challenges. Full Story | Top |
| As Apple shares fall, Icahn buys another $500 million Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:59 PM PST  Hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn said he bought another half a billion dollars' worth of Apple Inc stock on Tuesday, signaling confidence in the iPhone maker even after it gave a disappointing revenue forecast for the current quarter. The investment, Icahn's third in Apple in less than a week, boosts the value of stake in the company to more than $4 billion. It was announced via his Twitter account as Apple's shares traded down about 8 percent following its quarterly report late on Monday, which renewed Wall Street's concerns about the maturing smartphone market. Icahn told Reuters in a telephone interview that the decline in Apple shares presented "a great opportunity" to add to his position. Full Story | Top |
| Iraq says Syria war spillover hinders oilfields, pipelines Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:36 AM PST By Peg Mackey, Lin Noueihed and Julia Payne LONDON (Reuters) - Spillover attacks from the civil war in Syria have hindered development of Iraq's gas and oil reserves and a major pipeline to the Mediterranean has been blown up dozens of times, Iraq's top energy official said on Tuesday. Violence in Iraq climbed back to its highest level in five years in 2013, with nearly 9,000 people killed, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations. "The ongoing conflict in Syria has resulted in an increasing number of terrorists using vast desert areas between Syria and Iraq to establish bases from which they have carried out attacks against the civilian population and economic targets and infrastructure," Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani said. "The attacks have been focused on oil export pipelines, power generation and transmission lines." The al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also fighting in neighboring Syria, has taken control of the Iraqi city of Falluja west of Baghdad with the help of armed tribesmen. Full Story | Top |
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