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| Armed standoff in pro-Russian region raises Ukraine tension Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:33 PM PST  By Alessandra Prentice and Alissa de Carbonnel SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The United States told Russia to demonstrate in coming days that it was sincere about its promise not to intervene in Ukraine as armed men stormed the regional parliament and hours later others seized the airport in a mainly ethnic Russian region. Crimea, the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, is the last big bastion of opposition to the new leadership in Kiev since pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted at the weekend. Full Story | Top |
| Carnival holiday may take heat out of Venezuela crisis Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:21 PM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans began a week-long national holiday on Thursday as some protests still simmered, but President Nicolas Maduro's government was hoping the break would take the heat out of the nation's worst unrest in a decade. The 51-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez brought forward by two days a long national holiday weekend for Carnival when Venezuelans traditionally abandon cities and head for Caribbean coast beaches to unwind and party. In the capital Caracas, which has seen most of the at least 13 fatalities from this month's unrest, opposition supporters gathered in wealthy eastern neighborhoods. In familiar scenes from the last two weeks, when one group of demonstrators tried to block a major six-lane highway that runs nearby, security forces fired teargas to disperse them. Full Story | Top |
| Thai anti-govt protesters target PM again despite hint of talks Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 06:40 PM PST  Protesters in Thailand said they will rally at ministries and companies linked to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday, keeping up pressure on her to resign despite a vague proposal of talks from their leader. The protesters have blocked big intersections in the capital, Bangkok, since mid-January and forced many ministries to close as part of a four-month campaign to push out Yingluck and eradicate the political influence of her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen as the real power in Thailand. However, in a speech to supporters late on Thursday, Suthep showed his more combative side, directly blaming Yingluck for two attacks on protesters at the weekend in which five people were killed, including four children. Full Story | Top |
| Weather seems to blame for U.S. slowdown, Fed's Yellen says Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 12:16 PM PST  Unusually harsh winter weather appears to be behind recent signs of weakness in the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Thursday, suggesting the central bank was poised to press forward in ratcheting back its stimulus. Testifying to the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen said the Fed would watch carefully to ensure weather was indeed the culprit, but she reiterated that it would take a "significant change" to the economy's prospects for the Fed to put plans to wind down its bond-buying program on hold. Some investors think the Fed could alter its plans if a report on February hiring next week shows similar weakness. I think it's clear that ... unseasonably cold weather has played some role in much of that," Yellen, the Fed's former vice chair who took the reins on February 1, told lawmakers. Full Story | Top |
| Syria says two attempted attacks on chemical weapons convoys: U.N. Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:52 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - There were two attempted attacks on Syrian convoys transporting chemical weapons late last month, Syrian authorities told the international mission overseeing the removal and destruction of its toxic arsenal, according to a U.N. report on Thursday. The monthly report to the U.N. Security Council of the joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the attempted attacks were on January 27. "In addition, Syrian authorities indicated that ongoing military activities rendered two sites inaccessible during most of the reporting period," the five-page report said. This delayed "in-country destruction of the final quantities of isopropanol, preventing some activities to consolidate chemical material into a reduced number of locations, and preventing the physical verification of chemical material prior to movement on 27 January 2014." Isopropanol is one of two key ingredients for sarin. Full Story | Top |
| Panama Canal, consortium reach preliminary deal to complete work Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:16 PM PST  The Panama Canal and a Spanish-led consortium expanding the waterway have reached a preliminary deal to complete work on the project, which has been stymied by a bitter stand-off over cost overruns, the canal authority said on Thursday. The deal foresees the consortium, which is led by Spanish builder Sacyr alongside Italy's Salini Impregilo, finishing work by December 2015. Both the Panama Canal Authority and the consortium would each inject $100 million for immediate cash flow needs to fully resume work, a statement from the authority said. Twelve lock gates which are currently in Italy, will arrive in Panama by December 2014, according the deal, which is under review and pending signature, the statement said. Full Story | Top |
| Russian spy ship makes surprise visit to Havana Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:17 PM PST By Rosa Tania Valdés HAVANA (Reuters) - A Russian spy ship slipped into Havana Bay for an unannounced visit during a period of turmoil in Ukraine and displays of military strength elsewhere in the world. The Viktor Leonov SSV-175, part of the Vishnya class of intelligence ships, quietly entered Cuban waters earlier this week and was docked at a cruise ship terminal on Thursday, its crew casually taking in the view of the old colonial section of the Cuban capital as passers-by gawked. Russian warships have come and gone in Cuba since the collapse of the Soviet Union, usually with much publicity and the opportunity for Cubans to visit the ship. Russia has been stung by recent unrest in Ukraine, where a pro-Russian government was ousted in favor of one seeking an alliance with the West, and where Russia has a major naval base near Sevastopol on the Black Sea. Full Story | Top |
| Baghdad motorbike blast, other attacks kill 52 in Iraq Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:14 PM PST  By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 52 people were killed Wednesday as a motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated in Baghdad's Sadr City and militants targeted mostly Shi'ite neighborhoods around the country. Blood covered the ground, storefront windows were shattered and shoes and motorcycle parts were strewn around the market, according to a Reuters correspondent at the scene. "I was hit in my face and my hands and when I got up, everyone was screaming and running towards me away from the blast." It was not clear who was behind the bombing but violence against Shi'ites is often blamed on the Sunni Muslim Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda-linked group. Baghdad has been hit by wave after wave of bombings since April as the precarious peace enjoyed since the end of Iraq's sectarian war in 2008 has unraveled. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela unrest shakes up opposition Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:58 AM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - One month ago, Henrique Capriles was Venezuela's undisputed opposition leader, espousing a vision of dialogue and measured dissent towards the socialist government. Now, though, an explosion of protests has put President Nicolas Maduro under pressure and also exposed rifts inside the opposition as a rival to Capriles takes a more prominent role. Leopoldo Lopez, a U.S.-educated economist who leads a radical wing of the opposition, defied Capriles' moderate approach to organize street resistance against Maduro - and has been jailed for leading the protests. Capriles, 41, acknowledges tension within the opposition and is frustrated by Lopez but insists the main battle is against Maduro, who succeeded late socialist leader Hugo Chavez by being Capriles in an election last April. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Murdoch UK editor Brooks: 'I sanctioned payments to officials' Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:55 AM PST  By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch's former British newspaper boss, told a London court on Thursday she had sanctioned payments to public officials "half a dozen times" but denied approving the illegal sums for which she is on trial. Brooks is accused of authorizing almost 40,000 pounds ($66,000) in illegal payments from a reporter on Murdoch's Sun tabloid to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) official while she was editor of the paper. However, the offence relating to authorizing illegal payments carries a potentially much lengthier jail sentence. Asked by her defence lawyer if she had ever sanctioned such payments, which is illegal, Brooks replied: "Yes, probably since I was deputy editor of the Sun, 1998 to 2009, a handful of occasions, half a dozen." "CHEAP AT THE PRICE" Brooks was asked about a series of stories she approved that the prosecution says relate to illegal payments by a Sun journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to an MoD official. Full Story | Top |
| Armed standoff in pro-Russian region raises Ukraine tension Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:53 PM PST By Alessandra Prentice and Alissa de Carbonnel SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The United States told Russia to demonstrate in coming days that it was sincere about its promise not to intervene in Ukraine, after armed men seized the regional parliament in a mainly ethnic Russian region and raised the Russian flag. Crimea, the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, is the last big bastion of opposition to the new leadership in Kiev since pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted at the weekend. Full Story | Top |
| Britain opens inquiry into letters to IRA suspects Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:25 AM PST  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Thursday an independent inquiry into letters sent to IRA suspects, after an angry response to the freeing of an Irishman accused of a 1982 bombing that killed four soldiers in London. Cameron said it was clear that there had been a "dreadful mistake" in the case of John Downey, who walked free from a London court this month because of a letter which mistakenly told him he was longer being sought for prosecution. Cameron said an independent judge with full access to government files and officials would lead the review and report back by the end of May. Britain's Northern Ireland Minister Theresa Villiers said the letters, 187 of which have been sent as part of a 1998 peace deal, tell their recipients that they are no longer being sought for prosecution but do not amount to immunity from arrest. Downey, 62, from County Donegal in Ireland, was charged with murdering four members of the Royal Household Cavalry who were killed 32 years ago when a car bomb exploded in Hyde Park as they paraded towards Buckingham Palace on July 20. Full Story | Top |
| Erdogan dares U.S.-based cleric: 'Do your politics in Turkey' Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 09:19 AM PST  By Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused a U.S.-based cleric of conspiring against him with the opposition by faking recordings, and dared him to "stand up in the squares" and do his politics in Turkey. An audio track purporting to be of Erdogan giving his son business advice was posted anonymously on YouTube on Wednesday, following one earlier in the week that fuelled a simmering government corruption scandal and unnerved markets. Addressing his first campaign rally for March's local elections since the recordings appeared, a combative Erdogan said Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen had collaborated with the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP) to spread the fabricated "montage". If your country is Turkey, then come back to your country," Erdogan told thousands of supporters in the southern town of Burdur, using Gulen's honorific title. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. core capital goods order up, but worries linger Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 08:42 AM PST  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods excluding transportation and a gauge of business spending unexpectedly rose in January, offering hopeful signs for factory activity which has slowed in recent months. Underlying strength in the economy, however, remains less than stellar at the start of the year," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders excluding transportation rose 1.1 percent, the largest increase since May, after falling 1.9 percent in December. Durable goods are items from toasters to aircraft meant to last three years or more. Full Story | Top |
| Brazil economy ends 2013 on an upbeat note, boosting Rousseff Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:58 AM PST  By Brian Winter and Silvio Cascione SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's economy ended 2013 on a upbeat note thanks to strong consumer spending and investment, providing a much-needed boost to President Dilma Rousseff as she tries to rebuild her credibility with business leaders and win re-election in October. Gross domestic product expanded 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter, government statistics institute IBGE said on Thursday. That was more than twice the amount expected by economists, and it pushed the economy to 2.3 percent growth for calendar year 2013. Such growth is a far cry from the dynamic 4 to 5 percent annual levels often seen in the last decade, when Chinese demand for commodities helped make Brazil a star among emerging markets. Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Merkel to Cameron: I can't satisfy all Britain's EU wishes Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 08:58 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Prime Minister David Cameron she did not support the kind of fundamental reform of the European Union he wanted, but said Britain should stay inside the bloc to help make it more competitive. In a speech to both houses of Britain's parliament - only the third time a German leader had spoken there since World War Two - Merkel, the leader of the EU's most powerful state, ruled out the prospect of a far-reaching overhaul of the bloc's treaties, signaling she was open to modest reforms only. "Some expect my speech to pave the way for a fundamental reform of the European architecture which will satisfy all kinds of alleged or actual British wishes. "Others are expecting the exact opposite and they are hoping that I will deliver the clear and simple message here in London that the rest of Europe is not prepared to pay almost any price to keep Britain in the European Union. Full Story | Top |
| Sears trims losses despite 'tough to terrible' holiday quarter Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 08:45 AM PST  Sears Holdings Corp said on Thursday its sales fell in a "tough-to-terrible" holiday quarter but store closures helped narrow its losses and it made progress in generating more business via the loyalty program it is betting its future on. While overall sales fell 13.6 percent to $10.59 billion during the quarter, it said U.S. comparable sales were positive so far in February at its Sears and Kmart discount stores. Sears said its comparable sales fell 7.8 percent at its namesake U.S. department stores, and 5.1 percent at Kmart for the quarter ended February 1. "We view the stock as significantly overvalued based on earnings and a declining asset value outlook," Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter said in a research note. Full Story | Top |
| Adopted children fight Irish state secrecy to find parents Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:51 AM PST  By Carmel Crimmins and Padraic Halpin OMAGH, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Catherine Droogan turns 40 this year. Adopted at four weeks from a convent in eastern Ireland, Droogan doesn't know who her parents were or where she was born. Lying on her kitchen table in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh is a one-page document that the state has given her about her parents, containing what's known as "non-identifying information". It took her a year to get from Ireland's health service and tells her that her father was a blue-eyed factory worker in his early 20s, and her mother was a catering assistant who liked to read and dance. Full Story | Top |
| China's Xi to run Internet security body: state media Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 07:09 AM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is to take the reins of a government body for Internet security and aims to turn China into a "cyber power", official state media reported on Thursday, as the country steadily tightens its grip online. Since coming to power, Xi has presided over an intensifying online crackdown that has drawn criticism from rights groups and dissidents at home and abroad. China has also faced growing accusations of carrying out state-sponsored hacking attacks around the world, charges the government strongly denies. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan government troops, rebels may have committed war crimes: HRW Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 06:31 AM PST  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan's government troops and rebel forces have committed serious abuses that may amount to war crimes during fighting in two oil-producing regions, with patients too weak to flee shot in their beds, according to rights and humanitarian groups. "A clear pattern of reprisal killings based on ethnicity, massive destruction, and widespread looting has emerged in this conflict," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Thursday. The medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported "scenes of horror" in the regional capital Malakal. "Malakal is deserted, with houses burned throughout and countless dead bodies strewn in the streets," said Carlos Francisco, MSF's emergency coordinator in Malakal. Full Story | Top |
| RBS seeks to regain Britons' trust after $13.6 billion loss Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 03:23 AM PST  By Matt Scuffham and Steve Slater LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland launched a campaign to transform itself from pariah to trusted British lender by slashing costs and repositioning itself as a UK-focused retail and commercial bank. New chief executive Ross McEwan is under pressure to restore RBS's reputation with the general public and its political masters after a torrid year of fines, customer complaints and technology problems. "We are the least trusted bank in the least trusted sector in the marketplace," McEwan told reporters on Thursday. We are too expensive, we are too bureaucratic and we need to change." The bank posted an 8.2 billion pound ($13.64 billion) loss for 2013 due to restructuring costs and misconduct charges. Full Story | Top |
| North Korea releases video of missionary from South accused of spying Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:29 AM PST  A South Korean missionary held in North Korea said he had committed crimes against the state in a bid to establish an underground church, according to video footage provided by the North's state news agency on Thursday. The South Korean missionary, identified by the North as Kim Jong Uk, 50, spoke at what appeared to be a stage-managed news conference from beneath portraits of North Korea's former leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung. "Since I first arrived in Dandong, China, in August 2007, I had thought a lot about sneaking into Pyongyang," Kim said in the video. Full Story | Top |
| Two years after Concordia wreck, captain returns aboard Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 04:13 AM PST  By Silvia Ognibene GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - The captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, went back on board on Thursday for the first time since the huge cruise liner sank with the loss of 32 lives just over two years ago, accompanying experts investigating the capsize. Schettino, who faces multiple charges including manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, went aboard the vessel with a expert team appointed by the court but is only present as a defendant and is taking no active part in the investigation. Residents of Giglio, a tiny island that lives off tourism, are impatient to see the wreck towed away and reaction to Schettino's visit was largely "indifferent", the mayor of Giglio, Sergio Ortelli said. "I don't why he wanted to come here, maybe to see things," said Ariento Italo, a resident. Full Story | Top |
| NATO to plan for all options in Afghanistan, including 'zero option' Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 05:04 AM PST  NATO defense ministers agreed on Thursday to plan for all options for the alliance's future presence in Afghanistan, including the possibility it may have to pull out all its troops at the end of this year, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday. NATO has been planning to keep a slimmed-down force in Afghanistan after the end of this year to train and assist Afghan forces, but NATO and U.S. officials say President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a security agreement with the United States could force it to pull out all its troops. "Today we agreed the need to plan for all possible outcomes including the possibility that we may not be able to deploy to Afghanistan after 2014 due to the persistent delays we have seen," NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen told a news conference. Full Story | Top |
| Crimea is bastion of resistance to Ukraine's new rulers Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 06:50 AM PST  By Alessandra Prentice SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Waving the Russian flag and chanting "Russia! Russia!", protesters in Crimea have become the last major bastion of resistance to Ukraine's new rulers. President Viktor Yanukovich's overthrow on Saturday has been accepted across the vast country, even in his power base in the Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine. But Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula attached to the rest of Ukraine by just a narrow strip of land, is alone so far in challenging the new order. As the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority, and a home to Russia's Black Sea fleet, the strategically important territory is also now the focus of a battle between Russia and the West over the future of Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.N. nuclear agency opted against sensitive Iran report - sources Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:46 AM PST  By Fredrik Dahl and Louis Charbonneau VIENNA/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog planned a major report on Iran that might have revealed more of its suspected atomic bomb research, but held off as Tehran's relations with the outside world thawed, sources familiar with the matter said. Such a report - to have been prepared last year - would almost certainly have angered Iran and complicated efforts to settle a decade-old dispute over its atomic aspirations, moves which accelerated after pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani took office in August. There was no immediate comment from the IAEA. The sources said there was no way of knowing what information collected by the agency since it issued a landmark report on Iran in 2011 might have been incorporated in the new document, although one said it could have added to worries about Tehran's activities. Full Story | Top |
| Thai PM faces negligence charges as protest leader broaches talks Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:17 AM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Chaiwat Subprasom BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's anti-corruption agency weighed charges of negligence against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday as the leader of protests aimed at forcing her from power suggested a televised debate after weeks of refusing to talk. More than 300 government supporters gathered outside the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in north Bangkok where the charges were due to be discussed with Yingluck's lawyers, as riot police stood guard inside the complex. Yingluck, who has stayed mostly out of Bangkok in recent days, did not attend. The anti-government protesters elsewhere in the city, whose disruption of a general election this month has left Thailand in paralysis, want to topple Yingluck and erase the influence of her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen by many as the real power in the country. Full Story | Top |
| Hilton revenue jumps as occupancy, room rates rise Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 03:54 AM PST  (Reuters) - Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, the world's largest hotel operator, reported a 13 percent rise in quarterly revenue as increasing business and leisure travel pushed up occupancy and room rates. Net income attributable to stockholders fell to $26 million, or 3 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended December 31 from $61 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier. PricewaterhouseCoopers said in December it expected room rates and occupancy to rise further in 2014. RevPAR is calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate by its occupancy rate. Full Story | Top |
| China's official PMI seen hitting eight-month low Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:58 AM PST  By Adam Rose BEIJING (Reuters) - China's factory activity likely expanded only slightly in February, a Reuters poll showed, dropping to an eight-month low that would indicate a modest slowdown is continuing. China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) may slip to 50.1, down from January's 50.5, according to the median forecast of 12 economists in the poll. A preliminary survey released last week by HSBC and Markit Economics showed that the factory sector activity hit a seven-month low of 48.3, from 49.5 in January. "Usually we observe if the HSBC PMI has seen such a big decline, then the official one will also see a similar downward trend, but not as bad," said Wei Yao, China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. envoy tells China, Japan to lower temperature in sea row Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:29 AM PST  By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Japan must ease tension in the disputed East China Sea to avoid severe "unintended consequences", U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke said on Thursday, days before he steps down as Washington's first Chinese-American envoy in Beijing. Asia's two largest economies have been locked in a war of words after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on December 26, which China sees as a symbol of militarism because it honors wartime leaders along with millions of war dead. "The last thing we need is some unintended incident that leads to unintended consequences, very severe consequences," Locke, who departs China on Saturday to be replaced by U.S. Senator Max Baucus, told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico president sees no swift extradition of kingpin Guzman Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 09:44 PM PST  Captured Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman faces an outstanding jail term in Mexico and any extradition to the United States is likely to take time, President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Wednesday. In an interview with broadcaster Univision, Pena Nieto suggested that Guzman, who was Mexico's most wanted man when he was arrested in the northwest of the country on Saturday, was unlikely to be handed over to the United States quickly. "The process of extradition can take time," he said, noting that Mexico's attorney general's office would need to consider a request on the basis of investigations it was carrying out against Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001. Guzman headed the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico and was responsible for a huge chunk of the cocaine, heroin and other drugs trafficked north to the United States. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. high court sets record for intellectual property caseload Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 10:03 PM PST By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sign of the growing struggles that judges face applying old laws to new technology, the U.S. Supreme Court this year is hearing the highest proportion of intellectual property cases in its history. In the court's nine-month term ending in June, the justices will decide eight cases on intellectual property issues: six on patent law, two of which were argued on Wednesday, and two on copyright law. The court heard three or four cases each of the previous three terms, according to data compiled by Edward Lee, a professor at Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, and the court heard even fewer in the previous decade: two or three per term. Intellectual property law, which includes patents, copyright and trademarks, has been around for centuries, but in recent decades it has become increasingly important for U.S. businesses, especially in globally competitive areas of the economy such as the technology industry. Full Story | Top |
| New Ukraine ministers proposed, Russian troops on alert Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 06:23 AM PST  By Alessandra Prentice and Richard Balmforth SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine/KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's protest leaders named the ministers they want to form a new government following the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovich, as an angry Russia put 150,000 troops on high alert in a show of strength. President Vladimir Putin's order on Wednesday for soldiers to be ready for war games near Ukraine was the Kremlin's boldest gesture yet after days of sabre rattling since its ally Yanukovich was ousted at the weekend. Moscow denied that the previously unannounced drill in its western military district was linked to events in its neighbor but it came amid a series of increasingly strident statements about the fate of Russian citizens and interests. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Moscow that "any kind of military intervention that would violate the sovereign territorial integrity of Ukraine would be a huge - a grave mistake". Full Story | Top |
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