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| Grenade attack on Thai anti-graft office ahead of PM hearing Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 08:49 PM PDT By Panarat Thepgumpanat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Grenades were thrown at the offices of Thailand's anti-corruption agency, which has summoned the prime minister to answer charges of dereliction of duty next week, as protesters trying to oust her prepared for a big weekend rally. Supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra have been demonstrating at the building this week. The National Anti-Corruption Commission is examining the alleged failure of Yingluck to stop corruption and stem huge losses in a government rice-buying program. It is widely expected to recommend her impeachment by the Senate. Full Story | Top |
| As landslide risks remain, Washington state residents stay put Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 08:32 PM PDT By Jonathan Kaminsky DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Ken Root used to live just five minutes west of Steelhead Drive, an idyllic spot on the North Fork Stillaguamish River in Washington state that was washed away in a deadly landslide last Saturday. Root was just one of as many as 30,000 inhabitants of hilly Snohomish County - equal to 5 percent of the total county population - who are exposed to some kind of landslide risk, according to a report commissioned by the county in 2010. Because of glacial sediment and sand, vast tracts of Washington state are susceptible to landslides, said Daniel Miller, a geomorphologist who wrote a study of the Oso area in 1999 and warned of potential catastrophe. "Here in Washington, right around Seattle, there are areas that are built on sand. Full Story | Top |
| Mudslide deaths expected to soar; some question disaster response Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 08:32 PM PDT  By Jonathan Kaminsky DARRINGTON, Washington (Reuters) - Rescuers searching for 90 people still missing five days after a massive mudslide in Washington state braced the public on Thursday for an impending steep rise in the death toll even as they sought to deflect criticism about the early disaster response. Only the first 16 victims recovered and examined by coroners have been formally counted among the dead, though local fire district chief Travis Hots said that figure would soon climb sharply higher. Snohomish County officials said on Wednesday about 90 people remained missing, down from 176, and Hots said on Thursday the revised figure was holding. Full Story | Top |
| Quebec separatist leader says referendum not wanted, for now Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 08:22 PM PDT  By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Quebec citizens do not want a referendum on leaving Canada at the moment, separatist leader Pauline Marois said on Thursday, repeating that as long as that is the case she would not launch one if she is re-elected premier of the province. "At this point, I know very well that Quebeckers do not want a referendum, and if they don't want one I will be capable of listening to them." The question of whether Quebec would head into a third referendum on leaving Canada has emerged as the dominant question of the election campaign and has cut into support for her separatist Parti Quebecois. It had sought to focus on issues other than independence, but after media magnate Pierre Karl Peladeau joined her team with the cry that he wanted to make Quebec a country, her party fell behind the pro-Canada Liberal Party of Quebec. Voila!" interjected Liberal leader Philippe Couillard after she added the conditional phrase "as long as Quebeckers are not ready." He insisted that people know she will bring in a referendum if she wins a majority of seats in the Quebec legislature. Full Story | Top |
| Search for lost Malaysian jet shifts significantly after new lead Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 08:04 PM PDT  By Lincoln Feast and Michael Martina SYDNEY/PERTH (Reuters) - Australian authorities said on Friday they were shifting the focus of their Indian Ocean search for the wreckage of Malaysia's missing jet, moving it 1,100 km (685 miles) to the northeast after receiving new information from Malaysia. For more than a week, ships and surveillance planes have been scouring seas 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, where satellite images had suggested there could be debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 with 239 people aboard. The dramatic shift in the search area was based on analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. At that time, the Boeing 777 was making a radical diversion west from its course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Full Story | Top |
| China sacks ally of former security chief as graft probe widens Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:57 PM PDT  A former aide to China's retired domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang was sacked on Thursday after authorities opened a corruption probe, state media said, the latest move targeting associates of Zhou, who is also under investigation for graft. The official Xinhua news agency said Ji Wenlin had been removed from his post as a vice governor of the southern island province of Hainan. The ruling Communist Party's anti-corruption watchdog announced in February that Ji was being investigated for suspected serious breaches of party discipline and the law, the usual euphemism it uses for graft. President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning corruption is a threat to the Communist Party's survival. Full Story | Top |
| UK retail sales jump in February, boding well for first-quarter growth Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:53 PM PDT  By Ana Nicolaci da Costa and William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) - British retail sales rose much faster than forecast in February, suggesting that the economy's solid recovery extended into the first quarter of the year, official data showed on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Scottish financiers back independence as means of staying in EU Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:51 PM PDT  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - A group of Scottish financiers came out in support of independence on Thursday to counter a flood of warnings over Scotland going it alone, cautioning that staying within the United Kingdom could mean losing European Union membership. George Mathewson, former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland and chairman of Toscafund, and five other current and former Scottish financial players raised the possible risks of remaining in the United Kingdom in a letter to a newspaper. Their positive view of a solo Scotland comes after a string of banks and financial services companies raised concerns over a vote for independence at a referendum on September 18, citing uncertainty over the currency, regulation and EU membership. Full Story | Top |
| Qatari sentenced to death for murder of British woman Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:49 PM PDT A Qatari court sentenced a local man to death for the murder of a British school teacher and gave another Qatari man a three-year jail term for helping the killer, in verdicts handed down on Thursday. British media said in October that Lauren Patterson, a 24-year-old primary teacher at a British school in the Gulf Arab state, went missing after being seen with two men at a nightclub in the capital, Doha. In a statement issued by the Foreign Office, Patterson's mother said justice had been served on Badr Hashim Khamis Abdullah al-Jaber, who was sentenced to death. But Alison Patterson said the accomplice, Muhammad Abdullah Hassan Abdul Aziz, had not faced adequate justice. Full Story | Top |
| South Korea sends back stray North Korean fishing boat Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:38 PM PDT South Korea on Friday sent back a North Korean fishing boat that had drifted across a disputed maritime border off the west coast, the defense ministry said, defusing tensions in an area which has been the scene of deadly clashes in recent years. South Korea's military had seized the boat after it ignored warnings to retreat, but later confirmed the vessel had experienced engine failure and the three crewmen had no wish to defect to the South, a ministry official said. The incident came as the North faced renewed pressure from the international community after it fired two mid-range missiles on Wednesday just as the leaders of the South, Japan and the United States pledged to curb its arms ambitions. North Korea refuses to recognize the so-called Northern Limit Line that has been the naval border since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Full Story | Top |
| Coroner records open verdict on death of Russian oligarch Berezovsky Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:30 PM PDT  By Toby Melville WINDSOR, England (Reuters) - A coroner said on Thursday he could not be sure if exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky killed himself at his former wife's British home or was the victim of foul play. Berezovsky, a sworn enemy of President Vladimir Putin, was found dead in March last year with a scarf tied around his neck in the bathroom of a luxury mansion in Ascot, an affluent English town near The Queen's Windsor Castle, west of London. The family of the 67-year-old tycoon, once one of Russia's most powerful figures who wielded immense influence for a decade after the Soviet Union's collapse, feared he might have been murdered by his enemies in Russia. Pathologists at the inquest, held in Britain when someone dies in unexplained circumstances, gave differing views on the cause of death. Full Story | Top |
| Paper says FCA to check 30 million 'zombie fund' policies for rip-offs Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:28 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will announce next week that it is to check 30 million policies sold between the Seventies and 2000 to determine whether customers have been exploited, a British newspaper said. The FCA review, which will begin this summer, is concerned about insurers using returns from "zombie" funds — which are closed to new customers — to cover costs from other parts of their businesses, the Telegraph said on its website. Details of the inquiry, will look into pensions, endowments, investment bonds and life insurance sold by doorstep salesmen, will be included in the FCA's annual business plan on Monday, the Telegraph said. The FCA could not be reached outside of regular business hours. Full Story | Top |
| China's Baidu defeats U.S. lawsuit over censored search results Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:16 PM PDT  By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese Internet company Baidu Inc on Thursday won the dismissal of a U.S. lawsuit by pro-democracy activists who complained that Baidu illegally suppressed political speech on China's most widely used Internet search engine. Eight New York writers and video producers had accused Baidu of creating search engine algorithms, at the behest of China, to block users in the United States from viewing articles, videos and other information advocating greater democracy in China. The plaintiffs said this kept Baidu users from seeing their work, unlike users of other search engines such as Google and Microsoft's Bing. Full Story | Top |
| Judge rejects ABC News bid to throw out 'pink slime' lawsuit Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:15 PM PDT  ABC News has failed to persuade a South Dakota state judge to dismiss a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit by a meat processor complaining about a series of reports that referred to its signature product as "pink slime." Judge Cheryle Gering of the Union County Circuit Court ruled on Thursday that Beef Products Inc may pursue most of its case against ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, and others including news anchor Diane Sawyer and reporter Jim Avila. BPI claimed that ABC harmed its reputation and cost sales by mischaracterizing its "lean finely textured beef" as "pink slime" in reports aired in March and April 2012. "For example, the use of the term 'pink slime' with a food product can be reasonably interpreted as implying that the food product is not meat and is not fit to eat, which are objective facts which can be proven," the judge wrote. Full Story | Top |
| March consumer sentiment hits highest since mid-2007 - GfK Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:01 PM PDT  Consumer sentiment rose in March to its highest level since around the start of the financial crisis in 2007, a survey from researchers GfK showed on Friday. GfK's headline consumer confidence index rose to -5 this month, its highest reading since August 2007, from -7 in February. "The current long-term trend is very strongly positive," said Nick Moon, managing director of social research at GfK. "People are now on balance more positive than negative about their own financial prospects over the next year, and it is unlikely that anything announced in the recent (government) budget will reverse this." Chancellor George Osborne courted voters ahead of an election in 2015 with a budget that promised help for savers, tax breaks for manufacturers and lower levies on beer and bingo. Full Story | Top |
| Fed's Evans sees no rate hike until 'well into' 2015 Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:47 PM PDT  By Michael Flaherty HONG KONG (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve will need to keep rates at rock bottom until late 2015, a top Fed official said on Friday. Raising rates earlier, whether to head off the risk of financial instability or unacceptably high inflation, could dangerously depress already low inflation and derail a recovery that is finally gaining steam, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said in remarks prepared for delivery in Hong Kong. Full Story | Top |
| State regulators hire outside lawyer for dispute with SEC Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:33 PM PDT  By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State securities regulators have hired a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer to help them win a rare and high-stakes jurisdictional dispute with the SEC. The North American Securities Administrators Association, or NASAA, recently tapped former SEC enforcement lawyer Tom Sporkin to help respond to an SEC proposal on small public stock offerings that the state group says defies the will of Congress, exceeds the SEC's authority and reduces state policing powers. Sporkin, a partner at BuckleySandler LLP in Washington, spent nearly 20 years at the SEC, including a stint as director of the Office of Market Intelligence, a triage center for handling the SEC's tips and complaints. Full Story | Top |
| Team to re-enter New Mexico nuclear waste site after radiation leak Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:23 PM PDT An investigative team plans to re-enter an underground nuclear waste site in New Mexico next week for the first time since an accidental release of unsafe levels of radiation there last month, a U.S. Energy Department official said Thursday. U.S. authorities now say that 21 workers at the Carlsbad-area "waste isolation pilot project" (WIPP) were exposed to radiation after the accidental leak from the site, which stores waste from U.S. nuclear labs and weapons production facilities. Eight workers will test air for contamination as they seek to make their way into an ancient salt formation half a mile below ground where radioactive waste is stored, Energy Department spokesman Bradley Bugger said in a statement. Testing of surface air in and around the Energy Department complex has shown elevated levels of radiation since the mishap, but those have steadily decreased. Full Story | Top |
| Connecticut becomes first state to pass $10.10 minimum wage Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:20 PM PDT By Richard Weizel MILFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy on Thursday signed into law a measure that will phase in the highest minimum wage of any U.S. state, in line with a push by Democrats nationwide to raise the entry-level wage. The bill, which was approved by state legislators a day earlier, will raise the state's minimum hourly rate to $10.10, a figure that matches what U.S. President Barack Obama has asked Congress to consider imposing nationally. Malloy signed the legislation on Thursday evening in the same New Britain diner where he appeared earlier this month with Obama and three other New England governors: Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. All are Democrats who have pushed to raise the minimum wage in their states. Full Story | Top |
| Labour's Miliband will vow to protect small firms from energy companies - BBC Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:11 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Ed Miliband, the leader of Labour party, will detail plans on Friday for a regulator to protect small businesses from "unacceptable" treatment by energy firms, the BBC reported, without citing sources. Under the plan, the new energy regulator will be able to enforce a ban on suppliers from charging firms more expensive tariffs without their consent, and imposing retrospective back-billing for periods of longer than a year. Miliband will tell the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) that firms should have the same level of protection as consumers, and promise organisations like the FSB legal rights to take cases to court on behalf of their members, the broadcaster said on its website. The Labour party could not be reached for comment outside of regular business hours. Full Story | Top |
| California case challenges teacher job protection laws Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:10 PM PDT By Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Incompetent teachers in California are holding back poor and minority children, an attorney for several students said on Thursday in closing arguments for a closely watched trial that could change the way public school teachers are hired and fired in the most populous U.S. state. The lawsuit, opposed by teacher union leaders and the state, comes at a time of bitter political wrangling over how best to reinvigorate a U.S. public school system that leaves American children lagging counterparts in countries such as Finland and South Korea. The two-month trial has focused on whether five laws meant to protect teachers' jobs are unfair to poor and minority students by putting them at a disproportionately greater risk of being taught by less effective teachers. "We know that grossly ineffective teachers harm students," plaintiffs' attorney Ted Boutros said before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Full Story | Top |
| Indicted California state senator ends Secretary of State campaign Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:09 PM PDT  By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A prominent state senator withdrew from a race for California Secretary of State on Thursday, a day after he was arrested by FBI agents and charged with corruption and conspiring to import and traffic firearms, his attorney said. Democratic state Senator Leland Yee said he would end his campaign to become California's chief elections officer in a letter submitted to Secretary of State Debra Bowen's office on Thursday, his attorney Paul DeMeester told reporters. A former San Francisco supervisor and one-time mayoral candidate, Yee had been considered a strong candidate for the seat, but now risks becoming the first California state senator ever suspended. "This was a very personal decision on the part of the senator," DeMeester told a news conference. Full Story | Top |
| Judge rules Goldman must face lawsuit over mortgage securities Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:08 PM PDT  By Dena Aubin NEW YORK (Reuters) - A proposed class action by a Detroit pension fund accusing Goldman Sachs of misleading investors about mortgage-backed securities can go forward, a federal judge has ruled. Filed in 2010 by Detroit's police and fire retirement system, the lawsuit accused Goldman of misrepresenting the standards used to qualify borrowers for mortgage loans that were pooled into securities and bought by the fund. The lawsuit is one of thousands filed against Goldman and other banks over mortgage securities that collapsed in value in the wake of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Full Story | Top |
| Japan February consumer inflation steady, spending hit by weather Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:58 PM PDT  By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer prices rose for a ninth straight month in March from a year earlier and labor demand improved - further evidence the economy is making headway against years of deflation and stagnation. Ministry of Finance data showed household spending and retail sales weakened in February as snowstorms across Japan kept many consumers at home, but there are already signs that sales are accelerating this month as shoppers rush to beat a sales tax hike on April 1. The dip in consumer spending may be disappointing to some, but continued tightness in the labor market could bolster expectations that the economy can weather the sales tax rise to 8 percent from 5 percent, and rebound after a temporary slump in the April-June quarter. "The gradual increase in prices is consistent with a narrowing in the negative output gap," said Hiroaki Muto, senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management. Full Story | Top |
| Texas executes man who killed food delivery woman with bat Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:54 PM PDT  By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas executed convicted murderer Anthony Doyle on Thursday as it kept the pace of executions steady while other states have had to postpone capital punishments because they cannot obtain drugs used in lethal injections. Doyle was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m. CDT (2349 GMT) at the state's death chamber in Huntsville after receiving a lethal injection. He did not make a last statement, a Department of Criminal Justice spokesman said. Texas, which has executed more people than any other state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, has obtained a fresh batch of its execution drug pentobarbital, the Department of Criminal Justice said this month, without revealing the source. Full Story | Top |
| Russian-U.S. crew makes belated arrival at space station Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:50 PM PDT  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Russian spaceship carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut made a belated arrival at the International Space Station on Thursday, returning the orbital outpost to full staff. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and NASA astronaut Steven Swanson blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket two days ago from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The cause of the skipped rocket firing remains under investigation, said NASA mission commentator Rob Navias. Full Story | Top |
| Syria refugee crisis poses major threat to Lebanese stability: U.N. Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:45 PM PDT  By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An influx of almost 1 million refugees from Syria into neighboring Lebanon poses a serious threat to the already fragile country, but donor nations may not grasp the potential impact of further destabilization, a U.N. official said on Thursday. "There is not a single country in the world today that is shouldering as much in proportion to its size as Lebanon," said Ninette Kelley, regional representative for Lebanon for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "If this country is not bolstered, then the very real prospect of it collapsing and the conflict of Syria spreading full force to Lebanon becomes much more likely," she said during a visit to Washington. Last month, top U.N. officials said that as Syria's grinding conflict enters its fourth bloody year, Syrians are set to replace Afghans as the world's largest refugee population. Full Story | Top |
| Navy's Sikorsky helicopters cancellation would cost government $250 million: Levin Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:39 PM PDT The U.S. Navy's plan to cancel an order for 29 MH-60 Sikorsky helicopters under a current five-year agreement would trigger termination fees of at least $250 million and raise the cost of Army helicopters covered by the same contract, a top U.S. senator said Thursday. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, criticized the Navy's plan to "break" the multi-year purchase agreement during a hearing on the Navy and Marine Corps budget requests. Levin dismissed the Navy's claim that scrapping the fiscal 2016 order of helicopters was related to the planned retirement of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, noting that each carrier had only five MH-60 helicopters on board. The Navy had no immediate comment on the amount of the projected termination fee. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. warns of increasing militant links between Iraq, Syria Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:33 PM PDT By Mirjam Donath UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Thursday warned about Islamist militant networks increasingly forging links across the border of Syria and Iraq, which is fueling sectarian tensions in a region that has suffered from years of bloodshed. Violence in Iraq reached new highs in 2013, when nearly 8,000 civilians were killed. Its political elite remains deeply divided along sectarian lines, as it has been since after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 11 years ago this month. "The ongoing conflict in Syria has added a regional dimension to sectarian tensions and is affording terrorist networks the occasion to forge links across the border and expand their support base," U.N. special envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov told the 15-nation Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| Fed's Tarullo defends tough rules for foreign banks Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:21 PM PDT  A top U.S. regulator gave a spirited defense on Thursday of new rules forcing foreign banks to hold more capital in their U.S. units, after overseas firms and regulators criticized the requirements. Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said the rules are necessary to protect the U.S. financial system from another meltdown like the 2007-2009 crisis. "Of course, a few foreign banks would prefer the old system under which they held relatively little capital in their very extensive U.S. operations," Tarullo said in a speech at a Harvard Law School event in Armonk, New York. But after hundreds of foreign banks needed emergency loans from the Fed during the meltdown, regulators changed tactics. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. appeals court upholds restrictive Texas abortion law Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:10 PM PDT By Jon Herskovitz and Lisa Maria Garza AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court upheld a Texas law on Thursday that places restrictions on abortions, saying a provision requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital was a reasonable regulation. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found on Thursday that a federal judge erred last year in blocking the law. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to go into effect but had sent parts of the case back to the appeals court for review. The law requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges, the ability to admit a patient for treatment at a hospital usually by being recognized as a doctor who can use hospital facilities, at an adequately equipped hospital within 30 miles of their practice. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. Security Council members condemn North Korea missile launch Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:10 PM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Members of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday condemned North Korea's recent ballistic missile launch as a violation of U.N. resolutions and will continue discussions on an "appropriate response", the council president said. The remarks were made by Luxembourg's U.N. Ambassador Sylvie Lucas, president of the 15-nation Security Council for the month of March, after a closed-door meeting on North Korea requested by the United States. "Members of the Security Council condemned this launch as a violation of Security Council resolution(s)," she said. "Council members agreed to consult on an appropriate response." "There was unanimous condemnation of the launches," Lucas told reporters, adding that, "We also all agreed that this response should be given quickly." North Korea fired two medium-range Rodong ballistic missiles into the sea at 2:35 a.m. Japan and Korea time on Wednesday (1735 GMT Tuesday), Tokyo and Seoul said. Full Story | Top |
| Brazil's president loses support but on track to win re-election Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:02 PM PDT  By Paulo Prada RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Popular support for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has faltered ahead of the October 5 presidential election, a poll showed Thursday, but the leftist leader remains favored to win a second term. Hurt by a sluggish economy, high inflation and a scandal surrounding Brazil's state-run oil company, Rousseff's personal approval rating has dropped to 51 percent from 56 percent in November, the survey by the Ibope polling institute and Brazil's National Industry Confederation showed. "It shows that 2014 is going to be a hard year for the government," said Rafael Cortez, a political analyst with Tendencias, a consultancy in São Paulo. "All these negative issues are hurting her image as a candidate." Although Rousseff and her ruling Workers' Party still enjoy widespread support because of economic gains made during the administration of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, her mentor and predecessor, Rousseff is currently presiding over the fourth year of lackluster growth in Latin America's largest economy. Full Story | Top |
| Smoking bans cut premature births and child asthma attacks Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:02 PM PDT By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Banning smoking in public places has helped to cut premature births by 10 percent, according to new research from the United States and Europe. A study in The Lancet medical journal found that while the impact of anti-smoking laws varies between countries, the overall effect on child health around the world is positive. "Our research shows that smoking bans are an effective way to protect the health of our children," said Jasper Been of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences, who led the study. Laws banning smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, offices and other workplaces have already been proven in previous studies to protect adults from the health threats associated with passive smoking. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysian jet search resumes, U.S. sends second Poseidon plane Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 04:59 PM PDT  The disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines jet, which vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a routine flight to Beijing on March 8, has gripped the world and baffled investigators. The search zone centers on the latest sightings of possible wreckage that were captured by Thai and Japanese satellites in roughly the same frigid expanse of sea as earlier images reported by France, Australia and China. Full Story | Top |
| Lawmakers press Obama administration on Sallie Mae contract renewal Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 04:23 PM PDT By Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Thursday grilled an Obama administration official on the government's decision to renew a contract with student loan servicing company SLM Corp, the subject of numerous government investigations. "Sallie Mae has repeatedly broken the rules and violated its contracts with the government, and yet Sallie Mae continues to make millions on its federal contracts with the Department of Education," Warren said of SLM, popularly known as Sallie Mae. A spokeswoman for Sallie Mae, Patricia Christel, commented in an email to Reuters: "Americans with federal loans serviced by Sallie Mae are 30 percent less likely to default than others. Sallie Mae, the largest U.S. student loan provider, serviced 5.7 million student loan accounts on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education as of December 2013, according to a company spokeswoman. Full Story | Top |
| Florida non-citizen voter purge postponed: elections official Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 04:14 PM PDT  By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott's administration is abandoning its renewed effort to remove non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls, the state's top elections official announced on Thursday. Secretary of State Ken Detzner, in a memo to county election supervisors, said the latest attempt at a purge, which two years ago set off a number of legal challenges from voting rights groups, would be postponed until next year. The decision comes after Scott, a Republican, faced heavy criticism over Florida's attempts to identify people who are not American citizens on voter lists months ahead of the 2012 presidential elections. Running for re-election this year, Scott has repeatedly said the aim of his efforts is to protect the integrity of the voter rolls. Full Story | Top |
| Judge says U.S. fraud case vs. Bank of America should be tossed Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 04:08 PM PDT  A federal judge has recommended dismissal of a U.S. government lawsuit accusing Bank of America Corp of defrauding investors into buying about $855 million of mortgage securities that soured during the global financial crisis. If it stands, Thursday's ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge David Cayer in Charlotte, North Carolina could mark a serious setback for the U.S. Department of Justice in its effort to fight fraud in the sale of mortgage securities. Cayer said the government fell short of demonstrating that any false statements the bank may have made were material, or that the governing law covered the securities sales. Less than two hours later, the Justice Department filed court papers saying it plans to object to Cayer's findings. Full Story | Top |
| NFL's Rice indicted on assault charge after fight with fiancée Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 04:08 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The National Football League's Ray Rice, a Pro Bowl running back, was indicted on Thursday on a charge of aggravated assault after his arrest last month for fighting with his fiancée in an Atlantic City casino, the county prosecutor's office said. Police arrested Rice, who plays for the Baltimore Ravens and is known for his anti-bullying advocacy, and his fiancée, Janay Palmer, shortly before 3 a.m. on February 15 at the Revel Casino and Hotel, charging them both with simple assault. The Ravens released a statement on its website supporting Rice. "We know there is more to Ray Rice than this one incident." A three-time Pro Bowl player, Rice signed a five-year, $35 million contract with the Ravens in 2012 and helped Baltimore to a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers at the end of that season. Full Story | Top |
| The great Indian election: it's about jobs Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 04:06 PM PDT  By Frank Jack Daniel and Rajesh Kumar Singh PATNA, India (Reuters) - Old enough to vote for the first time, student Sheeba Shamim, the daughter of a middle class family, and young construction workers sweating on a nearby building site are impatient for a government in India that delivers jobs and hope for the future. The election comes as India struggles through its longest period of sub-5 percent economic growth since the 1980s. Shamim, a 20-year-old undergraduate in media studies at university in Patna, the capital of Bihar, one of the states that make up India's Hindi speaking heartland, is hungry for change. "I want India to become the world's biggest economy. Full Story | Top |
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