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| NBA investigating if Clippers owner made racist comments on tape Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 09:16 PM PDT (Repeats with no chances) By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES, April 26 (Reuters) - The NBA is investigating an audio recording posted online of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling allegedly telling his girlfriend not to post photographs of herself with black people and not to bring African-Americans to Clippers games, league officials said on Saturday. Celebrity news site TMZ.com published the 10-minute recording on its website late on Friday, describing it as a taped conversation between the billionaire Sterling and a model who goes by the name V. Stiviano. "The audio recording posted by TMZ is truly offensive and disturbing, and we intend to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at a news conference on Saturday night. Clippers all-star player Chris Paul called the tape "a very serious issue," and the Miami Heat's LeBron James was quoted as saying there was "no room for Donald Sterling in our league." It was not immediately clear when and how the conversation was recorded. Full Story | Top |
| Motorist plucks crawling boy to safety from busy Utah road Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 08:13 PM PDT A 1-year-old child who got out of his backyard and crawled onto a four-lane road in Utah is home safe with his family after being saved by a motorist, police said on Saturday. The boy had been playing with his 7-year-old sister on Friday evening before he crawled onto a busy state street in Brigham City, Utah, where the speed limit is 40 miles per hour, police Lieutenant Dennis Vincent said. Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Japan unlikely to wrap up trade deal by May TPP talks: Japan official Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 07:45 PM PDT  By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and the United States have found "common ground" to forge a two-way trade deal, but may not be able to resolve remaining sticking points in time for a mid-May meeting of top negotiators seeking a broad regional deal, a senior Japanese official said. Marathon talks during U.S. President Barack Obama's state visit to Tokyo last week yielded progress - hailed by the two sides as a "key milestone" - but the two sides stopped short of announcing a deal vital to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-nation bloc that would extend from Asia to Latin America. The upbeat tone, however, was a contrast to the emphasis on "gaps" after previous rounds of talks on a bilateral deal that has been stalemated by differences over access to Japan's agriculture market and both countries' car markets. "What Obama's visit produced after many lengthy negotiations was a common ground on which the two sides believe we can continue to work to find a mutually acceptable solution," the senior Japanese official told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| South Korean PM resigns over government response to ferry disaster Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 07:41 PM PDT  By Narae Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won announced his resignation on Sunday over the government response to the ferry disaster, in which it was first announced that everyone had been rescued, focusing attention on poor regulatory controls. More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers on a field trip from the Danwon High School on the outskirts of Seoul, have died or are missing and presumed dead. South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy and one of its leading manufacturing and export powerhouses, has developed into one of the world's most technically advanced countries, but faces criticism that regulatory controls have not kept pace. Chung's resignation has to be approved by President Park Geun-hye, who has the most power in government. Full Story | Top |
| Longtime bachelor George Clooney engaged to British lawyer: reports Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 06:05 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Hollywood leading man George Clooney, who has said he was not suited for marriage, is engaged to British lawyer Amal Alamuddin, according to media reports on Saturday. Alamuddin, 36, was spotted last week wearing a large ring at a Los Angeles restaurant where she and Clooney, 52, were apparently celebrating their engagement with friends, People magazine reported, citing anonymous sources. Clooney's representative, Stan Rosenfield, did not respond to an email from Reuters seeking confirmation. Clooney and Alamuddin have been dating since October, according to media reports. Full Story | Top |
| New Mexico dig uncovers 'E.T.' video games buried after 1980s flop Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 05:56 PM PDT  By Joseph J. Kolb ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Documentary filmmakers digging in a New Mexico landfill on Saturday unearthed hundreds of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" cartridges, considered by some the worst video game ever made and blamed for contributing to the downfall of the video game industry in the 1980s. Some gamers speculate that thousands or even millions of the unwanted cartridges made by Atari were buried in a landfill in Alamogordo, about 200 miles southeast of Albuquerque. Who dumped the videos, how many they buried and why they did it inspired the dig and a documentary of the event by Microsoft Corp's Xbox Entertainment Studios. The game was a design and marketing failure after it was rushed out to coincide with the release of Steven Spielberg's 1982 hit movie "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," and it contributed to a collapse of the video game industry in its early years. Full Story | Top |
| EU exit could wreck UK financial capital, says City lobby group Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 05:06 PM PDT  By Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - A British exit from the European Union could wreck London's position as the only financial center to rival New York and isolate the country's economy, research ordered by a lobby group for banks and money managers showed. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership and hold an "in-out" referendum by the end of 2017 if re-elected in a 2015 national election. The lobby group warned that a Britain outside the EU would be shorn of influence, less attractive for investors and vulnerable to regulations over which London had no influence. "Continued EU membership is essential to this country's economic wellbeing," said Gerry Grimstone, Chairman of TheCityUK group, whose members include asset managers, banks, insurance and accountancy firms. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Merck in final talks to sell consumer unit for near $14 billion - sources Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 12:21 PM PDT By Anjuli Davies, Olivia Oran and Soyoung Kim LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc is in the final stages of selling its consumer healthcare unit for close to $14 billion, with Bayer AG and Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc among final contenders to clinch a deal as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said. Germany's Bayer and British consumer products giant Reckitt have emerged as frontrunners to win the auction after each offering roughly $13.5 billion for the Merck consumer unit, best known for Coppertone sunscreen and Claritin allergy medicine, the sources said. Representatives for U.S. drugmaker Merck, as well as Bayer and Reckitt, declined to comment. The sale would be the latest in a wave of healthcare deals in recent days, including Zimmer Holdings Inc's $13.35 billion acquisition of orthopaedics rival Biomet Inc and the agreement between Novartis AG and GlaxoSmithKline Plc to trade more than $20 billion worth of assets, with Eli Lilly and Co buying Novartis' animal health business for $5.4 billion. Full Story | Top |
| GE boss to meet French minister as Alstom deal progresses Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 11:52 AM PDT  By Elizabeth Pineau and Benjamin Mallet PARIS (Reuters) - General Electric boss Jeff Immelt is due in Paris on Sunday and is expected to meet France's economy minister as he closes in on a deal to buy the global power arm of struggling French engineer Alstom, sources close to the matter said. Some put a $13 billion valuation on Alstom's turbines and power grid equipment business. Sources close to the government who flagged the likely meeting between economy minister Arnaud Montebourg and Immelt said Prime Minister Manuel Valls might also meet the chief executive, who heads one of the 10 largest investor-controlled companies in the world, should the more senior politician return from a visit to Rome in time. French media said a decisive Alstom board meeting, the second since Friday, would also take place on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| 'House of Cards' producers reach tax deal, will stay in Maryland Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 08:25 AM PDT  The producers of the Netflix series "House of Cards", who had threatened to stop filming in Maryland unless they received enough in tax breaks, have reached an agreement with the state. The show's producers, Media Rights Capital, will receive $11.5 million in tax credits this year to keep filming the series in Maryland, Governor Martin O'Malley and the company said in a joint statement issued late on Friday. "House of Cards", a Washington political thriller that stars Kevin Spacey, received $26 million in tax credits for filming its first two seasons in Maryland. Full Story | Top |
| France denies it paid ransom for Syria reporters Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 08:07 AM PDT A French government spokesman denied on Sunday a report that it paid a ransom for the release a week ago of four French journalists held captive in Syria for more than 10 months. Focus, a German magazine, published on its website a report that France paid 18 million dollars for their release, citing NATO sources in Brussels. "The government categorically denies this report and reiterates France's position on the question of liberation of hostages which (foreign minister) Laurent Fabius recalled last Saturday," a defense ministry spokesman told Reuters. Everything is done through negotiations and discussions." The four journalists returned home to France on April 20, where they were met at an airbase by Hollande and by their families and friends. Full Story | Top |
| ECB's Liikanen says regulation could be extended to shadow banks Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 07:42 AM PDT  Major organizations that carry out banking activities, but are not banks, may become so important to the financial system that they need to be regulated like traditional banks, a European Central Bank governing council member said on Saturday. Financial regulators are seeking to shine a light on so-called "shadow banking", a 24-trillion-euro ($33 trillion) industry in Europe - half the world's total - that comprises money market funds, some hedge funds, and firms involved in securities lending and repurchase markets. Speaking at the Finnish Social Forum, Erkki Liikanen said there was a risk that tighter banking regulation in the aftermath of the global financial crisis could lead to growth in unregulated shadow banking. "Such proactive measures as applying systemically-important financial institution definition and extending that regulation and supervision also to the shadow banking sector could be taken if necessary," Liikanen said in the text of a speech. Full Story | Top |
| Australian mistook cockpit for toilet, triggering hijack scare Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 05:39 AM PDT  By Chris Nusatya and Morag MacKinnon JAKARTA/PERTH (Reuters) - An Australian passenger mistook the cockpit door for the toilet, triggering Friday's hijack scare on a Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, police said. Matt Lockley told Bali police after his arrest that he banged on what he thought was the toilet door for a last-minute bathroom break before the Boeing 737-800 aircraft landed. The door was actually the cockpit door and the pilot, Neil Thomas Cooper, responded by alerting Indonesian traffic controllers of a possible hijacking. Crew members then seized Lockley and handcuffed him. Full Story | Top |
| China aims to build over 7 million public homes this year Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 05:14 AM PDT  China aims to start building more than 7 million units of public housing this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Saturday, signaling the latest government move to counter high property prices. Large-scale construction of public homes in China not only supports growth in the world's second-largest economy, it also helps to quell discontent over rising house prices. Yet some have in the past criticized China's public homes - also known as affordable housing - as being ineffective because they say good apartments are set aside for officials, leaving poorly built ones for the public. China's home price inflation slowed to an eight-month low in March. Full Story | Top |
| The Chinese take Manhattan: replace Russians as top apartment buyers Saturday, Apr 26, 2014 05:05 AM PDT  By Michelle Conlin and Maggie Lu Yueyang NEW YORK/SYDNEY (Reuters) - For the first time, the Chinese have become the biggest foreign buyers of apartments in Manhattan, real estate brokers estimate, taking the mantle from the Russians - whose activity has dropped off since the unrest in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions against Russia by the United States. Wealthy Chinese are pouring money into real estate in New York and some other major cities around the world, including London and Sydney, as they seek safe havens for their cash and also establish a base for their children to get an education in the West. Reuters asked five of the top real estate brokerages for their ranking of foreign buyers in New York City. The Chinese ranked first in both volume and value of sales in all their estimates. Full Story | Top |
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