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| Chile assesses damage after massive quake, tsunami Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 07:44 PM PDT  By Anthony Esposito and Rosalba O'Brien SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chilean authorities on Wednesday were assessing the damage from a massive earthquake that struck off the northern coast, causing a small tsunami, but the impact appeared to be mostly limited. The 8.2 magnitude quake that shook northern Chile on Tuesday killed six people and triggered a tsunami with 2-meter (7-foot) waves. More than 2,600 homes were damaged and fishing boats along the northern coast were smashed up. The arid, mineral-rich north is sparsely populated, with most of the population concentrated in the port towns of Iquique and Arica, near the Peruvian border. Full Story | Top |
| Reports of deaths at Chinese chemical protest false: state media Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 07:25 PM PDT  Reports that police killed 15 people and injured more than 300 during protests in southern China on Sunday are false, the website of the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, reported on Thursday. Only two people were injured during the demonstration against a chemical plant in the southern city of Maoming, the newspaper's investigation found, and no one was killed. Full Story | Top |
| Inspectors re-enter New Mexico nuclear waste site after leak Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 05:53 PM PDT By Joseph L. Kolb ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) - An inspection team ventured into an underground nuclear waste disposal vault in New Mexico on Wednesday to begin an on-site investigation of a radiation leak nearly seven weeks ago that exposed 21 workers and forced a shutdown of the facility. The mission by experts from the company that manages the site marked the first time since the mishap that workers have been sent deep into the salt caverns of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where drums of plutonium-tainted refuse from nuclear weapons factories and laboratories are buried. Located about 25 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the Chihuahuan Desert, the facility is the nation's only permanent repository for the U.S. government's stockpile of nuclear waste, much of it left over from the Cold War era. Although an alarm automatically switched the ventilation system to filtration to keep radiation from spreading, trace amounts of manmade isotopes such as americium-241, a byproduct of nuclear weapons manufacturing, were measured at the surface. Full Story | Top |
| Party drug Ketamine could help treat severe depression: research Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 04:04 PM PDT By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - The party drug ketamine could one day be used to help some people suffering from severe depression, according to British scientists who gave infusions of the narcotic nicknamed "special K" to patients. Researchers who tested the drug on 28 people with major depressive disorder found ketamine quickly helped relieve the condition for some - and made a number of them completely well again for up to several weeks. But it's not about to become a routine treatment," Rupert McShane, a consultant psychiatrist and researcher at Oxford University who led the study, told reporters. "We've seen remarkable changes in people who've had severe depression for many years that no other treatment has touched," McShane said. Full Story | Top |
| Senators urge review of U.S. Air Force satellite launch program Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 04:02 PM PDT By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators on Wednesday urged the Air Force to allow more competition in the multibillion-dollar market for launching government satellites, citing rising costs and concerns about Russian-made engines that power some of the U.S. rockets. Lawmakers said the Air Force's budget plan for fiscal 2015 reduced opportunities for privately held Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and others to gain a foothold in a program now dominated by the two biggest U.S. weapons makers, Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told Air Force officials it was "unacceptable" to reduce competition while the cost of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program were rising sharply. Feinstein and five other senators also sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging him to ensure that the launch program allowed competition in fiscal 2015 as planned. The congressional Government Accountability Office this week said the cost of each new launch had more than tripled to $420 million as of August 2013, and the total cost of the program was now projected to reach $70 billion. Full Story | Top |
| Ban on Russian contacts spreads to space agency NASA Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 03:54 PM PDT  By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA has been added to the list of U.S. government agencies prohibited from contacting Russian government representatives, though operation of the International Space Station is exempt from the ban, officials said on Wednesday. "This suspension includes NASA travel to Russia and visits by Russian government representatives to NASA facilities, bilateral meetings, email, and teleconferences or video conferences. At the present time, only operational International Space Station activities have been excepted," NASA Associate Administrator Michael O'Brien wrote in a memo to employees that was posted on the NASAWatch.com website. The only major space project under direct U.S.-Russia control is the space station, a $100 billion research laboratory, owned by 15 nations, which flies about 250 miles above Earth. Full Story | Top |
| Treasury official: Firms not in new deals with Iran after pact Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 02:39 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. Treasury Department official responsible for sanctions said on Wednesday there is no evidence that any companies are taking advantage of a preliminary nuclear agreement with Iran by reaching new deals in Iran. "We have not seen companies anywhere — Europe, the Gulf, Asia — trying to take advantage of this ... narrow opening, the quite limited suspensions of the sanctions to get into the Iranian market, enter into business deals that would otherwise be sanctionable," Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen said at a U.S. Senate hearing. Cohen noted that authorities estimated when the preliminary agreement was reached that the sanctions relief would be worth a maximum of $6 billion to $7 billion for Iran. The sanctions that Washington announced in early February against a range of international entities sent a message that the United States would "come down like a ton of bricks" over sanctions violations, he said. Full Story | Top |
| Commodity chief Blythe Masters to leave JPMorgan Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 02:30 PM PDT  By Anna Louie Sussman NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blythe Masters, one of Wall Street's most powerful women, is leaving JPMorgan Chase & Co. after a 27-year career that began with an internship in London and concludes with the sale of the multibillion-dollar commodities business she built. Masters, who turned 45 in March, will leave the bank in a few months after assisting with the sale of its physical energy and metals business to Swiss merchant Mercuria. She will take time off and "consider future opportunities," according to a memo bank executives sent to employees on Wednesday. A Cambridge graduate and avid equestrian, Masters was part of a team that pioneered structured finance instruments in the early 1990s. Full Story | Top |
| Miners in lock-down in Guinea as Ebola death toll hits 84 Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 02:11 PM PDT By Saliou Samb and Stephanie Nebehay CONAKRY/GENEVA (Reuters) - Foreign mining firms have locked down operations in Guinea and pulled out some international staff, executives said on Wednesday, as the death toll from suspected cases of Ebola there hit 84. The West African nation's government said four new suspected cases of one of the world's most lethal infectious diseases had been reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 134. Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned Guinea was facing an unprecedented epidemic of Ebola that would test weak health systems across West Africa. The epicenter of Guinea's two-month old outbreak has been in the southeast, close to its main iron ore reserves. Full Story | Top |
| China rating agencies see Chaori default as only a hiccup Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 02:07 PM PDT  By Adam Rose BEIJING (Reuters) - China's rating agencies are likely to keep a long-held assumption of government bailouts built into most ratings despite the country's first domestic bond defaults and warnings from Beijing that there is no blanket guarantee of support. Last month, Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science and Technology (Chaori) , defaulted when it missed an interest payment on a bond, and this week a newspaper reported a small construction materials company had also defaulted on an interest payment. Chen Dongming, chief credit officer at China Lianhe Credit Rating, which has global rating agency Fitch as a shareholder, said Chaori was not a harbinger of larger defaults that posed a systemic risk. Roughly 90 percent of publicly issued bonds are issued by large or mid-size state-owned enterprises which are still likely to get government assistance, Chen said. Full Story | Top |
| Teams set to inspect New Mexico nuclear waste site after leak Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 02:07 PM PDT By Joseph L. Kolb ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Inspection teams were set to venture into an underground nuclear waste disposal vault in New Mexico on Wednesday to look for the source of a radiation leak nearly seven weeks ago that exposed 21 workers and forced a shutdown of the facility. The planned inspection would mark the first time since the mishap that workers have been sent deep into the salt caverns of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where drums of plutonium-tainted refuse from nuclear weapons factories and laboratories are buried. Located about 25 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the Chihuahuan Desert, the facility is the nation's only permanent repository for the U.S. government's stockpile of nuclear waste, much of it left over from the Cold War era. Although an alarm automatically switched the ventilation system to filtration to keep radiation from spreading, trace amounts of manmade isotopes such as americium-241, a byproduct of nuclear weapons manufacturing, were measured at the surface. Full Story | Top |
| FBI pores over thousands of artifacts from Indiana collector Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 01:57 PM PDT (Reuters) - Dozens of federal agents, archaeologists and other experts are scouring a rural Indiana home to determine the origin of thousands of artifacts its 91-year-old homeowner has collected over eight decades, an FBI spokesman said on Wednesday. Donald Miller has been working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to sort out whether certain artifacts he has acquired should be returned to the countries or the Native American tribes from which they came or stay in his Waldron, Indiana, farmhouse that has doubled as a makeshift museum. It was not clear how the FBI became aware of the collection. "He is an amateur archaeologist who has picked up, acquired, items some of which we think are cultural artifacts and relics," FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. Full Story | Top |
| S&P 500 ends at another record; data puts jobs in focus Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 01:56 PM PDT  By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed at another record high on Wednesday as signs of steady private-sector hiring suggested that the economy was slowly building momentum after a winter-related pullback. That also put more focus on Friday's government jobs data, which is among the most widely watched economic indicators. "There's positioning ahead of that report," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president of BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama. Full Story | Top |
| Senator says small change could get some U.S. crude exports flowing Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 01:48 PM PDT  By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department could help energy companies start to bypass a 40-year ban on most U.S. crude oil exports by allowing shipments of a type of petroleum that has become abundant during the energy boom, a key senator said on Wednesday. The department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) can allow the exports of an unprocessed light oil called condensate without an act of Congress, simply by modernizing its definition of crude, Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, told a House of Representatives subcommittee. "Commerce has taken similar measures in the past," said Murkowski, adding that lifting the ban overall would generate wealth, create jobs and enhance national security. The U.S. crude oil export ban introduced after the 1973 Arab oil embargo includes a prohibition on exports of unprocessed condensate, which exists underground as a gas while crude oil is a liquid. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. data, gold miners lift TSX to near six-year high Wednesday, Apr 02, 2014 01:41 PM PDT  By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose to a nearly six-year high on Wednesday, buoyed by U.S. economic data and a rally in shares of gold miners after the price of bullion advanced. Private-sector data showed U.S. companies picked up the pace of hiring in March, suggesting the effects of harsh weather might be starting to taper off and setting the stage for the U.S. government's monthly nonfarm payrolls report, due out on Friday. "The economic data is robust enough to give investors confidence and not strong enough that the Fed will aggressively change its course," said Michael Newton, a director of wealth management and portfolio manager at ScotiaMcLeod, referring to the U.S. Federal Reserve's easy monetary policy. "Companies and investors are positioned for the specter of higher interest rates and therefore are doing now a bit of rebalancing in their portfolios." The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed up 78.56 points, or 0.55 percent, at 14,459.11. Full Story | Top |
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