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| U.S. plans to impose new sanctions on Russia this week Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 09:03 PM PDT The United States plans to slap new sanctions on Russia this week that the White House says will target people and companies inside President Vladimir Putin's "inner circle." Washington also plans to impose new restrictions on high-tech exports to Russia's defense industry in a move aimed at punishing Moscow for not living up to an agreement to defuse the situation in eastern Ukraine, where armed pro-Russian separatists seized about a dozen government buildings. The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major economies agreed on Saturday to swiftly impose further sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Full Story | Top |
| Bayer may sell plastics unit to focus on health: Bloomberg Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:00 PM PDT  (Reuters) - German drugmaker Bayer AG is exploring the sale of its $10 billion plastics unit to focus on growing its health business, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter. Bayer is considering the sale of its MaterialScience division after chemicals company Evonik Industries AG showed interest in the unit several months ago, Bloomberg said, adding that no final decision has been made on the plastics unit. (http://r.reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| End game nears on South Africa's strike-hit platinum belt Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 04:19 PM PDT  By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The end game to South Africa's big platinum strike is drawing near after the producers said they would take their latest wage offer directly to employees after marathon wage talks to end the 13-week strike collapsed on Thursday. South Africa's longest and most damaging mining strike in living memory is not about to come to an abrupt end as both sides strive to win rank and file hearts and minds in a high stakes war of attrition on the platinum belt. Leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) have signaled their displeasure with the offer from the world's top three producers, Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin. AMCU treasurer and negotiator Jimmy Gama was quoted in the City Press newspaper on Sunday as saying the union was consulting with its members about the latest offer through mass meetings that would last until Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| French president, GE boss to meet over Alstom future Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 03:57 PM PDT  President Francois Hollande and his Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg are set to meet with General Electric Chief Executive Jeff Immelt on Monday to discuss the future of French engineering group Alstom, a presidential official said. The planned meeting between the French head of state and the boss of one of the world's 10 largest investor-controlled corporations follows a weekend of high political and corporate drama. Immelt arrived in Paris to hammer out a $13 billion deal to buy Alstom's power turbines business after news of talks between the French trains-to-turbines group and the U.S. industrial and financial giant GE late last week. His arrival coincided with political uproar over the potential loss of a national champion and the emergence of a rival proposal involving German group Siemens. Full Story | Top |
| Hollande to meet GE chief on Monday to discuss Alstom Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 02:23 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande and his Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg will meet General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt on Monday to discuss the future of French engineering group Alstom, a presidential official told Reuters. The meeting follows news last week that GE is planning a $13 billion deal to buy Alstom's power turbines business, and comes after the intervention on Sunday of the French government and industry rival Siemens of Germany. (The story corrects spelling of GE chief's name to Immelt from Immet. ... Full Story | Top |
| From balloons to shrimp-filled shallows, the future is wireless Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 02:08 PM PDT  For some it costs too much, but up to a fifth of the population, or some 1.4 billion people, live where "the basic network infrastructure has yet to be built," according to a Facebook white paper last month. Even these figures, says Kurtis Heimerl, whose Berkeley-based start-up Endaga has helped build one of the world's smallest telecoms networks in an eastern Indonesian village, ignore the many people who have a cellphone but have to travel hours to make a call or send a message. "But they're not covered." Heimerl reckons up to 2 billion people live most of their lives without easy access to cellular coverage. Improving the range and speed of communications beneath the seas that cover more than two-thirds of the planet is a must for environmental monitoring - climate recording, pollution control, predicting natural disasters like tsunami, monitoring oil and gas fields, and protecting harbors. Full Story | Top |
| Election violence flares in South Africa's platinum belt Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 12:15 PM PDT By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Police used water cannon and stun grenades to disperse rioters in South Africa's strike-hit platinum belt on Sunday after a government minister was attacked by rock-throwing protesters while campaigning for the May 7 election. Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told Reuters a community hall, municipal center and the house of a councillor for the ruling ANC were burnt down. He would not identify the rioters but local media and union leaders said the minister had been attacked by members of the striking AMCU miners' union. Ngubane confirmed sports minister Fikile Mbalula had to be whisked away under police protection after he and the ANC activists he was campaigning with were confronted by a crowd in the shanty town of Freedom Park northwest of Johannesburg. Full Story | Top |
| South African police use water cannon to disperse platinum belt rioters Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:54 AM PDT JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Police said on Sunday they used water cannon and stun grenades to disperse rioters in South Africa's platinum belt after the country's sports minister was attacked by rock-throwing protesters while campaigning for the May 7 election. Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane told Reuters a community hall, municipal center and the house of a councillor for the ruling ANC were burnt down. He would not identify the rioters but local media and union leaders said the minister had been attacked by members of the striking AMCU miners' union. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alstom to reflect on its future until Wednesday Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:50 AM PDT French engineering firm Alstom said on Sunday it would continue to reflect on its future until Wednesday and that it had requested trading in its shares remain suspended until then. The statement from the company follows news of an offer from U.S. giant General Electric to buy its power arm, and of a potential alternative proposal from German group Siemens. The turbine and train maker's statement did not mention any of these issues, saying only that "Alstom continues and deepens its strategic reflection and will make a further announcement no later than Wednesday 30 April morning. In the meantime, the company has requested that the trading of its shares remains suspended." Alstom's shares were suspended from trading on Friday at the request of market regulator AMF. Full Story | Top |
| Election violence flares on South Africa's platinum belt Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:11 AM PDT By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Violence erupted on South Africa's platinum belt on Sunday when members of the striking AMCU union attacked sports minister Fikile Mbalula as he campaigned in the area for the ruling ANC in May 7 elections, union officials and local media said. SABC radio, the public broadcaster, said the minister had to be whisked away in a bulletproof car when AMCU members set upon him and ANC activists, pelting them with rocks, as they went door to door in Freedom Park, a shantytown northwest of Johannesburg. Sydwell Dokolwana, the regional secretary for the National Union of Mineworkers, a key ANC ally and AMCU's arch rival, told Reuters he was with the minister at the time and that several people were hurt and buildings were torched. "There was a group of about 100 guys with AMCU shirts. Full Story | Top |
| French president gathers ministers to discuss Alstom's case Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 11:07 AM PDT French President Francois Hollande gathered ministers on Sunday evening to discuss the case of struggling engineering firm Alstom, with jobs, location of activities and energetic independence in mind, his office said in a statement. The French government and Germany's Siemens intervened in U.S. giant General Electric's plan to buy Alstom's power arm earlier on Sunday by offering an alternative tie-up between European "champions" and a pledge to act in France's national interest. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan oil port Zueitina to re-open after damage assessed Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 10:42 AM PDT By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libya's eastern oil port of Zueitina, which had been occupied by rebels as part of an eight-month oil blockade, will reopen after damage at its facilities has been assessed, the country's justice minister said on Sunday. Salah al-Merghani also told reporters in the eastern city of Benghazi that a committee to investigate oil corruption had been formed, as agreed under a deal between the government and rebels to end a blockade of eastern oil ports. The reopening of four oil export terminal has been delayed with the rebels accusing the government of not fulfilling all parts of the deal, such as paying financial compensation. Under the agreement the rebels will be reintegrated in a state oil security force from which they defected last summer when they occupied ports to press for a share of oil exports. Full Story | Top |
| FDA okays start of BrainStorm stem cell trial in ALS patients Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 08:51 AM PDT BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the start of a mid-stage clinical trial of its adult stem cell treatment for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Phase II trial will be launched initially at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in Worcester. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Connell O'Reilly Cell Manipulation Core Facility will manufacture BrainStorm's NurOwn cells for these two clinical sites. Full Story | Top |
| Gaddafi's son Saif, former officials face charges in Tripoli court Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 07:45 AM PDT  By Ulf Laessing TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appeared via video-link on Sunday with 22 others to hear charges in a Tripoli court ranging from war crimes to corruption in a major test of whether the state can implement the rule of law. Saif al-Islam, the most high-profile of Gaddafi's seven sons, smiled and looked confident on the link-up from a jail in the western town of Zintan where he has been held since he was captured by former rebels. The rebels refuse to hand Saif over, saying they do not trust the government to ensure he won't escape, but have agreed to have him tried in a government court. The judge took about 20 minutes to read out the charges, accusing the defendants of giving orders to arm militias and kill peaceful protesters and locking up thousands of political opponents. Full Story | Top |
| Gaddafi's son Saif faces charges in Tripoli court Sunday, Apr 27, 2014 05:35 AM PDT The son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and dozens of former government officials appeared in a Tripoli court on Sunday to face charges ranging from war crimes to corruption, in a major test of the state's commitment to the rule of law. Saif al-Islam, the most prominent of Gaddafi's sons, appeared via video-link, smiling and looking confident, from the western town of Zintan where he has been held since his capture by former rebels who refuse to hand him over to Tripoli. The late ruler's former spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi was among the former senior aides waiting in blue jumpsuits to hear charges against them. Libya has struggled to establish basic institutions and rule of law since the end of Gaddafi's four-decade one-man rule in 2011, with brigades of militias and former rebels challenging the authority of the weak central government. Full Story | Top |
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