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| Senators attack Obama's defense chief nominee, question judgment Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:03 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers clashed with Chuck Hagel on Thursday at a hearing over his nomination to become the next U.S. defense secretary, attacking his judgment on war strategy and occasionally putting him on the defensive during a heated session. Critics in Congress have sought to portray Hagel, a former Republican senator and decorated Vietnam War veteran, as soft on Iran and anti-Israel, charges Hagel strongly denied in testimony at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Income surge puts consumers in better shape Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 11:12 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American income growth surged in December as companies rushed to make dividend payments before higher tax rates set in, while buoyant wage growth also gave a lift to households. U.S. personal income rose 2.6 percent last month, the biggest increase in eight years, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. While much of the gain was due to special payments aimed at beating tax increases due to begin this month, wages still grew at one of the faster rates seen last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Apple loses a U.S. appeals bid in Samsung patent fight Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:28 AM PST  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected Apple Inc's request to revive its bid for a sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone, dashing the iPhone maker's attempt to recover crucial leverage in the global patent wars. Apple had asked the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to revisit a decision in October by a three-judge panel of the same court. The panel rejected Apple's request to impose a sales ban on Samsung's Nexus smartphone ahead of a trial set for March 2014. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republican maverick Hagel forged bond with Obama over Iraq Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:05 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - From his lonely position as an early Republican critic of the Iraq war, former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel sometimes lectured his more timid Senate colleagues. "If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes," he told them. President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary began a Senate confirmation process on Thursday that revived the contentious relations the fiercely independent Vietnam war veteran had with fellow Republicans over his political career. "I'm proud of my record," Hagel declared before the Armed Services Committee. "I'm on the record on many issues. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria protests over Israel attack, warns of "surprise" Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 11:13 AM PST  BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria protested to the United Nations on Thursday over an Israeli air strike on its territory and warned of a possible "surprise" response. The foreign ministry summoned the head of the U.N. force in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to deliver the protest a day after Israel hit what Syria said was a military research centre and diplomats said was a weapons convoy heading for Lebanon. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. rights inquiry says Israel must remove settlers Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:43 AM PST  GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights investigators called on Israel on Thursday to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all half a million Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank, saying that its practices could be subject to prosecution as possible war crimes. A three-member U.N. panel said private companies should stop working in the settlements if their work adversely affected the human rights of Palestinians, and urged member states to ensure companies respected human rights. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colombia rebels free seized oil workers, kill four soldiers Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:45 AM PST BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC rebels on Thursday freed three oil contractors kidnapped a day earlier, military sources said, though the guerrillas killed four soldiers in the south as they step up pressure during peace talks. The kidnappings and other violent incidents came days after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, made clear during peace negotiations in Cuba that it would continue to capture armed forces, possibly hampering the talks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt politicians renounce violence at crisis talks Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 05:48 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's feuding politicians renounced violence on Thursday after being summoned by the country's most influential Muslim scholar to talks to end the deadliest unrest since President Mohamed Mursi took power. It remains to be seen whether the pledge to end confrontation will halt a week of bloodshed on the streets that killed nearly 60 people. Opposition groups did not cancel new demonstrations scheduled for Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Defiant Iran plans to speed up nuclear fuel work Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:59 AM PST  VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has announced plans to install and operate advanced uranium enrichment machines, in what would be a technological leap allowing it to significantly speed up activity the West fears could be put to developing a nuclear weapon. In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran said it would introduce new centrifuges to its main enrichment plant near the central town of Natanz, according to an IAEA communication to member states seen by Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malian president offers Tuareg rebels talks Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 11:24 AM PST  TIMBUKTU, Mali/PARIS (Reuters) - Mali's president offered talks to Tuareg rebels on Thursday in a bid for national reconciliation after a French-led offensive drove their Islamist former allies into desert and mountain hideaways in the country's vast north. France's three-week ground and air campaign has dislodged al Qaeda-linked fighters from northern Mali's major towns, ending the first phase of an operation designed to prevent Islamists using the region as a launchpad for attacks on neighboring West African countries and Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain's Rajoy, ruling party deny secret payment scheme Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 06:00 AM PST  MADRID (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Spain's ruling People's Party denied on Thursday that the party passed payments from business donors secretly to the premier and other party leaders after a newspaper published what it said were unofficial party accounts. El Pais published images of excerpts of almost two decades of handwritten accounts that it said were maintained by People's Party treasurers. El Pais said the accounts showed 11 years of payments to Rajoy of 25,200 euros ($34,200) a year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebels make slow headway in south Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:29 AM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - The revolt against President Bashar al-Assad first flared in Deraa, but the southern border city now epitomizes the bloody stalemate gripping Syria after 22 months of violence and 60,000 dead. Jordan next door has little sympathy with Assad, but is wary of spillover from the upheaval in its bigger neighbor. It has tightened control of its 370-km (230-mile) border with Syria, partly to stop Islamist fighters or weapons from crossing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Deutsche Bank swallows $4 billion of charges for cleanup Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 10:58 AM PST  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank plunged to its worst quarterly loss in four years on Thursday after it took nearly $4 billion in charges to try and draw a line under a slew of scandals and boost its balance sheet without asking shareholders for cash. Shares in Germany's largest lender hit their highest level in nearly a year after it raised its capital levels closer to European peers. But with so much uncertainty surrounding future capital requirements for the industry, a rights issue, which would dilute existing investors, remains a risk, Deutsche said. "We have been very consistent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Iran crude oil exports rise to highest since EU sanctions Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:04 AM PST  GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's crude oil exports in December leapt to their highest level since European Union sanctions took effect last July, analysts and shipping sources said, as strong Chinese demand and tanker fleet expansion helped the OPEC member dodge sanctions. Exports rose to around 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, according to two industry sources and shipping and customs data compiled by Reuters on a country-by-country basis and corroborated by other sources and consultants. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Citigroup may exit consumer banking in more countries Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:04 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc is looking to pull out of consumer banking in more countries in an effort to lower costs and boost profits, according to two people familiar with the matter. In December, Citigroup said it was withdrawing from consumer banking in five countries - Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania, Turkey and Uruguay - as part of an expense reduction plan that will save $1.1 billion a year and eliminate 11,000 jobs. The cuts were one of Michael Corbat's first major steps as chief executive, a position he took in October. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Glencore turns setbacks into supremacy in Russian oil Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:45 AM PST  DAVOS (Reuters) - The world's largest trading house Glencore is fast turning itself into a Russian oil trade leader from an outsider by mending fences in just one year with Rosneft, the Kremlin's national energy champion. Through a $10 billion oil funding deal with state-controlled Rosneft, the Swiss-based firm that has been big in Russian coal, grains and aluminum for two decades is extending this grip to a sector where it played second fiddle to companies such as rival trader Vitol or Royal Dutch Shell. ... Full Story | Top |
| South African commuter train crash injures 150 Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:57 AM PST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - At least 150 people, including children, were injured on Thursday when two commuter trains collided near the South African capital of Pretoria, emergency services said. The accident occurred when a train crashed into a stationary locomotive near Attridgeville, a suburb west of Pretoria. "Many are walking wounded and already left. There are 20 people in serious condition and one, the driver of the second train, is in a critical condition," local emergency services spokesman Johan Pieterse said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Leading Egyptian scholar gathers rivals, urges dialogue Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 03:28 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - A leading Egyptian Islamic scholar brought together rival politicians on Thursday in a bid to ease a crisis that has triggered street violence killing more than 50 people, saying dialogue was the only way to resolve differences. The meeting at Al-Azhar university and mosque, a respected seat of Sunni Islamic learning, brought together members of the Muslim Brotherhood - the Islamist group that propelled President Mohamed Mursi to power - with the president's most vocal opponents. It was the first such meeting since the latest wave of violence erupted a week ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| No sense of crisis in Congress as automatic cuts loom again Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:08 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Big automatic cuts in federal spending are fast approaching again, alarming the defense sector but generating little activity in Congress to avoid them. The cuts, known as a "sequestration," were postponed for two months as part of the legislation that ended the standoff over the "fiscal cliff" on January 1. But the sense of crisis that accompanied the thought of across-the-board reductions then has all but vanished, replaced by a widespread sense of inevitability. ... Full Story | Top |
| China court rejects damages plea from man jailed for Bo joke Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 11:34 PM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man sent to a labor camp for a joke about Bo Xilai said he was awarded minimal compensation by a court on Thursday, in what could be a blow to others jailed by the disgraced leader's administration and hoping for substantial damages. Fang Hong, 46, was sentenced to a year of re-education in 2011 after posting a poem online that mocked Bo and his then police chief Wang Lijun for miscarriages of justice during an anti-crime campaign in the southwestern city of Chongqing, where Bo was Communist Party chief. ... Full Story | Top |
| Giffords seeks "bold" action as Congress takes up gun control Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 02:17 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, made an emotional plea on Wednesday for Congress to take action to curb gun violence, but a National Rifle Association executive said new gun laws "have failed in the past and they'll fail again." Speaking haltingly, Giffords implored lawmakers to "be bold, be courageous" as she opened testimony at the first congressional hearing on gun violence since the December 14 massacre in which a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. ... Full Story | Top |
| China sentences two Tibetans for "inciting" self-immolations Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:55 AM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - A court in China has handed down heavy sentences to a Tibetan monk and his nephew for inciting eight people to set themselves on fire in anti-Chinese protests, media said on Thursday, the first time punishment has been meted out over such protests. Nearly 100 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule since 2009, with most of them dying from their injuries. ... Full Story | Top |
| IMF fails to agree on new formula for vote reforms Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 09:48 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund failed to meet a self-imposed Thursday deadline for agreeing on a new formula to determine member countries' voting power that would give emerging economies greater say in the global financial institution. IMF member countries have wrangled for two years over specifics of the formula intended to reflect the rise of China, Brazil and other large emerging market economies. The IMF said it planned to finalize a formula by January 2014, when it next reviews the voting shares of member countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| RIM rebrands as BlackBerry; launches nifty new devices Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 04:04 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd on Wednesday unveiled the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put it on the comeback trail, but it disappointed investors by saying U.S. sales of its all-new BlackBerry 10 devices will not start until March, sending its share price tumbling 12 percent. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also announced that RIM was abandoning the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to take the name of its signature product, signaling his hopes for a fresh start for the company that pioneered on-your-hip email. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed keeps stimulus in place as U.S. economy "paused" Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 02:35 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left in place its monthly $85 billion bond-buying stimulus plan, arguing the support was needed to lower unemployment even as it indicated a recent stall in U.S. economic growth was likely temporary. The U.S. central bank predicted that the nation's job market would continue to improve at a modest pace, and repeated a pledge to keep purchasing securities until the outlook for employment "improves substantially. ... Full Story | Top |
| French troops deployed in last Mali rebel strongholds Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 02:15 PM PST DOUENTZA, Mali/PARIS (Reuters) - French troops seized the airport in Mali's northern town of Kidal, the last urban stronghold held by Islamist insurgents, as they moved to wrap up the first phase of a military operation to wrest northern Mali from rebel hands. France has deployed some 4,500 troops in a three-week ground and air offensive to break the Islamist rebels' 10-month grip on major northern towns. The mission is aimed at heading off the risk of Mali being used as a springboard for jihadist attacks in the wider region or Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| GDP unexpectedly shrinks, decline seen temporary Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 02:34 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, but analysts said there was no reason for panic given that consumer spending and business investment picked up. Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate, its weakest performance since the economy emerged from recession in 2009, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. If it were not for the hit from slower inventory growth and the deepest plunge in defense spending in 40 years, the economy would have grown at a respectable 2.5 percent rate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Facebook's mobile ad revenue doubles in fourth quarter Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 05:19 PM PST  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc doubled its mobile advertising revenue in the fourth quarter, a sign that the No.1 social network is seeing early success in expanding onto handheld devices as more of its users migrate to smartphones and tablets. Investors want to see evidence that CEO Mark Zuckerberg's 8-year-old company is delivering on promises to develop a full-fledged mobile advertising business, a challenge facing many of today's technology leaders including Google Inc. But the growth trailed some of Wall Street's most aggressive estimates. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel hits Syria arms convoy to Lebanon: sources Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 03:11 PM PST BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes bombed a convoy near Syria's border with Lebanon, sources told Reuters, apparently targeting weapons destined for Hezbollah in what some called a warning to Damascus not to arm Israel's Lebanese enemy. Syrian state television accused Israel of bombing a military research center at Jamraya, between Damascus and the nearby border, but Syrian rebels disputed that, saying their forces had attacked the site. No source spoke of a second Israeli strike. ... Full Story | Top |
| Facebook's mobile ad revenue doubles in fourth quarter Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 02:42 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc doubled its mobile advertising from the previous quarter as the world's No. 1 social network expanded its business aggressively onto handheld devices. But the growth trailed some of Wall Street's most aggressive estimates. Extending its reach on mobile devices is crucial as more and more of its 1 billion-plus users begin to access its network via smartphones and tablets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boeing forecast assumes little impact from 787 problems Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 03:38 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co stood by the troubled lithium-ion battery technology that this month grounded its new, high-tech 787 Dreamliner and said on Wednesday that the grounding had no significant impact on its 2013 financial forecast. It's "business as usual," CEO Jim McNerney said as the Chicago company posted market-beating profits for the fourth quarter. ... Full Story | Top |
| RIM, now known as BlackBerry, launches new BB10 line Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 12:13 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd unveiled the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put it on the comeback trail on Wednesday but it disappointed investors by saying U.S. sales of its all-new BlackBerry 10 will start only in March. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also announced that RIM was abandoning the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to take the name of its signature product, signaling his hopes for a fresh start for the company that pioneered on-your-hip email. "From this point forward, RIM becomes BlackBerry," Heins said at the New York launch. ... Full Story | Top |
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