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| Treasury's Lew heading to Europe for talks on economy Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:38 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will travel to Europe in early April, his second international trip since taking office a month ago, to discuss recent deterioration in the euro zone and prospects for boosting global economic growth. Lew will travel to Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin on April 8-9 to meet with the leaders of the European Council and the European Commission as well as European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, among others, the Treasury said on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| FDA clears Johnson & Johnson type 2 diabetes drug Invokana Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:13 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it approved Johnson & Johnson's experimental type 2 diabetes drug Invokana to help patients control their blood sugar. (Reporting By Kim Dixon; editing by Christopher Wilson) Full Story | Top |
| Italy's centre-left rejects coalition with Berlusconi Friday, Mar 29, 2013 12:05 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's center-left Democratic Party (PD) on Friday rejected a coalition proposed by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as the way out of a deep political crisis, leaving Italy in total deadlock following an election last month. The PD's deputy leader Enrico Letta said after meeting President Giorgio Napolitano that a grand coalition between the traditional parties "would not be the choice of change the country has asked for." PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani this week failed to gather enough support for a government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama touts infrastructure in Florida trip focused on economy Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:55 AM PDT  By Jeff Mason MIAMI (Reuters) - President Barack Obama walked into the mouth of a giant tunnel in Miami on Friday to highlight proposals to boost investment in U.S. infrastructure, a move designed to show a leader still focused on the economy in the midst of broader policy battles in Washington. Obama's tour of the Port of Miami tunnel project and a subsequent speech were aimed at convincing members of the U.S. Congress to back proposals that would leverage taxpayer dollars into funds to rebuild American roads, bridges and other infrastructure. ... Full Story | Top |
| Azeri election monitor under attack, rights worries grow Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:53 AM PDT  By Lada Evgrashina and Margarita Antidze BAKU (Reuters) - Azerbaijan said on Friday it was investigating a U.S. vote-monitoring group for fraud ahead of presidential elections in October that are expected to extend President Ilham Aliyev's decade in power in the former Soviet republic. Mainly Muslim Azerbaijan has been governed by Aliyev since he succeeded his father in 2003. It has been courted by the West because of its role as an alternative to Russia in supplying oil and gas to Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy leftist party rules out coalition with Berlusconi Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:20 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - The junior partner in Italy's center-left alliance ruled out a coalition with Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party following talks on Friday to try to form a government after last month's deadlocked election. "Any possibility of a broad coalition government is out of the question," said Nichi Vendola, leader of the Left, Ecology, Freedom party, the junior partner in the center-left alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani. ... Full Story | Top |
| Armenia opposition chief ends hunger strike, calls for protests Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:14 AM PDT  YEREVAN (Reuters) - Defeated Armenian presidential candidate Raffi Hovannisian said on Friday he was ending a hunger strike over allegations President Serzh Sarksyan rigged last month's vote, but vowed to continue street protests. Armenia's Constitutional Court has rejected challenges lodged by Hovannisian over the February 18 poll which Sarksyan won with 58.6 percent of the vote. Hovannisian came second with 37 percent. The head of the opposition Heritage Party said he would end his two-week-old hunger strike on Easter Sunday to make sure he had enough energy to keep up his political work. ... Full Story | Top |
| Biogen prices new MS drug at discount to key competitors Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:06 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Biogen Idec Inc said on Friday it will charge $54,900 a year for its multiple sclerosis drug, Tecfidera, which received U.S. approval on Wednesday. The company has priced the drug at a discount to key competitors such as Novartis AG's MS pill Gilenya, which costs roughly $60,000 a year, in a bid to maximize its market share. "We think this represents solid value to the MS community and demonstrates our commitment to patient access," said Kate Niazi-Sai, a Biogen spokeswoman. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sicily revokes permission for U.S. military satellite station Friday, Mar 29, 2013 11:04 AM PDT PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - The Sicilian regional government in Italy has revoked permission for the United States to build a military satellite station on the island, its governor said on Friday, after protests by residents who said it could pose a health risk. The planned ground station was part of the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), an ultra high-frequency satellite network aimed at significantly boosting communications capacity for the U.S. military and its allies. ... Full Story | Top |
| No end to Italy deadlock as president meets parties Friday, Mar 29, 2013 10:26 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's political parties remained far apart on Friday as President Giorgio Napolitano searched for a way out of the month-long stalemate since deadlocked elections left no group able to form a government alone. Napolitano met political leaders on Friday after center-left chief Pier Luigi Bersani, who won the largest share of the vote but fell short of a majority in parliament, failed to reach a deal with other parties that would allow him to govern. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy centrists willing to form coalition with main parties Friday, Mar 29, 2013 10:23 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's centrist group is willing to form a grand coalition with the main parties that emerged from a deadlocked election, an official told reporters on Friday after the Italian president held talks with parties to try to form a government. "We expressed our full willingness and commitment to form a grand coalition between the three main parties," said Andrea Olivero, a Senator of the Civic Choice party led by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York state passes budget on time third year in a row Friday, Mar 29, 2013 10:17 AM PDT  By Cheryl Clark ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - New York's Assembly passed the state's $135 billion budget for fiscal year 2013-2014 on Thursday just before midnight, the third budget in a row to be delivered on time in a state known for regularly being late. Lawmakers rushed to sign off on the legislation during a week that was punctuated with religious holidays and have succeeded in getting the job done ahead of the start of the state's fiscal year on April 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Speaker admonishes fellow Republican for immigrant slur Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:55 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Friday condemned a reference to migrant workers made by fellow Republican Representative Don Young, calling the comments "offensive and beneath the dignity of the office." Young referred to migrant workers as "wetbacks" in a radio interview aired in his home state of Alaska on Thursday, but issued an apology late in the day after criticism. The term is considered a slur against illegal immigrants who crossed into the United States from Mexico. "My father had a ranch. We used to hire 50-60 wetbacks ... to pick tomatoes ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian coastguard intercepts more than 470 migrants Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:43 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's coastguard said on Friday it had intercepted eight flimsy and rickety boats carrying more than 470 migrants, mostly from Africa, who were attempting to reach Italian shores over the past two days. Italy bears the brunt of clandestine seaborne migration to southern Europe. Most migrants risk the voyage across the Mediterranean Sea in small and overcrowded fishing boats. Thousands have died as a result of shipwreck, harsh conditions at sea or a lack of food and water in recent years, activists say. ... Full Story | Top |
| Latvia rescues 220 people stranded on ice Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:42 AM PDT RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia's emergency services rescued more than 220 people who were stranded on ice floes in the Gulf of Riga on Friday. About 180 people, mostly fishermen, were rescued from a floe off the town of Vakarbulli, while another 43 people were taken off the ice near the seaside resort of Jurmala. The State Fire and Rescue Service used boats, ships and helicopters in an operation that took more than three hours, said Viktorija Sembele, a spokeswoman for the service. The ice had drifted in strong winds about 4 km (2-1/2 miles) from the shore by the end of the operation, she said. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House condemns assaults on women at Egyptian demonstrations Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:31 AM PDT  ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - The White House on Friday condemned the rape and assault of women at recent demonstrations in Egypt and called on the Cairo government to prevent sexual violence and prosecute those responsible. The New York Times reported that on January 25, the second anniversary of the Tahrir Square revolution in Cairo, at least 18 cases of sexual assaults were reported by human groups. White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the United States is deeply concerned at reports of rapes and sexual assaults in public squares in Egypt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ruling Serb Progressive Party stays popular: opinion poll Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:26 AM PDT  By Aleksandar Vasovic BELGRADE (Reuters) - The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the strongest in Serbia's coalition government, kept its popularity in March, indicating it could win any snap election, an opinion poll published on Friday said. The poll conducted this month put support for the SNS, led by Vice-Premier Aleksandar Vucic, at 38.6 percent, well ahead of the 14.8 percent scored by its closest rival, the opposition Democratic Party, which lost power in an election in May. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kyrgyz MPs jailed for plotting coup Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:21 AM PDT By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK (Reuters) - A court in Kyrgyzstan sentenced three opposition members of parliament to up to 18 months in jail on Friday for leading a protest the judge said had aimed to seize power by force in the Central Asian nation. Prosecutors had sought jail terms of up to 10 years for nationalist MPs Kamchibek Tashiyev, Sadyr Zhaparov and Talant Mamytov, who led a crowd which tried to storm government headquarters last October. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's 5-Star Movement rejects deal with other parties Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:18 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement said on Friday that it would not give a confidence vote to any government led by other politicians or technocrats like outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti. "We repeat our determination not to give a confidence vote to political or pseudo-technocrat governments," Vito Crimi, head of the 5-Star Movement's senators, told reporters after meeting President Giorgio Napolitano. Crimi said his movement would only support a government that it led. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Cyprus, the bank run that wasn't Friday, Mar 29, 2013 09:10 AM PDT  By Karolina Tagaris and Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - In the end it was hardly even a stroll, let alone the widely predicted run on the banks of Cyprus. Commentators had been confident that as soon as the banks reopened on Thursday at noon after Cyprus signed a rescue deal with the European Union to stave off national bankruptcy, there would be scenes of chaos. The experts were right, but it wasn't the Cypriots causing the pandemonium. Television crews from around the world crowded into tiny Eleftheria Square in central Nicosia, the convenient location of two of the capital's main banks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police seize firearms cache on Syrian border Friday, Mar 29, 2013 08:58 AM PDT AKCAKALE, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish authorities said they had seized thousands of guns in a warehouse by the Syrian border, and a local news agency said the weapons had been destined for Turkey's war-torn neighbor. The firearms - including more than 5,000 shotguns and rifles, starting pistols, gunstocks and 10,000 cartridges - were discovered during a raid in a village on the edge of the Turkish town of Akcakale and displayed to journalists on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Consumer data support sturdy first-quarter growth picture Friday, Mar 29, 2013 08:51 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending rose in February and sentiment among Americans perked up this month, further signs of an acceleration in economic activity in the first quarter after a near stall late last year. The data on Friday also showed a rebound in income growth, putting the economy in a better shape to deal with tighter fiscal policy, particularly $85 billion in across-the-board federal government spending cuts, known as the "sequester. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus says threat contained, no plan to leave euro Friday, Mar 29, 2013 08:36 AM PDT  By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - The president of Cyprus said on Friday the risk of bankruptcy had been contained and the country had no intention of leaving the euro, in a speech laden with criticism of Europe's currency union for "experimenting" with the island's fate. Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades spoke a day after banks reopened following an almost two-week shutdown imposed as the country raced to clinch a rescue package from the European Union. Officials slapped firm limits on transactions to avert a run on deposits by worried Cypriots and wealthy foreign investors. ... Full Story | Top |
| Power firm CEZ files complaint with EU against Bulgaria Friday, Mar 29, 2013 08:35 AM PDT  PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech power producer CEZ filed a complaint with the European Commission against Bulgaria on Friday for the government's moves to take away the company's license in the Balkan country. CEZ has had a rough ride in Bulgaria since public protests against high electricity prices led to the fall of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov in February, and authorities have struck out against CEZ and other power firms. ... Full Story | Top |
| Slovenia will not be the next Cyprus: finance minister Friday, Mar 29, 2013 08:33 AM PDT By Marja Novak and Zoran Radosavljevic LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia will not be the next euro member to need a financial rescue as it can afford to wait for lower borrowing costs before issuing new debt, its top economic official said on Friday. The new center-left government was widely expected to raise money on financial markets shortly after taking office on March 20 but has not done so because Slovenia's borrowing costs have soared due to the turmoil in Cyprus. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslims vanish as Buddhist attacks approach Myanmar's biggest city Friday, Mar 29, 2013 07:59 AM PDT  By Jason Szep SIT KWIN (Reuters) - The Muslims of Sit Kwin were always a small group who numbered no more than 100 of the village's 2,000 people. But as sectarian violence led by Buddhist mobs spreads across central Myanmar, they and many other Muslims are disappearing. Their homes, shops and mosques destroyed, some end up in refugee camps or hide in the homes of friends or relatives. Dozens have been killed. "We don't know where they are," says Aung Ko Myint, 24, a taxi-driver in Sit Kwin, where on Friday, Buddhists ransacked a store owned by one of the town's last remaining Muslims. ... Full Story | Top |
| China to spend $16 billion to tackle Beijing pollution crisis Friday, Mar 29, 2013 07:46 AM PDT  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will spend 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) over three years to deal with Beijing's pollution, an official newspaper reported on Friday, as the government tries to defuse mounting public anger over environmental degradation. Beijing's government has pledged to improve sewage disposal, garbage treatment and air quality, as well as crack down on illegal construction, the China Daily newspaper said, citing a three-year plan released on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombs at five Iraqi Shi'ite mosques kill 19 Friday, Mar 29, 2013 07:31 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Car bombs hit five Shi'ite mosques in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk just after prayers on Friday, killing 19 worshippers and injuring another 130. Ten years after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Iraq is still grappling with political turmoil and Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda, who are stepping up attacks on Shi'ite targets and security forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Montenegrin jailed for 45 years over Sarajevo killings Friday, Mar 29, 2013 06:50 AM PDT  By Maja Zuvela SARAJEVO (Reuters) - A Montenegrin warlord was jailed for 45 years on Friday for the murder, rape and torture of non-Serb civilians in Sarajevo in the Bosnian war, receiving the longest sentence handed down so far by the Bosnian war crimes court. Veselin Vlahovic, nicknamed Batko, was found guilty of the murders of 31 people, rapes of at least 13 women and torture and robbery of dozens of civilians in Grbavica and Vraca, Serb-occupied areas of Sarajevo, in 1992, said presiding judge Zoran Bozic. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy center-left rebuffs coalition deal with Berlusconi Friday, Mar 29, 2013 06:36 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy's center-left Democratic Party on Friday rebuffed former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's offer of a coalition deal to end political deadlock since an election last month. "It is very difficult to think of a government supported by (Berlusconi's) PDL and the Democratic Party (PD). There are too many important issues in PDL policies that are light-years from those of the Democratic Party," said Luigi Zanda, PD leader in the Senate. Zanda spoke after Berlusconi insisted a coalition with the center-left was the only way to end the crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Deutsche Bank probe finds incomplete data given to prosecutors: magazine Friday, Mar 29, 2013 06:23 AM PDT  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - An internal investigation at Deutsche Bank has found that incomplete data related to a carbon tax fraud probe were handed over to prosecutors, German magazine Der Spiegel said on Friday. The probe is one of several legal headaches with which Germany's biggest lender is grappling. The bank declined to comment on the report in Der Spiegel, Germany's most influential weekly news magazine. The magazine, which did not cite any specific sources for its information, said some data relevant to the prosecution's probe might have been deleted by an automated process. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin promotes Russian People's Front as new power base Friday, Mar 29, 2013 06:16 AM PDT  By Darya Korsunskaya ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin staged a televised meeting on Friday with a loyal support group called the People's Front, suggesting he may promote it as an alternative power base to his scandal-plagued ruling party. At an event that mixed echoes of Soviet Communist Party congresses with the atmospherics of a U.S. talk show, Putin said he planned to raise the Front's status by making it a "public movement" and holding a formal founding congress in June. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa says Mandela makes progress, in good spirits Friday, Mar 29, 2013 05:42 AM PDT  By Shafiek Tassiem SOWETO, South Africa (Reuters) - South African former President Nelson Mandela is in good spirits and making progress, doctors said on Friday, after the 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero was taken to hospital for the third time in four months for a lung infection. The medical report was a relief to South Africans who had been anxiously praying and waiting for an update on the health of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, hospitalised before midnight on Wednesday. Global leaders sent their best wishes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan separatists deny behind deadly resort attack Friday, Mar 29, 2013 05:26 AM PDT By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan separatist movement denied on Friday accusations by the authorities that it was behind a raid in a coastal resort that killed eight people, although it said former members may have been involved. Armed police officers shot dead six attackers and two policemen were killed in Thursday's early morning raid on a casino popular with tourists in Malindi. Officials blamed the banned Mombasa Republican Council (MRC). ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan separatists deny being behind deadly resort attack Friday, Mar 29, 2013 05:09 AM PDT  By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan separatist movement denied on Friday accusations by the authorities that it was behind a raid in a coastal resort that killed eight people, although it said former members may have been involved. Armed police officers shot dead six attackers and two policemen were killed in Thursday's early morning raid on a casino popular with tourists in Malindi. Officials blamed the banned Mombasa Republican Council (MRC). ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Berlusconi says wants coalition with center-left Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:49 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday he was ready to support a coalition government with center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani but rejected another technocrat administration like the outgoing one led by Mario Monti. "Our position has not changed, we expressed it with absolute clarity to the president," center-right leader Berlusconi told reporters after meeting President Giorgio Napolitano. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel could withstand Syrian chemical weapons: general Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:24 AM PDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel could withstand any attack involving Syrian chemical weapons, an Israeli general said on Friday, adding it was improbable that Damascus would order such a strike. The fate of Syria's reputed chemical arsenal is a focus of international concern. Israel has threatened to go to war to prevent Islamist militants or Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon from getting such weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyans urged to stay calm over vote ruling Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:18 AM PDT  By Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's outgoing president called for his nation to stay calm when a court rules on Saturday on a legal challenge over the presidential election result, seeking to avoid a repeat of the tribal bloodbath that followed a disputed vote five years ago. Orderly voting on March 4 after which Uhuru Kenyatta was declared victor has gone a long way to restoring Kenya's image as one of Africa's more stable democracies. And this time round, a row over the result has played out in court not the street. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran criticizes Qatar for giving embassy to Syrian opposition Friday, Mar 29, 2013 04:03 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused Qatar on Friday of "intensifying the bloodshed" in Syria and criticized it for enabling an opposition bloc to open its first embassy in Doha. Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib, whose group is recognized by the Arab League as the sole representative for Syria, opened the embassy in Qatar on Wednesday. "It is in Qatar's interest to stop making hasty actions and intensifying the bloodshed in Syria," Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying. "The wise ... ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea readies rockets after U.S. show of force Friday, Mar 29, 2013 03:54 AM PDT  By David Chance and Phil Stewart SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea put its missile units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed off on the order at a midnight meeting of top generals and "judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation", the official KCNA news agency said. ... Full Story | Top |
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