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| Bank of Canada governor decision to happen soon: Flaherty Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:39 PM PDT  OTTAWA (Reuters) - A new governor for the Bank of Canada to replace Mark Carney will be named soon, but not necessarily by the end of April as the government initially indicated, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday. "You'll recall that I said we're aiming at about the end of April and we're about the end of April and the process is drawing to a close," Flaherty told reporters. Flaherty had told Reuters on April 12 it would be optimal to have the process finished by the end of the month. ... Full Story | Top |
| Level Global to pay $21.5 million to settle SEC insider-trading case Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:34 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The now-defunct Connecticut-based hedge fund Level Global Investors LP has agreed to pay more than $21.5 million to settle civil insider-trading charges, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday. The firm is settling the charges without admitting or denying them. The SEC previously filed insider-trading charges against Level Global's co-founder Anthony Chiasson, former analyst Spyridon "Sam" Adondakis and six other defendants in January 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian prime minister survives Damascus bombing, six die Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:27 PM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's prime minister survived a bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus on Monday, as rebels struck in the heart of President Bashar al-Assad's capital. Six people were killed in the blast, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Previous rebel attacks on government targets included a December bombing which wounded Assad's interior minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria access essential for credible chemical weapons inquiry: U.N. Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:27 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that investigators have been gathering and analyzing available information on alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but access to the war-torn country is essential for a "credible and comprehensive inquiry." A U.N. push for unconditional access for its inspection team gained fresh momentum after the United States and Britain said last week they had limited evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops used the nerve agent sarin against rebels. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawyers, public chant "hang him" as Bangladesh building owner led to court Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:27 PM PDT  By Ruma Paul and Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladeshi lawyers and protesters chanted "hang him, hang him" on Monday as the owner of a factory building that collapsed last week killing nearly 400 people was led into court dressed in a helmet and bullet-proof jacket, witnesses said. The drama came as rescue officials said they were unlikely to find more survivors in the rubble of the building that collapsed on Wednesday, burying hundreds of garment workers in the country's worst industrial accident. ... Full Story | Top |
| Royal Mail listing draws closer as Britain seeks advisers Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:19 PM PDT  By Neil Maidment LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said it expects to appoint lead bank advisers for a possible stock market listing of Royal Mail Group by the end of May, as it pushes on with plans to privatise the firm. In what would be one of the most significant privatisations of a British asset since John Major's Conservative government sold the railways in the 1990s, Business Minister Michael Fallon said on Monday a listing is the preferred method of sale for government and that investor feedback so far had been positive. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama stresses concern over Syrian chemical weapons in phone call with Putin: White House Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:18 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama underscored U.S. concerns about Syrian chemical weapons in a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, the White House said. The United States is trying to determine the facts around alleged Syrian use of chemical weapons. Last week U.S. officials said they had "varying degrees of confidence" that such weapons were used in Syria, which if proven with certainty could triggered unspecified actions against the Syrian government. ... Full Story | Top |
| France, keen to boost military strength, avoids defense cuts Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:12 PM PDT  By John Irish and Patrick Vignal PARIS (Reuters) - France will keep its defense budget at the same level for the next six years after the government decided proposed cuts would hamper its ability to mount military operations such as its intervention in Mali. The freeze will still lead to the loss of 34,000 jobs in the defense ministry at a time of growing unemployment in France, according to a strategic review announced on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. calls on North Korea to release detained U.S. citizen Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:09 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States called on North Korea on Monday to immediately release on humanitarian grounds a U.S. citizen accused of trying to topple the reclusive state's government. Korean-American Kenneth Bae, 44, was in a group of five tourists who visited the northeastern city of Rajin on a five-day trip last November and has been held by North Korean police since then. "We call on the DPRK to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds," U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters at his daily briefing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kremlin says Putin, Obama agree security contacts after Boston Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:04 PM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama agreed on Monday to maintain close contacts between U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies and cooperate to ensure security for the 2014 Olympics that Russia is hosting in Sochi, the Kremlin said. Putin and Obama spoke for at least the second time since the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, which U.S. authorities believe were carried out by two brothers with roots in Russia's volatile and mostly Muslim North Caucasus. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel evicts Palestinian villagers for army exercise Monday, Apr 29, 2013 12:02 PM PDT  By Noah Browning HAMRA CHECKPOINT, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers evicted several hundred Bedouins from a village in the occupied West Bank on Monday after the army declared the area a live-fire training zone. The residents of Wadi al-Maleh, a village mostly inhabited by shepherds in the arid area bordering Jordan, had almost all left their homes by an evening curfew and retreated to neighboring villages, Aref Daraghmeh, a local leader, told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. consumer bureau tweaks credit card rule for at-home parents Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The consumer bureau said on Monday it tweaked its rules to fix part of a 2009 law that lawmakers and industry groups said kept some stay-at-home parents from getting credit cards. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it made changes to a requirement in the Credit CARD Act that called for companies to verify applicants' ability to pay before approving them for credit cards. Regulators initially interpreted that provision to mean that credit card companies could consider only individuals' independent income, not total household pay. ... Full Story | Top |
| Seven killed in U.S. cargo plane crash in Afghanistan Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:58 AM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - Seven crew members of a U.S.-run cargo plane were killed on Monday when their plane crashed shortly after take off from Bagram air base near the Afghan capital Kabul, the cargo operator told Reuters. The Taliban in a statement claimed responsibility for the crash, but NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said there were no reports of insurgent activity in or around the base, which is one of the largest in the country and located about 40 km (25 miles) north of Kabul. ... Full Story | Top |
| Justices refuse Alabama's immigration law appeal Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:57 AM PDT By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court rebuffed the state of Alabama on Monday by deciding not to intervene in a case where federal judges blocked a state law that criminalizes the harboring of illegal immigrants. By refusing to hear Alabama's appeal of the Obama administration's lower court victories, the justices steered clear of a hot-button debate at a time when Congress is engaged in writing legislation to overhaul immigration laws. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wreckage found in Manhattan was from 9/11 plane: Boeing Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:47 AM PDT  By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co. said it was confident that a piece of aircraft, found wedged between two buildings in lower Manhattan recently, came from one of two airplanes that struck the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Authorities are still trying to determine which of the two planes the piece of wreckage came from. A Boeing Co. ... Full Story | Top |
| Morgan Stanley hires Washington veteran for corporate affairs Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:36 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley has hired Michele Davis, a public relations official and policy director who helped shape the Treasury Department's strategy during the financial crisis, to become global head of corporate affairs, according to a bank memo sent on Monday. Michele Davis will report to Vice Chairman Tom Nides, according to the memo from Nides and CEO James Gorman. She has worked "at the nexus of political and financial media throughout her career," said the memo, which was sent to employees and obtained by Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian reporter in Syria missing for 20 days: newspaper Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:31 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italian journalist Domenico Quirico, a correspondent for Turin's la Stampa newspaper, has not been heard from for 20 days after entering Syria from Lebanon earlier this month, the daily's editor-in-chief Mario Calabresi said on Monday. The 62-year-old Quirico, an experienced war reporter, entered Syria on April 6 to report on the country's civil war, and has not been in contact since April 9. ... Full Story | Top |
| Preschools see sharp drop in funding: study Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:28 AM PDT  By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Enrollment in U.S. preschools stalled over the past year as states recovering from the recent recession struggle to fund early education for the nation's youngest students, researchers said. In a report released on Monday, education experts pointed to a record drop of more than half a billion dollars in state funding in the 2011-2012 school year from the prior year. The report also found that for the first time in a decade, the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled did not grow. Overall, 1.3 million children attended state-run preschools in 2011-2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Mandela frail in first TV footage in months Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:23 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela made his first television appearance in almost a year on Monday, looking thin and frail in his Johannesburg home where he has been resting after a bout of pneumonia. The veteran leader stared mostly straight ahead, his face showing little expression in the footage of a visit from President Jacob Zuma and other officials, shown by state broadcaster SABC. ... Full Story | Top |
| France says soldier killed in combat in northern Mali Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:21 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - A French soldier was killed in combat in northern Mali on Monday, the president's office said, without providing further details on the incident. The death, announced in a statement, brings the death toll to six from France's intervention to help Malian forces repel an offensive by Islamist rebels. (Reporting By Nicholas Vinocur; Editing by Michael Roddy) Full Story | Top |
| Mississippi man makes court appearance in ricin letters case Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:07 AM PDT  By Robbie Ward TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - A Mississippi martial arts instructor appeared in federal court on Monday to face charges in connection with mailing letters containing the deadly poison ricin to President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials. Everett Dutschke, 41, was arrested on Saturday in Tupelo, Mississippi, after authorities searched his former business and home. He is charged with developing and possessing ricin and attempting to use it as a weapon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali breaks up suspected militant cell in Bamako: security sources Monday, Apr 29, 2013 11:03 AM PDT BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian security forces have arrested at least eight people suspected of plotting an attack in the capital Bamako for the Islamist militant group MUJWA, two senior security sources said on Monday. Malian officials said the arrests were the first sign that Islamist rebels battling French and African troops for control of Mali's desert north have activated cells in Bamako, which is located in the south. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Tax strategy may be key to Verizon Wireless deal Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:49 AM PDT  By Kevin Drawbaugh, Nanette Byrnes and Soyoung Kim (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's chances of buying the 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless owned by Britain's Vodafone Group Plc will hinge, at least in part, on the quality of tax advice it is getting. Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. telecommunications company, may have found a way to structure a purchase of the stake so that Vodafone can avoid a multibillion-dollar U.S. capital gains tax bill, sources familiar with Verizon's plans said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Consumer spending rises, driven by utility costs Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:40 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending unexpectedly rose in March, temporarily boosted by demand for utilities due to colder weather, according to data on Monday that did little to alter a picture of a cooling in the economy. The Commerce Department said consumer spending advanced 0.2 percent last month after a 0.7 percent rise in February. The increase, which beat economists expectations for a flat reading, was driven by higher spending on services as outlays on utilities posted a second straight month of hefty gains. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five convicted in Kosovo organ trafficking case Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:38 AM PDT  By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Five men were convicted in Kosovo on Monday of involvement in an organ trafficking ring that performed at least 23 illegal kidney transplants at a clinic on the outskirts of the capital, under the noses of United Nations police and NATO peacekeepers. The trial of the men, all citizens of Kosovo, has taken on added significance in the region because it echoes a high-profile probe into alleged organ harvesting by guerrilla fighters during the 1998-99 war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan, Russia agree to revive talks on island dispute Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:37 AM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Japan said on Monday they would revive talks on resolving a territorial dispute that has prevented them signing a treaty formally ending their World War Two hostilities, and, wary of China's rising influence, agreed to bolster trade ties. At the two G8 powers' first Moscow summit for 10 years, President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had China's economic and political might in mind as they launched a new effort to warm up their relationship. ... Full Story | Top |
| Car bombs, shootings kill 23 across Iraq Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:35 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed in Iraq on Monday in a series of car bombs in Shi'ite Muslim areas and militant attacks, medics and police sources said, taking the week's death toll to nearly 200 as sectarian violence intensifies. Clashes have increased as the civil war in Syria puts strain on fragile relations between Sunnis and Shi'ites. The tensions are at their highest in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out more than a year ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. condemns attempted assassination of Syrian prime minister Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:24 AM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned the attempted assassination of the Syrian prime minister in an attack that killed six people, describing it as a "terrorist attack." Syria's prime minister survived a bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus on Monday though half a dozen other people were killed, as rebels struck in the heart of President Bashar al-Assad's capital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta launches government with call for growth Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:11 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta promised to press for a change to the European Union's focus on austerity and pursue economic growth and jobs as his government sought backing from parliament on Monday, ending months of political gridlock. Speaking ahead of a confidence vote in the lower house, Letta said Italy could not afford to focus simply on trying to cut its huge public debt and needed a new emphasis on lifting the economy out of recession. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kentucky woman ordained as priest in defiance of Roman Catholic Church Monday, Apr 29, 2013 09:50 AM PDT  By Mary Wisniewski LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority. Rosemarie Smead is one of about 150 women around the world who have decided not to wait for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests, but to be ordained and start their own congregations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Justices say states can limit access to public records Monday, Apr 29, 2013 09:27 AM PDT By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday said states are free to allow public records access only to their own citizens, delivering a blow to freedom of information advocates who had challenged a Virginia law. In a unanimous ruling, the court said two out-of-state men did not have a right to view the documents. Various other states, including Tennessee, Arkansas and Delaware, have similar laws, although some do not enforce them. The men, Mark McBurney and Roger Hurlbert, had claimed the restrictions violated a provision of the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Accused Canadian cannibal/killer to go on trial in September 2014 Monday, Apr 29, 2013 09:20 AM PDT  OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian man accused of murdering and dismembering a Chinese student, eating parts of the corpse and posting an online video of the crime will go on trial in Montreal on September 15, 2014, an official said on Monday. Luka Rocco Magnotta, 30, is accused of killing Jun Lin in Montreal in May 2012, posting a video on the Internet of the stabbing death and defiling the body and eating parts of it. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, indignities to a body and publishing obscene materials. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Moussa says Brotherhood out for revenge Monday, Apr 29, 2013 09:07 AM PDT By Yasmine Saleh and Paul Taylor CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood is trying to exact revenge on the judiciary for years of imprisonment and political exclusion, but is attacking the wrong target, opposition leader Amr Moussa said on Monday. The elder statesman told Reuters that Egypt faced an exceptional "to-be-or-not-to-be crisis" worse than after its 1967 defeat by Israel, and Islamist President Mohamed Mursi would do better to pursue national unity rather than division. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. officials arrest Swiss banker: sources Monday, Apr 29, 2013 09:02 AM PDT  By Katharina Bart ZURICH (Reuters) - U.S. officials have arrested a former UBS banker working for the Swiss operations of Coutts, the private banking division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc , sources told Reuters. The arrest comes as U.S. authorities crack down on tax evasion and has revived Swiss bankers' fears that they could face detention if they travel to the United States and are suspected of helping people hide money in offshore accounts. Coutts notified staff in Geneva on Friday that one of its private bankers had been arrested last week when he entered the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Polish premier fires justice minister for embryo comments Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:59 AM PDT By Chris Borowski WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk dismissed his justice minister on Monday for comments about trade in embryos, highlighting rifts which threaten the government's slim majority in parliament. Justice Minister Jaroslaw Gowin, seen as an informal leader of the conservative wing of Tusk's Civic Platform, has clashed with him on other issues. If he quits the party and takes some supporters with him, the governing coalition that holds a slim five-seat margin in the lower house of parliament could fall. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Italy's politics turned upside down by election aftermath Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:48 AM PDT  By Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Five months ago, Silvio Berlusconi was in steep decline and his party was in shambles. His center-left enemies looked triumphant and sat on a 15-point opinion poll lead. Today that situation has turned 180 degrees. The center-left is devastated by divisions and the 76-year-old media tycoon has an opinion poll lead ranging from five to eight points. ... Full Story | Top |
| UAE pardons more than 100 Egyptian prisoners Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:26 AM PDT DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates pardoned more than 100 Egyptian prisoners on Monday in a move hailed by the Egyptian ambassador to Abu Dhabi as a gesture that will improve strained relations between the two countries. Ties between Egypt and the UAE soured after veteran Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak, a longtime Gulf ally, was toppled in 2011. The UAE has voiced distrust of the Muslim Brotherhood that helped propel Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to power last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thai rebels press for independence, set to scupper peace talks Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:22 AM PDT  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Leaders of a Muslim rebel group in southern Thailand said they will press for an independent state and made other demands that are likely to scupper a second round of peace talks, which started in Malaysia on Monday. Resistance to Bangkok's Buddhist rule has existed for decades but flared up violently in 2004 since when a campaign of bombings and roadside shootings has killed over 5,300 people, according to monitoring group Deep South Watch. ... Full Story | Top |
| Racist fans attack Hungarian activist ahead of Jewish Congress Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:21 AM PDT BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The head of a Hungarian anti-racism group said far-right soccer fans shouted "Sieg Heil" and attacked him, breaking his nose days before the country is due to host the World Jewish Congress. Ferenc Orosz, chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Association, told Reuters he was assaulted after arguing with a group of supporters chanting the Nazi slogan at a match between the Hungarian teams Videoton and Ferencvaros in Budapest on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| New PM Letta says Italy must reform, extend welfare provision Monday, Apr 29, 2013 08:07 AM PDT ROME (Reuters) - Italy must reform an outdated and inadequate welfare system, new Prime Minister Enrico Letta said in his maiden speech to parliament on Monday. "We need a welfare system which is more universal, more focused on young people and women, extending it to those who are not covered, especially temporary workers," Letta said, adding that he would work with trade unions to find ways to cut unemployment. Letta also announced that the first measure of his government would be to reduce the salaries of parliamentarians. (Reporting by Naomi O'Leary, writing by Gavin Jones) Full Story | Top |
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