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| Home prices rise, seen helping economic recovery Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:43 AM PDT  By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home prices rose in February at their fastest rate in almost seven years, a fresh sign the housing market recovery will help counter the drag on the economy from government belt tightening. The S&P/Case Shiller index of 20 metropolitan areas released on Tuesday showed single-family home prices rose 9.3 percent in February from a year earlier. The data reinforces the view that rising home prices could make Americans feel better about spending this year, helping counter a hit to economic growth from tax hikes and government spending cuts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berkshire size, Buffett age cloud annual gathering Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:11 AM PDT  By Jonathan Stempel and Jennifer Ablan (Reuters) - Warren Buffett may be on safari for major acquisitions, which he likes to call elephants, but shareholders may wonder if his Berkshire Hathaway Inc has become the biggest elephant in the room. Berkshire has grown to look more and more like corporate America, as Buffett expands outside its core insurance business into such areas as energy, industrial products, newspapers, and in February ketchup, when he teamed up with Brazil's 3G Capital investment firm to buy H.J. Heinz Co for $23.2 billion. ... Full Story | Top |
| South African army deaths from Central African Republic rise to 14 Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:13 AM PDT  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - One of 27 South African soldiers injured in March in fighting against rebels in Central African Republic has died, bringing to 14 the total killed in the clashes, a defense force spokesman said on Tuesday. The soldier, who was not identified, had been released from hospital on April 19 following an improvement in his condition. "Yesterday, he collapsed at home and was rushed to hospital, where he died," South African National Defense Force spokesman Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga said. Pretoria had originally reported 13 killed in the fighting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Ride service Uber raising cash at $1 billion valuation Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:07 PM PDT  By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ride-sharing service Uber is raising a new funding round at a valuation of $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the situation. If the company succeeds, it will join an elite group of start-ups that command 10-figure valuations. The situation underscores investors' desire to pay premiums for any company they think might become the type of outsized success story along the lines of business network LinkedIn or software company Workday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kerry pledges to answer Benghazi questions, laments 'misinformation' Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:49 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday pledged full cooperation with lawmakers' queries into last year's assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, while his spokesman dismissed reports that whistleblowers faced retaliation. "We're prepared to work openly and accountably to answer any of those questions," Kerry told reporters. "I'm determined that this will be an accountable and open State Department as it has been in the past and we will continue to provide answers," he said. The assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi last September 11, in which U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen stage protest outside Libyan justice ministry Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:37 AM PDT  By Ghaith Shennib and Jessica Donati TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed men in pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and rocket-launchers protested on the road outside Libya's justice ministry on Tuesday to press demands that former dictator Muammar Gaddafi's aides be barred from senior government posts. Tensions between the government and armed militia have been intensifying since authorities began a campaign to dislodge the gunmen from strongholds in the capital Tripoli to tackle lawlessness threatening democratic transition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Somalia's Puntland region executes suspected Islamist militants Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:35 AM PDT BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - Somalia's northern Puntland province executed 13 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants on Tuesday, a military court official said, and security forces deployed heavily in the coastal city of Bosasso to ward off any reprisal attacks. Squeezed out of their strongholds in southern and central Somalia by a military offensive, al Shabaab rebels have slowly infiltrated Puntland, a semi-autonomous region that had largely avoided being caught up in successive Islamist insurgencies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta tells Merkel Europe needs more growth Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:42 AM PDT  By Steve Scherer and Stephen Brown ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, fresh from winning a confidence vote in parliament, told Germany on Tuesday his government would meet its budget commitments but expected Europe to drop its austerity mantra and do more to lift growth. Speaking in Berlin on his first foreign visit since taking office on Sunday, Letta warned that Italy's February election, which saw a surge of support for parties attacking the European Union, showed that a change of course was needed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama signals won't rush to act against Syria over chemical arms Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:04 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama cautioned against a rush to judgment on whether Syria used chemical weapons against its own people on Tuesday in a sign he is going to take a deliberate approach to a problem that could lead to U.S. military action. At a White House news conference, Obama said there is evidence chemical weapons were used inside Syria but "we don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them" and "we don't have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus bailout scrapes through island's parliament Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's parliament approved an EU bailout on Tuesday which will force it to wind down its second-largest bank and impose heavy losses on uninsured depositors at another, conditions that have intensified calls from islanders to exit the euro. With a razor-thin majority of just two votes, lawmakers approved terms accompanying 10 billion euros ($13.18 billion)in aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel welcomes apparent Arab League softening of peace plan Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:51 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel responded favorably on Tuesday to an apparent softening by Arab states of their 2002 peace plan after a top Qatari official raised the possibility of land swaps in setting borders between the Jewish state and an independent Palestine. The original Arab League proposal offered full recognition of Israel but only if it gave up all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war and accepted a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees. Israel, which has long said it would never return to narrow pre-1967 war borders, rejected the plan at the time. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi Arabia has no plans to push oil capacity to 15 million bpd: minister Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:37 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's energy minister said on Tuesday the kingdom has no plans to dramatically expand its oil production capacity to 15 million barrels per day, dispelling a suggestion put forth by a member of his country's royal family. Ali al-Naimi said his country will be "lucky to go past" its current oil production of about 9 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2020, as new petroleum production from other countries comes into the global market. ... Full Story | Top |
| Anger builds as Bangladesh gives up hope of more survivors Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:21 AM PDT  By Ruma Paul and Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - Rescue officials in Bangladesh said on Tuesday they had given up hope of finding more survivors from a garment factory complex that collapsed killing hundreds, as the government came under pressure to do more to enforce building safety standards. At least 390 people have been confirmed dead in what is just the latest incident to raise serious questions about worker safety and low wages in the poor South Asian country that relies on garments for 80 percent of its exports. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb blast kills 13 in center of Syrian capital Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:06 AM PDT  By Oliver Holmes BEIRUT (Reuters) - A bomb blast in the government-held center of Damascus killed 13 people on Tuesday, state television said, while rebels and loyalists to President Bashar al-Assad traded accusations over what they said was a chemical weapons attack the day before. Residents described scenes of carnage in Marjeh Square, in a the commercial district in the heart of the capital, with dozens of cars and buildings damaged by the bomb which went off in front of the former Interior Ministry building. ... Full Story | Top |
| Orange celebrations as King Willem-Alexander takes Dutch throne Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:56 PM PDT  By Gilbert Kreijger and Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Willem-Alexander became the first king of the Netherlands since 1890 on Tuesday, ascending a throne largely stripped of political power but still invested with enormous symbolic significance for the Dutch people. At his investiture in Amsterdam's 600-year-old Nieuwe Kerk, or New Church, the 46-year-old monarch swore an oath to uphold the Dutch constitution and stressed the need for unity at a time of economic crisis. "I take office in a period when many in the kingdom feel vulnerable or uncertain. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani court bars ex-president from elections for life Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:37 AM PDT  By Jibran Ahmed PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Tuesday imposed a lifetime ban on former President Pervez Musharraf from contesting elections, derailing his efforts to regain influence by winning a seat in parliament. It was the first time a court in Pakistan had declared a citizen ineligible from contesting elections for life. The former army chief returned last month after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest a May 11 general election, but election officers disqualified him because of court cases pending against him. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus parliament approves bailout Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 09:00 AM PDT  NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus's parliament approved on Tuesday an EU bailout including provisions to impose substantial losses on bank depositors and wind down one of the island's biggest banks. By a show of hands, 29 lawmakers approved ratification of the bailout bill and 27 opposed. The government had warned that without approval the economy was in imminent danger of default. Cyprus is expected to get the first disbursement of a total of 10 billion euros ($13.10 billion) in aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in May. ... Full Story | Top |
| Algeria contemplates future without ailing Bouteflika Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 08:03 AM PDT  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Ill-health may force veteran Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, now in hospital in Paris, to hasten his departure from power, plunging a youthful, restless nation into an uncertain political transition. Algeria, led by Bouteflika since 1999, has for decades drawn its presidents from an ageing cohort of men who won their spurs in the bitter 1954-62 independence war with France. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mosque, Muslim shops attacked near Myanmar's biggest city Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:41 AM PDT YANGON (Reuters) - Rioters attacked a mosque and Muslim businesses in central Myanmar on Tuesday, police said, the closest a series of sectarian clashes pitting Muslims against majority Buddhists has come to the commercial capital Yangon. Roaming gangs armed with bricks smashed the mosque's windows and looted dozens of shops after a Muslim woman collided with a Buddhist monk while walking in the street, angering residents, a police statement said. "Police had to disperse the crowd by firing warning shots," presidential spokesman Ye Htut said in a statement on his Facebook page. ... Full Story | Top |
| Roadside bomb kills three NATO soldiers in Afghan south Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:56 AM PDT KABUL (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed three members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the coalition said. It is ISAF policy not to identify the nationality of soldiers killed on duty. The Taliban on Sunday launched its spring offensive, saying it would take aim at foreign military bases and diplomatic areas. (Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Full Story | Top |
| Italian police arrest four suspected Islamist militants Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:16 AM PDT BARI, Italy (Reuters) - Italian police on Tuesday arrested four of six men they suspect are members of an Islamist militant cell which was planning attacks in the United States, Israel and Italy, though no specific targets were named by police. The men aimed to train militants and send them abroad, para-military police said, and are suspected of conspiracy to commit international terrorism and inciting racial hatred. ... Full Story | Top |
| Consumer confidence rebounds in April Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 07:05 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer confidence rebounded in April as Americans felt better about the outlook for the economy and their income prospects, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday. The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 68.1 from an upwardly revised 61.9 in March. Economists had expected a reading of 60.8, according to a Reuters poll. March was originally reported as 59.7. The expectations index gained to 73.3 from 63.7, while the present situation index improved to 60.4 from 59.2. ... Full Story | Top |
| SoftBank slams Dish's Sprint bid, rules out sweeteners Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:27 AM PDT  By Mari Saito and Sinead Carew TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - SoftBank Corp President Masayoshi Son came out swinging on Tuesday against Dish Network Corp's rival bid for Sprint Nextel Corp, saying the satellite TV company would cripple Sprint with debt and was ill-prepared to run a wireless service. Billionaire Son said there would be no need for SoftBank to sweeten its bid and he dismissed Dish's $25.5 billion offer as "incomplete and illusory." He argued his $20.1 billion offer would ultimately be better value for Sprint shareholders. Son, who plans to make a U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran says use of chemical arms by anyone in Syria is "red line" Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 04:31 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it regarded the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria's civil war as a "red line", echoing major adversary the United States but saying Syrian rebels were the main culprit and not the Damascus government. Last week Washington said it had "varying degrees of confidence" that Syrian government forces had likely used the nerve agent sarin on a small scale against rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pfizer results fall short; company trims profit forecast Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 11:52 AM PDT  By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc reported much lower-than-expected first-quarter sales on Tuesday, hurt by weak demand for its Prevnar 13 vaccine used to prevent pneumonia and other infections, and it trimmed its 2013 profit forecast. Pfizer, whose shares fell 3.6 percent in afternoon trading, earned $2.75 billion, or 38 cents per share in the quarter. That was up from $1.79 billion, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier, when it took restructuring and legal charges. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan household spending surges as "Abenomics" gains momentum Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 02:14 AM PDT  By Stanley White and Kaori Kaneko TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's household spending surged in March at the fastest pace in nine years in a sign that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bold efforts to end two decades of stagnation are lifting consumer confidence and setting the stage for an economic revival. A recent run of data has provided encouraging early hope that Abe's push for aggressive fiscal and monetary policies to get the world's third-largest economy motoring is having the desired effect. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Six months after Sandy, New York fuel supply chain still vulnerable Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 03:24 AM PDT  By Sabina Zawadzki and Anna Louie Sussman NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six months after Hurricane Sandy ripped into the East Coast and triggered one of the worst energy crises in decades, there is scattered evidence companies and state agencies have moved to strengthen complex fuel supply networks against future storms. But the measures taken by energy firms in New York and New Jersey are uneven, state initiatives remain on paper for now, and in the absence of an industry-wide response it's unclear the region would fare much better should there be a next time. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain's economy shrinks for seventh straight quarter Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 03:35 AM PDT  By Paul Day MADRID (Reuters) - Spain fell deeper into recession in the first three months of the year, the seventh straight quarter it has seen its economy shrink, data showed on Tuesday. Rising exports and weaker imports, reported separately, provided some relief by cutting the trade deficit. The data showing further contraction will add to a Europe-wide debate about whether countries should tone down austerity programs intended to cut debt in favor of more growth-focused policies, particularly given concern about rising unemployment. Euro zone member Spain's jobless rate is 27.2 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Euro zone inflation fall, record jobless point to ECB rate cut Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 05:09 AM PDT  By Robin Emmott and Annika Breidthardt BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Inflation in the euro zone has fallen to a three-year low and unemployment has hit a new record, cementing expectations of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank later this week. With the bloc's economy mired in recession, inflation tumbled to 1.2 percent in April, the lowest level since February 2010 and the biggest monthly drop in more than four years, the European Union's statistics office Eurostat said on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arab League seems to soften Israeli-Palestinian peace plan Monday, Apr 29, 2013 09:39 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arab states appeared to soften their 2002 peace plan on Monday when a top Qatari official said Israel and the Palestinians could trade land rather than conform exactly to their 1967 borders. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, made the comment after he and a group of Arab officials met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss how to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Why did Cypriot banks keep buying Greek bonds? Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 06:45 AM PDT  By Michele Kambas, Stephen Grey and Stelios Orphanides NICOSIA (Reuters) - One day last October, a memory stick containing special software for deleting data was placed into a desktop computer at Bank of Cyprus. Within minutes, 28,000 files were erased, according to investigators who had wanted to copy the data for an official report into the collapse of the Cypriot banking system. ... Full Story | Top |
| German unemployment up slightly on longer winter: data Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 03:48 AM PDT  BERLIN (Reuters) - German unemployment rose slightly in April in seasonally adjusted terms as cold winter weather kept people out of work for longer than usual at this time of year, the Labour Office said on Tuesday. However, the jobless rate stayed close to a reunification low of 6.9 percent, in line with the consensus in a Reuters poll of 33 economists. The number of people out of work, adjusted for seasonal swings, increased by 4,000 to 2.938 million, twice the expected rise in a Reuters poll. ... Full Story | Top |
| Unilever offers $5.4 billion to raise stake in Indian unit Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 12:04 AM PDT  By Tony Munroe and Swati Pandey MUMBAI (Reuters) - Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever Plc offered to pay as much as $5.4 billion to raise its stake in its Indian unit, banking on fast-growing spending power in Asia's third-largest economy. The offer to lift its share to as much as three-quarters of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, India's largest consumer goods maker, is the latest big corporate bet on long-term consumer demand in India despite economic growth at a decade low. It also reflects Unilever's focus on emerging markets amid weakness in the United States and Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Breaking a sports barrier, NBA's Jason Collins comes out as gay Monday, Apr 29, 2013 05:29 PM PDT  By Julian Linden NEW YORK (Reuters) - Veteran basketball player Jason Collins announced on Monday that he was gay, smashing through one of the final frontiers in U.S. sports with a frank personal statement and winning warm praise as a groundbreaker. Collins, a 12-year player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), became the first active athlete from any of the four major U.S. men's professional sports leagues to come out publicly as gay. He was quickly enveloped in a wave of support from the White House to tennis player Martina Navratilova, a pioneer for gay athletes in sport. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta wins confidence vote after pledging growth drive Monday, Apr 29, 2013 02:12 PM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta won his first vote of confidence in parliament on Monday after promising to press for a change to the European Union's focus on austerity and pursue economic growth and jobs. 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. The confidence motion in his right-left coalition government easily passed as expected, by 453 votes to 153 in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house. ... Full Story | Top |
| Saudi-U.S. relations to withstand North American oil boom Monday, Apr 29, 2013 10:03 PM PDT  By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts say Asia and Iran are the keys to maintaining a strong - but evolving - U.S.-Saudi Arabia energy relationship. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi is expected to share his optimistic view on the future of Asian oil demand on Tuesday when he gives a major energy speech, billed as the first in the United States in four years. As the United States produces oil at the highest levels in 20 years thanks to the shale boom, Saudi Arabia's confidence in Asian markets could help keep relations between the two countries on track. ... Full Story | Top |
| Intel CEO backs SoftBank's bid for Sprint over Dish's offer Monday, Apr 29, 2013 07:43 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Intel Corp Chief Executive Paul Otellini said in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission that he supports SoftBank's bid for Sprint Nextel Corp, rather than Dish Network's counter offer. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless service provider, is considering a $25.5 billion bid from Dish but has also said it is on track to close its $20.1 billion pact with SoftBank by July 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Visitors help Boston shops bounce back after Marathon attacks Monday, Apr 29, 2013 02:20 PM PDT  By Ross Kerber BOSTON (Reuters) - One tourist wanted to eat at a restaurant as close to the Boston Marathon finish line as possible. Other well-wishers made a point of buying shoes at the running store just a few steps away from a bomb blast site. With their dining and shopping dollars, throngs of visitors to Boston's Boylston Street are helping small businesses recover quickly from millions of dollars in losses after the Boston Marathon bombing attacks on April 15. ... Full Story | Top |
| Muslim victims of Myanmar unrest face uncertain future Monday, Apr 29, 2013 02:04 PM PDT  By Jared Ferrie MEIKHTILA, Myanmar, April 30 - In Myanmar's central heartlands, justice and security is elusive for thousands of Muslims who lost their homes in a deadly rampage by Buddhist mobs in March. Many are detained in prison-like camps, unable to return to neighborhoods and businesses razed in four days of violence in Meikhtila that killed at least 43 people, most of them Muslims, displaced nearly 13,000, and touched off a wave of anti-Muslim unrest fuelled by radical Buddhist monks. ... Full Story | Top |
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