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| Three men charged with undermining Boston bombing probe Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:26 PM PDT  By Scott Malone, Tim McLaughlin and Mark Hosenball BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Wednesday charged three men with interfering with the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing, accusing two students from Kazakhstan of hiding a laptop computer and backpack belonging to one of the suspected bombers. The third man, a U.S. citizen named Robel Phillipos, was charged with making false statements to investigators. The three were described as friends of surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU considers trade action after Bangladesh factory collapse Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:11 PM PDT  By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - The European Union is considering trade action against Bangladesh, which has preferential access to EU markets for its garments, to pressure Dhaka to improve safety standards after a building collapse killed more than 400 factory workers. Duty-free access offered by Western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19 billion a year industry, with 60 percent of clothes going to Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Companies hire less, manufacturing growth slows in April Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:26 AM PDT  By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK (Reuters) - Companies hired the fewest employees in seven months in April while manufacturing growth slowed to a crawl, suggesting the economy has run into a soft patch as budget-cutting in Washington starts to bite. Businesses added 119,000 employees to payrolls last month, according to the ADP National Employment Report released on Wednesday, short of economists' expectations for 150,000 jobs and the smallest gain since last September. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama taps ally, former lobbyist Wheeler for telecoms regulator Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:16 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated venture capitalist and former wireless and cable lobbyist Tom Wheeler to be the top media and telecommunications regulator. If approved by the Senate, Wheeler would become chairman of the Federal Communications Commission at a time when the agency prepares for a major reshuffling of ownership of radio airwaves and tries to catch up to rapidly changing technology. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed stresses could boost or curb pace of stimulus Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:56 AM PDT  By Pedro da Costa and Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it will keep buying $85 billion in bonds each month to keep interest rates low and spur growth, but added it could lift or taper this pace of purchases depending on the economy's path. Expressing concern about a drag from Washington's belt-tightening, the Fed described the economy as expanding moderately in a statement that largely mirrored its March decision. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey investigates use of chemical weapons in Syria Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:16 AM PDT  By Ece Toksabay REYHANLI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey is testing blood samples taken from Syrian casualties brought over the border from fighting in recent days to determine whether they were victims of a chemical weapons attack, local government and health officials said on Wednesday. The samples were sent to Turkey's forensic medicine institute after several Syrians with breathing difficulties were brought to a Turkish hospital on Monday in the town of Reyhanli in Hatay province along the Syrian border. ... Full Story | Top |
| Armed protests in Libya threatening safety in capital Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:24 AM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed protests targeting Libya's ministries and media in the capital this week have alarmed international observers who say deteriorating security conditions are becoming a matter of serious concern. Reporters without Borders said there was cause for "grave concern about recent violent attacks on Libyan journalists, whose safety conditions are deteriorating drastically" and called on the government to act. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta wins French backing for focus on growth Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:17 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's new prime minister Enrico Letta won French backing on Wednesday for calls to spur economic growth alongside budget rigor, but problems lay closer to home with coalition partners demanding tax cuts that would blow a hole in the budget. Letta, who took his message to Berlin on Tuesday, met French President Francois Hollande and said he was "100 percent satisfied" with the meeting and Hollande's response to his calls for Europe to start focusing on growth as well as consolidation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Highfields Capital raises stake in Tim Hortons - source Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:07 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Highfields Capital Management has increased its stake in Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons from 1.5 percent to around 4 percent this year, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters Wednesday. A Highfields spokeswoman declined to comment. A Tim Hortons spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Hedge fund Highfields Capital, which has a track record of bringing about change at other firms, wants Tim Hortons to boost returns through debt-funded share buybacks and a scaling back of U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thousands rally against European austerity on May Day Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:18 AM PDT By Clare Kane MADRID (Reuters) - Workers hit by lower living standards and record high unemployment staged May Day protests across Europe on Wednesday, hoping to persuade their governments of the case for easing austerity measures and boosting growth. In the debt-laden euro zone countries of Spain, Greece, Italy and France tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand jobs and an end to years of belt-tightening. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuelans hold rival May Day marches as vote dispute drags on Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:17 PM PDT By Diego Ore and Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - Opposition and government supporters flooded Venezuelan streets in rival May Day marches on Wednesday as a continuing dispute over the results of last month's presidential vote kept political tensions high in the OPEC nation. On Tuesday, opposition deputies were beaten in a fracas in Congress resulting from their refusal to recognize the presidency of Nicolas Maduro, who narrowly won the April 14 election triggered by the death of socialist leader Hugo Chavez. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. presses China to stop growing trade secret theft Wednesday, May 01, 2013 08:35 AM PDT  By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Trade Representative's office criticized China on Wednesday for failing to stop the growing theft of American trade secrets that are the lifeblood of U.S. economic might, in the latest sign of Washington's frustration with the problem. "Not only are repeated thefts occurring inside China, but also outside of China for the benefit of Chinese entities," USTR said in its annual report on countries with the worst records of protecting U.S. intellectual property rights. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb kills two teenagers near mall in Russia's Dagestan Wednesday, May 01, 2013 07:23 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A bomb left in a bag exploded near a shopping mall in the capital of Russia's turbulent Dagestan Republic on Wednesday, killing two teenagers, the internal ministry said. Mainly Muslim Dagestan, in recent years the home of the parents of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, has been affected by an Islamist insurgency for over a decade since a war in adjacent Chechnya, where Russian federal security forces forced Islamist separatists from power. ... Full Story | Top |
| Construction spending rate hits seven-month low Wednesday, May 01, 2013 07:05 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Construction spending dropped to a seven-month low in March as public outlays recorded their largest drop since 2006, which could cause the first-quarter economic growth estimate to be trimmed. Construction spending fell 1.7 percent to an annual rate of $856.72 billion, the lowest level since August, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Spending had increased 1.5 percent in February. Economists polled by Reuters had expected construction spending to rise 0.7 percent in March. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berkshire buys rest of Israel's Iscar for $2.05 billion Wednesday, May 01, 2013 07:24 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Wednesday said it paid $2.05 billion cash to buy the 20 percent it did not already own of toolmaker Iscar from the Israeli company's founding Wertheimer family. Berkshire in 2006 bought an 80 percent stake in Iscar, a maker of metal cutting tools whose formal name is IMC International Metalworking Cos, for $4 billion. At the time, that purchase was one of the largest acquisitions involving an Israeli company, and Buffett's biggest bet outside the United States. Wednesday's purchase suggests that Iscar's value has since more than doubled. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sunni unrest revives fears of sectarian war in Iraq Wednesday, May 01, 2013 06:26 AM PDT  By Kamal Naama and Suadad al-Salhy RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Wearing military fatigues with his cleric's turban, Sheikh Ali Muhaibes brought Friday prayers in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland to a climax with chilling words for the Shi'ite-led government. "If you want jihad, we're ready. If you want confrontation, we're ready. And if you want us to go to Baghdad, we're coming," he roared to the crowd in the western province of Anbar. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta faces early squeeze over anti-austerity drive Wednesday, May 01, 2013 06:52 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's new prime minister, Enrico Letta, is preaching an end to austerity while pledging to meet European Union debt targets and his fledgling coalition is already at odds over how to pay for cuts to an unpopular housing tax. Letta, who took his message to Berlin on Tuesday, is due to meet French President Francois Hollande later on Wednesday where he can expect a favorable hearing for his calls for Europe to start focusing on economic growth as well as budget rigor. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Rebel gains in southern Syria sharpen Jordan's dilemma Wednesday, May 01, 2013 06:07 AM PDT  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - The growing power of Islamist fighters in southern Syria is causing alarm in neighboring Jordan, which backs rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad but fears those linked to al Qaeda. Similar concerns among Syria's other neighbors, including Turkey and Israel, are complicating an already disjointed world response to the bloody turmoil at the heart of the Middle East. Jordan has allowed limited U.S. military training of rebels on its territory. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least 15 killed in Iraq bomb blasts Wednesday, May 01, 2013 05:10 AM PDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed in a series of bomb blasts across Iraq on Wednesday, police and medics said, following a sharp increase in violence that has prompted warnings of a full-blown sectarian conflict. Violence in Iraq has increased as the civil war in neighboring Syria puts a strain on fragile relations between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. Tensions are at their highest in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out more than a year ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Myanmar forces restore order after latest anti-Muslim violence Wednesday, May 01, 2013 05:17 AM PDT  By Jared Ferrie KYAW BOI LAY, Myanmar (Reuters) - Hundreds of police and troops restored order in central Myanmar on Wednesday after a fresh outbreak of sectarian violence in which one man was killed after Buddhist mobs trashed property owned by Muslims following a minor street incident. In all, 10 people were injured in Oakkan and nearby villages, just 60 miles north of the commercial capital Yangon, and one died of a head wound, the deputy police commissioner of Yangon, Thet Lwin, told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Private sector job increase smallest since September: ADP Wednesday, May 01, 2013 05:56 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private-sector hiring slowed again in April as companies added the fewest employees in seven months, the latest sign the economy is encountering a soft patch, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday. Businesses added 119,000 employees to their payrolls last month, according to the ADP National Employment Report, falling short of economists' expectations for a gain of 150,000 jobs. It was the smallest gain since last September. March's private payrolls were revised down to an increase of 131,000 from the previously reported 158,000. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merck's Januvia diabetes drug lags, 2013 forecast cut Wednesday, May 01, 2013 05:40 AM PDT  By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc reported disappointing first-quarter sales on a surprising downturn for its Januvia diabetes medicine, the company's biggest product and usual earnings driver, and the drugmaker cut its profit forecast for the full year. Shares of Merck fell 3.1 percent in premarket trading. The drugmaker's earnings beat forecasts for the quarter, thanks largely to a favorable tax rate, but the quarterly results were overshadowed by Januvia's plight. Merck reported net income of $1.59 billion, or 52 cents per share, compared with $1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factory activity weakest in six months in April: Markit Wednesday, May 01, 2013 06:01 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Manufacturing growth pulled back to its slowest pace in six months in April as new orders and employment cooled, the latest signal the economy has hit a soft spot, a survey showed on Wednesday. Financial data firm Markit said its final Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) slipped to 52.1 from 54.6 in March. It was the lowest final reading since October. Still, that was a slight improvement from the preliminary reading of 52. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. The output index fell to 53.7 from 56.6, while new orders dropped to 51.5 from 55.4. ... Full Story | Top |
| Taliban kill senior peace envoy in south Afghanistan Wednesday, May 01, 2013 03:14 AM PDT KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban fighters killed a senior member of Afghanistan's peace council on Wednesday, officials said, dealing another blow to nascent peace efforts with the insurgency. President Hamid Karzai formed a 70-member High Peace Council in 2010 in a bid to reach a peace settlement with the insurgents, but little has been achieved, with the Taliban saying they will not talk with the Afghan government. ... Full Story | Top |
| China says U.S. should watch Japanese nationalism Wednesday, May 01, 2013 03:57 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States should be just as concerned as other countries about a rise in Japanese nationalism, China's ambassador to Washington said, hinting that the United States should not offer Japan encouragement in its dispute with China over a group of islets. China and Japan are involved in an increasingly bitter stand-off over the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China, which lie atop of possibly large energy reserves. Beijing last month protested a voyage by 10 boats carrying Japanese activists into waters near the islands. ... Full Story | Top |
| China factory PMI raises doubts about economy's strength Wednesday, May 01, 2013 01:06 AM PDT  By Langi Chiang and Jonathan Standing BEIJING (Reuters) - Growth in China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly slowed in April as new export orders fell, raising fresh doubts about the strength of the economy after a disappointing first quarter. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 50.6 in April from an 11-month high in March of 50.9. Analysts had expected the April PMI to be 51.0. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Peru rolling back indigenous law in win for mining sector Wednesday, May 01, 2013 03:38 AM PDT  By Mitra Taj and Teresa Cespedes LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's mining minister is winning a crucial cabinet battle by swaying President Ollanta Humala to water down a law that gives indigenous groups more say over new mines and oil projects - and a deputy minister will likely resign in protest. According to half a dozen people with direct knowledge of the internal tug-of-war, Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino has prevailed in excluding Quechua-speaking communities in the mineral-rich Andes from being covered by the law. ... Full Story | Top |
| What could U.N. sleuths unearth at Iran's Parchin base? Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:01 AM PDT  By Fredrik Dahl SEIBERSDORF, Austria (Reuters) - The self-styled "Sherlock Holmeses" of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, now seeking access to a major Iranian base, say they have the capability to find tiny traces of atomic material at a site even if a country were to try to cover it up. In talks later this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency will once again press Tehran to allow its inspectors to visit Iran's sprawling Parchin military complex. That would enable them to bring back swab samples for thorough checks at the IAEA's high-tech laboratory near Vienna. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's emotional ties to North Korea run deep in border city Wednesday, May 01, 2013 01:15 AM PDT  By Ben Blanchard DANDONG, China (Reuters) - Peering at graphic pictures of supposed U.S. biological warfare efforts during the 1950-53 Korean War, Zhang Ping tugs on the sleeve of a visiting foreign reporter to complain about the barbarism visited on his compatriots during the conflict. "Too terrible, those Americans," he mutters, standing at a war museum on the Chinese side of the North Korean border, pointing out the pictures of infected animals and insects which China and North Korea say the United States dropped to poison their enemies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tsarnaev homeland Chechnya: rebuilt from war, ruled by fear Wednesday, May 01, 2013 03:37 AM PDT  By Maria Golovnina GROZNY, Russia (Reuters) - When it was last in the international spotlight, Chechnya was in ruins, its capital Grozny reduced to dust by the deadliest artillery and air onslaught in Europe since World War Two. Today, when the naming of two Chechens as suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings has put it back on the world's front pages, Chechnya appears almost miraculously reborn. The streets have been rebuilt. Walls riddled with bullet holes are long gone. New high rise buildings soar into the sky. Spotless playgrounds are packed with children. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan military angered by treatment of Musharraf: reports Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:19 PM PDT  By Michael Georgy ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's powerful army chief has suggested the military is unhappy with how authorities have treated former army chief and president Pervez Musharraf since his return from exile. A Pakistani court on Tuesday imposed a lifetime ban on Musharraf from contesting elections, undermining his efforts to regain influence by winning a seat in parliament. The former army chief returned in March 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 |
| Exclusive: Bain, Golden Gate in the lead to buy BMC Software - sources Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 07:09 PM PDT By Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim NEW YORK (Reuters) - A private equity group made up of Bain Capital LLC and Golden Gate Capital Corp has emerged as the lead contender to buy BMC Software Inc for more than $6.5 billion, three people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Bain and Golden Gate, which made a binding bid for the business software maker on April 22, offered more than a rival consortium of KKR & Co LP, TPG Capital LP and Thoma Bravo LLC, the sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama won't rush to act against Syria over chemical arms Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 03:58 PM PDT  By Steve Holland and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signaled on Tuesday he is no rush to respond quickly to Syria's apparent use of chemical weapons, taking a cautious approach to the country's civil war, mirroring the views of the American public, most lawmakers and some U.S. allies. Obama, who last year declared that the use or deployment of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would cross a "red line," told a White House news conference there was evidence those weapons were used, but there was still much that U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Accused Colorado gunman's lawyers may enter insanity plea over his objections Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 10:23 PM PDT  By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Lawyers for accused Colorado theater gunman James Holmes are questioning the constitutionality of the state's insanity defense law, court records released on Tuesday show, and raising the possibility that they may enter an insanity plea over his objections. Public defenders for Holmes, 25, said in a filing that there is "significant uncertainty and confusion" in Colorado law surrounding an insanity defense in the context of a case where prosecutors are seeking capital punishment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama renews vow to close Guantanamo detention camp Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 03:34 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saying it was damaging to U.S. interests to keep holding prisoners in legal limbo at Guantanamo, President Barack Obama renewed an old vow on Tuesday to close the camp, where about 100 inmates are on hunger strike to protest against their years in detention without trial. Human rights groups welcomed Obama's recommitment to shutting the prison, but some activists called for action, not just words. Criticism of the camp, set up at the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| FBI says lab tests link Mississippi man to ricin letters Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 04:17 PM PDT  By Emily Lane JACKSON, Mississippi (Reuters) - A dust mask and other items seized from the martial arts studio of a Mississippi man charged with sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and two other public officials tested positive for ricin, according to a court document released on Tuesday. Records seized by the FBI also showed that Tupelo martial arts instructor Everett Dutschke ordered castor bean seeds, used to make ricin, from eBay, FBI Special Agent Stephen Thomason said in an eight-page affidavit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebound in job growth eyed, but momentum still slow Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 02:42 PM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Job growth likely accelerated in April, but probably still lacked enough muscle to help the economy head off the blow from deep government budget cuts and higher taxes. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased by 145,000, according to a Reuters survey of economists after stumbling to a nine-month low of 88,000 in March. While March's meager job gains probably exaggerated the labor market's weakness, the expected increase for April would still fall short of the monthly average of 200,000 new jobs for the first two months of this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Apple wows market with record $17 billion bond deal Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By John Balassi and Josie Cox NEW YORK/LONDON, April 30 (IFR) - Apple Inc wowed the debt markets on Tuesday with the largest non-bank bond deal in history, pricing a whopping $17 billion as the U.S. computer giant switches strategy to placate restless shareholders. Just a week after announcing its first drop in quarterly earnings in a decade, Apple came to market with the massive deal to raise funds for an ambitious program that will return $100 billion in cash to holders of Apple shares. ... Full Story | Top |
| China steps up customs checks, but North Korea trade robust Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 02:47 PM PDT  By Ben Blanchard DANDONG, China (Reuters) - China has stepped up checks on shipments to and from North Korea almost two months after agreeing to new U.N. sanctions that demand greater scrutiny of trade, but the flow of goods in and out of the reclusive state appears largely unaffected. The sanctions were imposed after North Korea's third nuclear test on February 12. China has said it wants the measures enforced, but few analysts believe Beijing will take steps that hurt North Korea as it is committed to a policy of engagement. ... Full Story | Top |
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