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| Insight: Canadian train disaster a dark turn for rail veteran Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 12:38 PM PDT  By Karl Plume, P.J. Huffstutter and Ernest Scheyder (Reuters) - A blinding flash of orange light jarred Weyauwega residents awake before dawn on March 4, 1996. An 81-car freight train had been barreling toward the farm town in central Wisconsin when it jumped a broken rail. The train's propane and petroleum cargo had caught fire and exploded. Gerald Poltrock II, a rookie local police officer, thought it was a prank when the dispatcher called to say the city "blew up." It was no joke. When he arrived at the Mill Street railroad crossing, Poltrock recalled, the scene was "mass chaos. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Resigned to reform, Wall Street tries a different tack in DC Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Douwe Miedema (Reuters) - In March, as U.S. bank regulators were framing a new rule that would affect the $630 trillion derivatives market, JPMorgan Chase & Co sent five bankers from New York and London to Washington to raise some fine points about the impact of the financial reform. In a jargon-laden, 23-slide presentation, the JPMorgan bankers walked regulators through the complexities of how their decisions would affect the arcane market, according to documents and a person familiar with the meeting. On July 2, the U.S. Federal Reserve released the final rule. ... Full Story | Top |
| Avicii tops UK chart with fastest selling single of 2013 Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 11:06 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - The Swedish artist Avicii hit the top of the British singles chart on Sunday with 'Wake Me Up', which became the fastest selling single of the year, the Official Charts Company said. The track by the 23 year-old DJ and producer, whose real name is Tim Bergling, sold nearly 267,000 copies to dislodge U.S.-Canadian singer-songwriter Robin Thicke from the top spot. The single is Avicii's second number one this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. warns on mobile cybersecurity bugs in bid to prevent attacks Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 10:40 AM PDT  By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - A United Nations group that advises nations on cybersecurity plans to send out an alert about significant vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology that could potentially enable hackers to remotely attack at least half a billion phones. The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ghosts beat minions as 'Conjuring' horror flick leads box office Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 10:32 AM PDT By Chris Michaud and Lisa Richwine NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Conjuring," a low-budget horror movie about a haunted farmhouse, spooked two pricey competitors and the "Despicable Me" minions to win a crowded weekend box office contest at U.S. and Canadian theaters. "Conjuring" soared past forecasts with $41.5 million in domestic ticket sales in its first three days, the highest take among four new films, according to studio estimates. The strong performance from "Conjuring" knocked two-time champion "Despicable Me 2" to second place with $25.1 million. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas police confirm woman fell to death from roller coaster Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 10:17 AM PDT By Lisa Maria Garza DALLAS (Reuters) - The woman who died Friday while riding a 14-story roller coaster at the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park outside Dallas fell from the train car she was riding in, local police who are investigating the incident said on Sunday. Police in Arlington, Texas, located about 20 miles west of Dallas, said there was no evidence that the death of the woman, who has not been identified, resulted from criminal intent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yields on Egypt T-bills fall on Gulf aid and cabinet hopes Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 08:41 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian treasury bill yields tumbled at an auction on Sunday on hopes that the transitional cabinet, armed with billions of Gulf Arab dollars, will shore up the economy and restore political stability. The cabinet, appointed last week, said in a statement after a meeting on Sunday that "the people need to be informed candidly about the size of Egypt's problems, which require quick and decisive action". Egypt received $2 billion in aid from Saudi Arabia on Sunday and $3 billion from the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. "You've got the cabinet now in place ... ... Full Story | Top |
| GSK boss to address China scandal at quarterly results: sources Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 08:38 AM PDT  By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Chief Executive Andrew Witty will detail what action the drugmaker is taking in response to allegations of bribery against it in China when he presents quarterly results on Wednesday, sources familiar with the matter said. Chinese authorities are investigating GSK deals with travel agencies worth up to 3 billion yuan ($489 million) that they allege were used to facilitate bribes. The scale of the payments has fuelled debate as to whether GSK surveillance systems were up to the job of spotting wrongdoing. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Autobahn to Bayreuth' - English soprano sings for Wagner's 200th Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 08:30 AM PDT By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - It's happened very fast for soprano Catherine Foster, who was a midwife before she became a singer and this week will be the first Englishwoman to sing Brunnhilde for Wagner's "Ring" cycle at the Bayreuth Festival, in the composer's 200th birthday year. Foster, a native of the mid-England city of Nottingham who made a drastic career switch in the mid-1990s, plays the warrior goddess who lets the gods burn but saves humanity in a new production by radical Berlin theatre director Frank Castorf. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hong Kong reporter quits in controversy over Alibaba founder's remarks Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 08:25 AM PDT  By Pete Sweeney SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Hong Kong journalist has quit in a controversy over disputed remarks that Jack Ma, founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, is reported to have made in support of Beijing's violent crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters in 1989. The controversy comes ahead of the anticipated listing of Alibaba, expected to value the firm at $60-$100 billion, which in turn has put a critical spotlight on Ma, the wider Chinese Internet industry and its approach to freedom of speech. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Treasury Secretary Lew urges Greece to stick with reforms Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 08:15 AM PDT  ATHENS (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew urged Greece on Sunday to persevere with tough economic reforms during a one-day trip to Athens designed to demonstrate Washington's support for the crisis-plagued country. Greek government officials said Lew's talks focused on Greece's fiscal progress before Prime Minister Antonis Samaras meets U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on August 8. "We recognize the difficult decisions and shared sacrifices of the last few years," Lew told reporters after meeting Samaras at the Acropolis Museum. "Of course the road ahead is still ... Full Story | Top |
| AFRICA INVESTMENT-China brings goods and roads, now Africa wants jobs Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 08:04 AM PDT By Daniel Flynn DAKAR (Reuters) - China has brought cheap consumer goods, roads and schools to many parts of Africa over the last decade but the continent's leaders are increasingly pushing for it to provide more of what many Africans want most: jobs. From Pretoria to Abuja, governments have begun voicing frustration that China's use of Africa as a source of natural resources and a market for its goods may be hindering the continent haul its billion people out of poverty. A recent report by the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan PM Abe says want to reach sales tax hike decision in autumn Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 06:52 AM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Sunday that he wants to decide in the autumn whether to proceed with a scheduled sales tax hike next year, while looking carefully at economic indicators. "We have to look at various data, including the April-June GDP figures, and decide what needs to be done to clear hurdles such as beating deflation, achieving economic growth and restoring Japan's fiscal health. I'd like to reach a decision in the autumn," he said. "It will be a difficult decision. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's central bank receives $2 bln Saudi loan - governor Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 06:30 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank has received $2 billion in Saudi funds, the latest instalment of a $12 billion aid package pledged by Gulf Arab states after the military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3. Egypt's finances, in havoc from political strife since Egypt's 2011 popular uprising, worsened in the first five months of 2013, with the budget deficit widening to almost half of all state spending. Foreign reserves fell to $14. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Erdogan puts Turkish policymakers in dilemma Sunday, Jul 21, 2013 06:04 AM PDT  By Nick Tattersall and Asli Kandemir ISTANBUL (Reuters) - With a powerful prime minister bent on pumping up growth ahead of elections but a sliding currency and rising borrowing costs, Turkish policymakers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Rattled by weeks of anti-government protests and with a peace initiative for Kurdish militants looking increasingly fragile, the last thing Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan needs with an election cycle starting next year is an economic slowdown. ... Full Story | Top |
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