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| CN Railway, union agree to start arbitration, ensuring no strike Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 12:54 PM PDT  Canadian National Railway Co and the union representing its conductors, yard workers, and traffic coordinators have agreed to start an arbitration process that ensures their most recent contract dispute will not lead to a strike at Canada's largest rail operator. Both CN and the Teamsters union, which represents some 3,000 workers, confirmed the development by email on Friday. CN spokesman Mark Hallman said he expects the arbitration process towards a new collective agreement to conclude by mid-June. CN said last week it was prepared to meet one last time with the union, but only if the union agreed to go to arbitration should talks fail. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: What's changed in Cuba's new foreign investment law Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 12:53 PM PDT (Reuters) - Cuba's National Assembly on Saturday unanimously approved a new foreign investment law that the communist-run country hopes will attract badly needed capital, improve growth and create jobs. Accompanying regulations, which may differ from previous rules, will not be published for 90 days. Following are some differences between the current and the new law, and a summary of what remains unchanged. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cuba approves law aimed at attracting foreign investment Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 11:31 AM PDT  By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's National Assembly passed a new foreign investment law on Saturday that aims to bring badly needed capital to the communist economy by offering steep tax cuts and promising a climate of investment security. Analysts and Cuban-based diplomats have expressed skepticism over the law, uncertain whether the one-party state has undergone a genuine change of heart and truly wants to attract foreign investors on international terms. Areas such as agriculture, infrastructure, sugar, nickel mining, building renovation and real estate development are considered ripe for investment. Cuba needs to attract $2 billion to $2.5 billion in foreign direct investment per year to reach its economic growth target of 7 percent, minister for foreign trade and investment Rodrigo Malmierca said on Cuban state television on Friday night. Full Story | Top |
| GM recall process will be under congressional microscope Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 11:09 AM PDT  By Ben Klayman and Richard Cowan DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra faces Congress next week she will have to explain how the top brass at the biggest U.S. automaker can say they knew nothing for more than a decade about a faulty ignition switch linked to crashes and at least 12 deaths. For lawmakers trying to find who to blame for the lack of responsiveness by GM and its regulator to the tragedies, and in particular the multi-year delay in recalling potentially dangerous vehicles off the roads, it may turn out to be a frustrating couple of days. GM built a system to deliberately keep senior executives out of the recall process. Instead, two small groups of employees in the vast GM bureaucracy were tasked with making recall decisions, a system GM says was meant to bring objective decisions. Full Story | Top |
| Amgen drug lowers cholesterol up to 66 percent in pivotal studies Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 11:02 AM PDT By Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amgen Inc's drug from a high profile new class of experimental medicines lowered "bad" LDL cholesterol by 55 percent to 66 percent compared with a placebo in a trio of late-stage clinical trials, according to data presented on Saturday. Amgen had previously said the drug, evolocumab, met the main goals of five late-stage trials involving some 4,000 patients by significantly outperforming placebo or another cholesterol medicine in a variety of patient populations. "We're seeing excellent efficacy and the safety profile appears no different than placebo, so you can't get better than that," Dr. Michael Koren, one of the lead investigators on two of the evolocumab studies, said in a telephone interview. Full Story | Top |
| Dollar reserve role secure but set to shrink: BIS Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:58 AM PDT  By Patrick Graham BERLIN (Reuters) - The dollar's share of central bank reserves may fall by as much as 10-15 percentage points in coming years without threatening its role as the world's main reserve currency, a senior official from the Bank of International Settlements said on Saturday. Peter Zoellner, head of the banking department at the central banks' central bank, also told one of the year's biggest gatherings of foreign exchange dealers that the role of China's renminbi would continue to grow. He expected trading and central bank reserves held in the yuan to continue to expand "at a sustained pace" but saw no prospect that the Chinese currency could replace the dollar as the reserve of choice over the next couple of decades. "It could happen that the percentage will go slightly down with the reserve currency from between 65 and 70 maybe to between 50 and 60 percent," he told the ACI Financial Markets Association congress in Berlin. Full Story | Top |
| GM expands ignition switch recall to 2.6 million cars Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:22 AM PDT  By Paul Lienert DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Co expanded its global recall of cars with defective ignition switches to 2.6 million on Friday, adding 971,000 later-model vehicles due to concerns over faulty replacement parts. About 95,000 faulty switches were sold to dealers and parts wholesalers, of which about 5,000 remain on shelves. Full Story | Top |
| General Motors recalls Chevrolet Cruzes, trucks and SUVs Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:22 AM PDT (Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling certain Chevrolet Cruze models for possible axle fractures, and more than 490,000 trucks and SUVs for potential transmission cooler line issues, the company said in a statement late on Friday. The GM Cruze recall targets the 2013 and 2014 1.4L turbo gasoline powered model to replace a right front axle half shaft that can fracture without warning during normal driving. "The interconnecting tubular bar on the front right axle half shaft on some of these vehicles may not meet GM specification and could fracture and separate," the statement said. GM said if a fracture and separation does occur while driving, steering and braking control would be maintained. Full Story | Top |
| Aftershocks rattle California following 5.1 earthquake, 50 displaced Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:15 AM PDT More than 100 aftershocks have been reported across Southern California following a 5.1 magnitude earthquake that rattled suburban Los Angeles and at least temporarily displaced about 50 people but caused no serious structural damage, seismologists said on Saturday. No injuries were reported from the Friday quake centered outside La Habra, about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, but the temblor displaced at least 50 people in Fullerton, about 5 miles from the epicenter, because of minor damage, Fullerton Police Lieutenant Mike Chlebowski said. But the Los Angeles Fire Department said it had called off its "earthquake mode." "Fortunately no significant damage occurred in the 470 square mile (756 square km) jurisdiction," the department said. Full Story | Top |
| German execs criticize West for allowing tension with Russia to rise Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:14 AM PDT By Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Several top German executives criticized the strategy of the U.S. and Europe in dealing with Russia after it took control of the Crimea region, fearing the consequences for their businesses. The European Union, United States and other Western nations have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its seizure of the Crimea region of Ukraine and have threatened broader economic penalties if the crisis escalates, triggering the worst East-West clash since the Cold War. Steelmaker ThyssenKrupp's Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger told daily newspaper Die Welt that the events of the past had shown that great change could be achieved if the West cooperated with Russia rather than being confrontational. "Now we have a situation in which Russia feels that its back is against the wall," he said in an article published on the paper's website on Saturday. Full Story | Top |
| Gilead says has discounted hepatitis C drug for some health plans Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:13 AM PDT Gilead Sciences Inc, under fire for pricing a new hepatitis C drug at $1,000 a pill, has discount agreements with a number of health insurers, a company executive said in an interview. The medication, Sovaldi, has a list price of $84,000 for a 12-week course of therapy and is seen as a breakthrough in the treatment of the serious liver disease. On March 20, Democratic lawmakers led by California Representative Henry Waxman asked Gilead to explain the price tag, and a meeting with the company is scheduled for next week. Health insurers and state Medicaid programs for the poor are pushing for further discounts, fearing a multibillion-dollar pricetag from treating most hepatitis C sufferers with Sovaldi and similar new medicines likely to be approved in coming years. Full Story | Top |
| China unveils anti-graft rules for urbanization drive -state media Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:06 AM PDT  China has unveiled plans to tackle corruption and abuse of power in the real estate sector, state media said, as it tries to smooth the way for the mass migration of millions of Chinese into cities from the countryside. The anti-graft plans are part of an urbanization program designed to underpin a restructuring of China's economy, the world's second largest, away from exports towards one based mainly on domestic consumer demand. Corruption is rife in China, particularly within the state administration where many officials and their dependants have grown rich by abusing their authority, often in the areas of real estate and land ownership. The rules will strengthen penalties for fraud and illegal use of public housing and specify the responsible governments and departments as well as the conditions for abuse of power, neglect of duty, bribery and fraud, Xinhua said. Full Story | Top |
| UK lawmaker calls insurance review leak an 'extraordinary blunder' Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 09:02 AM PDT  The head of the UK parliament's Treasury Committee on Saturday described as an "extraordinary blunder" the leak of a planned review by the financial services watchdog into the life insurance industry, which sent shares in insurers tumbling. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was due to announce the investigation in its annual business plan on Monday. But a senior FCA supervisor outlined the review in a press interview on Friday. "On the face of it, this is an extraordinary blunder," Andrew Tyrie, the Treasury Committee head, said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Lagardere close to choosing magazines buyer Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 08:35 AM PDT French media group Lagardere said it was looking over bids for the magazines it has put up for sale this weekend and would announce its decision shortly. The company was responding to a report in French daily Le Figaro that said a joint offer from Belgium's Rossel and France's Reworld Media had won the bidding, citing unidentified sources. Lagardere said in October it planned to sell 10 magazine titles to focus on growing its most strategic brands online, such as the French edition of "Elle". We are looking at the offers this weekend and will take our decision and communicate it at the latest in early April," a spokesman for Lagardere Active, a division of Lagardere, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Klitschko pulls out of election, backs 'Chocolate King' Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 06:41 AM PDT  By Alessandra Prentice KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's presidential election effectively became a two-horse race on Saturday after boxer-turned-politician Vitaly Klitschko pulled out and threw his weight behind confectionary oligarch Petro Poroshenko. Klitschko's withdrawal sets up a May 25 contest between the man known as the 'Chocolate King' and former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko. Several opinions polls already had him in the lead even before he said he would run to succeed ousted president Viktor Yanukovich. Speaking on Saturday, Poroshenko said the political forces that brought down Yanukovich must stick together to tackle the huge economic and security challenges facing Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
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