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| U.S. extends Keystone XL comment period, delaying final decision Friday, Apr 18, 2014 12:10 PM PDT By Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department announced on Friday it is extending the government comment period on the Keystone XL pipeline, a move that likely postpones a final decision on the controversial project until after the November 4 mid-term elections. President Barack Obama has said he will make a final decision on whether to allow the pipeline connecting Canada's oil sands region to Texas refiners and several government agencies had been given until the end of May to weigh in. This had raised expectations of a final decision by mid-year. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Biogen prices hemophilia drug on par with older therapies Friday, Apr 18, 2014 12:04 PM PDT  Biogen Idec Inc is pricing its newly approved long-acting hemophilia drug, Alprolix, to cost U.S. patients, and insurers, about the same per year as older, less convenient therapies whose price can reach about $300,000 annually. The move could pressure rivals such as Pfizer Inc to lower prices for existing hemophilia treatments, which provide patients with life-saving infusions of a blood clotting agent, according to doctors and industry analysts. Biogen last month won U.S. and Canadian approval for Alprolix to treat hemophilia B, the more rare form of the condition that affects about 4,000 people in the United States and about 25,000 worldwide. "We think we have priced (Alprolix) to create parity with existing therapies on an annual cost of therapy basis," Tony Kingsley, Biogen's head of global commercial operations, told Reuters in a telephone interview. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. extends comment time on keystone pipeline: State department Friday, Apr 18, 2014 11:44 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Friday it was giving regulatory agencies more time to weigh in on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, effectively delaying the decision on whether to approve it until after the November 4 mid-term elections. (Reporting by Patrick Rucker ; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Brazilian tycoon Batista investigated for financial crimes: reports Friday, Apr 18, 2014 11:20 AM PDT  Brazil´s federal police have opened an investigation into former billionaire Eike Batista for financial crimes, including insider trading, manipulation of markets and money laundering, Brazilian media reported on Friday. If the police probe leads to criminal charges against Batista, it would be yet another major blow for a businessman once hailed as Brazil's model entrepreneur and symbol of its economic success. Batista´s EBX oil, mining and logistics empire, which two years ago was valued at $60 billion, collapsed last year in a mountain of debt and massive filings for bankruptcy protection. A week ago, Brazil's securities commission, CVM, announced that Batista was under investigation for insider trading as chairman of his now-bankrupt oil-producing company Óleo and Gás Participações SA , formerly known as OGX, and its sister company, shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA . Full Story | Top |
| East Ukraine separatists stay put despite diplomatic deal Friday, Apr 18, 2014 11:07 AM PDT  By Pavel Polityuk and Thomas Grove KIEV/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Armed pro-Russian separatists were still holding public buildings in eastern Ukraine on Friday, saying they needed more assurances about their security before they comply with an international deal ordering them to disarm. The agreement, brokered by the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union in Geneva on Thursday offered the best hope to date of defusing a stand-off in Ukraine that has dragged East-West relations to their lowest level since the Cold War. Enacting the agreement on the ground though will be difficult, because of the deep mistrust between the pro-Russian groups and the Western-backed government in Kiev, which this week flared into violent clashes that killed several people. Full Story | Top |
| NASA robotic spacecraft ends mission with crash into the moon Friday, Apr 18, 2014 10:02 AM PDT By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A robotic U.S. spacecraft ended a pioneering mission to map dust and gases around the moon with a planned, kamikaze crash into the lunar surface early on Friday, NASA officials said. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, had been flying at increasingly lower altitudes to study how dust is lifted off the lunar surface and what gases comprise the moon's so-called exosphere - the region of space surrounding the airless moon. NASA officials had planned to crash the spacecraft into the moon, after it transmitted its final batch of data. Before hitting the lunar surface, LADEE was traveling at 3,600 mph, three times faster than a high-powered rifle bullet, so the spacecraft not only broke apart upon impact, but pieces of it likely vaporized. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Algeria's Bouteflika, aging independence veteran, wins re-election Friday, Apr 18, 2014 09:41 AM PDT Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won re-election for another five-year term with an officially tabulated 81.53 percent of the vote, despite suffering a stroke last year. He is seen by supporters as a symbol of stability after he helped to lead Algeria out of a civil war that lasted more than a decade. * Born on March 2, 1937, Bouteflika is a veteran of Algeria's war for independence from France. * Bouteflika's fortunes waned after the death of President Houari Boumedienne, and he went into self-imposed exile in 1981 to escape corruption charges that were later dropped. Full Story | Top |
| Algeria's Bouteflika wins re-election with 81.5 percent: official results Friday, Apr 18, 2014 09:23 AM PDT  By Patrick Markey and Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the aging independence veteran already in power for 15 years, won re-election on Friday after a vote opponents dismissed as a stage-managed fraud to keep the ailing leader in power. Sitting in a wheelchair, Bouteflika had cast his vote on Thursday in a rare public appearance since suffering a stroke last year that raised doubts about whether he is fit enough to govern the North African oil-exporting state. Preliminary official results showed Bouteflika had won with 81.53 percent of the vote, Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz told a news conference. His nearest rival, Ali Benflis, won 12.18 percent, and national turnout was 51.7 percent. Full Story | Top |
| Casual pot use causes brain abnormalities in the young: study Friday, Apr 18, 2014 07:35 AM PDT  (This story from April 15 corrects name of researcher to Breiter, instead of Beiter, throughout story) By Alex Dobuzinskis (Reuters) - Young, casual marijuana smokers experience potentially harmful changes to their brains, with the drug altering regions of the mind related to motivation and emotion, researchers found. The study to be published on Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience differs from many other pot-related research projects that are focused on chronic, heavy users of cannabis. The collaborative effort between Northwestern University's medical school, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School showed a direct correlation between the number of times users smoked and abnormalities in the brain. "What we're seeing is changes in people who are 18 to 25 in core brain regions that you never, ever want to fool around with," said co-senior study author Dr. Hans Breiter, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan deploys army to guard UN base after attack kills dozens Friday, Apr 18, 2014 06:33 AM PDT  By Carl Odera NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan sent troops to secure a United Nations base after armed civilians fired on displaced tribespeople sheltering there, in an attack that killed at least 48, the president's spokesman said on Friday. Locals pretending to be peaceful protesters delivering a petition forced their way into the camp on Thursday and opened fire before being beaten back by UN security personnel (UNMISS). They have been ordered to protect UNMISS so there will be no attack from anybody," Ateny Wek Ateny, President Salva Kiir's spokesman, told Reuters by phone. Thousands of people have been killed and more than one million displaced since fighting erupted in South Sudan in the middle of December, triggered by a power struggle between Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar. Full Story | Top |
| Shell committed to Russia expansion despite sanctions Friday, Apr 18, 2014 06:30 AM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell is committed to expansion in Russia, Chief Executive Ben van Beurden told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on Friday amid sanctions imposed on the country after its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. Shell plans to expand Russia's only liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant with Russian partner Gazprom, he said at a meeting at Putin's residence. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan deploys army to guard U.N. base after attack kills dozens Friday, Apr 18, 2014 06:25 AM PDT By Carl Odera NAIROBI (Reuters) - South Sudan sent troops to secure a United Nations base after armed civilians fired on displaced tribespeople sheltering there, in an attack that killed at least 48, the president's spokesman said on Friday. Locals pretending to be peaceful protesters delivering a petition forced their way into the camp on Thursday and opened fire before being beaten back by UN security personnel (UNMISS). They have been ordered to protect UNMISS so there will be no attack from anybody," Ateny Wek Ateny, President Salva Kiir's spokesman, told Reuters by phone. Thousands of people have been killed and more than one million displaced since fighting erupted in South Sudan in the middle of December, triggered by a power struggle between Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar. Full Story | Top |
| Algeria's Bouteflika set for re-election, foes cry fraud Friday, Apr 18, 2014 05:07 AM PDT  By Patrick Markey ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika appeared set to win re-election for another five years on Friday after a vote opponents dismissed as a stage-managed fraud to keep the ailing leader in power. Sitting a wheelchair, Bouteflika cast his vote on Thursday in a rare public appearance since suffering a stroke last year that has raised doubts about whether, after 15 years in power, he is fit enough to govern the North African oil state. Official results were scheduled to be released later on Friday by the interior ministry, but Bouteflika's allies on Thursday were already claiming a landslide victory for the veteran of Algeria's independence war. Bouteflika, 77, was already widely expected to win with the backing of the ruling Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) party, which has dominated the political system since independence from France in 1962. Full Story | Top |
| Japan will conduct Pacific whale hunt in wake of court ruling Friday, Apr 18, 2014 04:56 AM PDT  By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Friday it would conduct a sharply scaled down form of its annual Northwest Pacific whaling campaign this year despite an international court ruling last month against the mainstay of its whaling program in the Antarctic. The decision to proceed with the hunt was certain to provoke international anger and promptly drew the fire of environmentalists. Tokyo's decades-old and disputed "scientific whaling" program suffered a blow last month when the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in a surprise ruling, ordered a halt to its annual hunts in the Southern Ocean. That prompted Japan to cancel whaling there for 2014-2015. Full Story | Top |
| Compensation battle rages four years after BP's U.S. oil spill Friday, Apr 18, 2014 03:36 AM PDT Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colorful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living. The British oil major has paid out billions of dollars in compensation under a settlement experts say is unprecedented in its breadth. Some claimants are satisfied, but others are irate that BP is now challenging aspects of the settlement. Full Story | Top |
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