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Thursday, March 29, 2012 12:01 AM PDT

Today's Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News: Obama lawyer asks Supreme Court to save healthcare law Consumers plot emergency oil release as Saudi decries high prices Exclusive: U.S. sees lifetime cost of F-35 fighter at $1.45 trillion Amid fresh diplomacy, U.S. remains wary of direct Syria role News Corp says BBC accusations on TV piracy baseless BRICS nations gird to pressure West over imbalances Analysis: Canada's "Cushing moment": A northern pipeline crisis looms Pope meets Cuba's Fidel Castro, slams U.S. embargo U.S. charges JetBlue pilot for midair meltdown Iran says expects nuclear talks on April 13 Exclusive: Brazil to rally BRICS against rich countries U.S. generals, Pakistan army chief meet on NATO skirmish Durable goods orders hint at weak first quarter Wall Street eases as energy and materials sectors weigh Syrian violence ignores peace diplomacy U.S. charges screaming, incoherent JetBlue pilot Wall Street eases as energy and materials sectors weigh Magic Johnson group to buy Dodgers for record $2 billion Gas leaks near flare as Total dismisses blast risk France discussing strategic oil release with UK, U.S. Americans angry with Obama over gas prices Face time with Facebook CEO stirs concerns on Wall Street TV piracy claims heap more pressure on Murdoch empire Australia open to U.S. spy flights from Indian Ocean island "Tens of billions" of habitable worlds in Milky Way Afghan defense ministry denies bomb plot Bernanke: Far too early to call victory in recovery Analysis: French shooting case shows counterterrorism limits Consumer confidence wanes, inflation a concern Annan says Syria accepts peace plan, U.S. skeptical Fiji takes control of national carrier Air Pacific from Qantas North American defense ministers launch joint security forum Government proposes first carbon limits on power plants Skeptical justices question Obama healthcare law Pope honors patron saint, heads to meeting with Castro Japan goes off script at nuclear summit to slam North Korea U.S. says working with oil producers to expand production Russia placing blockbuster $7 billion Eurobond deal Killer of Florida teen told police he was attacked first Total: "may be months" to stop North Sea gas cloud Obama lawyer asks Supreme Court to save healthcare law Wed,28 Mar 2012 07:24 AM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration's top courtroom lawyer made an impassioned plea on Wednesday for the Supreme Court to save President Barack Obama's healthcare law, capping three days of historic arguments that left it unclear how the nine justices would rule. Having peppered lawyers for and against the law with questions for more than six hours over the three days, the justices withdrew to their chambers to begin up to three months of deliberation expected to yield a decision by late June. ... Full Story Top Consumers plot emergency oil release as Saudi decries high prices Wed,28 Mar 2012 03:19 PM PDT Reuters - PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters)- Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi mounted his most direct rhetorical attack against high oil prices on Wednesday, but showed no sign of moving to increase supplies even as France joined the United States and Britain in talks for a release of strategic reserves. Two weeks after Reuters initially reported that Britain and the United States were set to agree on tapping emergency stockpiles, French Energy Minister Eric Besson said the European nation was also in talks with Washington. Le Monde reported that the move could come in a matter of weeks. ... Full Story Top Exclusive: U.S. sees lifetime cost of F-35 fighter at $1.45 trillion Wed,28 Mar 2012 10:28 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government now projects that the total cost to develop, buy and operate the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be $1.45 trillion over the next 50-plus years, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Reuters. The Pentagon's latest, staggering estimate of the lifetime cost of the F-35 -- its most expensive weapons program -- is up from about $1 trillion a year ago, and includes inflation. ... Full Story Top Amid fresh diplomacy, U.S. remains wary of direct Syria role Wed,28 Mar 2012 10:47 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton departs on Thursday for fresh diplomacy aimed at halting Syria's bloodshed, but there is little sign the Obama administration is ready to deviate from its hands-off approach. Clinton's talks in Riyadh with foreign ministers from Gulf states will likely be anchored by a new peace proposal from U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan. It's the latest bid to broker a diplomatic end to over a year of fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's troops and opponents to his family's decades-long rule. ... Full Story Top News Corp says BBC accusations on TV piracy baseless Wed,28 Mar 2012 09:39 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - News Corp President Chase Carey said that allegations in a BBC documentary that a subsidiary ran a secret unit promoting pirating of pay-TV rivals were "unfair and baseless", backing a call for the broadcaster to retract the allegations. The BBC's Panorama alleged in a documentary broadcast on Monday that NDS, a pay-TV smartcard maker recently sold by News Corp for $5 billion, hired a consultant to post the encryption codes of ITV Digital, a rival of the then Sky TV, on his website. ... Full Story Top BRICS nations gird to pressure West over imbalances Wed,28 Mar 2012 10:56 PM PDT Reuters - NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The BRICS group of emerging market nations will look at ways of pressuring the West to redress global economic imbalances amid growing frustration at the pace of change in institutions such as the IMF at a meeting in Delhi on Thursday. Brazil's Trade and Industry Minister Fernando Pimentel told Reuters on the eve of the meeting his country hopes for a summit communique denouncing what it sees as unfair monetary policies by Europe and the United States. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Canada's "Cushing moment": A northern pipeline crisis looms Wed,28 Mar 2012 10:31 PM PDT Reuters - CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Oil traders still grappling with an unprecedented pipeline bottleneck in the U.S. Midwest that roiled global energy markets last year should beware: Canada may be next. The pipelines that carry crude from Alberta's oil sands and the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota to U.S. refiners may run out of capacity as soon as 2015, some analysts now warn. Fears that the export of Canadian crude will be constrained have risen recently as a result of pipeline project delays and the unyielding growth of North Dakota output. ... Full Story Top Pope meets Cuba's Fidel Castro, slams U.S. embargo Wed,28 Mar 2012 04:37 PM PDT Reuters - HAVANA (Reuters) - Pope Benedict called for an end to the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and met with revolutionary icon Fidel Castro on Wednesday as he ended a trip in which he urged the communist island to change. He also spoke at a public Mass in Havana's sprawling Revolution Square where the Vatican said 300,000 people gathered to hear the 84-year-old pontiff. ... Full Story Top U.S. charges JetBlue pilot for midair meltdown Wed,28 Mar 2012 10:49 PM PDT Reuters - AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. authorities filed criminal charges on Wednesday against a JetBlue Airways pilot who witnesses said yelled incoherently about religion and the 2001 hijack attacks and pounded on a locked cockpit door before passengers subdued him in a midair uproar. Flight 191 was diverted to Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday, following what authorities described as erratic behavior by Capt. Clayton Frederick Osbon, who allegedly ran through the cabin before passengers tackled him in the galley. A flight attendant suffered bruised ribs, officials said. ... Full Story Top Iran says expects nuclear talks on April 13 Wed,28 Mar 2012 03:46 PM PDT Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran expects to reopen talks with world powers that could defuse mounting tensions over its disputed nuclear program on April 13, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday. Turkey has offered to host the talks and the location will be decided in the next few days, Salehi said, after greeting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on his arrival in Tehran. The major nations are keen to get Iran to enter talks on curbing its uranium enrichment program, which the West suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability but Tehran says is peaceful. ... Full Story Top Exclusive: Brazil to rally BRICS against rich countries Wed,28 Mar 2012 03:15 PM PDT Reuters - NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Brazil will push for its large emerging-market peers including China to denounce what it sees as unfair monetary policies by Europe and the United States, raising the stakes in a global confrontation over economic imbalances. Brazilian Trade and Industry Minister Fernando Pimentel told Reuters on Wednesday his country would seek such language in a communique at this week's BRICS summit, which brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. ... Full Story Top U.S. generals, Pakistan army chief meet on NATO skirmish Wed,28 Mar 2012 11:59 AM PDT Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The head of U.S. Central Command and the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan met Pakistan's army chief on Wednesday in the first high-level military visit since a cross-border U.S. attack last November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Their talks, announced by the Pakistani military, took place a day after U.S. President Barack Obama met Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in Seoul. He expressed hope that Pakistan's review of strained ties with Washington would respect U.S. security needs. ... Full Story Top Durable goods orders hint at weak first quarter Wed,28 Mar 2012 10:11 AM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods increased only modestly in February, supporting the view that economic growth in the first quarter could be lackluster. Durable goods orders rose 2.2 percent last month, missing economists' forecasts and only partially reversing January's sharp decline, Commerce Department data showed on Wednesday. A gauge of future business investment also fell short of forecasts. ... Full Story Top Wall Street eases as energy and materials sectors weigh Wed,28 Mar 2012 06:30 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks declined on Wednesday as sliding oil and metals prices gave investors a reason to sell commodity-related shares. A sharp fall in U.S. crude oil futures hit energy stocks, prompted by talk of a release of some U.S. and European strategic oil reserves. Materials shares dropped as well. A weaker-than-expected report on U.S. durable goods orders deflated some of the recent investor optimism over the economy, leading to softness in industrial shares. ... Full Story Top Syrian violence ignores peace diplomacy Wed,28 Mar 2012 02:04 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces bombarded cities and towns in southern and northern Syria on Wednesday and stormed villages, forcing thousands to flee after President Bashar al-Assad accepted a peace plan calling for the army to withdraw to barracks. Assad's ally Iran backed the peace plan, saying Syria's crisis "should be dealt with patiently", and Russia said it was now up to Syria's opposition groups to also endorse the proposals, which do not require Assad to give up power. But the United States, Germany and the Arab League called for action not words. ... Full Story Top U.S. charges screaming, incoherent JetBlue pilot Wed,28 Mar 2012 04:48 PM PDT Reuters - AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Authorities filed criminal charges on Wednesday against a JetBlue pilot who screamed over the radio, pounded on the door of the cockpit and was tackled by passengers during a chaotic flight from New York forced to make an emergency landing in Texas. Flight 191 was diverted to Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday, following what federal authorities described as erratic behavior by captain Clayton Frederick Osbon, who passengers said was restrained after he pounded on the locked cockpit door. A U.S. ... Full Story Top Wall Street eases as energy and materials sectors weigh Wed,28 Mar 2012 03:36 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks declined on Wednesday as sliding oil and metals prices gave investors a reason to sell commodity-related shares. A sharp fall in U.S. crude oil futures hit energy stocks, prompted by talk of a release of some U.S. and European strategic oil reserves. Materials shares dropped as well. A weaker-than-expected report on U.S. durable goods orders deflated some of the recent investor optimism over the economy, leading to softness in industrial shares. ... Full Story Top Magic Johnson group to buy Dodgers for record $2 billion Wed,28 Mar 2012 05:56 AM PDT Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A group spear-headed by former basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson agreed to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for a record $2 billion, team owner Frank McCourt announced on Tuesday, capping a two-year drama that started with McCourt's divorce and wound its way through bankruptcy court. The buyers under the deal, unveiled hours before the storied franchise was scheduled to hold an auction with three bidders, were led by the investment banking firm Guggenheim Partners. Mark R. ... Full Story Top Gas leaks near flare as Total dismisses blast risk Wed,28 Mar 2012 11:57 AM PDT Reuters - PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Explosive natural gas is leaking from Total's Elgin North Sea platform less than 100 meters from a flare which workers left burning as they evacuated the rig, the French energy company said on Wednesday. Total dismissed the risk of a blast at the platform, 240 km (150 miles) off the east coast of Scotland, and the British government said the flame had to remain burning to prevent excess gas pressure from building up. ... Full Story Top France discussing strategic oil release with UK, U.S. Wed,28 Mar 2012 02:01 PM PDT Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - France is in talks with the United States and Britain on a possible release of strategic oil stocks to push fuel prices lower, French ministers said on Wednesday, four weeks before the country's presidential election. Earlier in March, British sources said London was prepared to cooperate with Washington on a release of strategic oil stocks that was expected within months, in a bid to prevent fuel prices from choking economic growth in what is also a U.S. election year. ... Full Story Top Americans angry with Obama over gas prices Tue,27 Mar 2012 03:13 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling high gasoline prices, although most do not blame him for them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Tuesday. Sixty-eight percent disapprove and 24 percent approve of how Obama is responding to price increases that have become one of the biggest issues in the 2012 presidential campaign. In the past month, U.S. fuel prices have jumped about $0.30 per gallon to about $3. ... Full Story Top Face time with Facebook CEO stirs concerns on Wall Street Wed,28 Mar 2012 04:12 AM PDT Reuters - SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mark Zuckerberg wants at least $5 billion from Wall Street investors, but those investors will not be getting much face time in return. The Facebook co-founder and CEO made that clear when he skipped the social networking company's first major briefing for analysts and bankers last week. The meeting was the first of many that will take place in the run-up to an IPO that could value the company at close to $100 billion. ... Full Story Top TV piracy claims heap more pressure on Murdoch empire Wed,28 Mar 2012 08:52 AM PDT Reuters - LONDON/MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Pressure is building in Britain and Australia for fresh probes into Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, already under siege over phone-hacking claims, after allegations that it ran a secret unit that promoted pirating of pay-TV rivals. The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday alleged that News Corp had used a special unit, Operational Security, set up in the mid-1990s, to sabotage its competitors, reinforcing claims in a BBC Panorama documentary aired earlier this week. ... Full Story Top Australia open to U.S. spy flights from Indian Ocean island Wed,28 Mar 2012 05:23 AM PDT Reuters - CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia could one day allow U.S. spy flights to operate from a remote Indian Ocean island, Defense Minister Stephen Smith confirmed on Wednesday, supporting the U.S. pivot to Asia but likely upsetting Australia's biggest trading partner, China. Smith said the possible use of Australia's remote Cocos Islands territory had been raised with the United States, but the proposal was not under active consideration and was not among current plans for Canberra to strengthen military ties with Washington. "We view Cocos as being potentially a long term strategic location. ... Full Story Top "Tens of billions" of habitable worlds in Milky Way Wed,28 Mar 2012 03:13 AM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Astronomers hunting for rocky planets with the right temperature to support life estimate there may be tens of billions of them in our galaxy alone. A European team said on Wednesday that about 40 percent of red dwarf stars - the most common type in the Milky Way - have a so-called "super-Earth" planet orbiting in a habitable zone that would allow water to flow on the surface. Since there are around 160 billion red dwarfs in the Milky Way, the number of worlds that are potentially warm enough and wet enough to support life is enormous. ... Full Story Top Afghan defense ministry denies bomb plot Wed,28 Mar 2012 03:38 AM PDT Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan strongly rejected reports that some soldiers working at the defense ministry were involved in a bomb plot, saying no arrests had been made nor were any vests used for suicide bomb attacks found on the premises. On Wednesday there was no sign of a hard clamp down on personnel movements at the sprawling ministry with soldiers checking scores of visitors as usual. ... Full Story Top Bernanke: Far too early to call victory in recovery Tue,27 Mar 2012 05:39 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday it is too soon to declare victory in the U.S. economic recovery, warning against complacency in policymaking as the outlook brightens. "We haven't quite yet got to the point where we can be completely confident that we're on a track to full recovery," Bernanke told ABC News in a rare on-the-record interview. The Fed chairman welcomed a decline in the unemployment rate and signs financial strains in debt-stricken Europe were easing. But he said joblessness was still at a troubling high and housing markets still weak. ... Full Story Top Analysis: French shooting case shows counterterrorism limits Tue,27 Mar 2012 10:08 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mohamed Merah, the French gunman who killed Jewish children and French soldiers and then died in a firefight with police this month, was hardly an unknown quantity to intelligence and law enforcement officials on both sides of the Atlantic. Merah made two trips to Afghanistan between 2010 and 2012, and was detained by U.S. forces during the first. He had a record of moderately serious criminal activities in France. ... Full Story Top Consumer confidence wanes, inflation a concern Tue,27 Mar 2012 10:52 AM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans were more worried about inflation in March than at any time in the last 10 months and consumer confidence waned in the wake of higher gasoline prices. Still, data on Tuesday suggested consumers did not feel the economic recovery was losing momentum, and their view of their present situation rose to the highest level since September 2008, the heart of the financial crisis. A separate report on Tuesday showed U.S. ... Full Story Top Annan says Syria accepts peace plan, U.S. skeptical Tue,27 Mar 2012 03:55 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has accepted a U.N.-sponsored peace plan, international envoy Kofi Annan said on Tuesday, as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad raided rebel forces who have taken refuge across the border in Lebanon. The United States reacted skeptically to Annan's announcement, saying it would judge Assad's sincerity in agreeing to the peace plan by what he did and not by what he said, given his record of "over-promising and under-delivering. ... Full Story Top Fiji takes control of national carrier Air Pacific from Qantas Tue,27 Mar 2012 10:59 PM PDT Reuters - SYDNEY (Reuters) - Fiji's military government on Wednesday said it would take control of national carrier Air Pacific from Australia's Qantas Airways using a decree that states "substantial ownership and effective control" of all Fijian airlines should be local. While Qantas is a significant minority shareholder in Air Pacific, it exercises control through supermajority and veto rights, the government said in a statement. ... Full Story Top North American defense ministers launch joint security forum Tue,27 Mar 2012 06:26 PM PDT Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - North America's three defense ministers declared their first-ever dialogue on common security threats on Tuesday an "historic occasion," even though their main accomplishment was to agree to continue regular discussions. Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, who hosted the gathering in Ottawa, said he and his counterparts from Mexico and the United States decided to develop a common assessment of threats facing the continent and to cooperate to address them. ... Full Story Top Government proposes first carbon limits on power plants Tue,27 Mar 2012 01:19 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration proposed on Tuesday the first rules to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new U.S. power plants, a move hotly contested by Republicans and industry in an election year. The Environmental Protection Agency's proposal would effectively stop the building of most new coal-fired plants in an industry that is moving rapidly to more natural gas. But the rules will not regulate existing power plants, the source of one third of U.S. emissions, and will not apply to any plants that start construction over the next 12 months. ... Full Story Top Skeptical justices question Obama healthcare law Tue,27 Mar 2012 04:29 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration faced skeptical questioning from a U.S. Supreme Court dominated by conservatives on Tuesday during a tense two-hour showdown over a sweeping healthcare law that has divided Americans. A ruling on the law's key requirement that most people obtain health insurance or face a penalty appeared likely to come down to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, two conservatives who pummeled the administration's lawyer with questions. ... Full Story Top Pope honors patron saint, heads to meeting with Castro Tue,27 Mar 2012 02:20 PM PDT Reuters - HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) - Pope Benedict urged Cubans to "work for justice" as their country changes and prayed for "those deprived of freedom" in a visit to the shrine for Cuba's patron saint on Tuesday and then flew across the country for talks with President Raul Castro. Upon arrival at the Havana airport, he was greeted by Roman Catholic Church Cardinal Jaime Ortega and Communist Party officials ahead of a late afternoon meeting with Raul Castro and possibly his older brother, former leader Fidel Castro. Benedict, the leader of the world's 1. ... Full Story Top Japan goes off script at nuclear summit to slam North Korea Tue,27 Mar 2012 05:14 AM PDT Reuters - Japan steered off the agenda at a nuclear security summit on Tuesday to hit out at North Korea's plans for a rocket launch next month, as U.S. President Barack Obama cautioned against complacency in dealing with the threat of nuclear terrorism. North Korea and Iran's nuclear weapons programs are not on the agenda at the summit in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and neither country was invited to the forum involving some 50 world leaders tasked with improving security at nuclear facilities. ... Full Story Top U.S. says working with oil producers to expand production Tue,27 Mar 2012 12:10 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is working with Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers to ensure their production is expanded to help mitigate any supply disruptions and tensions caused by Western sanctions on Iran, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday. "The best thing we can do is work with major oil producers to make sure their supply is expanded to meet not just the growing demand from growth but to offset any disruptions," Geithner told a congressional panel. ... Full Story Top Russia placing blockbuster $7 billion Eurobond deal Tue,27 Mar 2012 10:11 AM PDT Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will raise $7 billion in Eurobonds in the largest emerging markets sovereign offering since at least 2000, fully covering its foreign borrowing plan for 2012, sources close to the deal said on Tuesday. Capitalizing on strong oil prices that have boosted confidence in Russia's fiscal performance, the dollar offering attracted bids of $17 billion, leading the Finance Ministry to slightly tighten yield guidance on the three-tranche deal. Russia plans to issue $3 billion in 30-year paper at 250-255 basis points over U.S. ... Full Story Top Killer of Florida teen told police he was attacked first Mon,26 Mar 2012 04:50 PM PDT Reuters - SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - The man who shot and killed an unarmed Florida teenager in a case that has sparked widespread public outrage told police the victim had punched him, knocked him down and slammed his head into the pavement repeatedly before he fired the fatal gunshot. The account of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, was published for the first time on Monday in the online edition of the Orlando Sentinel. ... Full Story Top Total: "may be months" to stop North Sea gas cloud Tue,27 Mar 2012 12:10 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - A cloud of explosive natural gas boiling up from the North Sea out of a leak at Total's evacuated Elgin platform forced another shutdown off the Scottish coast on Tuesday as the French firm warned it could take six months to halt the flow. Dubbed "the well from hell" by an environmentalist who said the unusually high pressure of the undersea reservoirs made it especially hard to shut off, the loss of oil and gas output from Elgin - as well as the prospect of a big repair bill - helped drive Total's share price down six percent on the Paris bourse. ... Full Story Top

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