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| Shell may shut major Nigeria pipeline due to theft Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:30 PM PST  ABUJA (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell may be forced to shut down "completely" the Nembe Creek pipeline in Nigeria due to persistent oil theft, the company's local unit said on Monday. Previous outages on that pipeline have deferred around 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production from Africa's largest producer, Shell said in a statement. "The situation in the last few weeks is unprecedented. The volume being stolen is the highest in the last three years; over 60,000 bpd from Shell alone," Managing Director of Shell Nigeria Mutiu Sunmonu said. Full Story | Top |
| Death toll on Kenya coast rises to nine: police sources Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:10 PM PST MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in the Kenyan coastal town of Kilifi in an attack by unidentified machete-wielding men as voting began in a tense presidential election on Monday, district police said, bringing the death toll in violence on the coast to nine so far. "Our officers were manning a polling station in Chumani area, Kilifi when they were attacked by a group of youths with pangas (machetes) at around 1 a.m. (2200 GMT). ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: EU needs "who lost Italy" debate on austerity Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:56 PM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European policymakers should be asking themselves "who lost Italy" after a grassroots revolt against austerity, unemployment and the political elite caused an electoral earthquake in the euro zone's number three economy. Instead, most are insisting that their policy mix to fight the currency area's debt crisis is right, even though the latest EU forecasts have pushed any prospect of meaningful economic recovery in southern Europe back into the middle distance. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama renews offer to cut social safety nets Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:49 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama raised anew the issue of cutting entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security as a way out of damaging budget cuts, a White House official said on Sunday, as both sides in Washington tried to limit a fiscal crisis that may soon hit millions of Americans. Signaling he might be ready to explore a compromise to end automatic spending cuts that began late Friday, Obama mentioned reforming these entitlement programs in calls with lawmakers from both parties on Saturday afternoon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Four policemen butchered as Kenyans queue in tense vote Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:48 PM PST  NAIROBI/MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyans stood patiently in long lines on Monday to elect a new president but machete-wielding youths on the coast killed four policemen, casting a shadow over a vote seen as vital to repairing Kenya's image after tribal bloodshed five years ago. A few hours before the 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) start of voting and with long queues formed across the nation before sunrise, four police officers on patrol in the Mombasa port city area were hacked to death by attackers, a senior police officer said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pratt & Whitney uncovers fraudulent engine-testing scheme: WSJ Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:45 PM PST (Reuters) - Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp , uncovered a fraudulent scheme of testing engine parts by another unit of United Tech, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The investigation, which began in 2011 and hadn't been reported publicly before, "uncovered an elaborate, years-long effort to doctor metallurgical test results, so as to make certain engine forgings appear to meet extra-stringent standards when they actually fell short," the Journal said, citing Pratt officials. (http://link.reuters.com/mak46t) The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pratt & Whitney uncovers fraudulent engine-testing scheme: report Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:44 PM PST (Reuters) - Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp , uncovered a fraudulent scheme of testing engine parts by another unit of United Tech, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The investigation, which began in 2011 and hadn't been reported publicly before, "uncovered an elaborate, years-long effort to doctor metallurgical test results, so as to make certain engine forgings appear to meet extra-stringent standards when they actually fell short," the Journal said, citing Pratt officials. (http://link.reuters.com/mak46t) The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wealthy homebuyers boost tax coffers Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:23 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's taxman has raised almost 50 percent more cash than it hoped for from tax increases on property transactions over the past year as London luxury residential prices continue to climb, property data showed. Britain's cash-strapped government said last March it hoped to raise 150 million pounds in the year to April from increasing stamp duty - paid by the buyer - on properties worth more than 2 million pounds , most of which are in London. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sequestration not favored method to cut US budget deficit: survey Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 09:15 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A sound plan is needed to reduce the U.S. budget deficit over the next 10 years, but wholesale government spending cuts should not be the core of the program, according to a new survey of economists. The National Association for Business Economics' poll of 196 members found more than 70 percent opposed the full implementation of $85 billion in federal budget cuts known as the "sequester" that were set to start taking hold last Friday. The International Monetary Fund last week warned that the spending cuts, if fully implemented, could shave at least 0. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebels and army clash in central Sudan Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 09:02 PM PST KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) - Fighting has broken out between government forces and rebels in central Sudan, both sides said on Sunday, in an escalation of violence so far concentrated closer to the country's borders. Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels from the western Darfur region said they attacked troops in North Kordofan state. Fighting with the army has been so far mainly limited to Darfur as well as South Kordofan and Blue Nile states bordering South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| French soldier killed in Mali, Belmokhtar fate unsure Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 09:01 PM PST PARIS/GAO, Mali (Reuters) - France said on Sunday a third French soldier had been killed in fierce fighting with Islamist rebels in northern Mali but could not confirm Chad's report that its troops had killed the al Qaeda commander behind January's mass hostage-taking in Algeria. A whirlwind seven-week campaign has driven al Qaeda-linked fighters who took over northern Mali last April into mountain and desert redoubts, where they are being hunted by hundreds of French, Chadian and Malian troops. ... Full Story | Top |
| At least four police killed in Kenya as vote starts Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 08:57 PM PST  MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - At least four Kenyan police officers, deployed to keep the peace in a tense presidential election following hundreds of deaths after a 2007 vote, were hacked to death by a gang hours before polling stations opened on Monday, a senior officer said. The attackers, who struck a patrol near the port city of Mombasa, could not immediately be identified, but Ambrose Munyasia, chief of police intelligence in the Coast area, said he suspected they were linked to a regional separatist movement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Polling stations open in tense Kenyan vote Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 07:08 PM PST NAIROBI (Reuters) - Polling stations opened up to Kenyans on Monday for a tense presidential election that will test whether the east African nation can repair its damaged reputation after the tribal blood-letting that followed a 2007 poll. This year's front-runners are Prime Minister Raila Odinga, 68, who lost in the 2007 race, and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, 51. According to polls, both are running neck-and-neck and well ahead of six other candidates. They will depend heavily on loyalists from rival tribes for votes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Papal vote preparations start in earnest at Vatican Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 06:25 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Preparations for electing Roman Catholicism's new leader begin in earnest on Monday as the College of Cardinals opens daily talks to sketch an identikit for the next pope and ponder who among them might fit it. The idea is to have the new pope elected during next week and officially installed several days later so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu says Iran using nuclear talks to "buy time" for bomb Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 06:20 PM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Renewed international efforts to negotiate curbs on Iran's disputed nuclear program have backfired by giving it more time to work on building a bomb, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. His remarks on the inconclusive February 26-27 meeting between Iran and six world powers signaled impatience by Israel, which has threatened to launch preemptive war on its arch-foe, possibly in the coming months, if it deems diplomacy a dead end. Senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to nominate Walmart's Burwell as White House budget chief Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 06:09 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will nominate Walmart's philanthropic head Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Monday to become director of the White House budget office, a White House official said on Sunday. Burwell, 47, is a veteran of Bill Clinton's White House and for the past year has been president of the Walmart Foundation at the corporation's Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters. The charity organization in 2011 gave out nearly $1 billion in corporate contributions to projects around the world such as fighting hunger and empowering women. ... Full Story | Top |
| State pension funding gap up 20 percent in 2012: Wilshire Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 05:02 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The recovery in the state pension system suffered a setback in 2012 as the huge funding shortfall in a large swath of state pensions swelled more than 20 percent, interrupting two years of improvement following the devastation of the financial crisis. The shortfall in 109 of the nation's state pension plans, which guarantee retirement for millions of public workers such as police, firefighters, and teachers rose to $834.2 billion in 2012, up from $690. ... Full Story | Top |
| Opposition leader visits Syria amid Assad offensive Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 03:50 PM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Exiled opposition figure Moaz Alkhatib visited Syria on Sunday for the first time since fleeing last year, as rebels said President Bashar al-Assad's forces embarked on counter-offensives in various parts of the country. In the central city of Homs, heavy fighting broke out between loyalist forces and opposition brigades dug in preparation for an onslaught, opposition sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyans to vote in tense head-to-head presidential race Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 03:36 PM PST  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyans vote on Monday in a presidential election that will test whether the east African nation can restore its reputation as one of Africa's more stable democracies after a lethal ethnic rampage erupted following the 2007 poll. Outgoing President Mwai Kibaki, the candidates and civil society groups have all appealed for a peaceful poll after the disputed vote five years ago unleashed a wave of killing by rival tribes that lasted weeks and left more than 1,200 dead. "I also make a passionate plea for all of us to vote peacefully. ... Full Story | Top |
| Teacher standoff stokes debate over standardized tests Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 03:22 PM PST SEATTLE (Reuters) - A boycott by Seattle teachers of a widely used standardized test has attracted national attention and given new momentum to a growing protest movement that seeks to limit standardized testing in U.S. public schools. The revolt by Seattle public school teachers, joining educators and students elsewhere, comes at a time of bitter political wrangling over how best to reinvigorate a $525 billion public school system that leaves American children lagging their counterparts in countries like Finland and South Korea. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama renews budget offer to cut social safety nets Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 03:03 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama raised anew the issue of cutting entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security as a way out of damaging budget cuts, a White House official said on Sunday, as both sides in Washington tried to limit a fiscal crisis that may soon hit millions of Americans. Signaling he might be ready to explore a compromise to end automatic spending cuts that began late Friday, Obama mentioned reforming these entitlement programs in calls with lawmakers from both parties on Saturday afternoon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: China's next inner circle Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 02:47 PM PST  HONG KONG (Reuters)-Even as Xi Jinping gets ready to assume the presidency of China this month, jockeying has begun for 2017 when rising stars of the ruling Communist Party move into top leadership posts. China's first and second generation Communist Party leaders, such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, ruled as single paramount leaders. But over the past two decades, Chinese leaders have tried to institutionalize governance with an emphasis on collective leadership - except when it comes to choosing leaders. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. offers Egypt budget aid after Mursi assurance on IMF Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 02:30 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday it would give Egypt $250 million in budget aid after Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi promised to take the painful economic reforms needed to secure an IMF loan. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the funding after meeting Mursi and acknowledged Egypt's "extreme needs" as the Islamist government struggles with a slide in currency reserves to worryingly low levels and a soaring budget deficit. Cairo says it wants to reopen talks with the International Monetary Fund on a $4. ... Full Story | Top |
| Keystone report seen lifting TransCanada, producer shares Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 01:30 PM PST CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp shares are expected to get a boost on Monday from a positive U.S. report on the company's contentious Keystone XL pipeline, as are those of Canadian energy producers under pressure from deeply discounted heavy oil prices. The U.S. State Department, in its long-awaited draft supplemental environmental impact statement, said on Friday that the proposed $5.3 billion oil pipeline to Texas refineries from Alberta would not likely accelerate Canadian oil sands production, and by extension, fuel a spike in greenhouse gas emissions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt security force member killed during Port Said clashes Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 01:26 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - A member of Egypt's security forces was killed and hundreds of people wounded during clashes between protesters and police in the Suez Canal city of Port Said on Sunday, security and medical sources said. Hundreds of people had been demonstrating in the city since the morning over the detention of dozens of prisoners in connection with a soccer riot that killed 70 people last year. Police used teargas to disperse a crowd that had gathered in front of a local government office. Some 360 people were injured throughout the clashes, medical sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexican president warns party over graft: No one is untouchable Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 01:24 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Sunday sounded a warning shot to his ruling party over corruption, saying no one is above the law as he tries to tackle the graft that has blighted its reputation in the past. Speaking just days after the head of Mexico's powerful teachers' union was arrested on charges of embezzling around $200 million, Pena Nieto vowed a new era of transparency at a congress attended by some 4,200 members of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen attack church in Libya's Benghazi: state media Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 12:37 PM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked an Egyptian Coptic church in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, assaulting two priests, the official LANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying on Sunday. The foreign ministry said it "strongly condemned Thursday's attack on the Egyptian church ... and the aggression towards Father Paul Isaac and his assistant by the irresponsible armed men," LANA quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany to prevent Bulgaria, Romania entering Schengen: magazine Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 12:05 PM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will prevent Bulgaria and Romania from entering the passport-free Schengen zone when European ministers meet to discuss the issue on Thursday, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said in a magazine interview. "If Romania and Bulgaria insist on a vote, the attempt will fail due to a German veto," Friedrich was quoted as saying in Der Spiegel on Sunday. "Even the idea of a partial approval i.e. for entry by air or seaports is off the table," he added. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Without Belmokhtar, jihadi networks would suffer Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 12:02 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly two years after the killing of Osama bin Laden, the death in Mali of Algerian commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, if confirmed, would be a serious blow to al Qaeda's efforts to recover its cohesion as a force for global jihad. Official sources question how far al Qaeda's leadership is able to influence its branches in far-flung North Africa, arguing that an intensive U.S. drone campaign on its presumed haven in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan has severely damaged its ability to exercise command and control. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-NBA star Rodman says North Korea's Kim wants Obama to call Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:47 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dennis Rodman, the former NBA star known more for his body piercings and tattoos than international diplomacy skills, said on Sunday he returned from North Korea with a message from its leader Kim Jong-un for President Barack Obama - "call me." Rodman appeared on ABC's "This Week" program a few days after an unlikely meeting with Kim in the North Korea capital Pyongyang, where Rodman was working on a documentary about basketball. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libya stops gas exports to Italy after militia fight Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:45 AM PST  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya has stopped gas exports to Italy from its Mellitah complex after fighting on Saturday between militias, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Italy's Eni said on Sunday. Libya's defense ministry sent security personnel to secure the complex, about 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, to ensure exports could resume soon, said Abdufattah Shagan, chairman of Mellitah, an NOC-Eni joint venture. Mellitah supplies Italy with gas through the Greenstream pipeline, which at full capacity pumps at least 8 billion cubic meters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Euroskeptic tycoon passes first Austrian vote tests Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:29 AM PST  VIENNA (Reuters) - A billionaire car parts tycoon who wants Austria to abandon the euro passed his first electoral tests on Sunday when his party - formed only last year - got a tenth of the vote to win seats in two state assemblies. Frank Stronach, 80, who burst into Austrian politics with a call to bring back the schilling currency, could turn national elections due by September into a de facto referendum on the country's role in Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb at Shi'ite mosque kills 45 in Pakistan Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:13 AM PST KARACHI (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber attacked Shi'ite Muslims as they were leaving a mosque in Pakistan's commercial capital on Sunday, killing at least 45 people, in another signal Sunni militants are escalating sectarian attacks. "It's like doomsday to me. I was watching television when I heard an explosion and my flat was badly shaken," said Mariam Bibi. "I saw people burning to death and crying with pain. I saw children lying in pools of their own blood and women running around shouting for their children and loved ones. ... Full Story | Top |
| Militant says Belmokhtar alive: monitoring service Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 11:09 AM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - Algerian al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, reported killed by Chadian troops, is alive, a monitoring service that tracks online militant forums reported a contributor as saying on Sunday. An unidentified participant in militant website discussions said in a message posted on several forums that Belmoktar was "alive and well and leading the battles himself", the U.S.-based SITE service reported. The message said Belmokhtar, the presumed mastermind behind a hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, would soon issue a message confirming the news, SITE reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| Germany's SPD tries to win voters with pledge to tame markets Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:57 AM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Social Democrats are vowing to "tame" financial market radicalism, split up banks and raise taxes on high earners in a left-leaning campaign program the party hopes will help it defeat popular Chancellor Angela Merkel in a September election. According to a draft of the program seen by Reuters on Sunday, the SPD said no financial market participants, financial products or markets should be left unregulated in the future. "The era of market radicalism is over. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soccer-Argentine fan dies in shootout between rival gangs Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:56 AM PST BUENOS AIRES, March 3 (Reuters) - An Argentine soccer hooligan died in a shootout between rival fans as he was handing out tickets for a second division match, local media reported on Sunday. The victim, 31-year-old Julio Biscay, was shot in the chest on Saturday about 700 metres from Gimnasia stadium in La Plata, 60 km from Buenos Aires, the Sports daily Ole said. An 11-year-old boy was also wounded as he waited for a ticket for Gimnasia's match against Nueva Chicago in the second-tier Primera B Nacional championship. "Football is dirty, it's very bad, like society. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt bars OCI chief from leaving country: state media Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:55 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities have barred the chief executive of Orascom Construction Industries , one of the country's biggest companies, from leaving the country as part of an investigation into tax evasion, state media said on Sunday. The public prosecutor ordered that OCI CEO Nassef Sawiris and his father Onsi Sawiris be barred from travel, the state news agency MENA said. The order from the public prosecutor is part of an investigation into accusations they evaded about 14 billion Egyptian pounds ($2. ... Full Story | Top |
| Luxury villas, designer labels: jailed Mexico union boss' U.S. oasis Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:52 AM PST  CORONADO, California (Reuters) - Boasting two properties in an exclusive enclave just outside San Diego and an enviable designer wardrobe, the jailed boss of Mexico's teachers' union was just another multi-millionaire to her neighbors. As Elba Esther Gordillo, once widely regarded as the most powerful woman in Mexico, languishes in a Mexico City jail on charges she embezzled around $200 million in union funds, her six bedroom, three-floor luxury villa on the Coronado Cays stands empty. Gordillo, 68, has previously denied allegations of corruption. Her lawyer could not be reached for comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libyan military forces on way to Mellitah gas plant, official says Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:37 AM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's defense ministry has sent security personnel to secure the Mellitah gas facility after it was shut down because of militia clashes, Mellitah Chairman Abdulfatah Shagan said on Sunday. Mellitah gas exports to Italy, which were halted due to the fighting on Saturday, were expected to resume 48 hours after the compound in northwestern Libya was secured, he said. "We received a phone call that the defense ministry has sent vehicles which are on their way. ... Full Story | Top |
| A reflective Romney emerges from seclusion, rips Obama Sunday, Mar 03, 2013 10:35 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four months after his bitter election defeat, a reflective Mitt Romney said it "kills" him not to be president and admitted mistakes were made in his losing White House campaign - particularly his failure to win over minority voters. In his first television interview since November's loss to President Barack Obama, Romney leveled a fresh blast of criticism at Obama for failing to lead and putting politics ahead of results in the confrontation with congressional Republicans over the budget and spending cuts. ... Full Story | Top |
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