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| Washington warns Assad over 'undeniable' chemical weapons attack Monday, Aug 26, 2013 07:41 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Erika Solomon WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States put Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on notice on Monday that it believes he was responsible for using chemical weapons against civilians last week in what Secretary of State John Kerry called a "moral obscenity." "President (Barack) Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people," Kerry said in the most forceful U.S. reaction yet to the August 21 attack. Speaking after U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| China sees no basis for talks with Japan over islands dispute Monday, Aug 26, 2013 09:53 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China sees no reason to hold talks with Japan over their dispute about ownership of a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, Chinese deputy foreign minister Li Baodong said on Tuesday. Relations between the world's second- and third-largest economies have been strained for months, largely because of the spat over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. ... Full Story | Top |
| Australia's Rudd revives plan to move the navy north Monday, Aug 26, 2013 09:52 PM PDT  By James Grubel CANBERRA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd revived a plan to move Australia's navy north and out of its eastern base in Sydney Harbour on Tuesday, just three months after a major review of defense strategy ruled out the shift. Rudd, who is campaigning for re-election on September 7, said he wanted to resurrect the plan to base new missile destroyers and amphibious assault carriers in the northern city of Brisbane. That would allow faster deployment to potential hotspots or humanitarian disasters in the South Pacific. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan's newest rocket fails to lift off Monday, Aug 26, 2013 11:33 PM PDT By Elaine Lies TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's first new rocket in 12 years failed to lift off on Tuesday, dealing a potential blow to hopes that Japan may be able to take a larger share of the growing, multi-billion dollar satellite launch industry. It was the second setback for the Epsilon rocket this month. An earlier launch was postponed because of a computer glitch. No word was immediately available on the cause of the problem on Tuesday or when the launch might be tried again. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Mexico's largest county to allow gay marriage after court ruling Monday, Aug 26, 2013 08:42 PM PDT By Zelie Pollon SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Same-sex marriages are now legal in New Mexico's most populous county and the city of Albuquerque, a court ruled on Monday, adding to recent victories for gays and lesbians seeking the right to wed statewide. Last week, a judge in Santa Fe County ordered the county clerk there to issue same-sex marriage licenses and a clerk in the southern part of the state decided to hand out such licenses independently of any court ruling. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ackman turns back on J.C. Penney, sells entire stake in retailer Tuesday, Aug 27, 2013 12:15 AM PDT  By Svea Herbst-Bayliss (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager William Ackman, the biggest shareholder in J.C. Penney Co Inc, said on Monday he had sold his entire stake after his campaign to overhaul the retailer failed. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management sold 39.1 million shares, or 18 percent of the company, to Citigroup Inc, which is now offering the shares to other investors, the company and the $11 billion hedge fund said in separate announcements. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama talks Syria with Australia's Rudd; Rice meets Israelis Monday, Aug 26, 2013 06:23 PM PDT  By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama spoke with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday about possible international responses to the Syrian crisis while his national security adviser discussed Syria and security with Israeli officials, the White House said. In a call with Rudd, "the two leaders expressed their grave concern about the reported use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against civilians near Damascus on Wednesday," the White House said in a statement. They "discussed possible responses by the international community," it said. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa mines less violent as AMCU union plays by rules Monday, Aug 26, 2013 11:06 PM PDT  By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A year ago, militant South African miners affiliated to upstart union AMCU were marching with spears, clubs and knives in often violent wildcat strikes and protests against management bosses. But in recent months leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, an emerging force on the labor stage of Africa's biggest economy, have been sitting down to tough but peaceful wage talks with mining executives. Strikes still look certain in the struggling mining sector as soaring union wage demands collide head on with depressed metals prices. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: U.S. could look beyond U.N. Security Council in any Syria strike Monday, Aug 26, 2013 08:21 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - In the face of a U.N. Security Council deadlocked on Syria, the United States and its allies could seek other means of legitimizing any retaliatory strike they launch against Syria's government for last week's alleged gas attack on civilians. The 15-nation council has been split on Syria since 2011. Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's ally, and China have vetoed three resolutions condemning Assad and calling for punitive steps against his government. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. points finger at Assad over Syria gas attack Monday, Aug 26, 2013 03:49 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry laid the groundwork on Monday for possible military action against the Syrian government over a chemical weapons attack, implicating President Bashar al-Assad's forces in a "moral obscenity." In the most forceful U.S. reaction yet to last week's gas attack outside Damascus, Kerry said President Barack Obama "believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people." Kerry spoke after U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Holder pressed on U.S. drug agency use of hidden data evidence Monday, Aug 26, 2013 05:55 PM PDT  By John Shiffman WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight Democratic senators and congressmen have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to answer questions about a Reuters report that the National Security Agency supplies the Drug Enforcement Administration with intelligence information used to make non-terrorism cases against American citizens. The August report revealed that a secretive DEA unit passes the NSA information to agents in the field, including those from the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and Homeland Security, with instructions to never disclose the original source, even in court. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama administration sees mid-October default deadline Monday, Aug 26, 2013 02:51 PM PDT  By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration warned Congress on Monday that the United States could run out of money to pay its bills soon after mid-October if lawmakers do not move swiftly to raise a limit on government borrowing. "Congress should act as soon as possible to protect America's good credit," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a letter to congressional leaders, urging action "well before any risk of default becomes imminent." The government has been scraping up against its $16. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinians killed in Israeli raid, peace talks continue Monday, Aug 26, 2013 12:19 PM PDT  By Ali Sawafta and Noah Browning RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians during an early morning raid in a West Bank refugee camp on Monday, hours before negotiators met for another round of peace talks, Palestinian sources said. Israeli border police said they entered the Qalandiya camp, near Jerusalem, to arrest a man and were confronted by a crowd throwing firebombs and rocks. Witnesses said the Israeli forces opened fire and hospital officials told Reuters three men were killed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Starbucks to sell home-grown coffee to the Colombians Monday, Aug 26, 2013 03:42 PM PDT  By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian NEW YORK (Reuters) - Starbucks Coffee Company, which has exported coffee beans from Colombia for more than four decades, plans to open its first café in the Andean country in 2014 and serve only locally-grown coffee. The world's biggest coffee chain hopes to open at least 50 coffee shops in cities across Colombia in the next five years, starting in the capital Bogota. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nasdaq trading halt exposes communication gaps when crisis hits Monday, Aug 26, 2013 02:45 PM PDT  By Herbert Lash NEW YORK (Reuters) - The three-hour trading halt last week in Nasdaq stocks has raised questions about the exchange's communications effort and whether procedures need to be established to keep the investing public informed when mishaps occur. Trading in about 3,200 Nasdaq-listed stocks, including Apple Inc, Google Inc and Facebook Inc, ground to a halt on Thursday after an unexplained "connectivity issue" with the system that disseminates last sale prices and stock quotes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Washington warns Assad over 'undeniable' chemical weapons attack Monday, Aug 26, 2013 02:57 PM PDT  By Lesley Wroughton and Erika Solomon WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States put Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on notice on Monday that it believes he was responsible for using chemical weapons against civilians last week in what Secretary of State John Kerry called a "moral obscenity." "President (Barack) Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people," Kerry said in the most forceful U.S. reaction yet to the August 21 attack. Speaking after U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yosemite blaze rages closer to reservoir for San Francisco Monday, Aug 26, 2013 04:28 PM PDT  By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - One of the largest California wildfires in decades roared largely unchecked for a 10th day through forests in and around Yosemite National Park on Monday and threatened a reservoir that supplies most of San Francisco's water. As of midday, the eastern flank of the so-called Rim Fire had burned to within a mile of Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy reservoir on the Tuolumne River, raising concerns about the possibility of ash and soot contaminating the sprawling artificial lake. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ackman turns back on J.C. Penney, sells entire stake in retailer Monday, Aug 26, 2013 04:53 PM PDT  By Svea Herbst-Bayliss (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager William Ackman, the biggest shareholder in J.C. Penney Co Inc, said on Monday that he sold his entire stake after his campaign to overhaul the retailer failed. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management sold 39.1 million shares, which amounted to 18 percent of the company, to Citigroup Inc, which is now offering the shares to other investors, the company and the $11 billion hedge fund said in separate announcements. ... Full Story | Top |
| Holder pressed on U.S. drug agency use of hidden data evidence Monday, Aug 26, 2013 04:51 PM PDT  By John Shiffman WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eight Democratic senators and congressmen have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to answer questions about a Reuters report that the National Security Agency supplies the Drug Enforcement Administration with intelligence information used to make non-terrorism cases against American citizens. The August report revealed that a secretive DEA unit passes the NSA information to agents in the field, including those from the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and Homeland Security, with instructions to never disclose the original source, even in court. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to see Putin at G20 summit in St Petersburg but meeting unclear Monday, Aug 26, 2013 02:39 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will see Russian President Vladimir Putin next week at the G20 summit in St Petersburg, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday, but whether they will hold an individual meeting was unclear. Obama and Putin have been at odds over Russia's decision to grant temporary asylum to former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. The move allowed Snowden to avoid facing U.S. espionage charges for revealing details of U.S. surveillance programs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dodgers owner could be interested in Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune Monday, Aug 26, 2013 01:42 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Another sports team owner is eyeing the possibility of becoming a newspaper publisher. Mark Walter, the controlling partner of the group that owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, said he could be interested in buying the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune for the right price. "The Los Angeles Times says something," Walter told the Los Angeles Times late on Friday. "It means something. It's a brand. I think people have undervalued that. If the price were right, I would buy it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tropical depression Fernand kills 13 as it weakens over Mexico Monday, Aug 26, 2013 12:21 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Thirteen people were killed when torrential rains triggered deadly landslides as a weakening tropical depression Fernand moved northwest over central Mexico on Monday and away from the country's major oil installations. Nine people were killed in the town of Yecuatla, three in the city of Tuxpan, and one in the town of Atzalan, all in Mexico's eastern Veracruz state, Governor Javier Duarte said. "All of (the deaths) were caused by landslides in the hills above their homes," Duarte said at a press conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM forges ahead with cuts even as coalition row rages Monday, Aug 26, 2013 12:20 PM PDT  By Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - Italy's cabinet passed a package of measures to trim public spending on Monday, undeterred by a row with Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party that is threatening to bring down the prime minister's coalition and has rattled markets. The measures included cutting funding for official cars by a fifth, reducing consultancies now valued at 1.2 billion euros per year, and a decree that will gradually convert about 150,000 temporary state administration contracts into permanent ones. ... Full Story | Top |
| United Nations says it will contact United States over spying report Monday, Aug 26, 2013 11:31 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Monday it plans to contact the United States over a report that the U.S. National Security Agency bugged its New York headquarters and warned that countries are expected to respect the world body's diplomatic inviolability. Citing secret U.S. documents obtained by fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, Germany's Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that the United States succeeded in gaining access to the internal U.N. video conferencing system in 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says it is undeniable that chemical weapons used in Syria Monday, Aug 26, 2013 12:58 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday that it is undeniable that chemical weapons were used in Syria and that there is little doubt that the Syrian government used them. President Barack Obama, said White House spokesman Jay Carney, is evaluating the appropriate response to the use of chemical weapons but has made no decision on how to respond. Carney had no time frame for when Obama would decide. "There is very little doubt in our mind that the Syrian regime is culpable," said Carney. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. has sense of urgency but no timeline on Syria Monday, Aug 26, 2013 01:15 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration has not set a timeline for responding to the use of chemical weapons in Syria but officials are preparing options for President Barack Obama with a sense of urgency, the State Department said on Monday. "People feel that there's a sense of urgency ... but no timeline," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters in Washington, shortly after Secretary of State John Kerry issued a strong statement saying evidence of a massive deadly chemical attack last week was "undeniable." (Reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: United Tech, Pentagon in $1 billion-plus deal for F-35 engines Monday, Aug 26, 2013 10:42 AM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, has reached an agreement in principle with the Pentagon on a contract to build 39 engines for a sixth batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, three sources familiar with the deal said on Monday. The agreement - which Pratt had expected to reach over a month ago - is valued at more than $1 billion, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly. ... Full Story | Top |
| Telefonica wins Slim over with sweetened German deal Monday, Aug 26, 2013 11:34 AM PDT  By Sara Webb and Clare Kane AMSTERDAM/MADRID (Reuters) - Telefonica has raised its bid for KPN's German arm by 6 percent to 8.55 billion euros ($11.5 billion), winning over top KPN investor America Movil and setting the stage for consolidation in Europe's largest mobile market. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's America Movil, which owns almost 30 percent of KPN, said it backed Telefonica's new offer for KPN's E-Plus unit. Shares of America Movil rose 1 percent in morning trade. ... Full Story | Top |
| Weak U.S. durable goods data dims growth outlook Monday, Aug 26, 2013 09:07 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods recorded their biggest drop in nearly a year in July and a gauge of planned business spending on capital goods also tumbled, casting a shadow over the economy early in the third quarter. The report on Monday added to other data for July on industrial production, housing starts and new home sales that have suggested economic growth this quarter will probably not accelerate as much as economists had hoped. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fukushima operator to seek foreign advice on toxic water Monday, Aug 26, 2013 11:14 AM PDT  By Antoni Slodkowski HIRONO, Japan (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, said it would invite foreign decommissioning experts to advise it on how to deal with highly radioactive water leaking from the site, and Japan signaled it may dip into a $3.6 billion emergency reserve fund to help pay for the clean-up. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fort Hood shooting victim struggling to cope with injuries Monday, Aug 26, 2013 02:25 PM PDT  By Ellen Wulfhorst FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. Army staff sergeant partly paralyzed and brain damaged from the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, on Monday said his injuries left him deeply angry and worried about finding work, remaining married and caring for his infant son. Staff Sergeant Patrick Ziegler was one of a dozen witnesses to tell of their losses in the sentencing phase for Major Nidal Hasan, who was convicted on Friday of killing 13 people and wounding 31 others in the November 5, 2009 attack on unarmed fellow service members. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran adds to atom capacity, holds down stockpile growth: diplomats Monday, Aug 26, 2013 07:47 AM PDT  By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected to show that Iran is pressing ahead with its nuclear program by further increasing its capacity to enrich uranium, diplomats said on Monday. They said Iran also appears to have started making fuel for a heavy-water reactor that could produce plutonium, a development that concerns the West because of its potential to be used in a nuclear weapon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israelis line up for gas masks over Syria war fears Monday, Aug 26, 2013 10:25 AM PDT  By Allyn Fisher-Ilan JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Thousands of Israelis are lining up for gas masks or ordering them by phone, spurred on by fears that any Western military response to last week's alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria could ensnare their own country in war. Western powers are considering military action to punish the Syrian government for the alleged attack that killed hundreds near Damascus last week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Karzai stresses need for Pakistani help in Taliban peace process Monday, Aug 26, 2013 06:37 AM PDT  By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday stressed the need for Pakistan's help in arranging peace talks with the Taliban in a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who assured him of his support. Pakistan backed the Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s and is seen as a crucial gatekeeper in attempts by the U.S. and Afghan governments to contact insurgent leaders who fled to Pakistan after the group's 2001 ouster. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia warns against military intervention in Syria Monday, Aug 26, 2013 07:20 AM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned Western powers on Monday against any military intervention in Syria, saying the use of force without a U.N. mandate would violate international law. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had no plans to be drawn into a military conflict over the civil war in Syria and that Washington and its allies would be repeating "past mistakes" if they intervened in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. would only act on Syria with international community: Hagel Monday, Aug 26, 2013 05:15 AM PDT  JAKARTA (Reuters) - The United States would only take action on Syria in concert with the international community and with legal justification in response to the alleged chemical weapons attacks in Damascus, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Monday. Hagel, speaking on a trip to Indonesia, declined to discuss U.S. military options under consideration by the White House, or to say whether he thought a military response was likely. "The United States is looking at all options regarding the situation in Syria. ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel allies stage 11th-hour revival behind young leader Monday, Aug 26, 2013 07:42 AM PDT  By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Philipp Roesler, the young leader of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP), looked like a dead man walking at the start of the year, until he took a major risk that turned his and his party's fortunes around. His party, which shares power with Angela Merkel's conservatives, was in freefall, and rivals were planning a putsch, fearful the FDP would be booted out of government in a September election with Roesler at the helm. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy PM meets with centre right to defuse growing row Monday, Aug 26, 2013 06:54 AM PDT  By Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta met with a top official from Silvio Berlusconi's center-right party on Monday to try to defuse a row which is threatening to bring down his fragile ruling coalition and has rattled financial markets. Relations between Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party and Letta's center-left Democratic Party (PD) are increasingly tense ahead of a vote on whether to expel the media mogul from parliament over his tax fraud conviction, and because of a disagreement over a property tax. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exchange operators BATS and Direct Edge to merge Monday, Aug 26, 2013 09:31 AM PDT By John McCrank (Reuters) - BATS Global Markets Inc and Direct Edge Holdings said on Monday they would merge, in a deal that would create the second-largest U.S. stock exchange operator after NYSE Euronext . The stock trading business has been in decline for more than three years, as uncertainty over the global economy pushed retail investors to the sidelines and low market volatility hit volumes. Exchange operators have been looking for new sources of revenue, including in areas of market data and technology. They have also been trying to combine to create scale and take out costs. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: T. Rowe bans some American Air employees from fund trading Monday, Aug 26, 2013 08:34 AM PDT By Jed Horowitz NEW YORK (Reuters) - T. Rowe Price Group Inc has permanently banned about 1,300 American Airlines employees from trading among its funds in their 401(k) retirement plans, a rare move to curb "collective" trading by subscribers to an investment newsletter. About 800 additional employees have received warning letters about their trading patterns, according to sources at the airline and at JPMorgan Chase & Co, administrator of the retirement plan. The ban, confirmed by the airline and the fund company in response to a Reuters inquiry, follows a period of several years in which T. ... Full Story | Top |
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