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| Greek refiner offers voluntary exit to 300 staff: sources Friday, Sep 27, 2013 12:30 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme (VRS) to as many as 300 employees, or almost 8 percent of its total workforce, to cut costs, two company sources told Reuters on Friday. The offer predominantly targets administrative staff and a deadline for eligible employees to apply expires at the end of next month, the officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Hellenic has nearly 4,000 employees, about 80 percent of whom are based in Greece. It runs refineries and petrol stations across southeast Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's corruption drive extends to provinces Friday, Sep 27, 2013 12:20 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's anti-corruption watchdog said it had uncovered abuses at several provincial governments and state-owned enterprises, in the latest sign of an expanding crackdown on graft. Since taking office in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called corruption a threat to the ruling Communist Party's survival and vowed to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies". Authorities have already announced the investigation or arrest of a handful of senior officials. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. panel blames mankind more clearly for warming Friday, Sep 27, 2013 12:05 AM PDT  STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Top climate scientists blamed mankind more clearly than ever as the main cause of global warming in a report on Friday meant to guide governments in dealing with rising temperatures, delegates said. "It's been accepted," Jonathan Lynn, spokesman for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told reporters of a final summary for policymakers approved at the end of the week-long meeting in Stockholm. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. scientific panel blames mankind ever more clearly for warming Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:47 PM PDT STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Top climate scientists blamed mankind more clearly than ever as the main cause of global warming in a report on Friday meant to guide governments in dealing with rising temperatures, delegates said. "It's been accepted," Jonathan Lynn, spokesman for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told reporters. Delegates said the report raised the probability that most global warming was manmade to 95 percent, from 90 percent in its previous report in 2007. The report also says that a recent slowdown in warming is unlikely to last. ... Full Story | Top |
| BP faces pressure over Algeria gas plant attack Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:39 PM PDT By Lin Noueihed LONDON (Reuters) - Some foreign workers at an Algerian desert gas plant feared for their safety well before Islamist militants killed dozens at the site, and relatives and survivors want joint operator BP to investigate its own security record. Forty oil workers, all but one foreign, died at In Amenas in January after the militants took expatriates hostage during a four-day siege that ended when Algerian forces stormed the site. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tokyo Electric: will add $10 billion for Fukushima cleanup to turnaround plan Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 11:29 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, said on Friday it will revise its business turnaround plan to allocate an additional 1 trillion yen ($10.1 billion) for the Fukushima facility's cleanup. Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, is working to contain radioactive water at the Fukushima plant, which suffered meltdowns and hydrogen explosions after it was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S., Iran voice optimism and caution after rare encounter Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 09:32 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran and the United States held their highest-level substantive talks in a generation on Thursday, saying the tone was positive but sounding cautious about resolving the long-running standoff over Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met after Zarif held wider talks with the United States and other major powers to address Western suspicions that Iran may be trying to develop atomic weapons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tokyo Electric says 'difficult' to post profit this year Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 07:30 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co , the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, said on Friday it will be difficult under current conditions to post a profit this fiscal year. Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, is struggling to contain radioactive water at the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. President Naomi Hirose said Tepco would not change its full-year target to log a profit. The utility has posted more than $27 billion in net losses since the Fukushima disaster. ... Full Story | Top |
| California solar policy costing all utility customers: report Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 06:49 PM PDT  By Nichola Groom LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's non-solar homeowners are paying a growing share of maintaining the power grid under a controversial state policy, while ratepayers with solar rooftops are paying less, a report commissioned by the state's utility regulator said on Thursday. The report, which was issued by the California Public Utilities Commission but performed by an outside research firm, forecast that in 2020, the policy of "net metering" would cost $1.1 billion a year. It will shift about $359 million in costs a year from customers with solar panels to other ratepayers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas man put to death for murder over $100 debt Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 05:57 PM PDT By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - A Texas man who stabbed another man to death for failing to pay back a $100 debt to an exotic dancer was executed on Thursday by lethal injection, a state corrections official said. Arturo Diaz was pronounced dead at 6:30 p.m. CT (2330 GMT) in Huntsville, according to Jason Clark, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. It was the 13th execution this year in Texas and the 27th in the United States. "Let's go warden. I'm ready," were his last words, Clark said. ... Full Story | Top |
| China state sector a honey pot for corrupt officials Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 03:05 PM PDT  By Charlie Zhu HONG KONG (Reuters) - In March last year, after getting government approval to go ahead with a $900 million refinery expansion in China's southeastern Fujian province, state-run oil giant Sinopec Corp warned the team handling the project against taking bribes. "Project engineering and construction has been a main area for corruption at Sinopec," the Fujian unit of Asia's largest refiner said in a blunt memo, according to a Sinopec source who read it to Reuters. "All members, especially those in key posts, must treasure their positions, stay guarded and resist temptation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas man set to be executed for murder over $100 debt Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:37 PM PDT By Karen Brooks AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas man who stabbed another man to death when he failed to pay back a $100 debt to an exotic dancer is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. The execution of Arturo Diaz by lethal injection is to take place after 6 p.m. CT (2300 GMT) in Huntsville, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. It would be the 13th execution this year in Texas and the 27th in the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nektar Therapeutics pain drug for knee arthritis fails study Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:14 PM PDT (Reuters) - Nektar Therapeutics said its experimental drug to treat chronic pain in patients with arthritis of the knee failed to meet its main goal in a mid-stage clinical trial. The drugmaker's shares fell nearly 30 percent in extended trading on Thursday. The study failed mainly because patients on placebo did not show the expected increase in pain scores observed in similar studies, Nektar said in a statement. This lack of a placebo rebound was "unusual," the company said. Half the 213 patients in the study were dosed with Nektar's NKTR-181 drug, while the other half was given a placebo. ... Full Story | Top |
| TSX edges up despite BlackBerry, U.S. budget worry Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 02:10 PM PDT  By Leah Schnurr TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Thursday with gains limited by a drop in BlackBerry's shares and market wariness about the impasse in budget and debt negotiations in the United States. BlackBerry fell for a third day in a row as markets continued to mull over a $4.7 billion bid to take the smartphone maker private. Doubts about the viability of the bid have emerged in recent days, and the stock gave up 0.5 percent to C$8.22 on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House stands by FERC pick; Senate aide says others weighed Thursday, Sep 26, 2013 01:32 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday publicly stood by its pick for chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Ron Binz, even as a Senate aide said the administration is considering a replacement for the embattled nominee. Opponents of Binz have accused him of favoring renewable energy sources over fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, citing among other things a comment from him this year calling natural gas a "dead end" energy source. ... Full Story | Top |
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