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| Saudi Arabia to give Egypt up to $4 billion more aid: report Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 11:17 PM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is expected to give Egypt up to $4 billion in additional aid in the form of central bank deposits and petroleum products, state-run Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram reported on Thursday. Citing an unnamed ministerial source, the newspaper said the package would be worked out during a visit next week to the kingdom by Egypt's interim prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi. Gulf Arab states have showered Egypt with billions of dollars since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July. ... Full Story | Top |
| Asia shares lurch lower, China data darkens mood Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 11:12 PM PST  By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Thursday after strains in emerging markets returned with a vengeance and the Federal Reserve stepped back on its stimulus, sending investors scurrying to the safety of bonds and yen. Hardest hit was Japan's Nikkei which sank 2.7 percent to the lowest since mid-November. Markets have now shed all the gains made on Wednesday when the region had hoped that aggressive rate hikes by Turkey would shore up its currency and ease the risk of capital flight from emerging markets in general. Indeed, when South Africa's central bank surprised by lifting its rates half a percentage point investors reacted by dumping the rand. Full Story | Top |
| China's Communist Party expels ex-Nanjing mayor for bribes Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 11:04 PM PST China's ruling Communist Party has expelled a former city mayor for bribery and abuse of power, one of the most senior government officials to fall victim to President Xi Jinping's campaign against graft. Ji Jianye was mayor of Nanjing where he "took advantage of his position to seek benefits for others (and) received a huge amount of money and gifts either by himself or through family members", the party's corruption watchdog said on Thursday. The findings against Ji would be handed to judicial authorities to handle, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said on its website (www.ccdi.gov.cn). Ji was removed as Nanjing mayor on October 19, two days after the government announced he was under investigation for suspected "disciplinary violations" - a term often used for corruption - and breaking the law. Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's credit growth slows to 6.14 pct in December Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 11:02 PM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Growth in credit demand from South Africa's private sector slowed to 6.14 percent year-on-year in December from 6.98 percent in November, data from the Reserve Bank showed on Thursday. Expansion in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply also braked to 6.15 percent from 6.3 percent the previous month. Full Story | Top |
| UN sounds alarm on worsening global income disparities Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:58 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Development Program warned in a report on Wednesday that income disparities in countries around the world have been worsening, posing new risks for global economic and political stability. The UNDP warning echoes remarks from U.S. President Barack Obama in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, in which he said there was a widening gap between rich and poor in the world's biggest economy and that while the stock market has soared, average U.S. wages have barely budged. The UNDP report said income inequality increased by 11 percent in developing countries over the two decades between 1990 and 2010. The UNDP says this is a global trend that, if left unchecked, could have dire consequences since it "can undermine the very foundations of development and social and domestic peace." The widening income gap comes as some major developing countries - such as China and India - have seen strong economic growth and an overall increase in national wealth. Full Story | Top |
| Merkel tries to quell row over German role in Africa Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:58 PM PST  Germany is ready to send logistical support to Central African Republic but will not dispatch combat troops with a planned EU mission, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday, trying to end a domestic row about Berlin's role. A split in Merkel's grand coalition between conservative Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen and Social Democrat (SPD) Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier about Germany's role in Africa has caused strains in the new government. Merkel told the lower house of parliament the government was looking at whether to do more in Central African Republic. It's not about a German combat force, but about our capabilities in rescue and treating the wounded," she said, adding Germany also wanted to strengthen its mandate in Mali to train security forces. Full Story | Top |
| Somali president wants waiver on arms embargo extended Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:58 PM PST  By Edmund Blair and Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Somalia's president said he wanted the U.N. Security Council to extend a partial lifting of an arms embargo beyond March when the exemption is due to end because Somali troops need more and better equipment to battle al Qaeda-aligned insurgents. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday evening that he was working to improve the management of public finances, after the resignation of two central bank governors in quick succession last year rattled Western and other donors. Yet huge challenges remain for Mohamud's government as it struggles to extend federal rule in a fractured nation and rebuild institutions to run a modern state, while still battling Islamist rebels who control swaths of countryside. "Every Somali and our international partners have to understand: as far as there is territory that is not controlled by the government, the phenomenon of al Shabaab, al Qaeda and terrorists will always be there," the president said in Addis Ababa, speaking on a trip to attend an African Union summit. Full Story | Top |
| Russia to await new Ukraine government before fully implementing rescue: Putin Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:55 PM PST  By Steve Gutterman and Richard Balmforth MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin raised the pressure on Ukraine on Wednesday, saying Russia would wait until it forms a new government before fully implementing a $15 billion bailout deal that Kiev urgently needs. Putin repeated a promise to honor the lifeline agreement with Ukraine in full, but left open the timing of the next aid installment as Kiev struggles to calm more than two months of turmoil since President Victor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union. A day after Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned on Tuesday, hoping to appease the opposition and street protesters, Russia tightened border checks on imports from Ukraine in what looked like a reminder to Yanukovich not to install a government that tilts policy back towards the West. Full Story | Top |
| Planned Parenthood in Alaska sues state official over abortion Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:23 PM PST By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood in Alaska sued the state health commissioner on Wednesday over new regulations that prevent state Medicaid from covering elective abortions. The new regulations, set to go into effect on Sunday, require abortion doctors who receive Medicaid payments to certify that a procedure is "medically necessary" to prevent serious risk to the woman's health, or that the patient is a victim of rape and incest. The group, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, is seeking to have the regulations struck down as an unconstitutional violation of equal protection, said Planned Parenthood spokesman Joshua Decker. Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Fed's Bernanke saw U.S. economy through turbulent times Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:16 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke departs the U.S. central bank on Friday after eight largely turbulent years in which he guided the economy through the most virulent financial crisis and recession since the Great Depression. Following is a look at Bernanke's two four-year terms in office: October 24, 2005 - President George W. Bush nominates Bernanke to be Fed chairman. Bernanke is confirmed by the Senate on January 31, 2006, and sworn in the following day. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Only time will define Bernanke's crisis-era legacy at Fed Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:16 PM PST  Ben Bernanke did not hesitate when asked whether he was confident that his signature response to the Great Recession would work. "Well, the problem with QE is that it works in practice but it doesn't work in theory," the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve quipped earlier this month during his last public appearance. He was referring to his decision during the darkest days of the financial crisis to launch an unprecedented program of massive bond purchases, a policy known as quantitative easing, or QE. The aim was to push long-term interest rates lower given that overnight rates, the Fed's main economic lever, were already near zero. Full Story | Top |
| Households seen driving U.S. fourth-quarter growth Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:05 PM PST  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Robust household spending and rising exports likely kept the U.S. economy on solid ground in the fourth quarter, but stagnant wages could chip away some of the momentum in early 2014. "It looks like the economy was firing on a lot of cylinders in the fourth quarter," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York. If economists' fourth-quarter estimates are correct, growth over the second half of the year would come in at a 3.7 percent pace, up sharply from 1.8 percent in the first six months and well above the 2.2 percent average since the recovery started in mid-2009. Consumer spending is expected to be the main driver of fourth-quarter growth, but other segments of the economy such as trade and business investment are also seen lending a hand. Full Story | Top |
| Missouri executes killer after top court denies appeals Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 09:57 PM PST  Missouri late on Wednesday executed a man convicted of killing a jewelry store owner during a 1991 robbery after the U.S. Supreme Court denied last-minute appeals that in part challenged the drug used in the execution. "After the United States Supreme Court vacated three separate stays of execution on January 29, 2014, Herbert Smulls was executed for the 1991 murder of Stephen Honickman," Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement. Smulls, 56, was pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m. local time at a state prison in Bonne Terre after receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital, a fast-acting barbiturate, Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman Mike O'Connell said. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted a temporary stay of execution for Smulls, denying last-minute appeals. Full Story | Top |
| Colorado defendant is first to challenge expanded U.S. surveillance effort Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 09:30 PM PST  By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado man accused of having links to an overseas militant group on Wednesday became the first defendant to challenge the constitutionality of a 2008 law authorizing expansion of warrantless surveillance by the U.S. government, lawyers said. Jamshid Muhtorov, 37, who is originally from Uzbekistan and moved to suburban Denver in 2007, was indicted two years ago along with another man on charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to a group listed by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. Civil libertarians have questioned the constitutionality of the U.S. government's 2008 amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that gave authority to the National Security Agency to gather information from phone and Internet providers in the United States when the people targeted are believed to be overseas. Now, he has become the first such defendant to challenge the constitutionality of the 2008 amendment to FISA, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Thai army to deploy more troops in capital ahead of vote Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 09:06 PM PST  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's army will increase the number of troops in the capital ahead of Sunday's election, which anti-government protesters say they will disrupt as part of their campaign to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The government's decision to press ahead with the February 2 election has inflamed tensions in the capital, Bangkok, where the protesters have blockaded main intersections and forced many ministries to close their doors this month. "In addition to the 5,000 soldiers we have already deployed in and around Bangkok to help monitor security, we will be increasing troops around protest sites as there are people trying to instigate violence," army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told Reuters. Around 10,000 police would be responsible for security in Bangkok on polling day and the soldiers would be on standby, he added. Full Story | Top |
| Arrest of billionaire highlights political divisions in Iran Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 09:05 PM PST By Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - While international sanctions have made life a struggle for many Iranians, they were a big break for businessman Babak Zanjani, who made a fortune helping the government evade the restrictions on oil sales. A $40,000 watch on his wrist and a Tehran football club for a plaything, Zanjani shuttled to meetings on private jets, arranging billions of dollars of oil deals through a network of companies that stretched from Turkey to Malaysia, Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates, he said last autumn. Under the conservative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the 39-year-old Zanjani was good enough at his work to amass a fortune of $10 billion - along with debts of a similar scale, he told Aseman - until he was arrested late last month. He is being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, accused of owing the government, under moderate new President Hassan Rouhani since August, more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry. Full Story | Top |
| California governor enters election season with high marks: poll Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 09:03 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California's Democratic governor is heading into the 2014 election season with a high approval rating if he decides to run for another term, according to a poll released late Wednesday. Three-term Governor Jerry Brown received high marks from 58 percent of adults surveyed by the Public Policy Institute of California, the think tank said, and 53 percent said they thought the state was headed in the right direction. Full Story | Top |
| Oracle's Ellison downplays threat of NSA database snooping Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 08:58 PM PST  By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Oracle Corp CEO Larry Ellison played down concerns on Wednesday about possible government snooping in his business customers' private data. At an industry conference in San Francisco, an audience member asked the Oracle co-founder what to tell potential Oracle cloud-computing clients who worry that the National Security Agency could access their information. "To the best of our knowledge, an Oracle database hasn't been broken into for a couple of decades by anybody," Ellison replied. Oracle, Salesforce.com and other major Silicon Valley companies are increasingly offering Internet-based business services for things like human resources, accounting and sales management, in a trend known as cloud computing. Full Story | Top |
| Canadian police charge Justin Bieber with assaulting limo driver Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 08:46 PM PST  By Allison Martell and Jeffrey Hodgson TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police charged Justin Bieber on Wednesday with assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto in December, the latest in a string of legal troubles for the young pop star. The alleged incident happened in the early hours of December 30, when the limousine picked up six people including Bieber, 19, outside a Toronto nightclub, police said in a statement. Bieber allegedly struck the limousine driver on the back of the head several times during an altercation on the way to a hotel, police said. The driver got out and called police, but Bieber left before they arrived, according to the statement. Full Story | Top |
| Panama's first lady tapped as vice presidential candidate Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 08:01 PM PST Panama's ruling party nominated Marta Linares, the wife of President Ricardo Martinelli, as its vice presidential candidate for the May election, the party's presidential candidate announced on his Twitter page on Wednesday. "Marta will be our vice president," said Jose Domingo Arias, the standard-bearer for the Democratic Change party, in a post on the social media website following Linares' formal approval by party members. Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon, GSA map out acquisition cybersecurity; tester finds issues remain Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 07:31 PM PST By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department and General Services Administration on Wednesday mapped out six broad reforms to improve the cybersecurity of more than $500 billion in goods and services acquired by the U.S. federal government each year. The guidelines come as the Pentagon's chief weapons tester warned that military missions remained at "moderate to high risk" since local network operators were not always able to defend networks against determined cyberattacks. A report released by the tester on Wednesday said scans of the networks used by weapons still showed missing software "patches" and vulnerabilities that allowed teams of government "hackers" to penetrate and exploit networks. In their guidelines, the Pentagon and GSA underscored the importance of beefing up cybersecurity and cited escalating cyber threats from U.S. adversaries, hackers and criminals, as well as unintentional vulnerabilities and counterfeit parts. Full Story | Top |
| Arizona couple living near polygamous sect sues for discrimination Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 07:13 PM PST By Jennifer Dobner SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - An Arizona jury heard opening arguments on Wednesday that a married couple was denied municipal water services because they were not members of a polygamous church that dominates their community on the Utah-Arizona border. Ron and Jinjer Cooke filed a federal lawsuit against the twin towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, in 2010, claiming a violation of their civil rights in a lawsuit that also named the local water district and power company. Attorneys for the couple contend in court papers that the jailed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints controls the adjoining towns and has ordered city leaders and departments to discriminate against outsiders. A 2012 federal lawsuit made similar allegations. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Air Force, Boeing confident tanker program still on schedule Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 06:45 PM PST By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Air Force and Boeing Co officials on Wednesday expressed confidence that a $52 billion air refueling program would deliver its first 18 planes by August 2017 as scheduled, despite a Pentagon report warning that testing of the new aircraft could be delayed by at least six to 12 months. The tanker project known as KC-46, one of the Pentagon's biggest arms programs, calls for Boeing to build 179 new planes for the Air Force to replace the current fleet of 50-year-old KC-135 tankers. Air Force and Boeing officials have said the program is making good progress, with the last of four test planes to be completed this year. But a report released Wednesday by the Pentagon's chief weapons tester, Michael Gilmore, said Boeing and the Air Force needed more time to complete developmental testing and initial training before operational testing. Full Story | Top |
| Idaho calls off hired hunter to kill wolves in wilderness Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 06:34 PM PST By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Idaho has called off a professional hunter hired to kill wolves in a federally protected wilderness area because he had succeeded in reducing the population enough to protect the elk prized by hunters. The push by state wildlife managers to kill wolves in the wilderness renewed a battle over an animal that was nearly extinct in the continental United States when it was declared an endangered species in 1974. As the population rebounded, wolves in the Northern Rockies, including Idaho, lost federal protection and can now be hunted and trapped. The wolves killed were part of two packs in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in the mountains of central Idaho, where wolves were imported from Canada in the mid-1990s to re-establish the species in the Northern Rockies. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Syria has shipped out less than 5 percent of chemical weapons Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 06:25 PM PST  By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Syria has given up less than 5 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal and will miss next week's deadline to send all toxic agents abroad for destruction, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The deliveries, in two shipments this month to the northern Syrian port of Latakia, totalled 4.1 percent of the roughly 1,300 tonnes of toxic agents reported by Damascus to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Damascus needs to show it is still serious about relinquishing its chemical weapons, the sources told Reuters. The issue is to be discussed at a meeting of the OPCW's executive council on Thursday in The Hague, a senior U.S. State Department official told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.S. readies financial sanctions against Ukraine: congressional aides Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 05:46 PM PST  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is preparing financial sanctions that could be imposed on Ukrainian officials and protest leaders if violence escalates in the political crisis gripping Ukraine, congressional aides said on Wednesday. Congressional aides, who asked not to be identified by name because of the sensitive subject, said they had discussed the sanction preparations with administration officials. They said final details of the package have not been worked out, but it could be put in place quickly against government officials - or leaders of the protest movement - in case of widespread violence. Six people have been killed in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities in protests that erupted more than two months ago after President Viktor Yanukovich walked away from a treaty with the European Union under pressure from Russia. Full Story | Top |
| California weighs outlawing warrantless drone surveillance Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 05:34 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Using drones to spy on Californians without a warrant could soon be outlawed under a bill making its way through the state legislature, tapping into public concern about unwarranted government intrusion into private lives. The measure comes even as California tries to entice companies to make and develop unmanned aircraft in the most populous U.S. state, where unemployment still lags the rest of the nation. "While we as a legislature and as a state try to attract the jobs in aviation, we also have to balance the growing concern about unmanned vehicles," the bill's sponsor, Republican Jeff Gorell, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Oscars organizers revoke 'Alone Yet Not Alone' song nomination Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 05:20 PM PST  The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has revoked a nomination in the best original song category for "Alone Yet Not Alone," after the songwriter violated Oscar rules and emailed voters about submitting the song for consideration. Musician Bruce Broughton, a former Academy governor and executive committee member in its music branch, composed the title song from the independent Christian faith movie "Alone Yet Not Alone." The Academy said on Wednesday that Broughton had used his position within the organization to contact voters about his own submission of the song, which was "inconsistent" with the Academy's rules on Oscar nominations campaigning. "No matter how well-intentioned the communication, using one's position as a former governor and current executive committee member to personally promote one's own Oscar submission creates the appearance of an unfair advantage," Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy president, said in a statement. Broughton said in a statement he was "devastated" at the Academy's decision. Full Story | Top |
| Target says criminals attacked with stolen vendor credentials Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:58 PM PST  By Jim Finkle and Mark Hosenball BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Target Corp said on Wednesday that the theft of a vendor's credentials helped cyber criminals pull off a massive theft of customer data during the holiday shopping season in late 2013. "The ongoing forensic investigation has indicated that the intruder stole a vendor's credentials, which were used to access our system," Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in a statement. She declined to elaborate on what type of credentials were taken, who the vendor was, or to provide other details. The company's shares have been hurt since the data breach was announced on December 19, and the incident has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers as well as federal law enforcement and consumer protection agencies. Full Story | Top |
| Cuban agent due for U.S. release to be deported, lawyer says Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:36 PM PST By Zachary Fagenson and David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - A Cuban intelligence agent, jailed for 15 years for spying on Cuban-American exiles in Miami, is due to be freed next month and will be deported to the Caribbean island country, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Fernando Gonzalez, 50, was arrested by the FBI in 1998 along with four other Cuban agents who were convicted in 2001 of 26 counts of spying on behalf of Fidel Castro's government. The case of the "Cuban Five" is widely considered an impediment to improving the hostile relations between the United States and Cuba, separated by only 90 miles of sea. A U.S. immigration official confirmed that late on Wednesday, saying "as soon as Gonzalez has finished his criminal incarceration he will be removed from the country." Another agent, Rene Gonzalez, was released in 2011 after serving more than 13 years and now lives in Cuba. Full Story | Top |
| California weighs giving tax break to space exploration firms Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:25 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - For-profit space explorers who make California their headquarters would not have to pay property taxes on their rockets and space stations under a bill that advanced in the state legislature on Wednesday. The move is aimed at stopping an effort by Los Angeles County to collect levies on equipment owned by the privately held SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. It is part of a broader effort by lawmakers to revitalize California's flagging aerospace sector, once among the nation's largest and key to the state's economy. "This bill will create thousands of new, high-paying jobs right here in California," said state Democratic Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, the bill's author. Full Story | Top |
| Attack on mass transit seen as top Super Bowl security risk Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:24 PM PST  By Scott Malone NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bomb attacks of the kind that tore through mass transit sites in Russia ahead of the upcoming Sochi Olympics are a top concern of security officials preparing for Sunday's Super Bowl, the head of the New Jersey State Police said on Wednesday. While law enforcement officials said they were not aware of any specific threats targeting the February 2 National Football League championship in East Rutherford, New Jersey, attacks like those that killed 34 people in two days in Russia late last year are their biggest worry. As you know both of those bombings were targeting mass transit," Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, told reporters. Full Story | Top |
| Cheaper Super Bowl tickets lure locals to N.J. stadium Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:09 PM PST  By Marina Lopes NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ticket prices for upper-level seats at the Super Bowl plummeted 38 percent since the conference championship games, the largest drop for the week in six years, as frigid temperatures discouraged football fans from braving the elements to sit in the stands at New Jersey's MetLife stadium. Lows of 22 Fahrenheit (minus 5 Celsius) forecast for Sunday's game, the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather city, drove ticket prices as low as $1,309, said Meredith Owen, TicketCity.com Communication Director, but they have risen since then to an average of $1,609. Lower ticket prices drew renewed interest from residents of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, who led visits to TiqIQ.com, a site that resells tickets to the public. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Thailand braces for violence as PM Yingluck's charm runs out Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:08 PM PST  By Andrew R.C. Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - Six unmarked vehicles with pitch-black windows threaded quietly through Bangkok's northern suburbs on a recent Thursday afternoon. Inside one sat the curiously unruffled figure at the heart of Thailand's latest political maelstrom: caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. That Yingluck's convoy is now so keen to avoid attention - it even stopped at some red lights - is a small victory for the thousands of protesters who first poured onto Bangkok's streets three months ago to try to topple her government. For them, Yingluck, 46, is the hated puppet of her billionaire elder brother Thaksin, who was ousted as prime minister in a 2006 military coup and now lives abroad to avoid a two-year jail sentence for corruption. Full Story | Top |
| H&M says fashion can be cheap and ethical Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:06 PM PST  By Emma Thomasson STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Hennes & Mauritz, the world's second-biggest fashion retailer, believes there is no conflict between its mission to sell more budget clothes and a drive to improve the environment and working conditions at its suppliers. "We want to make sustainable fashion more democratic," Helena Helmersson, H&M's head of sustainability, told Reuters. "We don't aim for sustainability to be a luxury thing." The Swedish company is one of the biggest buyers of garments from Bangladesh, where the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory last April killed more than 1,100 people, drawing global attention to the poor conditions in which many in Asia work. H&M customers, many of them idealistic youngsters, are becoming more critical of the use of cheap labor, with the company sinking last year to second-to-last place in a perceived sustainability ranking in its biggest market Germany. Full Story | Top |
| In Bernanke's final act, Fed cuts stimulus despite market turmoil Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:00 PM PST  By Jonathan Spicer and Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided to trim its bond purchases by another $10 billion as it stuck to a plan to wind down its extraordinary economic stimulus despite recent turmoil in emerging markets. The action was widely expected, although some investors had speculated that the U.S. central bank might put its plans on hold given the jitters overseas. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who hands the Fed's reins to Vice Chair Janet Yellen on Friday, managed to adjourn his last policy-setting meeting without any dissents from his colleagues. In addition to proceeding with plans to scale back its bond buying, the Fed made no changes to its other main policy plank: its pledge to keep interest rates low for some time to come. Full Story | Top |
| Justin Bieber to be charged with assault in Toronto: CBC Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:00 PM PST  By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian pop star Justin Bieber will be charged with assault in Toronto over an incident in December involving a limousine driver, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said on Wednesday, citing unidentified police sources. The broadcaster said Bieber was expected to arrive in Toronto on Wednesday and be formally charged. Bieber's representatives declined to comment on the report. Toronto police said on their Twitter feed that they cannot confirm information in the media about Bieber, but journalists were gathered outside Toronto's 52 division police station, where the report said he was expected to turn himself in. Full Story | Top |
| University of Missouri president wants probe of rape claim response Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 04:00 PM PST By Kevin Murphy KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The University of Missouri's president called on Wednesday for an independent counsel to investigate how school officials responded to the alleged 2010 rape of a student on the female swim team who later committed suicide. The Missouri case comes in the wake of growing concern about sexual assaults in schools and in the military. Last week, President Barack Obama announced the creation of a White House task force to look into the problem of sexual assaults on campus. University president Tim Wolfe said at a news conference that he wants to determine if the university acted properly in matters related to Sasha Menu Courey. Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court denies convicted Missouri killer's appeals Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 03:58 PM PST  The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted a temporary stay of execution for a Missouri man convicted of killing a jewelry store owner during a 1991 robbery, denying last-minute appeals. Herbert Smulls, 56, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday at a Missouri state prison, had been granted the stay on a series of challenges including the drugs to be used in his execution. A lawyer for Smulls, Cheryl Pilate, and a spokesman for the state corrections department said a separate stay of execution remained in effect in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Full Story | Top |
| Wisconsin man sentenced for starving, imprisoning daughter Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 03:56 PM PST By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A Wisconsin man was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for imprisoning his teenage daughter in a basement for six years and forcing her to eat her own excrement, a local prosecutor said. Chad Chritton, 42, was also sentenced in Dane County Circuit Court to an additional five years of extended supervision after a jury found him guilty in November of four felonies, including child abuse and neglecting a child, according to district attorney Ismael Ozanne. His wife Melinda Drabek-Chritton, 44, was sentenced to five years in prison in July on similar charges. Prosecutors had accused the Madison couple of holding the girl in the basement of their home for about six years. Full Story | Top |
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