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| 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 |
| South Africa's rand still vulnerable despite rate hike Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 11:04 PM PST South Africa's rand was trading close to five-year lows on Thursday after a central bank rate hike failed to halt a sell-off in the currency of Africa's biggest economy. The currency, which has been swept up in the volatility that has hit other emerging markets such as Turkey and India, slid to the five-year low on Wednesday after the first interest rate increase in nearly six years. 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 |
| 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 |
| Lonmin offers S.Africa's AMCU 7.5-9.0 pct wage increase Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:56 PM PST World No. 3 platinum producer Lonmin has revised its wage offer to South Africa's Association of Mineworkers and Construction (AMCU), which has been striking over wages for a week, a company document showed. The new offer provides for increases ranging from 7.5 percent to 9 percent in year one of the proposed three-year agreement, falling far short of AMCU's demands for a 12,500 rand per month "living wage". AMCU will take the offer to its members on Thursday, but it is unlikely to get approval as the deal does not meet the union's demands, dashing hopes of an end to a strike that has hit over 40 percent of global platinum production. AMCU chief negotiator Jimmy Gama told reporters on Wednesday the union was not satisfied with the offer. 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 |
| Deadly ice storm turns Atlanta into parking lot, strands thousands Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 10:08 PM PST  By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - A rare ice storm turned Atlanta into a slippery mess on Wednesday, stranding thousands for hours on frozen roadways and raising questions about how city leaders prepared for and handled the cold snap that slammed the U.S. South. Overnight temperatures in the Atlanta region are expected to remain well below freezing, with temperatures in the U.S. Southeast dropping into the teens Fahrenheit (minus 10 to minus 7 Celsius) on Thursday. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed came under fire for his response to a storm that trapped hundreds of children in schools overnight, some without provisions, and created traffic jams stretching for miles on roads coated with 2 inches of snow. "Folks are angry with the mayor of Atlanta, with the governor," said Flavia DiCesare, 54, who spent the night in her office at Cox Enterprises in Atlanta, about 30 miles from home. 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 |
| Exclusive: Deutsche Bank suspends New York head of EM forex desk: source Wednesday, Jan 29, 2014 09:12 PM PST  By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank has suspended the head of its emerging markets foreign exchange trading desk in New York in connection with ongoing investigations into the alleged manipulation of the global currency market, a source familiar with the matter said. Diego Moraiz, who has been with the bank since 2004 and has specialized in trading the Mexican peso, was told by the bank on December 18 that he was suspended, the source said. Moraiz's suspension came after an external consulting firm hired by Deutsche Bank examined emails and communications in chatrooms going back seven years, the source said. The source did not know whether Moraiz was still being paid or when the investigation will be completed. 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 |
| 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 |
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