| | |
| Some S.Africa Amplats strikers defy return deadline Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:35 AM PDT RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Some striking workers at Anglo American Platinum's (Amplats) Rustenburg mines in South Africa refused to return to work on Tuesday despite an offer by the company to reinstate 12,000 men sacked for taking part in a six-week wildcat walkout. Months of labour unrest in the mines have hit platinum and gold output, threatened growth in Africa's biggest economy and drawn criticism of President Jacob Zuma for his handling of the most damaging strikes since the end of apartheid in 1994. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kuwait arrests opposition leader over emir comments Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:30 AM PDT KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti authorities arrested an opposition leader late on Monday after he made comments viewed as critical of the Gulf Arab state's ruler, a political activist said. Musallam al-Barrak, a former lawmaker and a prominent figure in the nationalist Popular Action Bloc, was arrested on Monday night following a news conference at his house where he called on the government to abide by the constitution. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dithering Cyprus may have problems meeting December payroll: paper Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:25 AM PDT NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus may have difficulty paying public sector salaries in December unless a bailout deal is clinched and cleared by mid-November, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. Citing confidential minutes of a meeting in parliament, the Politis daily quoted Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly telling politicians he was worried Cyprus would be "butchered" if international lenders treated it in isolation from other euro zone states in need of financing. Meeting December's payroll commitments was contingent on the goodwill of bankers, he was quoted as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
| UBS to slash 10,000 jobs in fixed income exit Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:23 AM PDT  ZURICH (Reuters) - UBS unveiled plans to wind down its fixed income business and fire 10,000 bankers in one of the biggest bonfires of finance jobs since the implosion of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The move will focus the Zurich-based lender and wealth manager around its private bank and a smaller investment bank, ditching much of the trading business that saw it lose $50 billion in the financial crisis and one suspected rogue trader lose $2.3 billion last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: A giant storm and the struggle over closing Wall Street Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:14 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - At 6:30 p.m. on Sunday night, with Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the U.S. East Coast, New York Stock Exchange operator NYSE Euronext had more immediate problems: a revolt from the trading firms that are its lifeblood. NYSE officials, including global head of sales Christine Sandler, told the firms that while the exchange would shut down its physical trading floor it was planning to open for business on Monday as an electronic-only trading venue for the first time. ... Full Story | Top |
| NYSE to test new plan; trading floor undamaged by storm Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:11 AM PDT  (Reuters) - NYSE Euronext said it plans to test a new contingency plan to help resume stalled U.S. equity trading, and added that its famed trading floor is not yet damaged by Sandy, one of the biggest storms to hit the United States. U.S. stock markets will be closed for a second day on Tuesday, as Wall Street turns its attention to whether markets would be able to resume functioning on the month's final trading day on Wednesday. Wednesday is a key trading day because it marks the end of the month, when traders price portfolios. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korean bootmakers want to score with Messi Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:08 AM PDT  DANDONG, China (Reuters) - Top soccer-boot maker Adidas probably shouldn't be worrying just yet but a rare venture that marries South Korean money with North Korean labour in the Chinese city of Dandong aims to make its mark on the world soccer scene. At a temporary factory in a village on the edge of a bustling city that serves as a bridge between China and impoverished, isolated North Korea, 20 North Koreans hand sew soccer boots and dream of taking on the world. ... Full Story | Top |
| Some South Africa Amplats strikers defy return deadline Monday, Oct 29, 2012 11:59 PM PDT RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Some striking workers at Anglo American Platinum's (Amplats) Rustenburg mines in South Africa refused to return to work on Tuesday despite an offer by the company to reinstate 12,000 men sacked for taking part in a six-week wildcat walkout. Months of labour unrest in the mines have hit platinum and gold output, threatened growth in Africa's biggest economy and drawn criticism of President Jacob Zuma for his handling of the most damaging strikes since the end of apartheid in 1994. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. nuclear plant declares "alert" after Sandy storm surge: NRC Monday, Oct 29, 2012 11:55 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exelon Corp declared an "alert" at its New Jersey Oyster Creek nuclear power plant due to a record storm surge, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said, warning that a further water rise could force the country's oldest working plant to use emergency water supplies to cool spent uranium fuel rods. The alert -- the second lowest of four NRC action levels -- came after water levels at the plant rose by more than 6.5 feet, potentially affecting the pumps that circulate water through the plant, an NRC spokesman said late on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York streets flooded as Sandy slams into eastern U.S. Monday, Oct 29, 2012 11:53 PM PDT  NEW YORK/REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (Reuters) - Sandy, one of the biggest storms to hit the United States, pounded the east coast on Tuesday, flooding large parts of New York City, bringing transport to a halt and interrupting the presidential campaign. More than 5.5 million people were left without electrical power by the storm, which crashed ashore late on Monday near the gambling resort of Atlantic City, New Jersey. More than one million people across a dozen states were ordered to evacuate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sport-Malaysia counts on big spending to boost sporting success Monday, Oct 29, 2012 11:15 PM PDT Oct 30 (Reuters) - After again narrowly missing out on their first Olympic gold medal in London earlier this year, Malaysia plans to spend 187.2 million ringgit ($61.24 million) in 2013 to boost the country's sporting performance. "The challenge for us here is simply that that we don't just spend money, but to make sure that the money will generate sporting success," the Star daily reported youth and sports minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek as saying on Tuesday. The figure is higher than spending in previous years and 8. ... Full Story | Top |
| Could blueberry state Maine be a slice of Romney's presidential pie? Monday, Oct 29, 2012 10:34 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are scouting an unlikely path to the White House through the vast forests and blueberry barrens of northern Maine. President Barack Obama is expected to win the Pine Tree State easily in the November 6 election. Regardless, Romney allies are buying TV time with the hope of carrying the state's thinly populated interior and scraping out one electoral college vote in Maine that could edge their man closer to the 270 needed to win the White House. ... Full Story | Top |
| Constellation shuts Nine Mile One nuclear reactor: NRC Monday, Oct 29, 2012 09:15 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Constellation Nuclear Energy Group's 630-MW Nine Mile One nuclear power reactor in upstate New York shut on Monday due to a problem putting power onto the grid, a spokesman at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. He said it was not clear if the outage was related to Hurricane Sandy. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Michael Urquhart) Full Story | Top |
| Sandy complicates final stretch of tense U.S. presidential race Monday, Oct 29, 2012 09:05 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tense and unpredictable race for the White House became even more so on Monday, as mammoth storm Sandy created delicate political challenges for President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney and raised the possibility of a chaotic voting process. As the deadly storm barreled ashore on the paralyzed East Coast, the presidential campaign went into what amounted to a deep freeze just when Obama and Romney had planned to launch their final push for votes in the November 6 election. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Exelon declares alert at New Jersey reactor due to storm Monday, Oct 29, 2012 08:58 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. power company Excelon Corp on Monday declared an alert at the 615-MW Oyster Creek nuclear power reactor in New Jersey due to rising ocean water from Hurricane Sandy, a spokesman at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. An alert is the second lowest of the NRC's four emergency classifications. The NRC spokesman said if the flood waters contined to rise, it could affect the reactor's service water pumps, which are used for shut-down cooling and to cool the spent-fuel pool. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea leader's wife reported back in public after long silence Monday, Oct 29, 2012 08:27 PM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean state media reported public appearances by the wife of leader Kim Jong-un for the first time in two months on Tuesday amid mounting speculation that she had been chastised for inappropriate conduct or that she may be pregnant. Ri Sol-ju's once frequent appearances with her husband in public reported in state media had marked the starkest break by the North's leadership from the dour image of Kim's father, Kim Jong-il, who was rarely seen in public with any of his wives. Ri attended football match and a musical concert with Kim Jong-un on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan seeks exemption on U.S. sanctions on Iran: Nikkei Monday, Oct 29, 2012 07:47 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is seeking an exemption from proposed new U.S. sanctions against Iran that could effectively freeze Tehran's use of payments for oil, the Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday, citing sources. Japanese Finance Minister Koriki Jojima asked U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at an October 11 meeting in Tokyo for Washington to exempt Japanese banks, the report said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter. Geithner said the matter was being considered, the report said. Japanese government officials were not immediately available for comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Economy may skirt direct hit from Hurricane Sandy Monday, Oct 29, 2012 06:24 PM PDT  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy is shaping up to be one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States but even with the severe damage that is expected, the blow to the economy is seen as short-term. Economists say some of the impact caused by businesses closing will be offset by reconstruction efforts, and point to catastrophic storms like Katrina, which devastated New Orleans but did not deal lasting damage to the national economy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Biden, Clinton pick up campaign mantle for storm-hit Obama Monday, Oct 29, 2012 06:01 PM PDT  COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Pulled back to Washington to address the storm pounding the East Coast just days before the presidential election, President Barack Obama passed his campaign banner on Monday to Vice President Joe Biden and the man he has anointed his "Secretary of Explaining Stuff," former President Bill Clinton. Biden and Clinton joined forces at a rally in the key battleground state of Ohio, where they sought to keep alive the Obama campaign strategy of combining rallies and other personal contact with a push for early voting by Democrats ahead of the November 6 election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Romney takes "feel-your-pain" tone as Sandy slams East Coast Monday, Oct 29, 2012 05:16 PM PDT  DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was about to go on stage in Ohio on Monday when he decided to abruptly shift the tone of his campaign given the potentially lethal impact of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast. With the storm bearing down, Romney canceled campaign events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Wisconsin, Iowa and Florida. Running mate Paul Ryan and Romney's wife, Ann, also stepped back from campaigning. Romney instead adopted a feel-your-pain stance, taking time to talk up Americans' hardy can-do spirit in the face of uncertain odds. ... Full Story | Top |
| Storm Sandy makes landfall on New Jersey coast: U.S. National Hurricane Center Monday, Oct 29, 2012 05:13 PM PDT (Reuters) - Massive storm Sandy made landfall on Monday along the coast of southern New Jersey, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Sandy was located about 5 miles southwest of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. (Reporting by Kevin Gray) Full Story | Top |
| Crew rescued from HMS Bounty as hurricane rages; captain missing Monday, Oct 29, 2012 05:11 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members who abandoned the replica tall ship HMS Bounty off North Carolina in rough seas caused by Hurricane Sandy, using helicopters on Monday to pluck them from life rafts. A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter later recovered crew member Claudene Christian, 42, who was described as unresponsive, while continuing to search for the 63-year-old captain of the ship, which sank in 18-foot seas. Christian taken to Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where a hospital spokesman said she was in "critical condition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Storm Sandy about to make landfall on New Jersey coast: U.S. National Hurricane Center Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:43 PM PDT (Reuters) - Massive storm Sandy is on the verge of making landfall along the south New Jersey coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday. Sandy, a huge storm system, is now considered a "post-tropical cyclone," meaning it still has hurricane-force winds but lost the characteristics of a tropical storm. (Reporting by Kevin Gray; editing Christopher Wilson) Full Story | Top |
| Senegal's Sall replaces interior, foreign ministers in reshuffle Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:27 PM PDT  DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese President Macky Sall has fired his interior and foreign ministers in his first cabinet reshuffle since taking office six months ago, the government announced on state television late on Monday. Interior Minister Mbaye Ndiaye had come under heavy criticism for his handling of a riot by supporters of a jailed religious leader who smashed car windows, set fire to buses, and ransacked shops in the capital Dakar last week. He was replaced by retired general Pathe Seck. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Yorkers initially calm in face of Sandy, then worries set in Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:24 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - As Hurricane Sandy aimed straight for them, promising to hammer the place they live with lashing winds and extensive flooding, New Yorkers seemed to be all about nonchalance on Monday morning - an attitude that didn't last into the afternoon. Throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, few store owners had even bothered to board up their buildings. There was little taping of windows or buying of sump pumps. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Romney curtail campaign events in face of hurricane Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:09 PM PDT  WASHINGTON/DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) - President Barack Obama suspended campaigning and returned to Washington on Monday to oversee the response to Hurricane Sandy, while his Republican rival Mitt Romney curtailed political events to show respect for the storm's potential victims. As the storm cuts into the final week of campaigning in an especially close race for the White House, both men are trying to avoid coming across as overtly political while millions of people are imperiled by Sandy's fierce winds and driving rain. ... Full Story | Top |
| Crew rescued from HMS Bounty in path of hurricane; captain missing Monday, Oct 29, 2012 04:07 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 14 of the 16 crew members who abandoned the replica tall ship HMS Bounty off North Carolina in rough seas caused by Hurricane Sandy, using helicopters on Monday to pluck them from life rafts, the Coast Guard said. The crew of a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter later recovered the body of an "unresponsive" woman, identified as Claudene Christian, 42, while continuing to search for the 63-year-old captain of the ship, which sank in 18-foot seas. ... Full Story | Top |
| Markets shut on Tuesday, focus shifts to Wednesday Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:52 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy will close stock markets for a second day on Tuesday, as Wall Street turned its attention to whether markets would be able to resume functioning on the month's final trading day on Wednesday. Stock markets closed on Monday due to weather for the first time in 27 years. Bond markets closed early, at noon, as winds and waves from Hurricane Sandy lashed the Eastern seaboard. NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group , the largest two U.S. exchange operators, said they intend to reopen Wednesday, conditions permitting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clinton presses Algeria on Mali intervention plan Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:40 PM PDT  ALGIERS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed regional power Algeria on Monday to support an Africa-led military intervention in northern Mali, a senior U.S. official said. Clinton's one-day visit comes amid mounting international pressure on Algeria over the crisis in Mali, where a March military coup was followed by a revolt that has seen Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants, some linked to al Qaeda, seize control of the northern two-thirds of the country. The senior U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| California ballot measures draw free-spending billionaires Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:37 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A handful of individual super-donors, business groups and unions have poured more than $350 million into California ballot initiatives ahead of the November 6 election, underscoring the extent to which the state's system of "direct democracy" has morphed into a big-money battleground. Some of the spending is directly tied to the financial interests of the donors. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lithuania heads for political deadlock after election Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:30 PM PDT  VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuania headed for political deadlock after the coalition winners of a weekend election said they would push ahead with talks to form a government despite a presidential veto of one of their parties over allegations of voter fraud. The Social Democratic party, which with its allies snatched victory on Sunday in a vote against years of austerity, rejected any change in the make-up of the coalition despite President Dalia Grybauskaite saying one of the three parties was unfit to govern because of the fraud allegations. "We have not changed our opinion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Massachusetts Senate debate canceled due to Hurricane Sandy Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:25 PM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy prompted Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren to scrap plans for their fourth and final debate scheduled for Tuesday night. Their campaigns cited concerns about the damage to Massachusetts from the hurricane, which brought heavy rains and driving winds to the state on Monday and was expected to make landfall over southern New Jersey on Monday evening. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida judge rejects gag motion in Trayvon Martin shooting case Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:24 PM PDT  ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida judge on Monday rejected an attempt by prosecutors to silence lawyers for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain charged with murdering unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin. Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda had requested a gag order contending that the lawyers' press conferences and Internet posts would taint the potential jury pool. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sandy heads toward Cape May, New Jersey: National Hurricane Center Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:03 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy is moving toward Cape May, New Jersey, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday. The center of the storm was 55 miles east-southeast of Cape May, New Jersey, and its center was expected to reach the coast of southern New Jersey within the next three to five hours, the center said in an advisory at 4 P.M. EDT (200 GMT) (Reporting by Kevin Gray) Full Story | Top |
| Sicilian vote, Berlusconi threat add to Italy uncertainty Monday, Oct 29, 2012 03:01 PM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's struggling party suffered a heavy defeat on Monday as voters turned against the center-right in its former stronghold of Sicily, five months before national parliamentary elections. The center-left candidate Renato Crocetta, an openly gay anti-mafia campaigner, was set to be the next regional governor while there were strong gains for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sandy's winds topple top of construction crane in New York Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:59 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City evacuated neighbors of a partially built, 90-story apartment building after the top of a construction crane collapsed in high winds, prompting fears the entire rig could crash to the ground. With the city bracing for Hurricane Sandy, due to make landfall in southern New Jersey later on Monday, the upper arm of the crane dangled over the street near Central Park from what should eventually become the city's tallest residential building. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada says tougher rules not yet felt fully in housing market Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:44 PM PDT OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday that it is too early to assess the impact on the heated housing market or tighter mortgage rules introduced earlier this year, even though there have been some signs of cooling. "The full impact has not been felt yet," Flaherty told CTV Television in an interview. He said there were several factors affecting the property market, including Canadian consumers heeding the repeated warnings by policy makers not to take on too much debt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Court rules against Polish rocker who tore up Bible Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:41 PM PDT  WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's Supreme Court opened the way on Monday for a blasphemy verdict against a rock musician who tore up a Bible on stage, a case that has pitted deep Catholic traditions against a new desire for free expression. Adam Darski, front man with a heavy metal group named Behemoth, ripped up a copy of the Christian holy book during a concert in 2007, called it deceitful and described the Roman Catholic church as "a criminal sect". ... Full Story | Top |
| Anti-corruption crusader rattles India's political class Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:39 PM PDT  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - From a shabby house in one of New Delhi's grimmest suburbs, a mild-mannered former tax official has launched a salvo of accusations of corruption involving some of India's most powerful people, rocking the political establishment. In quick succession, Arvind Kejriwal has publicly leveled charges of shady dealings against the son-in-law of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, the outgoing law minister and the leader of the main opposition party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hurricane Sandy on verge of New Jersey landfall Monday, Oct 29, 2012 02:36 PM PDT NEW YORK/REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy, one of the biggest storms ever to hit the United States, lashed the densely populated East Coast on Monday, shutting down transportation, forcing evacuations in flood-prone areas and interrupting the presidential campaign. Fierce winds and flooding racked hundreds of miles of Atlantic coastline and heavy snows were forecast farther inland at higher elevations as the center of the storm moves ashore along the coast of southern New Jersey or Delaware on Monday evening. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment