Dec
12

California governor treated for early-stage prostate cancer

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) – California Governor Jerry Brown is undergoing treatment for early-stage prostate cancer with an excellent prognosis for recovery, and the 74-year-old Democrat is expected to keep up a full work schedule, his office said on Wednesday.“Fortunately, this is early-stage localized prostate cancer, which is being treated with a short course of conventional radiotherapy,” Dr. Eric...
Read More..

Fed ties rates to jobs recovery, adds to stimulus

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve, announcing a new round of monetary stimulus, took the unprecedented step on Wednesday of indicating interest rates would remain near zero until unemployment falls to at least 6.5 percent.It was the latest in a series of unorthodox measures taken by central banks around the world to battle erratic, sub-par recoveries from the financial crisis and recession...
Read More..
Dec
11

Corruption probe shrouds Quebec in new darkness

MONTREAL (Reuters) – Half a century ago, a new crop of Quebec leaders sparked the so-called Quiet Revolution to eradicate the “Great Darkness” – decades of corruption that kept Canada‘s French-speaking province under the dominance of one party and the Catholic church.The revolution’s reforms, including cleaning up the way lawmakers were elected and secularizing the education system, seemed to work,...
Read More..

Corruption probe shrouds Quebec in new darkness

MONTREAL (Reuters) – Half a century ago, a new crop of Quebec leaders sparked the so-called Quiet Revolution to eradicate the “Great Darkness” – decades of corruption that kept Canada‘s French-speaking province under the dominance of one party and the Catholic church.The revolution’s reforms, including cleaning up the way lawmakers were elected and secularizing the education system, seemed to work,...
Read More..

Panasonic may sell Sanyo digital camera business: source

TOKYO (Reuters) – Panasonic Corp may sell its Sanyo digital camera business to Japanese private equity fund Advantage Partners by the end of March, a source familiar with the plan said.A final decision on the sale will be made by the end of the year, the source said on condition he was not identified.Advantage Partners will pay several hundreds of millions of yen for the business, which makes digital...
Read More..

Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar dies at 92

NEW DELHI (AP) — Ravi Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over a 10-decade career, died Tuesday. He was 92.A statement on the musician’s website said he died in San Diego, near his Southern California home. The musician’s foundation issued a statement saying that...
Read More..

QLT’s experimental eye drug could be worth “hundreds of millions”

(Reuters) – Canadian eye drug developer QLT Inc’s synthetic retinoid program, an experimental treatment for some inherited eye diseases that can cause blindness, could be worth “hundreds of millions” of dollars, the company‘s chairman said.Several potential buyers have approached QLT for the program — its only remaining product after it sold its eye drug, Visudyne, to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International...
Read More..

Oil price rises on Fed stimulus hopes

BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil rose Wednesday as investors anticipated that new measures to perk up the U.S. economy will be announced at the end of the Federal Reserve‘s policy meeting.Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 8 cents to $ 85.87 per barrel at midday Bangkok time on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 23 cents to finish at $ 85.79 per barrel in New York on Tuesday....
Read More..
Dec
10

Egypt army given temporary power to arrest civilians

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamist president has given the army temporary power to arrest civilians during a constitutional referendum he is determined to push through despite the risk of bloodshed between his supporters and opponents accusing him of a power grab.Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and their critics besieging Mohamed...
Read More..

Egypt army given temporary power to arrest civilians

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamist president has given the army temporary power to arrest civilians during a constitutional referendum he is determined to push through despite the risk of bloodshed between his supporters and opponents accusing him of a power grab.Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and their critics besieging Mohamed...
Read More..