Author Archives: Kevin

Proxy firm Glass Lewis opposes Tesla’s massive stock award to Musk

(Reuters) – Influential proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis said Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> shareholders should vote against a proposal to grant Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk performance-based stock options worth about $2.62 billion.

If Musk earned the full grant, he would own 28.3 percent of the company, although Tesla’s proxy statement showed that his ownership was expected to be lesser, Glass Lewis said in a report dated Feb. 28.

“The cost of the grant is staggering relative to executive compensation levels among public companies worldwide,” Glass Lewis said. The grant would dilute other investors and prove too costly, it added.

The proxy firm values the award at about $3.7 billion, based on a different valuation model it used.

The award is seen as an effort by Tesla to reassure investors that Musk will continue to helm the electric car maker in the long term and that his interests will align with those of Tesla stockholders, Glass Lewis said.

Some analysts have questioned whether Musk’s other interests, from space exploration to tunnel boring technology, are a distraction at what is seen as a critical time for Tesla.

Musk has touted 2018 as an important year in the Silicon Valley company’s history, highlighting plans to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan that has faced numerous production delays over the past year.

Tesla declined to comment on the Glass Lewis report.

(Reporting by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)

China boosts defense spending, rattling its neighbors’ nerves

By Christian Shepherd and Michael Martina

BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Monday unveiled its largest defense spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target this year, fuelling an ambitious military modernization program and making its neighbors nervous.

The 2018 defense budget will be 1.11 trillion yuan ($175 billion), according to a report issued at the opening of China’s annual meeting of parliament.

The defense spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China’s strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including stealth fighters, aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.

China will “advance all aspects of military training and war preparedness, and firmly and resolvedly safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests,” Premier Li Keqiang told the opening session in an address.

“Faced with profound changes in the national security environment” the absolute leadership of the military by the ruling Communist Party must be observed, and the unity between the government and the military, and the people and the military, must always be “strong as stone,” he said.

Li also said China had basically completed efforts to cut back its armed forces by 300,000, a move President Xi Jinping announced in 2015 to improve efficiency that had caused unease in the ranks.

The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the increased spending by its main strategic rival in Asia.

However, a State Department official said on condition of anonymity that “we continue to carefully monitor China’s military developments and to encourage China to exhibit greater transparency with respect to its capabilities and intentions.”

“We encourage China to use its military capabilities in a manner conducive to the maintenance of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” the official added.

U.S. President Donald Trump has proposed the largest military budget since 2011, focused on beefing up the United States’ nuclear defenses and countering the growing strength of China and Russia.

The proposal would provide the Pentagon with $617 billion and an additional $69 billion to fund ongoing wars in fiscal 2019. That is $74 billion more than in the previous fiscal year.

China’s military build-up has unnerved its neighbors, particularly because of its increasing assertiveness in territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas and over Taiwan, a self-ruled territory Beijing claims as its own.

“We would like to see China be more transparent about its defense policy, including spending and the direction of its military power,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told a regular briefing.

Taiwan’s China policy-making Mainland Affairs Council said China’s moves to raise defense spending and military drills have increased tension.

“China should take international concerns seriously, increase its defense budget’s transparency and give up its targeted military deployment towards Taiwan in order to avoid an escalation of regional tension,” it said.

The 2018 defense spending increase comes as China’s economy expanded 6.9 percent last year, the first annual growth pick-up since 2010. But China kept its 2018 economic growth target at around 6.5 percent, said Li, the same as in 2017, despite exceeding that year’s target.

Last year, defense spending was set to increase just 7 percent, to 1.044 trillion yuan ($164.60 billion), or about one-quarter of the proposed U.S. defense spending for the year. In 2016, it grew 7.6 percent.

“The pace and scale of this build-up are really dramatic. It is extremely alarming for Australia and many other countries in the region,” said Sam Roggeveen, a visiting fellow at the Strategic and Defense Studies Center of the Australian National University in Canberra.

“There is every indication that China wants to expand what it will call defense capabilities in the South China Sea. I expect eventually we will see warships and aircraft there regularly, if not based there permanently. What is unclear, however, is whether the United States will want to rise to that challenge.”

HIDDEN SPENDING

China does not provide a breakdown of its defense budget, leading neighbors and other military powers to complain that Beijing’s lack of transparency has added to regional tension.

Diplomats say China’s defense numbers probably underestimate true military spending for the People’s Liberation Army, the world’s largest armed forces, which are in the midst of an impressive modernization program overseen by Xi.

One senior Asia diplomat said before the announcement that the real rise would probably be at least double what China revealed, considering its efforts to build up the industrial military complex and deepen military-civilian integration.

“Some spending will be hidden in civilian spending,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

With worries about potential disputes with the United States in the region, China’s military had mounted what defense sources and diplomats viewed as a lobbying campaign for more spending.

In an article on its website, China’s Defense Ministry cited Chen Zhou, a researcher at the Academy of Military Science, as saying the spending increase was “reasonable” and “sustainable” and that there were no “hidden military funds.”

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said on Sunday that China’s “moderate” defense spending rises in the past few years were less than for other major countries and would not threaten anyone.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd, Michael Martina, and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Colin Packham in SYDNEY, Kaneko Kaori in TOKYO, Yimou Lee in TAIPEI and David Brunnstrom and Idrees Ali in WASHINGTON; Editing by Kim Coghill, Nick Macfie and Richard Chang)

Aid reaches Ghouta but retreats after shelling; Syria presses assault

By Angus McDowall and Stephanie Nebehay

BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) – Aid trucks reached Syria’s eastern Ghouta region on Monday for the first time since the start of one of the war’s deadliest assaults, but the government stripped some medical supplies from the convoy and pressed on with its air and ground assault.

The convoy of more than 40 trucks pulled out of Douma in darkness after shelling on the town, without fully unloading supplies during a nine-hour stay. All staff were safe and heading back to the capital Damascus, aid officials said.

The Russian-backed Syrian army has captured more than a third of the eastern Ghouta in recent days, threatening to slice the last major rebel-held area near Damascus in two, despite Western accusations it has violated a ceasefire.

The United Nations says 400,000 people are trapped inside the besieged enclave, and were already running out of food and medical supplies before the assault began with intense air strikes two weeks ago.

“The team is safe, but given the security situation a decision was taken to go back for now. They off-loaded as much as possible given the current situation on the ground,” spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in Geneva.

Another aid source told Reuters that 10 trucks left the town “fully sealed”, while four more had been partially unloaded.

Hours earlier, a senior U.N. official accompanying the convoy said he was “not happy” to hear loud shelling near the crossing point into eastern Ghouta despite an agreement that the aid would be delivered in safety.

“We need to be assured that we will be able to deliver the humanitarian assistance under good conditions,” Ali al-Za’tari told Reuters at the crossing point.

A World Health Organization official said the government had ordered 70 percent of medical supplies to be stripped out of the convoy, preventing trauma kits, surgical kits, insulin and other vital material from reaching the area. The ICRC confirmed some medical equipment had been blocked but gave no details.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said strikes targeted frontlines near the town of Harasta and the villages of Beit Sawa and Hosh al-Ashari. The monitor later said 80 were killed and more than 300 wounded in the highest toll in one day since the U.N. Security Council resolution was adopted 10 days ago.

A military media unit run by the government’s ally Hezbollah reported that the Syrian army had taken the village of al-Mohammadiyeh, located on the southeastern corner of the enclave.

President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday his forces would continue the push into eastern Ghouta, a densely populated area of farmland and towns just outside Damascus which government forces have encircled since 2013.

Many civilian residents have fled from the frontlines into the town of Douma.

Assad and his allies regard the rebel groups that hold eastern Ghouta as terrorists, and say a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a country-wide ceasefire does not apply to operations against them.

A week ago Russia unilaterally announced five-hour daily pauses in the fighting, but clashes have continued during those hours and Western countries dismissed it as inadequate.

PATTERN

The fighting in eastern Ghouta follows a pattern used in other areas recaptured by the government since Russia entered the war on Assad’s side in 2015, with sieges, bombardment and ground offensives combined with an offer to let civilians and fighters who surrender escape through “humanitarian corridors”.

For the rebels fighting to oust Assad, the loss of eastern Ghouta would mark their heaviest defeat since the battle of Aleppo in late 2016 and end their ability to target the capital. Rebel shelling on Damascus has killed dozens of people during the last two weeks, state-run media has said.

The Observatory said government forces had captured a third of the area in their advance from the east. Syrian state television on Monday said the army had made major advances, seizing 40 percent of the area previously held by the rebels.

It broadcast live from several captured villages, showing collapsed concrete buildings, rubble-strewn streets, bullet-pocked walls and smoke rising above fields in the distance.

Monday’s convoy carrying aid was the first to reach the besieged area since Feb. 14 and only the second since the start of 2018.

Za’tari said the shipment had been scaled back from providing food for 70,000 people to providing for 27,500. The United Nations says Syria has agreed to allow in the rest of the food for the full 70,000 in a second convoy in three days.

Marwa Awad, spokeswoman for the U.N.’s World Food Program, said it had delivered supplies from the trucks after meeting local councils, including food and nutritional assistance.

The two-week assault has brought footage of children being carried out of rubble and hospitals being bombed to viewers around the world once again. Since the fall of Aleppo more than a year ago, government forces had focused their efforts mainly on Islamic State-held territory in the more remote east of the country, but they have now renewed their campaign to crush anti-Assad rebels in the heavily-populated west.

Moscow and Damascus deny they are killing large numbers of civilians. Assad has dismissed Western statements about the humanitarian situation in eastern Ghouta as “a ridiculous lie”.

(Additional reporting By Dalhia Nehme in Beirut, Maria Kiselyova in Moscow, and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Peter Graff, William Maclean)

South Korea meet North Korean leader Kim for talks about talks

By Christine Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean delegation met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Monday, a South Korean official said, after arriving in the North on a visit aimed at encouraging North Korea and the United States to talk.

Both North Korea and the United States have expressed a willingness to hold talks, but the U.S. position has been that they must be aimed at North Korea’s denuclearization, something Pyongyang has rejected.

North Korea, which has been developing nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the United States, has vowed never to give up what it calls an essential deterrent against U.S. hostility.

Pyongyang is also concerned about joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, which it sees as preparations for war.

South Korean officials have said the drills will restart next month as planned, after being postponed for the Winter Olympics held last month in South Korea.

The Pentagon nevertheless said it was “cautiously optimistic” about the North-South talks, which resumed in January.

“Our job is to make sure that we maintain those military operations to defend the Korean peninsula and we will (stand) shoulder to shoulder with our South Korean partners,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning told reporters.

“But we are cautiously optimistic and obviously we encourage the dialogue to take place,” Manning added.

The 10-member South Korean delegation, led by National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, was greeted by North Korean officials after landing in Pyongyang, said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for South Korea’s presidential office.

The welcoming delegation included Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, and Kim Yong Chol, who heads the United Front Department, the North Korean office responsible for handling inter-Korean affairs. Both visited South Korea during the Olympics.

The South Korean delegation was later invited to join Kim Jong Un for dinner, the South Korean spokesman added.

The officials are the most senior South Koreans to meet Kim Jong Un since he took power in late 2011.

“We will deliver President Moon Jae-in’s wish to bring about denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and permanent peace by extending the goodwill and better inter-Korean relations created by the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics,” Chung said before heading to North Korea.

Chung’s team includes National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon and Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung.

Seoul hopes the visit will create “a positive atmosphere”, Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said.

Chung and Suh are due to fly to Washington later in the week to brief U.S. officials on their discussions in the North.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department said there had been no change in the U.S. position.

“We are willing to engage North Korea to emphasize our position that the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is non-negotiable.”

Thawing relations between the Koreas have prompted speculation about direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang despite months of tension and bellicose insults between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un that fueled fears of war.

North Korea has not carried out any weapons tests since late November, when it tested its largest intercontinental ballistic missile. Inter-Korean talks began after Kim Jong Un said in his New Year’s address that he wanted to engage the South.

North Korea later sent athletes to the Olympics, as well as a high-ranking delegation that included Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong.

Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South and its U.S. ally have remained technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea regularly threatens to destroy South Korea and the United States, which has 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the Korean War.

North Korea’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reiterated last month that the country would never give up its nuclear weapons, in spite of international pressure.

“Neither sanctions nor provocations nor threats can ever undermine our position of a nuclear weapons state,” it said.

“Hoping that the DPRK would abandon its nuclear programs is as foolish an act as trying to wish seas to get dried up,” it said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

(Reporting by Christine Kim and Hyonhee Shin in Seoul; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and James Dalgleish)

Fight breaks out ahead of Michigan speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer

By Steve Friess

EAST LANSING, Mich (Reuters) – At least half a dozen people were arrested on Monday after supporters of Richard Spencer clashed with protesters outside a Michigan college campus where the avowed white nationalist was scheduled to speak.

Fights broke out on a road leading to Michigan State University in East Lansing as several dozen backers of Spencer walked up a road leading to the campus, where several hundred demonstrators had gathered, surrounding an armored police vehicle.

Police quickly stepped in to break up the altercation, handcuffing six or seven people.

It was not immediately clear if Spencer was already on the campus or if the speech would go forward as planned.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors U.S. hate groups, lists Spencer as “a radical white separatist whose goal is the establishment of a white ethno-state in North America.”

An outspoken supporter of Trump during the 2016 campaign, Spencer rose from relative obscurity after widely circulated videos showed some Trump supporters giving Nazi-style salutes to Spencer during a gathering in Washington to celebrate the Republican candidate’s win. Trump condemned the meeting.

In October, protests broke out as Spencer gave a speech at the University of Florida in Gainsville.

Two months earlier, a 20-year-old man said by law enforcement to harbor Nazi sympathies drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters after white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a 32-year-old woman.

(Reporting by Steve Friess in East Lansing, Mich.; writing by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

U.S. security panel deals major blow to Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm

U.S. security panel deals major blow to Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm

By Koh Gui Qing and Sonam Rai

(Reuters) – The U.S. government on Sunday ordered Qualcomm Inc <QCOM.O> to delay its March 6 shareholder meeting, a highly unusual request that will allow time for a national security review of the deal, but that also cast new doubt on Singapore-based Broadcom Ltd’s <AVGO.O> $117-billion bid for its U.S. semiconductor peer.

The intervention highlights growing U.S. concerns about safeguarding semiconductor technology. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reviews deals for potential national security concerns, does not typically review mergers before companies have clinched an agreement.

CFIUS asked Qualcomm to postpone its shareholder meeting, that had been scheduled for Tuesday, by 30 days. Reuters had reported last week that CFIUS had begun looking at Broadcom’s bid amid growing pressure from politicians, including senior Republican Senator John Cornyn.

“This measure will afford CFIUS the ability to investigate fully Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of Qualcomm,” the U.S. Department of Treasury, which oversees CFIUS, said in a statement.

As the semiconductor industry is locked in a race to develop chips that power so-called 5G wireless technology, allowing the transmission of data at faster speeds, San Diego-based Qualcomm has emerged as one of the biggest competitors to Chinese companies vying for market share in the sector, such as Huawei Technologies Co [HWT.UL], making it a prized asset.

A source familiar with CFIUS thinking said that if the deal was completed, the U.S. military was concerned that within ten years, “there would essentially be a dominant player in all of these technologies and that’s essentially Huawei, and then the American carriers would have no choice. They would just have to buy Huawei (equipment).”

Additionally, U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said members of Congress and Federal Communications Commission officials are concerned Broadcom could sell part of Qualcomm to a Chinese firm, a move that could hurt the U.S. effort to develop 5G wireless technology because of the small existing number of suppliers that build the hardware.

A CFIUS review in itself does not mean a deal will be halted. CFIUS, under former President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump, has soured on high-tech deals, particularly involving semiconductors, or involving sensitive information about American citizens.

Part of the CFIUS’ current concern, which is echoed in a letter Cornyn sent to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, could lie in the fact that Broadcom has failed to strike a deal with Qualcomm and has resorted to what is essentially a hostile takeover by putting forward a slate of six Broadcom nominees for Qualcomm’s 11-member board.

Broadcom shares fell 1.3 percent in late trading, while Qualcomm fell 0.8 percent.

Broadcom has struggled to complete its proposed deal to buy Qualcomm as the latter has resisted, citing several concerns including the price offered and potential antitrust hurdles.

Broadcom said on Monday that CFIUS’ intervention was the result of secret moves made by Qualcomm on Jan. 29 to seek an investigation into the offer, which Qualcomm’s board has said significantly undervalues the company.

But Qualcomm, in a press statement, said “Broadcom’s claims that the CFIUS inquiry was a surprise to them has no basis in fact” and that Broadcom had been interacting with CFIUS “for weeks.”

Before Broadcom disclosed its buyout offer for Qualcomm in November, U.S. President Donald Trump himself announced Broadcom’s plan to shift its headquarters back to the United States after a White House meeting with Chief Executive Hock Tan.

Trump praised the move at the time, calling Broadcom “one of the really great, great companies.”

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton said on Monday he backed the panel’s decision to delay a Qualcomm shareholder meeting, saying “Qualcomm’s work is too important to our national security to let it fall into the hands of a foreign company.”

MOVING BACK TO THE U.S.

Broadcom said on Monday it is run by a board and senior management team consisting almost entirely of Americans and is largely owned by the same U.S. institutional investors that own Qualcomm.

“Broadcom continues to pursue the redomiciliation process as expeditiously as possible,” Broadcom said. “Upon completion of the redomiciliation, Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of Qualcomm will not be a CFIUS covered transaction.”

Qualcomm, which has told shareholders it is open to the merger at the right price and terms, had said last week it had no intention of delaying the annual shareholder meeting.

“Qualcomm now has their excuse to postpone their critical vote, giving them some breathing room to work on its acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV <NXPI.O>, attempt to make progress on their Apple Inc <AAPL.O> licensing issues, and attempt to build a stronger case for shareholders,” said Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon.

Qualcomm on Monday extended its $44 billion tender offer for NXP to March 9, as it awaits clearance from China’s MOFCOM, the only regulator globally required to approve the deal that has yet to do so.

Qualcomm is also in a legal battle with Apple over licensing and allegations that it has not delivered on promised rebates – seen by analysts as an effort by Apple to undermine Qualcomm’s strong position in mobile chips.

(Reporting by Sonam Rai and Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Greg Roumeliotis and Koh Gui Qing in New York; David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Patrick Graham and Nick Zieminski)

Trump’s call for more gun regulation boosts firearm stocks

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Shares of gunmakers American Outdoor Brands and Sturm Ruger & Company rallied on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump advocated tightening background checks for guns in response to last week’s high school massacre in Florida.

The Republican president’s tweets and comments were seen as increasing the possibility of greater curbs on gun ownership, fueling expectation that people might seek to stock up on guns in advance of any changes.

Both of those sentiments had dipped since Trump was elected in November 2016 – illustrating a paradox under which a president viewed as more favorable to gun ownership can depress gun sales and shares in gunmakers.

“What Trump has been saying is a complete surprise,” said Aegis Capital analyst Rommel Dionisio, who covers firearms makers. “The prevailing wisdom for Republican presidents is not to be pro-gun control.”

Under Democratic President Barack Obama, firearm sales hit record levels as people stocked up, thinking the government might tighten gun control laws. Mass shootings that took place during Obama’s eight years in office from 2009 bolstered that expectation even more, often sending shares of gunmakers surging in the immediate aftermath of such events. (http://reut.rs/2EIW0RP)

Sales and stock prices of firearms makers slumped after Trump’s unexpected election victory was seen as reducing prospects for curbs on gun ownership. Sturm Ruger’s stock has fallen 22 percent since the 2016 election, and American Outdoor Brands has lost 63 percent of its value.

But tweets and comments by Trump on Wednesday and Thursday that he supported raising the age limit for purchases of some kinds of guns, as well as other measures, turned up the heat on the gun control debate, and boosted gunmakers’ shares.

Sturm Ruger rose 3.6 percent, while American Outdoor Brands jumped as much as 7.9 percent before ending with an increase of 0.6 percent.

Nevertheless, Trump took a pro-gun stance in advocating arming some schoolteachers to prevent school shootings. Also fueling the gun control debate, National Rifle Association chief executive Wayne LaPierre in a speech on Thursday described control advocates as elites aiming to “eradicate all personal freedoms.”

Reflecting the gun industry slump under Trump, Sturm Ruger reported a 27 percent fall in revenue for the December quarter on Wednesday.

Ruger laid off 50 workers in January, and in its quarterly report it said it was slashing its capital expenditures plan for 2018 by more than half, suggesting the Southport, Connecticut, company expects its business to remain difficult.

Seventeen students and staff members were killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a massacre that has fueled unprecedented youth-led protests in cities across the country. Many of the teens and their parents are calling for greater gun control.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Frances Kerry and Jonathan Oatis)

Russian curling medalist guilty of doping violation, says CAS

PYEONGCHANG/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Olympic curler Alexander Krushelnitsky has been found guilty of an anti-doping violation after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Thursday.

CAS said the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) mixed doubles curling team, who won bronze at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, had been disqualified from the competition over the violation.

Krushelnitsky, who won the medal with his wife, had accepted a provisional suspension beyond the period of the Games, CAS said, adding that the athlete had “reserved his rights to seek the elimination or reduction of any period of ineligibility” following the Games.

The announcement came hours after CAS canceled the hearing into the case at the request of the International Olympic Committee, the World Curling Federation and Krushelnitsky himself.

Dmitry Svishchev, president of Russia’s curling federation, said he hoped giving up the medal was a temporary measure.

“Unfortunately we have to part with the Olympic bronze medal,” he said in a statement on the federation’s website. “I really hope and believe that this is temporary.”

The doping case has come at a delicate time for Russia, which has been accused of running a state-backed, systematic doping program for years, an allegation Moscow denies.

Russians are competing at Pyeongchang as neutral athletes, and Russia had been hoping that a clean record at the Games would enable it to return to full Olympic status.

Krushelnitsky and his wife Anastasia Bryzgalova have agreed to surrender their medals, according to the Russian curling federation.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said on Wednesday he hoped the Pyeongchang doping case would not impact the IOC’s deliberations on whether to let Russia regain full Olympic status.

The IOC has said it might allow the Russians to march with the country’s flag and in national uniform at the closing ceremony of the Games on Sunday, provided they have complied with its code of conduct on neutrality.

The code requires compliance with IOC anti-doping rules.

The Russian Olympic delegation has said it could not explain how meldonium had ended up in Krushelnitsky’s body and pledged to investigate.

(Editing by Toby Davis/Peter Rutherford)

Fed’s Kaplan says three rate hikes in 2018 ‘reasonable’

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan said on Thursday that three U.S. interest-rate increases in 2018 is a “reasonable” base case, pushing back against the notion, floated by some on Wall Street, that more rate hikes may be needed to manage a potential rise in inflation.

With the Fed likely to overshoot on its goal of full employment, and with progress toward the Fed’s 2-percent inflation goal expected this year, the U.S. central bank should move patiently, gradually and deliberately to raise rates, Kaplan told the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Neither recent stock-market volatility, nor recent economic data, has changed that outlook, Kaplan said, adding that he is watching market swings to make sure they do not create tighter financial conditions that could slow economic growth.

So far, though, he has not seen that.

“It is wise then to take back some of this accommodation, some of this stimulus,” he said. The recent $1.5 trillion Trump tax cut may deliver “too much of a good thing” in terms of fiscal stimulus to an economy already far along in the business cycle, he said.

And while the U.S. economy will earn a grade of “B+” or “A-” this year in his view, it will get lower marks next year as the short-term boost from the fiscal stimulus fades, leaving the U.S. with a higher level of debt to gross domestic product (GDP).

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; editing by Diane Craft)

Three executions planned Thursday in three U.S. States

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A trio of inmates are scheduled to be executed on Thursday, one each in Alabama, Florida and Texas, raising the possibility that U.S. prison authorities will carry out three death sentences on the same day for the first time since 2010.

The circumstances behind each case could halt any of the executions, including the one in Texas, where the convict received an unprecedented clemency recommendation. The state has conducted all three of this year’s U.S. executions.

In Florida, questions were raised about holding an execution based on a majority, not unanimous, jury decision. In Alabama, lawyers have said the death row inmate is too ill to be executed.

On Tuesday, the Texas parole board in a unanimous decision recommended clemency for Thomas Whitaker, 38, based on his father’s request.

The younger Whitaker was convicted of masterminding a 2003 plot against his family in which his mother Tricia, 51, and brother Kevin, 19, were killed. His father, Kent, was shot in the chest and survived.

A devout Christian and retired executive, Kent Whitaker said he had forgiven his son and that his family did not want him to be executed. In a clemency petition, the father said if the death penalty were implemented, it would make his pain worse.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott has the final say. A few hours ahead of the execution, scheduled for 6 p.m. (0000 GMT), he had not yet announced if he planned to commute the sentence to life in prison.

Thomas Whitaker has been moved to a holding cell near the state’s death chamber in Huntsville and his father plans to witness the execution if it goes forward, family lawyer Keith Hampton said.

Alabama plans to execute Doyle Hamm, 61, at 6 p.m. (0000 GMT) for the 1987 murder of motel clerk Patrick Cunningham.

Hamm’s lawyers have said he has terminal cancer, adding that years of intravenous drug use and untreated lymphoma had made his veins unstable for a lethal injection.

A court-appointed doctor examined Hamm on Feb. 15 and found he had usable veins, according to court filings.

Florida plans to execute Eric Branch, 47, for the 1993 murder of University of West Florida student Susan Morris.

Lawyers for Branch appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing arguments including that the court previously blocked a Florida provision that allows executions for a non-unanimous jury decision and should do so again in this case.

The last time three executions were held on the same day was in January 2010 in Louisiana, Ohio and Texas, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta and Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Grant McCool and Peter Cooney)