Ex-directors of Satyam win ruling in U.S. class-action suit

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge dismissed claims against seven former directors of Satyam Computer Services Ltd in shareholder lawsuits stemming from the massive fraud at the heart of India‘s largest corporate scandal.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones in New York ruled on Wednesday the lawsuits failed to allege that the ex-directors recklessly failed to discover the fraud, which came to be known as “India’s Enron.”

The lawsuits center on the revelation by Satyam’s founder and former chairman, Ramalinga Raju, that what had been India’s fourth-largest outsourcing firm had for several years inflated its revenue, income and cash balances by more than $ 1 billion.

In her decision Wednesday, Jones said the allegations primarily focused on the actions of a small group of insiders, reinforcing an inference the audit committee’s members “were themselves victims of the fraud.”

Lawyers for the directors welcomed the decision.

“It was truly unfortunate that these directors, diligent individuals of the highest integrity, were ever named as defendants,” said Irwin Warren, a lawyer for five of the seven directors involved in the case.

Gordon Atkinson, a lawyer for former board member Vinod Dham, in an email said the decision would hopefully help vindicate his client and the other outside directors, “who were themselves victims of the Satyam fraud, not perpetrators or otherwise responsible for it.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment.

Satyam shareholders began filing lawsuits in 2009 after the scandal broke.

In 2011 Satyam, now called Mahindra Satyam Ltd, and its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, agreed to pay $ 125 million and $ 25.5 million, respectively, to settle claims filed by shareholders.

That same year, Satyam and PwC agreed to pay a combined $ 17.5 million to settle claims made by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

The 2011 settlements did not include Satyam’s former directors, who continued to litigate the case that ultimately ended in Wednesday’s ruling.

In her ruling, Jones also said the investors could not file claims arising from stock purchases made on the National Stock Exchange of India, citing a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case restricting investor claims in U.S. courts involving stocks bought on overseas exchanges.

Investors had also filed claims involving Satyam American depositary shares, which were not impacted by the Supreme Court ruling.

The lead plaintiffs include Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, SKAGEN AS and Sampension KP Livsforsikring A/S.

Jones also dismissed claims brought by a former Satyam employee on behalf of employees who exercised stock options. The judge also voided claims on jurisdictional grounds against two companies owned by the Raju family – Maytas Infra Ltd. and Maytas Properties.

Adam Finkel, a lawyer for Maytas Properties, in an email said his clients were pleased with the decision.

The case is In re Satyam Computer Services Ltd. Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 09-2027.

(Reporting By Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Matt Driskill)

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GM recalls 145,628 mid-sized pickups for hood latch issue

(Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Thursday it is recalling 145,628 mid-sized pickup trucks globally as the hood could open unexpectedly due to a possible missing latch.

Of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups affected by the recall, 118,800 are in the United States, 15,264 are in Canada, 7,492 are in Mexico and the rest are exports, GM said.

GM is recalling the model year 2010 to 2012 trucks because the hood may be missing a secondary hood latch, so if the primary latch is not engaged the hood could open and block the driver’s view and increase the risk of a crash, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There are no reports of crashes or injuries related to the issue, and there are four known cases of the secondary hood latch being missing, GM said.

GM said it will notify owners and instruct them to inspect their trucks for the presence of a secondary hood latch or take the truck to a dealer for inspection. If the secondary latch is missing, a new hood will be installed, the company said.

Dealers were notified of the issue on December 18 and GM expects to begin mailing letters to owners on January 17, according to NHTSA.

(Reporting By Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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Armed robbers hit Paris Apple store

PARIS (Reuters) – Armed robbers targeted an Apple Inc store in central Paris on New Year’s Eve, taking thousands of euros (dollars) worth of goods, a police official said on Tuesday.

The robbery took place at about 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday, three hours after closing time at one of Apple‘s flagship stores behind the Paris Opera which sells products ranging from iPhones and iPads to Mac computers.

The police official declined to comment on reports the thieves walked away with about 1 million euros ($ 1.32 million) of loot, saying the company was still evaluating the loss.

Christophe Crepin from the police union UNSA told reporters four masked and armed individuals forced their way into the shop and afterwards escaped in a van.

“They were well prepared. As the majority of police were busy watching the Champs Elysees (for New Year’s Eve celebrations), the robbers took advantage of this opportunity,” he said.

($ 1 = 0.7585 euros)

(Reporting By Thierry Leveque and John Irish; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Heartwarming moments defy chill at Rose Parade

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — A couple who became husband and wife on the “Love Float,” a surprise reunion between a returning soldier and his little boy, and a grand marshal famed globally for her chimpanzee research were among the highlights of the 124th Rose Parade on Tuesday.

The parade’s spectacular 42 floral floats brightened an otherwise cloudy New Year’s morning and boosted the spirits of a chilled crowd estimated at some 700,000 spectators lining the 5-mile route.

“The only way that you’re going to experience the Rose Parade is to be here in person,” said Los Angeles resident Gineen Alcantara-Nakama, who camped out Monday night to save front row sidewalk spots.

“Growing up, I watched it on television, but it’s not the same — the smell, the atmosphere, smelling the flowers as they come down the street. And the energy. It’s like being with family all night long.”

Spectators rose to a standing ovation when Army Sgt. First Class Eric Pazz, who was riding on the Natural Balance Pet Foods float along with other service members, got off the float and walked over to his surprised wife Miriam and 4-year-old son Eric Jr., who came running out of the stands into the arms of his 32-year-old father.

Miriam Pazz had been told she had won a contest to attend the parade and did not know her husband, who is deployed in Afghanistan, would be there. A native of Clio, Mich., Pazz is a highly decorated soldier who has also served in Iraq. The family, who currently lives in Germany, climbed aboard the float for the rest of the route.

Cheers also went up for a Chesapeake, Va., couple who tied the knot aboard Farmers Insurance “Love Float.”

Gerald Sapienza and Nicole Angelillo were high school classmates who reconnected 10 years later and won the parade wedding over three other couples in a nationwide contest. They received a trip to Pasadena, a wedding gown, tuxedo, rings, marriage license fees, Rose Bowl game tickets and hair and makeup for the bride.

The parade’s theme this year was “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” named in honor of the Dr. Seuss book. It served as a fitting slogan for grand marshal British primatologist Jane Goodall, who has spent much of her life in Tanzania studying chimpanzees.

Goodall chose conservation as her message for the parade

“My dream for this New Year’s Day is for everyone to think of the places we can all go if we work together to make our world a better place,” said Goodall, 78.

“Every journey starts with a step and I am pleased to see the Tournament of Roses continue to take steps toward not only celebrating beauty and imagination, but also a cleaner environment.”

This year’s parade also saw the first-ever float entered by the Defense Department.

The $ 247,000 military float was a replica of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington to commemorate the veterans from that conflict.

The float that scooped up the parade’s grand “Sweepstakes” prize for the most beautiful floral presentation and design was “Dreaming in Paradise” by fruit and vegetable producer Dole.

According to parade rules, every inch of the floats must be covered with flowers or plant material, most of it applied by volunteers in the last weeks of December.

Besides floats, the parade also featured 23 marching bands and 21 equestrian units from around the world.

Banda El Salvador, a 200-plus member marching band and folkloric dance troupe, played sassy Latin rhythms and paid homage to their Central American country by dressing in the national colors of blue and white and shouting “Arriba El Salvador!”

The Aguiluchos band from Puebla, Mexico, earned cheers for their fancy footwork and vaquero rope tricks. Colorful dancers from Costa Rica and South Korea were other crowd pleasers.

Die-hard parade fans staked out their spots overnight or in pre-dawn hours with folding chairs, hammocks and portable barbeque grills despite frosty temperatures.

Emergency personnel received a number of cold-weather exposure calls, police department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian told City News Service.

As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, police had made a total of 22 arrests along the parade route since 6 p.m. Monday, said police Lt. Rick Aversan. All but one arrest were for suspected public intoxication. The other was for suspected possession of burglary tools that could have been used to break into cars, police said.

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“Fiscal cliff” crisis heads to resolution in Congress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A months-long battle over the U.S. “fiscal cliff” headed to a close on Tuesday as the House of Representatives moved toward final approval of a bipartisan deal meant to prevent Washington from pushing the world’s biggest economy into recession.

The Republican-controlled House was expected to back a tax hike on the top U.S. earners shortly before midnight on Tuesday, ending weeks of high-stakes budget brinkmanship that threatened to spook consumers and throw financial markets into turmoil.

Approval of the bill would be a victory for President Barack Obama, who campaigned for re-election last November on a promise to raise taxes on the wealthiest but faced stiff opposition from congressional Republicans.

Republicans had earlier considered adding hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts after the bill had already passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support. That would have triggered further partisan warfare and pushed the crisis well past a self-imposed January 1 deadline.

But party leaders abandoned the effort after determining they lacked the votes.

“We’ve gone as far as we can go and I think people are ready to bring it to a conclusion,” Republican Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia said. “We fought the fight.”

Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, a Republican, predicted the House would back the Senate bill, which also postpones for two months $ 109 billion in spending cuts on military and domestic programs set for 2013.

The bill easily cleared a procedural hurdle by a bipartisan vote of 408 to 10.

Lawmakers have struggled to find a way to head off across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that began to take effect at midnight, a legacy of earlier failed budget deals that is known as the fiscal cliff.

Strictly speaking, the United States went over the cliff in the first minutes of the New Year because Congress failed to produce legislation to halt $ 600 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled for this year.

TAX HIKES FOR WEALTHIEST

While many Republicans were uneasy with the tax hikes and wanted more spending cuts in the bill, they seemed to realize that the fiscal cliff would begin to damage the economy once financial markets and federal government offices returned to work on Wednesday. Opinion polls show the public would blame Republicans if a deal were to fall apart.

House Republicans had earlier considered adding $ 330 billion in spending cuts over 10 years to the Senate bill, which raises taxes on the wealthiest U.S. households by $ 620 billion over the same period.

But Senate Democrats refused to consider any changes to their bill, which passed 89 to 8 in a rare display of unity early Tuesday.

That measure, which passed the Senate at around 2 a.m., would raise income taxes on families earning more than $ 450,000 per year and limit the amount of deductions they can take to lower their tax bill.

Low temporary rates that have been in place for the past decade would be made permanent for less-affluent taxpayers, along with a range of targeted tax breaks put in place to fight the 2009 economic downturn.

However, workers would see up to $ 2,000 more taken out of their paychecks annually with the expiration of a temporary payroll tax cut.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the Senate bill would increase budget deficits by nearly $ 4 trillion over the coming 10 years, compared to the budget savings that would occur if the extreme measures of the cliff were to kick in.

But the bill would actually save $ 650 billion during that time period when measured against the tax and spending policies that were in effect on Monday, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an independent group that has pushed for more aggressive deficit savings.

(Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai, Thomas Ferraro and David Lawder; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)

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California’s New Laws Try to Do What Congress Couldn’t

On the eve of 2013, state officials are busy readying for tens of thousands of new laws that go into effect on the first day of the year. The nation’s most populous state, California, is  serving as a laboratory for several legislative measures, embarking on a number of policy experiments that were too controversial to be implemented on the national scale.

At the top of that list is California’s cap and trade program for greenhouse gases. Starting January 1, large power plants and industrial facilities in the state will have to either lower their emissions or be forced to buy credits at auction. The credits, called allowances, make the cost of polluting more expensive. Federal cap-and-trade legislation failed in Congress in 2009.

California is also pressing ahead with its own version of the Dream Act. The Dream Act would have granted a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants under age 30 who came to the U.S. before they were 16, finished high school, and don’t have criminal records. The legislation languished in Congress for years, and was blocked by Republicans when it came to a vote in 2010. Hoping to score points with Hispanics in the run-up to the presidential election, President Obama initiated a short-term workaround in the form of a two-year waiver program for this group. On January 1, California will go further than the federal government, by allowing these young people to receive financial aid from state universities, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Meanwhile, some Southern states continue to tighten immigration laws. Louisiana, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia will now require private employers to enroll in the federal E-Verify program, an optional online system that checks whether potential hires are eligible to work in the U.S. The laws aren’t likely to have much practical effect because the program is so easily defrauded.

California, not surprisingly, has gone in the opposite direction. Starting Jan. 1, the state will prohibit local officials from requiring employers to use E-Verify unless the federal government mandates it. Employers in California will also be hamstrung by a new consumer protection law that prohibits them from using a credit report to evaluate job candidates.

The election may be over, but a number of controversial voter ID laws will take effect on Tuesday. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, new laws requiring voters to present photo IDs will go into effect in Kansas, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas. Tennessee will require election official to identify possible non-citizens who are registered to vote and require them to present proof of citizenship at the polls.

Those troubled by the idea that states are moving in opposite directions on big questions of national policy might take some comfort in that rumor that Congress plans to debate immigration reform this spring. But if the fiscal cliff fight is any indicator, the debate promises to be a long slog, and lawmakers may end up with nothing to show for it.

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France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year’s Eve

PARIS (AP) — A New Year’s Eve tradition for some in France of torching empty, parked cars has continued.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that 1,193 vehicles were burned overnight around the country, where the stunt began in the 1990s.

There was no way to compare this figure to recent ones because the conservative government of former President Nicolas Sarkozy stopped making the numbers public while he was in office. But the rate of burned cars was apparently steady. On Dec. 31, 2009, 1,147 vehicles were burned.

For some, the decision of France’s current Socialist government to resume making public figures of New Year’s Eve’s torched cars is unwise.

Bruno Beschizza, a security chief for Sarkozy’s UMP party, said on iTele TV that publishing the numbers motivates youths to commit such crimes.

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Movers roundup: Facebook, Best Buy

Among the stock activity stories for Monday, Dec. 31, from AP Business News:

— Shares of Facebook Inc. rose after an analyst said advertising spending was picking up on the Internet social network and raised his rating on its stock.

— Shares of Best Buy Co. rose on light volume as the struggling electronics retailer closed out a rocky year.

— Shares of Duff & Phelps Corp. rose on news that the company had agreed to be acquired.

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Hillary Clinton, Hospitalized with a Blood Clot, Faces New Decisions

Yesterday evening Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was hospitalized for treatment and monitoring of a blood clot. Earlier this month, the 65 year old Secretary collapsed and hit her head while suffering from a stomach virus. At that point, she sustained a concussion. This may have contributed to the new problem, according to State Department notices. The location of her blood clot, in terms of what body part is affected, has not been disclosed.This is the Secretary and former First Lady’s second reported blood clot, or thrombosis. In a previous interview with the New York Daily News, Mrs. Clinton related an episode in 1998 when her foot became swollen and painful. It was a time when she was campaigning and frequently traveling on airplanes. Her doctors diagnosed a blood clot. “That is the most significant health scare I’ve ever had,” she told the Daily News in October, 2007.The most common kind of blood clot, a deep venous thrombosis, or DVT, tends to arise when flow slows down within a vein, typically in a person’s leg. Clots arise when platelets and fibrous proteins clump and stick to a vessel wall. This can be a normal, healthy response to trauma – whether that’s a nick upon shaving or surgical incision. In people disposed to DVT, the small clots don’t dissolve properly or may form in the absence of trauma. If a clot expands and propagates from below the knee, for example, to a more central position in the body, that’s called an embolism. Clots are most dangerous when and if they spread to arteries in the lungs, causing pulmonary embolism, or to vessels in the brain.The CDC estimates that between 300,000 and 600,000 individuals sustain DVTs and pulmonary embolism in the United States each year, and that between 60, 000 and 100,000 of those are events are lethal. Some people inherit a disposition to clotting that can be evaluated by blood tests. Clots are most common in people who’ve been immobilized, such as after surgery, or are bed-bound with illness. Dehydration compounds the risk. Coach class syndrome refers to the proclivity of some to develop clots upon long-distance travel in a cramped position.Other risk factors for DVT include some malignancies. Cancer, depending on its position, can impede blood flow from the lower body, promoting stasis in the leg veins, or otherwise interfere with clot-dissolving proteins. Some women with autoimmune conditions, like lupus and other syndromes, may be disposed to clotting in veins or arteries. Some medications pose a risk, too. Those include estrogen-containing oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy. In general, high-estrogen states dispose to pathologic blood clots. In younger women, the disposition to blood clotting can manifest during pregnancy.As far as we know, the cause of Mrs. Clinton’s blood clot is uncertain. She is in the hospital being treated with blood thinners. Usually people who have significant blood clots in a deep vein or artery take an anti-coagulant for a period of months. Until recent years, the standard treatment involved injections of heparin, or similar blood thinners, followed by Coumadin, an oral anticoagulant that requires frequent blood checks. Now, there are more options for therapy, including heparin-like agents that can be injected at home.On November 2 of this year, the FDA approved Xarelto (rivaroxaban) for treatment of deep venous thrombosis. This new drug, a pill, works by inhibiting a clotting factor called Xa. While several oral anticoagulants have received approval for prevention of clots in people undergoing surgery, and for prevention of strokes in people with disposing heart problems, Xarelto is the first in this new class of drugs that might be prescribed for treatment of DVT or pulmonary embolism.Before her recent admission to the hospital, the Secretary of State hadn’t said much about what she’ll do when she exits her official office. Popular views include that she’ll get more rest, exercise, spend time with her family, write a book and, possibly, run for President in 2016. Today, she’s presumably resting and, together with her doctors, sorting out the factors that led to her developing a significant blood clot. Good to know that she, like any other informed patient, has several treatment options to consider.Update: The U.S. State Department issued an update on Mrs. Clinton’s condition, clarifying that the Secretary of State has a blood clot in a vein near the inside of the skull, on the right side. According to their statement, she has not suffered a stroke or neurological damage. Photo: State Department’s Tumblr

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U.S. heading off ‘fiscal cliff’ despite Senate efforts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States was headed over the “fiscal cliff” – at least temporarily – at midnight on Monday as time was running out for lawmakers to back a last-minute deal between the White House and Senate leaders to avert severe tax increases and spending cuts.

After months of fruitless argument between Republicans and Democrats, the White House and Senate reached an agreement that would delay harsh spending cuts by two months, administration sources said.

The Senate might hold a rare New Year’s Eve vote on the plan worked out between Biden and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but the House of Representatives is unlikely to get around to it until Tuesday at the earliest.

That would mean Congress failed to meet its own deadline to avert the “fiscal cliff,” some $ 600 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts due to kick in on Tuesday.

The fiscal measures could push the U.S. economy into recession and roil global financial markets. But the damage would not be severe if lawmakers can at least finalize a deal in the coming days.

House approval is unsure as many of the Republicans who control the chamber complain that President Barack Obama has shown little interest in cutting government spending to try to reduce the U.S. budget deficit.

House Republicans are also likely to balk at planned tax hikes on the wealthy that were part of the agreement negotiated by Biden.

As New Year’s Day approached, members were thankful that financial markets were closed, giving them a second chance to return on Tuesday to try to blunt the worst effects of the fiscal mess.

Despite the New Year’s Eve deadline, there is no major difference whether a law is passed on Monday night, Tuesday or Wednesday. Legislation can be backdated to January 1, for instance, said law firm K&L Gates partner Mary Burke Baker, who spent decades at the Internal Revenue Service.

“This is sort of like twins and one being born before midnight and one being born after. I think the date that matters is the day president signs the legislation,” she said.

House Republicans wished each other “Happy New Year” and left the Capitol building, but their leaders told them to avoid too much New Year partying and be available for a vote on Monday night if needed.

“We were encouraged to stay close to the Capitol and in a good state of mind,” said Representative Steven LaTourette of Ohio.

The House was to convene on Tuesday at noon (1700 GMT).

(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal, and Rachelle Younglai; Writing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

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