TOP NEWS U.S. Marines tap female executives for advice on growing women in ranks

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last spring, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos did not even know who Sheryl Sandberg was.

Six months later he is good friends with Sandberg, the chief operating officer of social media company Facebook Inc (FB.O), a top advocate for empowering women to take on leadership roles.

Amos, who retired Friday after 44 years of service, met Sandberg in March, and has since hosted her and other Facebook executives at several events aimed at brainstorming ways to boost the number of female Marines from the current 7.5 percent.

"The relationship is very strong. I think the world of her. It's based on mutual respect for leadership and character development," the four-star general and former pilot told Reuters at his Pentagon office days before his retirement.

Women account for about 15 percent of the entire active duty U.S. military. Their representation in the Marine Corps has been lower than the other services, but that may change as more front-line combat jobs are opened to women, beginning in 2016.

The Pentagon has also launched a fresh drive to end sexual assault in the military and review its alcohol policy, amid a series of embarrassing incidents in which officers have been accused of tolerating and even encouraging sexual misconduct.

Amos began reaching out to female executives this spring as the Marine Corps grappled with decisions about opening ground combat roles to women, stamping out sexual assaults, and how the smallest military service could attract and retain more women.

He first met with Marillyn Hewson, chief executive of Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), and then Linda Hudson, the former CEO of the U.S. unit of Britain's BAE Systems Plc (BAES.L), two executives who worked their way up the ladder in the male-dominated weapons industry.

"They helped me see what I'm not seeing, simply because I'm a guy, and as my wife tells me, an old, white guy," Amos said.

Amos also went to Bentonville, Arkansas to meet with Gisel Ruiz, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), and other Wal-Mart executives.

When they asked him if he knew about Sandberg and her bestselling book "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead," Amos says, "I had to display my 'cave man' prowess and say no."

But he quickly caught up by reading the book, watching Sandberg's 2010 famous talk to the TED group about women in leadership, and finally meeting with her at Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Since then, Sandberg has twice visited the Marines' officer candidate school to meet with future leaders. Amos also asked all 15 three-star generals in the Marines, all male, to read Sandberg's book ahead of a meeting with her at the Pentagon.

"She hit it out of the park," he said, as he described the impact of Sandberg's firsthand account of her experiences as one of the very few women at the C-level of business.

Facebook declined to comment.

Amos said the outreach to corporate leaders has prompted new discussions among Marine Corps officials about how to encourage women stay in the military even when they decide to have children, and other ways to promote leadership among women.

Several months ago, he convinced a female major who was thinking of quitting to stay in the service by helping her get a transfer together with her husband, who is also a Marine.

"It was a small thing, but it's important," he said, noting that a dearth of young women officers was reducing the size of the "bench" for future leaders.

The Marine Corps has also set up a special office to focus on "talent management" and coordinate a range of diversity efforts under way across the service. It is also reviewing standards for a wide range of jobs as it prepares to comply with the Pentagon's 2013 decision to open combat roles to women.

Bringing in Sandberg has generated important discussions among Marines, one female officer told Reuters.

"You'd think our sectors would be very different, but we face a lot of the same challenges. Sheryl told us that when she looks across her company, she looks five lines deep and there is not a woman in sight."

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Ros Krasny and Meredith Mazzilli)

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TOP NEWS Microsoft plans to launch smartwatch within weeks: Forbes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) is preparing to launch a smartwatch within the next few weeks that will passively track a user's heart rate and work across different mobile platforms, Forbes reported on Sunday.



The wearable gadget's battery life will exceed two days of regular use, Forbes reported, citing unnamed sources close to the project. It will arrive in stores soon after being unveiled in an effort to capture the holiday season, Forbes reported.



Microsoft declined to comment.



Apple Inc (AAPL.O) unveiled a smartwatch on Sept. 9 that will combine health and fitness tracking with communications and will go on sale in early 2015, while Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS) unveiled its Galaxy Gear smartwatch in September 2013.



(Reporting by Sam Forgione, additional reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Nick Zieminski)





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RELIGIOUS NEWS: Kerry in Indonesia seeking Asian support against Islamic state

By David Brunnstrom

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Indonesia for Joko Widodo's presidential inauguration on Monday, seeking more help from Southeast Asian leaders in the U.S.-led effort against Islamic State in the Middle East.

In a one-day stop in Jakarta, capital of a country with the world's largest Muslim population, Kerry plans bilateral meetings with Widodo, the prime ministers of neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, the Sultan of Brunei, Australia's prime minister and the foreign minister of the Philippines.

Senior officials of the U.S. State Department said the talks would touch on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where China's increasing assertiveness is a worry to the United States and its Asian allies and partners, the fight to contain Ebola, and a Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership under negotiation.

But the priority would be to seek more help in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the officials, who declined to be identified, told reporters on Kerry's flight to Jakarta.

The discussions would cover ways to block Islamic State recruitment of fighters from Southeast Asia, preventing the return of hardened fighters to the region, and blocking militant financing, one of the officials said.

"The secretary will talk through areas where we believe and hope individual countries can do more," he said.

While Indonesian crackdowns after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, and an attack on the holiday island of Bali the following year, have weakened and dispersed militants at home, a growing number of them have left the country, and Malaysia, to join Islamic State in the Middle East.

A second U.S. official said Kerry would urge Widodo to do more to freeze the assets of militants in line with U.N. Financial Action Task Force requirements.

"They've made some progress on that," he said. "The hope is that they will make more and it's part of an ongoing effort ...to encourage the Indonesians to do all they need to do to meet their obligations under the U.N."

'ACTIVE IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS'

Kerry will also urge Widodo to maintain the active role in regional foreign policy pursued by the previous Indonesian administration, amid concern that the new president may be more inward-looking given his preoccupation with domestic agendas.

"As the world's fourth largest country, the third largest democracy and largest Muslim majority nation, (Indonesia's) role is hugely important," the second official said.

"What we see in the region is a pretty steady calling for Indonesia to remain active in foreign affairs," he said. "He can do a lot on domestic (policy) and still keep Indonesia active in the region."

The United States has particularly valued Indonesia's influential role in the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Washington sees as a key partner in its effort to maintain influence in the Asia-Pacific in the face of a rising China.

Kerry's visit comes ahead an East Asian Summit in Myanmar next month and of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Beijing.

Before heading to Indonesia, Kerry hosted two days of talks in his native Boston with China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, to warm the mood for a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama after APEC.

Both sides stressed the need to manage differences and cooperate against global threats including Islamic State.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

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RELIGIOUS NEWS: Kerry in Indonesia seeking Asian support against Islamic state

By David Brunnstrom

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Indonesia for Joko Widodo's presidential inauguration on Monday, seeking more help from Southeast Asian leaders in the U.S.-led effort against Islamic State in the Middle East.

In a one-day stop in Jakarta, capital of a country with the world's largest Muslim population, Kerry plans bilateral meetings with Widodo, the prime ministers of neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, the Sultan of Brunei, Australia's prime minister and the foreign minister of the Philippines.

Senior officials of the U.S. State Department said the talks would touch on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where China's increasing assertiveness is a worry to the United States and its Asian allies and partners, the fight to contain Ebola, and a Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership under negotiation.

But the priority would be to seek more help in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the officials, who declined to be identified, told reporters on Kerry's flight to Jakarta.

The discussions would cover ways to block Islamic State recruitment of fighters from Southeast Asia, preventing the return of hardened fighters to the region, and blocking militant financing, one of the officials said.

"The secretary will talk through areas where we believe and hope individual countries can do more," he said.

While Indonesian crackdowns after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, and an attack on the holiday island of Bali the following year, have weakened and dispersed militants at home, a growing number of them have left the country, and Malaysia, to join Islamic State in the Middle East.

A second U.S. official said Kerry would urge Widodo to do more to freeze the assets of militants in line with U.N. Financial Action Task Force requirements.

"They've made some progress on that," he said. "The hope is that they will make more and it's part of an ongoing effort ...to encourage the Indonesians to do all they need to do to meet their obligations under the U.N."

'ACTIVE IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS'

Kerry will also urge Widodo to maintain the active role in regional foreign policy pursued by the previous Indonesian administration, amid concern that the new president may be more inward-looking given his preoccupation with domestic agendas.

"As the world's fourth largest country, the third largest democracy and largest Muslim majority nation, (Indonesia's) role is hugely important," the second official said.

"What we see in the region is a pretty steady calling for Indonesia to remain active in foreign affairs," he said. "He can do a lot on domestic (policy) and still keep Indonesia active in the region."

The United States has particularly valued Indonesia's influential role in the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Washington sees as a key partner in its effort to maintain influence in the Asia-Pacific in the face of a rising China.

Kerry's visit comes ahead an East Asian Summit in Myanmar next month and of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Beijing.

Before heading to Indonesia, Kerry hosted two days of talks in his native Boston with China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, to warm the mood for a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama after APEC.

Both sides stressed the need to manage differences and cooperate against global threats including Islamic State.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

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TOP NEWS Sweden says credible reports of foreign submarine in its waters

By Niklas Pollard and Alistair Scrutton

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden released on Sunday a grainy photo of a mysterious vessel in Stockholm's archipelago, as the military hunted for a foreign submarine or divers in the country's biggest such mobilization since the Cold War.

The search in the Baltic Sea less than 30 miles (50 km) from Stockholm began on Friday and reawakened memories of the final years of the Cold War when Sweden repeatedly sought out suspected Soviet submarines along its coast with depth charges.

The military showed one picture of what appeared to be a craft surrounded by white ripples. The witness who took the photograph said the vessel then submerged -- one of three sightings that the military said were credible reports.

The Swedish armed forces have consistently labeled the their hunt one of investigating "foreign underwater activity" but elaborated on what that might entail on Sunday.

"It could be a submarine, or a smaller submarine," Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad told a news conference. "It could be divers using some form of moped-like underwater vehicle and it could be divers that don't have any business on our territory."

Grenstad said the sightings had taken place in "an area that is of interest to a foreign power", but added he was not in a position to link the observed activity to any particular nation.

"This does not belong to us. It is a foreign vessel and we have no indications that there would be any civilians involved in underwater activity," he said.

The incident comes amid rising tension with Russia among the Nordic and Baltic states -- most of them European Union members -- over Moscow's involvement in the Ukraine crisis. Finland last week accused the Russian navy of interfering with a Finnish environmental research vessel in international waters.

Reported sightings of one man dressed in black wading through waters led to speculation of Russian special forces in the archipelago, normally a popular holiday destination consisting of thousands of small islands.

EMERGENCY FREQUENCY

The Swedish military has said the initial information about suspicious underwater activity came from a trustworthy source, without providing details, and that more than 200 military personnel were involved in the search.

The Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the hunt, said it began after a radio transmission in Russian on an emergency frequency.

Further encrypted radio traffic from a point in the archipelago and the enclave of Kaliningrad, home to the Russian Baltic fleet's headquarters, was intercepted on Friday evening after the Swedish search started, the newspaper said.

Grenstad said the armed forces had not received any information about a distress signal.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday there were no emergencies in the Baltic involving its vessels.

"Russian Navy ships and submarines are fulfilling their duties in the world ocean waters in accordance with the plan," Interfax news agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying. "There are no extraordinary, let alone emergency, situations involving Russian warships."

Countries in the Baltic Sea region have become increasingly wary of Russia's military ambitions since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March following the overthrow of Kiev's pro-Moscow president by protesters.

Last month, Sweden said two Russian warplanes entered its air space, calling the intrusion a "serious violation".

Should the present search find proof of foreign military activity in Swedish coastal waters it will represent the first real test of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's center-left minority government less than three weeks after it took office.

In 1981, a Soviet submarine known under its Swedish designation U137 was stranded deep inside Swedish waters not far from a major naval base in the neutral country, sparking intense suspicion about the scale and motives of such incursions.

(Additional reporting by Alexei Anishchuk in Moscow, Editing by Crispian Balmer)

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EGYPT NEWS: Roadside bomb kills six soldiers in Egypt's Sinai

CAIRO (Reuters) - Six Egyptian soldiers were killed by a remotely-detonated roadside bomb in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, the army said in a statement.



No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded five soldiers.



The bomb exploded as a patrol responsible for protecting a natural gas pipeline passed by, security sources said.



The blast occurred southwest of provincial capital Al-Arish, where two policemen were killed when their patrol car was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade three days ago.



Security forces face a jihadist insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year after mass protests against his rule.



Most attacks have been in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.



Security officials say Sinai-based militants are inspired by Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and wants to redraw the map of the Middle East.



A senior commander from Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's deadliest jihadist group, has told Reuters that Islamic State has advised it on how to operate more effectively.



(Writing by Shadi Bushra; Editing by Michael Georgy)





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JAPAN NEWS: Japan METI minister expected to resign in blow to PM Abe: media

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's new trade and industry minister was expected to resign on Monday, domestic media said, over allegations that her support groups misused political funds, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he faces tough policy decisions including whether to raise an already unpopular sales tax.

Yuko Obuchi, 40, the daughter of a prime minister and tipped as a future contender to become Japan's first female premier, was one of five women appointed by Abe in a cabinet reshuffle less than two months ago. The appointments were intended to boost his popularity and show his commitment to promoting women as part of his "Abenomics" strategy to revive the economy.

As head of the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Obuchi, a telegenic mother of two, was tasked with selling Abe's unpopular plan to restart offline nuclear reactors to a public worried about safety after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

NHK public TV said on Monday that Obuchi would unveil the results of an investigation into her groups' funds use on Monday and meet Abe to tell him her decision to resign. NHK said Abe would accept her resignation and start looking for a successor.

The departure would be the first cabinet resignation for Abe, who took office in December 2012 for a rare second term, promising to revive Japan's stalled economy and strengthen its security stance to cope with challenges such as a rising China.

Abe's first stint as prime minister in 2006-2007 was marred by scandals among his ministers - several quit and one committed suicide. Abe himself resigned after just one year in the face of parliamentary deadlock, sliding support rates and ill health.

His current government had been little touched by scandal until the cabinet rejig.

OPPOSITION TAKE AIM

The Obuchi affair comes as Abe must decide by year-end whether to proceed with a planned but unpopular hike in the sales tax to 10 percent, after a rise in April to 8 percent pushed the world's third-largest economy into its deepest quarterly slump since the 2009 global financial crisis.

Support for Abe has begun to sag, falling 6.8 percentage points to 48.1 percent in a weekend survey by Kyodo news agency from last month. Nearly two-thirds opposed a second tax hike and almost 85 percent said they didn't feel the economy had recovered.

Media reports of funding irregularities emerged on Thursday. On Saturday, NHK said two Obuchi political groups spent 43 million yen (400,000 U.S. dollars) on annual theater events between 2009 and 2011 and kept no record of spending on the 2012 event.

Another political funds group bought 3.8 million yen worth of goods from businesses run by her sister and brother-in-law over the four years through 2012, NHK said.

Obuchi told parliament she believed her supporters had paid for the theater events themselves but was aware it would be a legal violation if her political groups made more payments.

"I feel that ignorance is no excuse," she said on Friday.

Abe had hoped the soft-spoken Obuchi would be able to ease opposition to atomic power, but political analysts say the controversy could hamper Abe's plan to reboot reactors, opposed by more than 60 percent of voters in the Kyodo survey.

Abe's ruling coalition has a hefty parliamentary majority, the opposition is fragmented and no general election need be held until 2016, but the opposition Democratic Party has taken aim at new ministers in debates to try to dent Abe's popularity.

The Democrats on Friday filed a criminal complaint against Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, accusing her of violating the election law by distributing paper fans to voters. The party has demanded that she resign. Defence Minister Akinori Eto has faced questions from the opposition over his political funds.

(1 US dollar = 107.1800 Japanese yen)

(The story was refiled to drop an extraneous word in tenth paragraph and to add the dollar conversions)

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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