POLITICS NEWS: Wisconsin governor candidate cuts ties with consultant over jobs plan

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke severed ties with a political consultant after he used similar language in her jobs plan as he did in economic plans he drafted for other clients, Burke's campaign said on Friday.



Burke's spokesman, Joe Zepecki, said the campaign ended its relationship on Thursday with Eric Schnurer of Public Works, a Pennsylvania-based consulting firm, after he used about 10 passages from the past plans he drafted for former clients in Burke's "Invest for Success," a 40-page jobs plan.



"He fell short of the expectations that Mary laid out and, as a result, he no longer has any involvement in the campaign," Zepecki said.



Schnurer was a subcontractor for the campaign, Zepecki said. Schnurer could not be reached immediately for comment.



Schnurer used passages from economic plans he drafted for previous governor's races in Delaware, Tennessee and Indiana, Buzzfeed.com reported.



"In a few, isolated instances similar language from those plans is used to describe ideas that are widely accepted as best practices or are ideas which hold promise for Wisconsin," Zepecki said.



Burke, a former executive at bicycle manufacturer Trek, is in a statistical dead heat in opinion polls with Republican Governor Scott Walker less than two months before the November general election.



"It's a sad day for Wisconsin when the Democratic nominee for governor misleads voters by offering a plagiarized jobs plan, in which she has staked her entire candidacy," Stephan Thompson, Walker's campaign manager, said in a statement.



Walker, a potential Republican White House hopeful in 2016, won election in 2010. In June 2012, he became the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall election after he angered Democrats and labor unions by spearheading a bill that stripped public-sector unions of much of their power.



(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Jim Loney)





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POLITICS NEWS: Kansas Democrat asks court to require new U.S. Senate candidate

KANSAS CITY Kan. (Reuters) - A Kansas Democrat has asked the state Supreme Court to order his party to name a new U.S. Senate candidate for the November election after the court ruled the name of a county prosecutor who withdrew must be removed from the ballot.

Chad Taylor's withdrawal is seen as boosting the candidacy of independent Greg Orman, who is trying to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Pat Roberts in a nationally watched race that could help decide which party controls the chamber.

Republicans seeking to take control of the U.S. Senate have been counting on a Roberts victory. Taylor's withdrawal leaves Roberts and Orman as the main candidates and a victory by the independent would hurt Republicans.

David Orel, in a petition filed late Thursday and circulated by the court on Friday, asked the justices to compel Kansas Democrats to replace Taylor so he can vote for a candidate from his party. He said this is required by state law.

Orel's position is the same as that of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican, who said on Thursday he was requiring Democrats to replace Taylor on the ballot by Sept. 26 and was considering legal options if they do not.

In ruling on Thursday that the state must remove Taylor from the ballot, the state Supreme Court sidestepped the question of whether Kansas law required Democrats to replace him.

Orel, who had filed a paper in support of Kobach in the case, said in court papers he is a registered Democrat who voted in the primary and intends to vote for a Democratic candidate in the general election.

Orel's son, Alexander Orel, is a field director for the re-election campaign of Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, campaign spokesman John Milburn said.

Alexander Orel's job with Brownback had no bearing on his father's petition, said Thomas Haney, David Orel's lawyer.

Roberts has accused Democrats of conspiring with Orman, while Taylor has said Kobach's attempts to keep him on the ballot after his Sept. 3 withdrawal were politically motivated. Kobach denied politics played a part.

Kobach had ruled that Taylor did not properly withdraw from the election and could not be removed from the ballot. Taylor appealed that decision to the state's high court.

Representatives of the Kansas Democratic Party did not return calls for comment on Friday.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City; Editing by David Bailey and Mohammad Zargham)

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TECHNOLOGY Rocket Internet CEO stands to lift stake via options: report

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Oliver Samwer, chief executive and co-founder of Rocket Internet is in a position to increase his stake in the German venture capital firm under a stock options program that will be part of its planned stock market listing, a German magazine report said on Saturday.



Samwer stands to receive options that entitle him to buy 4.5 million shares, or about 4 percent of the current share capital, at an unspecified discount over the next five years, based on certain business performance targets, weekly WirtschaftsWoche said, citing a document it obtained.



The company's spokesman, who declined to comment to WirtschaftsWoche, could not immediately be reached by Reuters outside regular business hours.



Rocket this month unveiled plans for a stock market listing that could value the company behind dozens of online start-ups at $6.5 billion, riding a wave of e-commerce flotations.



Receiving the options is contingent on the company establishing four new e-commerce ventures per year, on average, and on Rocket's market value not falling below 4 billion euros ($5 billion) over certain periods of time, WirtschaftsWoche said.



The Samwer brothers Oliver, Alexander and Marc own 52.3 percent of the existing Rocket stock between them.



Executive directors Peter Kimpel and Alexander Kudlich stand to receive options for 1.2 million shares in total, the magazine said.



Berlin-based Rocket has said its share offer would consist solely of new stock and it would use the proceeds to fund growth by launching new businesses and provide more capital for existing companies.



(1 US dollar = 0.7795 euros)



(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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TOP NEWS About 60,000 Syrian Kurds flee to Turkey from Islamic State advance

SURUC Turkey (Reuters) - About 60,000 Syrian Kurds fled into Turkey in the space of 24 hours, a deputy prime minister said on Saturday, as Islamic State militants seized dozens of villages close to the border.

Turkey opened a stretch of the frontier on Friday after Kurdish civilians fled their homes, fearing an imminent attack on the border town of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobani. A Kurdish commander on the ground said Islamic State had advanced to within 15 km (9 miles) of the town.

Local Kurds said they feared a massacre in Kobani, whose strategic location has been blocking the radical Sunni Muslim militants from consolidating their gains across northern Syria.

The United States has said it is prepared to carry out airstrikes in Syria to stop the advances of Islamic State, which has also seized tracts of territory in neighbouring Iraq and has proclaimed a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.

U.S. forces have bombed the group in Iraq at the request of the government, but it is unclear when or where any military action might take place in Syria, whose president, Bashar al-Assad, Washington says is no longer legitimate.

Lokman Isa, a 34-year-old farmer, said he had fled with his family and about 30 other families after heavily armed Islamic State militants entered his village of Celebi. He said the Kurdish forces battling them had only light weapons.

"They (Islamic State) have destroyed every place they have gone to. We saw what they did in Iraq -- in Sinjar -- and we fled in fear," he told Reuters in the Turkish town of Suruc, where Turkish authorities were setting up a camp.

Sitting in a field after just crossing the border, Abdullah Shiran, a 24-year-old engineer, recounted scenes of horror in his village of Shiran, about 10 km (six miles) from Kobani.

"IS came and attacked and we left with the women but the rest of the men stayed behind ... They killed many people in the villages, cutting their throats. We were terrified that they would cut our throats too," he said.

HUDDLING IN FIELDS

Turkish soldiers looked on as the refugees, many of them women carrying bundles on their heads, streamed across. Hundreds of people huddled in the dusty fields with their few belongings.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus put the number of Syrian Kurds to have crossed the 30-km section of the border that has been open since Friday at 60,000. Officials said many thousands were still waiting to cross on Saturday evening.

"The United States, Turkey, Russia, friendly countries must help us. They must bomb Islamic State. All they can do is cut off heads, they have nothing to do with Islam," said Mustafa Saleh, a 30-year-old water industry worker.

"I would have fought to my last drop of blood against Islamic State, but I had to bring the women and children."

Kurdish forces have evacuated at least 100 villages on the Syrian side since the militants' onslaught started on Tuesday.

"Islamic State sees Kobani like a lump in the body, they think it is in their way," said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria's civil war.

Islamic State has executed at least 11 Kurdish civilians, including boys, in the villages it has seized near Kobani, the Observatory said.

Abdulrahman said more than 300 Kurdish fighters had crossed into Syria from Turkey late on Friday to help push back Islamic State, but that it was not clear which group they belonged to.

"Islamic State is killing any civilian it finds in a village," Mustefa Ebdi, director of a local radio station called Arta FM, told Reuters by telephone from the northern outskirts of Kobani. He said he could see thousands of people waiting to cross the border into Turkey.

"People prefer to flee rather than remain and die," he said. "(Islamic State wants) to eliminate anything that is Kurdish. This is creating a state of terror."

On his Facebook page, Ebdi said the killing of 34 civilians - women, elderly, children and the disabled - had been documented. He said the residents of 200 villages had been forced to flee.

CLOSING IN

Scrambling to coordinate aid, the mayor of Suruc, Orhan Sansal, described the situation in the area as "chaotic".

"Help is coming but there are problems with accommodation. Some people are staying with relatives, some in wedding halls, some in mosques and municipal buildings," he said.

Esmat al-Sheikh, commander of the Kurdish forces defending Kobani, told Reuters by telephone that clashes were occurring to the north and east on Saturday.

He said Islamic State fighters using rockets, artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles had advanced towards Kobani overnight and were now only 15 km away.

At least 18 Islamic State fighters were killed in clashes with Syrian Kurds overnight as the militant group took control of more villages around the town, according to the Observatory.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani called on Friday for international intervention to protect Kobani from the Islamic State advance, saying the insurgents must be "hit and destroyed wherever they are".

Western states have increased contact with the main Syrian Kurdish political party, the PYD, whose armed wing is the YPG, since Islamic State made a lightning advance across northern Iraq in June.

The YPG says it has 50,000 fighters and should be a natural partner in the coalition the United States is trying to build.

But such cooperation could prove difficult because of Syrian Kurds' ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group listed as a terrorist organisation by many Western states due to the militant campaign it has waged for Kurdish rights in Turkey.

The PKK on Thursday called on young men in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast to join the fight against Islamic State. On Saturday Kobani's local radio station broadcast a call to arms from PKK commander Murat Karayilan in Kurdish.

(Additional reporting by Asli Kandemir in Istanbul, Sylvia Westall and Tom Perry in Beirut,; Writing by Seda Sezer and Sylvia Westall; Editing by Gareth Jones and Kevin Liffey)

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TOP NEWS Exclusive: Iran seeks give and take on militants, nuclear program

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like to see more flexibility on Iran's uranium enrichment program, senior Iranian officials told Reuters.

The comments from the officials, who asked not to be named, highlight how difficult it may be for the Western powers to keep the nuclear negotiations separate from other regional conflicts. Iran wields influence in the Syrian civil war and on the Iraqi government, which is fighting the advance of Islamic State fighters.

Iran has sent mixed signals about its willingness to cooperate on defeating Islamic State (IS), a hardline Sunni Islamist group that has seized large swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq and is blamed for a wave of sectarian violence, beheadings and massacres of civilians.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said recently that he vetoed a U.S. overture to the Islamic Republic to work together on defeating IS, but U.S. officials said there was no such offer. In public, both Washington and Tehran have ruled out cooperating militarily in tackling the IS threat.

But in private, Iranian officials have voiced a willingness to work with the United States on IS, though not necessarily on the battlefield. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Iran has a role to play in defeating Islamic State, indicating the U.S. position may also be shifting.

    "Iran is a very influential country in the region and can help in the fight against the ISIL (IS) terrorists ... but it is a two-way street. You give something, you take something," said a senior Iranian official on condition of anonymity.

    "ISIL is a threat to world security, not our (nuclear) program, which is a peaceful program," the official added.

Tehran rejects Western allegations that it is amassing the capability to produce atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program.

Another Iranian official echoed the remarks. Both officials said they would like the United States and its Western allies to show flexibility on the number of atomic centrifuges Tehran could keep under any long-term deal that would lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program.

"Both sides can show flexibility that will lead to an acceptable number for everyone," another Iranian official said.

WEST WANTS TO KEEP ATOMIC TALKS SEPARATE

Western officials told Reuters that Iran has not raised this idea in nuclear negotiations with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China that resumed in New York on Friday. Diplomats close to the talks say they are unlikely to settle in New York on a long-term accord that would lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iranian nuclear work.

The Western officials said it would be difficult for them to even discuss the point in the atomic negotiations as the United States and its allies are determined to keep the nuclear negotiations focused exclusively on atomic issues as the Nov. 24 deadline for a deal nears.

"We are seeing as we get closer to the end of the talks that the Iranians are tempted to bring other dossiers to the table," a senior Western diplomat said.

"They sometimes indicate that if there were to not be a (nuclear) deal, the other dossiers in region would be more complicated," he added. "The six are determined not to bring the other subjects to the nuclear negotiations table."

The New York talks among senior foreign ministry officials from the six powers and Iran are taking place on the sidelines of this week's annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.

    The number of nuclear centrifuges has emerged as the principal sticking point in negotiations, which are expected to continue in New York until at least September 26.

    Centrifuges are machines that spin at supersonic speed to increase the ratio of the fissile isotope in uranium. Low-enriched uranium is used to fuel nuclear power plants, Iran's stated goal, but can also provide material for bombs if refined much further, which the West fears may be Iran's latent goal.

    Iran currently has over 19,000 centrifuges, though only around 10,000 of those are operational. The six powers want Iran to reduce the number of operational centrifuges to the low thousands, to ensure it cannot quickly produce enough bomb-grade uranium for a weapon, should it choose to do so.

Iranians are keen to keep as many of their centrifuges as possible, and have also suggested that they could keep all 19,000 installed while maintaining a much smaller number in an operational state. Western officials say they dislike that idea.

    U.S. officials have made clear for months that the number of centrifuges they are willing to tolerate operating in Iran over the medium term would be in the low thousands to ensure that Tehran's ability to produce a usable amount of bomb-grade uranium, should it go down that road, is severely limited.

    Iran says such draconian limitations would be a violation of its right to enrich. Supreme Leader Khamenei has called that issue a "red line" for Tehran.

    Centrifuges are not the only sticking point in the talks. Others include the duration of any nuclear deal, the timetable for ending the sanctions, and the fate of a research reactor that could yield significant quantities of bomb-grade plutonium.

    Under a November 2013 interim deal, Iran froze some parts of its atomic program in exchange for limited sanctions relief. That agreement was intended to buy time for negotiations on a comprehensive deal that end the decade-long standoff with Iran and remove the risk of yet another war in the Middle East.

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris and Arshad Mohammed in Washington)

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS: When music stops for Oracle CEO dance, Catz may grab Ellison's chair : analysts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If Larry Ellison sailed off on his yacht for good tomorrow, who would really run Oracle Corp (ORCL.N)?

Reuters asked a cast of Wall Streets analysts, and the verdict is dealmaker and finance guru Safra Catz.

The question is on investors' minds after Ellison, 70, promoted both Catz and sales leader Mark Hurd to the CEO position on Thursday, while taking on the role of executive chairman and chief technology officer himself.

The move appears to be the first stage of Ellison's gradual withdrawal. But what if Ellison disappeared immediately?

Of 12 analysts who replied to an anonymous poll, five said Catz would likely run Oracle, while only one voted for Hurd, 57. Four said both would continue to run the company, one said neither, and one plumped for dark-horse internal candidate Thomas Kurian.

Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

Votes in favor of Catz, the 52-year old former Wall Street banker who orchestrated Oracle's multibillion dollar acquisitions and has been Ellison's de facto deputy for the last few years, stressed her 15 years of experience at the company.

Hurd, who only joined Oracle in 2010 after leaving Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) under the cloud of a business ethics breach, has a larger public presence but is still seen as a newcomer.

"In a CEO cage match it's pretty even, but I give Safra extra credit for her years of service with the company," said Kim Forrest at Fort Pitt Capital. "She likely knows the lay of the land better."

Only one analyst said Hurd was the more likely to lead the company, chiefly because he is the one with experience of being the CEO of a large technology company.

One analyst said neither would likely be CEO, echoing sentiments that Ellison does not fully back either candidate to solely run the company he co-founded 37 years ago and built into a $40 billion-a-year giant.

"It's pretty clear that part of the board doesn't fully trust Mark Hurd and part of the board doesn't think she (Catz) has the technology depth," said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, professor at the Yale School of Management, who was not part of the poll.

Most analysts think the co-CEO arrangement should work in the short term, but questions remain over how long it will last.

"I don't know the timing - it could be three, it could be five years - there may be one (CEO) down the road," said Gartner analyst Chad Eschinger. He would not be drawn on who that might be.

One figure not mentioned in Thursday's reshuffle was 47-year-old Kurian, Oracle's executive vice president in charge of product development, who reports directly to Ellison and has been seen as a rising power in the company.

"Perhaps he did not feel comfortable in the role as a front man, although he does do a solid job in his presentations," said Bill Kreher, an analyst at Edward Jones. "He's a few years younger (than Catz and Hurd), so perhaps his time will come."

(Additional reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco and Bill Rigby in Seattle; Editing by Ken Wills)

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FOOTBALL NEWS: Man City have point to prove - Toure

20 September 2014 Updated 22:27

Toure has made four appearances for City this season
Yaya Toure says Premier League champions Manchester City have something to prove when they face league leaders Chelsea on Sunday.

City, who lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, trail Chelsea by five points ahead of the game at Etihad Stadium.

"We want to close the gap on Chelsea and need to win on Sunday," Toure said.

"It is going to be really important to prove that as a team and as a club that we are growing every day."

Lawro's prediction
These are the two outstanding teams in the Premier League and I am a little bit sorry that this game has come so early in the season - ideally, you want to see them meet near Christmas and then in May, not September and January.

Read Lawro's full prediction and score
Chelsea have begun this season in ominous form, winning all four of their league games and scoring 15 goals in the process, while City have been inconsistent, dropping points at Arsenal last weekend and losing at home to Stoke. in their previous game.

It is this form that led BBC Sport columnist Robbie Savage to warn that City risk repeating the mistakes they made under Roberto Mancini, when they failed to improve their squad following their title triumph in 2012 and did not retain their crown.

Speaking to Football Focus, Ivory Coast midfielder Toure added: "Chelsea are a top side who a have a great shape and are in form.

"We know it is going to be very tough because Chelsea have a strong squad and good players and are hungry to win trophies.

"We need to work hard as a team and try to do the business on Sunday and bounce back from the disappointment against Bayern Munich.

Mourinho's side beat City 1-0 at the Etihad last season
"We know it is going to be tough this year. We won the Premier League last season but that is now in the past and we have to focus on improving and being more consistent.

"It's difficult because a lot of our important players have not had enough rest and recovery after the World Cup.

"As champions we want to win it again so we have to work hard because all the other teams are going to come at us and try to beat us. We need to deliver."

New signings Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa, who has scored seven goals in five appearances, have improved a Chelsea side that finished third last season, four points behind City.

Maintaining standards
The defending champions are seeking their first league win in three matches; failure to beat Chelsea would represent their worst run for 19 months, when they earned only two points out of a possible nine. City dropped only five points at home last season, winning 17 of their 19 fixtures and registering a league-high 52 points. They have already lost to Stoke this campaign.

But Sunday's game represents the biggest test of the title credentials of Jose Mourinho's side, who did the double over City last season, winning 2-1 at Stamford Bridge and 1-0 in Manchester.

The Portuguese, however, does not feel previous results will have any bearing on this weekend's match.

"What happened last year and seasons before I don't think has a relation to this season," he said. "It's a completely different story.

"It doesn't matter the record we had last season against City. We respect them totally, because they deserve that respect, but at the same time we believe in us and we want to win.

"Can we go there and win like we did last season? Obviously we can, but can we lose? We also can. And I don't think statistics play a part in this.

"I want to win this game to get three points. I'm totally focused on three points and the Premier League 2015, rather than history."

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