Local paper names Chinese victim in Boston blasts

BEIJING (AP) — The third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings was a Chinese graduate student at Boston University originally from China's northeastern city of Shenyang, a state-run Chinese newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Shenyang Evening News said on its official Twitter-like microblog account that the victim's name is Lu Lingzi. An editor at the newspaper said that Lu's father confirmed his daughter's death when reporters visited the family home. The editor declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to foreign media.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Consulate General in New York are not releasing the victim's name at the request of the family. But on Tuesday, Boston media quoted a Chinese Consulate General official as saying Chinese national Lu Lingzi was missing in the wake of Monday's bombings that killed three and wounded more than 170 people.

In the Chinese-language world of social media, people have been sharing their condolences on what is believed to be Lu's microblogging account hosted by Sina Weibo, which was last updated Monday with a breakfast photo. By early Wednesday afternoon, more than 14,000 comments were left on the page.

Friends contacted through Sina Weibo have largely declined to speak to media about Lu, saying they were adhering to the wishes of Lu's family.

Lu graduated from a Shenyang high school and studied international trade at Beijing Institute of Technology before she went to the United States to study statistics as a graduate student at Boston University, according to media reports, Lu's friends and her own Facebook page.

Chinese are the largest contingent of foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities. Last year, nearly 200,000 Chinese were enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions, and Massachusetts had almost 10,000 Chinese students on its college campuses, according to the Institute of International Education.

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Ottawa names lawyer to talk energy with native groups

By Jeffrey Jones

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed a British Columbia lawyer to gather views of native groups across the Western province on energy development as the industry struggles to gain acceptance of multibillion-dollar pipelines that would vastly increase oil exports.

However, Harper's new representative for West Coast energy infrastructure, Doug Eyford, insisted on Tuesday his role will not be to cajole holdouts into supporting contentious projects.

Aboriginal opposition to such proposals as Enbridge Inc's C$6 billion ($5.8 billion) Northern Gateway pipeline has been a major stumbling block to the Harper Conservatives' aim of shipping large volumes of oil sands-derived crude to the Pacific Coast to be exported to Asia as a way to increase turns.

Eyford is a veteran of federal negotiations with Indian groups, known in Canada as First Nations, on self-government. Over the next three months, he will meet with communities affected by proposed pipelines, liquefied natural gas plants and marine terminals.

Eyford will issue a draft report to Harper on June 28 and the final document on November 29, Joe Oliver, Canada's natural resources minister, said in a speech in Terrace, British Columbia.

His appointment comes a day after Ottawa said it planned a series of measures aimed at improving tanker safety as proposed pipeline projects point to a major increase in coastal traffic.

Eyford said he has not been asked to advocate on behalf of the government or the energy industry in favor of specific industrial developments.

"My role and responsibility is to provide an accurate and complete report to the prime minister on what I'm told by the people who I interact and engage with as part of my responsibilities," he said.

The federal government has a constitutional requirement to consult with and accommodate native communities when developments will affect their lands, and some aboriginal leaders have suggested their rights and title to lands may amount to veto power.

This has presented legal risks to proponents of Northern Gateway, which would ship 525,000 barrels a day of Alberta oil to the coastal port of Kitimat, British Columbia. Regulators are due to decide whether to approve the project by the end of this year following hearings that began at the beginning of 2012.

Oliver said native people have much to contribute to natural resource development, as they bring traditional knowledge that offers better understanding of environmental impacts and remediation measures. He pointed out that the industry supports 32,000 aboriginal jobs in Canada.

Still, some groups, such as the Coastal First Nations and Yinka Dene Alliance, are staunchly opposed to oil pipelines, saying they fear the risks of oil spills as well as potential loss of traditional ways.

Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations, an alliance of nine groups, said it appears the federal government realized it needed someone on the ground with experience in native rights, title and consultation, though it is starting the process very late.

"We don't have a lot of optimism around that, but knowing Mr. Eyford, we think that he's a person who is going to be candid with the prime minister," Sterritt told Reuters. "We're happy that he's not reporting at a lower level. We think this needs to be dealt with at the highest level."

He stressed that the appointment will not lead his people to drop their opposition to the Northern Gateway project.

British Columbia's burgeoning LNG industry appears to have wider support among native groups, some of which are equity partners in proposed multibillion-dollar projects.

Eyford said he did not know if his final report will be made public.

($1=$1.03 Canadian)

(Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Gunna Dickson)

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Australian PM names Cabinet emphasizing loyalty

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Prime Minister Julia Gillard emphasized loyalty over experience in new Cabinet selections named Monday after a bungled leadership challenge laid bare intra-government turmoil further damaging her party's image months before an election.

Five ministers resigned or were sacked from their executive jobs for promoting a challenge by Gillard's predecessor Kevin Rudd that failed when he decided against running on the ballot within the ruling Labor Party.

Gillard called the leadership mess "appalling" in remarks Monday to reporters.

"It was an unseemly display," she said. "Today as a government we can be united and with a sense of purpose," she added.

Most of the lawmakers whom Gillard promoted were known loyalists in the longstanding rivalry between Gillard and Rudd.

The Resources and Energy Ministry, crucial to Australia's mining-oriented economy, was given to Special Minister of State Gary Gray, a former gas company executive from resource-rich Western Australia state. The position had been filled to acclaim by Rudd supporter Martin Ferguson since the Labor government was first elected under Rudd's leadership in 2007.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese stayed, even though he had been tipped to be deputy prime minister if Rudd regained the leadership. Reports have said ministers urged Albanese not to resign because he was too important to the government.

Gillard promoted Albanese by giving him the portfolios Regional Development and Local Government. Those ministries had been held by Simon Crean, whom Gillard dumped for publicly calling for a leadership ballot.

Gillard said she was confident of Albanese's loyalty.

"I have always been able to work with Minister Albanese well," she said. "He's been very central to the life of this government and I believe he will serve very well and with a very strong sense of loyalty into the future."

Australian National University political scientist Michael McKinley said the promotions were clearly not made on merit.

"If they were any good, they would have been in the Cabinet already," he said.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr, who has denied media reports that he had been prepared to back a Rudd challenge, remained in his post.

Dumping Carr would have been a high-profile embarrassment for Australia since he is due to meet U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden at the White House later Monday.

The Australian government's internal turmoil played out in in the United States a year ago when Rudd quit as foreign minister while in Washington to challenge Gillard in a leadership showdown. He was trounced in that ballot by 91 votes to 31.

After last week's fiasco, Rudd said he would not seek the Labor Party leadership again. Party leadership ballots are often seen as a solution to abysmal public polling, which point to a sound Labor Party defeat at the national elections on Sept. 14.

The new Cabinet is Australia's sixth in three years. Gillard expects the reshuffle will be the last before the elections.

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Ottawa names lawyer to talk energy with native groups

By Jeffrey Jones

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed a British Columbia lawyer to gather views of native groups across the Western province on energy development as the industry struggles to gain acceptance of multibillion-dollar pipelines that would vastly increase oil exports.

However, Harper's new representative for West Coast energy infrastructure, Doug Eyford, insisted on Tuesday his role will not be to cajole holdouts into supporting contentious projects.

Aboriginal opposition to such proposals as Enbridge Inc's C$6 billion ($5.8 billion) Northern Gateway pipeline has been a major stumbling block to the Harper Conservatives' aim of shipping large volumes of oil sands-derived crude to the Pacific Coast to be exported to Asia as a way to increase turns.

Eyford is a veteran of federal negotiations with Indian groups, known in Canada as First Nations, on self-government. Over the next three months, he will meet with communities affected by proposed pipelines, liquefied natural gas plants and marine terminals.

Eyford will issue a draft report to Harper on June 28 and the final document on November 29, Joe Oliver, Canada's natural resources minister, said in a speech in Terrace, British Columbia.

His appointment comes a day after Ottawa said it planned a series of measures aimed at improving tanker safety as proposed pipeline projects point to a major increase in coastal traffic.

Eyford said he has not been asked to advocate on behalf of the government or the energy industry in favor of specific industrial developments.

"My role and responsibility is to provide an accurate and complete report to the prime minister on what I'm told by the people who I interact and engage with as part of my responsibilities," he said.

The federal government has a constitutional requirement to consult with and accommodate native communities when developments will affect their lands, and some aboriginal leaders have suggested their rights and title to lands may amount to veto power.

This has presented legal risks to proponents of Northern Gateway, which would ship 525,000 barrels a day of Alberta oil to the coastal port of Kitimat, British Columbia. Regulators are due to decide whether to approve the project by the end of this year following hearings that began at the beginning of 2012.

Oliver said native people have much to contribute to natural resource development, as they bring traditional knowledge that offers better understanding of environmental impacts and remediation measures. He pointed out that the industry supports 32,000 aboriginal jobs in Canada.

Still, some groups, such as the Coastal First Nations and Yinka Dene Alliance, are staunchly opposed to oil pipelines, saying they fear the risks of oil spills as well as potential loss of traditional ways.

Art Sterritt, executive director of Coastal First Nations, an alliance of nine groups, said it appears the federal government realized it needed someone on the ground with experience in native rights, title and consultation, though it is starting the process very late.

"We don't have a lot of optimism around that, but knowing Mr. Eyford, we think that he's a person who is going to be candid with the prime minister," Sterritt told Reuters. "We're happy that he's not reporting at a lower level. We think this needs to be dealt with at the highest level."

He stressed that the appointment will not lead his people to drop their opposition to the Northern Gateway project.

British Columbia's burgeoning LNG industry appears to have wider support among native groups, some of which are equity partners in proposed multibillion-dollar projects.

Eyford said he did not know if his final report will be made public.

($1=$1.03 Canadian)

(Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Gunna Dickson)

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China names new premier as transition nears end

BEIJING (AP) —

China is formally installing the Communist Party's second-ranked leader, Li Keqiang, as premier, as a once-a-decade leadership transition nears its well-ordered conclusion.

The largely powerless legislature overwhelmingly selected Li on Friday, a day after legislators appointed party chief Xi Jinping to the ceremonial state presidency.

The appointments were foreordained after Xi and Li ascended to the leadership's top spots at a party congress in November.

Since then, they have signaled that they intend to combat widespread official corruption, try to lessen a wide income gap and repair the severely polluted environment — issues that are driving public discontent.

The legislature's annual session and the political transition reach their end this weekend with the appointment of Cabinet officials to manage the economy, foreign affairs and an increasingly fractious society.

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Bank of Canada names insider economist as deputy governor

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Larry Schembri, a Bank of Canada economist with international expertise, will become one of the central bank's deputy governors on its rate-setting council starting next week, the bank said on Thursday.

Schembri, 55, is an academic who currently coordinates the bank's contributions to the Financial Stability Board of the Group of 20 leading economies. He will replace Jean Boivin, who moved to the finance ministry. Schembri's appointment is effective next Monday.

The bank has still to replace Governor Mark Carney, who will leave on June 1 to head up the Bank of England starting in July.

"Larry's expertise of monetary theory and policy in open economies, and profound understanding of the international monetary system make him an exceptional addition to governing council," Carney said in a statement.

"Furthermore, his dedicated efforts in recent years in support of the bank's financial stability function have contributed greatly, not only to the bank, but also to the important work of the Financial Stability Board."

In addition to the governor and senior deputy governor, the governing council has four deputies.

The Bank of Canada is more of a closed shop than other western central banks. Its top officials aim to speak with one voice and it does not release minutes that would indicate if they are hawkish or dovish, though an insider could be seen as less likely to rock the boat.

"He's a long-time serving member of the Bank of Canada, an internal appointment, so probably we can't expect to see too much of a change in terms of how that will impact policy at the central bank," said Mazen Issa, macro strategist at TD Securities.

"The bigger question that still remains unanswered is who will take the reins, who his boss will be."

The central bank has advertised for Carney's position and a special committee of the Bank of Canada's board of directors has the task of compiling a list of potential candidates. Tiff Macklem, currently the senior deputy governor, is considered the front runner.

Schembri joined the bank in 1997 as a visiting research adviser in the International Department, where he later became research director. In 2005 he was appointed chief of the International Economic Analysis Department until his appointment to the current position of adviser in September 2010.

He has a Master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a doctorate in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Schembri has published many academic articles and working papers, including a number on the benefits of flexible exchange rates. But his writings appear to give few hints as to his views on monetary policy.

He will help oversee the bank's financial system activities, along with Deputy Governor Tim Lane, while Deputy Governors Agathe Cote and John Murray will oversee the bank's analysis of domestic and international economic developments in support of monetary policy decisions.

This marks a shift for Cote from the financial system side to the economic analysis side, where she replaces Boivin.

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Phil Berlowitz)

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