FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German software company SAP is looking to recruit people with autism as programmers and product testers, drawing on skills that can include a close attention to detail and an ability to solve complex problems. SAP has asked start-up Danish recruitment company Specialisterne to help it find, train and manage employees diagnosed with the disability. “They bring a special set of skills to the table, which fits with SAP,” said a spokesman for the company, which has already hired people with autism in India and Ireland. …

Read more here: SAP looks to recruit people with autism as programmers

DUBAI (Reuters) – Dubai contractor Arabtec said on Wednesday a four-day strike by foreign workers seeking higher pay was over and the emirate’s police chief said 200 of them would be repatriated. The company, in which Abu Dhabi state-owned fund Aabar owns a near 22-percent stake, did not say whether workers’ demands for a wage hike of about $50 per month had been met. Thousands of workers stayed away from work from Saturday in a rare labor protest in Dubai where trade unions are banned. …

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By Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin CORK/DUBLIN (Reuters) – Until this week, Richard Bruton enjoyed the sweet spot in Irish government. While cabinet colleagues rolled out spending cuts and tax hikes, Bruton got the photo opportunities with foreign CEOs investing in their favorite corner of Europe. Now the strategy that underpins Bruton's role as jobs minister and the country's hopes of recovering from the crisis that drove it to take an international bailout is under attack from the United States and the rest of Europe. A U.S. …

Read more here: Irish seek to hold the line in tax battle

By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government will decide soon whether to take part in peace talks with the opposition, a senior Syrian diplomat said after talks in Moscow. Asked whether Damascus had committed to joint Russian-U.S. efforts to hold a peace conference, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said: “We are still discussing these questions.” “A final decision will be taken after our return to Damascus,” Mekdad told Russian news agency Itar-TASS following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. …

Read more here: Syria to decide soon on peace talk participation: minister

Los Angeles will have its first Jewish mayor and the youngest in more than 100 years. Former City Council President Eric Garcetti beat former Controller Wendy Greuel, both Democrats, by a margin of 54 to 46 percent in the most expensive mayor race, at $33 million, in city history.

Read more here: In Los Angeles mayor's race, a big win for Eric Garcetti

By Praveen Menon and Dinesh Nair DUBAI (Reuters) – Carrefour , Europe's largest retailer, agreed to sell its remaining 25-percent stake in a Middle East joint venture to local partner Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) for 530 million euros ($682.45 million), MAF said in a statement on Wednesday. Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets, the venture set up in 1995, operates 50 hypermarkets and 44 supermarkets under the Carrefour name in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. “Majid Al Futtaim… …

Read more here: Carrefour sells stake in Middle East venture for $683 million

DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahrain’s main opposition group suspended its participation in reconciliation talks with the government for two weeks on Wednesday, blaming the slow pace of talks and the raid last week on a top Shi’ite Muslim cleric’s home. Little progress has been achieved in the talks that began in February as part of efforts to end two years of political deadlock following pro-democracy protests by majority Shi’ite Muslims in 2011 that were crushed by the Sunni-led government. …

Read more here: Main Bahrain opposition group temporarily boycotts talks

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s finance minister said on Wednesday the country did not want to become the ‘whipping boy’ for what he called a flawed U.S. Senate report into the level of corporate tax Apple Inc pays in Ireland. Ireland was forced to defend its corporate tax rate after the U.S. Senate said on Monday that Apple paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries and that it had negotiated a special corporate tax rate of less than 2 percent. “I do not want to be the whipping boy for some misunderstanding in a hearing in the U.S. …

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of a House panel angry over sexual abuse problems in the military are set to vote on a bill that would strip commanding officers of their authority to unilaterally change or dismiss court-martial convictions — a change that lawmakers believe will lead to a cultural shift that encourages more victims to step forward.

Read more here: House panel moves to curb military sexual assaults

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The European Central Bank could expand its monetary policy toolkit if needed to respond to threats to price stability, and must ensure the euro zone economy does not enter a downward spiral, ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet said on Wednesday. “We have an objective: price stability,” Praet, who is in charge of the economics portfolio on the ECB's six-member executive board, told a conference in Washington. “If that objective is at risk, we have the possibility … …

Read more here: Praet says ECB can expand its tools to fight crisis