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| U.N. observers failing mandate to track Hezbollah arms: Israel Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:39 PM PDT  By Dan Williams TEL AVIV (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have failed to report on Hezbollah guerrilla armaments as required, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday, arguing that Israel could not rely on foreign intervention for its security. The remarks underscored the conservative strategies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as instability rocks Israel's neighbors and world powers urge it to roll back its West Bank occupation to make way for Palestinian state. ... Full Story | Top |
| Numbness gives way to anger in Cyprus over bailout Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:30 PM PDT  By Michele Kambas and Karolina Tagaris NICOSIA (Reuters) - Public shock in Cyprus about the tough terms of an international bailout is turning into anger as millions of euros remain locked in the country's banks. Cypriots were stunned by last month's collapse of its second-biggest lender, Popular Bank, and a decision to slap losses on large deposits at the Bank of Cyprus in return for financial aid from the European Union and IMF. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy "wise man" caught deriding Berlusconi in radio stunt Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:29 PM PDT ROME (Reuters) - One of the "wise men" charged with finding a way out of Italy's political crisis apologized on Thursday after he made offensive remarks about centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi during a prank phone call organized by a radio show. Valerio Onida, one of the 10 experts in institutional and economic affairs set up by President Giorgio Napolitano, said Berlusconi was looking for protection from his legal problems and it would be better for Italians if he quit politics. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian mayor challenges Bersani, wants pact or vote Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:29 PM PDT  By Naomi O'Leary ROME (Reuters) - Florence mayor Matteo Renzi launched a clear challenge to Italian center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani on Thursday, saying he must either agree a coalition with former premier Silvio Berlusconi or demand a new election. Bersani won a majority in the lower house but not the Senate in February's elections, leaving the center-left unable to govern alone. Last week he failed to forge a viable majority in parliament when his overtures to the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement were rebuffed. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. agents seize Bissau "drug kingpin" at sea Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:26 PM PDT By Richard Valdmanis and Alvaro Andrade DAKAR/PRAIA (Reuters) - Undercover U.S. agents have arrested the former navy chief of Guinea Bissau, wanted by Washington as a kingpin of the international drugs trade, in a sting operation off the coast of West Africa, two sources familiar with the operation said. Rear Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto was detained by anti-narcotics officers along with four other people on a boat in international waters on Tuesday, the sources told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House tracking bird flu outbreak in China Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:24 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is keeping a close eye on the outbreak of a new strain of bird flu in China, a spokeswoman said on Thursday, noting that the U.S. government is prepared to help world health authorities if needed. There have been a total of 14 confirmed cases of the virus in China, a strain called H7N9, which has killed five people, four of them in the financial hub of Shanghai. World health authorities are on alert. But there is no evidence so far that the flu is spreading from person to person, which would raise fears of a pandemic. ... Full Story | Top |
| It will be tougher to pass gun control than immigration: Obama Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:23 PM PDT ATHERTON, California (Reuters) - President Barack Obama acknowledged on Thursday that getting big changes to gun laws through the Congress would be challenging, telling donors at a California fundraiser gun control was a tougher issue than immigration reform. "I am very optimistic that we get immigration reform done in the next few months. And the reason I'm optimistic is because people spoke out through the ballot box," he said, referring to his re-election victory last year. Latino voters supported Obama overwhelmingly over Republican Mitt Romney. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. aid agency suspends Gaza distribution over riot at HQ Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:13 PM PDT GAZA (Reuters) - The main U.N. humanitarian agency for Palestinians said on Thursday it was suspending operations in the Gaza Strip after demonstrators angered by aid cutbacks stormed its headquarters. Some 800,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of Gaza's population, depend on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the shuttering could exacerbate hardship caused by Israeli and Egyptian controls on the isolated enclave's borders. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. weighs new vehicle-safety ratings to help older drivers Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:09 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Transportation Department said on Thursday it is looking at ways to expand its vehicle safety ratings in response to rapidly changing technology, including the addition of ratings to help inform older drivers. Innovations such as blind-spot detection and automatic braking in the event of an imminent crash could help prevent accidents, the department said, as it sought public input on how to best update its ratings system. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rhode Island police find no evidence of gunman on college campus Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 12:07 PM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Rhode Island police said on Thursday they had found "no evidence" of a gunman at a university campus that was locked down after students reported an armed man in a lecture hall. The University of Rhode Island lifted an order issued earlier locking down its Kingston campus after the lecture hall was evacuated because of the reports. The incident began when a professor heard a man outside a classroom describing himself as "a good guy" with a gun, said Captain James Manni of the Rhode Island State Police. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU worried about Egypt's civil society proposals Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:56 AM PDT  By Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - The European Union's envoy to Cairo urged Egypt's Islamist-led authorities on Thursday not to rush through legislation on civil society and NGOs that could curb an embryonic democracy. Civil society was heavily restricted under Hosni Mubarak's rule, and many of those who overthrew him in 2011 are demanding guarantees of greater freedom for civic and political activity to help Egypt complete the transition to popular democracy that the Arab Spring seemed to promise. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK rock star cancels Russia gigs over rights groups "crackdown" Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:55 AM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - British rock star and founder of the band Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler, said on Thursday he had canceled two concerts in Russia due to what he called a crackdown on human rights groups. Russian prosecutors and tax officials searched the offices of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Memorial, Russia's oldest rights group, and other such organizations last month in what Kremlin critics said were raids aimed at stifling criticism of President Vladimir Putin. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinian funerals draw thousands in tense West Bank Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:53 AM PDT  By Noah Browning ANABTA, West Bank (Reuters) - Thousands of mourners turned out on Thursday for the funerals of three Palestinians, including two teenagers killed by Israeli army gunfire in some of the worst violence in the occupied West Bank in years. The upsurge in unrest was triggered on Tuesday by the death of Maysara Abu Hamdeya, a 64-year-old prisoner serving a life term in an Israeli jail and suffering from cancer. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cameron in coalition rift over Trident nuclear system Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:47 AM PDT  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron reopened a rift in his coalition government over the future of Britain's nuclear deterrent on Thursday, saying potential threats from countries such as Iran and North Korea meant it could not be scaled back. Cameron's comments put him at odds with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners who want to find a cheaper alternative to Britain's multi-billion pound submarine-based Trident nuclear missile system to try to save money at a time when the nation's finances are mired in debt. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: U.S. turns to thrift-era fraud law to tackle money laundering Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:36 AM PDT  By Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department is again testing the reach of a once-dormant civil fraud law, applying it to money laundering after reviving it recently for cases tied to the financial crisis. The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, passed in 1989 in response to the savings-and-loan crisis, covers fraud that "affects" federally insured financial institutions, a broad category that is increasingly useful to government lawyers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lebanon's Salam emerges as likely new premier Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:28 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese politician Tammam Salam, a former minister from a prominent Sunni Muslim political dynasty, emerged as a potential new prime minister on Thursday when he was endorsed by the country's pro-Western March 14 coalition. Lebanon faces a parliamentary election in June but was plunged into uncertainty two weeks ago by the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, after a dispute over the electoral law and an extension to the term of a top security official. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York fast-food workers turn up heat on pay demands Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:23 AM PDT  By Lisa Baertlein (Reuters) - Hundreds of fast-food restaurant workers in New York City turned out for protests on Thursday in what organizers said would be their largest rally yet for better pay. Employees from familiar chains such as McDonald's Corp, Burger King and Yum Inc's KFC are seeking to roughly double their hourly wage to $15. They also say they want the right to form a union without interference. Winning such concessions will be an uphill battle. Low-wage, low-skill workers lack political clout and face significantly higher unemployment than college graduates. "It's a long fight. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House warns agencies to protect core work from spending cuts Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:15 AM PDT  By Gabriel Debenedetti WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House budget office on Thursday urged federal agencies to be aware of ways they may be able to shield their long-term projects while implementing the sharp budget cuts that went into effect March 1. Agencies should avoid cuts that would harm needed upkeep or unduly disrupt programs "essential to support the long-term execution of the agency's mission," White House budget office controller Danny Werfel wrote in a memo. ... Full Story | Top |
| Corzine's "negligent conduct" led to MF Global collapse: trustee Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:12 AM PDT  By Tom Hals (Reuters) - The "negligent conduct" of Jon Corzine and other officers of the MF Global Holdings Ltd brokerage contributed to the firm's dramatic collapse in 2011, according to a report by the bankruptcy trustee. The report by former FBI director Louis Freeh said the failure of MF Global's officers contributed to losses of as much as $2.1 billion and adds to the growing number of reports and investigations pointing to their liability. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas House debates budget that would restore some cuts Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:02 AM PDT By Corrie MacLaggan AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The Texas House of Representatives on Thursday began debating a two-year budget proposal that would increase state spending by about 7 percent and restore some of the cuts made to public education in 2011. Two years after lawmakers passed a spending plan that made deep cuts in the face of a budget shortfall, the state's financial health and robust economic growth have allowed budget writers to add back a significant amount of that money, House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts told his colleagues. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas to honor slain prosecutor, wife at public memorial Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 11:00 AM PDT  By Chris Francescani KAUFMAN, Texas (Reuters) - Texans will honor on Thursday slain prosecutor Mike McLelland and his wife, who were shot dead in their home over the weekend in an unsolved crime that has shocked this community on the outskirts of Dallas. Kaufman County government offices were shut for the public memorial service for McLelland, the 63-year-old county district attorney who was found gunned down with his wife, Cynthia, on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Secret Service investigating hack of director's information Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:59 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Secret Service said on Thursday it was investigating the claim that new Director Julia Pierson's personal information had been hacked and published on a website, another in a string of such incidents against top officials including first lady Michelle Obama and CIA Director John Brennan. The information on the website included a Social Security number, phone numbers, and a credit report that includes accounts with The Home Depot, Sears, and Macy's. It was unclear how much of the data that appeared on www.exposed.re was accurate or who posted it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish paper eyes legal fight over German neo-Nazi trial access Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:56 AM PDT By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - A Turkish newspaper said on Thursday it would complain to Germany's highest court over media access to a trial of suspected neo-Nazis blamed for the murder of eight Turks, in a row that has embarrassed the German government. With one of Germany's most anticipated trials in years set to start on April 17, a Munich court allocated 50 guaranteed seats to media on a first-come-first-served basis, without including a single Turkish journalist. The court said reporters could queue for another 50-60 places each day. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. charges N.Y. mortgage lender with defrauding government Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:51 AM PDT By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday sued a New York mortgage company it said defrauded the federal government into insuring poor quality home loans, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. In a civil lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice said Golden First Mortgage Corp and its president David Movtady "repeatedly lied" to the government between 2002 and 2010 to win Federal Housing Administration insurance for its home loans. ... Full Story | Top |
| Court reverses $482 million case against JNJ's Cordis Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:50 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cordis Corp, a Johnson and Johnson subsidiary, did not infringe upon a stent patent owned by a radiologist, an appeals court said on Thursday, reversing a ruling by a lower court which had ordered Cordis to pay $482 million. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a ruling from a Texas jury, which had found Cordis guilty of infringement and ordered the payment, plus interest. The appeals court ruled that Cordis had not infringed. A lawyer for the radiologist, Bruce Saffran, was not immediately available. The case in the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Single-director regulatory confirmations take longer: study Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:50 AM PDT  By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It takes about three times as long for the president and Senate to install new heads of financial regulatory agencies run by single directors as it does to approve leaders of bipartisan commissions, a study released on Thursday has found. ... Full Story | Top |
| Connecticut governor signs strict gun law after Newtown shooting Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:37 AM PDT  By Mary Ellen Clark MERIDEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy on Thursday signed a tough new gun law that restricts sales of the sort of high-capacity ammunition clips that a gunman used to massacre 26 people in minutes in December in an attack at a school in the state. The law also requires background checks for all gun purchases, expands the number of guns covered by the states' assault-weapons ban and establishes a $15 million fund to help schools improve security infrastructure. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. charges New York assemblyman, others with corruption Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:36 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson and four others were charged with corruption by U.S. prosecutors on Thursday, in the second federal graft case brought against New York politicians this week. Federal prosecutors have accused Stevenson of taking more than $22,000 in bribes in exchange for official acts, which included drafting and sponsoring legislation to assist four businessmen in opening a network of adult daycare centers in the Bronx and avoid competition. ... Full Story | Top |
| French Senate starts gay marriage debate amid protests Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:33 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - The French Senate took its first look on Thursday at President Francois Hollande's gay marriage bill, which has passed in the lower house but divided society as opponents clamored for a referendum. The bill, which gives homosexual couples the right to marry and adopt children, was designed to be Hollande's first historic social reform, on par with former Socialist President Francois Mitterrand's abolition of the death penalty in 1981. But it has divided French society, pitting Catholics and conservatives against social reformers, left-wingers and gay people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Macabre manslaughter case stokes debate on welfare reform Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:29 AM PDT  By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - By wading into the shocking case of a jobless man who killed six children in a botched revenge plot, Chancellor George Osborne upped the stakes in an impassioned row over whether the welfare system was affordable at a time of deep spending cuts. Thursday's surprise comments by Osborne came just days after the government started to overhaul a welfare system that costs 200 billion pounds a year and is deemed by Osborne and his Conservative party as too expensive. ... Full Story | Top |
| Macabre manslaughter case stokes debate on UK welfare reform Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:08 AM PDT  By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - By wading into the shocking case of a jobless man who killed six children in a botched revenge plot, Britain's finance minister upped the stakes in an impassioned row over whether the welfare system was affordable at a time of deep spending cuts. Thursday's surprise comments by George Osborne came just days after the government started to overhaul a welfare system that costs 200 billion pounds ($300 billion) a year and is deemed by Osborne and his Conservative party as too expensive. ... Full Story | Top |
| ECB "ready to act" to help languishing economy Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:03 AM PDT  By Sakari Suoninen and Eva Kuehnen FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi opened the door on Thursday to an interest rate cut as soon as next month, saying his bank stands "ready to act" to boost the recession-hit euro zone economy. Speaking at news conference after the ECB held rates at a record low 0.75 percent, the highest level among the world's major central banks, Draghi said discussion at the monthly meeting had been extensive and the consensus was to hold fire. ... Full Story | Top |
| New step to pardon Scottsboro Boys, "victims of gross injustice" Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 10:00 AM PDT  By Verna Gates BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Alabama lawmakers on Thursday paved the way for the posthumous exoneration of nine black teenagers known as the Scottsboro Boys, whose fight against false charges that they raped two white women 82 years ago helped spur the modern civil rights movement. The youths, from Tennessee and Georgia, were accused of gang-raping the two women aboard a freight train in Alabama on March 25, 1931. All but the youngest defendant were convicted by all-white juries in the town of Scottsboro and quickly sentenced to death. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ohio judge sentences convicted "Craigslist" killer to death Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 09:58 AM PDT  By Kim Palmer AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - An Ohio judge sentenced Richard Beasley to death on Thursday for the murder of three down-on-their-luck men who responded to an ad he placed on the Craigslist website for a nonexistent job. Prosecutors had called Beasley a "false prophet," and a con man who manipulated his victims to keep himself out of prison, acting as the mastermind and triggerman in the killings he was convicted of committing along with a teenage accomplice. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wounded suspect in West Virginia sheriff death expected to live Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 09:47 AM PDT  (Reuters) - The suspect in the shooting death of a drug-fighting West Virginia sheriff was critically wounded by police who pursued him but is expected to survive to face murder and attempted murder charges, officials said on Thursday. Eugene Crum, the sheriff of Mingo County in southwestern West Virginia, was killed on Wednesday as he sat in his department SUV in the coal-mining town of Williamson. Police said the suspect, Tennis Maynard, 37, of Ragland, West Virginia, fled the scene in his own vehicle. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Hillary Clinton memoir likely to fuel 2016 speculation Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 09:45 AM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton, already the front-runner in the minds of many Democrats for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, is writing a memoir about world affairs and her time as secretary of state that will likely fuel more speculation about her political future. The presidential prospects of Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, are a subject of feverish speculation in Washington and elsewhere as Democrats look to see over the horizon past President Barack Obama. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt seizes ship carrying arms, questions crew: navy Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 09:35 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian navy forces seized a ship carrying heavy weapons as it entered Egyptian territorial waters in the Red Sea late on Wednesday, a military spokesman said on Thursday. The Togolese-flagged ship, called COMR, was found 12 nautical miles north of Ras Muhammad in the Sinai Peninsula, general staff spokesman Ahmed Mohamed Ali said on his Facebook page. "Inside they found a number of weapons and quantities of ammunition of various types," Ali said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine releases Tajik ex-PM, will not extradite him: officials Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 09:34 AM PDT KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine has released Tajikistan's former prime minister from detention and will not extradite him to his home country, where he has been accused of plotting an assassination and a coup, officials said on Thursday. Ukrainian authorities held Abdulmalik Abdullojonov when he flew into Kiev on February 5, saying he was wanted in Tajikistan for "very serious crimes". The United Nations last month urged Ukraine not to send Abdullojonov back home, on the grounds that the United States had already granted him refugee status. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria's humanitarian crisis worsening rapidly: Red Cross Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 09:32 AM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The humanitarian situation in Syria is worsening rapidly with some areas a landscape of "devastation and destruction", the Red Cross said on Thursday after a month which activists said was the bloodiest yet in the conflict. About 70,000 people have been killed and millions displaced during the two-year-old uprising, the United Nations says. Civilians have been cut off from water, electricity and life-saving medical supplies, especially in rebel-held areas targeted by air strikes and ballistic missiles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus to blame for bailout turmoil, Draghi says Thursday, Apr 04, 2013 09:31 AM PDT By Sakari Suoninen FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank put the blame for initial market turmoil over Cyprus's bailout squarely on the island's government on Thursday and pledged that taxing depositors would not become normal procedure. ECB President Mario Draghi said Cyprus's bailout was "no template", a statement designed to ease market fears that bank deposits would in future be fair game for international lenders seeking to help struggling euro zone countries. But he was also scathing about Cyprus's initial plan to impose a levy on insured as well as uninsured bank depositors. ... Full Story | Top |
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