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| Column: The GOP's immigration problem Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:34 PM PDT By Bill Schneider (Reuters) - Old vaudeville joke: Man goes to the doctor. Says he has a pain in his arm. "Have you ever had this problem before?" the doctor says. "Yes," the man answers. "Well, you got it again." Bada-bing. Now look at the Republicans' immigration problem. Have they had this problem before? Yes. Well, they've got it again. Republicans had an immigration problem nearly 100 years ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Loblaw plans more actions after Bangladesh building collapse Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:33 PM PDT (Reuters) - Loblaw Cos Ltd, Canada's largest food retailer, said it would soon announce more actions in the wake of the collapse of a building in Bangladesh where some of its "Joe Fresh" garments were manufactured. More than 400 people died in the collapse of the illegally constructed building in Dhaka, which housed a number of apparel factories. "I am deeply shaken by the event. Our hearts and prayers continue to go out to those who were injured, to all the families who have lost loved ones," Executive Chairman Galen Weston said on a conference call. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three men charged with undermining Boston bombing probe Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:26 PM PDT  By Scott Malone, Tim McLaughlin and Mark Hosenball BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Wednesday charged three men with interfering with the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing, accusing two students from Kazakhstan of hiding a laptop computer and backpack belonging to one of the suspected bombers. The third man, a U.S. citizen named Robel Phillipos, was charged with making false statements to investigators. The three were described as friends of surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19. ... Full Story | Top |
| Early release could help ill prisoners and U.S. prisons: Justice Department Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:21 PM PDT  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Compassionate release programs at overcrowded U.S. federal prisons are poorly run and lack clear standards, resulting in some eligible inmates dying before they can be freed, the Department of Justice said on Wednesday. Few prisoners are released early on compassionate grounds. An average of 24 gravely ill prisoners were freed each year from 2006 to 2011, but another 28 died in custody during that time while waiting for the Bureau of Prisons to make a decision on their cases, the department's inspector general said in a report. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iowa jury awards $240 million to mentally disabled turkey plant workers Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:20 PM PDT (Reuters) - A jury on Wednesday awarded $240 million to 32 mentally disabled workers at an Iowa turkey processing plant to compensate for what government attorneys described as abuse by the Texas company that employed and housed them. A federal jury in Davenport found that Hill Country Farms, doing business as Henry's Turkey Service, of Goldthwaite, Texas, had created an unlawful hostile environment for the men and discriminated against them on the basis of their disability. Jurors awarded them $7.5 million each, following a week-long trial, according to court documents. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama taps Representative Watt as housing regulator Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:19 PM PDT  By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated a veteran Democratic congressman to oversee mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a choice that could set up a contentious political debate over housing policy. Representative Mel Watt, a longtime consumer advocate in Congress, will likely face a confirmation battle in the Senate, where Democrats may need to secure some Republican votes to approve his nomination. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuelans hold rival May Day marches as vote dispute drags on Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:17 PM PDT By Diego Ore and Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - Opposition and government supporters flooded Venezuelan streets in rival May Day marches on Wednesday as a continuing dispute over the results of last month's presidential vote kept political tensions high in the OPEC nation. On Tuesday, opposition deputies were beaten in a fracas in Congress resulting from their refusal to recognize the presidency of Nicolas Maduro, who narrowly won the April 14 election triggered by the death of socialist leader Hugo Chavez. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama taps ally, former lobbyist Wheeler for telecoms regulator Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:16 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated venture capitalist and former wireless and cable lobbyist Tom Wheeler to be the top media and telecommunications regulator. If approved by the Senate, Wheeler would become chairman of the Federal Communications Commission at a time when the agency prepares for a major reshuffling of ownership of radio airwaves and tries to catch up to rapidly changing technology. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pope condemns Bangladesh working conditions as "slave labor" Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:14 PM PDT By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the conditions of workers who died in the Bangladesh factory collapse as "slave labor," saying unjust salaries and the unbridled quest for profits were "against God". His words were his toughest yet on workers' rights since his election on March 13, and another indication that the former archbishop of Buenos Aires was intent on making social justice a major plank of his pontificate. "Living on 38 euros ($50) a month - that was the pay of these people who died. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU considers trade action after Bangladesh factory collapse Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:11 PM PDT  By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - The European Union is considering trade action against Bangladesh, which has preferential access to EU markets for its garments, to pressure Dhaka to improve safety standards after a building collapse killed more than 400 factory workers. Duty-free access offered by Western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19 billion a year industry, with 60 percent of clothes going to Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| Most Americans say Boston attack not an immigration issue: Poll Wednesday, May 01, 2013 12:05 PM PDT  By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans do not see the Boston Marathon bombing and its suspects as an immigration issue, according to a poll released on Wednesday that also found the U.S. public still relatively inattentive to the debate on revising immigration laws. While discussion of the immigration bill is still in its early stages, the blasts last month have been mentioned by some Republicans as a reason to go slow on the legislation. U.S. law enforcement officials have named two ethnic Chechen brothers as perpetrators of the April 15 attack. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fierce lobbying counters White House push for food aid reform Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:59 AM PDT  By Charles Abbott WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House plan to modernize the major U.S. food aid program, by donating cash rather than American-grown food, is in trouble after fierce lobbying by farm groups, food processors, shippers and others who set out to sink the idea months before it was unveiled in President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget. The administration, which needs congressional approval to make the changes, is discovering that only a few lawmakers are prepared to publicly support the effort to send cash abroad to make the distribution of aid faster and more efficient. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed stresses could boost or curb pace of stimulus Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:56 AM PDT  By Pedro da Costa and Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it will keep buying $85 billion in bonds each month to keep interest rates low and spur growth, but added it could lift or taper this pace of purchases depending on the economy's path. Expressing concern about a drag from Washington's belt-tightening, the Fed described the economy as expanding moderately in a statement that largely mirrored its March decision. ... Full Story | Top |
| Starving Virginia settlers turned to cannibalism in 1609: study Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:55 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Settlers at Virginia's Jamestown Colony resorted to cannibalism to survive the harsh winter of 1609, dismembering and consuming a 14-year-old English girl, the U.S. Smithsonian Institution reported on Wednesday. A recent excavation at the historic site revealed not just the remains of dogs, cats and horses eaten by settlers during the cold "Starving Time" of that year, but also the bones of a girl known to researchers simply as "Jane. ... Full Story | Top |
| Groups say FDA's Plan B decision falls short of court order Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:50 AM PDT  By Jessica Dye NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reproductive-rights groups that sued the Food and Drug Administration over access to the "morning-after" pill will ask a judge to hold the agency in contempt if it fails to comply with a court order directing it to make emergency contraception available to women of all ages. The FDA said on Tuesday it will allow girls as young as 15 years old to buy without a prescription the Plan B One-Step emergency contraceptive, made by a unit of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama won't rush to act against Syria over chemical arms Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:25 AM PDT  By Steve Holland and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signaled on Tuesday he is no rush to respond quickly to Syria's apparent use of chemical weapons, taking a cautious approach to the country's civil war, mirroring the views of the American public, most lawmakers and some U.S. allies. Obama, who last year declared that the use or deployment of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would cross a "red line," told a White House news conference there was evidence those weapons were used, but there was still much that U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three new suspects identified and charged in Boston bombing probe Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:19 AM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials on Wednesday identified and charged three new suspects they accused of interfering with the investigation into last month's fatal bombing at the Boston Marathon, according to court papers. Authorities charged two men, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, with conspiracy to obstruct justice by throwing away a backpack containing fireworks and a laptop computer belonging to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers suspected of carrying out the April 15 attack. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey investigates use of chemical weapons in Syria Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:16 AM PDT  By Ece Toksabay REYHANLI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey is testing blood samples taken from Syrian casualties brought over the border from fighting in recent days to determine whether they were victims of a chemical weapons attack, local government and health officials said on Wednesday. The samples were sent to Turkey's forensic medicine institute after several Syrians with breathing difficulties were brought to a Turkish hospital on Monday in the town of Reyhanli in Hatay province along the Syrian border. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cracks in Mexican political pact threaten president's reforms Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:08 AM PDT  By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The fanfare accompanying Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's first months in office is increasingly being drowned out by discord in Congress that could undo his plans to raise more tax revenue and open up state oil giant Pemex to outside investment. A pact that Pena Nieto painstakingly built with opposition leaders to strengthen his hand in Congress risks falling apart over accusations his ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has been using dirty tricks to buy votes in the first major round of state elections since July's presidential ... Full Story | Top |
| Men arrested in Boston bombing probe face obstruction charges Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:05 AM PDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Three men who were arrested in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing will face charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts said on its official Twitter feed on Wednesday. (Reporting by Aaron Pressman; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) Full Story | Top |
| Nigeria pledges justice as pressure over killings grows Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:58 AM PDT By Ibrahim Mshelizza BAGA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan promised on Wednesday to punish any soldier found guilty of misconduct during a deadly raid on a suspected Islamist hideout after a rights group said satellite pictures had raised concerns of a cover-up. Scores of houses were destroyed in the fishing village on the shores of Lake Chad raided by troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad searching for Islamist militants, and there were 22 fresh graves, a Reuters reporter who visited said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Resource deals audit overshadows Liberia anti-graft push Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:41 AM PDT  By Richard Valdmanis DAKAR (Reuters) - Almost all the $8 billion worth of resource contracts signed by Liberia since 2009 have violated its laws, according to a draft audit report commissioned by the government, casting doubt on anti-graft and good governance efforts under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has said the billions of dollars in foreign investment she has drawn since becoming Africa's first freely-elected female president in 2006 should help ordinary Liberians to climb out of poverty. ... Full Story | Top |
| French minister says Yahoo wanted to "devour" website Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:37 AM PDT  By John Irish and Leila Abboud PARIS (Reuters) - France's industry minister said he had blocked Yahoo Inc's plan to buy a majority stake in online video website Dailymotion because the U.S. group wanted to "devour" its smaller competitor. Yahoo, which declined to comment, had been in talks to acquire a 75 percent stake in Dailymotion, owned by France Telecom's Orange, a deal that would have valued Europe's largest video website at $300 million. ... Full Story | Top |
| Armed protests in Libya threatening safety in capital Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:24 AM PDT  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed protests targeting Libya's ministries and media in the capital this week have alarmed international observers who say deteriorating security conditions are becoming a matter of serious concern. Reporters without Borders said there was cause for "grave concern about recent violent attacks on Libyan journalists, whose safety conditions are deteriorating drastically" and called on the government to act. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Letta wins French backing for focus on growth Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:17 AM PDT  By James Mackenzie ROME (Reuters) - Italy's new prime minister Enrico Letta won French backing on Wednesday for calls to spur economic growth alongside budget rigor, but problems lay closer to home with coalition partners demanding tax cuts that would blow a hole in the budget. Letta, who took his message to Berlin on Tuesday, met French President Francois Hollande and said he was "100 percent satisfied" with the meeting and Hollande's response to his calls for Europe to start focusing on growth as well as consolidation. ... Full Story | Top |
| No freedom of speech in Cuba despite easier foreign travel: activist Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:05 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The Castro government's easing of foreign travel restrictions on Cubans has not led to greater freedoms on the island, a leading dissident said on Wednesday. Elizardo Sanchez said 19 opposition activists had been allowed to leave since a new exit policy was introduced on January 14. Dozens more would go in the next few weeks, he said. But the Communist government, in power since 1959, was keeping strict control on dissident voices at home, he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| What could U.N. sleuths unearth at Iran's Parchin base? Wednesday, May 01, 2013 10:01 AM PDT  By Fredrik Dahl SEIBERSDORF, Austria (Reuters) - The self-styled "Sherlock Holmeses" of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, now seeking access to a major Iranian base, say they have the capability to find tiny traces of atomic material at a site even if a country were to try to cover it up. In talks later this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency will once again press Tehran to allow its inspectors to visit Iran's sprawling Parchin military complex. That would enable them to bring back swab samples for thorough checks at the IAEA's high-tech laboratory near Vienna. ... Full Story | Top |
| Leaked video undermines Turkmen leader's superhero image Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:40 AM PDT  ASHGABAT (Reuters) - Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov wields almost absolute power in his secretive Central Asian state, but even he could not prevent footage being leaked that shows him falling head-first off a speeding horse. State media on Monday showed Berdymukhamedov, wearing a traditional white "telpek" sheepskin hat and crimson caftan, riding his horse to a victory - and an $11-million prize - that took his strongman personality cult to a new dimension. ... Full Story | Top |
| Five-year-old boy accidentally kills sister with his own rifle Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:37 AM PDT By Tim Ghianni NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) - A 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother with a rifle he received as a birthday gift, Kentucky authorities said on Wednesday. The shooting occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Burkesville, Kentucky, a community in the south-central part of the state, when the boy was playing with the .22-caliber rifle and accidentally shot his sister in the chest, state police said. The boy had received the Crickett "youth model" gun for his birthday in November, Cumberland County Coroner Gary White said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Prosecutors add third executive to Alstom bribery case Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:37 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A third executive of the U.S. arm of French power and transport engineering company Alstom has been charged with taking part in a scheme to pay bribes in Indonesia, U.S. authorities said on Wednesday. William Pomponi, a former vice president of sales for the U.S. company, was charged in federal court in Connecticut late on Tuesday, the Justice Department said. The charges come two weeks after prosecutors charged two other executives of the company - one current and one former - with taking part in the scheme. ... Full Story | Top |
| Classmates of Boston bombing suspect detained: source Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:26 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the three people taken into custody on Wednesday in the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings were college classmates of suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who may have thrown away a knapsack at Tsarnaev's request, a law enforcement source said. Both are citizens of Kazakhstan who previously had been held by U.S. immigration officials on suspicion of violating terms of their visas, said the source, who was briefed on the investigation but unauthorized to be identified publicly because the information was under court seal. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy investigates racist slurs against first black minister Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:22 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government ordered an investigation on Wednesday into slurs on right-wing websites against the country's first black minister, a case that has put Italy's racial problems back in the spotlight. Cecile Kyenge, an eye doctor and Congo-born Italian citizen, was named integration minister in the new government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta last Saturday. She is one of seven women in the government. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thousands rally against European austerity on May Day Wednesday, May 01, 2013 09:18 AM PDT By Clare Kane MADRID (Reuters) - Workers hit by lower living standards and record high unemployment staged May Day protests across Europe on Wednesday, hoping to persuade their governments of the case for easing austerity measures and boosting growth. In the debt-laden euro zone countries of Spain, Greece, Italy and France tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand jobs and an end to years of belt-tightening. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police, May Day protesters clash in Istanbul Wednesday, May 01, 2013 08:59 AM PDT By Murad Sezer ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish riot police in Istanbul fired water cannons and teargas on Wednesday to disperse tens of thousands of May Day protesters, some of whom threw stones at security forces as they tried to breach barricades to reach the city's main square. The city's governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, said 22 police officers and three civilians were wounded in the clashes. Roughly half of Istanbul's 40,000-strong police force was drafted in to the center of the city to block access to Taksim Square, earlier placed off limits by authorities to a march organized by trade unions. ... Full Story | Top |
| On May Day, Cuba remembers 'best friend' Chavez Wednesday, May 01, 2013 08:59 AM PDT By Jeff Franks HAVANA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Cubans filed through Havana's Revolution Square on Wednesday in a May Day parade that paid tribute to Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan leader who was the Caribbean island's top ally and benefactor before his death from cancer in March. A sea of workers, many wearing red shirts like those favored by Chavez and carrying signs with his image, paraded past a giant statue of 19th century Cuban independence hero Jose Marti in the vast square where Cuba holds its biggest political rallies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Famed German sports manager regrets 'foolish' tax evasion scandal Wednesday, May 01, 2013 08:55 AM PDT  By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - German soccer great Uli Hoeness said on Wednesday he made "a foolish mistake" by evading taxes, a scandal that has hurt his friend Chancellor Angela Merkel in her re-election bid, but hoped his decision to come clean would help repair the damage. In an interview with the online edition of the Die Zeit weekly, Hoeness said he felt suddenly ostracized by a German society that until recently admired him for building Bayern Munich into a soccer dynasty. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Britain to quiz Google and auditor again on tax Wednesday, May 01, 2013 08:44 AM PDT  By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - Executives from Google Inc. and its auditor Ernst & Young will be called again to a British parliament committee to testify on tax, after a Reuters investigation highlighted inconsistencies in the way Google portrays its activities in Britain, the committee's chairwoman told Reuters. Margaret Hodge, head of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is tasked with ensuring value in government financial affairs, said she would summon the companies' representatives to explain previous comments to the committee in light of the report. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. presses China to stop growing trade secret theft Wednesday, May 01, 2013 08:35 AM PDT  By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Trade Representative's office criticized China on Wednesday for failing to stop the growing theft of American trade secrets that are the lifeblood of U.S. economic might, in the latest sign of Washington's frustration with the problem. "Not only are repeated thefts occurring inside China, but also outside of China for the benefit of Chinese entities," USTR said in its annual report on countries with the worst records of protecting U.S. intellectual property rights. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congressional committee calls hearing on Boston bombings Wednesday, May 01, 2013 08:19 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on May 9 to examine the deadly Boston marathon bombings and their impact on national security. Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, Massachusetts Undersecretary for Homeland Security Director Kurt Schwartz and U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman have been asked to testify. The committee will hold a series of hearings examining the events leading up to last month's attack, which killed three people and injured 264, as well as the reaction by law enforcement. ... Full Story | Top |
| For poor Bulgarians, anywhere else is a better bet Wednesday, May 01, 2013 07:58 AM PDT  By Tsvetelia Tsolova VRATSA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - The factories of Vratsa that once fed Bulgaria's chemical and metallurgical industries and provided jobs are abandoned now. Crumbling buildings and pitted roads add to the city's gloomy air. For people like Alexander Angelov, 27, work is hard to find and his thoughts are turning to trying his luck abroad, as many Bulgarians have before him. The northwestern city, in the poorest part of the European Union's poorest country, is a microcosm of the challenges facing whoever wins a national election on May 12. ... Full Story | Top |
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