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| Colorado medical pot system lacks oversight, plagued by money woes Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 06:54 PM PDT  By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - The agency charged with regulating Colorado's medical marijuana industry has not adequately defined its mission, squandered money on capital projects and underreported tax revenues, state auditors said in a scathing report released on Tuesday. The Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, a division of Colorado's Department of Revenue, failed to follow the framework laid out by the state legislature when lawmakers approved the program in 2010, auditors said in the 96-page report. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma lawmakers pass horse slaughter bill Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 06:45 PM PDT  By Steve Olafson OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday that will allow horses to be slaughtered in the state for human consumption in other countries. The state Senate passed the measure in a 32-14 vote, sending it to Republican Governor Mary Fallin who is expected to sign it into law. Fallin's office did not return requests for comment. The bill became an emotional issue, pitting the United States Humane Society and animal rights activists against livestock interests led by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization. ... Full Story | Top |
| Knox, Sollecito to face Italy retrial in Kercher murder Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:32 PM PDT  By Virginia Alimenti and Catherine Hornby ROME (Reuters) - Italy's top court on Tuesday ordered a retrial of American Amanda Knox and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, re-opening a case that prompted harsh criticism of the Italian justice system. Kercher's half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, where both were studying during a year abroad in 2007. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Knox case could pit extradition treaty against U.S. Constitution Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:25 PM PDT By Terry Baynes NEW YORK (Reuters) - The possibility that American Amanda Knox could be convicted of murder and extradited to Italy for punishment could force U.S. courts to enter legal territory that is largely uncharted, legal experts said. Italy's top court on Tuesday ordered the retrial of Knox, 25, for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher. The move potentially pits a U.S. constitutional ban on double jeopardy, or being tried twice for the same offense after an acquittal, against international extradition agreements, experts said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police on alert after white group vows patrols in Maryland Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:22 PM PDT By Medina Roshan ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (Reuters) - Police at Maryland's Towson University will increase their campus presence at night, the university said on Tuesday, after a group calling itself the White Student Union promised its own patrols to curb what it sees as rising black-on-white crime. The White Student Union has been drawing attention since one of its members defended segregation during a panel discussion earlier this month at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an influential forum in Republican Party politics. ... Full Story | Top |
| European Union in "denial" that sick economy costs lives, health experts say Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:09 PM PDT By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's financial crisis is costing lives, with suicides and infectious diseases on the rise, yet politicians are not addressing the problem, health experts said on Wednesday. Deep budget cuts and growing unemployment are tipping more people into depression, and falling incomes mean fewer people can see their doctors or afford to buy medicines. ... Full Story | Top |
| UK says efficiency steps to cut 11 percent from power bill rise by 2020 Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:03 PM PDT  By Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government said household energy bills were headed for an 18 percent increase by 2020 but its policies promoting domestic energy efficiency, including its so-called Green Deal, would make the rise significantly smaller. The average British household could face an energy bill of 1,496 pounds per year by 2020, according to a report published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Wednesday, up from the 1,267 pounds it expects homes to pay this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Swedish scientist to head U.N. Syria chemical weapons probe Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 05:00 PM PDT By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom to head a U.N. investigation into allegations that chemical weapons were used in Syria, Ban's spokesman said on Tuesday. "He is an accomplished scientist with a solid background in disarmament and international security," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Some healthcare costs may rise when "Obamacare" implemented: official Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 04:25 PM PDT By Jeff Mason and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top healthcare adviser acknowledged on Tuesday that costs could rise in the individual health insurance market, particularly for men and younger people, because of the landmark 2010 healthcare restructuring due to take effect next year. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said definitive data on costs will not be available until later this year when private health plans become authorized to sell federally subsidized coverage on new state-based online marketplaces, known as exchanges. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenya to hear petition challenging Kenyatta's vote win Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 04:07 PM PDT  By James Macharia and Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's Supreme Court hears a petition on Wednesday challenging the victory by Uhuru Kenyatta in this month's presidential election, a case that will test Kenyan democracy five years after a disputed vote ignited tribal violence. Peaceful voting on March 4 went a long way to restoring Kenya's reputation as one of Africa's more stable democracies, reinforced when losing candidate Raila Odinga took his challenge to court rather than letting it play out on the streets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama appoints first woman Secret Service director Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 04:02 PM PDT  By Tabassum Zakaria and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday chose veteran agent Julia Pierson as Secret Service director, the first woman to lead the male-dominated agency, a year after its reputation was tarnished by a scandal involving agents and prostitutes in Colombia. Pierson will replace Mark Sullivan, who retired in February and was in charge during the Colombia scandal - one of the worst in the agency's history. ... Full Story | Top |
| Guinea opposition abandons vote talks, threatens protests Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 04:01 PM PDT By Saliou Samb and Bate Felix CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea's opposition leaders on Tuesday abandoned talks with the government and threatened to resume street protests, accusing the president's camp of disrespecting the terms of a planned dialogue over election preparations. Earlier this month, opposition leaders accepted to take part in talks with the government following two weeks of sporadic protest that killed eight and wounded hundreds more in the world's top bauxite-producing nation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Red Cross moves up Guantanamo visit because of hunger strike Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 03:56 PM PDT  By Jane Sutton MIAMI (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross sent a doctor and another delegate to the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo a week earlier than planned because of concern about a growing hunger strike among detainees, an ICRC spokesman said on Tuesday. About a dozen ICRC representatives were scheduled to make a regular two-week visit to the detention camp on April 1, ICRC spokesman Simon Schorno said. "Because of the current tensions and hunger strike we decided to send a couple of delegates to the island starting this week," Schorno said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyprus readies capital controls to avert bank run Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 03:50 PM PDT  By Michele Kambas and Costas Pitas NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus is expected to complete capital control measures on Wednesday to prevent a run on the banks by depositors anxious about their savings after the country agreed a painful rescue package with international lenders. Cypriots have taken to the streets of Nicosia in their thousands to protest at a bailout deal that they fear will push their country into an economic slump and cost many their jobs. European leaders said the deal averted a chaotic national bankruptcy that might have forced Cyprus out of the euro. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three more charged in insider trading probe Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 03:31 PM PDT By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges on Tuesday against three new defendants in the government's broad-based insider trading probe. Authorities said David Riley, a former chief information officer at Foundry Networks Inc, leaked tips about the company's pending $3 billion takeover in 2008 by Brocade Communications Systems Inc , to hedge fund analyst Matthew Teeple. The government said Teeple then tipped others, resulting in trades that led to more than $27 million in profits and avoided losses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Too soon to draw financial-stability lessons from Cyprus: U.S. official Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 03:25 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top U.S. regulator said on Tuesday that it was too soon to draw conclusions on financial stability from the bailout of Cyprus, which rattled markets globally over the last week. It is still "early days," Richard Berner, the newly appointed director of the U.S. Treasury's Office of Financial Research, said when asked what lessons the United States might learn. (Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Paul Simao) Full Story | Top |
| In snub to Assad, opposition takes Syria's Arab summit seat Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 03:12 PM PDT  By Sami Aboudi and Yara Bayoumy DOHA (Reuters) - To applause from Arab heads of state, a foe of Bashar al-Assad took Syria's vacant seat at an Arab summit on Tuesday, deepening the president's diplomatic isolation and diverting attention from rifts among his opponents. Speaking at an annual gathering of Arab leaders in the Gulf state of Qatar, Moaz Alkhatib said he had asked U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for American forces to help defend rebel-controlled northern parts of Syria with Patriot surface-to-air missiles now based in Turkey. NATO swiftly rebuffed the idea. ... Full Story | Top |
| Outside U.S. Supreme Court, another kind of gay marriage debate Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 03:11 PM PDT By Joseph Ax and Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the U.S. Supreme Court began deliberations Tuesday on California's gay marriage ban, thousands of protesters outside staged their own version of oral arguments, underscoring the social and political tensions at stake. Gay marriage opponents paraded past the Supreme Court building as part of the March for Marriage, while gay marriage advocates held a rally at the steps of the white-columned high court. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: History casts doubt on bold Japan economic reform Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:51 PM PDT  By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - If past is precedent, optimists hoping Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will defy vested interests to take bold action to open the country to more competition as a way to spur growth could well be in for disappointment. Japan's list of reports urging reforms date back almost three decades and have rarely led to the bold action that critics say is needed to dig the economy out of stagnation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court to weigh IRS penalties on alleged tax dodges Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:49 PM PDT By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service's practice of slapping steep, 40-percent penalties on participants in certain alleged tax shelters will soon come to trial before the Supreme Court. Though it rarely hears tax matters, the court has decided to weigh in on a case involving Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs, a former owner of professional sports teams. The court's decision, not expected until June 2014, will likely have implications beyond McCombs' case, tax lawyers said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Supreme Court seems poised to avoid same-sex marriage tide Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By Joan Biskupic WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For nearly four years, proponents of same-sex marriage have been strategically building a test case aimed at convincing the conservative-leaning Supreme Court to declare that gay marriage is a constitutional right. The advocates felt they were ready. But on Tuesday, after an intense, wide-ranging hearing, it appeared the justices were not. Over the course of the 80-minute session, it seemed that for the array of gay rights supporters across the country, neither their greatest hopes nor worst fears would be realized. ... Full Story | Top |
| Monsanto, DuPont strike $1.75 billion licensing deal, end lawsuits Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:40 PM PDT  By Carey Gillam (Reuters) - DuPont Co will pay Monsanto Co at least $1.75 billion in a new licensing deal and both companies have agreed to dissolve their bitter legal battles over rights to technology for genetically modified seeds, the world's top seed companies said on Tuesday. The companies agreed to drop antitrust and patent claims against each other while forging the new collaboration, and agreed to toss out a $1 billion jury verdict DuPont was ordered to pay Monsanto last August. Separately, DuPont will make at least $1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Little hope seen for millions priced out of health overhaul Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:39 PM PDT  By Tom Brown MIAMI (Reuters) - Millions of Americans will be priced out of health insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul because of a glitch in the law that adversely affects people with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by their employers, a leading healthcare advocacy group said on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| What's at stake in U.N. arms trade treaty negotiations? Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:28 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Members of the United Nations are in the final days of negotiations on what could become the first international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade. The treaty drafting conference at the U.N.'s headquarters in New York City will continue through Thursday. A new draft text was circulated to the states participating in the conference last Friday, which rights groups criticized as disappointing. Following are questions and answers about the arms treaty conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N.'s Ban recommends African troops in Mali become peacekeepers Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:23 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - An African force currently in Mali should be converted into a U.N. peacekeeping operation and a separate combat force should be created to confront Islamist threats, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended to the Security Council on Tuesday. The U.N.-backed African force in Mali is due to take over from France when it starts withdrawing its 4,000 troops from the country in late April. In a report to the 15-member Security Council, Ban recommended that the African force, known as AFISMA, become a U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arizona gun store cancels assault rifle sale to Giffords' husband Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:07 PM PDT  By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona gun store owner has canceled the sale of an assault rifle to the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, after discovering that he made the purchase to highlight the need for gun control. Doug MacKinlay, owner of Diamondback Police Supply, said he sent Mark Kelly a refund last week on the AR-15 type weapon after learning the purchase was not for personal use but meant to highlight the need for gun control. ... Full Story | Top |
| GM cuts workers at Brazil factory on productivity concerns Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 02:01 PM PDT  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - General Motors Co cut 598 workers on Tuesday at a plant in Sao Paulo state where the automaker has drawn political fire for attempts to shut down what it calls an uncompetitive assembly line. The decision followed talks with union officials in January, in which GM agreed to invest about $249 million and keep the assembly line, which makes its 10-year-old Classic sedan, operating at its Sao Jose dos Campos plant. The line, which had about 1,800 workers before the layoffs, will continue to operate at least until the end of the year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nigerian police say British businessman kidnapped in Lagos Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:57 PM PDT LAGOS (Reuters) - A British businessman has been abducted from an upmarket district of Lagos, Nigerian police said on Tuesday, a rare case of an expatriate being taken hostage in Nigeria's main commercial city. Kidnapping of expatriates by armed gangs seeking ransom money has been rife over the years in Nigeria's oil producing southeast, but in Lagos victims have usually been locals. Police spokesman Frank Mba said reports indicated the man was abducted at about 11 p.m. ... Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court wary of broad gay marriage ruling Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:50 PM PDT  By Lawrence Hurley and David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court signaled reluctance on Tuesday to rule broadly on the question of the right to marriage for gays and lesbians as the justices heard arguments on same-sex marriage for the first time. As thousands of demonstrators on both sides of America's long-standing gay rights divide rallied outside, the court heard a spirited, 80-minute oral argument on whether to let stand a California ban on same-sex marriage. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed orders Citigroup to improve money laundering checks Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:48 PM PDT  By Aruna Viswanatha and David Henry (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve has ordered Citigroup Inc to better police for the risk of money laundering, part of a broad U.S. regulatory crackdown on the potential for illicit money flows. The Fed told Citigroup's board to submit a plan within 60 days to improve its oversight of companywide anti-money laundering compliance, according to a consent order dated March 21, but only made public on Tuesday. The order expands upon similar directives aimed at several Citigroup units in 2012. ... Full Story | Top |
| Delays in Poland's CIA jails case "endangering evidence" Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:44 PM PDT By Christian Lowe WARSAW (Reuters) - Delays in Poland's investigation into whether the CIA ran secret jails on its soil could have caused evidence to be lost and given security services time to cover their tracks, according to a submission to the European Court of Human Rights. Lawyers for Saudi-born Abu Zubaydah, who alleges he was held illegally by the CIA in Poland, on Tuesday submitted an application the court to hear their client's case. They argued there was no hope of him receiving fair treatment inside Poland. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factory and housing data supports growth picture Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:41 PM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S.-made goods surged last month and home prices posted their biggest year-on-year gain in six and a half years in January, the latest signs the U.S. economy regained momentum early in the first quarter. The upbeat picture was dimmed somewhat by other data on Tuesday showing a sharp drop in consumer confidence as Americans worried about the impact of tighter fiscal policy, particularly$85 billion in government budget cuts known as the "sequester. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea says ready for combat as sanctions tighten Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 01:16 PM PDT  By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea repeated threats on Tuesday to target U.S. military bases as Washington and its allies tightened economic sanctions against the isolated country by targeting Pyongyang's main foreign exchange bank with new measures. The rhetoric from North Korea - which has threatened the United States with nuclear war and rehearsed drone attacks on South Korea - and Washington's hardening reaction, drew more concern from China, Pyongyang's only major ally, which said the situation was "sensitive". ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlin Wall meets Albanian bunker to warn of perils of power Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:59 PM PDT  By Benet Koleka TIRANA (Reuters) - Albanians who resisted the policies of paranoid dictator Enver Hoxha are now trying to preserve part of his most notorious jail - to remind the country's young elite of the dangers of power. Ex-dissident Fatos Lubonja and artist Ardian Isufi have built an installation that includes a piece of the Berlin Wall, pillars from a forced labour mine, and one of 750,000 bunkers that Hoxha built against an invasion that never came. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rwanda grenade attack kills one, injures eight: police Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:39 PM PDT KIGALI (Reuters) - A grenade blast in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Tuesday killed one person and injured eight others, a police spokesman said, in an attack reminiscent of similar incidents beginning in 2010. The grenade exploded in the early evening between a bus station and a market in the Kimironko area of Kigali, the spokesman said. Police later said on their Twitter site that two suspects had been arrested. There were at least three grenade attacks last year, all in March. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arab leaders set up $1 billion Arab fund for Jerusalem Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:38 PM PDT By Sami Aboudi DOHA (Reuters) - The Arab League on Tuesday approved a Qatari proposal to set up a $1 billion fund for Arab East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of an independent state under any peace deal with Israel. Arabs say that Israeli settlement-building on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war, including Arab East Jerusalem, has made a two-state solution backed by the United States unfeasible. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Dakota governor signs "heartbeat" abortion ban Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:33 PM PDT By Dave Thompson BISMARCK, North Dakota (Reuters) - North Dakota on Tuesday adopted the most restrictive abortion law in the United States, as the governor signed a bill that bans the procedure in most cases once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks. Supporters of abortion rights said they would challenge the measure in court. Governor Jack Dalrymple on Tuesday also signed a bill that bans abortions based solely on genetic abnormalities, the first state ban of its kind, or based on the gender of the fetus. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ohio judge postpones sentencing of convicted Craigslist killer Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:26 PM PDT  By Kim Palmer AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - An Ohio judge on Tuesday postponed the sentencing of Richard Beasley, the former street preacher found guilty earlier this month of murdering down-on-their-luck men who responded to an ad on Craigslist for a non-existent job. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Lynne Callahan set a new sentencing date for Thursday, April 4, at 10 a.m. The delay was necessary because defense attorney James Burdon was ill, Callahan said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Linux users file EU complaint against Microsoft Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:19 PM PDT  By Sarah Morris MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish association representing open-source software users has filed a complaint against Microsoft Corp to the European Commission, in a new challenge to the Windows developer following a hefty fine earlier this month. The 8,000-member Hispalinux, which represents users and developers of the Linux operating system in Spain, said Microsoft had made it difficult for users of computers sold with its Windows 8 platform to switch to Linux and other operating systems. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt activist released in case that raises fears for democracy Tuesday, Mar 26, 2013 12:18 PM PDT  By Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - A prominent Egyptian political activist accused of inciting violence against President Mohamed Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood was released without bail on Tuesday after he turned himself in for questioning, the prosecutor general's office said. Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a blogger who became a symbol of the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak in 2011, was among five activists the prosecutor general ordered on Monday be arrested - a step the opposition decried as a reversal for democracy. ... Full Story | Top |
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