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| U.S. energy companies seen at risk from cyber attacks: CFR report Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 09:10 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas operations are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks that can harm the competitiveness of energy companies or lead to costly outages at pipelines, refineries or drilling platforms, a report said on Wednesday. The energy business, including oil and gas producers, was hit by more targeted malware attacks from April to September last year than any other industry, said the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report, citing data from a Houston-based security company, Alert Logic. ... Full Story | Top |
| Australia opposition says top priority to dump mine, carbon taxes Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 08:43 PM PDT By Rob Taylor CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's conservative opposition said its top priority if it wins elections in September will be to repeal taxes on mining profits and carbon, blaming both policies for stopping fresh investment in the vital resources sector. Prime Minister Julia Gillard's Labor government introduced a fixed carbon price about a year ago in a country with one of the world's highest per capita levels of carbon emissions, with plans to transition to emissions trading from 2015. ... Full Story | Top |
| Democratic Rep. Markey tops Republican in Massachusetts Senate race Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 08:09 PM PDT  By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Veteran Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts on Tuesday won the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Kerry and helped Democrats maintain their majority in the chamber. Markey, 66, claimed victory in a post on his official campaign Twitter page, saying: "Thank you Massachusetts! I am deeply honored for the opportunity to serve you in the United States Senate." Local cable news station NECN said Markey secured 55 percent of the vote with 99 percent of districts reporting. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mexico arrests ex-governor accused of embezzlement Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 07:01 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico on Tuesday arrested former state governor Andres Granier, who has been accused of embezzling millions of pesos of public money in a scandal that will test the new president's promise to crack down on corruption. Granier, who was governor of Mexico's southern Tabasco state until his term ended in December and is a member of President Enrique Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was released from a Mexico City hospital into the custody of state prosecutors, said a legal source with knowledge of the situation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Schwab wins $2.75 million arbitration award from jailed former adviser Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 07:00 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former financial planner, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for stealing from clients, has been ordered to pay Charles Schwab Corp $2.75 million by an arbitration panel. The case began with a claim against Schwab brought by the father-in-law of Matthew Weitzman, the imprisoned adviser who was a former principal at AFW Asset Management in the New York City suburb of Purchase, NY. Burton Langer, the father-in-law, accused Schwab of unauthorized transfers of securities, and requested damages of $8. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma executes man for killing girlfriend's mother Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 06:56 PM PDT By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma executed a man on Tuesday convicted of raping and stabbing his girlfriend's mother to death during a late night fight in 2001, a state corrections department spokesman said. Brian Darrell Davis, 38, was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. CDT (7.25 p.m. EDT) after a lethal injection at a state prison in McAlester, said Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. He was the second Oklahoma inmate executed in two weeks and the third in 2013. ... Full Story | Top |
| UC Regents, San Diego governments launch LIBOR lawsuit Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 06:51 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Regents of the University of California and the San Diego Association of Governments filed lawsuits in federal courts on Tuesday against more than 20 current and former financial institutions, alleging that they manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate. The suits allege financial damages linked to deception regarding the benchmark LIBOR interest rate, said Nanci Nishimura, a partner at the law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy working both lawsuits. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin rules out handing Snowden over to United States Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 06:30 PM PDT  By Alexei Anishchuk and Thomas Grove MOSCOW/NAANTALI, Finland (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday a former U.S. spy agency contractor sought by the United States was in the transit area of a Moscow airport but ruled out handing him to Washington, dismissing U.S. criticisms as "ravings and rubbish". In his first public comments since Edward Snowden flew in on Sunday, Putin appeared to make light of the diplomatic uproar over the fugitive, whose flight from U.S. authorities is becoming a growing embarrassment for President Barack Obama. ... Full Story | Top |
| Michael Jackson's son to testify in singer's wrongful death trial Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 06:30 PM PDT  By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prince Jackson, the eldest son of late pop star Michael Jackson, is expected to testify on Wednesday in the wrongful death suit filed by his family against concert promoter AEG Live, a Jackson family attorney said. Lawyers for the Jackson family will call Prince Jackson, 16, to the stand four years and one day after the King of Pop died from a drug overdose, attorney Perry Sanders said on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| In the South, civil rights groups dismayed by Supreme Court ruling on voter rights Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 06:14 PM PDT By Verna Gates BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Civil rights groups across the South expressed bitter disappointment on Tuesday over a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and urged Congress to pass a new law to prevent possible voter discrimination. "The Supreme Court has given license and permission to go full speed ahead in the prevention of voter registration of African-Americans and Latinos," said Scott Douglas, executive director of Greater Birmingham Ministries in Alabama. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rousseff's referendum plan for Brazil runs into trouble Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:44 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's bid to defuse a sudden outburst of national discontent by proposing a referendum on political reforms ran into stiff opposition on Tuesday from politicians and lawyers who questioned its legality. Tens of thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets this month in the biggest protests in 20 years, fueled by an array of grievances ranging from poor public services to the high cost of World Cup soccer stadiums and corruption. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rivals read what they want in Obama Keystone remarks Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:35 PM PDT By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama weighed in on the Keystone XL pipeline controversy on Tuesday, his comments became a kind of Rorschach inkblot test for rival lobbies, reflecting their wishes for the fate of the long-delayed project. The pipeline, designed to carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the Canadian oil sands and the Bakken shale in North Dakota and Montana south to Texas refineries, was first proposed in 2008, but approval has been delayed several times due to a groundswell of criticism. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama takes on power plants as part of new climate plan Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:35 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama tried to revive his stalled climate change agenda on Tuesday, promising new rules to cut carbon emissions from U.S. power plants and other domestic actions including support for renewable energy. Obama also signaled he would block construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada if it contributed to climate change. That does not mean the project is doomed, however. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Karzai 'reaffirm' Afghan-led peace process with Taliban: White House Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:30 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday discussed stalled peace talks with the Taliban as U.S. officials struggled to get the discussions on track. A White House statement said Obama and Karzai held a video conference call in which they also talked about U.S. and Afghan plans for the handover of security to Afghan forces as U.S. troops seek to exit by the end of 2014. A brazen assault by Taliban militants on Tuesday cast doubt on attempts at peace talks. ... Full Story | Top |
| The 'Snowden Effect': U.S. spies say militants change tactics Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:25 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball, Matt Spetalnick and Peter Apps WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even as U.S. intelligence agencies and their global partners assess potential damage from Edward Snowden's disclosures about surveillance programs, militants have begun responding by altering methods of communication, a change that could make it harder to foil attacks, U.S. officials say. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: U.S. chief justice realizes longstanding vision in voting-rights case Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:22 PM PDT  By Joan Biskupic WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For an often enigmatic figure at the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts spoke to the essence of his legal philosophy on Tuesday in eliminating a voting-rights provision enacted to protect blacks and other minorities. His opinion for the court marks the culmination of an effort by conservatives, many of whom, like Roberts, cut their teeth in the Ronald Reagan administration, to ensure that federal voting requirements on the states be limited and race-based rules fade in contemporary America. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida jury sees crime scene photos, gun in Martin murder case Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:09 PM PDT  By Tom Brown and Barbara Liston SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - Florida jurors on Tuesday saw the gun that neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman used to shoot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin and graphic pictures of Martin's body as prosecutors pressed for Zimmerman's murder conviction. The pictures shown to the six-member, all-female jury included a close-up of the bullet hole in 17-year-old Martin's chest which prompted his father, Tracy Martin, to abandon the courtroom overcome with emotion. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Britain's bankers look forward to Carney era Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 05:04 PM PDT  By William Schomberg and Louise Egan LONDON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - To many in the City of London financial centre, incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney looks and sounds like one of them. His instincts for finance were shaped at the outset by 13 years working for Goldman Sachs - a contrast with his predecessor Mervyn King, an academic economist. King, like many in the country, has barely disguised his disdain for bankers. Britain's banks helped bring the $2.5 trillion economy to its knees by racking up risky bets that forced the government to bail them out when the financial crisis ... Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma executes man convicted of killing girlfriend's mother Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:58 PM PDT OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma executed a man on Tuesday convicted of raping and stabbing his girlfriend's mother to death during a late night fight in 2001, a state corrections department spokesman said. Brian Darrell Davis, 38, was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. CDT (2325 GMT) after a lethal injection at a state prison in McAlester, said Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. He was the second man executed in Oklahoma in as many weeks and the third in 2013. ... Full Story | Top |
| Missouri governor vetoes bill aimed at restricting union dues Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:45 PM PDT  By Kevin Murphy KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Missouri Democratic Governor Jay Nixon on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would force unions in the state to get written permission before withholding dues from paychecks of public employees. Approved by the Republican-dominated state House and Senate, the bill also would require member consent before union dues could be used for political purposes. The governor could be overruled by a two-thirds vote of both legislative chambers when they next meet in September. The bill passed the Missouri Senate 24-10, but the vote was closer in the House, 85-69. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Republican says IRS awarded 'inappropriate' contracts Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:40 PM PDT  By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Virginia company inappropriately secured contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service based on false statements and personal ties to an IRS official, the top Republican investigator in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Tuesday. A report issued by Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa of California said the IRS, which is embroiled in a series of unrelated controversies, awarded the contracts to computer networking and security company Strong Castle Inc. ... Full Story | Top |
| WikiLeaks soldier's court-martial wrestles online evidence rules Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:37 PM PDT  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The trial of a U.S. soldier accused of providing classified materials to WikiLeaks is unique for the size of the leak and also faces the unresolved cyber-age issue of whether Tweets and Web pages can be admitted as evidence. Judge Colonel Denise Lind was left to wrestle with this question when the court-martial of Private First Class Bradley Manning, who is accused of the largest leak of classified material in U.S. history, last convened a week ago. Manning's attorneys had argued that Twitter postings offered by prosecutors did not meet evidence standards. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House threatens to veto proposed USDA funding bill Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:30 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House threatened on Tuesday to veto the agricultural funding bill awaiting debate in the House, saying it would weaken regulation of the futures market and might force the furlough of meat inspectors, shutting down meat processing plants. The White House said in a statement that the bill provides too little money for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the futures industry. While the administration had requested $315 million for the CFTC, the House bill would allow $195 million, down $10 million from this fiscal year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Australian spy bosses brief government on possible Asian fallout over Snowden: report Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:21 PM PDT  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's main intelligence and spying agencies have briefed the government on the PRISM internet surveillance program amid fears former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden may release information damaging to Australia's relations with Asian neighbors, local media reported on Wednesday. Canberra, a close U.S. ally, shares intelligence with Washington and is a member of the 'Five Eyes" global security and surveillance network, along with New Zealand, Britain and Canada. ... Full Story | Top |
| Army to eliminate 10 brigades at U.S. bases in drawdown: Odierno Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:17 PM PDT  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army said on Tuesday it would eliminate 10 brigade combat teams at bases across the United States and cancel some $400 million in construction projects as it cuts about 80,000 soldiers over the next four years. General Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the move was part of the largest organizational change in the Army since World War Two as the service winds down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and responds to tighter U.S. budgets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas Democrat tries to block abortion restrictions with 12-hour filibuster Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:14 PM PDT  By Corrie MacLaggan AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas lawmaker who was a single mother at the age of 19 and is now a rising star of the state Democratic party was attempting to block a Republican drive for sweeping new abortion restrictions on Wednesday by speaking continuously for 12 hours. The filibuster by state Senator Wendy Davis, 50, could derail a proposal including a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. She must talk until midnight (0500 GMT), when a 30-day special session expires. ... Full Story | Top |
| Heart disease deaths show dramatic decline in Europe Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:07 PM PDT By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - The number of people dying from heart disease in Europe has dropped dramatically in recent decades, thanks largely to the success of cholesterol-lowering drugs and drives to persuade people to quit smoking, scientists said on Wednesday. Cardiovascular disease death rates have more than halved in many countries in the European Union since the early 1980s, according to their study in the European Heart Journal. ... Full Story | Top |
| NSA director gives pep talk to employees Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 04:00 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander on Tuesday sought to reassure his employees that the outcry over surveillance programs leaked by Edward Snowden was not directed at them and that agency leaders would "take the heat." In a statement to agency employees, which are rarely made public, Alexander said the surveillance programs helped disrupt terrorist plots in the United States and over 20 countries. "The ongoing national dialogue is not about your performance," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama plan offers help to U.S. cities on climate's front lines Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:59 PM PDT  By Environment Correspondent Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's climate plan on Tuesday offered help to U.S. cities dealing with natural disasters and specifically for the region slammed by massive Superstorm Sandy in October. For Dawn Zimmer, mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey the plan came not a moment too soon. Hoboken, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, was in the bull's eye of Sandy last October, when storm surges flooded 80 percent of the city, causing $100 million in property damage to 1,700 homes and hundreds of businesses. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republicans blast Obama over Snowden as case turns partisan Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:55 PM PDT By Patricia Zengerle and Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican lawmakers criticized the Obama administration's handling of the Edward Snowden case on Tuesday, calling President Barack Obama weak for failing to persuade Russia and China to return the fugitive intelligence contractor to the United States. Snowden's weekend departure from Hong Kong to Moscow angered and frustrated members of Congress, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday that Snowden was at a Moscow airport. He ruled out handing him over, dismissing U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawmakers to weigh rights of IRS official in Tea Party fracas Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:53 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representative's investigatory committee will vote on Friday on the legal future of an embattled tax agency official at the center of the Tea Party targeting scandal, who invoked her constitutional right not to testify last month. At a May 22 House Oversight and Government Reform hearing, Lois Lerner, the former head of the Internal Revenue Service's tax-exempt division, invoked her constitutional right not to answer lawmakers' questions. But by reading a statement before refusing to testify, some Republicans said Lerner waived her rights. ... Full Story | Top |
| Argentina asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear debt appeal Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:16 PM PDT  By Nate Raymond and Guido Nejamkis NEW YORK/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina has taken its legal battle with "holdout" creditors to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking that body to overturn a lower court ruling in a case whose outcome could push the country into default. The country is seeking to void an October 2012 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that found it had violated a clause in its bond documents requiring it to treat creditors equally. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. court to hear oral arguments in net neutrality case on September 9 Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:13 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal appeals court in Washington on Tuesday set September 9 as the date for oral arguments in the so-called net neutrality case that could be seminal for federal regulation of Internet traffic. The highly anticipated hearings, originally expected to take place this past spring, will pit Verizon Communications Inc against the Federal Communications Commission as the biggest U.S. wireless provider challenges the FCC's order that guides how Internet service providers manage their networks. The ruling of the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: How debt woes brought Batista's Brazil empire to the brink Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:13 PM PDT  By Jeb Blount SAO JOÃO DA BARRA, Brazil (Reuters) - As Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista's EBX industrial empire crumbles, it increasingly resembles his most visible accomplishment, the Port of Açu. In other words, a pile of sand in the middle of a swamp. To build the $2 billion iron ore and oil terminal, shipyard and industrial park 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, the world's largest dredging ship cut through the beach and dug 13 kilometers (8 miles) of docks out of dune and marsh. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. program to build houses in Haiti falls short, report finds Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:11 PM PDT  MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. government program to build housing in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake will only construct one-sixth of the homes intended because of poor planning, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released Tuesday. Plans by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to build housing in Haiti after the earthquake were slashed due to "faulty and inaccurate cost estimates," bringing down the number of new homes from 15,000 originally to 2,649. ... Full Story | Top |
| Regulators seek flexibility from private student loan lenders Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:07 PM PDT By Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regulators on Tuesday called on private student loan lenders to offer more flexible repayment terms to borrowers at a time when many are struggling to pay off their debt. Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, federal regulators said private student loans constitute a small portion of overall student debt, but many people are struggling to repay their loans and delinquency rates for such loans are high. "It's absolutely important that we address the large population of existing private loan borrowers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trade, investment seen as major focus of Obama's Africa trip Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:03 PM PDT  By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leveraging the power of the huge U.S. market to spur increased trade and investment with Africa will be a major focus of President Barack Obama's trip to the continent this week, U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman said on Tuesday. "Much of what the president will be doing on this trip - from meeting with jurists about the rule of law and governance to conferring with leaders about some of Africa's key security challenges - is tied back to trade and investment as key drivers of Africa's economic growth story," Froman said in a speech. ... Full Story | Top |
| Singer Chris Brown charged in hit-and-run traffic accident Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 03:01 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown, on probation for beating his former girlfriend, was charged on Tuesday with a hit-and-run and driving without a valid license in connection with a May 21 traffic accident in Los Angeles. Brown, 24, allegedly rear-ended another car and faces up to six months in jail on each misdemeanor charge, L.A. City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. He will be arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 15, Mateljan said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republican Senator Rubio shifts tone on U.S. immigration bill Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 02:54 PM PDT  By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Marco Rubio, shifting his tone on the U.S. immigration bill he helped to write, said on Tuesday he is now fully satisfied that the measure will do what it takes to secure the southern border with Mexico. Rubio, a potential presidential contender and the most high-profile Republican backer of immigration reform, had irked supporters of the sweeping Senate immigration bill with public comments in which he consistently said the legislation was not tough enough on border enforcement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clinic challenges toughest-in-the-nation North Dakota abortion law Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013 02:31 PM PDT By Dave Thompson BISMARCK, North Dakota (Reuters) - North Dakota's only abortion clinic on Tuesday filed a federal challenge to a new state law, the most restrictive in the country, one that would ban procedures to end pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks. The Red River Women's Clinic said that banning abortions so early, before many women even knew they were pregnant, would bar nearly 90 percent of the abortions it performs. ... Full Story | Top |
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