| | |
| Fading signals add urgency to search for missing jet Friday, Apr 11, 2014 09:08 PM PDT  By Swati Pandey and Ben Blanchard PERTH/BEIJING (Reuters) - The search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner resumed on Saturday, five weeks after the plane disappeared from radar screens, amid fears that batteries powering signals from the black box recorder on board were about to die. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said signals picked up during the search in the remote southern Indian Ocean, believed to be "pings" from the black box recorders, were "rapidly fading". "While we do have a high degree of confidence that the transmissions that we've been picking up are from flight MH370's black box recorder, no one would underestimate the difficulties of the task still ahead of us," Abbott told a news conference in Beijing. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared soon after taking off on March 8 from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, triggering a multinational search that is now focused on the Indian Ocean. Full Story | Top |
| Militia members, ultra-conservatives rally to cause of Nevada rancher Friday, Apr 11, 2014 08:08 PM PDT  Self-styled militia members and ultra-conservatives rallied on Friday to the cause of a defiant rancher accused by the U.S. government of illegally grazing his cattle for decades on public lands in the southern Nevada desert. The showdown between rancher Cliven Bundy and U.S. land managers has brought a team of armed federal rangers to Nevada to seize his 1,000 head of cattle in an unusual roundup that has become a flashpoint for anti-government groups, right-wing politicians and gun-rights activists. Bob Diehl, head of a group calling itself the Southern Nevada Militia, based in Mesquite, Nevada, estimated that as many as 1,500 supporters turned out Friday to protest the government seizure of Bundy's livestock from 600,000 acres of federal range and park lands that he has claimed as his own property. The dispute has tapped into long-simmering anger in Nevada and other big Western states rooted in the fact that vast tracts of their land are owned and governed by federal agencies, much of it by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, or BLM. Full Story | Top |
| With new leader for Obamacare, White House shifts to election mode Friday, Apr 11, 2014 08:06 PM PDT  By Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kathleen Sebelius' departure as President Barack Obama's health secretary signals a new chapter in the White House's efforts to defend Obama's signature healthcare law and help Senate Democrats who face tough battles for re-election in conservative states this fall. In the tightly orchestrated transition that included Sebelius' resignation late Thursday and Obama's quick appointment of well-regarded budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell as Sebelius' replacement, the political calculus was clear: Having stood by Sebelius during a painful few months when Obamacare's rollout was marred by a balky enrollment web site, stinging criticism from Republicans and falling popularity ratings for Obama, the White House saw a chance to reset the national conversation over Obamacare amid good news, and with a new face in charge of the program. Full Story | Top |
| Lawsuit against NCAA over athlete pay headed for trial Friday, Apr 11, 2014 07:28 PM PDT By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. college athletes will get a chance to prove in court that sports team members should be paid, after a federal judge on Friday rejected the National College Athletic Association's attempt to head off a trial in the widely watched case. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California, denied a request the NCAA made last year to decide the case in its favor before trial. The NCAA argued that the current system is justified because amateur status makes college athletics more popular and furthers competition. More than 20 current and former athletes sued, saying that players should share in the profits of college athletics, a highly lucrative business in which universities reap billions of dollars from men's football and basketball. Full Story | Top |
| Documents show GM's early knowledge of switch defect Friday, Apr 11, 2014 07:02 PM PDT  By Eric Beech, Paul Lienert and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors engineers were well aware of serious problems with ignition switches in GM small cars, but rejected several opportunities to make fixes, according to dozens of confidential documents released on Friday by a Congressional committee investigating the deadly defect. Parts supplier Delphi Automotive also repeatedly tested switches and found they did not meet GM specifications, according to emails and other memos. The internal documents from GM, Delphi and a U.S. safety agency chart numerous examples of switch failure, of the sort that led GM earlier this year to recall 2.6 million cars to replace defective switches now linked to at least 13 deaths. The documents, the first tranche of some 250,000 pages, were released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which last week grilled GM Chief Executive Mary Barra on the automaker's slow response to problems that GM first documented in 2001. Full Story | Top |
| Former U.S. Marine Hekmati retried, convicted in Iran: report Friday, Apr 11, 2014 07:01 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iranian-American Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine whose previous death sentence in Iran on espionage charges was overturned, has been secretly retried, convicted of collaborating with the U.S. government and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the New York Times reported on Friday, quoting his lawyer. The newspaper quoted lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei as saying Hekmati, held since 2011, was not told by Iranian officials about the retrial, conviction or prison sentence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Home-owners more upbeat about selling - survey Friday, Apr 11, 2014 06:07 PM PDT  British home-owners are increasingly upbeat about the housing market and are more willing to sell than at any time since April 2011, a survey by mortgage lender Halifax showed on Saturday. Record-low interest rates and government-backed schemes have fuelled a rebound in the housing market, with prices now growing at almost 10 percent a year. Full Story | Top |
| Brazilian tycoon Batista faces insider trading probes Friday, Apr 11, 2014 06:04 PM PDT  By Jeb Blount and Juliana Schincariol RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Eike Batista, who was Brazil's richest man for most of the past decade, is under investigation for allegedly engaging in insider trading while he chaired his now-bankrupt oil-producing and shipbuilding firms, securities industry watchdog CVM said on Friday. In a statement sent to Reuters, Rio de Janeiro-based CVM confirmed that Batista is a respondent in six of nine probes that executives of his Grupo EBX conglomerate are facing for breaching securities rules. In two of them, regulators are examining whether Batista allegedly took advantage of his access to privileged information. CVM also listed a dozen probes questioning financial and other data unveiled by oil company Óleo and Gás Participações SA, formerly known as OGX, and four more firms he controlled through EBX. Full Story | Top |
| Obama lashes out at Republican efforts to restrict voting Friday, Apr 11, 2014 06:02 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason NEW YORK (Reuters) - Closing out a week of commemorating progress from the Civil Rights Movement, President Barack Obama on Friday sharply criticized Republicans for leading efforts in some parts of the country to prevent citizens from voting. Obama's administration has challenged states that have implemented voter ID laws and other restrictions in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that struck down part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, designed to prevent discrimination at the polls. Strict voting rights laws are said to disproportionately affect minorities and lower-income Americans, many of whom tend to vote for Democratic candidates. "The stark, simple truth is this: The right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago," Obama told a meeting of the National Action Network, a group founded by civil rights leader and MSNBC television anchor Reverend Al Sharpton. Full Story | Top |
| Obamas dine out, attend Broadway show in New York Friday, Apr 11, 2014 05:52 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle dined out in New York on Friday and attended a Broadway show, "A Raisin in the Sun," starring actor Denzel Washington. The Obamas were joined at the show by adviser and friend Valerie Jarrett as well as former football star Ahmad Rashad, according to an administration official. The president was in town to speak at a meeting of the civil rights group National Action Network. He returns to Washington later in the evening. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Ken Wills) Full Story | Top |
| Illinois man with infectious TB must stay home alone: judge Friday, Apr 11, 2014 05:41 PM PDT By Barbara Goldberg CHICAGO (Reuters) - An Illinois judge on Friday ordered a disobedient patient with infectious tuberculosis to wear an ankle bracelet and stay home alone or be taken into custody. Christian Mbemba Ibanda, of Champaign, Illinois, failed to appear at a hearing for which Judge Chase Leonhard and his entire courtroom had been fitted with protective masks to guard against the highly contagious disease. Authorities later found Ibanda, who is in his 20s, and he is now wearing an ankle bracelet, said Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde. However, when a team of health officials arrived at his apartment in Champaign, about 140 miles south of Chicago, it was vacant. Full Story | Top |
| Wild horses targeted for roundup in Utah rangeland clash Friday, Apr 11, 2014 05:41 PM PDT  By Jennifer Dobner ENTERPRISE, Utah (Reuters) - A Utah county, angry over the destruction of federal rangeland that ranchers use to graze cattle, has started a bid to round up federally protected wild horses it blames for the problem in the latest dustup over land management in the U.S. West. Close to 2,000 wild horses are roaming southern Utah's Iron County, well over the 300 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has dubbed as appropriate for the rural area's nine designated herd management zones, County Commissioner David Miller said. Wild horse preservation groups say any attempt to remove the horses would be a federal crime. On Thursday county workers, accompanied by a Bureau of Land Management staffer, set up the first in a series of metal corrals designed to trap and hold the horses on private land abutting the federal range until they can be moved to BLM facilities for adoption. Full Story | Top |
| Parents of Texas 'affluenza' teen to pay part of state treatment Friday, Apr 11, 2014 05:09 PM PDT By Marice Richter FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas judge, who was criticized for sentencing a wealthy Texas teen to probation after he killed four people while driving drunk, on Friday ordered his parents to pay a small part of the cost of his treatment at a state-run facility. Judge Jean Boyd, whose sentence of 10 years probation and no jail time set off a backlash of criticism in December, ordered the youth's parents to pay about $1,100 a month. His parents had offered to pay for private treatment at a private out-of-state facility. The case set off an emotional debate after a psychologist for the teenager testified that his family's wealth had impaired the teenager's ability to take responsibility for his actions, saying he suffered from "affluenza." The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize "affluenza" as a diagnosis. Full Story | Top |
| G20 gives U.S. year-end deadline for IMF reforms Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:52 PM PDT  By Louise Egan and Anna Yukhananov WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Finance chiefs from around the globe on Friday gave the United States until year-end to ratify long-delayed reforms to the International Monetary Fund and threatened to move forward without it if it fails to do so. The inability to proceed with giving emerging markets a more powerful voice at the IMF and shoring up the lender's resources appeared the most contentious issue for officials from the Group of 20 leading economies and the representatives for all IMF member nations who met with them. In a final communiqué, G20 finance ministers and central bankers said they were "deeply disappointed" with the delay. "I take this opportunity to urge the United States to implement these reforms as a matter of urgency," Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey told reporters on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank spring meetings. Full Story | Top |
| Hints of possible deal on Ukraine gas emerge at G20 Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:46 PM PDT By Lidia Kelly WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Behind statements that Russia will not budge in demanding Ukraine repay its debts for its natural gas deliveries, hints emerged at a meeting of G20 finance chiefs this week that a deal in which Moscow eases its stance might be in the works. Financial aid to Ukraine was a hot topic at a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading nations, but the country's gas crisis, which could threaten deliveries to Europe, topped discussions with Russia that were held on the sidelines. Moscow, which alienated Western powers by annexing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, this month raised the price it charges Kiev for gas and said it awaits $2.2 billion in unpaid bills. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov reiterated the Kremlin's threats that it may switch to prepaid gas deliveries to Ukraine if payments don't start coming, but between the now-standard lines he signaled some room for maneuver. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. sanctions Crimea gas company, in move aimed at Gazprom Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:46 PM PDT By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a Crimea-based gas company, Chernomorneftegaz, effectively putting it off limits to Russia's state-controlled Gazprom, which was expected to bid for a stake in the company. The move, along with penalties on six Crimean separatists and a former Ukrainian official, is the third round of U.S. sanctions since the Ukraine crisis erupted and lays down a harder line ahead of talks among U.S., Russian, Ukrainian and EU officials in Geneva on Wednesday. Russian forces took over Crimea last month and Moscow annexed the Ukrainian region on March 18, angering Western powers who say Russia has massed forces on its border with Ukraine, possibly as a prelude to seizing more of the country. Russia denies having such plans. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. says G7 backs more sanctions if Russia escalates Ukraine crisis Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:46 PM PDT  A group of the world's leading rich nations will support increasing sanctions against Russia if Moscow escalates the crisis in Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Friday. "There is broad and strong unity within the G7 on increasing sanctions and costs in response to escalating action from Russia," Lew said at a news conference, referring to the Group of Seven industrial nations. The G7 includes the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Great Britain. Top officials from the group met in Washington on Thursday and discussed the situation in Ukraine at length, Lew said. Full Story | Top |
| Russia, Ukraine, EU and U.S. to hold talks on April 17 in Geneva Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:46 PM PDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union confirmed plans on Friday for talks between Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the United States in Geneva on April 17. "The European Union is fully engaged in the diplomatic efforts to deescalate the crisis in Ukraine and to find a political solution," the office of EU foreign policy representative Catherine Ashton said. Ashton will take part in the talks. (Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Anguys MacSwan) Full Story | Top |
| Amid 'gas war' talk, Russia reassures Europe on supply Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:46 PM PDT By Natalia Zinets and Alexei Anishchuk KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to ease European fears of gas supply cuts on Friday after Brussels said it would stand with the new authorities in Kiev if the Kremlin carries out a threat to turn off the tap to Ukraine. Russia, which last month angered Western powers by annexing Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, has raised the price it charges Kiev for gas and said it owes Moscow $2.2 billion in unpaid bills. A repeat of that scenario could hurt Russia as well as EU customers for its gas because Moscow depends for its public revenues on selling gas in Europe. "I want to say again: We do not intend and do not plan to shut off the gas for Ukraine," Putin said in televised comments at a meeting of his advisory Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| Bank of Canada names Carolyn Wilkins senior deputy governor Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:42 PM PDT By Leah Schnurr TORONTO (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada named Carolyn Wilkins as its senior deputy governor on Friday, promoting an insider with strong financial markets expertise and credibility with Bay Street bankers as the central bank's No. 2 policymaker. Wilkins, with more than a decade of experience inside the bank and most recently as adviser to the governor, will start her seven-year term May 2. She replaces Tiff Macklem, who is leaving to become dean of a business school in Toronto and will be the first woman to hold the position. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said the range of ideal qualifications for the job "just pop out of this candidate" and described Wilkins as a "jack of all trades." She has experience in economic research, forecasting and project management, he said. Full Story | Top |
| Brazil's Batista faces insider trading probes Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:26 PM PDT By Jeb Blount and Juliana Schincariol RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Eike Batista, who was Brazil's richest man for most of the past decade, is under investigation by securities industry watchdog CVM for allegedly engaging in insider trading while he chaired his now-bankrupt oil-producing and shipbuilding firms. In a statement sent to Reuters late on Friday, Rio de Janeiro-based CVM confirmed that Batista is a respondent in six of nine probes that executives of his Grupo EBX conglomerate are facing for breaching securities rules. In two of them, regulators are examining whether Batista allegedly took advantage of his access to privileged information. CVM also listed a dozen probes questioning financial and other data unveiled by oil company Óleo and Gás Participações SA and four more firms he controlled through EBX. Full Story | Top |
| Detroit driver awake nine days after mob beating Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:07 PM PDT By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - A truck driver beaten unconscious by a Detroit mob when he tried to assist a child he accidentally hit with his pickup nine days ago has begun to regain consciousness and is breathing on his own, his daughter said on Friday. Steve Utash, 54, has been taken off a ventilator and is starting to speak, his daughter said in a post on GoFundMe, a crowdfunding website where more than $161,000 has been raised to help pay for Utash's medical bills. "This is a long road ahead, but the end of the road will be worth it," Manti Utash wrote on Friday. About a dozen bystanders attacked Utash on April 2, after he got out of his truck to check on a 10-year-old boy he hit accidentally after the child darted into the street, police said. Full Story | Top |
| Scottish leader urges voters to put aside politics for independence Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:05 PM PDT  By Belinda Goldsmith ABERDEEN, Scotland (Reuters) - Scotland's leader Alex Salmond will on Saturday urge Scots to put aside party politics in the vote on independence, as he tries to win support from Labour rivals for his bid to leave the United Kingdom. In an address to the Scottish National Party's (SNP) last conference before a September 18 referendum, Salmond will stress that a vote for independence is not a vote for him or his party but a way to put Scotland's future in its own hands. His appeal comes after a narrowing in opinion polls that has for the first time made a vote for independence look a possibility, with both sides trying to persuade the up to 15 percent of voters who remain undecided. Salmond will promise to set up an all-party "Team Scotland" group after any "Yes" vote, to negotiate the terms of independence by March 24, 2016. Full Story | Top |
| Arkansas to appeal ruling on abortion restriction law Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:00 PM PDT By Lisa Bose McDermott TEXARKANA, Arkansas (Reuters) - Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said on Friday he would appeal a federal judge's decision striking down a state law that bans most abortions starting at 12 weeks of pregnancy, one of the most stringent such statutes in the United States. U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled last month that the Arkansas law violated the U.S. Supreme Court decision that a woman has the right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, which medical experts say is around the 23-to-24-week mark A number of states have recently enacted restrictive bans on abortion, including North Dakota, Arizona and Texas, setting off a round of court battles. Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, vetoed the law after it was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in March 2013, citing its conflict with Supreme Court doctrine, but his veto was overridden. As enacted, the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act would have banned most abortions at or after 12 weeks of pregnancy, if a fetal heartbeat could be detected by standard ultrasound. Full Story | Top |
| Senate energy leaders call for reports into U.S. crude export ban Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:55 PM PDT  Senate energy committee leaders on Friday asked the Department of Energy to prepare reports examining issues relating to the country's ban on exporting crude amid record oil and gas production. Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska asked Adam Sieminski, head of the Energy Information Administration, the DOE's statistics arm, to prepare a number of reports on questions relevant to current crude export policies. The senators asked the EIA to investigate current and projected production of crude oil and condensates of different grades, the ability of U.S. refiners to process domestic crude oil and condensates, and logistics surrounding crude production, including transport by rail. Full Story | Top |
| Texas woman sentenced to life in stiletto-heel killing Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:50 PM PDT By Amanda Orr HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas jury sentenced a woman on Friday to life in prison for stabbing her boyfriend to death with the 5-1/2-inch stiletto heel of her shoe during an argument after an alcohol-fueled night out last year. Ana Trujillo, 45, was convicted on Tuesday of killing University of Houston professor Stefan Andersson, 59, who had been stabbed about two dozen times in the face and head during an altercation at his upscale condominium. "I didn't mean to kill him," Trujillo told Judge Brock Thomas after hearing the sentence. Jurors took less than two hours to convict Trujillo of murder and the same jury deliberated for several hours on Friday before deciding that she should serve life in prison. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese online cosmetics retailer Jumei files for $400 million U.S. IPO Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:42 PM PDT (Reuters) - Jumei International Holding Ltd, backed by venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital, filed with U.S. regulators on Friday to raise up to $400 million in an initial public offering of American Depositary Shares. Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan were the lead underwriters for the IPO, the company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus. Jumei.com, which is among the top 20 most visited e-commerce websites in China, received an investment of more than $10 million from Sequoia Capital in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters publication IFR. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft sued over browser miscue that led to $731 million EU fine Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:32 PM PDT  By Bill Rigby SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's board faces a lawsuit over the way it handled an error with its Internet Explorer browser that ended up costing the company a record-breaking $731 million fine by European antitrust regulators. The lawsuit, brought by shareholder Kim Barovic in federal court in Seattle on Friday, charges that directors and executives, including founder Bill Gates and former Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, failed to manage the company properly and that the board's investigation was insufficient into how the miscue occurred. The legal action is the first to emerge from a humiliating episode for Microsoft, which the software company has never fully explained and has accounted for only as a "technical error." In March last year, the European Union levied its largest ever antitrust fine against Microsoft for breaking a legally binding commitment made in 2009 to ensure that consumers in Europe had a choice of how they access the internet, rather than defaulting to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Full Story | Top |
| Settlement reached over Mickey Rooney burial Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:26 PM PDT  A Los Angeles judge on Friday approved a settlement between the estranged wife of late golden era Hollywood star Mickey Rooney and the conservator of his estate, ending a legal tussle over where the actor will be buried, the conservator's attorney said. Rooney, who died on Sunday at age 93, will be buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, the same resting place of silent film stars Rudolph Valentino and Douglas Fairbanks, according to the settlement approved by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lesley Green, attorney Vivian Thoreen said. Full Story | Top |
| Reporters who broke Snowden story return to U.S. for first time Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:20 PM PDT  By Curtis Skinner NEW YORK (Reuters) - Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, the U.S. journalists who reported on spy agency analyst Edward Snowden's leaks exposing mass government surveillance, returned to the United States on Friday for the first time since revealing the programs in 2013. Greenwald and Poitras flew into New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on the same flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to receive a George Polk journalism award for their reports on how the U.S. government has secretly gathered information on millions of Americans, among other revelations. Their reporting on the leaks, which began last June, has sparked international debate over the limits of government surveillance and prompted President Barack Obama to introduce curbs to the spying powers of the National Security Agency earlier this year. "I really didn't expect anything to happen, which is why we finally came," Greenwald told reporters after embracing his partner, David Miranda, who had earlier said he was nervous as he waited for Greenwald to pass through airport security. Full Story | Top |
| Florida bill would allow guns with no permit in natural disasters Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:14 PM PDT By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - In a crisis situation or evacuation for natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires, people with no criminal record would be allowed to carry a firearm without a permit, under a bill approved Friday by the Florida House of Representatives. "The bells of liberty are surely ringing throughout Florida today," said Representative Heather Dawes Fitzenhagen, a Fort Myers Republican who sponsored the bill lifting permit requirements for concealed weapons in an emergency declared by the governor or local authorities. The Republican-run legislature has been undeterred by nationwide controversy over Florida's gun laws. Florida has some of the most lenient gun laws in the United States and state records show that about 8 percent of adults are licensed to carry a concealed weapon. Full Story | Top |
| South Carolina places monument to early civil rights judge Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:11 PM PDT By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - South Carolina on Friday honored a late judge who in 1951 issued a fiery dissent in the first case that challenged racial segregation in U.S. schools. In a garden beside the federal courthouse in downtown Charleston, officials including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder unveiled a life-sized monument to federal Judge J. Waties Waring more than 60 years after he defied southern segregation that had stood since 1896, when it was ruled constitutional as long as facilities for blacks and whites were "separate but equal." In 1951, Waring wrote, "Separate is per se inequality," in Briggs vs. Elliott, the South Carolina case that was one of five cases that would be bundled together in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. May 17 is the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education that declared segregated schools were unconstitutional. "We were the first that would never know a world where 'separate but equal' was the accepted law of the land." In other early civil rights decisions, Waring also desegregated his courtroom, placed blacks on juries for the first time in Charleston, struck down South Carolina's all-white Democratic primary, and mandated equal pay for black and white teachers. Full Story | Top |
| Moderate Republican to retire after primary challenge emerges Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:09 PM PDT Longtime Republican congressman Thomas Petri of Wisconsin will not seek re-election in November, announcing his decision just a week after a conservative state legislator revealed plans to mount a primary challenge for his seat. Petri, 73, viewed as a moderate member of the party, will formally announce his retirement plans at a town hall meeting on Monday in Neenah, Wisconsin, his office said in a statement on Friday. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin state senator who is considered one of the state's most conservative Republicans, said last week he would file papers to run in the eastern Wisconsin 6th congressional district. "I, like others, am troubled about our country's future." He sponsored legislation in 2012 under which Wisconsin repealed the state's equal pay enforcement law, making it harder to fight wage discrimination. Full Story | Top |
| Iranian official will not get visa for U.N. ambassadorship: White House Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:01 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it would not grant a visa to Iran's proposed U.N. ambassador, citing the envoy's links to the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, in a rare step that raises questions about how much influence the White House can wield over the world body. President Barack Obama had come under strong pressure not to allow Hamid Abutalebi into the country to take up his position in New York, raising concerns that the dispute would disrupt delicate negotiation between Tehran, Washington and other world powers over Iran's nuclear program. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the United Nations and Iran had been told "that we will not issue a visa to Mr. Abutalebi." Neither the White House nor the State Department provided further explanation. Full Story | Top |
| Two friends of ex-NFL star Hernandez charged with murder Friday, Apr 11, 2014 02:59 PM PDT Two associates of former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, who is in jail awaiting trial on murder and weapons charges, have also been charged with murder in the case, according to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office in Massachusetts. A grand jury indicted Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace on Friday in connection with the death of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was shot five times at close range, in North Attleboro. Hernandez, a former star tight end for the New England Patriots, was arrested at his North Attleboro mansion days after Lloyd's murder on June 17, and was quickly cut from the National Football League team. Prosecutors say that Hernandez, Ortiz, and Wallace shot Lloyd after driving him to an industrial park near Hernandez's home. Full Story | Top |
| Feds issue warning: Hackers trying to exploit 'Heartbleed' bug Friday, Apr 11, 2014 02:59 PM PDT  Hackers are targeting vulnerable networks in an attempt to exploit the "Heartbleed" bug, the U.S. Government warned on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| White House, spy agencies deny NSA exploited 'Heartbleed' bug Friday, Apr 11, 2014 02:59 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball and Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and U.S. intelligence agencies said on Friday neither the National Security Agency nor any other part of the government were aware before this month of the "Heartbleed" bug, denying a report that the spy agency exploited the glitch in widely used Web encryption technology to gather intelligence. The White House, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued statements after Bloomberg reported that the NSA was aware of the bug for at least two years and exploited it in order to obtain passwords and other basic information used in hacking operations. "Reports that NSA or any other part of the government were aware of the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability before April 2014 are wrong," White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Colorado legalized marijuana tax revs ahead of expectations: Moody's Friday, Apr 11, 2014 02:58 PM PDT Colorado, the first state to tax legalized recreational marijuana sales, expects to bring in an estimated $98 million in revenue this year, exceeding the state's original expectations by 40 percent. The state began levying sales and excise taxes on recreational marijuana on January 1, 2014. Moody's Investors Service, in a report released Friday, said legal sales in Colorado will reduce the size of the black market and revenue from legal sales will mean more tax payments flowing into state coffers. School districts will likely get $40 million, or nearly 30 percent, of the projected $134 million in total marijuana tax revenues. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government contractor jailed in Cuba ends hunger strike Friday, Apr 11, 2014 02:51 PM PDT  A U.S. contractor imprisoned in Cuba ended a hunger strike on Friday after eight days of protesting his treatment by the Cuban and U.S. governments while serving a 15-year term for illegally attempting to establish Internet service on the island. "My protest fast is suspended as of today, although there will be further protests to come," Alan Gross said in a statement. Gross was arrested in 2009 while trying to establish an online network for Jews in Havana as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It was his fifth trip to Cuba. Full Story | Top |
| Documents show GM's sluggish response to deadly defect Friday, Apr 11, 2014 02:50 PM PDT By Eric Beech and Paul Lienert WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - Documents made public on Friday by a U.S. House of Representatives committee provided fresh details on General Motors Co's awareness of problems surrounding ignition switches in millions of its cars - long before the Detroit automaker recalled the vehicles. These documents also show that federal regulators were concerned that GM dragged its heels on safety measures at a time when ignition-switch failures in some of its smaller vehicles were being linked to deaths that now total 13. A top official with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told General Motors in a July 2013 email that the automaker was "slow to communicate, slow to act" on defects and recalls. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has collected more than 250,000 documents - mainly from GM but also from parts supplier Delphi Automotive Plc and a federal regulator - is trying to find out why it took GM more than a decade to notify the public of a safety problem linked to fatalities. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment