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Monday, April 23, 2012 8:30 PM PDT

Today's Politics - Bloomberg News Headlines - Yahoo! News: Hama shelling undermines Syria truce Search for Arizona girl, 6, turns back to her Tucson home California measure to repeal death penalty qualifies for ballot U.S. says has raised North Korea missile-linked sale with China Arizona House votes to demand return of federally owned lands Colombia scandal implicates 12th U.S. military member U.S. officials debating response to "targeted killing" suit Medicare trustee report hangs on uncertain assumptions Prosecutors call John Edwards manipulative, ambitious California measure to repeal death penalty qualifies for ballot Oakland police change crowd control policies after Occupy U.S. government agency rules vary on specifying misbehavior City rejects resignation of top cop in Trayvon Martin shooting Trayvon Martin's killer leaves Florida jail Ex-baseball ace Clemens "trapped" in web of deceit - prosecutor Noah Wyle arrested at protest in Washington U.S. watchdog blasts Medicare quality insurance project Lawmakers to fight for post offices in Senate votes Obama seeks to stop Syria, Iran tech assault on activists Washington sues Florida city over firefighter tests Search for Arizona girl, 6, turns back to her Tucson home Signs of cheaper gas could brighten Obama campaign U.N. chief to visit Myanmar to encourage reforms Wal-Mart shaken by bribery probe, shares plunge James Murdoch's political ties face scrutiny Russian envoy warns on U.S. human rights bill Occupy protester's tweets fair game for prosecutors: judge Egypt rejects licenses for U.S. groups New Romney spokesman deleted inflammatory tweets Sudan market bombing a "declaration of war": South Repsol warns potential YPF investors of lawsuits Without reforms, U.S. retirees to face dwindling funds Al Qaeda challenges with lone wolf tactics: Canada Ontario Liberals dodge election with tax-the-rich deal U.S. lawmakers launch Wal-Mart bribery probe Prosecutors call John Edwards manipulative, ambitious U.S. says gasoline prices still too high U.S. says has raised North Korea missile-linked sale with China Rubio campaigns with Romney, raising VP speculation Venezuela's Chavez calls home to squash death rumors Hama shelling undermines Syria truce Mon,23 Apr 2012 07:38 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army killed more than 20 people in Hama on Monday, activists said, shattering a week of relative quiet in the central city visited a day earlier by U.N. monitors laying the ground for a wider mission to oversee a shaky 11-day ceasefire. A small group of unarmed observers has been in Syria for a week, tracking the truce between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and opponents inspired by 'Arab Spring' uprisings in North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East. ... Full Story Top Search for Arizona girl, 6, turns back to her Tucson home Mon,23 Apr 2012 07:19 PM PDT Reuters - TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - The search for a missing 6-year-old Arizona girl who authorities said may have been snatched from her bedroom in Tucson entered its third day on Monday as search dogs shifted investigators' attention back to the child's home. The parents of first-grader Isabel Mercedes Celis told detectives she was last seen on Friday night when they tucked her into bed, and was found to have vanished when a family member entered her room the next morning to awaken her, police said. ... Full Story Top California measure to repeal death penalty qualifies for ballot Mon,23 Apr 2012 06:56 PM PDT Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California voters will decide in November whether to repeal the state's death penalty after activists collected the more than half a million signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot, the Secretary of State's office said on Monday. The ballot initiative, which focuses on the high cost of the death penalty, would abolish capital punishment as the maximum sentence in murder convictions and replace it with life imprisonment. ... Full Story Top U.S. says has raised North Korea missile-linked sale with China Mon,23 Apr 2012 06:45 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday it had raised with China new allegations that a Chinese firm sold North Korea components for a missile transporter showcased in a recent military parade, despite a U.N. ban on such sales. The Obama administration suspects that the Chinese manufacturer supplied chassis and other parts for the vehicle, and Washington planned to use the incident to press Beijing to tighten enforcement of sanctions on Pyongyang, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday. The U.S. ... Full Story Top Arizona House votes to demand return of federally owned lands Mon,23 Apr 2012 06:10 PM PDT Reuters - PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona lawmakers on Monday passed legislation demanding the U.S. government relinquish to the state millions of acres of federal territory, in the latest rekindling of a "sagebrush rebellion" over control of public lands in the West. Without debate, the Republican-dominated Arizona House of Representatives easily passed a measure seeking the return of roughly 48,000 square miles of government-owned acreage in the Grand Canyon state by 2015. The bill, approved on a 35-15 vote, now goes to the state Senate for final passage. ... Full Story Top Colombia scandal implicates 12th U.S. military member Mon,23 Apr 2012 06:01 PM PDT Reuters - BOGOTA (Reuters) - A 12th U.S. military service member was linked to a prostitution scandal in Colombia on Monday and the Pentagon suspended the security clearance of personnel implicated in the events ahead of President Barack Obama's visit earlier this month. Twelve Secret Service employees have also been implicated in the incident, the worst scandal in decades for the agency responsible for the safety of the president and other senior officials. Six of those have since left the Secret Service. ... Full Story Top U.S. officials debating response to "targeted killing" suit Mon,23 Apr 2012 05:51 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Attorney General has personally asked for more time for the government to file papers in a lawsuit launched by a civil liberties group seeking the legal records authorizing strikes that have killed U.S. citizens abroad. In a publicly filed letter on Monday to District judge Colleen McMahon, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said that Attorney General Eric Holder had instructed them to request an extension. ... Full Story Top Medicare trustee report hangs on uncertain assumptions Mon,23 Apr 2012 05:50 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medicare, the U.S. healthcare program for the elderly, should be able to stave off insolvency for the next 12 years, depending on a number of financial and political assumptions that may prove unrealistic, officials and other experts said on Monday. The annual report of the Medicare trustees predicted that the program's key hospital trust fund will become exhausted in 2024, prompting Medicare to begin paying out only 87 percent of scheduled hospital benefits to tens of millions of future retirees and disabled beneficiaries. ... Full Story Top Prosecutors call John Edwards manipulative, ambitious Mon,23 Apr 2012 05:49 PM PDT Reuters - GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the criminal campaign finance case against former U.S. Senator John Edwards described him on Monday as a manipulative politician who refused to let his affair or his mistress' pregnancy sideline his presidential ambitions. But Edwards' defense asked jurors to "follow the money," saying the nearly $1 million in illegal campaign funds he is accused of secretly accepting as he sought the 2008 Democratic nomination instead went to a former campaign aide who used the money to pay for his $1.5 million house. ... Full Story Top California measure to repeal death penalty qualifies for ballot Mon,23 Apr 2012 05:46 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - A measure to repeal the death penalty has qualified for the ballot in California after activists collected more than half a million signatures in the state, the Secretary of State's office said on Monday. The measure would abolish capital punishment as the maximum sentence in murder convictions and replace it with life imprisonment, in a move estimated to save the state money in the "high tens of millions of dollars annually." Inmates already sentenced to death would have their terms commuted. (Reporting By Cynthia Johnston; editing by Dan Burns) Full Story Top Oakland police change crowd control policies after Occupy Mon,23 Apr 2012 05:30 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Oakland's Police Department will significantly change how it trains officers to control large crowds following criticism over its practices during anti-Wall Street protests last year that sometimes erupted into violence, the department said on Monday. "It is our duty to protect public safety and at the same time balance the free speech rights of individual protesters with the rights of non-protesting residents," Police Chief Howard Jordan said in a statement. ... Full Story Top U.S. government agency rules vary on specifying misbehavior Mon,23 Apr 2012 05:29 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government agencies that send employees abroad on business have widely varying rules about personal behavior while on assignment and the consequences of violations, a problem that some lawmakers want to fix in response to a scandal this month involving Secret Service agents and Colombia prostitutes. Reuters asked about half-a-dozen federal agencies whose employees frequently travel overseas whether they had specific rules on engaging with prostitutes or similar behavior. ... Full Story Top City rejects resignation of top cop in Trayvon Martin shooting Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:54 PM PDT Reuters - ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The city commission in Sanford, Florida, rejected the resignation of the police chief who had stepped aside amid withering criticism over his department's investigation into the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Sanford Police Bill Lee, on leave since his temporary resignation announced March 22, had been set to resign permanently as of midnight under a separation agreement submitted to him by Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte. ... Full Story Top Trayvon Martin's killer leaves Florida jail Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:54 PM PDT Reuters - SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in the killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, was released early on Monday from a Florida county jail on $150,000 bail. Wearing a brown jacket, jeans and carrying a brown paper bag, Zimmerman walked out of the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Sanford, Florida, moments after midnight after posting bail and meeting other conditions set for his release at a hearing on Friday. ... Full Story Top Ex-baseball ace Clemens "trapped" in web of deceit - prosecutor Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:52 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former baseball star Roger Clemens wove a web of deceit to cover up his steroid use, going so far as to lie about it in testimony before Congress, a prosecutor said at the start of ex-pitcher's second perjury trial on Monday. Proof of Clemens' steroid use includes needles and bloody swabs that independent tests have shown contain the former elite pitcher's DNA and performance-enhancing drugs, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Durham said. ... Full Story Top Noah Wyle arrested at protest in Washington Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:51 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Actor Noah Wyle was arrested at a healthcare protest in Washington, D.C. on Monday, following in the footsteps of his former "ER" co-star George Clooney, who also taken into police custody at a recent political rally. Wyle, 40, best known for his roles in television dramas "ER" and "Falling Skies," took part in a protest with grassroots organization ADAPT seeking to stop cuts in funding for Medicaid that would affect medical services for the elderly. ... Full Story Top U.S. watchdog blasts Medicare quality insurance project Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:38 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medicare, the U.S. healthcare program for the elderly, is spending $8.3 billion on a test project that is supposed to improve the quality of private health coverage but has mainly rewarded mediocre insurance plans, a government watchdog said on Monday. A report by the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, recommends canceling the Medicare Advantage quality bonus payment initiative. The three-year project is seen as the largest-scale test of an effort to improve Medicare services to date. The watchdog agency said the U.S. ... Full Story Top Lawmakers to fight for post offices in Senate votes Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:32 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Lawmakers will fight to save post offices and other U.S. Postal Service facilities from closure as the Senate gears up to vote on amendments to a bill to overhaul the struggling mail agency. The Postal Service has been losing billions of dollars each year as Americans increasingly communicate online. Barring drastic changes, officials have said, the mail agency could face annual losses of $18 billion by 2015. ... Full Story Top Obama seeks to stop Syria, Iran tech assault on activists Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:28 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama imposed U.S. sanctions on Monday on those who help Syria and Iran track dissidents through cell phones and computers, serving notice on technology providers that they could be held responsible for those governments' human rights abuses. Obama's announcement underscored how democracy activists have used social media tools in protest movements across the Middle East, but also the extent to which authoritarian governments have used cutting-edge technologies to crack down on dissent. ... Full Story Top Washington sues Florida city over firefighter tests Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:24 PM PDT Reuters - MIAMI (Reuters) - The Justice Department sued the city of Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday, claiming its use of written tests to determine promotions in the city's fire department discriminates against African-Americans. The lawsuit followed a more than two-year investigation examining Jacksonville's record of promoting African-Americans for the ranks of lieutenant, captain, district chief and engineer dating back to 2004. It came after a separate lawsuit filed last year by two dozen Jacksonville firefighters challenging the city's promotional process. ... Full Story Top Search for Arizona girl, 6, turns back to her Tucson home Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:24 PM PDT Reuters - TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - The search for a missing 6-year-old Arizona girl who authorities said may have been snatched from her bedroom in Tucson entered its third day on Monday as search dogs shifted investigators' attention back to the child's home. The parents of first-grader Isabel Mercedes Celis told detectives she was last seen on Friday night when they tucked her into bed, and was found to have vanished when a family member entered her room the next morning to awaken her, police said. ... Full Story Top Signs of cheaper gas could brighten Obama campaign Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:10 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New signs of lower U.S. gas prices could give a boost to President Barack Obama's re-election hopes and blunt a potent weapon that Republicans have used to attack him. News on Monday of a month long delay in the planned closure of the largest refinery on the U.S. East Coast was the latest sign rocketing gasoline prices may have peaked. Government data later showed national U.S. gasoline prices have fallen for three straight weeks after surging earlier in the year, cooling fears they might hit $5 a gallon this summer. ... Full Story Top U.N. chief to visit Myanmar to encourage reforms Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:10 PM PDT Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Monday he would visit Myanmar soon to encourage the Southeast Asian nation to press ahead with democratic reforms. "I have accepted an invitation from President Thein Shein to visit Myanmar," Ban told reporters. "I will depart at the end of this week." "We have seen encouraging political and economic reforms over the past year and a half," he said. "The recent elections were a landmark. We see Myanmar reopening to the world." U.N. officials said Ban would arrive in Myanmar at the weekend and stay for several days. ... Full Story Top Wal-Mart shaken by bribery probe, shares plunge Mon,23 Apr 2012 04:02 PM PDT Reuters - CHICAGO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc lost $10 billion of its market value on Monday on concerns that a bribery investigation in Mexico could be very costly and hinder its plans to grow. In a sign that the problem was widening for the world's largest retailer, two U.S. lawmakers said they were launching their own investigation into allegations in a New York Times article that Wal-Mart de Mexico had engaged in a multi-year campaign of bribery to build its business. ... Full Story Top James Murdoch's political ties face scrutiny Mon,23 Apr 2012 03:58 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - James Murdoch will be quizzed on Tuesday about his closeness to British political leaders, as a public inquiry prompted by the phone-hacking scandal at his father's newspaper empire delves into the relationship between politicians and the media. Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp, may accompany his son ahead of his own scheduled testimony at London's Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday to the Leveson Inquiry, which in five months has already taken a wide-roving and discomfiting look at press ethics and journalists' dealings with the police. ... Full Story Top Russian envoy warns on U.S. human rights bill Mon,23 Apr 2012 03:45 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Proposed U.S. legislation to punish Russian officials involved in human rights abuses could have "a significant negative impact" on U.S.-Russian relations, Moscow's envoy to the United States warned on Monday Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak said the U.S. Congress should not tie the so-called Sergei Magnitsky bill to an expected vote this year on establishing "permanent normal trade relations" between the two countries. ... Full Story Top Occupy protester's tweets fair game for prosecutors: judge Mon,23 Apr 2012 03:40 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Occupy Wall Street protester, arrested during last fall's mass protest on the Brooklyn Bridge, has lost his bid to stop prosecutors from subpoenaing his Twitter records. Malcolm Harris was among 700 demonstrators arrested on October 1, during a march over the span to protest economic inequality. Prosecutors had been expected to use the tweets to challenge Harris' "anticipated defense" that police officers led protesters onto the bridge before arresting them, the judge said. At the time police said demonstrators were arrested for blocking traffic on the bridge. ... Full Story Top Egypt rejects licenses for U.S. groups Mon,23 Apr 2012 03:35 PM PDT Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has rejected a request from eight U.S.-based civil society groups for licenses to operate in the country after a crackdown on their activities sparked the first diplomatic spat with Washington since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak. In a move that may damage Cairo's relations with Washington, the Insurance and Social Affairs Ministry rejected the applications because it believed the groups' activities violated state sovereignty, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported on Monday. It said requests from the Carter Center for Human Rights, set up by former U.S. ... Full Story Top New Romney spokesman deleted inflammatory tweets Mon,23 Apr 2012 03:30 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Before joining Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign last week as a spokesman, Richard Grenell was a prolific - and inflammatory - voice on Twitter, posting biting commentary on subjects ranging from Newt Gingrich's weight to Michelle Obama exercising in the White House. No more. Since he joined Romney's campaign as foreign affairs spokesman, many of Grenell's most provocative musings on Twitter have been deleted in a cleanup that is the latest reminder of how social media has become a sideshow - and at times more - in the 2012 campaign. ... Full Story Top Sudan market bombing a "declaration of war": South Mon,23 Apr 2012 03:17 PM PDT Reuters - OUTSIDE BENTIU, South Sudan (Reuters) - Sudanese war planes bombed a market in the capital of South Sudan's oil-producing Unity State on Monday, residents and officials said, an attack the southern army called a declaration of war. Sudan denied carrying out any air raids but its President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ramped up the political tension by ruling out a return to negotiations with the South, saying its government only understood "the language of the gun". ... Full Story Top Repsol warns potential YPF investors of lawsuits Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:58 PM PDT Reuters - MADRID (Reuters) - Oil major Repsol warned it could take legal action against companies that invest in YPF after Argentina seized control of the Spanish company's energy unit last week. Argentina expropriated the 51 percent of YPF owned by Repsol, saying that the company needed to invest more to address the South American country's energy shortage. Argentine Planning Minister Julio De Vido approached Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras over investment in YPF last week. ... Full Story Top Without reforms, U.S. retirees to face dwindling funds Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:58 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Aging baby boomers got some jolting news on Monday when the U.S. government said the Social Security retirement program is on track to go bankrupt three years earlier than expected if reforms are not made. Unless Washington politicians, who have been at war with each other over government spending priorities and federal budget deficits, can decide how to put Social Security on a sound footing, retirees' pension checks would start running out in 2033, according to an annual report. ... Full Story Top Al Qaeda challenges with lone wolf tactics: Canada Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:54 PM PDT Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's new focus on "lone wolf" tactics is making it tough for Western intelligence agencies to prevent terror attacks, the head of Canada's spy service said on Monday. In a rare admission that al Qaeda's switch to "individual jihad" was posing problems, the head of Canada's spy service said lone wolves are tough to detect because they do not belong to a larger network that might attract attention. ... Full Story Top Ontario Liberals dodge election with tax-the-rich deal Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:46 PM PDT Reuters - TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario's ruling Liberals on Monday agreed to introduce a new tax on the "super rich" to win support for their budget from the left-leaning New Democratic Party, averting a second election in six months for Canada's most powerful province. The NDP said it will not oppose the minority government's spending plan after the Liberals agreed to introduce a surtax for Ontario residents earning more than C$500,000 ($500,000) a year. ... Full Story Top U.S. lawmakers launch Wal-Mart bribery probe Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:41 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Two Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Monday said they were launching an investigation into allegations of bribery at Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Mexican affiliate. Representative Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Representative Henry Waxman, top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke, requesting an in-person meeting with company officials. ... Full Story Top Prosecutors call John Edwards manipulative, ambitious Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:23 PM PDT Reuters - GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the criminal campaign finance case against former Senator John Edwards described him on Monday as a manipulative politician who refused to let his affair or his mistress' pregnancy sideline his presidential ambitions. But Edwards' defense asked jurors to "follow the money," saying the nearly $1 million in illegal campaign funds he is accused of secretly accepting as he sought the 2008 Democratic nomination instead went to a former campaign aide who used the money to pay for his $1.5 million house. ... Full Story Top U.S. says gasoline prices still too high Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:19 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Monday gasoline prices were still too high despite a decline at the pumps and that the government is in talks with international partners about high energy costs. Rising fuel costs have stirred economic concerns and become a central theme in the U.S. presidential election race this year, prompting the administration to consider several options, including releasing emergency oil reserves, to tamp down prices. Gasoline prices have dipped for three consecutive weeks, however, easing concerns that U.S. ... Full Story Top U.S. says has raised North Korea missile-linked sale with China Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:14 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday it had raised with China new allegations that a Chinese firm sold North Korea components for a missile transporter showcased in a recent military parade, despite a U.N. ban on such sales. The Obama administration suspects that the Chinese manufacturer supplied chassis and other parts for the vehicle, and Washington planned to use the incident to press Beijing to tighten enforcement of sanctions on Pyongyang, a senior U.S. official said on Saturday. The U.S. ... Full Story Top Rubio campaigns with Romney, raising VP speculation Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:03 PM PDT Reuters - ASTON, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Popular Florida Senator Marco Rubio campaigned with Mitt Romney on Monday, increasing speculation that the conservative Cuban-American might be high on the Republican presidential front-runner's list of potential vice presidential running mates. Rubio would bring a number of attributes to the ticket should Romney pick him. He could appeal to some Latinos, a large majority of whom back Democratic President Barack Obama, and he could inspire conservatives who worry Romney is too moderate. ... Full Story Top Venezuela's Chavez calls home to squash death rumors Mon,23 Apr 2012 02:02 PM PDT Reuters - CARACAS (Reuters) - A healthy-sounding President Hugo Chavez called Venezuelan state television from Cuba on Monday to dispel rumors fanned by a nine-day silence that he had died undergoing cancer treatment at a hospital in Havana. "It seems we will have to become accustomed to live with these rumors, because it is part of the laboratories of psychological war, of dirty war" the 57-year-old socialist leader said in the telephone call. ... Full Story Top

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