Today's Politics - Bloomberg News Headlines - Yahoo! News: | | Bo bugged phone call to China President Hu: report Wed,25 Apr 2012 07:50 PM PDT Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - A wiretapping network run by Chongqing officials was detected on a phone call made to Chinese President Hu Jintao in August, a discovery that helped topple the city's ambitious party chief Bo Xilai, the New York Times reported. The Times report said nearly a dozen sources with Communist Party ties had confirmed the wiretapping and the widespread bugging program. The Party's official version of events has omitted the tapped call by a visiting Chinese minister to Hu in August. If true, the report confirms rumors of the incident that had spread since Bo's ouster in March. ... Full Story | Top | Mexico president "very indignant" about Wal-Mart case Wed,25 Apr 2012 07:47 PM PDT Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Wednesday that allegations the Mexican unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc sought to bribe officials in Mexico to grow its business there had made him "very indignant". On Saturday, the New York Times reported that the Mexican unit of Wal-Mart paid millions of dollars in bribes to help build its business in Latin America's second-largest economy. "This makes me very indignant," Calderon told an audience in Houston, Texas. ... Full Story | Top | Republicans complain taxpayers fund Obama political travel Wed,25 Apr 2012 07:09 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans are complaining to a U.S. government watchdog that President Barack Obama's trips for official business are little more than campaign stops funded with taxpayer dollars, a claim dismissed by the White House and Obama's campaign team. In a letter on Wednesday to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) comptroller general requesting a formal inquiry, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus alleged a "misuse of government funds" relating to certain presidential travel, especially to November battleground states. ... Full Story | Top | Former Morgan Stanley star in China pleads guilty Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:58 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former Morgan Stanley executive pleaded guilty to conspiring to evade internal controls required by a U.S. anti-bribery law, in a case that underlines the fall of a once high-flying dealmaker for the firm in China. Garth Peterson, who was a managing director in Morgan Stanley's real estate investment and fund advisory business, also settled on Wednesday related charges with securities regulators, and agreed to roughly $3.7 million in sanctions and a permanent bar from the industry. ... Full Story | Top | It's official. Obama rallies mark shift to general election Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:39 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's re-election campaign announced on Wednesday the Democrat and his wife, Michelle, will hold their first campaign rallies of the 2012 campaign season next week, marking a clear beginning of the general election against presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The rallies will be held on May 5 in Ohio and Virginia, two battleground states that are important to Obama's strategy of retaining the White House after the November 6 election. "Welcome to the general election," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told a conference call with reporters. ... Full Story | Top | Hundreds march in Phoenix against Arizona immigration law Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:31 PM PDT Reuters - PHOENIX (Reuters) - A few hundred protesters, some toting placards reading "no to racial profiling," marched through downtown Phoenix on Wednesday to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to block Arizona's two-year-old crackdown on illegal immigrants. "My message to the Supreme Court is 'don't single out the Hispanic race,'" said Melanie Renteria, 38, who was among 200-300 mostly Hispanic protesters rallying in a park ahead of the march. "I hope they overturn SB 1070. ... Full Story | Top | Ex-altar boy testifies about sexual abuse by Philadelphia priests Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:25 PM PDT Reuters - PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A 23-year-old man testified on Wednesday in the child sex abuse case against the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese that he was molested by two priests, one of whom prosecutors said had been known to church officials as a sex abuser years earlier. The testimony came at the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary of the clergy, who is charged with child endangerment and conspiracy over accusations he covered up abuse allegations against priests, many of whom were simply transferred to unsuspecting parishes. ... Full Story | Top | Rubio says U.S. should do more to protect Syrians Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:23 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Marco Rubio said on Wednesday the United States should create a "safe haven" for the Syrian opposition but stopped short of urging Washington to arm the rebels, suggesting they were not yet organized enough. The potential Republican vice presidential candidate gave a lengthy foreign policy speech that stressed a more active U.S. role in the world but that echoed U.S. President Barack Obama's positions in some respects, notably on Syria and Iran. ... Full Story | Top | Intel to challenge antitrust fine in EU court Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:23 PM PDT Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Intel Corp will ask Europe's second-highest court in July to scrap a 1.06 billion euro ($1.4 billion) EU antitrust fine, arguing regulators failed to prove it blocked a rival in their 2009 decision. The European Commission, which acts as EU competition regulator, penalized Intel with its largest ever corporate fine because of anticompetitive tactics against arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The decision came after an eight-year-long investigation. ... Full Story | Top | Wal-Mart: No tie between lobbyists and bribery case Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:21 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc pushed back on Wednesday against suggestions that its lobbyists tried to scale back a U.S. anti-bribery law while the company was aware it may have violated the law. The company said it "never lobbied on" possible changes to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the law that makes it a crime for U.S. companies to pay bribes overseas. Wal-Mart played down its presence on the boards of lobbying organizations that are critical of how the anti-bribery law is enforced. Businesses have increasingly agitated against the law in recent years, saying it is vague. ... Full Story | Top | Japan ruling party's Ozawa found not guilty on funding scandal Wed,25 Apr 2012 06:12 PM PDT Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese court on Thursday acquitted ruling party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa of charges of violating fund-raising law, further complicating Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's task of preserving party unity and pushing through his contentious tax hike plan. If upheld, the Tokyo district court decision could help the 69-year old former party leader, who opposes Noda's plan to double the sales tax and leads the party's biggest faction, contest the scheme and challenge Noda's leadership. ... Full Story | Top | Financial crises caused by "stupidity and greed": Geithner Wed,25 Apr 2012 05:51 PM PDT Reuters - PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sought on Wednesday to reassure Americans that the Obama administration was doing what it could to rout out the bad actors from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. "The wheels of justice are turning now," Geithner said at an event in Portland after touring a factory there. "They are not turning as fast as people would like, but we have the best system in the world for making sure we can enforce the laws of the land," he said. ... Full Story | Top | First Hispanic Supreme Court justice takes prominent role Wed,25 Apr 2012 05:40 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court was deep into arguments over Arizona's new immigration law on Wednesday when the high court's first Hispanic justice focused on how difficult it could be for police officers to determine whether someone they stop is in the United States legally. "What information does your (federal) system have?" Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli as she methodically extracted a core element of the Obama administration's case against the state of Arizona. ... Full Story | Top | Bo's brother resigns from China Everbright board Wed,25 Apr 2012 05:34 PM PDT Reuters - HONG KONG (Reuters) - The fallout from the ouster of former Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai spread after his brother resigned as vice chairman of China Everbright International Ltd and the company moved to distance itself from the Chinese political scandal. Bo Xiyong's departure on Wednesday from a post he had held since 2003 signals widening scrutiny of Bo Xilai's family connections as China's leaders seek to contain the scandal ahead of this year's transfer of power from President Hu Jintao to the next generation, likely to be led by Vice President Xi Jinping. ... Full Story | Top | Briton accused in Iran missile scheme released from U.S. custody Wed,25 Apr 2012 05:25 PM PDT Reuters - SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas released British millionaire Christopher Tappin from custody on Wednesday, but ordered him to remain in the state while awaiting trial on charges he attempted to sell missile parts to Iran. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Castaneda ordered Tappin to surrender his British passport after going through the security checkpoint at the El Paso airport for a flight to Houston, where he will live with one of his attorneys, officials in the U.S. Attorney's office said. ... Full Story | Top | Los Angeles airport screeners arrested on drug, corruption charges Wed,25 Apr 2012 05:15 PM PDT Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two security screeners at Los Angeles International Airport have been arrested on drug trafficking and corruption charges, accused of taking bribes to allow large narcotic shipments through the airport, authorities said on Wednesday. The pair were arrested along with two former airport screeners. Authorities said the screeners allowed drugs to pass through x-ray machine checkpoints in five incidents in exchange for payments of as much as $2,400. ... Full Story | Top | House votes to curtail lavish spending by federal agencies Wed,25 Apr 2012 05:11 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a rare display of bipartisanship, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill on Wednesday to avoid a repeat of an election-year government spending scandal involving the General Services Administration. On a voice vote, the Republican-led House sent the measure to the Democratic-led Senate for needed concurrence. The Senate voted in favor of such action earlier this week as part of unrelated legislation. Both chambers must pass the same piece of legislation before it can be sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law. ... Full Story | Top | Navy airman ambushed victims in California slayings, police say Wed,25 Apr 2012 05:08 PM PDT Reuters - SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A Navy airman behind a January murder-suicide in California came home from a New Year's celebration and lay in wait for a man and a woman he had partied with, shooting them before killing a fellow Navy lieutenant and them himself, authorities said on Wednesday. The motive for the killings by Navy Lieutenant John Reeves, 25, remained unclear, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a statement as they concluded their investigation. Police said they had learned within days of the New Year's Day slayings that Reeves was responsible for killing the three people. ... Full Story | Top | S&P sends wake-up call to Ontario, lowers outlook Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:57 PM PDT Reuters - TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario's bold austerity budget and accelerated path to balance its finances were met with nagging skepticism on Wednesday after credit rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook on the province's debt ratings to "negative." The move provided another wake-up call to analysts and investors, raising the possibility of further rating downgrades and higher borrowing costs for Canada's most powerful province. ... Full Story | Top | CORRECTED-First Hispanic Supreme Court justice takes prominent role Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:46 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court was deep into arguments over Arizona's new immigration law on Wednesday when the high court's first Hispanic justice focused on how difficult it could be for police officers to determine whether someone they stop is in the United States legally. "What information does your (federal) system have?" Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli as she methodically extracted a core element of the Obama administration's case against the state of Arizona. ... Full Story | Top | Arizona Senate passes bill demanding return of federal lands Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:42 PM PDT Reuters - PHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona is poised to join next-door neighbor Utah in demanding the U.S. government transfer title to millions of acres of federal property to the state, fanning a renewed "sagebrush revolt" over control of public lands in the West. The Arizona state Senate, on a 19-9 vote, gave final legislative approval on Wednesday to a measure calling for federal agencies to relinquish roughly 48,000 square miles (124,000 sq km) of acreage they own in the Grand Canyon state by 2015. The Republican-backed bill was approved by the state House of Representatives on Monday. ... Full Story | Top | John Edwards' defense attacks aide's credibility Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:42 PM PDT Reuters - GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Former U.S. Senator John Edwards' defense on Wednesday accused an ex-aide of lying about critical facts in the federal campaign finance prosecution stemming from Edwards' failed 2008 presidential bid. Andrew Young, who wrote a tell-all book about efforts to hide Edwards' pregnant mistress during the campaign, is now the government's key witness. He denied being untruthful, but admitted having described his former boss as "despicable." "You really hate him, don't you?" defense attorney Abbe Lowell asked. ... Full Story | Top | FDA advisers back HeartWare blood pump device Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:34 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - HeartWare International Inc won a U.S. advisory panel's support on Wednesday for its most important product - a blood pump that helps people with severe heart failure. A panel of outside experts to the Food and Drug Administration voted 9-2 to recommend approval of the mechanical heart-assist device, called the HeartWare ventricular assist device (HVAD). HeartWare shares were halted pending the panel outcome. The FDA usually follows panel advice, although it is not required to and a final decision is expected later. ... Full Story | Top | Former Morgan Stanley star in China pleads guilty Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:26 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former Morgan Stanley executive pleaded guilty to conspiring to evade internal controls required by a U.S. anti-bribery law, in a case that underlines the fall of a once high-flying dealmaker for the firm in China. Garth Peterson, who was a managing director in Morgan Stanley's real estate investment and fund advisory business, also settled on Wednesday related charges with securities regulators, and agreed to roughly $3.7 million in sanctions and a permanent bar from the industry. ... Full Story | Top | Senate passes postal bill that would end Saturday mail Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:25 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - The Senate advanced legislation on Wednesday that would allow the U.S. Postal Service to end Saturday mail after two years as part of efforts to overhaul the mail agency and prevent it from shuttering thousands of facilities next month. The Postal Service has been losing billions of dollars each year due to the rise of online communications and high labor and other costs. Both houses of Congress have been working for months on legislation to restructure the agency and offer some relief. ... Full Story | Top | Fed stands pat but says will act if needed Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:17 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday said U.S. monetary policy was "more or less in the right place" even though the central bank would not hesitate to launch another round of bond purchases if the economy were to weaken. In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed's policy-setting panel reiterated its expectation that interest rates would not rise until late 2014 at the earliest, and it took no action on monetary policy. ... Full Story | Top | College students protest debt on "Trillion Dollar Day" Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:15 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - College students held demonstrations in several U.S. cities on Wednesday to mark the day total U.S. student loan debt was expected to reach $1 trillion, with some burning student loan documents and others demanding a right to "debt-free degrees." The demonstrations for "One Trillion Dollar Day" come as President Barack Obama was visiting colleges to push Congress to extend the low interest rates on college loans to more than 7.4 million students. If lawmakers fail to act, rates on the loans will double on July 1 to 6.8 percent. ... Full Story | Top | Iraqis under threat, Indian women in focus at Tribeca Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:11 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iraqis living in danger after working with U.S. troops and diplomats and an examination of women in modern India are two subjects grabbing the attention of critics and audiences among documentaries showing at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. Both films are part of a lineup of 32 documentaries at the New York festival, which runs through Sunday, that tell true tales from inside and outside the United States. Documentaries, which have become more stylized in recent years with inexpensive hi-tech cameras, have traditionally been a strength at Tribeca. ... Full Story | Top | Israel's top general says Iran unlikely to make bomb Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:08 PM PDT Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military chief said he does not believe Iran will decide to build an atomic bomb and called its leaders "very rational" - comments that clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assessment. Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz's remarks, in an interview published on Wednesday in the left-wing Haaretz newspaper, drew little attention in Israel on its annual remembrance day for fallen soldiers, when political discourse is suspended. ... Full Story | Top | Scientists call for rethink on consumption, population Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:05 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have called for a radical rethink of our relationship with the planet to head off what they warn could be economic and environmental catastrophe. In a report published on Thursday by the London-based Royal Society, an international group of 23 scientists chaired by Nobel laureate Sir John Sulston called for a rebalancing of consumption in favor of poor countries coupled with increased efforts to control population growth to lift the estimated 1.3 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day out of poverty. ... Full Story | Top | Egypt lets Mubarak PM back in presidential race Wed,25 Apr 2012 04:02 PM PDT Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - The last prime minister to serve under deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been allowed to re-enter the race for the presidency, one day after electoral authorities disqualified him, the state news agency reported on Wednesday. Analysts said Ahmed Shafiq's re-entry into the race will make him the favorite of the military and a very strong contender to win Egypt's presidential elections set for May 23-24, with a run-off scheduled in June. ... Full Story | Top | Altered districts cut short Pennsylvania political careers Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:55 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's longest-severing U.S. congressman, Tim Holden, was defeated in a Democratic primary election. Matthew Cartwright, a lawyer who criticized Holden for his opposition to President Barack Obama's healthcare law, defeated the 10-term Democrat in Tuesday's election, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State's preliminary findings. The district in northeastern Pennsylvania was redrawn since Holden, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate Democrats, last ran for re-election to include more liberal urban areas. ... Full Story | Top | First Hispanic Supreme Court justice takes prominent role Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:49 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court was deep into arguments over Arizona's new immigration law on Wednesday when the high court's first Hispanic justice focused on how difficult it could be for police officers to determine whether someone they stop is in the United States legally. "What information does your (federal) system have?" Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli as she methodically extracted a core element of the Obama administration's case against the state of Arizona. ... Full Story | Top | Navy airman ambushed victims in California slayings, police say Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:44 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - A Navy airman behind a January murder-suicide in California came home from a New Year's celebration and lay in wait for a man and a woman he had partied with, shooting them before killing a fellow Navy lieutenant, police said on Wednesday. The motive for the killings by Navy Lieutenant John Reeves, 25, remained unclear, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a statement as they concluded their investigation. Police had found within days of the New Year's Day slayings that Reeves was responsible for killing the three people. ... Full Story | Top | Republicans eye missile-defense site on East Coast Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:43 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans who control the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee called on Wednesday for studies on what could become a third missile-interceptor site in the United States, this one on the East Coast. The plan would require the secretary of defense to conduct an environmental impact review by December 31, 2013, on "possible locations on the East Coast of the United States for the deployment of a missile defense site." U.S. ... Full Story | Top | Prostitute scandal posed no risk to Obama: Napolitano Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:29 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's safety was not jeopardized by Secret Service agents who consorted with prostitutes in Colombia just before his arrival there for a summit, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano assured senators Wednesday. "There was no risk to the president," Napolitano told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the first public questioning of an administration official since the scandal broke. Napolitano said that a review of Secret Service records showed no similar episodes of misconduct that might have warned of brewing problems at the agency. ... Full Story | Top | Romney builds bigger, richer campaign for Obama fight Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:25 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For Mitt Romney, now the hard part begins. With the Republican presidential nomination all but clinched, Romney plans an aggressive strategy to gird for an uphill battle to unseat Democratic President Barack Obama. Over the next month and beyond, Romney will raise badly needed cash, seek to shore up support among conservatives and begin campaigning in battleground states that will be key to who wins the November 6 general election. ... Full Story | Top | Gingrich to quit White House race after stormy bid Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:18 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newt Gingrich is quitting the U.S. Republican presidential contest after a tumultuous campaign marked by flashes of brilliance in debates, staff desertions and offbeat ideas. Gingrich, a powerful figure in the 1990s as House of Representatives speaker, briefly reached the heights of Republican presidential front-runner this year, but stumbled badly under attack from rivals. The collapse of his campaign threatened to turn the proud intellectual into a punch line. ... Full Story | Top | Court to give Taylor verdict in war crimes milestone Wed,25 Apr 2012 03:13 PM PDT Reuters - THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A special court delivers its verdict on Thursday on whether Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor is guilty of crimes against humanity by supporting and directing rebels who pillaged, raped and murdered during the Sierra Leone civil war. The verdict will be the first passed on a former head of state by The Hague's international courts in what human rights advocates say is a reminder that even the most powerful do not enjoy impunity. Yugoslav ex-president Slobodan Milosevic died in The Hague in 2006 before the war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia could reach a verdict. ... Full Story | Top |
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