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Midwest cattle farmers complain of government "spying"
Wed,30 May 2012 07:56 PM PDT
Reuters - KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Cattle farmers complained on Wednesday that a federal agency is "spying" on their operations by flying airplanes over Midwest cattle feedlots to see if they are complying with clean water regulations. The livestock producers and some members of Congress from rural areas want to know why the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is using airplanes to monitor whether feedlots are obeying the Clean Water Act. ... Full Story | Top |
California's Senate passes bill to ban gay therapy
Wed,30 May 2012 07:46 PM PDT
Reuters - SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A bill that would ban a therapy that aims to reverse homosexuality in children and teens passed California's Senate on Wednesday, moving the state a step closer to becoming the first in the nation to ban the controversial treatment. The 23-13 vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate marked a major victory for gay rights advocates who say the therapy has no medical basis because homosexuality is not a disorder, and that it can cause depression and lead to substance abuse and suicide. ... Full Story | Top |
Retired justice says campaign finance ruling made cash king
Wed,30 May 2012 07:39 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens leveled new criticism on Wednesday against the court's landmark 2010 ruling on campaign financing, saying it had allowed corporations to ramp up spending and non-voters to influence the outcome of elections. Stevens, who dissented from the "Citizens United" ruling, said it had increased the importance of cash in contested elections, opened the floodgates for foreign campaign spending and put corporations or other out-of-state speakers ahead of voters interested in local issues. ...
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Hundreds detained in Tibet after self-immolations: report
Wed,30 May 2012 07:12 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - Hundreds of Tibetans in Lhasa have been detained by Chinese security officers after two self-immolation protests against Chinese rule over Tibet, a U.S.-broadcaster said, stoking concerns of spreading unrest among Tibetans in China. On Sunday, two Tibetan men set themselves on fire in Lhasa, state news agency Xinhua said, the first time in four years of a major Tibetan protest against Chinese rule. One of the men died. ... Full Story | Top |
Colombian rebels free French reporter after month in captivity
Wed,30 May 2012 06:13 PM PDT
Reuters - BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC guerrillas freed French reporter Romeo Langlois on Wednesday, a month after taking him hostage in a firefight that showed the leftist group is still a menace despite a decade of military blows. Langlois, the rebels' highest-profile captive since French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, was taken hostage in the southern Caqueta region on April 28 after he was caught in crossfire between a Colombian military unit he was embedded with and heavily armed FARC rebels. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. military trainers trickle back into Pakistan
Wed,30 May 2012 06:11 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has sent a handful of military trainers back into Pakistan in a sign the two nations may be able to achieve some low-level cooperation against militants despite a string of confrontations that have left Washington's relations with Islamabad in crisis. Fewer than 10 U.S. special operations soldiers have been sent to a training site near the border city of Peshawar, where they will instruct trainers from Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency warfare, a U.S. official said. ... Full Story | Top |
British PM's former aide charged with perjury
Wed,30 May 2012 06:09 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's former spokesman was charged with perjury on Wednesday, after denying in court any knowledge of widespread phone hacking by reporters at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. The charges against Andy Coulson, a former editor of the tabloid weekly, damages Cameron because it calls into question his judgment in employing a man so closely linked to the paper which was under suspicion of obtaining stories by illegal means. ...
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Fed's Rosengren warns of unseen risks from Europe
Wed,30 May 2012 06:06 PM PDT
Reuters - WORCESTER, MA (Reuters) - Unforeseen risks in struggling European countries have the potential to hurt the financial sector and the overall U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said on Wednesday. "The risk in Europe is that there could be some people with exposures that we are not aware of now," Rosengren said while taking questions after a speech to the Worcester Regional Research Bureau's annual meeting in Worcester, Massachusetts. "If we had a really disorganized failure in Europe it would be hard to fully insulate our economy. ... Full Story | Top |
Romney clinches Republican 2012 nomination in Texas
Wed,30 May 2012 06:04 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday with a resounding victory in Texas and now faces a five-month sprint to convince voters to trust him over Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election. Although the race has been essentially over for weeks, Romney finally cleared the benchmark of 1,144 delegates needed to become the Republicans' presidential candidate after a long, bitter primary battle with a host of conservative rivals. He will be formally nominated at the Republicans' convention in Florida in late August. ...
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Florida woman jailed for firing 'warning shot' at husband to appeal
Wed,30 May 2012 05:56 PM PDT
Reuters - JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - A New York attorney well-known for representing battered women in homicide cases is now legal counsel for a Jacksonville woman serving a 20-year sentence for firing a gun in the direction of her husband. Marissa Alexander, 31, said she fired a "warning shot" into a wall after being threatened by her husband in an incident in 2010, but prosecutors believe the bullet endangered him and his two children. Michael Dowd, a lawyer who has been representing domestic violence victims since the 1970s, told Reuters he plans to appeal Alexander's conviction. ... Full Story | Top |
Firms to add jobs, restrain pay - CBI
Wed,30 May 2012 05:49 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Businesses in Britain intend to increase their workforces in the coming year, although wage growth is likely to remain sluggish in what is emerging as a new long-term trend, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said on Thursday. Thirty percent of private-sector employers think their staffing levels will rise and 18 percent predict they will fall, giving a balance of +12, according to a survey by the CBI and recruitment consultants Harvey Nash conducted between February and April. This compares to a balance of +28 in the last poll carried out about half a year earlier. ...
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California inmate used cord to hang himself in death row cell
Wed,30 May 2012 05:31 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A convicted killer who hanged himself on California's death row did so using an extension cord for an appliance in his cell and had not previously been considered a suicide risk, a prison spokesman said on Wednesday. James Lee Crummel, 68, was found hanging in his one-man cell at San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco on Sunday, five months before Californians are due to vote in November on a ballot measure aimed at repealing the state's death penalty. Crummel had been sentenced to die for the 1979 murder of a teenage boy. ... Full Story | Top |
Former Secretary of State Rice to endorse Romney
Wed,30 May 2012 05:05 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Condoleezza Rice, who was U.S. secretary of state for President George W. Bush, plans to endorse Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday, a source familiar with her decision said. Rice, who currently teaches political science at Stanford University in California, is sometimes viewed as a potential vice presidential running mate for Romney, although she has repeatedly ruled out such a scenario. She was both national security adviser and secretary of state for the Republican Bush and grappled with U.S. ...
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Wisconsin's Walker widens lead in recall election: poll
Wed,30 May 2012 05:04 PM PDT
Reuters -  MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker widened his lead over Democrat Tom Barrett to 7 percentage points in a new poll released on Wednesday, less than a week before a recall election prompted by Walker's drive to curb labor union power. Walker had the support of 52 percent of those polled by Marquette University Law School, while 45 percent supported Milwaukee Mayor Barrett. The gap is up from 6 points in the same poll two weeks ago. The survey of 600 likely Wisconsin voters was taken May 23 to 26 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. ...
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California inmate used cord to hang himself in death row cell
Wed,30 May 2012 04:48 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A convicted killer who hanged himself on California's death row did so using an extension cord for an appliance in his cell and had not previously been considered a suicide risk, a prison spokesman said on Wednesday. James Lee Crummel, 68, was found hanging in his one-man cell at San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco on Sunday, five months before Californians are due to vote in November on a ballot measure aimed at repealing the state's death penalty. Crummel had been sentenced to die for the 1979 murder of a teenage boy. ... Full Story | Top |
House votes to approve FDA funding bill
Wed,30 May 2012 04:44 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that helps fund the Food and Drug Administration and gives it new authority to prevent drug shortages and speed reviews of medical devices. Passed by a vote of 387-5, the bill also helps ensure the safety of drugs imported from abroad by collecting higher fees from companies to fund FDA inspections of foreign facilities, and gives drugmakers incentives to make antibiotics for conditions where few treatments exist. ... Full Story | Top |
Two dead, three wounded in Indianapolis shooting, police say
Wed,30 May 2012 04:22 PM PDT
Reuters - INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - A gunman killed one person and wounded three others at an apartment complex in Indianapolis on Wednesday, before turning the gun on himself, police said. The shooter was hospitalized in critical condition but later died, according to interim Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Rick Hite. Police did not identify the victims or the gunman and said they could not comment on possible motives. No other details were immediately available. (Reporting by Susan Guyett; Editing by James B. Kelleher and Greg McCune) Full Story | Top |
Scout challenges anti-gay policy of Boy Scouts of America
Wed,30 May 2012 04:20 PM PDT
Reuters - ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - An Eagle Scout known for his defense of same-sex civil unions delivered on Wednesday a petition signed by 275,000 people to the Boy Scouts of America demanding an end to the group's exclusion of gays. Zach Wahls, a 20-year-old engineering student at the University of Iowa who attained the organization's highest rank of Eagle Scout, has two lesbian mothers. He became an Internet sensation in January 2011 when his address to the Iowa House of Representatives supporting gay civil unions logged more than 2.5 million views on YouTube. ... Full Story | Top |
Canada seeks alleged killer after body parts mailed out
Wed,30 May 2012 04:07 PM PDT
Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police on Wednesday named a man with a bizarre Internet trail as an alleged kitten-killer and bisexual porn star as their suspect in a gruesome case involving a dismembered torso, mailed-out body parts, and what one senior officer said was the worst crime scene his force has ever seen. Montreal police released a photograph of Luka Rocco Magnotta, who also uses the pseudonyms Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, and asked people across Canada to help locate him. ... Full Story | Top |
Clarence Thomas reconciles with Yale after bitter years
Wed,30 May 2012 04:04 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who bitterly wrote of affixing a 15-cent price sticker to his 1974 Yale Law School diploma and storing it in the basement, appears to be reconciling with his alma mater. After spurning overtures by the law school since his 1991 high-court appointment, Thomas has agreed to be the keynote speaker at a Yale Law School alumni dinner at the National Press Club in Washington on June 28. ... Full Story | Top |
Jury ends eighth day of talks in Edwards campaign finance trial
Wed,30 May 2012 03:50 PM PDT
Reuters -  GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - The alternate jurors in former U.S. Senator John Edwards' federal trial learned on Wednesday they could to return to their normal lives as deliberations dragged on about whether the ex-White House hopeful broke the law trying to hide an affair. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles did not officially dismiss the alternates from duty but said they no longer had to report to the courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina, each day. ...
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PM's former aide charged with perjury
Wed,30 May 2012 03:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron's former spokesman was charged with perjury on Wednesday, after denying in court any knowledge of widespread phone hacking by reporters at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World. The charges against Andy Coulson, a former editor of the tabloid weekly, damages Cameron because it calls into question his judgment in employing a man so closely linked to the paper which was under suspicion of obtaining stories by illegal means. ...
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Fed's Rosengren warns of unseen risks from Europe
Wed,30 May 2012 03:33 PM PDT
Reuters - WORCESTER, MA (Reuters) - Unforeseen risks in struggling European countries have the potential to hurt the financial sector and the overall U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said on Wednesday. "The risk in Europe is that there could be some people with exposures that we are not aware of now," Rosengren said while taking questions after a speech to the Worcester Regional Research Bureau's annual meeting in Worcester, Massachusetts. "If we had a really disorganized failure in Europe it would be hard to fully insulate our economy. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrian consul in the U.S. resigns over Houla killings
Wed,30 May 2012 03:23 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - An honorary consul of Syria in the United States resigned on Wednesday, telling NPR his decision was motivated by the killings of more than 100 civilians in the Syrian town of Houla over the weekend. "You get to a point where your silence or your inaction becomes ethically and morally unacceptable," Hazem Chehabi, Syria's Honorary Consul General in California, told NPR's Morning Edition. ... Full Story | Top |
Government invites bids for 500 million pounds of business funds
Wed,30 May 2012 03:14 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - The government will on Thursday invite bids to manage a further 500 million pounds of credit easing funds, the second tranche of business loans aimed at easing the flow of finance to cash-strapped companies, the Treasury said on Wednesday. Britain's 21 billion pound credit easing scheme, launched last year, has come under fire by critics who argue it has had little discernible impact on the economy, which has slipped back into recession. ...
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Alberta to seek C$10 billion from tobacco industry
Wed,30 May 2012 03:07 PM PDT
Reuters - CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Alberta will file a lawsuit against tobacco manufacturers seeking C$10 billion ($9.7 billion) to recover healthcare costs from smoking-related illnesses, the province's government said on Wednesday. The government said in a statement it has retained Tobacco Recovery Partners LLP, a consortium of law firms, to file the suit on its behalf but did not specify when the filing will be made. Alberta will be the fifth Canadian province to file suit against the tobacco industry. ... Full Story | Top |
French court lifts gagging order on Strauss-Kahn
Wed,30 May 2012 03:01 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - A French appeals court on Wednesday lifted a gagging order that prevented former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn from speaking to the media during a judicial investigation into his links with a suspected prostitution ring. Strauss-Kahn is under investigation in France to establish whether he knew he was dealing with prostitutes and pimps when he attended sex parties in northern France, Paris and Washington in 2010 and 2011 allegedly organized by business acquaintances. He denies knowing that the women at the parties were prostitutes or that there was any violence. ... Full Story | Top |
Romney's campaign misspells "America" in new app
Wed,30 May 2012 02:59 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney says he is running for president in search of a better America. This week, Romney's campaign could have used a better speller. The campaign released an iPhone app late Tuesday that features slogans supporting his campaign against Democratic President Barack Obama ahead of elections on November 6. "We're With Mitt," read one. "American Greatness," declared another. "A Better Amercia," proclaimed a third, a misspelling that almost instantly became the subject of jokes on social media. ...
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U.S. military trainers trickle back into Pakistan
Wed,30 May 2012 02:56 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has sent a handful of military trainers back into Pakistan in a sign the two nations may be able to achieve some low-level cooperation against militants despite a string of confrontations that have left Washington's relations with Islamabad in crisis. Fewer than 10 U.S. special operations soldiers have been sent to a training site near the border city of Peshawar, where they will instruct trainers from Pakistan's Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency warfare, a U.S. official said. ... Full Story | Top |
Israel urges tougher action against Assad
Wed,30 May 2012 02:53 PM PDT
Reuters - TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called on Wednesday for tougher world action against Bashar al-Assad, saying he doubted the Syrian president "lost an hour's sleep" over the expulsion of his envoys from several capitals after the Houla massacre. "These events in Syria compel the world to take action, not just talk, but action. These are crimes against humanity and the international community must not stand on the sidelines," Barak said in a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. ... Full Story | Top |
Colombian rebels free French reporter held for a month
Wed,30 May 2012 02:34 PM PDT
Reuters - BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's FARC guerrillas freed French reporter Romeo Langlois on Wednesday, a month after taking him hostage in a firefight that showed the leftist group is still a menace despite a decade of military blows. Langlois, the rebels' highest-profile captive since French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, was taken hostage in the southern Caqueta region on April 28 after he was caught in crossfire between a Colombian military unit he was embedded with and heavily armed FARC rebels. ... Full Story | Top |
Court fight over Internet rules likely delayed to 2013
Wed,30 May 2012 02:28 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The legal fight over the U.S. government's new Internet traffic rules will likely drag into next year, according to a proposed court schedule. The Federal Communications Commission in 2010 adopted "net neutrality" rules that forbid broadband providers from blocking access to lawful content, while leaving flexibility for providers to manage their networks. For example, while other rules block access to child pornography, the "net neutrality" rules do not allow blockage of material the provider may oppose for political or other reasons. ... Full Story | Top |
Canadian Conservatives lose MP, retain majority
Wed,30 May 2012 02:24 PM PDT
Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - A parliamentarian from Canada's ruling Conservatives Party has quit his job to go into provincial politics, but the Conservatives retain their majority in the House of Commons. Lee Richardson, from the oil-rich province of Alberta, said he was leaving Parliament to take up a post as principal secretary to Alberta Premier Alison Redford. The Conservatives still retain a healthy majority in the House of Commons, with 164 seats out of 308. And as Richardson is from Conservative-heavy Alberta, his seat will likely be filled by another Conservative. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. hints at bypassing U.N. on Syria
Wed,30 May 2012 02:24 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - If the U.N. Security Council does not take swift action to pressure Syria to end its 14-month assault on the opposition, member nations may have no choice but to consider acting outside the United Nations, the U.S. envoy to the world body said on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters after international mediator Kofi Annan's deputy, Jean-Marie Guehenno, gave the 15-nation council a bleak assessment of the impact of Annan's efforts to halt the violence in Syria, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said there were three ways the Syrian conflict could end. ... Full Story | Top |
New Pakistani reason for jailing bin Laden case doctor
Wed,30 May 2012 02:12 PM PDT
Reuters - PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - In another twist to a case that is straining Islamabad's ties with Washington, a Pakistani court says the doctor who helped the United States find Osama bin Laden was imprisoned for aiding militants and not for his links to the CIA. It is the third different explanation for the 33-year jail sentence handed to Dr. Shakil Afridi. Last week after his conviction by a court in the Khyber tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said the decision was based on treason charges for aiding the CIA in its hunt for the al Qaeda chief. ... Full Story | Top |
Text, don't call when natural disaster strikes
Wed,30 May 2012 02:11 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is better to send text messages than to call when natural disasters strike and networks get congested, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, also urging people to add battery-powered cell phone chargers to their storm emergency kits. Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told reporters that forecasts for a "normal" Atlantic hurricane season should not keep those in potentially affected areas from getting ready for storms that could make landfall. "There is no forecast yet that says where they are going to hit or not hit. ... Full Story | Top |
New French government to review drone plans
Wed,30 May 2012 02:02 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - France will go back to the drawing board in its plans to build military drones, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday, putting into doubt a joint Franco-British project to develop the next-generation drone. Speaking to reporters, the new minister appeared to be distancing the new government from a decision by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to push Dassault Aviation and Britain's BAE Systems' to build their own drone as part of a defense accord between the two countries. ... Full Story | Top |
Syrian diplomat in the U.S. defects over Houla killings
Wed,30 May 2012 01:56 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A senior Syrian diplomat in the United States defected on Wednesday, telling NPR his decision was motivated by the killings of more than 100 civilians in the Syrian town of Houla over the weekend. "You get to a point where your silence or your inaction becomes ethically and morally unacceptable," Hazem Chehabi, Syria's Honorary Consul General in California, told NPR's Morning Edition. ... Full Story | Top |
African Union to take Mali to U.N. Security Council: source
Wed,30 May 2012 01:48 PM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - The African Union plans to refer the situation in Mali to the United Nations Security Council so that it can create a framework for tackling the worsening crisis there, a diplomatic source close to the AU president said on Wednesday. Mali, once regarded as a fine example of African democracy, collapsed into chaos after soldiers toppled the president in March, leaving a power vacuum in the north that enabled rebels to take control of nearly two-thirds of the country. ... Full Story | Top |
Canada opposition leader heads West amid oil scrap
Wed,30 May 2012 01:37 PM PDT
Reuters -  CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's federal opposition party leader, who has criticized the oil sands boom as harmful to the country's manufacturing sector, prepared on Wednesday to make his first visit to the massive resource development in Alberta, where his comments have sparked anger. New Democratic Party leader Thomas Mulcair, slated to tour Suncor Energy Inc's oil sands operation on Thursday, has said the manufacturing sector is being hollowed out by a Canadian dollar that has surged due to the boom in oil exports. ...
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