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| North Korea says American tourist it is holding will face trial Friday, Apr 26, 2013 08:59 PM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday a Korean-American tourist, who has been held in prison by the reclusive state since late last year, will face trial for "committing crimes" against the North, a move that could further stoke tensions with the United States. Kenneth Bae, 44, was in a group of five tourists who visited the northeastern city of Rajin on a five-day trip last November and has been held by police since then. KCNA, the North's official news agency, said Bae entered the North on November 3. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian government could be settled on Saturday: sources Friday, Apr 26, 2013 08:53 PM PDT  By Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Italian prime minister-designate Enrico Letta could announce a new government on Saturday and spell out its programme early next week, political sources said on Friday, while outgoing premier Mario Monti said he did not expect to be a minister. Letta, deputy leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, has been in discussions to iron out remaining differences with Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party following an initial round of talks on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress passes plan to ease flight delays Friday, Apr 26, 2013 08:17 PM PDT  By Richard Cowan and Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Friday approved a plan to ease nationwide air-traffic delays caused by federal spending cuts, seeking to calm irritated travelers but sparking a backlash from groups still being hit by budget cuts. The Senate unanimously voted for the plan late Thursday and the House of Representatives approved it Friday by a 361-41 vote. White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama intends to sign the bill. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rush to help airlines, travelers could crack open budget door Friday, Apr 26, 2013 08:16 PM PDT  By David Lawder and Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress got rid of a headache on Friday when it rescued the flying public from flight delays caused by its budget cutting. But in the view of many lawmakers, the pain is just about to begin. Members of Congress and groups representing people hit by across-the-board budget cuts, ranging from cancer patients to welfare recipients, say the quick action on air traffic control staffing underscored the importance of being visible to millions of Americans. ... Full Story | Top |
| Seattle's interim police chief sorry for video mocking homeless Friday, Apr 26, 2013 07:32 PM PDT  By Elaine Porterfield SEATTLE (Reuters) - Seattle's interim police chief has apologized for appearing in a 1986 video that showed him and other officers mocking the homeless in what the city's police department this week called an "ugly piece" of its history. Interim Chief Jim Pugel, who is implementing sweeping reforms in the wake of a 2012 U.S. Department of Justice report that found the city's police routinely used excessive force, appeared in the video when he was a 26-year-old officer. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama talks tough, shows no rush to act on Syria chemical arms evidence Friday, Apr 26, 2013 06:08 PM PDT  By Matt Spetalnick and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama warned Syria on Friday that its use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer" for the United States but made clear he was in no rush to intervene in the civil war there on the basis of evidence he said was still preliminary. Speaking a day after the disclosure of U.S. intelligence that Syria had likely used chemical weapons against its own people, Obama talked tough while calling for patience as he sought to fend off pressure for a swift response against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Evidence" of Syria chemical weapons use not up to U.N. standard Friday, Apr 26, 2013 04:55 PM PDT By Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Assertions of chemical weapon use in Syria by Western and Israeli officials citing photos, sporadic shelling and traces of toxins do not meet the standard of proof needed for a U.N. team of experts waiting to gather their own field evidence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: What is the chemical weapon sarin? Friday, Apr 26, 2013 04:55 PM PDT (Reuters) - Charges that Syria has used the chemical weapon sarin have raised questions about the nerve agent, how it kills and what level of evidence it will take to prove it was used on the Syrian people. WHAT IS SARIN? Sarin is a man-made nerve gas that was originally developed as a pesticide in Germany in 1938. It is chemically similar to a class of pesticides known as organophosphates. Sarin, also known as GB, is part of a class of chemical weapons called G-series nerve agents that were developed during World War Two and were named for the German scientists who synthesized them. ... Full Story | Top |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers quits as Sands auditor, no dispute cited Friday, Apr 26, 2013 04:41 PM PDT By Ronald Grover (Reuters) - Las Vegas Sands Corp , the casino company, said on Friday that accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers will not stand for re-election as the company's auditor, ending a 25-year relationship with Sands founder and chairman Sheldon Adelson. The auditor, which confirmed the company's announcement in a letter to the SEC, has served as the gaming company's auditor since it became a public company in 2004. Las Vegas Sands and the accounting firm said the decision to part ways was not motivated by any disagreements over financial statements or disclosures. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. agency moves against Nevada hospital cited for "patient dumping" Friday, Apr 26, 2013 04:31 PM PDT By Ronnie Cohen SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Federal authorities have taken disciplinary action against a Las Vegas hospital cited for improperly sending newly released psychiatric patients by bus to neighboring California and other states in a practice called "patient dumping." The Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital was warned that it was in violation of Medicare rules governing the discharge of patients and could lose critical funding under the federal healthcare insurance program if it failed to correct the problem. ... Full Story | Top |
| Froman, Pritzker in line for trade and commerce posts: sources Friday, Apr 26, 2013 04:22 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is close to choosing White House deputy national security adviser Mike Froman to be the next trade representative, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday. After a long vetting process, Chicago businesswoman and Obama fundraiser Penny Pritzker is still in line to be nominated as commerce secretary, the sources said. The two trade jobs are among the final positions Obama has to fill in his second-term cabinet. Both require confirmation by the Senate. An announcement of their nominations is likely to be made next ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamist says Egypt should press on with judge reforms Friday, Apr 26, 2013 03:56 PM PDT  By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament must move quickly to adopt judicial reforms that have sparked a revolt by judges, the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm argued on Friday. The proposed reforms, which would get rid of more than 3,000 judges by lowering the retirement age, have widened the rift between President Mohamed Mursi's government and a judiciary seen by its critics as a last bastion of the old regime that was toppled in the 2011 revolution. ... Full Story | Top |
| Part of 9/11 plane landing gear found in lower Manhattan Friday, Apr 26, 2013 03:20 PM PDT  By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - A piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the commercial airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, has been discovered, wedged between two lower Manhattan buildings, police said on Friday. The piece of landing gear found in a narrow alleyway behind 51 Park Place and 50 Murray Street in Manhattan's financial district includes a "clearly visible" Boeing identification number, New York City Police spokesman Paul Browne said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iceland government heads for defeat as center right revives Friday, Apr 26, 2013 03:13 PM PDT  By Balazs Koranyi REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Icelanders fed up with austerity are set to oust the ruling Social Democrats in elections on Saturday after being wooed with promises of tax cuts and debt relief from the center right that presided over the nation's financial meltdown five years ago. With promises of a quick recovery fading, voters are angered by mounting mortgage debt, rapid inflation and crippling capital controls that keep investment at a record low. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan police break up protest against land sale to Arab investors Friday, Apr 26, 2013 03:09 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese police used tear gas and batons to break up a protest of more than 250 people on Friday demanding that the government revoke the sale of farming land to Gulf Arab investors, witnesses said. Protesters blocked the main road of Um Dum outside the capital Khartoum to urge the government to give them land in the area instead of to investors planning an agricultural project there, the witnesses said. Police said it had been forced to act after protesters hurled rockets at officers and burned tires, the state-linked Sudanese Media Center (SMC) said on it website. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma man, fugitive from law for 14 years, turns himself in Friday, Apr 26, 2013 03:08 PM PDT By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - An Oklahoma fugitive who escaped from a county jail 14 years ago while being held on charges of murdering his ex-wife and her boyfriend turned himself in on Friday, saying he was tired of running from the law. Comanche County Sheriff Department deputies took David Lee Kemp, 43, into custody without incident at a truck stop early Friday morning, Rick Rains, spokesman for the FBI's Oklahoma City office, said. Authorities learned of Kemp's whereabouts after he asked a truck driver at the truck stop to call the sheriff so he could turn himself in, Rains said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada minister wants deportation review after train plot arrests Friday, Apr 26, 2013 02:58 PM PDT  By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada must review its deportation policy in light of a pardon that was granted to a Canadian resident once threatened with deportation and now accused in an alleged al Qaeda plot to derail a passenger train, a government minister said on Friday. Raed Jaser, one of two men charged in connection with the suspected plot, argued in a 2004 deportation hearing that Canada should not deport him because he was stateless and no country would take him in. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government may not hit debt limit until October: analysts Friday, Apr 26, 2013 02:52 PM PDT  By Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States might not hit the statutory limit on its debt until October, a policy research group said on Friday, giving Republican lawmakers more time to extract spending cuts from the Obama administration in return for extending the borrowing cap. After giving into Democratic demands in December to raise taxes and later working with them to avoid a government shutdown, Republicans have been gearing up to use the debt limit as leverage to seek fresh budget cuts and changes to the tax code. ... Full Story | Top |
| Column: How to respond to a terrorist attack Friday, Apr 26, 2013 02:39 PM PDT  (David Rohde is a Reuters columnist but his opinions are his own.) By David Rohde (Reuters) - There is no right way to react to a terrorist attack. Oklahoma City rebuilt after Timothy McVeigh's 1995 truck bomb attack on the federal government. Atlanta moved on following anti-abortion activist Eric Rudolph's 1996 bombing of the Olympics. New York displayed staggering resiliency after the September 11 attacks. Boston, though, may have set a new standard. Customers swarmed restaurants and businesses on Boylston Street, the site of the marathon bombings, after police reopened the area on ... Full Story | Top |
| Judge won't block SEC use of recording against Goldman's Tourre Friday, Apr 26, 2013 02:30 PM PDT  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three years after Fabrice Tourre became the face of a major U.S. regulatory action against Goldman Sachs Group Inc, a newly uncovered phone recording is giving the Securities and Exchange Commission ammunition in its fraud case against the former bond trader. The January 2007 call was between a Goldman saleswoman and an executive at ACA Financial Guaranty Corp, which helped pick securities backing the collateralized debt obligation about which Goldman and Tourre allegedly misled investors. As Tourre looked on, U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Air Force Secretary Donley stepping down after almost 5 years Friday, Apr 26, 2013 02:12 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said on Friday he was stepping down after nearly five years leading the service, during a time it faced scrutiny for mishandling nuclear weapons, a spate of sexual assaults and recurrent acquisition challenges. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called Donley an outstanding leader and said he had been an "invaluable adviser" during his first months in office. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston bombing suspect in prison, brother's body unclaimed Friday, Apr 26, 2013 02:10 PM PDT  By Scott Malone and Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - The surviving suspect in last week's Boston Marathon bombing was moved to a prison medical center outside Boston on Friday, while the body of his older brother who died in a shootout with police remained unclaimed, officials said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old ethnic Chechen charged with the bombing that killed three people and wounded 264, was moved from the hospital where he was kept under guard since he was arrested, badly wounded, a week ago, the U.S. Marshals Service said. ... Full Story | Top |
| TransCanada sees Keystone XL delayed till second-half 2015 Friday, Apr 26, 2013 01:25 PM PDT  By Scott Haggett and Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp, Canada's No. 2 pipeline company, said on Friday the long wait for U.S. government approval of its controversial Keystone XL project will further delay completion of the pipeline and push its cost above the company's $5.3 billion estimate. TransCanada, which reported a 27 percent rise in first-quarter profit on Friday, is waiting for the Obama administration to issue a presidential permit for construction of the line, which is designed to carry 830,000 barrels a day of Canadian and U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fraudulent versions of Allergan's Botox found in U.S. Friday, Apr 26, 2013 01:19 PM PDT By Toni Clarke (Reuters) - Fraudulent versions of the wrinkle treatment Botox, which is made by Allergan Inc and also used to treat headaches, underarm sweating and overactive bladder, are being sold in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. The FDA said in an alert posted on its website that the outer carton of the fraudulent Botox is counterfeit, and the vial inside is foreign and not approved for sale in the United States. "FDA cannot confirm that the manufacture, quality, storage, and handling of these products follow U.S. standards," the agency said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Latin America threatened by mounting cancer epidemic: study Friday, Apr 26, 2013 01:10 PM PDT By Asher Levine SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Latin America's growing prosperity is fueling a cancer epidemic that threatens to overwhelm the region unless governments take urgent preventive action, a study published on Friday warned. A multinational team of researchers found the current state of cancer care and prevention in Latin America incompatible with the socioeconomic changes taking place in the region, where an increasingly urban populace faces mounting lifestyle-related cancer risks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama: Syrian government use of chemical weapons a "game changer" Friday, Apr 26, 2013 01:08 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday that the deployment of chemical weapons by the Syrian government was a "game changer" while noting that intelligence assessments proving that such weapons had been used were still preliminary. "Horrific as it is when mortars are being fired on civilians and people are being indiscriminately killed, to use potential weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations crosses another line with respect to international norms and international law," Obama told reporters at the White House. "That is going to be a game changer. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey says chemical arms use would escalate Syria crisis Friday, Apr 26, 2013 01:08 PM PDT By Jonathon Burch ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey said on Friday that any use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would "take the crisis to another level", but remained cautious about any foreign military intervention in the conflict on its border. The White House said on Thursday Assad's government had probably used chemical arms on a small scale, but that President Barack Obama needed proof before he would act. "We have been hearing allegations of the use of chemical weapons for quite some time now and these new findings take things to another level. ... Full Story | Top |
| Man sentenced to five years for role in NYC synagogue bomb plot Friday, Apr 26, 2013 12:49 PM PDT  By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for plotting to blow up synagogues in New York City, only the third conviction under a state terror statute passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Mohamed Mamdouh, 22, a Moroccan-born U.S. citizen, appeared in a state court in Manhattan after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy as a crime of terrorism and two related weapons charges. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkey becomes partner of China, Russia-led security bloc Friday, Apr 26, 2013 12:31 PM PDT  By Dmitry Solovyov ALMATY (Reuters) - NATO member Turkey signed up on Friday to became a "dialogue partner" of a security bloc dominated by China and Russia, and declared that its destiny is in Asia. "This is really a historic day for us," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Almaty after signing a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Secretary General Dmitry Mezentsev. "Now, with this choice, Turkey is declaring that our destiny is the same as the destiny of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| France's Hollande to ease entrepreneurs' capital gains tax Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:57 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande will propose next week easing entrepreneurs' capital gains tax, an official in his office told French media on Friday, as the Socialist leader struggles to win the confidence of business owners. Hollande's government had planned last year to raise capital gains tax on business owners early in its mandate, but backed down after a high-profile revolt and warnings the move would drive start-up companies abroad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian court denies punk band convict Tolokonnikova parole Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:41 AM PDT  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court refused to release from prison one of two jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk band so that she can look after her young daughter. The court on Friday rejected Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's appeal for parole eight months after she was handed a two-year prison sentence for the band's performance of a "punk prayer" in Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral. Tolokonnikova, 23, has been serving her sentence for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" in a prison colony in central Russia, about 550 km (350 miles) southeast of Moscow. ... Full Story | Top |
| French Socialists call for tougher stance on Merkel Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:17 AM PDT  By Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - France's ruling Socialist Party is pressing President Francois Hollande to toughen his stance towards a German counterpart it describes as "self-centered", arguing that Chancellor Angela Merkel's pro-austerity policies are hurting Europe. The message - spelled out in a 21-page document to be presented at a party brainstorming conference in June - added to growing criticism of Berlin from across the Rhine after Socialist National Assembly speaker Claude Bartolone this week raised the prospect of a "confrontation" with Merkel. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bosnian regional president arrested in graft probe Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:15 AM PDT  By Daria Sito-Sucic and Maja Zuvela SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The president of Bosnia's autonomous Muslim-Croat federation and 19 others were arrested on Friday in an anti-corruption probe that also targeted the offices of the regional government, a spokesman for the state prosecutor said. The raid on Zivko Budimir's Sarajevo office and the regional government in the southern town of Mostar is the most high-profile anti-graft operation in Bosnia since independence more than two decades ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombs kill at least 20 across Iraqi capital Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:13 AM PDT  By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bomb blasts in Baghdad killed at least 20 more people on Friday at the end of a week of bloodshed that prompted a United Nations envoy to warn Iraq was "at a crossroads". More than 160 people have been killed since Tuesday, when troops stormed a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk, triggering clashes that quickly spread to other Sunni areas in western and northern provinces. Although well below the heights of 2006-7, this week's violence was the most widespread since U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq in December 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Embraer earnings down on falling regional jet production Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:11 AM PDT  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA will likely report slightly weaker earnings on Monday as rising labor costs and slower production of its commercial jets underscored ongoing challenges, despite recent government support. Embraer is expected to post an 11 percent decline in first-quarter earnings from a year ago to $58 million, according to the average estimate of five analysts in a Reuters survey. ... Full Story | Top |
| Thousands of South Sudanese rebels surrender after thaw with Sudan Friday, Apr 26, 2013 11:10 AM PDT By Hereward Holland JUBA (Reuters) - Several thousand South Sudanese rebels have surrendered to the government and returned home from alleged rear bases in neighboring Sudan, government and rebel officials in the south said on Friday. South Sudan has been struggling to contain insurgencies it claims have been supported by Sudan since it gained independence from its northern neighbor in 2011 under a peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil wars. Sudan denies the allegations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Norway extends period for buying F-35 fighter jets Friday, Apr 26, 2013 10:44 AM PDT  By Henrik Stolen and Nerijus Adomaitis GARDERMOEN, Norway (Reuters) - Oil-rich Norway is stretching out its purchase of 52 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from Lockheed Martin, the Defense Ministry said on Friday, a move that will nudge up the total cost but reduce the annual burden on the defense budget. The country is about to place firm orders for six of the fighter planes and will extend the timeframe for the purchase of all 52 from four years to eight years, the ministry said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston bomb suspect moved to prison from hospital Friday, Apr 26, 2013 10:42 AM PDT * Wounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Devens prison medical center * Lawmakers press inquiry of prior probe of suspect * Carjacking victim tells Boston Globe of night of terror (Adds details on carjacking, scene near prison, U.S.-Russia background) By Scott Malone and Tim McLaughlin BOSTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been moved to a prison medical center from the hospital where he had been held since his arrest a week ago while recovering from gunshot wounds, U.S. officials said on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Growth falls short of forecasts, weakness ahead Friday, Apr 26, 2013 10:36 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy regained speed in the first quarter, but not as much as expected, heightening fears it could struggle to cope with deep government spending cuts and higher taxes. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.5 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday, after growth nearly stalled in the fourth quarter. Economists had expected a 3.0 percent growth pace. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian Islamist urges fast passage of disputed law on judges Friday, Apr 26, 2013 10:34 AM PDT  By Maggie Fick CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament must move quickly to adopt judicial reforms that have sparked a revolt by judges, the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm argued on Friday. The proposed reforms, which would get rid of more than 3,000 judges by lowering the retirement age, have widened the rift between President Mohamed Mursi's government and a judiciary seen by its critics as a last bastion of the old regime that was toppled in the 2011 revolution. ... Full Story | Top |
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