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| U.S. had more tips on Boston suspect; Congress asks questions Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 08:30 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle, Samuel P. Jacobs and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON/CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence was alerted when one of the Boston bombing suspects traveled to a volatile region of Russia last year, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, raising new questions about the government's handling of the case and how well law enforcement agencies share information and cooperate with one another. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Verizon eyes roughly $100 billion bid for Verizon Wireless stake Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 08:11 PM PDT  By Soyoung Kim NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc has hired advisers to prepare a possible $100 billion cash and stock bid to take full control of Verizon Wireless from joint venture partner Vodafone Group Plc, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Verizon, which already owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless, has not yet put forward a proposal to Vodafone but it has hired both banking and legal advisers for a possible bid, the sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Budget cuts back in spotlight as flight delays mount Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 06:32 PM PDT  By Mark Felsenthal and Alwyn Scott WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday backed a plan that would temporarily eliminate spending cuts disrupting U.S. air travel, while lawmakers in Washington scrambled to avoid blame as the impact of the reductions began being felt across the country. Airlines pushed for the government to act as flight delays increased and planes stacked up at airports, with one chief executive saying, "We can't do this for long. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea wants talks with North to reopen joint industrial zone Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 07:14 PM PDT  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Thursday it was proposing formal talks with North Korea to discuss restarting work at a joint factory zone located just north of the rivals' heavily armed border that was suspended in early April amid growing security tensions. The offer is the first formal proposal for direct talks by Seoul aimed at making a breakthrough in a deadlock over the Kaesong factory project, which was the last remaining channel open between the two Koreas until it was forced to close. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon sees risks, progress on Lockheed's F-35 jet Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 05:20 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Pentagon officials on Wednesday cited both progress and continuing risks on the $396 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program, and said Singapore had shown "tremendous interest" in the next-generation stealth fighter. Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan, the Pentagon's F-35 program chief, told a subcommittee that he expects to reach agreement with Lockheed about a sixth and seventh batch of F-35s by the end of May, followed by a contract award in June. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's parliament launches probe into Capriles Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 06:35 PM PDT  By Deisy Buitrago and Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's government-controlled parliament set up an inquiry on Wednesday into violence over a disputed election that authorities blame on opposition leader Henrique Capriles. Nine people died and dozens were injured after opposition protests against Nicolas Maduro's narrow April 14 presidential poll win turned violent around the South American nation. The government said the unrest was evidence the opposition was planning a coup. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraq on edge after raid fuels deadly Sunni unrest Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 01:54 PM PDT  By Patrick Markey and Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) - More than 30 people were killed in gun battles between Iraqi forces and militants on Wednesday, a day after a raid on a Sunni Muslim protest ignited the fiercest clashes since American troops left the country. The second day of fighting threatens to deepen sectarian rifts in Iraq where relations between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims are still very tense just a few years after inter-communal slaughter pushed the country close to civil war. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Iran's unlikely al Qaeda ties: fluid, murky and deteriorating Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 12:54 PM PDT  By Myra MacDonald LONDON (Reuters) - When al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri spoke in an audio message broadcast to supporters earlier this month, he had harsh words for Iran. Its true face, he said, had been unmasked by its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against fighters loyal to al Qaeda. Yet it is symptomatic of the peculiar relationship between Tehran and al Qaeda that in the same month Canadian police would accuse "al Qaeda elements in Iran" of backing a plot to derail a passenger train. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy president names center-left's Letta as new premier Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 11:07 AM PDT  By Barry Moody and Paolo Biondi ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday asked center-left politician Enrico Letta to form a new government, signaling the end of a damaging two-month stalemate since elections in the euro zone's third largest economy in February. Letta, from the Democratic Party (PD), said he would start talks to form a broad-based coalition on Thursday. It is likely to go to parliament for a vote of confidence by early next week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Weak durable goods orders point to sluggish economy Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 09:59 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods recorded their biggest drop in seven months in March and a gauge of planned business spending rose only modestly, the latest signs of a slowdown in economic activity. Durable goods orders slumped 5.7 percent as demand fell almost across the board, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. The drop in orders for these goods - items from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more - followed a 4.3 percent rise in February. ... Full Story | Top |
| Planning for Boston Marathon security included bombing scenario Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 04:08 PM PDT  CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The security planning for last week's Boston Marathon, where two bombs went off killing three people and wounding 264, included preparation for such an emergency, a top Massachusetts public safety official said on Wednesday. "We spend months planning for the marathon. We did a tabletop exercise the week before that included a bombing scenario in it," Kurt Schwartz, the state's undersecretary for homeland security, told a panel at Harvard University. ... Full Story | Top |
| Embassy attack spreads Libyan instability to capital Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 09:34 AM PDT  By Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's central government has long had only a tenuous grip on the eastern city of Benghazi, but the bombing of the French embassy in Tripoli shows its control of the capital may now also be under threat. The early morning car bomb devastated France's embassy, wounding two French guards, in the most significant attack against foreign interests in Libya since September's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian army seizes strategic town near capital Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 10:05 AM PDT By Mariam Karouny and Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad seized a strategic town east of Damascus on Wednesday, breaking a critical weapons supply route for the rebels, activists and fighters said. Rebels have held several suburbs ringing the southern and eastern parts Damascus for months, but they have been struggling to maintain their positions against a ground offensive backed by fierce army shelling and air strikes in recent weeks. "The disaster has struck, the army entered Otaiba. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bangladesh factory building collapse kills nearly 100 Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 02:53 PM PDT  By Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - A block housing garment factories and shops collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 people and injuring more than a thousand, officials said. Firefighters and troops dug frantically through the rubble at the eight-storey Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside Dhaka. Television showed young women workers, some apparently semi-conscious, being pulled out. One fireman told Reuters about 2,000 people were in the building when the upper floors slammed down onto those below. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. government, Fisker grilled over loans to green carmaker Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 03:51 PM PDT  By Ayesha Rascoe and Deepa Seetharaman (Reuters) - Taxpayer-backed funds kept flowing to electric carmaker Fisker Automotive months after the company failed to meet key production benchmarks, lawmakers said at a congressional hearing on Wednesday. Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee cited Department of Energy documents as showing Fisker got $32 million in payments, even after it failed to launch its Karma vehicle in February of 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress demands more FBI answers on Boston bomb suspect Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 12:03 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle and Samuel P. Jacobs WASHINGTON/CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers demanded more answers on the Boston Marathon bombing on Wednesday, unsatisfied with the FBI reaction to warnings about one suspect and expressing doubt about the other suspect's claims that he and his dead brother acted alone. Some on Capitol Hill questioned whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Boar hunt shooting tragedy triggers Moldova crisis Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 02:23 PM PDT  By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU (Reuters) - It all started when Moldova's top judiciary and businessmen gathered in a snow-laden forest called Tsar's Wood to mark the year's end by stalking wild boar. In the course of the hunt, a shot rang out and a man fell fatally wounded. Someone in the 32-strong private party of VIP amateur hunters had accidentally discharged his rifle. The 41-year-old businessman died the next day but the shot has echoed through Moldovan politics, felling prime minister Vlad Filat and threatening the ex-Soviet state's drive for a place in the European mainstream. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan quake, floods kills at least 33 Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 10:26 AM PDT  JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An earthquake in Afghanistan's east and flash floods in the north killed at least 33 people on Wednesday as hundreds of traditional mud-brick homes collapsed, officials said. The 5.7 magnitude quake, which hit before 2 p.m. (0930 GMT) was felt as far away as the Indian capital New Delhi and was the latest in a spate of tremors to shake Asia this month. The quake was 65 km (40 miles) deep with an epicenter 11 km (seven miles) from Mehtar Lam, capital of the eastern province of Laghman, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. seeks to ease Afghan-Pakistan tensions in Brussels talks Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 09:26 AM PDT  By David Brunnstrom BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's army chief and a foreign ministry official held "productive" talks on Wednesday on easing tensions between the neighboring states, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who hosted the meeting, said. Kerry cautioned, however, that any results of the Brussels talks would have to be measured in improving relations as NATO winds down its Afghanistan mission. "We had a very extensive and ... a very productive and constructive dialogue ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Two militants shot dead in Russia's Dagestan Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 09:38 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Security officers shot dead two suspected militants in Russia's volatile North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the epicenter of an Islamist insurgency, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said on Wednesday. Moscow is struggling to quell the persistent attacks by Islamist militants more than a decade after it fought two separatist wars in the adjacent republic of Chechnya. Security officers surrounded a house in the village of Sogratl, some 100 km (60 miles) southwest of the regional capital Makhachkala, where the two suspected insurgents were hiding, the statement said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boeing profit beats estimates despite 787 problems Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 09:35 AM PDT  By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co's first-quarter earnings jumped nearly 20 percent, handily beating analysts' estimates and showing little impact from the 787 Dreamliner problems, sending the company's shares up more than 3 percent in midday trading. Boeing, in its quarterly report on Wednesday, stood by its sales, earnings and cash forecasts for the full year, reassuring investors that it expects to deliver all of the jets it had planned, including Dreamliners. Cost-cutting and higher profit margins more than offset a small decline in sales. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian protest leader says trial is Putin's revenge Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 07:32 AM PDT  By Gabriela Baczynska KIROV, Russia (Reuters) - Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny accused President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of seeking "political revenge" against him after a court refused to throw out what he says are trumped-up charges. On day two of his trial on theft charges that are punishable by up to 10 years in jail, the anti-corruption campaigner and protest organizer said Judge Sergei Blinov was biased. Navalny urged Blinov to recuse himself and send the charges back to state prosecutors for review. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ford quarterly profit beats, but growth push adds costs Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 12:04 PM PDT  By Deepa Seetharaman DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co posted a higher-than-expected first-quarter profit on the strength of its North American unit, but overall structural costs spiked as the company took steps to re-invest in its global lineup and shore up its European operations. The No. 2 U.S. automaker paid an additional $900 million in manufacturing, engineering and other costs partly due to its efforts to ensure that Ford cars and trucks remain attractive in an increasingly competitive market for new vehicles. ... Full Story | Top |
| China calls Japan-U.S. island drill "provocative" Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 05:27 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday that "provocative actions" would not sway it from defending its territory, after Japan confirmed it would conduct military drills with the United States amid tension between Beijing and Tokyo over disputed islands. Japan said on Tuesday that the joint drill, scheduled for June off California, involved the recapture of an isolated island but was not aimed at scenarios involving a specific country, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. ... Full Story | Top |
| China "working on" persuading North Korea: U.S. officer Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 04:57 AM PDT  By Terril Yue Jones BEIJING (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer said on Wednesday Chinese leaders had assured him that they were working on persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. China is North Korea's main diplomatic and financial backer and fought alongside the North in the 1950-53 Korean War. It has always been reluctant to apply pressure on the North, fearing a flood of refugees into China if North Korea were to collapse. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Terrorist" axe, knife and arson attack kills 21 in China's Xinjiang Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 04:27 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - A confrontation involving axes, knives, at least one gun and ending with the burning down of a house left 21 people dead in China's troubled far-west region of Xinjiang, a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday, calling it a "terrorist attack". It was the deadliest violence in the region since July 2009, when Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, was rocked by clashes between majority Han Chinese and minority Uighurs that killed nearly 200 people. ... Full Story | Top |
| ECB poised to cut rates to help recession-hit euro zone Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 01:33 AM PDT  By Paul Carrel and Andreas Framke FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is closer to lowering interest rates than at any time since it last cut them in July 2012 and is likely to shave a quarter-point off at its policy meeting next week. Senior sources involved in the deliberations say momentum is building for action to help a euro zone economy which has slipped back into recession, a move that some policymakers wanted to take earlier this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: What ever happened to France's voice in Europe? Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 12:04 AM PDT  By Luke Baker and Mark John BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - A few hours after midnight one Sunday last month, as negotiations over a rescue for Cyprus dragged into a second day, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici fell asleep. Most euro zone ministers in Brussels that night failed to notice, continuing to pore over the details of the multi-billion-euro deal. It fell to Christine Lagarde, French director of the International Monetary Fund, to approach Moscovici and nudge him awake, according to witnesses at the March 24 talks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alleged Canada plot turns focus to rail transport's vulnerability Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 10:41 PM PDT  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An alleged al Qaeda-backed plot to derail a U.S. passenger train in Canada sought to exploit the vulnerabilities of railroads that have not gotten much attention from the American public. While the United States has sharply tightened security around airlines since the September 11, 2001, attacks, trains are far harder to police, with masses of passengers getting on and off and stops at many stations on a single line. Thousands of miles (km) of track, bridges and tunnels present a major challenge to monitor. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Sleeping ad giant Amazon finally stirs Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 10:09 PM PDT  By Alistair Barr and Jennifer Saba SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is known in the advertising industry as the "sleeping giant" because the world's largest Internet retailer harbors a trove of consumer-spending data that many marketers have called an unrealized opportunity. Now it's awakening to the potential. ... Full Story | Top |
| Australian police arrest senior member of LulzSec hacking group Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013 10:43 PM PDT  By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Federal Police have arrested the self-proclaimed leader of the international hacking group LulzSec, the collective that claimed responsibility for infiltrating and shutting down the CIA website. Police said the 24-year-old IT worker, who held a position of trust at an international company, was arrested in Sydney on Tuesday evening and charged with hacking offences that carry a maximum penalty of 10 years. ... Full Story | Top |
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