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| Sister of Boston bomb suspects pleads not guilty in drug case Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:56 PM PDT By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A sister of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in a Hackensack, New Jersey, court to marijuana-related charges, her attorney said. Bella Tsarnaeva, 24, was arrested in December 2012 at her Fairview, New Jersey, apartment after police responded to a call about a domestic disturbance and found what they said was marijuana, said her attorney, Mario Blanch. The Record said police searched the apartment after smelling marijuana and that Tsarnaeva was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. ... Full Story | Top |
| China army to conduct first "digital" exercise Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:52 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - China will next month conduct its first "digital" technology military exercise, state media said on Wednesday, against growing concern in Washington and elsewhere about Chinese hacking attacks. A brief report by the official Xinhua news agency said the exercise, in north China's remote Inner Mongolia region, will "test new types of combat forces including units using digital technology amid efforts to adjust to informationalized war". ... Full Story | Top |
| South China Sea tension mounts near Filipino shipwreck Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:45 PM PDT By Manuel Mogato MANILA (Reuters) - A wrecked navy transport ship perched on a remote coral reef could be the next flashpoint in the South China Sea, where China and five other claimants bitterly dispute territory. The Philippines is accusing China of encroachment after three Chinese ships, including a naval frigate, converged just 5 nautical miles from an old transport ship that Manila ran aground on a reef in 1999 to mark its territory. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sprint, SoftBank reach deal with U.S. over security concerns Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:44 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh and Nathan Layne WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp and Japan's SoftBank Corp have reached an agreement with U.S. authorities on the national security aspects of the Japanese firm's pending $20.1 billion deal to win control of the U.S. wireless carrier, people familiar with the matter said. As a part of that agreement, the U.S. government will have a veto over new equipment purchases by Sprint in certain circumstances if the two companies merge, one source said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Attorney general signed off on Fox phone records subpoena Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:32 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder personally approved a decision to subpoena Fox News telephone records as the Justice Department investigated an unauthorized leak regarding North Korea, officials said on Tuesday. The Justice Department did not mention the subpoena when it issued a statement on Friday describing how Holder had vetted a decision to seek a search warrant for the contents of an email account used by Fox News reporter James Rosen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boeing tanker plane on track for July review Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:32 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Boeing program for an aerial tanker that will refuel other warplanes mid-flight is nearly ready for a major design review likely to occur in July, a U.S. Air Force official told Reuters last week. The review will pave the way for production of the first planes in the $52 billion KC-46 tanker program, which is based on Boeing's commercial 767 airplane. ... Full Story | Top |
| Papua New Guinea reinstates death penalty after gruesome sorcery killings, rapes Tuesday, May 28, 2013 08:20 PM PDT By Rob Taylor CANBERRA (Reuters) - Papua New Guinea has reinstated the death penalty and repealed controversial sorcery laws after a string of gruesome "witch" killings and gang-rapes, with capital punishment to be used for some corruption cases and possibly even growing marijuana. PNG is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world, with rampant graft a major hindrance to the South Pacific nation's ability to develop vast reserves of natural resources. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan CPI decline expected to slow, BOJ price goal still in doubt Tuesday, May 28, 2013 07:46 PM PDT  By Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's deflation likely abated further in April and factory output picked up, but economists say the Bank of Japan is unlikely to achieve its 2 percent inflation target in two years as demand won't catch up with oversupply quickly enough. In a slew of data due out on Friday, April household spending will have cooled slightly after rapid gains in the first quarter, a Reuters poll shows, but spending is forecast to regain momentum as consumer sentiment improves. Industrial production is expected to have risen 0. ... Full Story | Top |
| IMF cuts China growth outlook, urges cap on social financing Tuesday, May 28, 2013 07:36 PM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for China this year to 7.75 percent from a previous 8 percent, citing a weak world economy and exports, and said the country's priority should be on reining in social financing growth. The IMF also recommended China conduct fiscal stimulus if growth falls below the IMF's forecast, David Lipton, the first managing director of the IMF, told a media briefing on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colorado governor signs recreational marijuana regulations into law Tuesday, May 28, 2013 07:29 PM PDT  By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Governor John Hickenlooper on Tuesday signed into law measures to regulate the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado, including blood-level limits for motorists and setting up a voter referendum to impose a tax on the non-medical sale of cannabis. Colorado House of Representatives Assistant Majority Leader Dan Pabon said the legislation reflected the "will of the voters" who charged lawmakers with setting up the regulatory system after approving legalization in a vote last November. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-AIG chief Greenberg should still face trial: NY state lawyer Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:42 PM PDT  By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hank Greenberg should still face trial over sham transactions he is accused of orchestrating while he was head of American International Group , even though New York has dropped most of its claims against him, a lawyer for the state argued on Tuesday. "We're looking for a deterrent effect," Barbara Underwood, the state solicitor general, told New York's highest court. She said the state wanted an admission from Greenberg, who headed AIG until March 2005. ... Full Story | Top |
| Liberty Reserve's website cited anti-money laundering policy Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:41 PM PDT By Matthew Goldstein NEW YORK (Reuters) - Older versions of the website for Liberty Reserve, a company U.S. authorities claim was a money transfer hub for criminal gangs trafficking in drugs and child pornography, expressly said the firm "will not do business with anyone suspected of, or directly involved in money laundering." U.S. prosecutors in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday said that is precisely what the Costa Rican-based Liberty Reserve was doing. ... Full Story | Top |
| NY regulator asks insurers about readiness for cyber threats Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:39 PM PDT By Ben Berkowitz (Reuters) - New York's top financial regulator has asked some of the largest U.S. insurance companies to disclose details on their preparedness for cyber attacks, following a similar request to major banks earlier this year. The New York State Department of Financial Services said it sent letters on Tuesday asking insurers whether they have faced any cyber attacks in the last three years, what safeguards they have put in place and how much money they have set aside for dealing with cyber issues. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas governor signs bill key to $2 billion water plan Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:33 PM PDT  By Corrie MacLaggan AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas Governor Rick Perry on Tuesday signed into law a bill creating a fund to finance water infrastructure projects in a state suffering from two years of widespread drought. The measure, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature, sets up a system for Texas to provide loans for projects such as reservoirs, wells and conservation efforts. Lawmakers passed a separate proposal to draw $2 billion from the state's rainy-day fund to help finance the loans. Texas voters will be asked this fall to approve the creation of the water fund. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, NATO's Rasmussen to discuss Afghanistan on Friday Tuesday, May 28, 2013 06:28 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the White House on Friday to discuss Afghanistan and other security concerns, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. The meeting comes as NATO and the United States prepare to withdraw most troops from Afghanistan, ending a lengthy war that began after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. More than 60,000 U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Home prices accelerate by most in seven years Tuesday, May 28, 2013 05:41 PM PDT  By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices accelerated by the most in nearly seven years in March as the spring buying season gave the sector traction, while surging consumer confidence pointed to some resilience for the economic recovery. The data on Tuesday also suggested the two segments could act as buffers as the broader economy faces the pinch of belt-tightening in Washington. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas climbed 10.9 percent year over year, beating expectations for 10.2 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former KPMG partner pleads guilty to insider trading scheme Tuesday, May 28, 2013 05:16 PM PDT  By Bernard Vaughan (Reuters) - Scott London, a former senior partner with accounting firm KPMG, agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud for his involvement in insider trading, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. London, 50, supervised more than 500 accounting professionals at KPMG and oversaw audits of Herbalife Ltd and Skechers USA Inc , according to prosecutors. He faces a maximum term of 20 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $5 million or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from his offense, according to the plea agreement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oregon school-bomb suspect charged with attempted murder Tuesday, May 28, 2013 05:02 PM PDT  By Teresa Carson CORVALLIS, Oregon (Reuters) - An Oregon high-school student accused of making bombs and plotting a massacre like that carried out at Columbine High School in Colorado 14 years ago was charged on Tuesday with 19 criminal counts, including attempted murder. Grant Acord, who according to court documents compared himself to the two attackers who killed 12 fellow students and a teacher and then themselves in the 1999 Columbine attack, was advised of the charges against him during a brief hearing at the Linn County Circuit Court in Corvallis, Oregon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arizona mother held in Mexico on drug charges Tuesday, May 28, 2013 04:40 PM PDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona mother is being held in a Mexico jail after about 12 pounds of marijuana were allegedly found under her seat on the bus she was traveling on last week, although her family insists she is innocent. Phoenix area resident Yanira Maldonado, 42, is being held in jail in Nogales, in Mexico's northern Sonora state, on drug trafficking charges, prison officials said on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, NATO's Rasmussen to discuss Afghanistan at White House on Friday Tuesday, May 28, 2013 04:39 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the White House on Friday to discuss Afghanistan and other security concerns, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. The meeting comes as NATO and the United States prepare to withdraw most troops from Afghanistan, ending a lengthy war that began after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. More than 60,000 U.S. troops are still in Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Attorney general signed off on Fox phone records subpoena: sources Tuesday, May 28, 2013 04:17 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder personally approved a decision to subpoena Fox News telephone records as the Justice Department investigated an unauthorized leak regarding North Korea, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The U.S. Justice Department did not mention the subpoena when it issued a statement on Friday describing how Holder had vetted a decision to seek a search warrant for the contents of an email account used by Fox News reporter James Rosen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sprint, SoftBank reach deal with US over security concerns: WSJ Tuesday, May 28, 2013 04:14 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp and Japan's SoftBank Corp reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. government to address any national security concerns arising from the Japanese company getting control of the U.S. telecom carrier, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. As a part of the agreement, the U.S. government will have a veto over any equipment purchases by Sprint from new vendors, if the two companies were to merge, the newspaper said. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rival Honduran gangs in truce to end spiral of violence Tuesday, May 28, 2013 04:02 PM PDT  By Orfa Mejia TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Two of the most violent gangs in Honduras announced a truce on Tuesday under a church-brokered drive to stem a tide of violence that has turned Honduras into the world's most murderous country. Following the example of similar gangs in neighboring El Salvador, masked members of the "Calle 18" and "Mara Salvatrucha" gangs made separate announcements from within San Pedro Sula prison in northern Honduras, which houses the country's most violent criminals. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former New York police commissioner freed from prison Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:58 PM PDT  By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Kerik, a former New York police commissioner and nominee to head the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was released from federal prison on Tuesday after serving three years for tax evasion and lying to White House officials, a Bureau of Prisons spokesman said. Kerik, 57, rose to prominence during the administration of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Once Giuliani's driver, he became the head of the city prison system and then police commissioner. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: British fund executives to go on trial in Cuba Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:56 PM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - The two top executives of a British investment fund in Cuba are scheduled to go on trial in Havana on Thursday, according to sources close to the accused men, as part of an unprecedented government crackdown on corruption involving foreign businessmen. In the second trial of foreign executives on the Communist-run island in a week, Amado Fakhre, a Lebanese-born British citizen and chief executive officer of Coral Capital Group Ltd, faces various bribery charges related mainly to the fund's import business. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama picks Furman as chief economist, Krueger steps down: source Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:51 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama plans to appoint longtime adviser Jason Furman to be his new chief White House economist, according to a source familiar with the matter. Furman, who will replace economist Alan Krueger as chair of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), has a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and has advised Obama since his 2008 election campaign. Furman has been instrumental in formulating administration policies on taxes, the response to the U.S. recession, and efforts to avoid a "fiscal cliff" at the end of last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fisker loses key board member as bidders circle company Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:49 PM PDT  By Deepa Seetharaman and Sarah McBride DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Fisker Automotive, the cash-strapped "green" car maker that is seeking a buyer, has lost an influential board member who was key in attracting investors to the startup in its early days. Ray Lane, 66, resigned from the board on Friday, Lane's venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and the car maker confirmed on Tuesday. His exit comes as Fisker fields offers from at least two different groups looking to resurrect the automaker, which hired bankruptcy advisers this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. accuses currency exchange of laundering $6 billion Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:28 PM PDT  By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have filed an indictment against the operators of digital currency exchange Liberty Reserve, accusing the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world launder more than $6 billion in illicit funds linked to everything from child pornography to software for hacking into banks. The indictment unsealed on Tuesday said Liberty Reserve had more than a million users worldwide, including at least 200,000 in the United States, and virtually all of its business was related to suspected criminal activity. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ecuador says UK violating human rights of WikiLeaks' Assange Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:08 PM PDT  By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's foreign minister on Tuesday accused the British government of trampling on the human rights of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by refusing to allow him to travel to Ecuador, which granted him political asylum almost a year ago. Assange, 41, took refuge in Ecuador's tiny embassy in London last June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sex assault and rape allegations. He denies the allegations. ... Full Story | Top |
| House committee issues subpoena for Benghazi documents Tuesday, May 28, 2013 03:02 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican chairman of a congressional oversight committee ordered the State Department on Tuesday to provide documents related to "talking points" prepared for television interviews about the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a subpoena ordering 10 current and former State Department officials to hand over "documents and communications" related to the attacks in Libya last September 11, in which four Americans were killed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Citi settles U.S. suit over $3.5 billion in mortgage securities Tuesday, May 28, 2013 02:54 PM PDT  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc has reached a settlement with a federal agency that had accused the bank of misleading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying $3.5 billion of mortgage-backed securities. The settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency was disclosed in a filing on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where a series of related cases by the agency against Wall Street banks are pending. The filing did not disclose the terms of the deal. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawmakers press U.S. regulators on America-US Airways deal Tuesday, May 28, 2013 02:50 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Over 100 members of Congress have asked U.S. regulators to allow American Airlines and US Airways Group to keep all their airport slots at Reagan National Airport outside Washington D.C. if the companies' planned merger is approved. Representatives Mike Michaud, a Maine Democrat; John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican; and 104 bipartisan colleagues argued to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Attorney General Eric Holder that requiring divestiture of slots would mean fewer flights to smaller cities like Bangor and Portland, Maine. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Embassy workers hurt in Venezuela strip club shooting Tuesday, May 28, 2013 02:32 PM PDT By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Two U.S. Embassy employees in Venezuela were injured on Tuesday in a shooting at a well-known Caracas strip club, police said. Officers heard shots around 4:25 a.m. at the Antonella 2012 club, better known as "Angelus" in the upscale Chacao district, a police source told Reuters. One of the embassy employees, military attaché Roberto Ezequiel Rosas, was shot in the leg after a fight between club patrons, according to a police report seen by Reuters and the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Christie reunite to promote Jersey Shore recovery Tuesday, May 28, 2013 02:22 PM PDT  By Steve Holland ASBURY PARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, strolled along the Jersey Shore boardwalk like old friends on Tuesday, a political odd couple just hanging out together. The two men had a common purpose: promote the recovery of the Jersey Shore from the aftereffects of Sandy, a superstorm that hit in the final days of last year's presidential election campaign and which, because of Obama's well-received show of concern, may have helped him win re-election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Column: A taxation conundrum Tuesday, May 28, 2013 02:01 PM PDT  By John Lloyd (Reuters) - For the giants of Silicon Valley, the fall from freedom's children to social pariah has been something of a Shakespearean reversal of fortunes. Google, Apple and Facebook might be Lear, Othello and Macbeth in the suddenness and completeness of their fall from a grace that was bequeathed to them by the generations that found their technologies liberating, empowering and even beautiful. These companies are nothing like the robber barons that were rebuked by the U.S. government a century ago. They are not locking out workers or running sweatshops. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House was aware of McCain's trip to Syria in advance Tuesday, May 28, 2013 02:01 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Tuesday it knew in advance of Republican Senator John McCain's trip to Syria, a visit that raised anew the question of whether the United States will intervene in a civil war that has raged for over two years. But U.S. officials had little to say about the trip by McCain, an outspoken advocate for U.S. military aid to the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. President Barack Obama has repeatedly shied away from U.S. involvement in the conflict, which has claimed 80,000 lives, although he has kept all options on the table. ... Full Story | Top |
| Column: The underappreciated tensions between China and Brazil Tuesday, May 28, 2013 01:56 PM PDT  By Ian Bremmer (Reuters) - If you believed the conventional wisdom, this week's meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was bound to be fraught. The leaders of the world's two largest countries, only a month removed from a standoff in the Himalayas, were meeting. Acrimony was sure to follow, right? No. Instead, Li said he offered India a "handshake across the Himalayas" and mused about how China and India could increase their trade to $100 billion by 2015. China and India, you see, aren't as antagonistic as pundits make them out to be. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former Guatemalan president denies U.S. money laundering charges Tuesday, May 28, 2013 01:51 PM PDT  By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to U.S. federal charges he laundered millions of dollars of government money through U.S. and European bank accounts. A grand jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan indicted Portillo in 2009, accusing him of laundering tens of millions of dollars that it said he embezzled from the Guatemalan government. Portillo, 61, who was president of Guatemala from 2000 to 2004, is charged with a single count of money laundering conspiracy. He faces a maximum prison term of 20 years. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wal-Mart pleads guilty in U.S. hazardous waste cases, to pay $82 million Tuesday, May 28, 2013 01:47 PM PDT  By Jessica Wohl (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Tuesday said it would pay nearly $81.63 million to the federal government as it pleaded guilty to charges that it improperly discarded hazardous waste such as bleach and fertilizer years ago. The U.S. Department of Justice said that in cases filed by federal prosecutors in California, Wal-Mart pleaded guilty to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous materials at U.S. stores. ... Full Story | Top |
| First coronavirus sufferer in France dies in hospital Tuesday, May 28, 2013 01:41 PM PDT By Pierre Savary LILLE, France (Reuters) - France reported its first death from the new SARS-like coronavirus on Tuesday and Saudi Arabia, where the virus first emerged last year, said there were five new cases. French Health Minister Marisol Touraine sent her condolences to the family of the 65-year-old man who died in hospital in the northern city of Lille after visiting Dubai, bringing the worldwide death toll to 23. ... Full Story | Top |
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