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| Mother and baby killed as tornadoes menace Oklahoma City Friday, May 31, 2013 08:34 PM PDT  By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Violent thunderstorms spawned tornadoes that menaced Oklahoma City and its already hard-hit suburb of Moore on Friday, killing a mother and her baby, and officials worried that drivers stuck on freeways could be trapped in the path of dangerous twisters. The mother and baby were killed while traveling on Interstate 40, just west of Oklahoma City, when their vehicle was picked up by the storm, said Betsy Randolph, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. The interstate was shut down due to the storm, with multiple crashes and injuries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas man investigated over ricin letters to Obama, Bloomberg Friday, May 31, 2013 12:28 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are investigating a Texas man over threatening letters containing a deadly poison mailed to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a law enforcement official said on Friday. The probe comes as FBI officials continue investigating a separate batch of ricin-laced letters sent earlier this month from Washington state to the president and four other targets, including the CIA and a military facility. At this point, investigators do not think the two cases are connected, the source said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad forces advance; West, Russia exchange barbs ahead of talks Friday, May 31, 2013 12:01 PM PDT  By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad tightened their siege of rebels in a strategic town on Friday, in a counter-offensive that is shifting the balance of the Syrian war ahead of a peace conference next month. Rebels said they had managed to infiltrate new fighters into the town of Qusair on the Lebanese frontier, where they are encircled by Assad's army and his allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah militia who have openly joined the war on his behalf. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. imposes sanctions on Iran's petrochemical industry Friday, May 31, 2013 01:54 PM PDT  By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States blacklisted on Friday eight companies in Iran's petrochemical industry, sending a warning to the Islamic Republic's global customers as Washington strives to cut off funds to the country's nuclear program. Petrochemical companies owned or controlled by the Iranian government that are on the Treasury Department list include Bandar Imam Petrochemical Co, Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Co and Mobin Petrochemical Co. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. rebalance to Asia-Pacific gaining steam, Pentagon chief says Friday, May 31, 2013 09:03 PM PDT  By David Alexander SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The U.S. military will devote more air power, ground troops and high-tech weaponry to the Asia-Pacific region as it moves ahead with a strategic rebalance, the U.S. defense chief said on Saturday in a speech that accused China of cyber incursions. In remarks laying out his vision for regional security, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel assured allies and partners at the annual Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore that the United States was fully able to continue its strategic pivot to the region despite budget constraints at home. ... Full Story | Top |
| IRS faces more heat from watchdog report amid Tea Party fracas Friday, May 31, 2013 04:44 PM PDT  By Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new chief of the Internal Revenue Service conceded on Friday there was "inappropriate" spending on a 2010 agency conference, a subject set to be the focus of one of three U.S. congressional hearings next week at which the IRS will likely face more criticism. The IRS is already embroiled in a major political scandal over extra scrutiny it gave to conservative groups seeking tax-free status, and Republicans in the House of Representatives are likely to keep the White House on the defensive over the agency's actions. ... Full Story | Top |
| Data signal soft economy but not abrupt slowdown Friday, May 31, 2013 10:29 AM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending fell in April for the first time in almost a year and already low inflation declined further, undercutting arguments for a near-term tapering of the Federal Reserve's bond-buying stimulus. Despite the pullback in consumer spending, the economy is not slowing abruptly. Consumer sentiment approached a six-year high in May and factory activity in the Midwest regained speed this month, other data showed on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Family stunned, confused over U.S. woman's death in Syria Friday, May 31, 2013 04:59 PM PDT By Steve Neavling FLINT, Michigan (Reuters) - The daughter of a 33-year-old Michigan woman who converted to Islam and was killed in fighting in Syria this week insisted on Friday her mother was "NOT a terrorist," although the woman's father said he had expressed concerns about her to the FBI. Syrian state media said Nicole Mansfield, a single mother from the Midwestern city of Flint, was killed with two others in an ambush by Syrian government forces on an opposition mission in northwestern Syria. Syrian media also showed the passport of a British man, Ali alManasfi, 22. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police fire tear gas in worst protests in years Friday, May 31, 2013 07:16 PM PDT  By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests in years. Thousands of demonstrators massed on streets surrounding Istanbul's central Taksim Square, long a venue for political unrest, while protests erupted in the capital, Ankara, and the Aegean coastal city of Izmir. Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street near Taksim. ... Full Story | Top |
| Record unemployment, low inflation underline Europe's pain Friday, May 31, 2013 02:46 PM PDT  By Robin Emmott and Ingrid Melander BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - Unemployment has reached a new high in the euro zone and inflation remains well below the European Central Bank's target, stepping up pressure on EU leaders and the ECB for action to revive the bloc's sickly economy. Joblessness in the 17-nation currency area rose to 12.2 percent in April, EU statistics office Eurostat said on Friday, marking a new record since the data series began in 1995. ... Full Story | Top |
| NATO to hold 2014 summit on Afghanistan troop withdrawal Friday, May 31, 2013 10:24 AM PDT By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NATO countries will hold a summit next year to discuss troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The United States and its 28 NATO allies have been working toward withdrawing combat troops in 2014, a milestone Rasmussen said is in sight. There are 62,000 U.S. troops and 34,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mile-wide tornado touches down west of Oklahoma City : report Friday, May 31, 2013 05:05 PM PDT  (Reuters) - A mile-wide tornado has touched down west of Oklahoma City where it has done damage and it is headed toward Oklahoma City, Oklahoma television station KFOR reported. The tornado overturned vehicles and did damage along Interstate 40, the station reported. The National Weather Service has declared a tornado emergency, which is more severe than a warning, for the area. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston) Full Story | Top |
| Turkish police fire tear gas in worst protests in years Friday, May 31, 2013 03:29 PM PDT By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests in years. Thousands of demonstrators massed on streets surrounding Istanbul's central Taksim Square, long a venue for political unrest, while protests erupted in the capital, Ankara, and the Aegean coastal city of Izmir. Broken glass and rocks were strewn across a main shopping street near Taksim. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Libya becomes 'the new Mali' as Islamists shift in Sahara Friday, May 31, 2013 07:59 AM PDT  By David Lewis BAMAKO (Reuters) - Suicide attacks on a French-run mine and a military base in northern Niger have shown how an Islamist threat is spreading across the weak nations of the Sahara, meaning France may be tied down there for years to come. Regional rivalries are aggravating the problem for Paris and its Western allies, with a lack of cooperation between Saharan countries helping militants to melt away when they come under pressure and regroup in quieter parts of the vast desert. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. can track bulk rifle sales to Mexican gangs : court Friday, May 31, 2013 12:29 PM PDT  By David Ingram WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal regulation aimed at detecting bulk sales of semi-automatic rifles to Mexican drug gangs was upheld Friday by an U.S. appeals court. A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the Obama administration acted within its authority to adopt the 2011 rule, which affects firearms sellers in states bordering Mexico. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain asks Germany to help lead reform of EU Friday, May 31, 2013 07:57 AM PDT  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Britain and Germany to lead a campaign to reform the European Union on Friday as he explained how the bloc could be overhauled and derided planned EU financial services regulation as "folly". In a speech in Germany aimed at persuading Europe's most powerful nation to back Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to try to reform the EU ahead of a possible British EU membership referendum, Hague set out some of the changes Cameron hopes to win. "We want to get on with the business of delivering that reformed EU. ... Full Story | Top |
| Frankfurt 'Blockupy' protesters target ECB, banks, airport Friday, May 31, 2013 07:58 AM PDT  By Edward Taylor and Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Anti-capitalist demonstrators from the Blockupy movement paralysed Germany's financial center on Friday, cutting off access to the European Central Bank and Deutsche Bank's headquarters. Protesters against Europe's austerity policies, estimated by police at 1,500 but by Blockupy at 3,000, descended in the early hours on Frankfurt's financial district to disrupt business at institutions they blame for a deep recession in euro zone countries such as Spain and Greece. ... Full Story | Top |
| Apple joins other foreign brands in raising prices in Japan Friday, May 31, 2013 01:04 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - Apple Inc raised prices of iPads and iPods in Japan on Friday, becoming the highest-profile brand to join a growing list of foreign firms asking Japanese consumers to pay more as a weakening yen squeezes profit. Some U.S. companies have inoculated themselves at least temporarily against the yen's fall through financial hedging instruments, while others are charging customers more. The yen has fallen more than 20 percent against the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Cyber threats pose 'stealthy, insidious' danger: defense chief Friday, May 31, 2013 02:40 AM PDT  By David Alexander ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Friday that cyber threats posed a "quiet, stealthy, insidious" danger to the United States and other nations, and called for "rules of the road" to guide behavior and avoid conflict on global computer networks. Hagel said he would address cyber security in his speech on Saturday to the Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore and the issue was likely to come up in a brief meeting with Chinese delegates on the margins of the conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| Michigan woman dies in Syria fighting for opposition: family Friday, May 31, 2013 03:53 AM PDT (Reuters) - A 33-year-old Michigan woman and convert to Islam has been killed in Syria while fighting with opposition forces against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war, her family said on Thursday. The woman's aunt told Reuters that the FBI had informed her on Thursday afternoon of the death of her niece, Nicole Mansfield of Flint, but said she did not have the details of how she died. "I'm just devastated," said the aunt, Monica Mansfield Speelman. "Evidently, she was fighting with opposition forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Moscow threatens to speed missiles to Syria but also offers to delay Friday, May 31, 2013 09:38 AM PDT  By Thomas Grove MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia could speed up delivery of anti-aircraft missiles to Syria if the West intervenes, but also floated the idea of suspending the shipment, Russian media reported on Friday, as Moscow set out its negotiating position ahead of peace talks. A Russian arms industry source was quoted by Interfax news agency as threatening to hasten delivery of the hotly-contested S-300 missiles if the West were to impose a no-fly zone or Israel were to launch new air strikes. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's Tiananmen Mothers criticize Xi for lack of reforms Friday, May 31, 2013 01:29 AM PDT  By Sui-Lee Wee and Maxim Duncan BEIJING (Reuters) - A group of families demanding justice for the victims of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has denounced new President Xi Jinping for failing to launch political reforms, saying he was taking China "backwards towards Maoist orthodoxy". The Tiananmen Mothers activist group has long urged the leadership to open a dialogue and provide a reassessment of the 1989 pro-democracy movement, bloodily suppressed on June 4 that year by the government which labeled it "counter-revolutionary". ... Full Story | Top |
| TUI Travel to buy 60 new Boeing aircraft worth $6 billion Friday, May 31, 2013 12:08 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - British travel firm TUI Travel has agreed a deal to buy 60 of Boeing's 737 MAX jets with an option to buy a further 90 more of the fuel-efficient aircraft. TUI Travel, which operates Britain's Thomson Airways, said on Friday the initial deal for 60 planes, powered by CFM International's LEAP-1B engines, had been secured at a "significant discount to the list price" of $6.09 billion. ... Full Story | Top |
| After tour abroad, dissident blogger Sanchez returns to Cuba Friday, May 31, 2013 12:09 AM PDT  By Jeff Franks HAVANA (Reuters) - Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, wearing a brightly colored dress and a big smile, returned on Thursday to the homeland she both loves and lambastes, after more than three months on a tour through the Americas and Europe. Her family and about a dozen supporters applauded loudly and shouted "welcome home" as she emerged from the customs area at the Havana airport With tears in her eyes, she hugged them all as curious Cubans awaiting other passengers looked on and asked reporters who she was. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boston rockers play fundraiser for bomb victims Friday, May 31, 2013 04:23 PM PDT  By Richard Valdmanis BOSTON (Reuters) - A succession of all-star bands from Aerosmith to Jimmy Buffett rocked a packed house at Boston's TD Garden on Thursday night in a mostly raucous fund-raiser for the victims of last month's marathon bombing. Tickets priced between $35 and $285 sold out fast at the 17,500-seat venue, with net proceeds to be donated to The One Fund, a reserve established by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick that has so far received more than $37 million in donations to compensate victims of the April 15 bombing. ... Full Story | Top |
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