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| Ohio man faces additional charges in murders of three women Monday, Jul 29, 2013 09:07 PM PDT By Kim Palmer CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Accused serial killer Michael Madison faced additional charges on Monday in connection with the slayings of three women whose decomposing bodies were found wrapped in plastic bags around his suburban Cleveland home. Madison, 35, a convicted sex offender, already was charged aggravated murder and kidnapping in a case reminiscent of 11 slayings committed several years ago by Anthony Sowell, one of Cleveland's most notorious mass murderers. A grand jury on Monday charged Madison with raping his victims and abusing their corpses. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Army won't bar contractors linked to Afghan insurgents: watchdog Monday, Jul 29, 2013 09:03 PM PDT By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army has refused to bar 43 individuals or companies from getting U.S. contracts in Afghanistan despite information that they support the Taliban or other enemies of U.S. forces, a government watchdog said on Tuesday. John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), said he was concerned by the Army's refusal to follow his office's recommendations to prevent alleged supporters of the Taliban, the Haqqani network and al Qaeda from getting or keeping U.S. government contracts. "I am deeply troubled that the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Murdoch's wife hires new lawyer in divorce case: New York Times Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:47 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The wife of News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, Wendi Murdoch, has switched lawyers in a move signaling that their divorce proceedings could take an acrimonious turn, the New York Times reported on Monday. Murdoch, 82, filed for divorce in June. He married the former Wendi Deng, 44, in 1999 in his third and her second marriage. They have two young daughters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli-Palestinian talks begin amid deep divisions Monday, Jul 29, 2013 08:25 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held their first peace talks in nearly three years on Monday in a U.S.-brokered effort that Secretary of State John Kerry hopes will end their conflict despite deep divisions. Top aides to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began the talks over an iftar dinner - the evening meal with which Muslims break their daily fast during Ramadan - hosted by Kerry at the State Department. ... Full Story | Top |
| Woman arrested for defacing Washington's National Cathedral Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:28 PM PDT By Tom Ramstack WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A woman was arrested for allegedly dumping green paint on portions of the National Cathedral on Monday, while police continued to investigate similar acts of vandalism at other monuments in Washington, D.C. The Episcopal Church cathedral was locked down after the paint was found on the entrance and in two chapels. The unidentified woman was arrested after a police sweep of the premises, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department said. "An adult female has been arrested for defacing property," police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| China rules out Sino-Japanese summit: state media Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:27 PM PDT  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has ruled out the possibility of a proposed summit meeting with Japan, the official China Daily reported on Tuesday, after Tokyo proposed the meeting in a bid to defuse a territorial row. The report, quoting a statement by an unidentified Chinese official made on Monday, comes during a visit by Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki. Saiki's visit is the latest in a series of efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to improve relations soured by the bitter row over uninhabited islands claimed by both countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain losing battle against internet crime, MPs say Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:21 PM PDT  By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is losing the battle against cyber crime and needs a new crack crime unit to fight the growing problem in cooperation with its global partners, particularly the European Union, a panel of MPs said in a report on Tuesday. The Home Affairs Committee, which scrutinises the government's domestic policy, said the "state-of-the-art espionage response team" would encourage companies, banks and institutions to report hacking attempts to uncover the full extent of online crime and halt its rise. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Carolina governor signs law for tougher abortion clinic rules Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:07 PM PDT By Karen Brooks (Reuters) - North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law on Monday new requirements for clinics performing abortions that supporters say will protect women's safety and opponents say will restrict access to the procedure. The new law places sweeping new restrictions on abortion clinics, including a requirement doctors have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and be present when abortions are performed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Coroner finds apparent hanging in disputed death of California inmate Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:05 PM PDT By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California prison inmate whose death was attributed by activists to his participation in a mass hunger strike appears to have died by hanging, the local medical examiner's office said on Monday after an initial examination of his body. Billy Sell, 32, serving a life term for attempted murder at the Corcoran State Prison in central California, was found unconscious last Monday in his cell in the facility's "security housing unit," where prisoners are held in solitary confinement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hackers attack New Zealand government party websites to protest spy law Monday, Jul 29, 2013 07:04 PM PDT WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Hackers disabled several websites of New Zealand's ruling party on Tuesday, protesting a planned law to widen the surveillance powers of the country's spy agency but the action was criticized by Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom as counter-productive. The government has proposed a controversial bill that would allow the General Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) to engage in domestic operations. Currently, it spies on foreign targets via electronic listening posts but is barred from spying on New Zealand citizens or residents. ... Full Story | Top |
| China rules out Sino-Japanese summit: China Daily Monday, Jul 29, 2013 06:03 PM PDT  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has ruled out the possibility of a proposed summit meeting with Japan, the official China Daily reported on Tuesday, after Tokyo proposed the meeting in a bid to defuse a territorial row. The report, quoting a statement by an unidentified Chinese official made on Monday, comes during a visit by Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki. Saiki's visit is the latest in a series of efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to improve relations soured by the bitter row over uninhabited islands claimed by both countries. ... Full Story | Top |
| Abbas wants 'not a single Israeli' in future Palestinian state Monday, Jul 29, 2013 05:54 PM PDT  By Noah Browning CAIRO (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas laid out his vision on Monday for the final status of Israeli-Palestinian relations ahead of peace talks due to resume in Washington for the first time in nearly three years. Abbas said that no Israeli settlers or border forces could remain in a future Palestinian state and that Palestinians deem illegal all Jewish settlement building within the land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. The forceful statements appeared to challenge mediator U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republicans weigh short-term U.S. budget measure Monday, Jul 29, 2013 05:28 PM PDT  By David Lawder and Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With time running out for the Congress to agree on next year's budget, some Republicans are pushing for a short-term fix that would delay the confrontation over a government shutdown until November. If lawmakers agree on a short-term plan to fund the government for a few weeks past the current October 1 deadline, it would mean that the fight over government funding for next year would coincide with a potentially more consequential clash over raising the federal borrowing limit. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to continue voting rights efforts, activists say Monday, Jul 29, 2013 05:22 PM PDT  By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama pledged on Monday to continue to fight racial discrimination at the ballot box despite a legal setback at the Supreme Court, civil rights activists said after a meeting with him at the White House. The activists said they were reassured after a meeting with the president, Attorney General Eric Holder and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez that the administration will fight any efforts to suppress minority voting even after the Supreme Court struck down part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. "It was ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill eight Tunisian troops as political tensions grow Monday, Jul 29, 2013 05:01 PM PDT  By Tarek Amara and Erika Solomon TUNIS (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least eight Tunisian soldiers on Monday, staging the biggest attack on the security forces in decades as political tensions rose between supporters and opponents of the Islamist-led government. President Moncef Marzouki called the ambush on Mount Chaambi, near the Algerian border, a "terrorist attack" and announced three days of mourning. Tunisian troops have been trying to track down Islamist militants in the remote region since December. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda group kidnaps Italian priest in Syria: activists Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:41 PM PDT By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked fighters in a rebel-held eastern Syrian city on Monday abducted a prominent Italian Jesuit priest who championed the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said. Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant kidnapped father Paolo Dall'Oglio while he was walking in Raqqa, which fell to militant Islamist brigades in March, the sources in Raqqa province told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill eight Tunisian troops as political tensions rise Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:40 PM PDT By Tarek Amara and Erika Solomon TUNIS (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least eight Tunisian soldiers on Monday, staging the biggest attack on the security forces in decades as political tensions rose between supporters and opponents of the Islamist-led government. President Moncef Marzouki called the ambush on Mount Chaambi, near the Algerian border, a "terrorist attack" and announced three days of mourning. Tunisian troops have been trying to track down Islamist militants in the remote region since December. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Hollywood donor Haim Saban defends Anthony Weiner: 'Stay in the Race' Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:39 PM PDT By Sara Morrison LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Haim Saban, among a handful of Hollywood figures who've donated to Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign in between sex-photo scandals, still has faith that he's the best candidate to lead the biggest city in America. "I would encourage him to stay in the race," the billionaire entertainment mogul told TheWrap. Saban told TheWrap: "What Anthony Weiner has - or hasn't - done is an issue between him and his wife. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lockheed, Pentagon reach deal on 71 more F-35s: source Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:33 PM PDT  By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp and the Pentagon have reached agreement on orders for the next two batches of F-35 fighter jets, a deal worth over $7 billion, a person briefed on the discussions told Reuters on Monday. The deal covers 71 of the radar-evading planes, with 36 jets to be purchased in the sixth production lot, and 35 in the seventh. The total includes 60 F-35s for the U.S. military, and 11 for Australia, Italy, Turkey and Britain. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi faces verdict that could endanger Italian government Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:32 PM PDT  By Barry Moody ROME (Reuters) - Italy's supreme court convenes on Tuesday to rule whether Silvio Berlusconi should be jailed and banned from public office for tax fraud, a verdict that could endanger Italy's shaky coalition government. A ruling against the former prime minister would be his first definitive conviction and signal the end of an era in which he has dominated Italian politics for two decades through his media power and political skill. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York man pleads guilty to 'Rebecca' Broadway scam Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:30 PM PDT By Erin Geiger Smith (Reuters) - In a case prosecutors called "stranger than fiction," a former New York businessman pleaded guilty on Monday to defrauding the producers of Broadway production "Rebecca - The Musical" by creating an elaborate scheme involving fake overseas investors. Mark Hotton, 46, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and agreed to forfeit $500,000 and to pay an additional $500,000 to the victims of his schemes. The guilty plea included a second scheme in which he sought to defraud a Connecticut-based real estate company. ... Full Story | Top |
| Airline worker, wife accused of stealing luggage diverted after Asiana crash Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:29 PM PDT  By Ronnie Cohen SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A United Airlines customer services representative and his wife have been arrested in the theft of unclaimed luggage from a flight that had been diverted after the July 6 fatal crash of an Asiana Airlines plane, a county prosecutor said on Monday. Sean Sharif Crudup, 44, was charged with grand theft and burglary, said Karen Guidotti, chief deputy district attorney for San Mateo County. His wife, Raychas Elizabeth Thomas, 32, will be arraigned in August, Guidotti said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombs kill 15 in Nigeria's Kano: police source Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:08 PM PDT KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Multiple bomb blasts in Nigeria's biggest northern city of Kano killed 15 people on Monday, a senior policeman said, in an area previously targeted by militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Several witnesses said they saw dead bodies after hearing multiple blasts at around 9:30 p.m. (1630 EDT) in the Sabon Gari district, a predominantly Christian area dominated by ethnic Igbos from the southeast. "In all bomb attacks 15 were killed," the policeman in Kano told Reuters, asking not to be named. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain losing battle against internet crime, lawmakers say Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:03 PM PDT By William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is losing the battle against cyber crime and needs a new crack crime unit to fight the growing problem in cooperation with its global partners, particularly the European Union, a panel of lawmakers said in a report on Tuesday. The Home Affairs Committee, which scrutinizes the government's domestic policy, said the "state-of-the-art espionage response team" would encourage companies, banks and institutions to report hacking attempts to uncover the full extent of online crime and halt its rise. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police search pond in Conn. hometown of ex-NFL player in murder probe Monday, Jul 29, 2013 04:01 PM PDT  BOSTON (Reuters) - Police divers on Monday searched a pond in Bristol, Connecticut, the hometown of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, for evidence linking him to the murder of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, a law enforcement source said on Monday. Police officials in Connecticut and Massachusetts declined to comment. Images of the search at the pond were aired on local television. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the pond is in Pine Lake Park. ... Full Story | Top |
| Baton Rouge sheriff accused of targeting gay men for arrest Monday, Jul 29, 2013 03:59 PM PDT By Kathy Finn New Orleans (Reuters) - A councilman in Louisiana's capital city of Baton Rouge said on Monday he wants to examine official records to find out if a local sheriff has been harassing gay men by enforcing an anti-sodomy law that the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a decade ago. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate confirms Comey to be next FBI director Monday, Jul 29, 2013 03:46 PM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Comey, a Republican who gained fame when he refused to sanction a government surveillance initiative in 2004, won Senate confirmation on Monday as President Barack Obama's pick to head the FBI. The vote was 93-1. Comey, 52, will replace Robert Mueller, who has led the bureau since shortly before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House takes aim at Obamacare opposition's economic claims Monday, Jul 29, 2013 03:42 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Monday shot back at critics who claim Obamacare is leading to higher healthcare costs, slower job growth and rising numbers of part-time workers, saying the latest economic statistics show none of those effects. Nearly one-third of the sharp rise in part-time workers seen in employment numbers for June was due to federal employee furloughs caused by automated spending cuts, rather than employers shifting to part-time workers due to concern about President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, a senior administration official said. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. regulators moving cautiously on mortgage reforms Monday, Jul 29, 2013 03:30 PM PDT By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. bank regulators, wary of upsetting the fragile housing market, are moving cautiously in fashioning dozens of new rules to prevent reckless underwriting and other mortgage market abuses. In implementing the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the regulators have said they are sensitive to arguments from a rare alliance of both lenders and consumer groups that too-tough rules could hamper credit availability. ... Full Story | Top |
| Weiner plummets to fourth place in NYC mayor's race: poll Monday, Jul 29, 2013 03:29 PM PDT  By Edith Honan and Francesca Trianni NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anthony Weiner vowed to stay in the New York City mayor's race on Monday, despite a poll that showed his support plummeting to fourth place among Democratic voters a week after new revelations surfaced about his sexually charged Internet activity. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. panel backs lung cancer screening for high-risk groups Monday, Jul 29, 2013 03:15 PM PDT By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - After decades of debate, an influential U.S. panel has endorsed the use of low-dose CT scans to detect lung cancer in high-risk individuals, paving the way for insurance coverage of the test for as many as 10 million smokers and former smokers. The draft guidelines issued on Monday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force call for annual CT screening of current and former smokers aged 55 to 80 with a history of smoking the equivalent of a pack a day for 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republican lawmakers push Senate leaders over aid to Egypt Monday, Jul 29, 2013 03:11 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators pushed for more transparency on aid to Egypt, if not an outright end to the $1.3 billion per year in military assistance, as U.S. officials struggled on Monday with how to respond to the crisis in Cairo. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has introduced an amendment to a Senate transportation funding bill that would end military aid to Egypt under a U.S. law banning aid to countries that have experienced military coups, and redirect the money to domestic infrastructure projects. ... Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Middle East peace talks resume Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:55 PM PDT (Reuters) - Middle East peace talks, due to resume in Washington this week, have a long and mostly disappointing history. But while more than two decades of summits and negotiations have failed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some talks have come close and have left a template for future agreements. Following is a timeline of major summits and conferences aimed at Israeli-Palestinian peace. ... Full Story | Top |
| Second-quarter GDP to slow sharply on tax burden Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:51 PM PDT  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Economic growth probably slowed sharply in the second quarter, but its pace is unlikely to change views that the Federal Reserve will start trimming bond purchases later this year. Gross domestic product probably grew at a 1.0 percent annual rate after expanding at a 1.8 percent pace in the first quarter because government austerity and weak global demand weighed on the economy, according to a Reuters poll of economists. But there is a risk that growth undershoots expectations, with forecasts as low as a 0.4 percent rate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mali election challenges loom as rivals stake claims Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:42 PM PDT  By David Lewis and Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO (Reuters) - Former Malian prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's campaign team said on Monday its results put Keita in a strong lead and in reach of outright victory in Mali's election, but rivals said they were sure a run-off vote would have to be held. The statements came ahead of official tallies from Sunday's vote and are the first signs of tension after a robust turnout and the lack of violence showed how eager Malians were to turn the page on more than a year of turmoil, war and an army coup. The first official figures were not due until Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen launch major attack on Pakistani prison holding militants Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:37 PM PDT By Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Grenade-wielding Taliban fighters battled Pakistani security forces during a sophisticated midnight attack on a major prison holding hundreds of Taliban and other militants, police said on Monday. Fighting continued into the early hours of Tuesday, and security forces said they had imposed a curfew on the city, Dera Ismail Khan, 200 miles west of Lahore. The Pakistani Taliban sent 100 fighters and seven suicide bombers on a mission to free some of their top leaders, said Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran nominee seen as olive branch to United States Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:30 PM PDT  By Marcus George and Paul Taylor DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) - If Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani wanted to signal his determination to rebuild relations with the United States and strike a "grand bargain," he could hardly do better than pick Mohammad Javad Zarif as his foreign minister. Iranian news agencies reported on Monday that Zarif, a former ambassador to the United Nations and Tehran's leading connoisseur of the U.S. political elite, is set to be in the cabinet Rouhani will announce after taking office on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Quebec orders MMA Railway, World Fuel to pay for crash cleanup Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:27 PM PDT  By Louise Egan OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Quebec government has ordered the rail and fuel companies involved in a devastating train crash that killed 47 people in the town of Lac Megantic to pay for cleaning up the crude oil that spilled in the town and surrounding lakes and rivers. Quebec Environment Minister Yves-Francois Blanchet invoked powers under a provincial law on Monday to force the companies to take financial responsibility for fixing environmental damage. "The citizens of Quebec are not the ones that will have to pay for this," Blanchet said in a televised news conference. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia says eight soldiers killed near Algeria border Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:24 PM PDT  TUNIS (Reuters) - Eight Tunisian soldiers were killed by militants near the Algerian border on Monday, the president's office said, in what appeared to be one of the biggest attacks on the country's security forces in decades. The incident occurred in the remote area of Mount Chaambi, where Tunisian troops have been trying to track down Islamist militants since December last year. (Reporting by Erika Solomon; editing by Mike Collett-White) Full Story | Top |
| Kerry seeks 'reasonable compromises' in Israeli-Palestinian talks Monday, Jul 29, 2013 02:15 PM PDT By Arshad Mohammed and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Monday for Israel and the Palestinians to make "reasonable compromises" for peace as he prepared to preside over their first direct negotiations in nearly three years. "It is no secret this is a difficult process. If it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago," Kerry said with his newly named envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, at his side. ... Full Story | Top |
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