Today's Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Tornadoes kill at least 27 in Midwest, South
Fri,2 Mar 2012 10:53 PM PST
Reuters -  INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Powerful tornadoes raked across a wide swath of the U.S. Midwest and South on Friday, killing at least 27 people in three states and bringing the death toll to at least 40 from a week of deadly late-winter storms. The twisters splintered homes, damaged a prison and tossed around vehicles across the region, leaving at least 13 people dead in southern Indiana, another 12 in neighboring Kentucky and two more in Ohio, officials said. In all, the latest line of storms battered a band of states from Ohio and Indiana on southward to Alabama. ...
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U.N. chief speaks of "grisly reports" from Syria
Fri,2 Mar 2012 04:15 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had received "grisly reports" that Syrian government forces were arbitrarily executing, imprisoning and torturing people in the battle-scarred city of Homs after rebel fighters had fled. Ban's comments came as a wounded British photographer, who escaped Homs earlier this week, said he had witnessed Syrian troops carrying out a massacre in the city's Baba Amro district, which had become a symbol of a year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. ...
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Facebook adding banks for IPO: sources
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:30 PM PST
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will add banks in coming weeks to help underwrite its initial public offering, two sources familiar with its plans said on Friday. Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Citigroup are among the banks that will likely be added, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Last September, Facebook increased its credit line to $2.5 billion. One of the sources said that the credit line may be increased to about $5 billion in the future. In February 2011, Facebook set up a $1. ...
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Citigroup Chairman Parsons stepping down
Fri,2 Mar 2012 04:35 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Richard Parsons will step down as chairman of Citigroup Inc at its annual meeting in April and will be succeeded by Michael O'Neill, the former chief executive of Bank of Hawaii Corp, Citigroup said on Friday. Two other board members are also leaving. The moves will leave Citi under the leadership of directors and top executives who came to the company following losses in the financial crisis that required government bailouts. Parsons, 63, joined the board 16 years ago and became chairman in 2009. ...
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Obama says not bluffing on Iran military option
Fri,2 Mar 2012 05:14 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama issued his most direct threat yet of U.S. military action against Iran if it builds a nuclear weapon, but in a message to Israel's leader ahead of White House talks he also cautioned against a pre-emptive Israeli strike. "As president of the United States, I don't bluff," Obama warned Iran in a magazine interview published on Friday, three days before he will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. ...
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Goldman CEO Blankfein deposed in insider case
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:10 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein was interviewed under oath last week as a witness in the insider-trading case of Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman director and onetime global head of McKinsey & Co, according to court documents filed on Friday. Blankfein was asked in a day-long February 24 deposition whether or not he knew others at Goldman had been interviewed by U.S. prosecutors about the Gupta case. His answer was not included in a partial transcript entered in the court record. ...
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Moody's downgrades Greece after debt swap
Fri,2 Mar 2012 05:21 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Friday cut Greece's sovereign debt rating to the lowest possible level after a debt-restructuring deal that imposes hefty economic losses for private creditors. Moody's lowered Greece's local and foreign-currency bond ratings a notch to C from Ca, becoming the third credit rating agency to downgrade the country following the announcement of the swap deal to lighten its debt burden. Moody's says that bonds rated C "are the lowest rated class and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest. ...
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12,000-plus MF Global customer claims deemed valid
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:37 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - The trustee for MF Global's fallen brokerage said he is nearly halfway through the process of determining the validity of more than 25,000 claims from commodities customers burned by MF Global's collapse. Trustee James Giddens said in a court filing on Friday he has deemed 12,143 claims valid, denying only three. He has another 13,000 claims to get through, according to the filing. Deeming a claim valid legitimizes the claim itself, but does not guarantee full payback. ...
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Obama calls student as contraception fight turns nasty
Fri,2 Mar 2012 06:28 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called a law student on Friday to express his support after she was branded a "slut" by controversial right-wing talk-show host Rush Limbaugh for her outspoken support of Obama's new policy on contraception coverage. Sandra Fluke, a 30-year old student and women's rights activist at Georgetown University in Washington, has been caught in the middle of a contentious election-year fight between Obama and Republicans over the policy, which requires health insurance plans to cover contraception. ...
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Boeing exec: 787 long-term build rate on track
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:27 PM PST
Reuters - SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co will build 10 787 Dreamliners per month by the end of 2013, the head of the plane-maker's commercial airplanes division said on Friday, shrugging off industry concerns that a glitch in the fuselage will put the goal out of reach. "It shouldn't," Jim Albaugh said on the sidelines of an event marking the 1,000th delivery of Boeing's widebody 777. Dubai-based Emirates Airline will receive the plane this month. Last month, the world's second-largest commercial plane-maker after EADS unit Airbus, reported signs of "delamination" on the rear fuselage of some 787s. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama calls student as contraception fight turns nasty
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:48 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called a law student on Friday to express his support after she was branded a "slut" by controversial right-wing talk-show host Rush Limbaugh for her outspoken support of Obama's new policy on contraception coverage. Sandra Fluke, a student at Georgetown University in Washington, has been caught in the middle of a contentious election-year fight between Obama and Republicans over the policy, which requires health insurance plans to cover contraception. ...
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Moody's downgrades Greece after debt swap
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:58 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Friday cut Greece's sovereign debt rating to the lowest possible level after a debt restructuring deal that imposes hefty economic losses for private creditors. Moody's lowered Greece's local and foreign-currency bond ratings a notch to C from Ca, becoming the third credit rating agency to downgrade the country following the announcement of the swap deal to lighten its debt burden. Moody's said it did not assign any future outlook to the rating due to the very high likelihood of a default by the Greek government on its bonds. ...
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Obama says he's not bluffing on Iran military option
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:02 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama issued his most direct threat yet of U.S. military action against Iran if it builds a nuclear weapon, but in a message to Israel's leader ahead of White House talks he also cautioned against a pre-emptive Israeli strike. "As president of the United States, I don't bluff," Obama warned Iran in a magazine interview published on Friday, three days before he will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. ...
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Citigroup Chairman Parsons stepping down
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:11 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - Richard Parsons will step down as chairman of Citigroup Inc at its annual meeting in April and is to be succeeded by Michael O'Neill, the former chief executive of Bank of Hawaii Corp, Citigroup said on Friday. Two other board members are also leaving. The moves will leave Citi under the leadership of directors and top executives who came to the company after it suffered losses in the financial crisis that required government bailouts. Parsons, 63, joined the board 16 years ago and became chairman in 2009. ...
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U.N. chief speaks of "grisly reports" from Syria
Fri,2 Mar 2012 01:32 PM PST
Reuters - BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday he had received "grisly reports" that Syrian government forces were arbitrarily executing, imprisoning and torturing people in the battle-scarred city of Homs after rebel fighters had fled. The Baba Amro district of Homs became a symbol of resistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after government troops surrounded it with tanks and artillery and shelled it intensively for weeks, killing and wounding civilians cowering in its ruined buildings. ...
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Multiple tornadoes slam U.S. midsection, four dead in Indiana
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:51 PM PST
Reuters -  NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - A swarm of tornadoes tore through the U.S. midsection on Friday, splintering homes, damaging a prison, overturning trucks and killing at least four people in the hard-hit state of Indiana, officials said. At least one person died in the southern Indiana town of Henryville, where television images showed homes blown apart and vehicles including a school bus thrown into buildings. Three others died elsewhere in the state. "The reports coming in are not good," U.S. Senator Dan Coats of Indiana told CNN. ...
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U.S., North Korea hope to finalize food deal next week
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:10 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and North Korea will meet in Beijing next week to finalize details of a new U.S. food aid program that has opened the door to a renewal of nuclear talks with Pyongyang, the U.S. State Department said on Friday. Robert King, the State Department's special envoy for human rights in North Korea, is to meet with North Korean officials on Wednesday to discuss technical elements of the proposal along with monitoring standards. ...
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Yelp soars in market debut on Facebook optimism
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:55 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Consumer review website Yelp Inc made a sparkling market debut on Friday, buoyed by optimism ahead of Facebook's public listing and hopes for further successful public listings by Internet companies down the road. Yelp's stock closed 64 percent higher at $24.58, a day after Yelp priced its IPO at $15 a share - above its indicated range of $12 to $14. At Friday's closing price, the company is worth about $1.47 billion - about 17 times its 2011 revenue. ...
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Afghan clerics demand punishment for Koran burners
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:10 PM PST
Reuters -  KABUL (Reuters) - Senior Afghan clerics said on Friday the burning of Korans at a NATO base last month was an "evil act" that must be punished, a demand that could deepen widespread public anger over the incident. "The council strongly condemns this crime and inhumane, savage act by American troops by desecrating holy Korans," members of a council of clerics said after meeting President Hamid Karzai, according to a statement issued by his office. "The council emphasized that the apology for this evil act can never be accepted. Those who committed this crime must be publicly tried and punished. ...
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U.N. aviation body says emissions proposal by year-end
Fri,2 Mar 2012 02:12 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - The head of the United Nations body that oversees civil aviation said on Friday that his agency still plans to have a proposal on measures to address emissions from aviation by the end of 2012, even as critics push for faster change. "I read the press like anyone. I listen to all of the criticisms which have been stated by some about the pace," Secretary General Raymond Benjamin told Reuters in an interview marking his reappointment for a new three-year term at the helm of the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ... Full Story | Top |
Three mull first U.S. lawsuits against Murdoch: source
Fri,2 Mar 2012 11:09 AM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Three people who believe they were targeted by a private investigator working for Rupert Murdoch's News of the World while they were in the United States are considering suing his company in U.S. courts, a source close to the case said. The lawsuits would be the first litigation filed against Murdoch's News Corp empire in the United States and could mark a significant escalation in a scandal that has already shaken Britain's media and political establishment. ...
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Syria stops Red Cross entering Baba Amro
Fri,2 Mar 2012 11:17 AM PST
Reuters -  GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Syrian authorities had prevented it from entering the battle-scarred Baba Amro district of Homs on Friday, where it had hoped to take in aid and evacuate the sick and wounded. Syrian authorities handed over the bodies of two journalists killed on February 22, American Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik, it said. Their bodies were being taken from Homs to Damascus in Syrian Arab Red Crescent ambulances, ICRC chief spokeswoman Carla Haddad said. ...
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Iran parliament vote seen bolstering Supreme Leader
Fri,2 Mar 2012 09:11 AM PST
Reuters -  TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranians voted on Friday in a parliamentary election likely to reinforce Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's power over rival hardliners led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranian leaders were looking for a high turnout to ease an acute crisis of legitimacy caused by Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009 when widespread accusations of fraud plunged the Islamic Republic into the worst unrest of its 33-year history. ...
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Miracle or not, Putin on course to win in Russia
Fri,2 Mar 2012 05:34 AM PST
Reuters -  TIKHVIN, Russia (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin followed in the footsteps of Russia's tsars when he interrupted his presidential election campaign to seek the blessing of the Virgin of Tikhvin, a Byzantine icon which believers say works miracles. Legend has it that all the tsars except one sought the Virgin's blessing before ascending the throne. The one who did not, Nicholas II, turned out to be the last, killed by revolutionaries in 1918. Putin has now visited the icon in a 16th-century monastery five times. ...
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Pact for budget discipline signed by 25 EU states
Fri,2 Mar 2012 06:57 AM PST
Reuters -  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - All but two European Union countries signed a treaty on tighter budget discipline for the euro zone on Friday, marking a coup for Germany which pushed for the accord to try to prevent a repeat of the loose spending that led to a debt crisis. Only Britain and the Czech Republic did not sign the 'fiscal compact', under which countries in the euro zone are bound to write a 'golden rule' on balanced budgets into their national constitutions or equivalent laws, with automatic correction mechanisms if the rule is breached. "This stronger self-constraint ... ...
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Exclusive: DOJ casts wide net with mortgage subpoenas
Fri,2 Mar 2012 06:03 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Justice Department inquiry into the packaging and sale of home loans by the biggest U.S. banks casts a wide net and appears to significantly overlap with other enforcement efforts, according to people who have viewed subpoenas sent to the firms. The civil subpoenas that were sent in January ask for documents related to every offering between 2006 and 2008, including bonds backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, three people familiar with the matter said. An older investigation by the U.S. ...
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Exclusive: Facebook seeking bigger credit line
Fri,2 Mar 2012 05:16 AM PST
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc plans to increase its $2.5 billion credit line to help cover a major tax hit when employee stock awards vest shortly after it goes public, according to two sources familiar with the company's plans. The world's largest social media network, which boosted its borrowing capacity by two-thirds just six months ago, is taking advantage of its strong position to get more financing for its phenomenal growth, the sources said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about such plans. ...
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Ann Romney adds personal touch to Mitt's campaign
Thu,1 Mar 2012 04:02 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ann Romney gets it. She is aware that her husband, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, has an image problem. Critics say he often seems stiff and reserved on the campaign trail, and has difficulty connecting with voters. That isn't a problem for Ann Romney. She is warm, composed, approachable and careful with her words. The mother of five and grandmother of 16 also has become the behind-the-scenes glue in Mitt Romney's well-organized campaign -- a trusted adviser who keeps a close eye on the news coverage about him and casts him as a personable family man. ...
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Anti-U.S. emotions run high at Afghan dogfighting ring
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:19 AM PST
Reuters -  KABUL (Reuters) - Protests over the burning of Korans at a NATO base may have faded but some Afghans are still venting their rage over the incident -- at a bloody Kabul dogfighting ring. If emotions here are any indication, desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book did lasting damage to the image of the United States, which is struggling to pacify the country before NATO combat troops leave at the end of 2014. "We call the dogs who lose Americans. We are furious about the Korans," said Mirwais Haji, 28, as a defeated canine limped off the snow-covered dirt ring on the edge of the capital. ...
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American activists fly out of Egypt, defusing row
Fri,2 Mar 2012 03:40 AM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. pro-democracy activists flew out of Egypt on Thursday after the authorities lifted a travel ban, a move that is likely to defuse the worst row between Washington and Cairo in decades. Egyptian authorities had accused the campaigners, including the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, of working for groups receiving illegal foreign funding and prevented them from leaving the country. U.S. officials said the case, as long as it was unresolved, jeopardized $1. ...
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EU argues over balance between austerity, growth
Fri,2 Mar 2012 01:45 AM PST
Reuters -  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders argued on Thursday over the right balance between budget austerity and reviving lost growth at the first summit for two years in which the euro zone debt crisis did not eclipse all else. After their finance ministers gave provisional approval to a second bailout for Greece, and a flood of cheap European Central Bank funds calmed bond markets, the 27 leaders used the breathing space to focus on structural economic reforms and other ways to combat record unemployment. ...
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Conservative activist Andrew Breitbart dead at 43
Thu,1 Mar 2012 04:45 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Conservative activist Andrew Breitbart, an influential voice in Republican circles known for his online media attacks on liberals, died unexpectedly of natural causes in Los Angeles early on Thursday, his family said. He was 43. Breitbart, the founder of a news website named after himself, was walking late on Wednesday near his Los Angeles home when he collapsed, said his father-in-law, actor Orson Bean. "He collapsed on the sidewalk and the paramedics were there very quickly and they couldn't revive him," Bean told Reuters in a phone interview. ...
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American activists fly out of Egypt, defusing row
Thu,1 Mar 2012 02:56 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. pro-democracy activists flew out of Egypt on Thursday after the authorities lifted a travel ban, a move that is likely to defuse the worst row between Washington and Cairo in decades. Egyptian authorities had accused the campaigners, including the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, of working for groups receiving illegal foreign funding and prevented them from leaving the country. U.S. officials said the case, as long as it was unresolved, jeopardized $1. ...
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Exclusive: Facebook seeking bigger credit line: sources
Thu,1 Mar 2012 02:57 PM PST
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc plans to increase its $2.5 billion credit line to help cover a major tax hit when employee stock awards vest shortly after it goes public, according to two sources familiar with the company's plans. The world's largest social media network, which boosted its borrowing capacity by two-thirds just six months ago, is taking advantage of its strong position to get more financing for its phenomenal growth, the sources said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about such plans. ...
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Fed officials flag soft economy but mum on easing
Thu,1 Mar 2012 03:59 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other top officials of the U.S. central bank on Thursday highlighted risks to the economic recovery despite recent signs of strength, but offered few hints that any additional monetary stimulus might be needed. Bernanke told lawmakers there was reason to be suspicious of the recent decline in unemployment given the weakness of economic growth. "There's still a bit of a contradiction between the improvement in the labor market and the speed of the overall recovery," Bernanke said in a second day of testimony to Congress. ...
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AT&T standardizes data throttling practices
Thu,1 Mar 2012 03:35 PM PST
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc has standardized rules for subscribers with unlimited data service plans after a public outcry about its practice of slowing down speeds for its heaviest users, but the change also drew sharp criticism. The No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider said on Thursday that instead of varying its speed throttling practices from location to location, it will now slow down services for all unlimited-use customers who have used a specific amount of data. ... Full Story | Top |
EU argues over balance between austerity, growth
Thu,1 Mar 2012 03:44 PM PST
Reuters -  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders argued on Thursday over the right balance between budget austerity and reviving lost growth at the first summit for two years in which the euro zone debt crisis did not eclipse all else. After their finance ministers gave provisional approval to a second bailout for Greece, and a flood of cheap European Central Bank funds calmed bond markets, the 27 leaders used the breathing space to focus on structural economic reforms and other ways to combat record unemployment. ...
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Syrian rebels flee shattered stronghold
Thu,1 Mar 2012 03:55 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Defeated Syrian rebels abandoned their shattered stronghold in Homs, giving way to a 26-day army assault on a city that had become a symbol of the year-long revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Activists said Syria's army had begun hunting down and killing insurgents who stayed to cover their comrades' "tactical retreat" from the city's battle-scarred Baba Amro district, although the reports could not be verified independently. ...
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Western sanctions tighten squeeze on Iran oil exports
Thu,1 Mar 2012 02:56 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Western trade sanctions against Iran are strangling its oil exports even before they go into effect, a U.S. advisory body has found, amid warnings that any shortages will only push up crude prices and strain a weak global economy. With crude prices trading around 10-month highs and limited spare production capacity worldwide, the United States may offer Iran's biggest customers waivers from the oil sanctions, which take effect June 28. Iran is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and the second-biggest producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia. ...
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Conservative activist Andrew Breitbart dead at 43
Thu,1 Mar 2012 03:00 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Conservative activist Andrew Breitbart, an influential voice in U.S. Republican politics known for his attacks on liberals and Democrats, died unexpectedly of natural causes in Los Angeles early on Thursday, his family said. He was 43. Breitbart was walking last night near his Los Angeles home when he collapsed, said his father-in-law, actor Orson Bean. "He collapsed on the sidewalk and the paramedics were there very quickly and they couldn't revive him," Bean told Reuters in a phone interview. ...
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