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Thursday, April 5, 2012 12:03 AM PDT

Today's Politics - Bloomberg News Headlines - Yahoo! News: Japan rushes to restart reactors to avoid total shutdown Rocket from Egypt's Sinai hits Israeli city -police Insight: In Bangalore, a remake to avoid being "Bangalored" Analysis: South Korea's unloved chaebol Myanmar's old guard under pressure after Suu Kyi win Chavez back in Venezuela after more cancer treatment Exclusive: Key China insurer to stop covering tankers with Iran oil Exclusive: Low ratings could end cable deal for Gore's Current TV Prison time for New Orleans ex-cops in post-Katrina killings European hackers suspected in Utah Medicaid files breach Judge refuses to block anti-Obama Marine from discipline North Korean refugee stands for parliament in the South White House in damage control over Obama Supreme Court remarks Chicago relents, grants NATO protesters a permit, activists say U.S. suspends $13 million in aid to Mali Detroit avoids state takeover, more oversight looms With $10 million bounty on his head, Pakistan militant taunts U.S. Anchorage voters reject gay rights ballot measure Factbox: Accused 9-11 plotters face death penalty trial Accused September 11 mastermind to face trial at Guantanamo Text of Annan's six-point peace plan for Syria U.N. peacekeeper due in Damascus for ceasefire talks U.S. moves to ease Myanmar sanctions after reforms Voter ID laws spark heated debate before U.S. election White House in damage control over Obama Supreme Court remarks Detroit OK's deal to avoid state takeover Islamist rebels bomb Somali theater, killing six U.N. peacekeeper due in Damascus for ceasefire talks Text of Annan's six-point peace plan for Syria Red Crescent aid centre torched in Syria's Homs Prison time for New Orleans ex-cops in post-Katrina killings California college chief defends use of pepper spray Ex-student charged with murder in California shooting rampage Tough questions in UK quest for Irish archive in Boston U.S. demands Sotheby's give up ancient Cambodian statue Analysis: Alternate growth gauge points to more U.S. job gains U.S. to relax Myanmar sanctions amid "dramatic" progress One-fifth of U.S. adults read e-books as market booms: survey Hacker claims breach of Chinese defense contractor Accused September 11 mastermind to face trial at Guantanamo Japan rushes to restart reactors to avoid total shutdown Wed,4 Apr 2012 10:28 PM PDT Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government is racing to get two nuclear reactors, idled after the Fukushima crisis, running again by next month out of what experts say is fear that a total shutdown would make it hard to convince a wary public that atomic power is vital. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three cabinet ministers are to meet on Thursday to discuss the possible restarts of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi plant in Fukui, western Japan - a region dubbed the "nuclear arcade" for the string of atomic plants that dot its coast. ... Full Story Top Rocket from Egypt's Sinai hits Israeli city -police Wed,4 Apr 2012 10:25 PM PDT Reuters - JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A rocket fired from Egypt's Sinai desert struck the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday causing no casualties or damage, Israeli police said. The head of Eilat police, Ron Gertner, told Army Radio that explosions were heard in the holiday resort soon after midnight. Police found the remains of one rocket in a construction site, about 400 meters from a residential area. Asked if the rocket was fired from Sinai, Gertner said: "Based on our working assumptions and the (rocket) range, yes." He added that police were searching for more rockets that may have landed. ... Full Story Top Insight: In Bangalore, a remake to avoid being "Bangalored" Wed,4 Apr 2012 10:11 PM PDT Reuters - BANGALORE (Reuters) - Rajesh Rao is among a handful of Indian entrepreneurs who may prevent the country's software industry from getting "Bangalored". The 41-year-old self-confessed geek runs Dhruva, a firm that sells content and services to global online game companies from a bungalow in a crowded suburb of a city that has come to embody outsourcing and the transfer of jobs from the West. But plain vanilla outsourcing - help desks and back office operations - is finding cheaper locations abroad. ... Full Story Top Analysis: South Korea's unloved chaebol Wed,4 Apr 2012 10:08 PM PDT Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - If you are a South Korean you might well wake up in a Samsung-built apartment, watch the news on an LG television, drive a Hyundai car to work and make a dinner reservation at a Lotte Hotel restaurant on a Samsung phone. If you are really lucky, you could be one of the tens of thousands of graduates hired each year by the family-run conglomerates or chaebol whose annual revenues are equivalent to the country's gross domestic product. And if you actually own one of the chaebol in this election year, you will find yourself the target of growing popular anger. ... Full Story Top Myanmar's old guard under pressure after Suu Kyi win Wed,4 Apr 2012 10:00 PM PDT Reuters - YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling party, created by the military, says it must re-think strategy after by-election victories for the party of Aung San Suu Kyi who has raised suspicion in the ranks by suggesting the generals will need to withdraw from politics. To prevent more losses in a 2015 general election that could cripple its influence, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) acknowledges it must reinvent itself, possibly by adopting the pro-democratic ideas and populism the junta brutally suppressed for years. ... Full Story Top Chavez back in Venezuela after more cancer treatment Wed,4 Apr 2012 09:57 PM PDT Reuters - CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez returned home to Venezuela on Wednesday after his latest session of cancer treatment in Cuba, as he aims to fight off the illness and win a new six-year term in an October election. The 57-year-old socialist leader walking unaided from his plane after it landed in his home state of Barinas and he was greeted on the runway by relatives, the vice president and several government ministers. "The socialist revolution is irreversible ... ... Full Story Top Exclusive: Key China insurer to stop covering tankers with Iran oil Wed,4 Apr 2012 09:47 PM PDT Reuters - SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Key ship insurer the China P&I Club will halt indemnity coverage for tankers carrying Iranian oil as Western nations tighten sanctions on OPEC's second largest producer, two club officials told Reuters on Thursday. China is Iran's top buyer of crude and this is the first sign the country's refiners may struggle to obtain the shipping and insurance to keep importing from the Middle Eastern country. Iran's other top customers -- India, Japan and South Korea -- are running into the same problems. ... Full Story Top Exclusive: Low ratings could end cable deal for Gore's Current TV Wed,4 Apr 2012 09:20 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Al Gore's Current TV has bigger problems to deal with than a potential lawsuit from fired news anchor Keith Olbermann - namely not getting kicked off Time Warner Cable for low ratings. According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, Time Warner Cable Inc's carriage agreement with Current TV stipulates that, if the left-leaning political news network fails to meet a minimum threshold for overall viewers in a given quarter, financial penalties such as Current TV being required to increase marketing and promotion spending on the cable operator's systems are triggered. ... Full Story Top Prison time for New Orleans ex-cops in post-Katrina killings Wed,4 Apr 2012 09:10 PM PDT Reuters - NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Four former New Orleans policemen convicted of shooting unarmed people following Hurricane Katrina were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Wednesday in what the U.S. government described as the most important police misconduct case since the Rodney King beating nearly two decades ago. The four former officers - Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso - were sentenced by a federal judge to between 38 and 65 years in prison. ... Full Story Top European hackers suspected in Utah Medicaid files breach Wed,4 Apr 2012 08:36 PM PDT Reuters - SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A data security breach at the Utah Health Department, believed to be the work of Eastern European hackers, has exposed 24,000 U.S. Medicaid files bearing names, Social Security numbers and other private information, state officials said on Wednesday. The intrusion initially appeared to have affected claims representing at least 9 percent of the 260,000 clients of Medicaid in Utah. But because each file often contains information on more than one individual, the full extent of the breach is probably wider, officials said. ... Full Story Top Judge refuses to block anti-Obama Marine from discipline Wed,4 Apr 2012 07:50 PM PDT Reuters - SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A federal judge refused on Wednesday to block disciplinary action against a Marine who criticized President Barack Obama on Facebook and called him a "domestic enemy" in a posting to an internal military network. Marine Sergeant Gary Stein, 26, a meteorologist stationed at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, filed suit on Tuesday, saying the Marine Corps was violating his right to free speech. A Southern California congressman has rallied to his defense. ... Full Story Top North Korean refugee stands for parliament in the South Wed,4 Apr 2012 07:37 PM PDT Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - By the time Pyongyang's rubber stamp parliament meets on April 13 to anoint Kim Jong-un as the third of his line to rule the impoverished state, 53-year old Cho Myung-chul will likely have become the first North Korean to win a free election. The rub is that Cho, once part of North Korea's elite who defected in 1994 during the 17-year rule of Kim Jong-il, is standing in parliamentary elections in South Korea April 11 - the first defector to do so. ... Full Story Top White House in damage control over Obama Supreme Court remarks Wed,4 Apr 2012 07:16 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House was forced on the defensive on Wednesday as it sought to explain controversial remarks President Barack Obama made earlier in the week about the Supreme Court's review of his signature healthcare reform law. "What he did was make an unremarkable observation about 80 years of Supreme Court history," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters during a White House briefing dominated by the topic. ... Full Story Top Chicago relents, grants NATO protesters a permit, activists say Wed,4 Apr 2012 07:02 PM PDT Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - The city of Chicago agreed on Wednesday to allow opponents of Afghanistan war to stage a march during the two-day NATO summit of world leaders in May, according to a protest organizer. The city had earlier denied activists a permit to parade on May 20, the first day of the two-day summit of the military alliance, saying the proposed march would clog traffic and over-tax police resources. But on Wednesday, just hours before activists planned to file suit in federal court, the city relented and said it would allow a march on May 20, protest leader Andy Thayer said. ... Full Story Top U.S. suspends $13 million in aid to Mali Wed,4 Apr 2012 07:01 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is suspending at least $13 million of its roughly $140 million in annual aid to Mali following last month's coup in the West African nation, the State Department said on Wednesday. The suspension affects U.S. assistance for Mali's ministry of health, public school construction and the government's efforts to boost agricultural production. The United States, which sees Mali as an important partner in regional efforts to combat Islamic extremism, has warned that Mali's political crisis was putting the territorial integrity of the country at risk. U.S. ... Full Story Top Detroit avoids state takeover, more oversight looms Wed,4 Apr 2012 06:44 PM PDT Reuters - DETROIT (Reuters) - Detroit avoided a takeover by the state of Michigan on Wednesday after both a review team and the city council approved a consent agreement that will put the city's struggling finances under stricter control. The deal, which was passed by the city council in a 5-to-4 vote, "ensures that the future of Detroit is determined by Detroiters and its elected officials," Detroit's Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis said after the late vote. ... Full Story Top With $10 million bounty on his head, Pakistan militant taunts U.S. Wed,4 Apr 2012 06:35 PM PDT Reuters - RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Who wants to be a millionaire? In Pakistan, all you have to do is give the United States information leading to the arrest or conviction of Hafiz Saeed - an Islamist leader whose whereabouts are usually not a mystery. Saeed is suspected of masterminding the attack on India's financial capital Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, including six Americans. U.S. ... Full Story Top Anchorage voters reject gay rights ballot measure Wed,4 Apr 2012 06:13 PM PDT Reuters - ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Anchorage voters have rejected a ballot initiative that would have protected gays from discrimination in the latest setback to a decades-long campaign to secure anti-discrimination rights for gays in Alaska's most populous city. A preliminary count from municipal officials on Wednesday, a day after the vote, indicated that 58 percent of voters cast their ballots against the initiative, known as Proposition 5. The initiative would have prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in everything from employment to housing. ... Full Story Top Factbox: Accused 9-11 plotters face death penalty trial Wed,4 Apr 2012 06:09 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the September 11 attacks in 2001 will face the death penalty if convicted in a U.S. war crimes tribunal, the Pentagon official overseeing the trials said on Wednesday. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when alleged al Qaeda operatives hijacked four passenger planes and crashed them into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Here are some details about the accused facing charges that include mass murder: * Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - Pakistani raised in Kuwait, educated in the United States. ... Full Story Top Accused September 11 mastermind to face trial at Guantanamo Wed,4 Apr 2012 06:09 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four suspected co-conspirators were ordered on Wednesday to stand trial before a Guantanamo war crimes tribunal, the Pentagon said, a move that throws the politically charged case into the limelight in an election year. Convictions on the most serious charges, which include terrorism, hijacking, conspiracy and murder in violation of the law of war, could carry the death penalty. ... Full Story Top Text of Annan's six-point peace plan for Syria Wed,4 Apr 2012 06:08 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - The 15-member United Nations Security Council is expected to endorse a deadline agreed to by Syria for a military withdrawal by April 10 and a comprehensive ceasefire no more than 48 hours later with rebel forces. The ceasefire is the key part of special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan, which was presented to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on March 10 and accepted by him on March 27. ... Full Story Top U.N. peacekeeper due in Damascus for ceasefire talks Wed,4 Apr 2012 06:08 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A senior Norwegian U.N. peacekeeper flies into Damascus on Thursday to try to broker an agreement that will allow observers to be deployed across Syria to monitor a ceasefire demanded by an international peace plan. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accepted the plan, which calls for him to withdraw heavy weapons from cities, and his ally Russia said Syrian forces had begun to pull back. ... Full Story Top U.S. moves to ease Myanmar sanctions after reforms Wed,4 Apr 2012 05:57 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it was ready to relax some sanctions on Myanmar to recognize its fledgling democratic transition, including a ban on U.S. companies investing in or offering financial services to the country. However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the Obama administration wanted to move cautiously, saying that the resource-rich Southeast Asian country has a long way to go to shake off decades of military rule. ... Full Story Top Voter ID laws spark heated debate before U.S. election Wed,4 Apr 2012 05:45 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Liberal activists on Wednesday criticized new voter registration requirements in dozens of states, saying millions of people could be deterred from voting in the November U.S. presidential election - a claim their opponents disputed. The Center for American Progress issued a report that said new barriers to voting have been enacted by conservative state legislatures with the aim of disenfranchising voters from among certain groups such as low-income voters, minorities and college students. Those constituencies have tended to favor Democrats. ... Full Story Top White House in damage control over Obama Supreme Court remarks Wed,4 Apr 2012 04:39 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House was forced on the defensive on Wednesday as it sought to explain controversial remarks President Barack Obama made earlier in the week about the Supreme Court's review of his signature healthcare reform law. "What he did was make an unremarkable observation about 80 years of Supreme Court history," Carney told reporters during a White House briefing dominated by the topic. ... Full Story Top Detroit OK's deal to avoid state takeover Wed,4 Apr 2012 04:35 PM PDT Reuters - DETROIT (Reuters) - Detroit's city council on Wednesday approved 5 to 4 a consent agreement that would avoid the city's takeover by the state of Michigan due to its sagging finances. A review team appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder in December had also approved the deal earlier Wednesday. Both the review team and the city council took the action ahead of a Thursday deadline for sending recommendations to the governor and after a state appeals court lifted a temporary restraining order that had stopped the team from meeting. (Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) Full Story Top Islamist rebels bomb Somali theater, killing six Wed,4 Apr 2012 04:25 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - At least six people, including two of Somalia's top sports officials, were killed when a female suicide bomber struck a ceremony at Mogadishu's national theater in an attack Islamist rebels said was aimed at assassinating government ministers. Al Shabaab insurgents claimed responsibility for the blast on Wednesday that killed the heads of Somalia's soccer federation and Olympic committee in yet another stark reminder of the fragile security in the capital Mogadishu. ... Full Story Top U.N. peacekeeper due in Damascus for ceasefire talks Wed,4 Apr 2012 04:07 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A senior Norwegian U.N. peacekeeper flies into Damascus on Thursday to try to broker an agreement that will allow observers to be deployed across Syria to monitor a ceasefire demanded by an international peace plan. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accepted the plan, which calls for him to withdraw heavy weapons from cities, and his ally Russia said Syrian forces had begun to pull back. ... Full Story Top Text of Annan's six-point peace plan for Syria Wed,4 Apr 2012 04:03 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - The 15-member United Nations Security Council is expected to endorse a deadline agreed to by Syria for a military withdrawal by April 10 and a comprehensive ceasefire no more than 48 hours later with rebel forces. The ceasefire is the key part of special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan, which was presented to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on March 10 and accepted by him on March 27. ... Full Story Top Red Crescent aid centre torched in Syria's Homs Wed,4 Apr 2012 04:03 PM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian Red Crescent distribution centre in Homs - a flashpoint city in the anti-government uprising - was burned to the ground on Wednesday, activists and a source close to the aid group said. There were conflicting reports about what caused the fire. Some activists said the building had burst into flames after shelling on Qarabees, a neighborhood in Homs that has seen heavy clashes between the army and rebels in the year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule. ... Full Story Top Prison time for New Orleans ex-cops in post-Katrina killings Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:57 PM PDT Reuters - NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Four former New Orleans policemen convicted of shootings in 2005 that killed two unarmed people and wounded four others following Hurricane Katrina were given sentences on Wednesday ranging from 38 to 65 years in prison. A fifth former police officer who did not participate in the shootings but engineered a four-year cover-up of the crimes was sentenced the six years. ... Full Story Top California college chief defends use of pepper spray Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:47 PM PDT Reuters - SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - The president of a California college defended on Wednesday the use of pepper spray by campus police against students protesting higher tuition for extra summer-school classes, an incident that left as many as 30 people overcome by the caustic substance. The melee that erupted on Tuesday night at a board of trustees meeting at Santa Monica College is under investigation, college President Chui L. Tsang said in a statement. ... Full Story Top Ex-student charged with murder in California shooting rampage Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:46 PM PDT Reuters - OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - A former nursing student was charged with murder and attempted murder on Wednesday in a shooting rampage that left seven people dead and three others wounded this week at a small, Christian college in California. The suspect in the shootings at Oakland's Oikos University, 43-year-old One Goh, appeared in court dressed in a red jumpsuit for a brief arraignment in which the charges were read to him by a judge. He is accused of opening fire on former classmates and staff at Oikos University on Monday in the deadliest gun violence at a U.S. ... Full Story Top Tough questions in UK quest for Irish archive in Boston Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:45 PM PDT Reuters - BOSTON (Reuters) - Judges grilled a U.S. Justice Department attorney on Wednesday over the agency's attempts to help United Kingdom police gain access to a closed archive of interviews with fighters from Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict that is housed at Boston College. Tough questions from the three-judge Appeals Court panel gave hope to researchers battling to keep the archive mostly sealed since it was originally meant for historians to use years from now. A ruling could be several weeks away. "We're still kicking!" journalist Ed Moloney said after the hearing in Boston. ... Full Story Top U.S. demands Sotheby's give up ancient Cambodian statue Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:41 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday filed suit demanding auctioneer Sotheby's forfeit a 10th-century sandstone statue the government says was looted from a Cambodian temple. The statue, known as the Duryodhana, is believed to have been stolen from the Prasat Chen temple at Koh Ker in Cambodia sometime in the 1960s or 1970s, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said in a statement. The Duryodhana "was looted from the country during a period of upheaval and unrest," Bharara said. ... Full Story Top Analysis: Alternate growth gauge points to more U.S. job gains Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:22 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An alternate measure of the health of the U.S. economy suggests the current pace of job growth can be sustained at least through the rest of the year. A dramatic fall in the unemployment rate from 9.1 percent last August to 8.5 percent by year end despite sluggish overall growth had puzzled analysts. But data last Friday on this alternate growth gauge showed more strength in the economy late last year than was captured in gross domestic product, the conventional measure of growth. GDP expanded at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter and by 3. ... Full Story Top U.S. to relax Myanmar sanctions amid "dramatic" progress Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:21 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it was ready to relax some sanctions on Myanmar to recognize its fledgling democratic transition, including a ban on U.S. companies investing in or offering financial services to the country. However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed the Obama administration wanted to move cautiously, saying that the resource-rich Southeast Asian country has a long way to go to shake off decades of military rule. ... Full Story Top One-fifth of U.S. adults read e-books as market booms: survey Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:21 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in five American adults read an electronic book in the last year, as gift-giving sped the shift away from the printed page, a Pew Research Center survey showed on Wednesday. In a sweeping survey of e-books' impact on reading habits, the Pew report said that four times more U.S. readers, or 15 percent, were reading e-books on a typical day now compared with less than two years ago. But when it comes to reading in bed, the verdict is split. Forty-five percent of those surveyed preferred e-books and 43 percent gave the nod to old-fashioned print. ... Full Story Top Hacker claims breach of Chinese defense contractor Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:18 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - A hacker has posted thousands of internal documents he says he obtained by breaking into the network of a Chinese company with defense contracts, an unusual extension of the phenomenon of activist hacking into the world's most populous country. The hacker, who uses the name Hardcore Charlie and said he was a friend of Hector Xavier Monsegur, the leader-turned- informant of the activist hacking group, LulzSec, told Reuters he got inside Beijing-based China National Import & Export Corp (CEIEC). He posted documents ranging from purported U.S. ... Full Story Top Accused September 11 mastermind to face trial at Guantanamo Wed,4 Apr 2012 03:15 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four suspected co-conspirators were ordered on Wednesday to stand trial before a Guantanamo war crimes tribunal, the Pentagon said, a move that throws the politically charged case into the limelight in an election year. Convictions on the most serious charges, which include terrorism, hijacking, conspiracy and murder in violation of the law of war, could carry the death penalty. ... Full Story Top

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