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Senior US official talks up investment in Tunisia
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:47 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats on Thursday talked up Tunisia as an investment destination for U.S. firms and said the United States was supporting a conference in September to locate loot stolen by former dictators of Arab Spring countries. Hormats led a recent U.S. businesses delegation to Tunisia, where the Arab Spring revolts first began last year, and said he was impressed with what he heard and saw. ... Full Story | Top |
Tanzania doctor strike escalates on torture claims
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:33 PM PDT
Reuters - DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Doctors on Thursday stepped up their strike for better pay at public hospitals across Tanzania in a sign of solidarity with a leader of a medical group who claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by persons unknown. The high cost of living in Tanzania has stoked anti-government sentiment, leading to mounting pressure from public sector workers and others over the rising cost of living. ... Full Story | Top |
Democracy a learning process as Libya set to vote
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:32 PM PDT
Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - In the small courtyard of a kindergarten in Tripoli, about 20 women gather to hear why they should vote for Majdah al-Fallah in Libya's first elections in almost half a century. Dressed in a long robe and Islamic headscarf, the 46-year-old doctor introduces herself and her party. But when she opens the floor to discussion, Fallah is bombarded by the most basic questions, not about her policies, but about how elections work. "What is actually going to happen when we go to the polling station. How many people do we vote for?" one woman asks. ... Full Story | Top |
US urged to reach out to "pro-business" Egypt
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:30 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should reach out to Egypt's Islamist president-elect Mohamed Mursi with an offer to negotiate a free trade agreement, an Egyptian business leader said on Thursday. Hisham Fahmy, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, told the Washington International Trade Association that an announcement saying the two sides wanted to start free trade talks would help the United States' image in Egypt. It would also enable the United States to compete in the Egyptian market with the European Union. ... Full Story | Top |
Police forces consider G4S outsourcing deal
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:24 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - G4S is in line to win more British police work this year after an alliance between Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire forces commissioned a report into which services they could outsource to the world's biggest security firm. All three police authorities this week backed a move to join an outsourcing framework agreement established by G4S and Lincolnshire police authority last year as they look to tackle government budget cuts and find total savings of 73 million pounds ($113 million) by 2015/16. ... Full Story | Top |
Two held over fear of attacks before Olympics
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:24 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Police on Thursday arrested two men on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks in Britain, less than a month before the opening of the London Olympic Games in the British capital. Seven years after suicide bombers killed 52 people in a string of coordinated attacks in London, British security forces are on high alert for any signs of trouble ahead of the Games, which start on July 27. London police said the two men, aged 18 and 32, were arrested by officers from its Counter Terrorism Command on suspicion of terrorist-related activity. ... Full Story | Top |
ANALYSIS: Sudan rulers dig in as foes look for Arab Spring
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:23 PM PDT
Reuters - KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Outside the University of Khartoum, riot police in blue fatigues perch on pickup trucks, keeping watch as young women in bright headscarves and men in button-down shirts walk by carrying textbooks to class in Sudan's intense summer heat. Less than a week earlier, the campus - just a few hundred metres (yards) from the national security headquarters - was a battleground. Police fired teargas and used batons to break up hundreds of protesters, who threw rocks back at them. No one expects the shaky truce to last. ... Full Story | Top |
On historic day at Supreme Court, U.S. citizens and world come to watch
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:22 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In sweltering Washington heat, more than 1,000 people from across the United States and around the world gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to await the court's decision on President Barack Obama's contested healthcare law. The historic day proved a magnet not only for the media throngs but for belly-dancing protesters, flag-waving, bullhorn-wielding partisans on all sides and the now omni-present Tea Party sentinel in full Revolutionary War uniform. The mood outside the court, which is across the street from the domed U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Egypt's new president to take oath before court
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:17 PM PDT
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamist President-elect Mohamed Mursi will give a speech to crowds in Tahrir Square on Friday but his party appears to have lost in a power struggle with the ruling military council over where he will take his oath of office. Details about the historic swearing-in ceremony were announced in a late statement from the presidency on Thursday which stated that Mursi will take the oath of office in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court on Saturday at 11 a.m. Cairo time (0900 GMT). ...
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U.S. "Genius" visa attracts entrepreneurs and Playmates
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:12 PM PDT
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shera Bechard, the Canadian-born former girlfriend of Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner, would not be an obvious candidate for the special visas that the U.S. government reserves for "individuals with extraordinary ability." Playboy magazine named Bechard Miss November in 2010, and she also started an online photo-sharing craze called "Frisky Friday." Neither seems quite on the level of an "internationally recognized award, such as a Nobel Prize," which the government cites as a possible qualification. ...
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IRS steps up scrutiny of tax-exempt political groups
Thu,28 Jun 2012 10:10 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is signaling that it will increase its scrutiny of tax-exempt political organizations, which are becoming a force in elections by raising tens of millions of dollars from undisclosed donors. The IRS has been corresponding with such groups and is preparing questions to ask them as part of effort to determine whether their fundraising or advertising work runs afoul of tax law. IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said on Thursday the scrutiny will affect a range of tax-exempt groups. ... Full Story | Top |
China hails space mission's success as crew returns to Earth
Thu,28 Jun 2012 09:50 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft returned to Earth on Friday, ending a mission that put the country's first woman in space and completed a manned docking test critical to its goal of building a space station by 2020. The spacecraft's gumdrop-shaped return capsule descended to Earth by parachute and touched down shortly after 10 a.m. EDT (0200 GMT) in China's northwestern Inner Mongolia region with its three-member crew, including female astronaut Liu Yang. Beijing has hailed the nearly two-week mission as a technical breakthrough for the country's growing space program. ... Full Story | Top |
Texas company bilked Medicare out of millions: Attorney
Thu,28 Jun 2012 09:12 PM PDT
Reuters - MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - Federal agents on Thursday arrested four employees of a now-defunct Texas medical equipment supplier who are accused of bilking Medicare and Medicaid out of millions of dollars via fake claims, including some made on behalf of dead people, according to court documents. The owner and three employees of RGV DME, a onetime medical supplier near the U.S.-Mexican border in Pharr, Texas, each face allegations of 22 counts of health care and wire fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
United Technologies sent military copter tech to China
Thu,28 Jun 2012 09:07 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United Technologies Corp on Thursday admitted selling China software that helped Beijing develop its first modern military attack helicopter, one of hundreds of export control violations over nearly two decades. At a federal court hearing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United Technologies and its two subsidiaries, Pratt & Whitney Canada and Hamilton Sundstrand Corp, agreed to pay more than $75 million to the U.S. government to settle criminal and administrative charges related to the violations. ... Full Story | Top |
ECB's Coeure wants ESM empowered to recapitalize banks
Thu,28 Jun 2012 09:03 PM PDT
Reuters - FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeure called on Thursday for the euro zone's permanent bailout fund to have the power to inject capital directly into banks as part of a package of steps to tackle the bloc's debt crisis. "The adverse feedback loop between banks and sovereigns ... can be broken by establishing a true financial union," Coeure said in the text of a speech for delivery at a sovereign risk forum in Rio de Janerio. ... Full Story | Top |
Stockton, California files for bankruptcy
Thu,28 Jun 2012 08:49 PM PDT
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Stockton, California, became the largest city to file for bankruptcy in U.S. history on Thursday after years of fiscal mismanagement and a housing market crash left it unable to pay its workers, pensioners and bondholders. The filing by the city of 300,000 people followed three months of confidential talks with its creditors aimed at averting bankruptcy. "We are now a Chapter 9 debtor," Marc Levinson, the lawyer who filed the city's voluntary petition in the Eastern District of California, in Sacramento (Case 12-32118) told Reuters. ...
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Noda's tax success may fail to end Japan deadlock
Thu,28 Jun 2012 08:29 PM PDT
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - After years of policy paralysis in Japan, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pushed a much-needed but unpopular sales tax hike through the lower house of parliament, but the chances of further reform in the world's third-largest economy seem unlikely. Noda, 55, is low key and likened himself to a "dojo" bottom-feeding fish when he took office in September last year. However, the sixth prime minister since 2006 is set to achieve a breakthrough that has eluded several of his predecessors. ...
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Alcoa says grant to help keep Aus smelter running
Thu,28 Jun 2012 08:26 PM PDT
Reuters - CANBERRA (Reuters) - Alcoa on Friday said it expects to keep its Point Henry aluminum smelter in Australia operating until at least mid-2014 but warned losses at the 190,000-tonnes-per-year plant were mounting as market conditions deteriorate. The news coincides with the granting of a government assistance package totaling more than A$40 million aimed at preserving most of the 600 jobs at the smelter as Alcoa grapples with a severe downturn in market conditions and reviews its aluminum-making operations worldwide. ... Full Story | Top |
Stockton, California files bankruptcy petition
Thu,28 Jun 2012 07:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Stockton, California, became the largest city to file for bankruptcy in U.S. history on Thursday, after years of fiscal mismanagement and a housing market crash left it unable to pay its workers, pensioners and bondholders. The filing, announced by the city of 300,000 people, followed three months of confidential talks between the city and its creditors aimed at averting bankruptcy. "We are now a Chapter 9 debtor," said Marc Levinson, a lawyer representing Stockton, noting he filed the city's voluntary petition in U.S. ...
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France's Strauss-Kahn and wife have separated: source
Thu,28 Jun 2012 07:10 PM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is facing a probe into his alleged involvement with a prostitution ring in France, and his wife have separated, a source said. Anne Sinclair, a wealthy heiress who recently relaunched her media career as a news editor at the Huffington Post's French edition, and Strauss-Kahn separated about a month ago and they are living in separate residences in Paris, said the source, who is close to Strauss-Kahn. ...
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Two former Chicago politicians charged with corruption
Thu,28 Jun 2012 06:32 PM PDT
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Prosecutors on Thursday charged two former Chicago area politicians with accepting kickbacks in return for making sure a public hospital bought bandages from a favored company, the latest corruption case in a city known for its unscrupulous politicians. Former Chicago city councilman, or alderman, Ambrosio Medrano, 58, who had been convicted of bribery in the 1990s and served two years in prison, and former Cook County Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno, 59, were charged along with three local businessmen. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Why Roberts saved Obama's healthcare law
Thu,28 Jun 2012 06:14 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the end, it all came down to Chief Justice John Roberts, the sphinx in the center chair, who in a stunning decision wove together competing rationales to uphold President Barack Obama's healthcare plan. Roberts' action instantly upended the conventional wisdom that he would vote with his four fellow conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and undercut the agenda of a Democratic president, who as a senator in 2005 had opposed Roberts' appointment to the bench. ... Full Story | Top |
North Carolina governor vetoes death row bias rollback
Thu,28 Jun 2012 06:00 PM PDT
Reuters - RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue on Thursday vetoed legislation passed by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature to roll back a landmark law allowing death row inmates to use evidence of racial bias to challenge their sentences. The state's Racial Justice Act, passed in 2009, directs judges to cut a death sentence to life in prison if race is found to be a factor in jury composition or sentencing. Perdue, a Democrat, said it was a long overdue step to make sure racism did not infect the way the death penalty was carried out. ... Full Story | Top |
Mercosur won't slap sanctions on Paraguay, eyes China
Thu,28 Jun 2012 05:41 PM PDT
Reuters - MENDOZA, Argentina (Reuters) - The Mercosur trade bloc, which includes regional heavyweights Brazil and Argentina, will not impose economic sanctions on Paraguay despite concerns over the ousting of the country's president, officials said on Thursday. Paraguay's Senate removed Fernando Lugo from office last Friday in an impeachment trial that lasted a matter of hours, prompting criticism in the region and beyond. Mercosur responded by banning Paraguay from attending a summit in Argentina this week. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico offers reward for airport killer police
Thu,28 Jun 2012 05:07 PM PDT
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican federal police on Thursday offered a reward of 5 million pesos ($370,000) to help capture two officers accused of drug trafficking and shooting dead three other policemen inside the capital's international airport. The wanted officers had gone into the airport bathroom to receive cocaine from a Colombian traveler before the three policemen tried to arrest them on Monday, said Luis Cardenas, division head of the federal police. The officers opened fire and fled the airport along with another policeman who is also on the run, Cardenas said, calling them "traitors. ...
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Russia proposes changes to Annan's Syria proposal: envoys
Thu,28 Jun 2012 05:05 PM PDT
Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia proposed changes on Thursday to international mediator Kofi Annan's plan for a national unity government in Syria, despite initially supporting it, but the United States, Britain and France rejected the amendments, Western diplomats said. The suggested changes are related to Moscow's refusal to support the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said on condition of anonymity. Russia and the other permanent U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
South Carolina governor faces state House ethics probe
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:31 PM PDT
Reuters - CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - South Carolina's Republican governor, Nikki Haley, faced an ethics investigation on Thursday by state lawmakers who accused her of illegally lobbying on behalf of her employers while a member of the legislature. The Republican-led House of Representatives' Ethics Committee held the hearing in response to allegations stemming from Haley's prior work as a business development consultant for an engineering firm and a fundraiser for a hospital foundation. ... Full Story | Top |
Analysis: After healthcare victory in court, new challenges for Obama
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Democrats celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday that saved President Barack Obama's sweeping healthcare overhaul, the mood inside the White House was a subdued satisfaction. There were hugs and handshakes after Obama learned of the ruling from White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler, but also a realization: Thursday's victory in court could energize Republicans who oppose the law and leave Obama with a tougher fight for a second four-year term in the White House. ...
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Obama hears health law overturned; moments later, thumbs-up
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:21 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama was standing outside the Oval Office when he saw the news on television just after 10 a.m. Two networks, CNN and Fox News, were reporting the Supreme Court had struck down the centerpiece of his landmark healthcare law. He looked quizzically at the TV screen. Moments later, his face brightened. White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler walked in and flashed him two thumbs-up. The court had in fact upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The TV networks had reported it wrong. ...
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Blast hits Damascus, Turkey sends troops to border
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:14 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIRUT/ISKENDERUN, Turkey (Reuters) - Rebel forces attacked Syria's main court in central Damascus on Thursday, state television said, while Turkey deployed troops and anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the Syrian border, building pressure on President Bashar al-Assad. A loud explosion echoed through the streets and a column of black smoke rose over Damascus, an Assad stronghold that until the last few days had seemed largely beyond the reach of rebels. State television described it as a "terrorist" blast. Dozens of wrecked and burning cars were strewn over a car park used by lawyers and ...
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France's Strauss-Kahn, wife have separated: media
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:08 PM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife have separated, as his legal battles run on over a New York sex assault case and his alleged involvement with a prostitution ring, weekly magazine Closer reported on Thursday. Anne Sinclair, a wealthy heiress who recently relaunched her media career as a news editor at the Huffington Post's French edition, threw Strauss-Kahn out of their home in central Paris a month ago and the two are living separately, the magazine said. The magazine did not cite any sources for the story that appeared in its online edition. ...
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Syrian tanks amass near Turkish border: FSA general
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:07 PM PDT
Reuters - ANTAKYA, Turkey (Reuters) - A general in the rebel Free Syria Army said on Friday that Syrian government forces had amassed around 170 tanks north of the city Aleppo, near the Turkish border, but there was no independent confirmation of the report. General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the Higher Military Council, an association of senior officers who defected from President Bashar al-Assads forces, said the tanks had assembled at the Infantry School near the village of Musalmieh northeast of the city of Aleppo, 30 kms (19 miles) from the Turkish border. "The tanks are now at the Infantry School. ... Full Story | Top |
Court upholds ban on corporate political contributions
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:06 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal appeals court has ruled that two Hillary Clinton supporters cannot use a controversial U.S. Supreme Court campaign-finance decision to battle accusations they illegally funneled donations to Clinton's campaign coffers. In a decision on Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit found that a district court judge erred when he relied on the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision to dismiss one count of federal election law violations against William Danielczyk Jr. and Eugene Biagi. ...
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Iraq's commitment to U.S. mission questioned in Congress
Thu,28 Jun 2012 04:05 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq questions the continued presence of large numbers of Americans on its soil, U.S. lawmakers were warned on Thursday, even as the State Department plans to shrink the size of its mission by almost a third over the next 16 months. Government experts told Congress that Iraq makes life difficult for the embassy in ways large and small, signaling ambivalence toward relations with Washington at a time when critics fear that the country is moving closer to Iran. "The State Department and (Department of Defense) plan for a very large civilian-led presence in Iraq. ... Full Story | Top |
Supreme Court ruling casts tax shadow over U.S. healthcare law
Thu,28 Jun 2012 03:51 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans seized on a momentous U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Thursday to accuse President Barack Obama of hiding a tax increase in his healthcare law, an argument likely to intensify a congressional tax policy war already underway. The court ruled the 2010 law was valid because Congress has the power to impose taxes. The Obama administration played down the tax factor, but Republican opponents pounced on the decision, seeking to elicit political points from a legal issue. ... Full Story | Top |
Romney to campaign as only hope against "Obamacare"
Thu,28 Jun 2012 03:44 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The battle over President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law shifted from the Supreme Court to the campaign trail on Thursday, as Republican challenger Mitt Romney asked voters to throw Obama out of office to get rid of the unpopular law. The high court's 5-4 decision to uphold the law was a setback for Romney and his fellow Republicans, who had hoped that Obama's central policy achievement would be struck down as unconstitutional. But the overhaul remains unpopular, and Romney cast the November 6 presidential election as the best chance for voters to overturn it. ...
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Ex-Marxist guerrilla to run for El Salvador presidency
Thu,28 Jun 2012 03:37 PM PDT
Reuters - SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador's ruling leftist party on Thursday tapped Vice President Salvador Sanchez, a former Marxist guerrilla commander, as its candidate for the 2014 presidential race. Sanchez, 68, a teacher by profession, was one of the leaders of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrillas during 12 years of civil war that ended in 1992. El Salvador's ruling political party of the same name formally nominated him as its candidate on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
WikiLeaks' Assange defiant over UK police request
Thu,28 Jun 2012 03:37 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said it was almost certain he would not leave his embassy refuge on Friday to enter a British police station as part of his extradition process to be questioned in Sweden about sex-crime allegations. Assange has been holed-up in Ecuador's embassy in London since he made a surprise application for political asylum last week. On Thursday, British police summoned Assange to a London police station, demanding he leave the embassy. ...
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Analysis: Republicans vow to take Holder to court
Thu,28 Jun 2012 03:33 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Perhaps as significant as the contempt citation Congress issued to Attorney General Eric Holder is the likelihood Republicans will also go to court to enforce a congressional demand for documents - a tactic pursued only twice before in U.S. history. The Republican-led House of Representatives voted on Thursday to find Holder, the country's top law enforcement officer, in contempt of Congress for withholding documents in a botched gun-running sting operation on the U.S.-Mexico border. ...
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Factbox: Tax provisions in Obama's 2010 health care law
Thu,28 Jun 2012 03:31 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul law, upheld by the Supreme Court on Thursday, contains a slew of new tax provisions. Some have been put into effect in the two years since Obama signed the law, including a tanning salon tax and tax credits for small businesses. Other provisions will be phased in over time. Here is a look at major tax provisions in Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. IN EFFECT * Small business tax credits. ... Full Story | Top |
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