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| U.S. deploys warship off South Korea amid soaring tensions on peninsula Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 12:16 AM PDT  By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States has positioned a warship off the Korean coast as a shield against ballistic missile attack as South Korea's new president vowed swift retaliation against a North Korean strike amid soaring tensions on the peninsula. But Washington also said it had seen no worrisome mobilization of armed forces by the North Koreans despite bellicose rhetoric over a ramping up of international sanctions against Pyongyang over nuclear weapons tests. ... Full Story | Top |
| China expresses regret at North Korea restarting nuclear plant Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013 12:16 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry expressed regret on Tuesday that North Korea will restart all nuclear facilities, including its shuttered Yongbyon nuclear reactor. Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the comments at a daily news briefing. North Korea will rebuild and restart nuclear facilities, including its mothballed uranium enrichment facility and the 5 MW Yongbyon reactor which it closed in 2007, its official KCNA news service said. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Writing by Sui-Lee Wee) Full Story | Top |
| Suspected militants attack Pakistan power station, seven dead Monday, Apr 01, 2013 11:49 PM PDT By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Dozens of suspected militants attacked a major power station in northwest Pakistan with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and killed seven people, police said on Tuesday. The assault, in the run-up to May 11 general elections, destroyed the biggest power station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, suspending electricity supply to half of the major city of Peshawar. It served as a reminder that Pakistan's leaders have failed to tackle a Taliban insurgency that remains potent despite a series of security crackdowns. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korea to restart Yongbyon nuclear reactor Monday, Apr 01, 2013 11:38 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will restart its shuttered Yongbyon nuclear reactor, its official KCNA news service said on Tuesday, a move that could enable it to extract more plutonium to bolster its atomic stockpile for use in nuclear weapons. The announcement came after the North's leader Kim Jong-un declared at a policy-setting meeting of the ruling Workers' Party on Sunday that the country would bolster nuclear power and develop the economy. ... Full Story | Top |
| IMF could change size of $4.8 bln Egypt loan -official Monday, Apr 01, 2013 11:32 PM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund could conceivably change the size of the $4.8 billion loan which it is negotiating with Egypt, depending on the country's needs, a senior IMF official said on Tuesday. "The size may vary, it's a question of needs and what's required," Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, told reporters in response to a question. He was speaking at a meeting of Arab finance ministers and central bank governors in Dubai. An IMF delegation is to arrive in Egypt on Wednesday for talks with the government on the $4. ... Full Story | Top |
| Implats objects to Zimbabwe plan to seize mining claims Monday, Apr 01, 2013 11:21 PM PDT HARARE (Reuters) - South African miner Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd said on Thursday its Zimbabwean unit had launched an objection to Harare's plans to repossess nearly half of its mining claims. The Zimbabwean government published a notice on March 1. saying it planned to take away land belonging to Implats unit Zimbabwe Platinum Mines, in what it said would stop mining firms from holding onto claims for speculative reasons. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kenyan shilling strengthens 0.8 pct after court ruling Monday, Apr 01, 2013 11:20 PM PDT  NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling rose 0.8 percent against the dollar at the opening of trade on Tuesday after the Supreme Court upheld Uhuru Kenyatta's March 4 presidential election. Kenyatta's main rival Raila Odinga accepted the ruling. The shilling, which has been stuck in the 85-86 level as investors awaited the outcome of the petition brought by Odinga, was posted at 84.65/85 to the dollar at 0604 GMT, up from 85.30/50 at the close of trade on Thursday . Full Story | Top |
| C.African Republic opposition says to boycott new government Monday, Apr 01, 2013 11:18 PM PDT  By Ange Aboa BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's opposition said on Monday it would not participate in a caretaker government nominated by the country's self-proclaimed president, claiming it has been stacked with rebel sympathisers. The move will complicate a planned transition back to civilian rule in the resource-rich former French colony after fighters from the Seleka rebel coalition stormed the capital on March 24 and ousted President Francois Bozize. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan's Bashir orders release of all political prisoners Monday, Apr 01, 2013 11:15 PM PDT  By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday ordered the release of all political prisoners, a move cautiously welcomed by the opposition in the tightly-controlled African country. The announcement comes after Sudan and South Sudan agreed in March to end hostilities and resume cross-border oil flows after coming close to war a year ago. Khartoum had accused its southern neighbour of supporting rebels trying to topple Bashir. "I announce today my decision to release all political prisoners," Bashir told parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| China issues plan to rejuvenate old industrial base Monday, Apr 01, 2013 09:37 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China will expand an urban regeneration plan for ageing industrial cities as part of efforts to restructure the economy and promote more sustainable growth, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Tuesday. The plan, to run from 2013 to 2020, covers 95 prefecture-level cities and 25 municipalities and capital cities that were once the core of China's heavy industrial base. A blueprint issued in November 2011 covered 62 cities. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korean leader dials down hostile rhetoric Monday, Apr 01, 2013 09:27 PM PDT SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's leader appeared to tamp down hostile rhetoric that had threatened impending war with the United States and South Korea in a key speech published on Tuesday that implied the isolated country was shifting its focus to development. Pyongyang has launched relentless verbal attacks and threats against the United States and South Korea since new U.N. sanctions punishing it for its February nuclear test were adopted and during military drills by the South and U.S. forces. ... Full Story | Top |
| Palestinian Islamist group Hamas re-elects Meshaal as its leader Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:40 PM PDT  GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas re-elected Khaled Meshaal on Tuesday as the Islamist group's leader, at a marathon overnight closed-door meeting held in Cairo, an official with the organization said. Once reviled as a hardliner but now seen increasingly in the Arab world and by some Westerners as a moderate, Meshaal, 56, has headed the movement that rejects Israel's existence and controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza, since 2004. Born near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Meshaal steered Hamas through the upheaval unleashed by the Arab Spring uprisings. ... Full Story | Top |
| A fiscal warning from two former budget chiefs Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:16 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former budget chiefs who worked for presidents from opposing political parties said on Monday that the government should reduce military spending, scale back Social Security payments and end decade-old income tax cuts to reduce the federal deficit. David Stockman, who was Republican Ronald Reagan's budget director from 1981 to 1985 and a key architect of tax-cutting policies, and Peter Orszag, budget director for Democratic President Barack Obama from January 2009 until July 2010, agreed the United States spends more on defense than is needed. ... Full Story | Top |
| Connecticut legislative leaders reach tough gun-control deal Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:10 PM PDT  By Ebong Udoma HARTFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - Legislative leaders in Connecticut, where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in December, said on Monday they had agreed some of the toughest gun regulations in the nation and expected to adopt them this week. The proposal, which is expected to pass both Democratic-controlled houses of the state legislature this week and become law, includes a ban on sales of high-capacity ammunition magazines, background checks for private gun sales and a registry for existing magazines that carry 10 or more bullets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assange appoints WikiLeaks Party campaign director for Australian Senate bid Monday, Apr 01, 2013 08:01 PM PDT  By Rob Taylor CANBERRA (Reuters) - Fugitive WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, holed up in London's Ecuadorian embassy for nine months, has appointed a high-profile opponent of Britain's monarchy to run his campaign for a seat in Australia's upper house of parliament. Former Australian Republican Movement head and lawyer Greg Barns said on Monday he would be campaign director for the WikiLeaks Party spearheading Assange's rare absentee bid for a Senate seat in Australia's September 14 election, which even if successful would not bring him any legal protection. ... Full Story | Top |
| Georgia town passes law requiring residents to own guns Monday, Apr 01, 2013 07:32 PM PDT ATLANTA (Reuters) - A small Georgia town on Monday passed a law requiring the head of each household to own a gun as a way to keep crime down. The ordinance, approved unanimously by the City Council in Nelson, is symbolic, however, because there is no penalty for violating it, according to Councilman Duane Cronic, who introduced the measure last month. It serves as an expression of support for gun rights and sends a message to would-be criminals, Cronic said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Angelina Jolie to sell jewelry line to fund overseas schools Monday, Apr 01, 2013 07:26 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Angelina Jolie has opened another girls school in Afghanistan and plans to fund more from the proceeds of a jewelry line going on sale this week that she helped to design, celebrity website E! News reported on Monday. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, funded the girls-only primary school in an area outside Kabul that has a high refugee population, E! News said in an exclusive report. The school educates 200-300 girls, E! said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dissident Cuban blogger gets warm reception from Miami exiles Monday, Apr 01, 2013 07:15 PM PDT  By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - Cuba's best-known dissident, journalist Yoani Sanchez, received a hero's welcome on Monday from the Cuban-American exile community in Miami, her latest stop in an 80-day tour of more than a dozen countries. It was the largest and most politically unified reception in at least a decade for a dissident from the island by Miami's Cuban-American exile community, which has often clashed with opposition figures in Cuba over political strategy. ... Full Story | Top |
| After "Tan Mom," New Jersey bans children from tanning beds Monday, Apr 01, 2013 06:56 PM PDT  By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a bill into law on Monday banning children under 17 from using commercial tanning beds, a move stemming from the case of a local woman accused of taking her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth. Christie said that while he does not favor government regulation of small business, the new law was important for protecting the safety of minors. "Governmental regulation of the private sector should always be carefully scrutinized, and sparingly adopted," he said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
| Court says city of Stockton, California may proceed with bankruptcy Monday, Apr 01, 2013 06:44 PM PDT  By Jonathan Weber SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday approved the city of Stockton's petition for bankruptcy in a case that sets the stage for a lengthy battle between bondholders and the California pension system. In a case being studied by other cash-strapped American cities including Detroit, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Klein's decision was a setback for bondholders and insurers who had resisted the California city's bankruptcy filing. Stockton is the largest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Error led to early release for suspected killer of Colorado prison chief Monday, Apr 01, 2013 06:38 PM PDT  By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - A white supremacist parolee suspected of killing Colorado's prisons chief and a pizza delivery man last month had been mistakenly released from prison in January - four years early - due to a clerical error, court officials said on Monday. Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was killed in a roadside gun battle with police following a high-speed chase in Texas, two days after the March 19 killing of Tom Clements, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. demand for skilled worker visas seen topping quota soon Monday, Apr 01, 2013 06:18 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A popular U.S. visa program for skilled workers is likely to hit its quota within days after its application period opens, triggering a lottery and signaling that companies feel confident enough about the economy to hire more foreign workers. The H-1B program will not have reached its base cap of 65,000 so quickly since early 2008, before the economic crisis hit. That was the last time a lottery was used, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which processes the applications. The application period opened on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arkansas House votes to override veto of voter ID bill Monday, Apr 01, 2013 06:03 PM PDT  By Suzi Parker LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers in Arkansas voted on Monday to override a veto by the state's Democratic governor and approve a bill that requires voters to show photo identification at the polls, prompting an outcry from civil libertarians who vowed to fight the law. Legislators in the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives voted 52-45 to override Democratic Governor Mike Beebe's veto, joining the state Senate, which had voted on March 27 to approve the new law over his objections. Arkansas will join nearly three dozen U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Seattle teachers boycotting standardized test won't be punished Monday, Apr 01, 2013 05:28 PM PDT By Eric M. Johnson SEATTLE (Reuters) - Seattle Public Schools will not punish educators who staged a boycott of a widely used standardized test in January and has loosened testing requirements, in a victory for a local revolt that stoked the national protest movement over assessments in U.S. public schools. Teachers, educators, and students at several Seattle schools decided to boycott the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test starting in January, saying it was not aligned with Washington state's curriculum and produces "meaningless results" upon which teachers' performances are evaluated. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain should focus on roads, not rail - survey Monday, Apr 01, 2013 05:04 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - British manufacturing firms want the government to shift public infrastructure spending away from rail to focus on upgrading the road network, a poll published on Tuesday showed. The survey, conducted by industry body EEF, showed that 72 percent of 209 firms who took part cited the road network as the number one priority for investment in transport, compared with just 6 percent for rail. The current coalition and the previous Labour government put rail at the heart of their infrastructure plans. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trial of former New Orleans mayor delayed until October Monday, Apr 01, 2013 04:56 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The federal public corruption trial of former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, which was scheduled to start in late April, has been delayed until October after a joint request by prosecutors and defense attorneys, a court order filed on Monday said. Nagin, who had chided federal officials for their slow response after Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans, was accused in a grand jury indictment in January of taking kickbacks in exchange for city contracts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ghost of Chavez dominates Venezuela election campaign Monday, Apr 01, 2013 04:47 PM PDT  By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Weeks after his death, Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez still leads supporters in singing the national anthem. The late president's recorded voice booms over rallies for his protégé, acting President Nicolas Maduro, who stands under billboards of Chavez's face and waves to crowds carrying signs emblazoned with his name. Maduro, who is favored to win a snap election triggered by Chavez's death last month, rarely misses a chance to lionize the man many Venezuelans know as "El Comandante. ... Full Story | Top |
| Soccer-Chile's Audax take points after Colo Colo fans stop match Monday, Apr 01, 2013 04:15 PM PDT April 1 (Reuters) - Chilean club Audax Italiano have been awarded all three points for their match against with Colo Colo at the weekend despite the fixture being abandoned more than half an hour before full time because of fan violence. The league match at Audax's Bicentenario ground in La Florida on Sunday was called off in the 58th minute when visiting fans threw stones and launched fireworks and flares onto the pitch. Audax were leading 3-1 when international referee Enrique Osses took the players off the pitch and were declared winners by Chilean soccer's governing body ANFP on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Caroline Kennedy may be next U.S. ambassador to Japan Monday, Apr 01, 2013 04:11 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is leaning toward picking Caroline Kennedy to be the next U.S. ambassador to Japan, a source familiar with the process said on Monday. The 55-year-old daughter of former President John Kennedy would be the first female U.S. ambassador to Japan. She was one of the earliest backers of Obama in his first presidential campaign in 2008 and her endorsement was significant in helping him defeat Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary that year. The author and lawyer serves on the board of several nonprofit organizations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Prosecutors' killings rattle former cotton town in Texas Monday, Apr 01, 2013 04:05 PM PDT By Chris Francescani KAUFMAN, Texas (Reuters) - Twin killings of Texas prosecutors in a quaint town where oak trees and two-story brick buildings line the central square have shocked residents, raised questions whether the shootings could be linked, and fueled speculation about the possible role of a white supremacist jail gang. ... Full Story | Top |
| FCC seeks public comment in review of TV, radio decency policy Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:54 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Regulators on Monday launched a review of policy governing the way it enforces broadcasts of nudity and profanity on radio and television and asked for public comment on whether its current approach should be amended. The Federal Communications Commission issued a public notice inviting comment on whether it should focus its efforts on pursuing only the "most egregious" cases in which rules are broken, or focus on isolated cases of nudity and expletives uttered on radio and TV shows. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea vows fast response to North; U.S. positions destroyer Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:24 PM PDT By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's new president vowed on Monday to strike back quickly if North Korea stages any attack, but the United States said it has seen no worrisome mobilization of armed forces by the North Koreans despite their bellicose rhetoric. "If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," South Korean President Park Geun-hye told the defense minister and senior officials at a meeting on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Colorado prosecutors seek death penalty for accused cinema gunman Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:17 PM PDT  By Keith Coffman CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Colorado prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the man charged with killing 12 moviegoers during a showing of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" last year. District Attorney George Brauchler's formal call for the death penalty at a hearing on Monday came after his rejection last week of a defense suggestion that James Holmes would be willing to plead guilty in exchange for a life prison term without parole. ... Full Story | Top |
| SAC's Steinberg seeks new judge for insider trading case Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:11 PM PDT  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Steinberg, the SAC Capital Advisors fund manager who was indicted last week on insider trading charges, has begun his criminal defense with an unusual goal: to find a new judge. On Friday when Steinberg was indicted, his lawyer Barry Berke asked U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan to allow the case to be randomly assigned to a new judge. Berke claimed Sullivan had in a past insider trading case given prosecutors an easier burden to meet compared to rulings by two other judges. He called this a "significant legal issue. ... Full Story | Top |
| Texas governor reiterates Medicaid expansion opposition Monday, Apr 01, 2013 03:10 PM PDT  By Corrie MacLaggan AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas Governor Rick Perry on Monday firmly reiterated that the state will not expand its Medicaid program, saying it is a broken system that needs to be reformed by allowing states more flexibility. Perry, who notified the Obama administration last summer that his state would not expand Medicaid, was joined on Monday by other Texas Republican officials, including U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. ... Full Story | Top |
| Stockton eligible for bankruptcy protection: judge Monday, Apr 01, 2013 02:53 PM PDT By Jonathan Weber SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Stockton, California, is eligible for bankruptcy protection, a federal judge ruled on Monday, turning aside creditors' arguments the city was not truly insolvent when it sought protection and improperly failed to seek pension concessions. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Klein's ruling permits Stockton to proceed with a Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy case after it became the largest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen attack Iraq's Akkas gasfield, three workers killed Monday, Apr 01, 2013 02:30 PM PDT By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen attacked a contracting company in Iraq's Akkas gasfield on Monday, killing at least three local workers and kidnapping two more before burning their camp in the remote western desert. Akkas, operated by Korea Gas Company (KOGAS) in Anbar province near the Syrian border, is still not producing gas. But the attack is another indication of increased insurgent presence along the frontier where Syria's war is spilling into Iraq. ... Full Story | Top |
| Trinidad asks U.S. for information on FBI soccer fraud probe Monday, Apr 01, 2013 02:24 PM PDT  By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar and Mark Hosenball PORT OF SPAIN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Under pressure from opposition politicians, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago said she had sought information from U.S. authorities about an FBI investigation into alleged corruption in international soccer possibly involving the Caribbean country's national security minister, a former vice-president of FIFA. An exclusive Reuters report last week quoted U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama chooses economic adviser Deese as deputy budget director Monday, Apr 01, 2013 02:24 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama announced on Monday he had chosen White House economic adviser Brian Deese to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, confirming a Reuters report. Deese, now deputy director of the White House's National Economic Council, would join Sylvia Mathews Burwell, a former Clinton administration official who later became president of the Walmart Foundation, whom Obama tapped to be director of OMB. ... Full Story | Top |
| Justice Department to monitor Kansas, Nebraska elections Monday, Apr 01, 2013 02:22 PM PDT By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department's civil rights division will monitor local elections in two counties in Kansas and Nebraska on Tuesday, the department said. The oversight of polling places will ensure the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights laws are complied with, the Justice Department said in a statement on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
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