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Wednesday, February 29, 2012 12:01 AM PST

Today's Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News: Long, divisive White House fight is sapping Republicans Exclusive: U.S. conducting criminal Libor probe Some September 11 dead's remains ended in landfill More than 7,500 killed in Syria, U.N. says Clinton says Japan, E.U. working to comply with Iran sanctions Factory, confidence data cloud view on recovery Yahoo threatens Facebook as patent war looms Suspect told police he killed randomly in Ohio school Irish vote, German court add euro zone uncertainty Venezuela says Chavez fine after Cuba surgery Boeing delivers biggest 747 to secret VIP buyer Syria civilian death toll "well over 7,500": U.N. Day of reckoning, "dirty tricks" as Michigan votes Some September 11 victims' remains ended in landfill BP seeks settlement with oil spill plaintiffs group Ohio school shooter confesses as death toll climbs Supreme Court hears corporate human rights case Internal Murdoch inquiry covers four UK newspapers Obama to sign order creating trade enforcement unit Fukushima: Japan leaders feared "devil's chain reaction" U.S., Egypt lurch into risky limbo on NGO case South Korean opposition to pursue closer ties with North FBI sees more hedge fund trading probe informants Confidence grows in euro zone economy, still fragile Interview: S&P says Greece default may be short S&P downgrades Greece to selective default Syria approves new constitution amid bloodshed Euro zone leaders to meet briefly on Thursday: diplomats Pending home sales near 2-year high Merkel scrapes win on Greek bailout, rebels grow Attempt to kill Russia's Putin foiled: security agencies Gunman kills one, injures four in Ohio school shooting Romney, Santorum in late pitches for Michigan votes G20 to Europe: Show us the money S&P cuts Greek sovereign debt to selective default Buffett: My successor is in the dark too U.S. cites "heightened threat"; 9 killed in Afghan airport bomb BP oil spill trial delayed for settlement talks Police, Murdoch aides stalled hacking probes, inquiry told Tunisia leader, Bill Clinton among Nobel nominees Long, divisive White House fight is sapping Republicans Tue,28 Feb 2012 11:02 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mitt Romney's narrow win in Michigan is unlikely to ease lingering doubts about his candidacy or head off the possibility of a long and divisive presidential nominating fight that is damaging Republican chances in November's general election. The close result in Michigan at least temporarily returned Romney to his frontrunner status and averted an outbreak of panic among Republicans worried that staunch social conservative Rick Santorum could doom the party in the November election. ... Full Story Top Exclusive: U.S. conducting criminal Libor probe Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:56 PM PST Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Justice Department is conducting a criminal probe into whether the world's biggest banks manipulated a global benchmark rate that is at the heart of a wide range of loans and derivatives, from trillions of dollars of mortgages and bonds to interest rate swaps, a person familiar with the matter said. While the Justice Department's inquiry into the setting of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, was known, the criminal aspect of the probe was not. ... Full Story Top Some September 11 dead's remains ended in landfill Tue,28 Feb 2012 05:53 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Partial remains from some people killed in the September 11 attacks in 2001 ended up in a landfill, according to a Pentagon-commissioned report released on Tuesday that revealed previously undisclosed blunders at the U.S. military's main mortuary. The unidentified remains came from two of the three sites of the September 11 attacks: the Pentagon and the Shanksville, Pennsylvania crash site of one of the hijacked airliners. The World Trade Center in New York City, which was leveled in the attacks, was not cited. ... Full Story Top More than 7,500 killed in Syria, U.N. says Tue,28 Feb 2012 07:36 PM PST Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be classified as a war criminal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as the United Nations announced more than 7,500 civilians had been killed by his forces since the start of the revolt. At least 25 people were killed in the shelling of opposition strongholds by Syrian forces on Tuesday, activists said. In Homs alone, opposition groups said hundreds of civilians had been killed or wounded in the 24-day-old assault. ... Full Story Top Clinton says Japan, E.U. working to comply with Iran sanctions Tue,28 Feb 2012 11:47 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday pledged to aggressively implement new U.S. sanctions on Iran but noted that some allies such as Japan face "unique situations" as they seek to reduce Iranian oil imports. President Barack Obama on December 31 signed into law the harshest in a series of U.S. sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program, targeting foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran's central bank or other blacklisted Iranian financial entities. The new U.S. ... Full Story Top Factory, confidence data cloud view on recovery Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:41 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A strengthening jobs market helped lift U.S. consumer confidence to a one-year high this month, but a surprisingly large plunge in orders for some factory goods cast a cloud over signs of increased economic momentum. Other data on Tuesday showed home prices fell in December, a reminder of the uphill climb faced by the housing market. A recent slew of positive data had allayed fears economic growth could slow sharply early in the year. Other gauges of manufacturing activity have been solid, and the unemployment rate sank to a three-year low last month. ... Full Story Top Yahoo threatens Facebook as patent war looms Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:41 PM PST Reuters - SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo has demanded licensing fees from Facebook for use of its technology, the companies said on Monday, potentially engulfing social media in the patent battles and lawsuits raging across much of the tech sector. Yahoo has asserted claims on patents that include the technical mechanisms in the Facebook's ads, privacy controls, news feed and messaging service, according to a source briefed on the matter. ... Full Story Top Suspect told police he killed randomly in Ohio school Tue,28 Feb 2012 10:17 PM PST Reuters - CHARDON, Ohio (Reuters) - A 17-year-old student suspected of a shooting rampage at an Ohio high school that killed three teenagers and wounded two others has confessed to opening fire on students he chose at random, prosecutors said Tuesday. The student, identified by authorities as T.J. Lane, appeared in Geauga County, Ohio Juvenile Court, where he was ordered detained following Monday's shooting at Chardon High School. Lane has confessed to police to taking a knife and a .22-caliber pistol into the high school cafeteria and firing 10 rounds at randomly selected students, prosecutors said. ... Full Story Top Irish vote, German court add euro zone uncertainty Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:35 PM PST Reuters - DUBLIN/KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - A planned referendum in Ireland and a German court ruling cast new uncertainty on Tuesday over efforts to overcome the euro zone's debt crisis, just when a flood of central bank money appeared to be calming financial markets. Ireland's prickly electorate, which has twice voted "No" to European Union treaties before reversing itself, will get another chance to keep Europe on tenterhooks with a referendum on a fiscal compact on budget discipline agreed last month. ... Full Story Top Venezuela says Chavez fine after Cuba surgery Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:42 PM PST Reuters - CARACAS (Reuters) - Surgeons removed a lesion from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's pelvis and the socialist leader is in "good physical condition" after the operation, his vice president said on Tuesday. Chavez, 57, had new surgery in Cuba despite his previous insistence that he had been cured of cancer after two procedures by doctors in Havana last year. The latest health setback has fueled fresh doubts about Chavez's health, his ability to campaign for re-election in October and his fitness to govern the South American nation for another six-year term if he wins. ... Full Story Top Boeing delivers biggest 747 to secret VIP buyer Tue,28 Feb 2012 04:12 PM PST Reuters - SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co handed over the first passenger version of its upgraded and extended 747 to a secret VIP customer, who sent the gleaming, all-white plane along to a modification center to transform it into the "jewel of the sky." The delivery of the 747-8 Intercontinental - Boeing's largest and most recognizable commercial airplane - caps a development delay of more than a year. ... Full Story Top Syria civilian death toll "well over 7,500": U.N. Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:35 PM PST Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can be classified as a war criminal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as the United Nations announced more than 7,500 civilians had been killed by his forces since the start of the revolt. At least 25 people were killed in the shelling of opposition strongholds by Syrian forces on Tuesday, activists said. In Homs alone, opposition groups said hundreds of civilians had been killed or wounded in the 24-day-old assault. ... Full Story Top Day of reckoning, "dirty tricks" as Michigan votes Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:28 PM PST Reuters - SOUTHFIELD/GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (Reuters) - Mitt Romney condemned rival Rick Santorum for urging Democrats to vote against him and "kidnap" the Michigan Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, as voters determined whether Romney would get a big win or a humiliating defeat. Santorum, running neck-and-neck with Romney in opinion polls, is trying to snatch an upset win in his rival's home state, where the Republican primary is open to both parties. ... Full Story Top Some September 11 victims' remains ended in landfill Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:27 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Partial remains from some victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001 ended up in a landfill, according to a Pentagon-commissioned report released on Tuesday that revealed previously undisclosed blunders at the U.S. military's main mortuary. The remains came from two of the three sites of the September 11 attacks: the Pentagon and the Shanksville, Pennsylvania crash site of one of the hijacked airliners. The World Trade Center in New York City, which was leveled in the attacks, was not cited. ... Full Story Top BP seeks settlement with oil spill plaintiffs group Tue,28 Feb 2012 02:42 PM PST Reuters - NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - BP Plc is seeking to settle a lawsuit over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill by tapping a $14 billion fund it set aside to compensate fishermen and businesses harmed by the disaster, lawyers familiar with the talks said. In exchange, the claimants, represented by a group called the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, would drop their lawsuit in a court case scheduled to start in New Orleans on March 5. U.S. ... Full Story Top Ohio school shooter confesses as death toll climbs Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:01 PM PST Reuters - CHARDON, Ohio (Reuters) - The 17-year-old boy held in a shooting rampage at an Ohio high school has confessed to opening fire on fellow students he picked at random, prosecutors said on Tuesday, as two more teenagers died, bringing the death toll to three. Prosecutors identified the shooter as T.J. Lane and said he has admitted to taking a knife and a .22-caliber pistol into the cafeteria at Chardon High School in a town 35 miles east of Cleveland on Monday and firing 10 rounds. Students Demetrius Hewlin and Russell King Jr. ... Full Story Top Supreme Court hears corporate human rights case Tue,28 Feb 2012 11:15 AM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A number of Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism on Tuesday that corporations can be sued in the United States for alleged complicity in human rights abuses abroad, a case with important financial, legal and international implications. The high court during arguments considered limiting the reach of a 1789 U.S. law that was largely dormant for nearly two centuries, but used in the past 20 years by foreign victims to sue multinational corporations for abuses committed overseas. ... Full Story Top Internal Murdoch inquiry covers four UK newspapers Tue,28 Feb 2012 09:50 AM PST Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - A massive email cache that a corporate clean-up team has assembled as part of its effort to cooperate with British police contains message traffic generated by journalists at all four British newspapers once published by Rupert Murdoch, sources familiar with the unit's work said. The clean-up team, known as the Management and Standards Committee (MSC) of Murdoch's US-based News Corp, is investigating reporting practices across all Murdoch's current and former UK properties, said one of the sources familiar with the company's internal investigations. ... Full Story Top Obama to sign order creating trade enforcement unit Tue,28 Feb 2012 05:35 AM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, following through on a promise to beef up enforcement of trade agreements, on Tuesday will sign an executive order creating a new government team to make sure China and others play by the rules, the White House said. The move comes as Obama has faced criticism from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over his handling of China and the U.S. trade deficit with the world's second largest economy has soared to record $295.5 billion in 2011. ... Full Story Top Fukushima: Japan leaders feared "devil's chain reaction" Tue,28 Feb 2012 04:27 AM PST Reuters - FUKUSHIMA (Reuters) - Japan's prime minister ordered workers to remain at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant last March as fears mounted of a "devil's chain reaction" that would force tens of millions of people to flee Tokyo, a new investigative report shows. Then-premier Naoto Kan and his staff began referring to a worst case scenario that could threaten Japan's existence as a nation around three days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the report by a panel set up by a private think-tank. ... Full Story Top U.S., Egypt lurch into risky limbo on NGO case Tue,28 Feb 2012 01:57 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. hopes for a quick end to its dispute with Egypt over pro-democracy groups have been put on hold, stranding both countries in a dangerous limbo as pressures build on a security partnership that is vital to Washington. The Obama administration had hoped the row over Egypt's raids on U.S.-funded groups and its travel bans on a handful of U.S. citizens would conclude this month with a face-saving deal that would release the Americans and put Washington's ties with Cairo back on track. ... Full Story Top South Korean opposition to pursue closer ties with North Tue,28 Feb 2012 05:36 AM PST Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's main left wing opposition party, which polls say is headed for a victory in an April parliamentary election, vowed on Tuesday closer ties with North Korea and will end a sanctions regime imposed by the current conservative government. The move comes amid saber-rattling by North Korea after it held talks with the United States last week on its nuclear program and food aid, the first under its new leader Kim Jong-un. ... Full Story Top FBI sees more hedge fund trading probe informants Mon,27 Feb 2012 02:51 PM PST Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - The FBI says it has enough informants lined up to keep its investigations of suspected illegal insider trading at hedge funds going for at least five more years. In a briefing on Monday with reporters at the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation just blocks away from Wall Street, agents who manage squads of investigators likened the probes to penetrating a secret society. ... Full Story Top Confidence grows in euro zone economy, still fragile Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:54 AM PST Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Confidence in the euro zone's economy rose for a second consecutive month in February, a survey showed on Tuesday, confirming a wider stabilization across Europe that likely signals only a mild recession this year. The European Commission's economic sentiment indicator rose by a point in the euro zone to 94.4, better than the 93.9 forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and a recovery to October's level. The rise built on January's increase, which was the first improvement in sentiment since March last year. ... Full Story Top Interview: S&P says Greece default may be short Tue,28 Feb 2012 03:37 AM PST Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's downgrading of Greece's long-term ratings to 'selective default' could well be short but there is a risk Athens falls back into default later, S&P analyst Moritz Kraemer said on Tuesday. S&P cut Greece's rating on Monday, the second ratings agency to proceed with a widely expected downgrade after Athens announced a bond swap plan to lighten its debt burden. "It's a distinct possibility that this will be a short default which will be cured," Kraemer told Reuters Insider television. ... Full Story Top S&P downgrades Greece to selective default Mon,27 Feb 2012 03:23 PM PST Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Monday cut Greece's long-term ratings to 'selective default', the second ratings agency to proceed with a widely expected downgrade after the country announced a bond swap plan to lighten its debt burden. S&P said that once the debt exchange is concluded, it would likely raise Greece's sovereign credit rating to the speculative 'CCC' category. "We lowered our sovereign credit ratings on Greece to 'SD' following the Greek government's retroactive insertion of collective action clauses (CACs)," the U.S. ratings agency said. ... Full Story Top Syria approves new constitution amid bloodshed Mon,27 Feb 2012 03:25 PM PST Reuters - AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian artillery pounded rebel-held areas of Homs as President Bashar al-Assad's government announced that voters had overwhelmingly approved a new constitution in a referendum derided as a sham by his critics at home and abroad. The outside world has proved powerless to halt the killing in Syria, where repression of initially peaceful protests has spawned an armed insurrection by army deserters and others. ... Full Story Top Euro zone leaders to meet briefly on Thursday: diplomats Tue,28 Feb 2012 01:49 AM PST Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The euro zone's 17 leaders will meet briefly during a summit of all 27 EU leaders on Thursday to reelect Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Council, EU diplomats said on Tuesday. The meeting will take place during a dinner on the first day of the March 1-2 summit, one of the officials said. There had been expectations of a separate summit of euro zone leaders on Friday, after the main EU meeting, to discuss Greece and boosting the euro zone's firewall to fight the debt crisis, but it was never officially put on the agenda. ... Full Story Top Pending home sales near 2-year high Mon,27 Feb 2012 02:50 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes neared a two-year high in January, an industry group said on Monday, further evidence the housing market was slowly turning the corner. The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in January, increased 2 percent to 97.0 - the highest reading since April 2010. New contracts generally lead sales by a month or two. Housing data ranging from home building to resale's have been relatively upbeat, buttressing other signs of underlying economic strength that should help the ... Full Story Top Merkel scrapes win on Greek bailout, rebels grow Mon,27 Feb 2012 03:41 PM PST Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel scraped through a parliamentary vote endorsing a second bailout for Greece on Monday but faced a growing backbench revolt against pouring in more money in support of the euro zone. The comfortable 496-90 victory, with five abstentions, was inflated by centre-left opposition support, but only 304 of Merkel's 330 centre-right coalition lawmakers backed the motion. ... Full Story Top Attempt to kill Russia's Putin foiled: security agencies Mon,27 Feb 2012 11:30 AM PST Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Security services in Russia and Ukraine said on Monday they had foiled a plot to kill Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, but his opponents ridiculed the announcement as a campaign stunt six days before he runs in Russia's presidential election. Russia's pro-government Channel One television said two men arrested belonged to a group seeking an Islamist state in Russia's North Caucasus. A computer seized contained numerous video files showing Putin's motorcade moving about Moscow, said the report. ... Full Story Top Gunman kills one, injures four in Ohio school shooting Mon,27 Feb 2012 02:48 PM PST Reuters - CHARDON, Ohio (Reuters) - A student gunman opened fire with a handgun in the cafeteria of a high school near Cleveland on Monday morning, fatally wounding one boy and injuring three other boys and one girl before he was chased from the building by a teacher and was caught, police said. The injured students were rushed to area hospitals where a boy identified as Daniel Parmertor, 16, died at MetroHealth System in Cleveland. Parmertor, a high school junior, went to a nearby vocational school where he studied computer science, and was waiting in the cafeteria for a bus when the gunman opened ... Full Story Top Romney, Santorum in late pitches for Michigan votes Mon,27 Feb 2012 03:28 PM PST Reuters - In a tight race to win the Michigan primary, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney strongly defended his wealth on Sunday and challenged voters to support someone else if they did not like his success. Questions about Romney's high earnings and taxes have dogged him throughout the primary elections and came up again in the run-up to Tuesday's vote in Michigan, where main rival Rick Santorum has presented himself as a blue-collar Republican. ... Full Story Top G20 to Europe: Show us the money Mon,27 Feb 2012 04:40 AM PST Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Leading economies told Europe it must put up extra money to fight its debt crisis if it wants more help from the rest of the world, piling pressure on Germany to drop its opposition to a bigger European bailout fund. Euro zone countries pledged on Sunday, at a meeting of finance leaders from the Group of 20 economic powers, to reassess next month the strength of their bailout fund. ... Full Story Top S&P cuts Greek sovereign debt to selective default Mon,27 Feb 2012 01:48 PM PST Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Monday cut Greece's credit rating to SD, or selective default, after the Greek government amended the original rules governing some of its sovereign debt to bind all private bondholders to a bond swap necessary to complete a 130-billion-euro rescue package. (Reporting By Daniel Bases and Walter Brandimarte; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Full Story Top Buffett: My successor is in the dark too Mon,27 Feb 2012 09:47 AM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - Warren Buffett resisted pressure on Monday to identify his successor as chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, saying the person who has been chosen does not even know it himself. In his annual investor letter on Saturday, Buffett said Berkshire's board had identified someone who will replace him as CEO when the 81-year-old investor eventually leaves the post. But he did not identify that person in the letter, and in a CNBC interview on Monday, he rejected suggestions that he should. ... Full Story Top U.S. cites "heightened threat"; 9 killed in Afghan airport bomb Mon,27 Feb 2012 01:09 PM PST Reuters - Seven U.S. military trainers were wounded on Sunday when a grenade was thrown at their base in northern Afghanistan, police said, underscoring the depth of anti-Western fury over the inadvertent burning of copies of the Koran at a NATO base. Despite an apology from U.S. President Barack Obama, riots raged across the country for a sixth day against the desecration of the Muslim holy book last week at the biggest NATO base in Afghanistan. Some protesters hoisted the white Taliban flag. With few signs of the crisis abating, the U.S. ... Full Story Top BP oil spill trial delayed for settlement talks Mon,27 Feb 2012 11:45 AM PST Reuters - LONDON/NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The trial to decide who should pay for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been delayed by a week, to allow BP Plc to try to cut a deal with tens of thousands of businesses and individuals affected by the disaster. Less than 24 hours before the case was set to start in a New Orleans federal court, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier pushed back the date to March 5 from February 27. ... Full Story Top Police, Murdoch aides stalled hacking probes, inquiry told Mon,27 Feb 2012 12:27 PM PST Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - British police and officials from Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World newspaper stalled early attempts to investigate allegations of phone hacking by its journalists, a British judicial inquiry was told on Monday. Investigators for London's Metropolitan Police Service had evidence in 2006 that "hundreds" of victims had been targeted for possible phone hacking by the News of the World, a former police commander said. But officers had other priorities and insufficient resources to pursue the matter as thoroughly as they could have, a lawyer for the inquiry said. ... Full Story Top Tunisia leader, Bill Clinton among Nobel nominees Mon,27 Feb 2012 06:26 AM PST Reuters - OSLO (Reuters) - Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton may be among the hundreds of nominees for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, rights activists say. The list of nominees, which is now officially closed for this year, is secret and Nobel officials would not comment on its contents. But experts have begun speculating about who is on the list and some people eligible to nominate candidates have publicized their suggestions. The committee added the final names for consideration on Friday. ... Full Story Top

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