Friday, April 27, 2012

Boeing debuts first 787 Dreamliner made in South Carolina

Boeing debuts first 787 Dreamliner made in South Carolina


Boeing debuts first 787 Dreamliner made in South Carolina

Posted:

A 787 Dreamliner passenger jet is being assembled at Boeing's South Carolina facility in North CharlestonCHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Friday unveiled the first 787 Dreamliner made in its new South Carolina assembly plant, a factory at the center of a bitter labor dispute last year and the site of a recent manufacturing glitch that threatened to disrupt the 787 production rate target. The lightweight, sleek airplane rolled off the Charleston assembly line into a sunny day, greeted by music, fireworks and the cheers of thousands of blue-shirted Boeing employees, local officials and news media. Charleston is the second assembly line for the aircraft. ...


New York prosecutors probe law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf

Posted:

A sign marking the Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP headquarters on 6th avenue is seen in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - New York prosecutors are looking into allegations of wrongdoing by a key leader of the troubled law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, according to an email sent by firm management to partners on Friday. The memo, a copy of which was provided to Reuters, stated that the firm "learned earlier today" that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has launched a probe into the actions of Steven Davis, formerly the firm chairman and now part of a five-member management team. ...


Dolphin stuck in California wetlands draws a crowd

Posted:

Huntington Beach State lifeguard assess the condition of a wayward dolphin swimming in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington BeachHUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Reuters) - A dolphin who took a wrong turn from the Pacific Ocean into a Southern California wetlands became an unwitting star on Friday when scores of motorists on a nearby busy highway stopped to watch it swim in circles. The 700-pound (317-kg) mammal was discovered on Friday morning in Bolsa Bay, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in the Orange County community of Huntington Beach. ...


U.S. Secret Service limits alcohol, hotel guests on trips abroad

Posted:

Prostitutes walk in front of the Hotel Caribe in CartagenaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Heavy drinking and bringing foreign nationals back to hotel rooms on trips abroad is now banned by the U.S. Secret Service in the wake of a growing scandal over allegations that agents consorted with prostitutes in Colombia this month. The new rules of conduct issued on Friday also ban visits to "non-reputable establishments," presumably including strip clubs, and say staff must obey U.S. laws even while abroad. A copy was provided to Reuters by the Secret Service, and a spokesman said they were effective immediately. ...


FBI assisting in search for California woman last seen in Panama

Posted:

IRVINE, California (Reuters) - The FBI is assisting Panamanian authorities in the search for a Southern California woman who went missing from the Central American country in November, a spokesman for the agency said on Friday. Special Agent Darrell Foxworth declined to elaborate on the FBI's role in the investigation or discuss evidence in disappearance of Yvonne Baldelli. "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to discuss specific details concerning the investigation at this time," Foxworth said. ...

Police say found bunker of man accused of killing family

Posted:

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Authorities have found a bunker in mountains near Seattle that they believe belongs to a missing survivalist suspected of murdering his wife and daughter and setting fire to the family home in northwest Washington state, police said on Friday. Police have been searching for Peter Keller, 41, since Sunday when firefighters responded to a blaze at the family home in North Bend, Washington, and found the bodies of his wife of 21 years and 18-year-old daughter. "Bunker found at Rattlesnake Ridge of suspect Keller. ...

Bomb-complex search urged over Huawei, ZTE fear

Posted:

The logo of the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is seen outside its headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong provinceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional panel has approved a measure designed to search and clear the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex of technology produced by Chinese telecommunications companies that have been accused of working closely with China's government and military. If passed into law, the measure adopted Thursday could be a fresh blow to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp in their efforts to overcome national security concerns that have stymied them in the lucrative U.S. market. ...


Former U.S. presidential hopeful Edwards' defense says aide lied

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Former U.S. Senator John Edwards sits in a vehicle after leaving the federal court house in GreensboroGREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Former U.S. Senator and presidential contender John Edwards' defense sharpened its attack on the government's lead witness on Friday, saying his ego and greed motivated him to take his former boss down in a federal campaign finance case. Edwards, 58, is accused of directing ex-campaign aide Andrew Young to solicit nearly $1 million in illegal political contributions to conceal Edward's pregnant mistress during his failed 2008 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. ...


Campaign treasurer for NYC comptroller indicted

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New York City Comptroller and 2013 Mayoral candidate John Liu stands at the podium during an event at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn(Reuters) - The 25-year-old campaign treasurer for New York City Comptroller John Liu has been indicted for making a false statement to federal officials, according to a court filing, further weakening Liu's bid to become mayor in 2013. In February, Liu's campaign treasurer, Jia Hou, was arrested and charged with fraud for violating contribution limits. Prosecutors said she had used 'straw donors' to funnel large, illegal contributions to Liu's mayoral campaign. ...


Republicans insert healthcare into student loan fight

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U.S. President Obama speaks at the University of Iowa about the rising costs of educationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives defied a veto threat by President Barack Obama on Friday and voted to take money from his healthcare overhaul to extend low-interest rates for federal student loans. On a mostly party-line vote of 215-195, the House sent the measure to the Senate where Obama's Democrats are certain to reject it. Like Obama, they want to renew the low rate, but favor covering the one-year, $6 billion cost by ending a tax break for the rich. ...


Ex-oil traders get prison terms for kickback scheme

Posted:

General view of the refinery of US chemicals group LyondellBasell in BerreHOUSTON (Reuters) - Two former oil traders convicted of helping an ex-LyondellBasell shipping manager bilk the company of tens of millions of dollars in a kickback scheme were sentenced on Friday to federal prison. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston sentenced Bernard Langley, 55, and Clyde Meltzer, 65, to five and four years in prison, respectively. Both had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the scheme that Lake called "pure and simple fraud," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson in Houston said in a statement. ...


U.S. bomb-complex search urged over Huawei, ZTE fear

Posted:

The logo of the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is seen outside its headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong provinceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional panel has approved a measure designed to search and clear the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex of technology produced by Chinese telecommunications companies that have been accused of working closely with China's government and military. If passed into law, the measure adopted Thursday could be a fresh blow to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp in their efforts to overcome national-security concerns that have stymied them in the lucrative U.S. market. ...


Fire guts Miami offices of Cuba travel firm

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Vivian Mannerud, owner of Airline Brokers, a travel agency that operates flights to Cuba, stands outside her business after a fire destroyed the interior of her offices in Coral GablesMIAMI (Reuters) - State and local officials were investigating a suspicious fire on Friday that gutted the Miami offices of a travel agency specializing in flights to Cuba. Fire rescue officials responded to a fire at Airline Brokers before dawn. The ground floor suite of offices was destroyed and an acrid smell hung in the air as police cordoned off the street outside. Investigators searched through the ashes assisted by dogs that are trained to detect accelerant. "There is an investigation currently underway," said Deborah Cox, a spokeswoman for the state Fire Marshals Office. ...


U.S. House panel may send scandal investigators to Colombia

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Prostitutes walk in front of the Hotel Caribe in CartagenaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional committee is considering sending investigators to Colombia in the coming weeks to gather information in an expanded probe of alleged Secret Service misconduct with prostitutes, the chairman said on Friday. Representative Peter King, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said his staff will move to a "full-scale" investigation after it receives answers to 50 questions the panel posed to Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan about this month's incident. ...


Space shuttle Enterprise lands in New York atop jet

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Space Shuttles Enterprise rides atop a NASA modified 747 plane over the Statue of Liberty in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - The space shuttle Enterprise flew to New York from Washington on Friday piggybacking atop a Boeing 747 and made a dramatic flight along the Hudson River past the Statue of Liberty to the delight of observers. En route to John F. Kennedy International Airport, the retired shuttle flew at low altitude along the river, giving residents of New York and New Jersey an extraordinary view of the craft, which will be put on display at a New York museum. ...


Al Qaeda now incapable of 9/11-scale attack: U.S. officials

Posted:

New York Police officers stop and check vehicles and their drivers in Times Square New YorkWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's core organization is likely incapable of carrying out another mass-casualty attack on the scale of September 11, 2001, U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials said on Friday. U.S. government experts also believe that the likelihood of an attack using chemical, biological, atomic or radiological weapons over the next year was not high, said Robert Cardillo, deputy director of U.S. National Intelligence. Cardillo and other U.S. ...


Florida judge rejects bail hike for Trayvon Martin's killer

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Circuit Court Judge Kenneth R. Lester Jr. presides over a hearing at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center in SanfordGeorge Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who is accused of murder in the death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, has raised at least $200,000 through a website set up to fund his defense, his lawyer said on Thursday. Donors contributed "just over $200,000," said Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's defense lawyer. The site set up to solicit funds for Zimmerman's defense, therealgeorgezimmerman.com, has since been shut down. Zimmerman was released this week on $150,000 bail and has been moved to an undisclosed location. ...


Sandusky prosecutors say defense abusing subpoena power

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HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Prosecutors in the child sex abuse case involving former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky charged in a court filing on Friday that Sandusky's lawyer was improperly using his subpoena power to seek information to which he was not entitled. Sandusky, 68, faces 52 counts of abuse stemming from accusations he molested 10 boys between 1994 and 2008. The former coach, who has maintained his innocence, has been under house arrest since December. ...

Greed may be good, but it doesn't matter to judge

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Greed does not matter when it comes to the legal battle of two Silicon Valley icons, a federal judge told jurors who are hearing the lawsuit Oracle filed against Google. "There has been a suggestion made that greed is at work here," U.S. District Judge William Alsup said on Friday. "That doesn't matter." His remarks served as a caution to the seven women and five men who are expected to begin their deliberations on Oracle's copyright claims next week. ...

Obama administration pulls rule on child farm labor

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Obama administration proposal to restrict child labor on farms has been withdrawn after criticism from agricultural groups. The rules, which were supported by child labor advocates, would have banned children younger than 16 from using most power-driven farm equipment, including tractors, if they had not taken a training course. The proposal also would have prevented those younger than 18 from working in feed lots, grain bins and stockyards. The Labor Department said it had received thousands of comments about the rule and its effect on small family-owned farms. ...

Illinois to test investor appetite with $1.8 billion deal

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(Reuters) - Illinois will see next week if yield-hungry investors will continue to snap up its bonds despite concerns about its huge unfunded pension liability and structural budget deficit. The state will sell about $1.8 billion of general obligation refunding bonds through Jefferies & Co on Tuesday, adding to the $1.375 billion of debt it sold in the first quarter. Illinois' last sale of $500 million of GO bonds in March attracted orders for $2.3 billion, allowing the state to boost the size of the deal and cut yields. ...

Minneapolis airport scare was false alarm

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MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A bomb scare that shut a terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for 90 minutes on Friday morning was caused by a passenger carrying what he said was a water filtration system in his checked baggage, an official said. Police questioned and released the man without charges after the materials were determined to not be explosive, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. He declined to identify the man because he was not charged. "The questionable items in the bag were two PVC pipes capped at both ends filled with a granular material," Hogan said. ...

Union, Exxon scrap over refinery contract, safety

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HOUSTON (Reuters) - Negotiations for a new contract covering hourly workers at Exxon Mobil Corp's refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has become a scrap over a proposal on worker safety, The United Steelworkers union (USW) said on Friday. Exxon and the USW are negotiating a new three-year contract during a 75-day extension from the previous three-year pact covering workers at the 502,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery, Exxon's second-largest and the third largest in the country. ...

Radioactive waste dump opens in Texas, environmentalists worried

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SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - A 1,300-acre dump to bury low-level radioactive waste has opened in a remote corner of west Texas, the fourth U.S. site to allow such waste, despite concerns about water seepage at the site, which sits above the huge and vital Ogallala aquifer. In a letter to Waste Control Specialists LLC of Dallas, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality granted approval to the company's dump near Andrews, Texas, about 45 miles northwest of Midland and close to the New Mexico border. ...

Texas executes man for 2002 shooting

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AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas man was executed on Thursday evening by lethal injection for a brutal triple shooting in a small town that left a 24-year-old man dead. Prosecutors say Beunka Adams and another man robbed a convenience store in the small east Texas town of Rusk in September 2002. Adams herded two female employees of the store, Candace Driver and Nikki Dement, along with Kenneth Vandever, who was described as having mental disabilities and who did odd jobs around the store, into Driver's car, according to court documents. ...

Consumer sentiment little changed in April

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A Home Depot store is pictured in Daly CityNEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer sentiment was little changed in April as Americans expected the economy to slowly improve, though they were less cheery about the state of their own finances, a survey released on Friday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment inched up to 76.4 from 76.2 in March. The survey topped economists' forecasts for 75.7, which had been the preliminary figure reported in early April. ...


ACLU sues over Border Patrol stops in Pacific Northwest

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SEATTLE (Reuters) - The Border Patrol is unjustifiably stopping people based on their skin color in Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, just across the water from Canada, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday. Two Latinos and a black man - two of them prison corrections officers - said in the complaint filed in U.S. federal court in Seattle that they were subject to racial profiling. One of the officers was in his uniform when he was stopped, the lawsuit said. The accusations against the U.S. ...

Chesapeake Wyoming well leak under control

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Workers curbed a natural-gas leak from a stricken Chesapeake Energy Corp. well in Wyoming about three days after a blowout, the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said on Friday. Boots and Coots, a pressure control company owned by Houston-based Halliburton and contracted by Chesapeake after the well blowout on Tuesday, was pumping drilling mud into the well a day after its efforts were hampered by wind and adverse weather. The well stopped leaking natural gas about three days after Chesapeake lost control while installing a well casing, the Commission said. ...

U.S. on guard for attacks ahead of bin Laden anniversary

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A boy plays with a tennis ball in front of the compound in AbbottabadWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has reviewed potential threats to the United States before next week's anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, but there is no concrete evidence al Qaeda is plotting any revenge attacks, the White House said on Thursday. U.S. Navy SEALs shot bin Laden last year in a raid on the al Qaeda leader's compound in Pakistan before dawn on May 2 local time, which was May 1 in the United States. The killing is touted by the Obama administration as one of its top national security accomplishments. ...


FBI assisting in search for California woman last seen in Panama

Posted:

IRVINE, California (Reuters) - The FBI is assisting Panamanian authorities in the search for a Southern California woman who went missing from the Central American country in November, a spokesman for the agency said on Friday. Special Agent Darrell Foxworth declined to elaborate on the FBI's role in the investigation or discuss evidence in disappearance of Yvonne Baldelli. "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to discuss specific details concerning the investigation at this time," Foxworth said. ...

Bomb-complex search urged over Huawei, ZTE fear

Posted:

The logo of the Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is seen outside its headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong provinceWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A congressional panel has approved a measure designed to search and clear the U.S. nuclear-weapons complex of technology produced by Chinese telecommunications companies that have been accused of working closely with China's government and military. If passed into law, the measure adopted Thursday could be a fresh blow to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp in their efforts to overcome national security concerns that have stymied them in the lucrative U.S. market. ...


Police say found bunker of man accused of killing family

Posted:

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Authorities have found a bunker in mountains near Seattle that they believe belongs to a missing survivalist suspected of murdering his wife and daughter and setting fire to the family home in northwest Washington state, police said on Friday. Police have been searching for Peter Keller, 41, since Sunday when firefighters responded to a blaze at the family home in North Bend, Washington, and found the bodies of his wife of 21 years and 18-year-old daughter. "Bunker found at Rattlesnake Ridge of suspect Keller. ...

U.S. Secret Service limits alcohol, hotel guests on trips abroad

Posted:

Prostitutes walk in front of the Hotel Caribe in CartagenaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Heavy drinking and bringing foreign nationals back to hotel rooms on trips abroad is now banned by the U.S. Secret Service in the wake of a growing scandal over allegations that agents consorted with prostitutes in Colombia this month. The new rules of conduct issued on Friday also ban visits to "non-reputable establishments," presumably including strip clubs, and say staff must obey U.S. laws even while abroad. A copy was provided to Reuters by the Secret Service, and a spokesman said they were effective immediately. ...


Dolphin stuck in California wetlands draws a crowd

Posted:

Huntington Beach State lifeguard assess the condition of a wayward dolphin swimming in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington BeachHUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Reuters) - A dolphin who took a wrong turn from the Pacific Ocean into a Southern California wetlands became an unwitting star on Friday when scores of motorists on a nearby busy highway stopped to watch it swim in circles. The 700-pound (317-kg) mammal was discovered on Friday morning in Bolsa Bay, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in the Orange County community of Huntington Beach. ...


Former U.S. presidential hopeful Edwards' defense says aide lied

Posted:

Former U.S. Senator John Edwards sits in a vehicle after leaving the federal court house in GreensboroGREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Former U.S. Senator and presidential contender John Edwards' defense sharpened its attack on the government's lead witness on Friday, saying his ego and greed motivated him to take his former boss down in a federal campaign finance case. Edwards, 58, is accused of directing ex-campaign aide Andrew Young to solicit nearly $1 million in illegal political contributions to conceal Edward's pregnant mistress during his failed 2008 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. ...


Al Qaeda now incapable of 9/11-scale attack: U.S. officials

Posted:

New York Police officers stop and check vehicles and their drivers in Times Square New YorkWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's core organization is likely incapable of carrying out another mass-casualty attack on the scale of September 11, 2001, U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials said on Friday. U.S. government experts also believe that the likelihood of an attack using chemical, biological, atomic or radiological weapons over the next year was not high, said Robert Cardillo, deputy director of U.S. National Intelligence. Cardillo and other U.S. ...


New York prosecutors probe law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf

Posted:

A sign marking the Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP headquarters on 6th avenue is seen in New YorkNEW YORK (Reuters) - New York prosecutors are looking into allegations of wrongdoing by a key leader of the troubled law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, according to an email sent by firm management to partners on Friday. The memo, a copy of which was provided to Reuters, stated that the firm "learned earlier today" that the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has launched a probe into the actions of Steven Davis, formerly the firm chairman and now part of a five-member management team. ...


Ex-oil traders get prison terms for kickback scheme

Posted:

General view of the refinery of US chemicals group LyondellBasell in BerreHOUSTON (Reuters) - Two former oil traders convicted of helping an ex-LyondellBasell shipping manager bilk the company of tens of millions of dollars in a kickback scheme were sentenced on Friday to federal prison. U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston sentenced Bernard Langley, 55, and Clyde Meltzer, 65, to five and four years in prison, respectively. Both had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the scheme that Lake called "pure and simple fraud," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson in Houston said in a statement. ...


Corrected: Texas executes man for 2002 shooting

Posted:

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas man was executed on Thursday evening by lethal injection for a brutal triple shooting in a small town that left a 37-year-old man dead. Prosecutors say Beunka Adams and another man robbed a convenience store in the small east Texas town of Rusk in September 2002. Adams herded two female employees of the store, Candace Driver and Nikki Dement, along with Kenneth Vandever, who was described as having mental disabilities and who did odd jobs around the store, into Driver's car, according to court documents. ...

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