Despite Obama charm, Americas summit boosts U.S. isolation

Despite Obama charm, Americas summit boosts U.S. isolation
Trayvon Martin's killer showed signs of injury: neighbors
U.S. busts global online drug market, arrests eight
Local Pennsylvania paper wins Pulitzer for coach sex-abuse scandal
Fifteen hurt during Virgin emergency landing in London
Mississippi law may shut sole abortion clinic
U.S. revokes security clearance of 11 agents over Colombia incident
Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho
Two more plead guilty in bungled gun-running sting
Illinois winner of record lottery prize to appear on Wednesday
Man plotted suicide bomb on NYC subway: co-defendant
Not guilty pleas entered for Tulsa shooting suspects
Flights halted at Gatwick after emergency landing
Despite Obama charm, Americas summit boosts U.S. isolation
Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho
Clearance of 11 security agents in Colombia incident revoked
Accidental death rate declines for U.S. youth
Death toll from Oklahoma tornado rises to six
Tax agency accuses economist of 22-year scam
Executive Life liquidation plan gets NY court's OK
One in 16 Oregon youths play "choking game": study
Teen charged with murder of 9 immigrants in Texas crash
U.S. military chief says "embarrassed" by misconduct allegations in Colombia
Virginia Tech holds classes on five-year shooting anniversary
Baby boy born to Patrick Kennedy and wife
Supreme Court hears Glaxo overtime pay case
Big Tobacco pays states $6.5 billion under accord
Kris Kobach: Immigration isn't just a federal matter
Cushion helps absorb shocks after tornado-Boeing
Retail sales strength eases growth worries
Panetta offers steps to curb sex assault in military
U.S. busts global online drug market, arrests eight
Mississippi law may shut sole abortion clinic
Fifteen hurt during Virgin emergency landing in London
Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho
U.S. revokes security clearance of 11 agents over Colombia incident
Two more plead guilty in bungled gun-running sting
Flights halted at Gatwick after emergency landing
Man plotted suicide bomb on NYC subway: co-defendant
Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho

Posted:

CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sat patiently through diatribes, interruptions and even the occasional eye-ball roll at the weekend Summit of the Americas in an effort to win over Latin American leaders fed up with U.S. policies. He failed. The United States instead emerged from the summit in Colombia increasingly isolated as nearly 30 regional heads of state refused to sign a joint declaration in protest against the continued exclusion of communist-led Cuba from the event. ...

Trayvon Martin's killer showed signs of injury: neighbors

Posted:

SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - Neighbors of George Zimmerman say he had bandages on his nose and head the day after he shot dead Trayvon Martin, supporting statements by the neighborhood watch volunteer that he was beaten in a confrontation with the black Florida teenager. The extent of Zimmerman's injuries could be crucial to his legal defense under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law, which allows the use of deadly force when someone has the reasonable belief he could face death or great bodily harm. ...

U.S. busts global online drug market, arrests eight

Posted:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Eight men charged with running an elaborate online narcotics market that sold drugs to 3,000 people in the United States and 34 other countries have been arrested following a two-year investigation dubbed "Operation Adam Bomb," prosecutors said on Monday. The secret ring known as "The Farmer's Market" operated through the TOR computer network, which allows users to communicate anonymously, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed on Monday in Los Angeles. ...

Local Pennsylvania paper wins Pulitzer for coach sex-abuse scandal

Posted:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A central Pennsylvania newspaper, The Patriot-News, took home a Pulitzer Prize in local reporting on Monday for its coverage of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal, while another of the state's papers, The Philadelphia Inquirer, won the coveted public service award. The Philadelphia newspaper won for what for the board described as "its exploration of pervasive violence in the city's schools," beating out nominees The New York Times and the Miami Herald. ...

Fifteen hurt during Virgin emergency landing in London

Posted:

LONDON (Reuters) - Fifteen people were injured when a Virgin Atlantic plane made an emergency landing on Monday at London's second airport, Gatwick, the airport said. The Virgin Airbus A330 aircraft, which was travelling to Orlando, was forced to turn back soon after take-off due to a fire in the hold, according to media reports. Passengers suffered injuries, including suspected fractures and cuts as they escaped the aircraft using the emergency chutes. Passenger Kirsty Bonwick said passengers came down straight onto concrete. ...

Mississippi law may shut sole abortion clinic

Posted:

STARKVILLE, Mississippi (Reuters) - Mississippi's only abortion clinic could be forced out of business under legislation signed into law on Monday by the state governor. The new law, which takes effect July 1, requires all physicians associated with abortion-providing facilities to be board-certified or eligible for that certification in obstetrics and gynecology, and to have staff with admitting privileges at a local hospital. ...

U.S. revokes security clearance of 11 agents over Colombia incident

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service said on Monday it revoked the top security clearance of 11 agents and uniformed division personnel over alleged misbehavior in Colombia, and a U.S. official said more than 10 military service members may also have been involved. George Ogilvie, a Secret Service spokesman, said of the 11 agency personnel: "Pending investigation, their top secret clearance has been revoked. ...

Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho

Posted:

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A welder's torch ignited a fire on the roof of a complex housing spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste on the grounds of a U.S. nuclear research laboratory in Idaho on Monday, but no one was reported hurt, lab officials said. The blaze prompted an evacuation of the building, part of a facility called the Materials and Fuels Complex, but the fire has since been extinguished, and there was no release of radiation, said Craig Shull, a spokesman for the Idaho National Laboratory. ...

Two more plead guilty in bungled gun-running sting

Posted:

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Another two men have pleaded guilty to charges of running high-powered rifles and other guns to Mexico from Arizona under the bungled "Fast and Furious" federal sting operation linked to the murder of a U.S. federal agent. Jose Angel Polanco and Dejan Hercegovac pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson in Phoenix on Monday. They were among a ring of 20 defendants charged with buying and running high-powered firearms including Kalashnikov-type assault rifles and Barrett sniper rifles to the Mexican cartels. Three other defendants pleaded guilty last week. ...

Illinois winner of record lottery prize to appear on Wednesday

Posted:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The only one of three winners of a record $656 million Mega Millions lottery who is required to go public will be identified in the southern Illinois farming town of Red Bud on Wednesday, lottery officials said. Winners in two other states, Kansas and Maryland, are not required to come forward publicly and both opted to remain anonymous. The presentation of a mock $218.6 million check will be made to the winner at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Illinois lottery officials said on Monday. ...

Man plotted suicide bomb on NYC subway: co-defendant

Posted:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The lone suspect on trial in what U.S. prosecutors call an al Qaeda-inspired plot to attack the New York City subway system fully intended to put his jihadist training to work by carrying out a suicide bombing, a jury was told on Monday. Adis Medunjanin, 28, a U.S. citizen born in Bosnia, is on trial in Brooklyn federal court for what prosecutors say was a conspiracy between him and two close friends from high school in the New York City borough of Queens to conduct attacks in 2009 at the behest of al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. ...

Not guilty pleas entered for Tulsa shooting suspects

Posted:

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Not guilty pleas were entered on Monday on behalf of two suspects charged with murder and hate crimes in a shooting spree this month that killed three black people and wounded two others in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 33, who are white, said nothing during their brief video appearance in which Judge William Hiddle set a May 30 preliminary hearing. Prosecutors at that time will be expected to show probable cause why England and Watts should be held for trial. Hiddle entered the not guilty plea on behalf of the two men, a court official said. ...

Flights halted at Gatwick after emergency landing

Posted:

LONDON (Reuters) - Fifteen people were injured when a Virgin Atlantic plane made an emergency landing on Monday at London Gatwick, the capital's second-largest airport, the airport said. Virgin's Airbus A330 aircraft, which was travelling to Orlando, was forced to turn back soon after its take-off due to a fire in the hold, according to media reports. Passengers suffered a range of injuries, including suspected fractures and cuts, as they escaped the aircraft using the emergency chutes. The injured were among 13 crew and 299 passengers on the flight which left Gatwick just before 11 a.m. ...

Despite Obama charm, Americas summit boosts U.S. isolation

Posted:

Fire prompts evacuation at nuclear research lab in Idaho

Posted:

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Officials at a nuclear research laboratory in Idaho said a fire erupted on the roof of a facility that houses spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste on Monday, prompting an evacuation of workers there, but all the employees were reported safe. No injuries were reported from the blaze, which was triggered by a welding accident on the roof of the so-called Materials and Fuels Complex at the Idaho National Laboratory, managed by the U.S. Energy Department, lab officials said. The fire has since been put out, lab spokesman Craig Shull told Reuters. ...

Clearance of 11 security agents in Colombia incident revoked

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service said on Monday it revoked the top security clearance of 11 agents and uniformed division personnel over alleged misbehavior in Colombia, and the Pentagon said more of its personnel may have been involved than was first reported. George Ogilvie, a Secret Service spokesman, said of the 11 agency personnel: "Pending investigation, their top secret clearance has been revoked. ...

Accidental death rate declines for U.S. youth

Posted:

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The accidental death rate among children and teenagers in the United States dropped 29 percent over a decade, as far fewer died in auto crashes despite more killed by suffocating in bed or prescription drug overdoses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday. The federal health agency cited the increased use of booster seats, tougher driver's license requirements and safer cars for the 41 percent drop in deaths from auto accidents for those aged 19 and under from 2000 to 2009. ...

Death toll from Oklahoma tornado rises to six

Posted:

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The death toll rose to six from a tornado that ripped through an Oklahoma town during a weekend outbreak of dozens of twisters across the Great Plains, officials said on Monday. While storms were still breaking out from the Midwest into the Appalachian Mountains region, the threat of more tornadoes had declined, meteorologists said. ...

Tax agency accuses economist of 22-year scam

Posted:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors on Monday accused a man of avoiding $500,000 in taxes for 22 years through a variety of measures, including refusing to give employers his social security number and setting up finance companies to collect his pay for him. David Gilmartin of Phelan, California, was charged with obstruction of the Internal Revenue Service, failure to file a tax return and failure to pay taxes. A statement from the Office of the Attorney for the Southern District of New York included several references to Gilmartin's education, emphasizing he holds a PhD. in economics. ...

Executive Life liquidation plan gets NY court's OK

Posted:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York judge on Monday approved a plan to liquidate the long-insolvent Executive Life Insurance Co of New York and pay out most of the money owed to beneficiaries under the company's life insurance policies. The plan proposed by Benjamin Lawsky, New York's superintendent of financial services, would pay out the remainder of about $900 million in Executive Life's estate, as well as another $730 million in contributions from state life insurance guaranty associations. Insurers also agreed to chip in about $70 million. ...

One in 16 Oregon youths play "choking game": study

Posted:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One in 16 Oregon youths say they have played a dangerous game in which they get high by putting pressure on the neck to cut off blood circulation to the brain, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The study was led by public health officials in Oregon and did not look at the extent of the problem nationwide. But the researchers said there is no reason to think the results would be significantly different elsewhere in the United States. ...

Teen charged with murder of 9 immigrants in Texas crash

Posted:

PALMVIEW, Texas (Reuters) - A 15-year-old boy was charged with nine counts of murder in juvenile court on Monday after he lost control of a minivan crammed with illegal immigrants, police said. The boy, whose name was not released because of his age, told police that human smugglers threatened to kill his family if he did not take the wheel of a van that rolled over on U.S. Highway 83 on April 10 in Palmview, Texas, said Chris Barrera, the city's police chief. The boy, a U.S. citizen, is among six others from the United States and Mexico who face immigrant harboring charges in U.S. ...

U.S. military chief says "embarrassed" by misconduct allegations in Colombia

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leadership of the U.S. military is 'embarrassed' by allegations that soldiers supporting President Barack Obama's recent visit to Colombia violated curfew and may have been involved in 'inappropriate conduct.' "We let the boss down," said General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Speaking in a news conference, he said the substance of the Summit of the Americas had been overshadowed by allegations of misconduct by members of the Secret Service and military, which the Colombian police said involved prostitutes. ...

Virginia Tech holds classes on five-year shooting anniversary

Posted:

BLACKSBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - Five years after a mentally ill student gunned down 32 people at Virginia Tech, the university on Monday held classes for the first time on the anniversary of the country's deadliest mass shooting. School officials said resuming classroom instruction on the anniversary of the April 16, 2007, rampage provided another way to honor the memories of the students and faculty members who lost their lives. Freshman Jessie McNamara wasn't on campus at the time, but said she remembered the exact moment the shooting occurred. ...

Baby boy born to Patrick Kennedy and wife

Posted:

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Kennedy family, one of America's most prominent political dynasties, just got a little bigger. Former Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy, the younger son of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, and his wife welcomed a baby boy on Sunday evening, Kennedy's older brother, Edward Jr, said in an email. The child, Owen, was born on April 15 and stopped crying only when he was in the his big sister's arms, Edward Kennedy Jr wrote to friends and supporters. Kennedy, 45, married Amy Petitgout, a school teacher from New Jersey, at the family's compound on Cape Cod in July. ...

Supreme Court hears Glaxo overtime pay case

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday on whether pharmaceutical companies must pay sales representatives overtime, a dispute that threatens the industry with billions of dollars in potential liability. The justices considered an appeal by two former sales representatives for a unit of Britain's GlaxoSmithKline Plc of a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California that they were "outside sales" personnel exempt from federal overtime pay requirements. That decision conflicted with an earlier ruling by the 2nd U.S. ...

Big Tobacco pays states $6.5 billion under accord

Posted:

(Reuters) - Three of the biggest U.S. tobacco companies said on Monday they have paid a total of $6.5 billion this year to U.S. states under a 1998 national accord that obliged companies to help cover the health bills of ailing smokers. Altria's Philip Morris paid $3.5 billion, said spokesman Steve Callahan. But the Marlboro-maker, which makes the biggest payments, is disputing $206 million of that sum, and has put that money in escrow. The national settlement that involved most states is designed to level the playing field between companies that signed it and those that did not. ...

Kris Kobach: Immigration isn't just a federal matter

Posted:

(Reuters) - The battle over illegal immigration heads to the U.S. Supreme Court next week, when the court will hear arguments for and against new Arizona laws requiring police, employers and landlords to expose undocumented immigrants. Arizona of course is not alone in its crackdown on illegal immigrants, with states including Alabama, Georgia, Utah, as well as a number of cities, passing similar measures. The movement's chief legal architect is 45-year old Kris Kobach, a former constitutional law professor, current secretary of state of Kansas and adviser to Mitt Romney on immigration issues. ...

Cushion helps absorb shocks after tornado-Boeing

Posted:

(Reuters) - Boeing Co on Monday said its production system has a cushion in place that will help absorb disruptions caused by a weekend tornado that hit Spirit AeroSystems, the supplier that makes its 737 fuselage and parts of other planes. Wichita-based Spirit shut down temporarily after a tornado damaged roofs and knocked out power on Saturday night. The company said it did not yet know what the full impact would be on production, but operations would be suspended at least through Tuesday and near-term deliveries would be affected. ...

Retail sales strength eases growth worries

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retail sales showed unexpected vigor in March as Americans shrugged off high gasoline prices and bought a range of goods, suggesting economic growth in the first quarter was probably not as weak as many had feared. Retail sales increased 0.8 percent, the Commerce Department said on Monday, after rising 1.0 percent in February. Last month's gains, which surpassed economists' expectations for only a 0.3 percent rise, could prompt analysts to raise their forecasts for first-quarter consumer spending, the main driver of the economy. The economy grew at an annual rate of 3. ...

Panetta offers steps to curb sex assault in military

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta proposed new action on Monday to crack down on sexual assault in the military, seeking to boost prosecution of the crime and send a signal that the Pentagon aims to confront what has become a persistent problem. Panetta, after a meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, said he would take steps to ensure that sexual assault cases are pushed higher up the chain of command for review and would try to establish special victims units in each of the military services to handle the offenses. ...