Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Space shuttle Discovery makes final flight to museum

Space shuttle Discovery makes final flight to museum


Space shuttle Discovery makes final flight to museum

Posted:

The space shuttle Discovery, riding atop a NASA 747 transport jet, arrives at Dulles International Airport in VirginiaCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Discovery made its final voyage on Tuesday: a piggyback jet ride to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Virginia. The United States retired its space shuttles last year after finishing construction of the $100 billion International Space Station, a project of 15 countries, to begin work on a new generation of spaceships that can carry astronauts to destinations beyond the station's 240-mile-high (384-km-high) orbit. ...


U.S. marks second victory over British in War of 1812

Posted:

Revolutionary war re-enactors look on as the USCG Eagle US Tall Ship docks at the Port of New Orleans during NOLA Navy Week and Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 in New Orleans, LouisianaNEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A parade of naval vessels and square-rigged sailing ships made their way on Tuesday up the Mississippi River to New Orleans under threatening skies, kicking off a national bicentennial commemoration of U.S. victory in the War of 1812. Often called the second War of Independence, the conflict is best known because much of Washington, including the White House, was burned by the British before the United States prevailed. ...


Stung by gas prices, Obama seeks new oil market crackdown

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A motorist pumps fuel into his vehicle at JJ's Express Gas Plus station in Phoenix gas station in PhoenixWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama, whose political fortunes are threatened by rising gasoline prices, proposed new measures on Tuesday to reduce oil market manipulation that are unlikely to get support from a divided Congress. Obama called on lawmakers to raise civil and criminal penalties on individuals and companies involved in manipulative practices. He also pressed for more money to fund the agency charged with policing the markets to hire "more cops" for oversight and upgrade old technology. ...


Halt California funds for high-speed rail: budget watchdog

Posted:

An undated artist's illustration courtesy of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California lawmakers should not approve Governor Jerry Brown's budget proposals to provide additional funds for the state's pricey planned high-speed rail system, the state's budget watchdog agency said in a report on Tuesday. The report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said the California High-Speed Rail Authority has "not made a strong enough case for going forward with the project at this time." The report comes after the authority earlier this month slashed its construction cost estimates by some $30 billion to $68. ...


Would-be New York City suicide bombers detail plot

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Attorney for Najibullah Zazi, Michael Dowling, leaves U.S. District Court in BrooklynNEW YORK (Reuters) - Two members of a plot to carry out suicide attacks on New York City subways said their third accused co-conspirator provided early leadership but was later sidelined from decisions after rifts began to form, according to testimony in federal court. Najibullah Zazi, 27, and Zarein Ahmedzay, 27, testified against Adis Medunjanin, 28, who is on trial in federal court. Medunjanin faces life in prison on charges of conspiring to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, providing support to al Qaeda and attempting to commit suicide attacks in New York City. ...


Ohio to execute farm hand who murdered boy

Posted:

Mark Wiles in an undated photo.CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ohio is scheduled on Wednesday to execute a 49-year-old man who stabbed a teenage boy to death when the boy discovered the farm hand burglarizing his horse farm in 1985. Mark Wiles is set to be put to death by lethal injection at 10 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He would be the 14th person executed in the United States this year. He was sentenced to die for the August 7, 1985, murder of 15-year-old Mark Klima, a top student who aspired to be a doctor. Wiles stabbed the boy 24 times with a kitchen knife. ...


Florida judge in Trayvon Martin case to decide on recusal

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Zimmerman stands with his attorney O'Mara as he makes his first appearance on second degree murder charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in courtroom J2 at the Seminole County Correctional Facility in SanfordORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida judge will decide this week whether to step down from the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler disclosed last week that her husband's law partner previously had been contacted by Zimmerman seeking representation. Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, on Monday filed a motion asking Recksiedler to recuse herself. ...


Forecasters struggle to stay a step ahead of tornadoes

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Aaryn Mashonhall and Shanna Byrd sort through the debris in Masonhall's father's home in Woodward, OklahomaNORMAN, Oklahoma (Reuters) - When a tornado touched down in Norman, Oklahoma, last Friday about two miles from the headquarters of the nation's storm prediction nerve center, local forecasters were able to give a detailed warning only three minutes before it hit. No one was killed in Norman but six people died after a tornado struck Woodward, Oklahoma, early on Sunday while it was still dark and the town's storm siren failed to sound. An estimated 75 tornadoes tore through four states of "Tornado Alley" over the weekend. ...


Analysis: Sex tapers can thank 3rd Circuit for 1st Amendment protection

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(Reuters) - There's no question what Congress intended when it passed a pair of laws requiring producers of sexually-explicit materials to keep records on the age of the people engaged in sex acts (or simulated sex acts): curb child pornography. Lawmakers had already banned commercial child porn, but producers hired actors who were of age but looked young, making it tough to enforce the ban. ...

Court says Arizona can demand voter identification

Posted:

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday ruled Arizona may require voters to show identification at the polls, a ruling likely to add fuel to the fiery debate about voting rights in a presidential election year. But the court also ruled the state cannot demand that they show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a decision the state's attorney general said he would appeal. That could set the stage for yet another U.S. Supreme Court showdown over a contentious Arizona law touching on citizenship issues. ...

Colleges angle for influential foreign students like Bo Guagua

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(Reuters) - His academic record was spotty, but as he applied for graduate studies in the United States, Bo Guagua would have looked like quite a catch to many universities, according to researchers who study college admissions. The young man had deep connections to China's elite; his father was an up-and-coming politician poised to enter the Communist Party leadership and his mother came from a renowned military family. On top of all that, young Bo appeared to have access to considerable wealth -- and was not shy about spending it. ...

Court says Arizona can demand voter identification

Posted:

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday ruled Arizona may require voters to show identification at the polls, a ruling likely to add fuel to the fiery debate about voting rights in a presidential election year. But the court also ruled the state cannot demand that they show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a decision the state's attorney general said he would appeal. That could set the stage for yet another U.S. Supreme Court showdown over a contentious Arizona law touching on citizenship issues. ...

BNY Mellon forex suits put under one court roof

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Eight federal court lawsuits accusing Bank of New York Mellon Corp of routinely overcharging clients on foreign exchange trades have been moved to Manhattan federal court at the custody bank's request. The cases were transferred on Monday by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, according to an order made public on Tuesday. The panel said it found common questions of fact in cases filed in New York, California and Pennsylvania. ...

"Mini-Madoff" Arthur Nadel dies in prison at 80

Posted:

Arthur Nadel, 75, is shown in a photo provided by the Sarasota County Sheriff's OfficeNEW YORK (Reuters) - Arthur Nadel, a former Florida fund manager dubbed a "mini-Madoff" for defrauding investors out of $168 million, has died in prison at the age of 80, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said Nadel died on Monday. She had no further details. Nadel was in poor health when he was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison in October 2010 after he pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in February that year. ...


Two former executives admit paying foreign bribes

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two former executives at a California valve company pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges, the Justice Department said on Tuesday, handing the department a victory after a string of defeats. Control Components Inc's former president, Stuart Carson, and his wife, Hong Carson, the company's former director of sales for China and Taiwan, pleaded guilty late Monday before a federal judge in Santa Ana, California, the DOJ said. ...

White House threatens to veto bill on Keystone

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday said Obama would veto legislation before the U.S. House of Representatives that sought to force approval of the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline as part of a new 90-day extension of federal transportation funding. President Barack Obama earlier this year put a hold on TransCanada's $7 billion project, designed to bring crude oil from Canada and North Dakota to Texas refineries, because he said it needed further environmental review in Nebraska. ...

Obama has confidence in Secret Service chief: White House

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U.S. Secret Service Director Sullivan speaks during a news conference in SofiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has confidence in Secret Service director Mark Sullivan and believes he acted swiftly to deal with a scandal in Colombia where agents were alleged to have engaged in misconduct involving prostitutes, the White House said on Tuesday. Eleven Secret Service agents were placed on administrative leave following the incident at a hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, that marred Obama's weekend trip there for a hemispheric summit and raised questions about the agency's culture. ...


Georgia welfare law requires drug test to receive aid

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ATLANTA (Reuters) - Low-income adults seeking public assistance in Georgia will have to pass a drug test before receiving benefits under a measure signed by Governor Nathan Deal on Monday, making it the latest state to push through the controversial testing requirement. Supporters of the Social Responsibility and Accountability Act said it is designed to ensure that welfare payments, called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, are not "diverted to illicit drug use. ...

Illinois Mega Millions winner could face "lottery curse"

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - When the winner of a third of the record $656 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot steps before the cameras on Wednesday at a news conference in Red Bud, Illinois, life will be upended and there is a high risk he or she will fall prey to the "lottery curse," experts said. Illinois requires the winner's identity to be revealed. Holders of two other winning tickets in Kansas and Maryland have chosen to remain anonymous. ...

U.S. rejects import duties on refrigerators, steel wheels

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. trade panel on Tuesday rejected punitive duties on bottom-mount refrigerators from South Korea and Mexico and on steel wheels from China in a blow for Whirlpool and other U.S. manufacturers seeking import relief. The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 5-0, with one commissioner abstaining, that Whirlpool had not been materially injured or threatened with injury by lower-priced imports from South Korea and Mexico. It made that decision even though the U.S. Commerce Department last month found South Korean and Mexican companies had been selling in the U.S. ...

Conservative group retreats on "stand your ground"

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A conservative group under pressure for spreading "stand your ground" self-defense laws in the United States said on Tuesday it is abandoning that part of its work to focus on the economy. The decision by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) came after a months-long public lobbying campaign that successfully persuaded large U.S. corporations, including the Coca-Cola Co, Kraft Foods Inc and PepsiCo Inc, to cut ties to the organization. ...

NY's Suffolk County cuts capital budget by 21 percent

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(Reuters) - Next year's capital budget for New York's Suffolk County will be cut 21 percent because of the county's strained finances, the county executive said on Tuesday, despite the risk that such reductions could limit economic growth and job creation. The capital plan for 2013 would fall to $129.9 million under the proposal by County Executive Steve Bellone. The program for the current year totals $163.8 million, he said in a statement. The reductions are needed to help lower how much debt Suffolk County takes on, the Democratic county executive said. ...

Senate begins debating Postal Service overhaul

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate voted on Tuesday to begin debating legislation that would allow the cash-strapped Postal Service to end Saturday mail delivery after two years. The bill from Republicans Susan Collins and Scott Brown, Democrat Thomas Carper and Independent Joe Lieberman would also allow the mail agency to use surplus funds in a federal retirement account to offer retirement incentives and to explore developing its own health care plan. The Postal Service has struggled to staunch billions in annual losses as consumers increasingly send email and pay bills online. ...

Court says Arizona can demand voter identification

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(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld Arizona's requirement that voters show identification at the polls, but struck down its requirement that they show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. While agreeing that Arizona was within its rights to require identification at voting places, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded the national Voting Rights Act, or NVRA, superseded the law's requirement that anyone registering to vote in a federal election show "satisfactory evidence" of U.S. citizenship. ...

U.S. top court: lawyers hired by cities can seek immunity

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The Supreme Court in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that private attorneys or others temporarily hired by local governments to conduct investigations can assert immunity from civil rights lawsuits alleging constitutional violations and seeking damages. The high court ruled such individuals were not barred from getting immunity solely because they do not work for the government on a permanent or full-time basis. The justices unanimously overturned a U.S. ...


Supreme Court takes another look at gray market resales

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(Reuters) - The Supreme Court has decided to take a second crack at reconciling two apparently contradictory provisions in the Copyright Act: one that permits buyers to resell goods without worrying about permission from U.S. copyright holders, and another that controls the importation of copyrighted material into the United States. It may sound arcane, but this is a hugely-consequential issue. ...

Michigan lottery winner kept cashing welfare checks

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(Reuters) - A Michigan woman who continued to take food stamp benefits for months after winning $1 million in the state lottery has been charged with welfare fraud, officials said Tuesday. Amanda Clayton, 25, of Lincoln Park in suburban Detroit, received public assistance through March of this year despite winning $1 million from the Michigan lottery in September, the state attorney general's office said. ...

Pentagon sees progress, challenges in cyber warfare

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2Lt William Liggett works at the Air Force Space Command Network Operations & Security Center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado SpringsCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Reuters) - The Pentagon says it is making progress in developing weapons for its newest battleground - cyberspace - but still faces funding, technology and policy challenges. U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Michael Basla, vice commander of Air Force Space Command, told industry officials on Monday the service was approaching its work on cyber capability as it would any other major weapons system. "We have made measurable progress in defensive and offensive capabilities" in the past year, Basla said at a space conference. ...


Women brought to Colombia hotel by U.S. agents, military: senator

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Secret Service agent stands guard as U.S. President Obama departs on the Marine One helicopter for travel to Colombia for the Summit of the Americas, from WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty or 21 women were brought back to a hotel in Colombia by U.S. Secret Service and military personnel in an incident last week involving alleged misconduct with prostitutes, U.S. Senator Susan Collins said on Tuesday. Collins was briefed by the director of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan, on Monday evening. "There are 11 agents involved. Twenty or 21 women foreign nationals were brought to the hotel, but allegedly Marines were involved with the rest," the Republican senator said in comments emailed to Reuters. ...


Cherokee adoption battle in South Carolina high court

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Veronica Capobianco is seen in this undated Capobianco family photoCHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - The adoptive parents of a 2-1/2-year-old Cherokee girl at the center of a custody battle stemming from her Native American heritage will ask the South Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday to return her to them. Authorities took Veronica Capobianco from Matt and Melanie Capobianco of Charleston, South Carolina, on New Year's Eve and turned the toddler over to her biological father, Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation. Brown had sued for custody under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act that protects Native American families from being separated. ...


Arizona governor vetoes bill allowing guns in state buildings

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Arizona Governor Jan Brewer talks to reporters after voting for Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in GlendalePHOENIX (Reuters) - Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Tuesday vetoed a controversial bill that would have allowed people to tote guns into state government buildings that previously had been off-limits. For the second consecutive year, Brewer rejected the measure backed by gun rights advocates to allow guns in public buildings, except where security personnel were posted at the entrances and metal detectors or X-ray machines were present. ...


Halt California funds for high-speed rail: budget watchdog

Posted:

An undated artist's illustration courtesy of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California lawmakers should not approve Governor Jerry Brown's budget proposals to provide additional funds for the state's pricey planned high-speed rail system, the state's budget watchdog agency said in a report on Tuesday. The report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said the California High-Speed Rail Authority has "not made a strong enough case for going forward with the project at this time." The report comes after the authority earlier this month slashed its construction cost estimates by some $30 billion to $68. ...


Court says Arizona can demand voter identification

Posted:

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday ruled Arizona may require voters to show identification at the polls, a ruling likely to add fuel to the fiery debate about voting rights in a presidential election year. But the court also ruled the state cannot demand that they show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a decision the state's attorney general said he would appeal. That could set the stage for yet another U.S. Supreme Court showdown over a contentious Arizona law touching on citizenship issues. ...

U.S. agents, military took up to 21 women to Colombia hotel

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secret Service agents and military personnel took as many as 21 women back to their hotel in Colombia in an incident last week involving alleged misconduct with prostitutes, a Republican senator said on Tuesday. "There are 11 agents involved. Twenty or 21 women foreign nationals were brought to the hotel, but allegedly Marines were involved with the rest," Senator Susan Collins of Maine - who was briefed by the director of the Secret Service, Mark Sullivan - said in an email to Reuters. ...

U.S. marks second victory over British in War of 1812

Posted:

Revolutionary war re-enactors look on as the USCG Eagle US Tall Ship docks at the Port of New Orleans during NOLA Navy Week and Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 in New Orleans, LouisianaNEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A parade of naval vessels and square-rigged sailing ships made their way on Tuesday up the Mississippi River to New Orleans under threatening skies, kicking off a national bicentennial commemoration of U.S. victory in the War of 1812. Often called the second War of Independence, the conflict is best known because much of Washington, including the White House, was burned by the British before the United States prevailed. ...


Ohio to execute farm hand who murdered boy

Posted:

Mark Wiles in an undated photo.CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Ohio is scheduled on Wednesday to execute a 49-year-old man who stabbed a teenage boy to death when the boy discovered the farm hand burglarizing his horse farm in 1985. Mark Wiles is set to be put to death by lethal injection at 10 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He would be the 14th person executed in the United States this year. He was sentenced to die for the August 7, 1985, murder of 15-year-old Mark Klima, a top student who aspired to be a doctor. Wiles stabbed the boy 24 times with a kitchen knife. ...


Court says Arizona can demand voter identification

Posted:

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday ruled Arizona may require voters to show identification at the polls, a ruling likely to add fuel to the fiery debate about voting rights in a presidential election year. But the court also ruled the state cannot demand that they show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a decision the state's attorney general said he would appeal. That could set the stage for yet another U.S. Supreme Court showdown over a contentious Arizona law touching on citizenship issues. ...

Obama has confidence in Secret Service chief: White House

Posted:

U.S. Secret Service Director Sullivan speaks during a news conference in SofiaWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has confidence in Secret Service director Mark Sullivan and believes he acted swiftly to deal with a scandal in Colombia where agents were alleged to have engaged in misconduct involving prostitutes, the White House said on Tuesday. Eleven Secret Service agents were placed on administrative leave following the incident at a hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, that marred Obama's weekend trip there for a hemispheric summit and raised questions about the agency's culture. ...


"Shock jock" Stern lawsuit vs Sirius XM thrown out

Posted:

The logo of Sirius Satellite Radio is shown at a Washington Area store(Reuters) - A judge has dismissed radio DJ Howard Stern's $330 million lawsuit accusing Sirius XM Radio of failing to pay him stock awards he was due for helping the dominant U.S. satellite radio company exceed growth targets. New York State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick in Manhattan said Stern and his agent Don Buchwald were bound by the language of the 2004 agreement that brought the now 58-year-old "shock jock" to what became Sirius XM from traditional radio. ...


"Mini-Madoff" Arthur Nadel dies in prison at 80

Posted:

Arthur Nadel, 75, is shown in a photo provided by the Sarasota County Sheriff's OfficeNEW YORK (Reuters) - Arthur Nadel, a former Florida fund manager dubbed a "mini-Madoff" for defrauding investors out of $168 million, has died in prison at the age of 80, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said Nadel died on Monday. She had no further details. Nadel was in poor health when he was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison in October 2010 after he pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in February that year. ...


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