Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:21:20 -0400by WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying.
Posted Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:11:58 -0400by NEW YORK (AP) — The mayors of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and 15 other cities are reviving a push against letting food stamps be used to buy soda and other sugary drinks.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:17:55 -0400by WASHINGTON (AP) — Worry and speculation have consumed investors since Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to Congress last month about the Federal Reserve's drive to keep long-term interest rates at record lows.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:34:57 -0400by By Mathieu Bonkoungou OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Mali signed a ceasefire deal with Tuareg separatist rebels on Tuesday, paving the way for government troops to return to the northern, rebel-held town of Kidal before a presidential election next month. At the heart of a region plagued by poverty and Islamic militancy, Mali won a 3.25 billion euros Western aid package last month aimed at shoring up democracy and helping it recover from a coup and an al Qaeda insurgency. ...
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:31:58 -0400by MAIDUGURI (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants opened fire on a school in Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri on Tuesday, killing nine students, witnesses and a medical worker said, the second deadly attack on schools in three days. Witness Ibrahim Mohammed said he was taking exams in a classroom at Ansarudeen School when gunmen stormed the building, opening fire at random. "I saw five students sitting the exams killed on the spot. Four others were killed as they were entering the school premises," he said by telephone, still shaking with fear. ...
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:28:39 -0400by JULIAN, W.Va. (AP) — Orange flames lick at the roof of the coal mine, heat building and visibility dropping as smoke begins to fill the underground passageway. Then, with the push of a few buttons on a hand-held remote, the flames flicker out, the smoke dissipates and the lights come on. The roar of fire is replaced by the trickle of nearby water.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:25:11 -0400by ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A state security prosecutor in the United Arab Emirates says 30 Egyptian and UAE suspects have been charged with plotting a coup linked to a network of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, in a case likely to further strain relations with Cairo.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:23:17 -0400by By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday his government would not join U.S. peace talks with the Taliban until they were led by Afghans and would suspend negotiations with the United States on a troop pact. U.S. officials have said talks with the Taliban would begin in Doha, capital of Qatar, on Thursday, raising hopes for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan after 12 years of bloody and costly war between American-led forces and the insurgents. Fighting, however, continues in the war-ravaged nation. Four U.S. ...
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:17:49 -0400by MIAMI (AP) — Forecasters say a tropical depression crossing Mexico's Bay of Campeche is expected to become a tropical storm before making landfall in that country's Gulf Coast state of Veracruz.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:25:11 -0400by ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A state security prosecutor in the United Arab Emirates says 30 Egyptian and UAE suspects have been charged with plotting a coup linked to a network of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, in a case likely to further strain relations with Cairo.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:21:48 -0400by WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers have a message for those who want the party to soften its emphasis on social conservatism in hopes of reaching a wider national audience: Not so fast.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:20:58 -0400by SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys in the George Zimmerman murder trial are set for the next phase of jury selection.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:36:56 -0400by HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Cu Huy Ha Vu's books come with pages torn out by prison guards. Only some of his letters reach home. He is not allowed to access evidence from his trial or to see his wife alone.
Posted Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:36:54 -0400by By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria is investigating the head of its state power and gas utility, Sonelgaz, over contracts involving U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co and France's Alstom SA, sources told Reuters and Algerian local media reported. "The case is about inflating costs in deals with U.S. firm General Electric and French firm Alstom," one of the sources said. The source gave no further details. There was no evidence that Alstom and GE were under investigation. Alstom and General Electric declined to comment. ...
Posted : Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:21:01 -0400,By : BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday that government monitoring of Internet communications needed to remain within proper limits. "I made clear that although we do see the need for gathering information, the topic of proportionality is always an important one and the free democratic order is based on people feeling safe," Merkel said at a joint news conference with Obama. ...
Posted : Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:24:44 -0400,By : WASHINGTON (AP) — The obscure oversight board that President Barack Obama wants to scrutinize the National Security Agency's secret surveillance system is little known for good reason. The U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has operated fitfully during its eight years of low-profile existence, stymied by congressional infighting and, at times, censorship by government lawyers.
Posted : Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:14:51 -0400,By : BERLIN (AP) — Trying to tamp down concerns about government over-reach, President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended U.S. Internet and phone surveillance programs as narrowly targeted efforts that have saved lives and thwarted at least 50 terror threats.
Posted : Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:21:01 -0400,By : BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States has struck the right balance between the need to gather intelligence and safeguarding civil liberties, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday, following criticism over U.S. Internet surveillance programs. "I came into office committed to protecting the American people but also committed to our values and our ideals and one of our highest ideals is civil liberties and privacy," Obama said. "I am confident that at this point we have struck the appropriate balance," he said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ...
Posted : Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:36:54 -0400,By : BERLIN (AP) — Five years and 50 years. As President Barack Obama revisits Berlin, he can't escape those anniversaries and the inevitable comparisons to history and personal achievement.
Posted : Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:12:47 -0400,By : BERLIN (AP) — President Barack Obama will renew his call Wednesday to reduce the world's nuclear stockpiles, including a proposed one-third reduction in U.S. and Russian arsenals, the White House said.
