| Top Stories |
| Greece to dissolve Parliament for new election |
Greece's Parliament is to be dissolved so new elections can be held June 17.
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| Spain stocks extend losing streak after downgrade |
Spain's stock market flirted with seven-year lows Friday as investors continued to worry about the stability of the eurozone's financial system in light of the downgrading by credit ratings agency Moody's of the country's banking industry.
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| UN: Monitors alone cannot end Syria bloodshed |
The head of a U.N. observer team in Syria cautioned Friday that the mission cannot achieve a permanent end to the violence without genuine talks between the two sides that have been locked in a violent conflict for more than a year.
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| Obama to tout $3B pledge for food security |
President Barack Obama is set to announce $3 billion in private sector pledges aimed at alleviating hunger in Africa and urge the world's biggest economies to make good on their own financial promises.
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| EU, ECB working on Greece exit contingency: trade commissioner |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission and the European Central Bank are working on scenarios in case Greece has to leave the euro zone, EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht has said. Speculation about such planning has been rife, but the comments in a newspaper interview, confirmed by a person close to De Gucht, appear to be the first time an EU official has acknowledged the existence of contingency plans being drawn up in case Greece has to drop out of the currency bloc. ...
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| S.Africa plans to regulate fees lawyers can charge |
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's government has sent legislation to parliament to set limits on how much lawyers can charge their clients in a bid to lower fees and increase access to legal services for the bulk of the population, an official said on Friday. The Legal Practice Bill calls for setting up a 21-member board that includes attorneys, academics and Justice Ministry appointees to draw up regulations and fee structures. The ruling African National Congress holds a strong majority in parliament and can easily push through its high-priority legislation. ...
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| Vietnam arrests 4 shipping execs in scandal |
State media say police have arrested four senior executives at a major state-owned shipping company for alleged mismanagement.
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| Domestic |
| Jury set to deliberate in case of ex-Senator Edwards |
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - A jury in North Carolina is set to begin deliberations on Friday morning in the federal political corruption trial of former U.S. Senator John Edwards, who is charged with accepting excessive campaign funds to conceal his extramarital affair while he ran for president. "Even with all John has done â his family, legal career, running for president, this is, of course, the most important day of his life," Edwards' defense attorney Abbe Lowell said on Thursday as both prosecutors and defense lawyers delivered closing arguments. ...
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| Oklahoma park accused of letting kids play with tigers |
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The Humane Society of the United States is accusing an Oklahoma exotic animal park of allowing children to handle and pose for photographs with juvenile tigers in what they called "a petting zoo for carnivores." Joe Schreibvogel, owner of the G.W. Exotic Animal Park, 65 miles south of Oklahoma City, denies the allegations, and he said on Thursday that the humane society simply wants to bankrupt him. Wayne Pacelle, head of the animal rights organization, contends that allowing visitors to handle the unpredictable felines placed the visitors at risk. ...
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| Protests after Houston cop cleared of beating black teen |
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The day after an all-white jury acquitted a former Houston police officer for his role in the beating of a 15-year-old African American burglary suspect, community activists rallied a crowd of at least 200 people on the courthouse steps to protest. Andrew Blomberg was acquitted by a jury in Houston on Wednesday in the alleged beating and stomping of Chad Holley two years ago. Protesters carrying signs with slogans like, "No justice, no peace. ...
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| Family values ex-Nevada lawmaker appears in bikini for Maxim |
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A former Nevada state Senator who ran on a Christian family values platform has posed in a bikini as a write-in candidate for the men's magazine Maxim's "Hot 100" contest. The magazine will announce results of the annual contest next week, but a photo of Elizabeth Halseth posed in a black bikini against a desert mountain backdrop has featured on the magazine's website as one of the most popular 'Hot 100' write-ins of the year. ...
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| New York state says jobless rate steady at 8.5 pct |
(Reuters) - New York state's unemployment rate was unchanged in April from March at 8.5 percent but the state has won back all the private sector jobs lost during the recession, the state's Department of Labor said on Thursday. New York's jobless rate is up from 8 percent in April 2011 and is above the national rate for April of 8.1 percent. Only four other states have regained all the jobs lost during the Great Recession: Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota and Texas, said Kevin Jack, a state labor market analyst. ...
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| Mississippi high court declines to rehear pardon case |
TUPELO, Miss (Reuters) - Mississippi's high court on Thursday rejected a motion by its state attorney general to reconsider its approval of 10 pardons issued in January by then Governor Haley Barbour. The decision not to rehear the case was handed down by the state Supreme Court without comment. Attorney General Jim Hood had asked the court to void those pardons, among some 200 issued by the former Republican governor, on the grounds that technical procedures set out in the state constitution had not been met. ...
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| Storied battleship making final port call in Los Angeles |
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The USS Iowa, which ferried the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the perilous Atlantic waters to a historic meeting with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin in the dark days of World War Two, will have to be towed to its final port call. The battleship saw combat in the Pacific, survived a devastating explosion in a gun turret, and even a snub from the city of San Francisco. At the end of its final voyage, the storied warship will have a permanent mooring in Los Angeles. ...
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| Politics |
| Today's e-Reads: Sen. Levin Mad About Facebook's IPO-related $16 billion tax ded |
Sen. Carl Levin sounds off on Facebookâs $16 billion tax deduction, the Washington Post reports.Â
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| IPO Another Step in Facebook Evolution To Tech Establishment |
When trading starts in Facebookâs initial public offering on Friday, it will be just another step the social networking service has taken in its evolution from a hot Silicon Valley startup to tech establishment.
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| The Negative Political Ad: Risk Vs. Reward |
The leak of a major ad campaign proposal that would go after President Obamaâs past relationship with the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright has had both Republican and Democrats â even the billionaire who had requested the pitch â trying to distance themselves. Yet dirty tricks, negative campaigning...
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| Palestinians see settlements thwarting state |
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Surrounded by aides, including one whose only task seems to be light his cigarettes, Mahmoud Abbas sits in a vast presidential office and speaks of his ambition to create a Palestinian state. But outside his sprawling compound on the hills of the West Bank town of Ramallah reality on the ground is different - his dream is being built over by ever-expanding Jewish settlements. ...
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| Mitt Romney's 'Day One' Plans Start Airing Today |
WEST PALM BEACH â The Mitt Romney campaign released today its first ad of the General Election, a 30-second spot that focuses on what the candidate would do on the first day in the White House. The ad, which according to reports is set to...
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| Pentagon sees Chinese military expanding its reach |
The Pentagon is telling Congress that China's increasingly sophisticated military is pursuing "new historic missions" that go beyond its traditional role of defending the homeland.
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| Slovenian austerity drive threatened by referendum call |
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Austerity measures Slovenia adopted last week could be delayed or even scrapped after two police unions said late on Thursday they wanted a referendum on the law. The referendum will be held if the unions collect 40,000 signatures within a month, a target they are likely to reach. If the majority of those who take part in the vote reject the austerity legislation, the government will be unable to pass a similar law for one year. Rejection would derail the conservative government's plan to bring the budget deficit down to around 3.5 percent of GDP. It soared to 6. ...
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| Technology |
| Electric Imp Connects Your Home Devices to the Internet |
If you've ever dreamed about connecting your entire home to the Internet -- so that appliances could start by themselves or you could receive text message alerts to maintain housekeeping -- it looks like your dream is ready to become a reality.
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| India's poorest become video journalists |
One video shows police beating protesters with sticks. Another shows two lifeless, dirty bodies dragged from their workplace in the sewers. In a third, a man explains why his hand was slashed.
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| Songify tops Android Apps of the Week |
Another iPhone success turns to Android with the launch of Songify on Google Play, transforming your speech into an auto-tuned song. Hitting the social music scene is Turntable.fm, with collaborative rooms where you can show off your DJ skills. If youâre in the mood for a witty e-greeting head to the Someecards app, while ShoeBox keeps you organized with a mobile scanner to preserve those cards and photos still printed on paper.
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| Facebook IPO and Two Other Stories You Need to Know |
Welcome to this morningâs edition of âFirst To Know,â a series in which we keep you in the know on whatâs happening in the digital world. Today, weâre looking at three particularly interesting stories.
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| Scott Walker gains ground in Wisconsin recall campaign |
Beside the presidential contest, Walker's recall fight might be the most hyped race of 2012.
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| Suspect arrested in Miss. highway shootings |
Authorities in Mississippi have arrested a suspect in two fatal highway shootings. The suspect had not been posing as a police officer in the shootings, as authorities previously thought.
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| 'America's Next Top Model' Adds Online Voting for Season 19 |
Veteran reality TV competition America's Next Top Model will let viewers help determine, for the first time ever, which aspiring model must pack her belongings and go home.
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| International |
| Romney defends marriage, faith in Liberty University speech |
Mitt Romney doubled down on his position against same sex marriage, telling graduates at Liberty University Saturday that marriage between "one man and one woman" is an "enduring institution" that should be defended. Coming just days after President Obama endorsed the right of gays and lesbians to marry, the comment earned Romney a standing ovation [...]
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| Man in Afghan uniform kills U.S. service member |
A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot dead a U.S. service member in the east of the country, one of two NATO troops killed on Friday, military officials said. The Taliban took credit for the attack.
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| Utah sex offender to remain free despite new law |
A convicted sex offender who faces nearly two dozen charges in Utah but has remained free because of a legal loophole likely will never face trial or be confined to an institution, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
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| Gun parts found in stuffed animals at R.I. airport |
Police at Rhode Island's T.F. Green Airport said Tuesday that a domestic dispute was behind an incident in which gun components and ammunition were found hidden inside a child's stuffed animals, including a Mickey Mouse.
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| A wounded veteran gets a chance at high-tech help |
ABC News Chief Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser takes Kyle to look at the latest in prosthetic technology.
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| Tallest man in US in Mass. seeking shoes, normalcy |
The tallest man in the United States has traveled from Minneapolis to Massachusetts for a custom shoe-fitting with Reebok that he hopes will help him live a normal life.
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| Rupert Murdoch on phone-hacking: âI failedâ |
News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch testified to the U.K. committee on media ethics on Thursday that there was indeed a phone-hacking "cover-up" at News International--led by "one or two very strong characters"--and that he had "failed" to uncover it. "Someone took charge of a cover-up, which we were victim to and I regret," Murdoch told [...]
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| Popular |
| Greece races against time to form government |
Greece tries again Tuesday to form a government, hoping a technocrat solution to disputes over a tough EU-IMF bailout deal will avoid new polls and keep it in the eurozone as time runs down fast.
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| Astronauts launch toward space station |
The Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of U.S. astronaut Joseph Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin blasts off from its launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome, May 15, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (KAZAKHSTAN - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
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| Hollande sworn in as French president |
Socialist leader Francois Hollande was sworn in as president of France on Tuesday at a solemn ceremony overshadowed by the catastrophic debt crisis threatening to unravel the eurozone.
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| From prison, Pakistan officer calls for break with U.S. |
From his prison cell, a senior Pakistani officer accused of plotting with a shadowy Islamist organization to take over the military released his political manifesto: His call was for the army to sever its anti-terror alliance with the United States, which he contends is forcing Pakistan to fight its own people.
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| Greece in final bid to avert new polls |
Greece's president prepared to meet political chiefs Sunday in a final attempt to forge an emergency coalition and avoid fresh polls, amid heightened fears of a eurozone exit following inconclusive elections.
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| Obama spokesman: Sendakâs death a âsad dayâ |
President Barack Obama's chief spokesman said Tuesday that the death of "Where the Wild Things Are" writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak was a "sad day" for parents and kids alike. "I know every parent must be a little bit in mourning today and every child who grew up with that book," Jay Carney told reporters [...]
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| 12 sets of twins graduating from just one high-school class |
12 pairs of high-school seniors are about to graduate from one Georgia school. The 24 seniors at Brookwood High in Gwinnett County are a mix of identical and fraternal twins. Fox 5 in Atlanta reports that as unusual as the circumstances are, most of the twins themselves find their situation to be perfectly normal. "It's [...]
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