Current News Today
Exclusive: China leadership rules Bo case isolated, limits purge: sources
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao has demanded senior Communist Party officials stifle tensions over the ousting of ambitious politician Bo Xilai and show unity as they prepare for a change of leadership, sources briefed on recent meetings said. Hu urged the party to close ranks at a meeting of about 200 officials early this month at a Beijing hotel, declaring the downfall of Bo - China's biggest political scandal in two decades - to be an "isolated case", the three sources said. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 02:07:16 -0400
| Lebanese Syria hostage release delayed, massacre claimed
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Lebanon said on Friday that a group of Lebanese Shi'ites kidnapped in Syria had been freed and were safe in Turkey, but produced no sign of the hostages at the centre of a kidnap drama heightening tensions over the conflict in neighboring Syria. The twist in a hostage drama that has inflamed political tensions in a country divided between foes and friends of the uprising in Syria came as Syrian activists said government troops killed at least 50 people in the centre of the country. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 19:04:16 -0400
| Exclusive: U.S. probes China's ZTE over tech sales to Iran
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of Commerce is investigating Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp for allegedly selling embargoed U.S. computer products to Iran. The investigation was launched following reports by Reuters in March and April that ZTE had signed contracts to ship millions of dollars worth of hardware and software from some of America's best-known tech firms to Telecommunication Co of Iran (TCI) and a unit of the consortium that controls it along with the Iranian regime. TCI is Iran's largest telecom carrier. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 12:40:03 -0400
| Qaeda-linked suicide bomber kills 12 in Yemen
SANAA (Reuters) - Two al Qaeda-linked suicide bombers targeting Shi'ite Muslims blew themselves up at a school and a protest march in northern Yemen on Friday killing at least 12 people, the defence ministry said. The attacks came less than a week after a suicide bomber in army uniform detonated an explosive belt at a military parade rehearsal in Sanaa, killing more than 90 soldiers and wounding at least 200 more. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 17:19:34 -0400
|
Current News Today
U.S. data, Europe woes to set tone
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors will grapple next week with major U.S. economic reports and the looming possibility of a Greek exit from the euro zone, which is likely to keep dragging on equities for weeks to come. As contingency plans are made for Greece's possible departure from the euro zone, investors may not get a clear picture until Greece holds elections on June 17. As a result, U.S. economic statistics may grab the spotlight during the holiday-shortened week. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 20:23:43 -0400
| May consumer sentiment highest in more than four years
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer sentiment rose to its highest level in more than four years in May as Americans stayed optimistic about the job market, while higher income households expected to see bigger wage increases, a survey released on Friday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment rose to 79.3 from 76.4 in April, topping forecasts for 77.8 and an initial May reading of the same. It was the highest level since October 2007. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 18:54:19 -0400
| Bankia, Catalonia pile on Spanish debt worries
MADRID (Reuters) - Financial troubles at a big Spanish bank and one of the country's richest regions, Catalonia, piled on problems on Friday for the Madrid government and for investors who question whether it can pay its debts without help from euro zone allies. Bankia SA, Spain's fourth biggest bank and newly nationalized, asked for a bailout of 19 billion euros ($24 billion) to repair losses from a property crash - the biggest Spanish bank rescue ever. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 16:29:09 -0400
| Insight: Minute by minute, Nasdaq chaos engulfed Facebook IPO
(Reuters) - Dead silence. For nearly 20 minutes on the morning of Facebook Inc's trading debut last Friday, the line Nasdaq had opened up to keep traders informed about the social media company's $16 billion IPO had been mute. Well after the stock was supposed to have opened at 11 a.m. New York time, no one from Nasdaq was talking - and there was still no sign of trading. Finally, at 11:28 a.m., an unidentified person announced that the shares would open in about 2 minutes. Nasdaq also said orders and cancellations were still being processed, according to several sources listening to the call. ...
Fri, 25 May 2012 20:27:29 -0400
|
Current News Today
World's smallest artificial heart saves baby's life
An Italian heart surgeon holds a tiny titanium pump, the world's smallest artificial heart, which was implanted in a baby, at the Bambino Gesu' Hospital in Rome May 24, 2012. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
Thu, 24 May 2012 10:15:09 -0400
| Plight of missing kids now in spotlight
Everything you need to get up to speed on the big story of the day May 25 is National Missing Children's Day. Etan Patz, its poster child, remains missing. After 33 years, a man has stepped forward to confess to strangling Patz. Proof will be another matter, as the former grocery store worker has not [...]
Thu, 24 May 2012 17:38:20 -0400
| Booker via Twitter: ‘Sorry I make u sick’
Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker has apparently had enough of saying he's sorry this week. The rising Democratic star has been under fire since a Sunday appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press"during which he said Democratic attacks on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital were "nauseating," Having endured days of excoriating criticism, and having tried [...]
Thu, 24 May 2012 20:26:38 -0400
| 'Disoriented' passenger subdued on flight in Miami
An apparently "disoriented" passenger had to be calmed down and subdued on an American Airlines jet Friday as it was taxiing after landing in Miami International Airport, an airline spokesman said.
Fri, 25 May 2012 15:38:31 -0400
|
|
