MOORE, Okla. (AP) — A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile
wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening
entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a
direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to
200 mph. At least 51 people were killed, including at least 20
children, and officials said the death toll was expected to
rise.
MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office
says the official death toll in the aftermath of a massive tornado
that slammed the Oklahoma City area remains at 51 but is expected
to rise.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's top court has thrown another
curve into the genocide case of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt,
overturning his conviction and ordering that the trial be taken
back to the middle of the proceedings.
BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil rose toward $97 per barrel
Tuesday, but gains were checked as investors waited for the Federal
Reserve's latest views on the U.S. economy.
BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil rose toward $97 per barrel
Tuesday, but gains were checked as investors waited for the Federal
Reserve's latest views on the U.S. economy.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot at a target across
the Syrian frontier on Tuesday in response to gunfire that struck
its forces in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said. A
statement said a military vehicle was damaged by shots fired from
Syria but that there were no injuries. It said that soldiers
"returned precise fire". Gunfire incidents across the frontier from
Syria have recurred in past months during an escalating a civil war
there in which rebels have sought to topple President Bashar
al-Assad. ...
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets fell Tuesday as investors
waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to telegraph what it plans to
do next with its economic stimulus program.
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets fell Tuesday as investors
waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to telegraph what it plans to
do next with its economic stimulus program.
(Reuters) - The Justice Department on Monday asked a federal
judge to deny Standard & Poor's motion to dismiss a government
lawsuit against the ratings agency, saying its statements on
certain financial products were fraudulent and not mere "puffery".
In a $5 billion suit, the U.S. government has accused S&P,
owned by McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, of issuing inflated ratings on
faulty products to drum up business before the 2008 financial
crisis, despite assurances that its judgments were objective.
...
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Two FBI agents who died while training
off the Virginia Beach coast fell to their deaths when a helicopter
had trouble during a "maritime counterterrorism exercise," an
agency spokeswoman said Monday night.
By Mike McDonald GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's highest
court on Monday overturned a genocide conviction against former
dictator Efrain Rios Montt and reset his trial back to when a
dispute broke out a month ago over who should hear the case. Rios
Montt, 86, was found guilty on May 10 of overseeing the killings by
the armed forces of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil
population during his 1982-83 rule. He was sentenced to 80 years in
prison. ...
BEIJING (AP) — China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with
President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier
than their expected first meeting, as both sides seek to stem a
drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North
Korea.
BEIJING (AP) — China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with
President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier
than their expected first meeting, as both sides seek to stem a
drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North
Korea.
LA RUANA, Mexico (AP) — Residents of a western Mexico area who
endured months besieged by a drug cartel cheered the arrival of
hundreds of Mexican soldiers Monday.
Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the 1960s rock group The
Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complemented Jim
Morrison's gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of
rock's most enduring songs, has died. He was 74.
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese boat and 16 fishermen seized for
ransom by armed North Koreans two weeks ago were released Tuesday,
easing the latest irritant in relations between the neighboring
allies.
By Masayuki Kitano SINGAPORE (Reuters) - "Will he or won't he?"
is the question investors want answered at Wednesday's
Congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke,
as suspense builds on whether the Fed will soon start tapering its
bond-buying stimulus scheme - as hinted at by a Fed regional
president last week. ...
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma state medical examiner's
office says that 20 children are among the dead in the tornado that
ripped through Oklahoma City suburbs.
By Fiona Lau and Elzio Barreto HONG KONG (Reuters) - Goldman
Sachs Group Inc raised $1.1 billion by selling its remaining shares
in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ending a seven-year old
investment and handing the Wall Street firm a return of nearly four
times its original stake. Goldman's relationship with ICBC was
similar to that of other big global financial institutions that
purchased stakes in Chinese banks and insurers. ...
By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp said its
Japanese suitor SoftBank Corp granted it a waiver allowing it to
consider a $25.5 billion rival bid by Dish Network Corp, as
pressure mounts on SoftBank to sweeten its offer for the No. 3 U.S.
wireless carrier. Sprint said its recommendation in favor of the
SoftBank agreement had not changed, although some major Sprint
shareholders including Paulson & Co and Omega Advisors have
publicly said the Dish offer looks better than SoftBank's deal.
SoftBank, which agreed last October to pay $20. ...
By David Henry TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - As final ballots come
in on a proposal to strip JPMorgan Chase & Co Chairman and
Chief Executive Jamie Dimon of his chairman title, some worry about
what will happen if shareholders win what will likely be a close
vote. JPMorgan's annual meeting on Tuesday will bring to head a
months-long and bitter shareholder campaign demanding more
oversight of Dimon, who has suggested that he may eventually leave
the bank if he loses the vote. Investors say that while Dimon, 57,
may need more oversight after the bank posted $6. ...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Americans got better about paying their
credit card debt on time in the first three months of the year, a
period when many borrowers use income tax returns to tackle their
holiday season debt.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Americans got better about paying their
credit card debt on time in the first three months of the year, a
period when many borrowers use income tax returns to tackle their
holiday season debt.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Federal investigators
probing the hantavirus outbreak blamed for three deaths at Yosemite
National Park recommended on Monday that design changes to tent
cabins and other privately run lodging first be reviewed by
National Park Service officials.
By Alice Mannette MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - A 2-mile-wide
(3-km-wide) tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore
on Monday, killing at least 51 people while destroying entire
tracts of homes, piling cars atop one another, and trapping two
dozen school children beneath rubble. Twenty of the 51 confirmed
deaths were children, the Oklahoma medical examiner said, and at
least 45 of the 230 people injured were children, according to area
hospitals. It was the deadliest U.S. tornado since one killed 161
people in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago. ...
By Yereth Rosen ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - One of Alaska's
most active volcanoes, which has been belching ash and spewing lava
since last week, has forced regional flight cancellations and
dusted some nearby communities with ash, scientists and local
officials said on Monday. Pavlof Volcano has sent up ash as high as
22,000 feet, with the cloud blowing eastward and the eruption
showing no signs of abating, according to the federal-state Alaska
Volcano Observatory. The lava from its 8,261-foot (2,518-metre)
peak has also created huge steam clouds on meeting the mountain's
snow. ...
Conservative radio talk show hosts have signed a letter
opposing the sweeping immigration reform bill in the Senate,
bucking tea party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio's attempts to win their
support for the bill, which combines enhanced border security with
a legalization program for the nation's unauthorized immigrants.
Rubio, a member of the "gang of eight" [...]
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Outsourcing company iGate Corp said it had
sacked its Chief Executive Phaneesh Murthy for not disclosing a
relationship with a subordinate after investigating one of India's
best-known IT executives for sexual harassment. Murthy was replaced
with immediate effect by interim CEO Gerhard Watzinger, iGate said.
Murthy was forced to quit India's second biggest software exporter
Infosys Ltd in 2002 following a sexual harassment lawsuit, which
was settled out of court. Murthy did not respond to repeated
telephone calls by Reuters seeking comment. ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama declared a
major disaster in Oklahoma after deadly tornadoes struck the state
on Sunday and Monday and ordered federal aid to supplement state
and local recovery efforts, the White House said on Monday. The
White House said aid can include grants for temporary housing, home
repairs, uninsured property losses and other recovery efforts.
Obama spoke by telephone with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin earlier
on Monday, the White House said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton;
Editing by Eric Beech)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' state treasurer was accused
Monday of taking at least $36,000 in cash — sometimes stashed in a
pie box — from a broker who later came to manage a large share of
the state's $3.3 billion investment portfolio.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Officials at two hospitals say they've
been treating more than 120 patients, including about 50 children,
since a massive tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City.
The devastating tornado that swept through Oklahoma turned
houses into matchsticks and sent parents and teachers running to
pull children from the wreckage of an elementary school in the eye
of the storm. At least 51 people were killed by the 200-mph storm
and dozens of homes destroyed. The toll was expected to rise. Here
are images from the aftermath :
By Ronnie Cohen SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Nearly 13,000
healthcare employees at five University of California medical
centers plan to strike on Tuesday in a move that threatens to back
up emergency rooms and already has forced the postponement of
elective surgeries. ...
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets struggled to post gains
Tuesday as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to
telegraph what it plans to do next with its economic stimulus
program.
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Denis McDonough
and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending
report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted
conservative groups, President Barack Obama's spokesman disclosed
Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit
beyond those named earlier.
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Denis McDonough
and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending
report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted
conservative groups, President Barack Obama's spokesman disclosed
Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit
beyond those named earlier.