April 5 (Reuters) –
TOP STORIES
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BEIRUT – A senior Norwegian U.N. peacekeeper flies into
Damascus on Thursday to try to broker an agreement that will
allow observers to be deployed across Syria to monitor a
ceasefire demanded under an international peace plan.
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WASHINGTON – The United States said on Wednesday it was
ready to relax some sanctions on Myanmar to recognize its
fledgling democratic transition, including a ban on U.S.
companies investing in or offering financial services to the
country.
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WASHINGTON – Liberal activists criticized on Wednesday new
voter registration requirements in dozens of U.S. states, saying
millions of people could be deterred from voting in the November
presidential election – a claim their opponents disputed.
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WASHINGTON – Accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed and four suspected co-conspirators were ordered on
Wednesday to stand trial before a Guantanamo war crimes
tribunal, the Pentagon said, a move that throws the politically
charged case into the limelight in an election year.
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WASHINGTON – The White House was forced on the defensive on
Wednesday as it sought to explain controversial remarks
President Barack Obama made earlier in the week about the
Supreme Court’s review of his signature healthcare reform law.
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WASHINGTON – Republican candidate Mitt Romney accused
President Barack Obama on Wednesday of being “intent on hiding”
his true positions, in a growing war of words between the two
men who are increasingly likely to face off in November’s
presidential election.
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TOKYO – Japan’s trade minister is set to visit Fukui
prefecture, home of Kansai Electric Power Co’s Ohi nuclear
plant, as early as Sunday to ask for local approval to restart
the plant’s No.3 and No.4 reactors, the Yomiuri newspaper said
on Thursday.
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ANKARA – Retired General Kenan Evren, symbol of an era when
the military dominated Turkish politics, went on trial on
Wednesday for leading a 1980 coup that shaped the country for
three decades until reforms cut back the power of the ‘Pashas’.
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LANCASTER, Texas – Huddled inside a closet with his wife and
9-month-old daughter, Quental Austin could hear bricks and
two-by-fours clattering as a tornado ravaged his Lancaster,
Texas, neighborhood on Tuesday.
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SALT LAKE CITY – A data security breach at the Utah Health
Department, believed to be the work of Eastern European hackers,
has exposed 24,000 U.S. Medicaid files bearing names, Social
Security numbers and other private information, state officials
said on Wednesday.
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MEXICO CITY – Conservative candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota
will re-jig her campaign to become Mexico’s first woman
president in an effort to close a yawning gap with the
opposition front-runner, only five days after the race
officially began.
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BRASILIA – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s popularity
is at its highest level since taking office, buoyed by her
handling of an economic slowdown and tough stance against
corruption, a poll showed on Wednesday.
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PARIS – French presidential front-runner Francois Hollande
promised on Wednesday to freeze fuel prices, slash government
ministers’ salaries and boost welfare payouts to families in a
rush of legislation in his first eight weeks in office.
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NEW YORK – Surprise rippled across America last month as a
new wave of consumers discovered that hamburgers often contained
ammonia-treated beef, or what critics dub “pink slime”.
(Editing by John Stonestreet)
