In a rare attack in Colombia’s capital, a bomb targeting a former interior minister tore through his car near the city’s financial district on Tuesday, killing the driver and a police escort. The Andean country has battled left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and drug lords for decades, but a campaign against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the demobilization of paramilitaries fighting them has reduced violence in recent years. President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the car bombing, which he said had targeted former Interior Minister Fernando Londono, who was in a Bogota hospital being treated for his wounds but out of danger, according to local media. [Photo: REUTERS/Fredy Builes] READ MORE: Colombia bomb targeting former minister kills two
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In a rare attack in Colombia’s capital, a bomb targeting a former interior minister tore through his car near the city’s financial district on Tuesday, killing the driver and a police escort.

The Andean country has battled left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and drug lords for decades, but a campaign against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the demobilization of paramilitaries fighting them has reduced violence in recent years.

President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the car bombing, which he said had targeted former Interior Minister Fernando Londono, who was in a Bogota hospital being treated for his wounds but out of danger, according to local media. [Photo: REUTERS/Fredy Builes]

READ MORE: Colombia bomb targeting former minister kills two

Romney campaign defends JPMorgan loss as market risk U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign said on Tuesday that JPMorgan Chase & Co’s huge trading losses were an unfortunate part of a free market economy. Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told NBC that, while Romney supports some financial regulation, the losses at one of the nation’s largest banks involved investors, not taxpayers, and that rules for Wall Street should not hamper investments. “The leadership of that company will be held accountable for this trading loss, but we don’t want to punish companies, he told NBC’s “Today” program. “There was no taxpayer money at risk. All of the losses went to investors, which is how it works in a public market.” READ MORE: Romney camp defends $3bn loss by JPMorgan
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Romney campaign defends JPMorgan loss as market risk

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign said on Tuesday that JPMorgan Chase & Co’s huge trading losses were an unfortunate part of a free market economy.

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told NBC that, while Romney supports some financial regulation, the losses at one of the nation’s largest banks involved investors, not taxpayers, and that rules for Wall Street should not hamper investments.

“The leadership of that company will be held accountable for this trading loss, but we don’t want to punish companies, he told NBC’s “Today” program. “There was no taxpayer money at risk. All of the losses went to investors, which is how it works in a public market.”

READ MORE: Romney camp defends $3bn loss by JPMorgan

During an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama said he believed same-sex marriage should be legal.

“This is outside Romney’s Lansing event,” Reuters correspondent Sam Youngman tweets.
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“This is outside Romney’s Lansing event,” Reuters correspondent Sam Youngman tweets.

First there is the phone call. It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon in Washington when the phone rings. “Can you be at the White House for a meeting in four hours? I can’t tell you why, but we need you to be there.” Hmmm … I’ve seen this show before, and I pretty much know what the deal is. President Obama is going to be traveling somewhere unsavory and everything about it will be Top Secret until he lands at his mystery destination.  A beautiful weekend here in the D.C. area is instantly transformed from worrying about my son’s soccer games to worrying about where I am going, how long I will be gone and what preparations must I make before departure? The wheels are already churning before the White House meeting that evening.  As soon as we walk into the meeting, we are told: our destination is Afghanistan. Purpose: to sign a strategic partnership agreement. Coincidentally, or not, it is the one year anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  Read more: Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque’s travel to Afghanistan with President Barack Obama
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First there is the phone call. It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon in Washington when the phone rings. “Can you be at the White House for a meeting in four hours? I can’t tell you why, but we need you to be there.”

Hmmm … I’ve seen this show before, and I pretty much know what the deal is. President Obama is going to be traveling somewhere unsavory and everything about it will be Top Secret until he lands at his mystery destination. 

A beautiful weekend here in the D.C. area is instantly transformed from worrying about my son’s soccer games to worrying about where I am going, how long I will be gone and what preparations must I make before departure? The wheels are already churning before the White House meeting that evening. 

As soon as we walk into the meeting, we are told: our destination is Afghanistan. Purpose: to sign a strategic partnership agreement. Coincidentally, or not, it is the one year anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. 

Read more: Reuters photographer Kevin Lamarque’s travel to Afghanistan with President Barack Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) attends the White House Correspondents Association annual dinner in Washington and stands next to Reuters Editor in Chief Steve Adler (L) and WHCA President and Reuters correspondent Caren Bohan (R) April 28, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing LIVE BLOG: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner
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U.S. President Barack Obama (C) attends the White House Correspondents Association annual dinner in Washington and stands next to Reuters Editor in Chief Steve Adler (L) and WHCA President and Reuters correspondent Caren Bohan (R) April 28, 2012. REUTERS/Larry Downing

LIVE BLOG: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat on Friday and voted to take money from President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul to pay for an extension of low-interest federal student loans. Democrats and Republicans have until July to find an election-year compromise. That’s when the rate is set to double on Stafford loans to 6.8 percent for more 7 million students, who represent an important voting bloc. On a mostly party-line vote of 215-195, the House sent the measure to the Senate where Obama’s Democrats are certain to reject it. Like Obama, Senate Democrats want to renew the low interest rate for students, but favor covering the $6 billion cost for one year by ending a tax break for the rich. READ MORE: Republicans insert healthcare into student loan fight
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The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat on Friday and voted to take money from President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare overhaul to pay for an extension of low-interest federal student loans.

Democrats and Republicans have until July to find an election-year compromise. That’s when the rate is set to double on Stafford loans to 6.8 percent for more 7 million students, who represent an important voting bloc.

On a mostly party-line vote of 215-195, the House sent the measure to the Senate where Obama’s Democrats are certain to reject it.

Like Obama, Senate Democrats want to renew the low interest rate for students, but favor covering the $6 billion cost for one year by ending a tax break for the rich.

READ MORE: Republicans insert healthcare into student loan fight

Bradley Manning, the U.S. intelligence analyst charged with leaking thousands of classified U.S. government cables to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, will face a court martial on September 21, a military judge said on Wednesday. Manning is accused of downloading more than 700,000 classified or confidential files from the military while serving in Iraq, the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history. Military judge Colonel Denise Lind said that military prosecutors and Manning’s defense team had decided on a tentative trial schedule beginning September 21 and lasting through October 12. The trial will start more than two years after Manning was arrested. READ MORE: Bradley Manning faces trial in September
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Bradley Manning, the U.S. intelligence analyst charged with leaking thousands of classified U.S. government cables to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, will face a court martial on September 21, a military judge said on Wednesday.

Manning is accused of downloading more than 700,000 classified or confidential files from the military while serving in Iraq, the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history.

Military judge Colonel Denise Lind said that military prosecutors and Manning’s defense team had decided on a tentative trial schedule beginning September 21 and lasting through October 12. The trial will start more than two years after Manning was arrested.

READ MORE: Bradley Manning faces trial in September

reuterspolitics: Former U.S. Senator John Edwards goes on trial Monday on charges he used illegal campaign contributions to cover up an affair with a mistress who became pregnant during his failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Edwards is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in campaign funds from two wealthy donors, knowing the exposure of his extramarital affair “would destroy his presidential campaign,” prosecutors said in a trial brief. The candidate at the time was a married father of three, whose late wife, Elizabeth, had breast cancer. Jurors will hear opening statements the federal courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina. READ MORE: Former presidential hopeful Edwards faces trial
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reuterspolitics:

Former U.S. Senator John Edwards goes on trial Monday on charges he used illegal campaign contributions to cover up an affair with a mistress who became pregnant during his failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Edwards is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in campaign funds from two wealthy donors, knowing the exposure of his extramarital affair “would destroy his presidential campaign,” prosecutors said in a trial brief.

The candidate at the time was a married father of three, whose late wife, Elizabeth, had breast cancer.

Jurors will hear opening statements the federal courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina.

READ MORE: Former presidential hopeful Edwards faces trial

Source: reuterspolitics

The Palestinian Authority and PLO cannot be sued under a 1991 U.S. victim protection law over the alleged torture of an American in a West Bank prison, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, holding that the law only applies to individuals. The justices unanimously agreed with the Obama administration that the Torture Victim Protection Act allowed civil lawsuits in U.S. courts only against a person who had engaged in torture or killing, not against groups. The ruling involved a lawsuit against the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority by the widow and sons of a naturalized U.S. citizen, the Palestinian-born Azzam Rahim, who was raised in the West Bank. The lawsuit alleged he was tortured and killed in 1995 at a prison in Jericho while in the custody of Palestinian intelligence officers. The PLO has denied the allegations. A U.S. appeals court dismissed the lawsuit and ruled that the law adopted by Congress said that it only applied to individuals, not political groups or other organizations. The Supreme Court agreed. READ MORE: Supreme Court says torture law applies only to people
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The Palestinian Authority and PLO cannot be sued under a 1991 U.S. victim protection law over the alleged torture of an American in a West Bank prison, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, holding that the law only applies to individuals.

The justices unanimously agreed with the Obama administration that the Torture Victim Protection Act allowed civil lawsuits in U.S. courts only against a person who had engaged in torture or killing, not against groups.

The ruling involved a lawsuit against the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority by the widow and sons of a naturalized U.S. citizen, the Palestinian-born Azzam Rahim, who was raised in the West Bank.

The lawsuit alleged he was tortured and killed in 1995 at a prison in Jericho while in the custody of Palestinian intelligence officers. The PLO has denied the allegations.

A U.S. appeals court dismissed the lawsuit and ruled that the law adopted by Congress said that it only applied to individuals, not political groups or other organizations. The Supreme Court agreed.

READ MORE: Supreme Court says torture law applies only to people