Facebook Clarifies Rules on What It Bans and Why

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">With 1.39 billion active users worldwide, Facebook’s social network is the closest thing we have to a universal communication platform. And people post — or try to post — just about everything you can imagine.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">On Monday, the company will clarify its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards" style="color: #326891;" title="Facebook’s community standards.">community standards</a> to give its users more guidance about what types of posts are not allowed on the service.</div><!-- adsense --> <br /><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Facebook walks a delicate line when it tries to ban violent or offensive content without suppressing the free sharing of information that it says it wants to encourage. Its audience is vast, with a huge variance in age, cultural values and laws across the globe. Yet despite its published guidelines, the reasoning behind Facebook’s decisions to block or allow content are often opaque and inconsistent.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">For example, the company flip-flopped repeatedly on whether to allow beheading videos on the service before recently deciding to ban them. In December, it blocked a page in Russia that was promoting an antigovernment protest, then allowed copycat pages to stay up. And in October, it created an exception to its requirement that people use their real names on the service when it allowed San Francisco’s drag queens to use their stage names while continuing to crack down on others using false names.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">“We’re trying to strike the balance based on the way our community works,” Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, said in an interview. “The landscape is complicated.”</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">The company hopes that more specific explanation of its rules will take some of the mystery out of what it will and will not allow.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Terrorist organizations like the Islamic State have long been banned from the service. But supporting or praising groups involved in “violent, criminal or hateful behavior” is also banned, the updated rules say.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Threatening people with physical or financial harm, or bullying them by posting items intended to degrade or shame them, is also prohibited. So is anything that encourages suicide or eating disorders.<br />                                        <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx77Z4TgmFP0gQEYN6u9qclX6aSRAy4SYJA55j_v_gHdap2vJJVj1pN_IWicuMD3cWAJnjFIzlJAKlE7A-tXKMHcaxg650dH9mIm6ztohEbCirqDMXSwWxdToQFSYs_y_6wUunicZRgmm9/s1600/Facebook-blog480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx77Z4TgmFP0gQEYN6u9qclX6aSRAy4SYJA55j_v_gHdap2vJJVj1pN_IWicuMD3cWAJnjFIzlJAKlE7A-tXKMHcaxg650dH9mIm6ztohEbCirqDMXSwWxdToQFSYs_y_6wUunicZRgmm9/s1600/Facebook-blog480.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Facebook has always banned pornography and most other nudity, but it is now diving into the nuances. “We remove photographs of people displaying genitals or focusing in on fully exposed buttocks,” it says. It also restricts some images of female breasts if the nipple shows, “but we always allow photos of women actively engaged in breast-feeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring.” Photos of paintings, sculptures and other art that depicts nude figures are also fine.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">The company is for the first time explicitly banning content promoting sexual violence or exploitation, including so-called revenge porn, which it defines as intimate images “shared in revenge or without permission from the people in the images.” (Twitter has also <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/03/11/twitter-updates-its-rules-to-specifically-ban-revenge-porn/" style="color: #326891;" title="Washington Post article.">updated its rules</a> to forbid revenge porn.)</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">One thing that has not changed: Facebook has no plans to automatically scan for and remove potentially offensive content, Ms. Bickert said.</div><!-- adsense1 --> <br /><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Facebook will still rely on users to report violations of the standards. Ms. Bickert said that the company had review teams working at all hours of the day around the globe, and that every report was examined by one of them before a decision was made.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">The process can take time — typically 48 hours on matters of safety, she said. That may not be fast enough for some people in an era where graphic content can go viral in minutes. Twitter, which is a much more public forum, has come under fire from women’s advocates and antiterror groups for not responding quickly enough to reports of abusive or violent tweets.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">But Facebook wants to take into account the full context of a post, Ms. Bickert said. For example, a victim of a violent attack might post images on Facebook as a way of raising public awareness. “Sometimes the best way to share information about atrocities in the world is Facebook,” she said. “We recognize that is a very challenging issue.”</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Facebook’s rulings can also be appealed. “If a person’s account is suspended, those appeals are read by real people who can look into the specifics,” she said.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Ms. Bickert said that clarifying its rules helped not only Facebook users but also the people who reviewed possible violations to decide what was permissible. “We can only do this if we have objective rules,” she said.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">Governments also ask Facebook to take down posts. In conjunction with the updated community standards, the company plans to publish on Monday its latest transparency report, which discloses country-by-country information on government requests for user data and the removal of content.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">In the report, Facebook says that in the second half of 2014, it restricted 9,707 pieces of content for violating local laws, up 11 percent from the first half of the year. Of those, India requested the most takedowns, with 5,832, and Turkey was not far behind with 3,624. No content was restricted in the United States based on government requests.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">The number of government requests for account data increased slightly, to 35,051, compared with 34,946 in the first half. The United States was at the top of the list, making 14,274 requests for information on 21,731 Facebook accounts, with the company agreeing to turn over information in 79 percent of the cases.</div><div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;">“Moving forward, we will continue to scrutinize each government request and push back when we find deficiencies,” Chris Sonderby, Facebook’s deputy general counsel, said in a statement. “We will also continue to push governments around the world to reform their surveillance practices in a way that maintains the safety and security of their people while ensuring their rights and freedoms are protected.”</div><br /></div>

Facebook Clarifies Rules on What It Bans and Why

With 1.39 billion active users worldwide, Facebook’s social network is the closest thing we have to a universal communication platform. And ...

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Philippine army arrests leader of Muslim rebel splinter group

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wqWlT9_IeFEeFzCVZ_apVo6HVkcXx9BZrI65ctioxXOoXSNamF52UwVIPsdQixuvh0vuMoNfGo9v6niQ1zSTUHZ1r3ixZCAgvZrGJaEqDxRg9BcucDkwcu-LXxCHBd0n8Rdz_XD3MnSf/s1600/LYNXMPEB2F08T_L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wqWlT9_IeFEeFzCVZ_apVo6HVkcXx9BZrI65ctioxXOoXSNamF52UwVIPsdQixuvh0vuMoNfGo9v6niQ1zSTUHZ1r3ixZCAgvZrGJaEqDxRg9BcucDkwcu-LXxCHBd0n8Rdz_XD3MnSf/s1600/LYNXMPEB2F08T_L.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine security forces have arrested the leader of a small but violent Muslim rebel faction, an army spokesman said on Monday.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The government of the largely Christian country has been battling Muslim rebels for decades and while a peace process with the biggest faction has led to a decrease in violence, clashes with smaller factions and bomb attacks are common.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The military said Mohammad Ali Tambako, founder and leader of the Justice Islamic Movement, was detained with five associates in the southern city of General Santos late on Sunday.</div> <!-- adsense --> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Tambako was fleeing when he was arrested," said Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Cabunoc, head of the military public affairs office.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"They were on their way to a sea port in General Santos ... armed with hand guns and grenades."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Tambako had studied in Egypt and Cabunoc said his time overseas had enabled him to build up extensive contacts with foreign militants.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Tambako opposes peace talks with the government and his group was believed to have sheltered a wanted bomber, Abdul Basit Usman.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Usman was one of two militants police were hunting on Jan. 25 when they were ambushed by rebels of the main Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and 44 policemen and 18 rebels were killed.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">That clash has thrown into doubt a peace process with the MILF, the country's biggest rebel group, and led to criticism of President Benigno Aquino and calls for him to step down.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The army launched an offensive against Tambako's faction on the southern island of Mindanao last month and more than 80,000 people had been displaced by the fighting.</div><br /></div>

Philippine army arrests leader of Muslim rebel splinter group

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine security forces have arrested the leader of a small but violent Muslim rebel faction, an army spokesman said o...

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Gold prices higher in Asia with physical demand eyed, Fed ahead

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeU-RSwFZgR4QPfVng5jRQlRONYIDiJ3Cc66yCv5CEloC-kUsZEf4qm6WZQOrRKWj4jMa-ZRSlEqMGRfRSnbbA2uFbcR9o8Z7ox1pW7aqyuygDOgQidd-AAUQfsNHL0pVCqyMxTvHE8qg/s1600/gold3_800x533_L_1412152987.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeU-RSwFZgR4QPfVng5jRQlRONYIDiJ3Cc66yCv5CEloC-kUsZEf4qm6WZQOrRKWj4jMa-ZRSlEqMGRfRSnbbA2uFbcR9o8Z7ox1pW7aqyuygDOgQidd-AAUQfsNHL0pVCqyMxTvHE8qg/s1600/gold3_800x533_L_1412152987.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div> <!-- adsense --> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">Gold prices ticked up in early Asia on Monday as investors looked at physical demand prospects though dollar strength continues to weigh on the commodity.</span></div><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, </span><span class="aqPopupWrapper" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;">gold futures</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;"> for April delivery rose 0.25% to $1,155.30 a troy ounce.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">Elsewhere on the Comex, </span><span class="aqPopupWrapper" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;">silver futures</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;"> for May delivery gained 0.47% to $15.567 a troy ounce.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">Meanwhile, </span><span class="aqPopupWrapper" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;">copper</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;"> for May delivery fell 0.46% to $2.659 a pound despite recent Chinese economic data that has fuelled speculation policymakers in Beijing will have to introduce further stimulus measures to boost growth and ward off deflation.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">Last week, Gold edged modestly higher on Friday, but prices remained near the lowest level in more than three months as the U.S. dollar rallied amid growing expectations for higher interest rates in the U.S.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">The </span><span class="aqPopupWrapper" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left;">U.S. dollar index</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, jumped 1.2% on Friday to end at 100.32, after touching an intraday high of 100.39, the most since April 2003.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">A stronger U.S. dollar usually weighs on gold, as it dampens the metal's appeal as an alternative asset and makes dollar-priced commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">The euro fell below the $1.05-level against the greenback for the first time in 12 years, pressured lower by the diverging monetary policy stance between the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">The euro has depreciated more than 10% against its U.S. counterpart for the year and nearly 40% since August as the ECB launched a €60 billion a month quantitative easing program earlier in March.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned after stronger-than-forecast nonfarm payrolls report for February released earlier in the month solidified expectations for higher interest rates.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">The Fed is expected to begin raising interest rates around the middle of this year and investors were looking ahead to next week’s policy statement to see if it would drop its reference to being "patient" before raising rates.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">Expectations of higher borrowing rates going forward is considered bearish for gold, as the precious metal struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets when rates are on the rise.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">In the week ahead, market players will focus on the conclusion of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, which could provide indications on how soon it might raise interest rates.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">If the Fed decides to remove a reference to "remaining patient," in its statement, it typically indicates that interest rates could be raised at either of its next two meetings. After next week's meeting, the FOMC will meet in June and September.</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">On Monday, the U.S. is to produce reports on industrial production and manufacturing activity in the New York region, as well as private sector data on the housing market.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>

Gold prices higher in Asia with physical demand eyed, Fed ahead

Gold prices ticked up in early Asia on Monday as investors looked at physical demand prospects though dollar strength continues to weigh...

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Ferrari upbeat after bright start Down Under

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1u3L6JfGINaSCYaTta5X6YicrTufjPmP93PmsBvlZi3qgtByn1z9qEkGSkK2DuowoTrhED-bcp4gF_R13td4w43znm56gEpf8io1GndxKrsRwoujjOciSB34iISMvWQWGRtV3JCpIUmQ4/s1600/LYNXMPEB2D06N_L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1u3L6JfGINaSCYaTta5X6YicrTufjPmP93PmsBvlZi3qgtByn1z9qEkGSkK2DuowoTrhED-bcp4gF_R13td4w43znm56gEpf8io1GndxKrsRwoujjOciSB34iISMvWQWGRtV3JCpIUmQ4/s1600/LYNXMPEB2D06N_L.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Things are starting to look brighter for Ferrari even before the first race of the Formula One season, and it is about time.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">After a dismal year, when the Italian team failed to win a single Grand Prix for the first time since 1993, 2015 could only get better.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The early signs have been encouraging. On Saturday, Sebastian Vettel qualified fourth for the Australian opener while team mate Kimi Raikkonen was fifth.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">With five world championships between them, the Ferrari drivers know what it takes to win. Both are excited by the improvement Ferrari has shown but too streetsmart to get carried away just yet.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Let's keep our feet on the ground," said Vettel. "So far this weekend, it's gone well and we've had no problems with the car.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"It's a shame that third place escaped us, as that would have made us the first team behind Mercedes, but it wasn't by much and, after all the race is tomorrow."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Mercedes still have a big advantage over the rest, but Ferrari are in the mix behind them.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Four times world champion Vettel, who joined Ferrari this season from Red Bull, said he might have qualified higher but for a mistake.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"We lost third place because my first run wasn't quick enough. I'm not very pleased with myself, because there was still some performance to be found," he said.</div> <!-- adsense --> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"First and second are a long way in front, but the race is tomorrow and anything can happen during the Grand Prix.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"A podium? There's not much of a gap between third and fourth on the grid, so I think the podium is a realistic goal and that's what we have to aim for."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Raikkonen also admitted to errors but, like Vettel, was pleased at the way things were going.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"During free practice, we saw that our long runs are pretty good, so we can be confident of having a good race," said the Finn, the last Ferrari driver to win a world title in 2007.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"All we need to do is get a good start and then give it our best, but I think we can fight for a good position. As a team, we are working well together and we have a pretty clear picture of the situation.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"We know we are quick, but we need to improve in all sectors and, as for myself, I have to drive better."</div><br /></div>

Ferrari upbeat after bright start Down Under

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Things are starting to look brighter for Ferrari even before the first race of the Formula One season, and it is about...

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Box Office: 'Cinderella' Reigns With $70.1 million, 'Run All Night' Falls Flat

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9t_z-7UILJGq-55NK2pqoCisGZA7AK1hiVk-HOfygc7DeBLpMajeuZjJ3dITDcX6EWjkGdI1KZAQ3Y6G3DBGs4qgvm7ea9AdYK5OLI1_15xBI1rAt5Ayng3fV5BTHO42B2fzI97naSAP/s1600/LYNXMPEB2E0DB_L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9t_z-7UILJGq-55NK2pqoCisGZA7AK1hiVk-HOfygc7DeBLpMajeuZjJ3dITDcX6EWjkGdI1KZAQ3Y6G3DBGs4qgvm7ea9AdYK5OLI1_15xBI1rAt5Ayng3fV5BTHO42B2fzI97naSAP/s1600/LYNXMPEB2E0DB_L.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - "Cinderella" enchanted audiences this weekend, racking up a royal $70.1 million to lead the domestic box office and a massive $132 million globally.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The adaptation of the classic fairy tale follows Walt Disney Studios' strategy of raiding its library of animated favorites to refashion as live action blockbusters -- an approach that yielded such successes as "Maleficent" and "Alice in Wonderland," and one the studio plans to employ on "Dumbo" and "Beauty and the Beast."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"From a company perspective and a public perspective, fairy tales are a part of our DNA," said Dave Hollis, Disney's distribution chief. "This is decidedly something that Disney does and does well."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Cinderella's" popularity left Liam Neeson's latest action-adventure, "Run All Night," huffing and puffing at the finish line. The Warner Bros. release pulled in a lackluster $11 million from 3,171 theaters, lower than pre-release tracking which suggested a debut in the $15 million range. The audience for the story of a father protecting his son (Joel Kinnaman) from mob hit men was 52% female and 86% over the age of 25.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Warner Bros. domestic distribution chief Dan Fellman said he was particularly surprised that the film attracted more women than to men. He added that the picture seemed to play better on the East Coast in cities like Washington D.C. and New York than it did on the West Coast.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"I'm a little disappointed in the results," said Fellman. "We just got off to a slow start...we felt it should have been a stronger second place, but at this point we're hoping we get a good multiple and a great hold."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">It's possible that Neeson, who was recently seen making short work of European bad guys in January's "Taken 3," has simply been brandishing the gun a bit too much of late. "Run All Night" cost $50 million to produce, so it will need to attract foreign crowds if it wants to break even.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Cinderella" opened across 3,845 theaters in North America and cost $95 million to produce. Opening weekend crowds were 68% female, 66% families and 31% comprised of moviegoers under the age of 12.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"This was a strong protagonist and an aspirational character," said Hollis. "We took the high bar reached by the classic animated film and built on it. This will now be something that complements the original."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The film wasn't in 3D, but it did get a nice boost from other premium formats. Imax represent 7% of "Cinderella's" gross and premium large formats comprised 8% of the box office results.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Cinderella" couldn't match the $116.1 million debut of "Alice in Wonderland," but it did surpass the $69.4 million premiere of "Maleficent." That's impressive considering that despite featuring Cate Blanchett and "Downton Abbey's" Lily James, "Cinderella" lacked a star on the level of Johnny Depp or Angelina Jolie to bring in crowds. It also cost half of the roughly $200 million each that Disney spent producing those fantasies.</div> <!-- adsense --> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Cinderella" was a juggernaut overseas picking up an estimated $62.4 million, $25 million of which came from China. The film opened in about 60 percent of the international marketplace, including such major territories as Russia, Italy, Mexico and Germany.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">In the holdover realm, "Kingsman: The Secret Service" has now crossed the $100 million mark. The Fox action-adventure captured third place with $6.2 million, pushing its stateside haul to $107.4 million. "Focus," Will Smith's heist romance, snagged fourth position on the charts with $5.8 million. The Warner Bros. release has made $44 million after three weeks in theaters.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Fifth place went to Fox Searchlight's "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" which held steady with $5.7 million from 2,022 theaters in its sophomore frame, dropping a mere 33% and bringing its total to $18.1 million.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">In limited release, Radius-TWC's "It Follows" impressed with $163,453 from four locations, for a per-screen average of $40,863. The horror film has enjoyed unusually strong reviews for the genre, with critics handing out a 95% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Among other art house releases, "Seymour: An Introduction," Ethan Hawke's look at a pianist and teacher debuted on two screens where it made $26,320 for a per-screen average of $13,160.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Not everyone was as lucky as "It Follows." Official numbers have yet to be released but it appears that Adam Sandler's critically panned "The Cobbler" will eke out a meager $21,00 from 17 theaters.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">After two weeks of lagging behind 2014's box office results, "Cinderella" helped lift domestic ticket sales more than 16% over the year-ago period to top out at $133 million. The key was providing some fresh all-ages fare to a marketplace that had been dominated by adult films such as "Fifty Shades of Grey" and "Focus."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"It's been an R-rated world at the box office and for families this was a dream come true," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. "They were sitting on sidelines and waiting for a family friendly weekend."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">As "Cinderella" proves, dreams do come true.</div><br /></div>

Box Office: 'Cinderella' Reigns With $70.1 million, 'Run All Night' Falls Flat

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - "Cinderella" enchanted audiences this weekend, racking up a royal $70.1 million to lead the domestic b...

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West hopes for Iran concessions in nuclear talks

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_7JxLTlj16DCdkXGUm19wFBS0ExtaIykAbdQqJ7QqxLzYmP3fIDIQDI_yLerNAQ50Rwz6LUZamuTkokgchvxCEeVEnZqk6n6lSxB6QZY05rkhAjBmSXp-9KizFMxP8CQGFpHOrowNj436/s1600/LYNXMPEB2E0EY_L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_7JxLTlj16DCdkXGUm19wFBS0ExtaIykAbdQqJ7QqxLzYmP3fIDIQDI_yLerNAQ50Rwz6LUZamuTkokgchvxCEeVEnZqk6n6lSxB6QZY05rkhAjBmSXp-9KizFMxP8CQGFpHOrowNj436/s1600/LYNXMPEB2E0EY_L.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Western powers are hoping for concessions from Tehran that could help clinch a political agreement in nuclear talks this week after the United States and European powers voiced a willingness to compromise on suspending U.N. sanctions, officials said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had been due to meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, later on Sunday to try to break the logjam ahead of a crucial round of talks between Iran and six major powers.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">But a senior U.S. State Department official later said that meeting would be delayed until Monday due to extensive U.S.-Iranian consultations earlier on Sunday between nuclear and Foreign Ministry officials.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Kerry has urged Iran to take decisions now to enable them to clinch a political framework agreement for a nuclear deal with Tehran that would lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program ahead of an end-March deadline. The parties have set a June 30 deadline to finalize an accord.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Serious gaps still remain," Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted by Iran's ISNA student news agency as saying. "We have had progress in the recent talks and during this round of talks we will see whether more progress can be achieved."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"We hope to narrow the gaps on important disputes," he added.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Kerry told CBS news on Saturday he hoped "in the next days" it would be possible to reach an interim political deal with Iran if Tehran can show that its nuclear power program is for peaceful purposes only.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">It is not yet clear when the talks between Iran and the six powers will begin in Lausanne.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Reuters reported last week that the United States and five other powers and Iran have begun talking about a possible draft resolution to endorse any future deal and address the lifting of U.N. sanctions. The U.N. penalties could be eased quickly in the event of an agreement, Western officials said.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Officials close to the talks said this was a major new concession on the part of the United States, which had long insisted that U.N. sanctions would remain in place for years to come after a nuclear deal was signed, while unilateral U.S. and European measures might be lifted more swiftly.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"This was a quite a shift in the U.S. position and we hope the Iranians will follow with concessions on their end," a Western official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "So far the concessions have been mostly one-sided, though there has been some limited progress recently."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">NEW POSITION</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Iranian officials have privately welcomed the new position on U.N. sanctions in the talks on the part of the United States and France. Diplomats say the other members of six power group back the idea of a swift suspension of U.N. nuclear sanctions if there is a deal, though they caution that many U.N. restrictions would stay in place.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">"Iran knows that it will not happen overnight, but the fact that it is being discussed at the (six powers') capitals and having a resolution is a sign of their willingness to resolve the issue," a senior Iranian official told Reuters.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Iran, which rejects Western allegations it wants an atomic weapons capability, wants the U.N., EU and US sanctions lifted all at once. A nuclear accord that ends the decade-long standoff with Iran is seen as crucial to reducing tensions in the region.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Officials on both sides of the talks said it will be very difficult to get a political agreement this week. Iranian officials say that a signed agreement this week is unlikely, though they do not rule out some kind of verbal understanding.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Some eight U.N. resolutions dating back as far as 2006, four of them imposing sanctions, demand that Iran freeze uranium enrichment and other sensitive atomic work. They also bar the country from buying and selling atomic technology and anything linked to ballistic missiles. There is also a U.N. arms embargo.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">In his CBS interview, Kerry also redoubled his criticism of Republicans, who said that seeking U.N. Security Council resolutions that endorse any deal and lift U.N. sanctions before seeking approval of Republican-led Congress would be wrong.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">He said a letter from 47 Republicans to Iran's leadership warning that any deal with President Barack Obama bypassing the Senate would not be binding and could be rescinded later was an unprecedented intrusion on executive authority.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Kerry voiced the hope that the letter would not undermine the negotiations in Lausanne.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 24px; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The State Department said on Friday that any lifting of U.N. sanctions would not impact unilateral U.S. sanctions or limit Washington's ability to take action on its own against Iran in the future.</div><br /></div>

West hopes for Iran concessions in nuclear talks

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Western powers are hoping for concessions from Tehran that could help clinch a political agreement in nucl...

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In Boston Marathon bombing courtroom, gruesome testimony and dread at what is to come

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px;">BOSTON—The clock on the video said 2:49 p.m., and it was hard to imagine that anyone in the courtroom didn’t know what was coming up next. In the nearly two years since two bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 2013 Boston Marathon, footage of the two fireballs erupting along Boylston Street, one after the other, has been replayed millions of times, accompanied by gruesome photos and video of the bloody aftermath.</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1949" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But as prosecutors began presenting their case against accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Wednesday with silent footage of those deadly bombs that killed three people and injured nearly 300 more, there was an edge in the air among the jurors, victims and others inside the Boston federal courtroom where the trial is taking place.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1947" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">On the screen, dozens of runners could be seen dashing toward the finish line, not knowing that two pressure-cooker bombs filled with nails and ball bearings would soon turn that sunny Monday afternoon into a day of infamy. But the people in the courtroom knew something terrible was coming, and, in some ways, knowing that seemed to make it worse. As the seconds ticked by, they stared at the video with the kind of nervous, sick anticipation that can only be likened to watching a horror film — and it only got worse throughout the day as prosecutors unveiled the first few clips of what is expected to be extensive and often graphic video evidence aimed at convincing jurors that Tsarnaev is guilty and should die for his alleged role in the deadly attacks.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1918" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Jurors were presented with never-before-seen footage from inside Marathon Sports, the sporting goods store located just feet from where the first bomb was detonated. The blast blew part of the store’s windows out, and victims stumbled into the shop dazed and bleeding from pieces of shrapnel that had shredded their flesh. “It was like a scene from 'Saving Private Ryan' or 'Platoon' … something I never thought I would see in real life,” Shane O’Hara, the store’s manager, testified, his voice shaky.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1970" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">That was followed moments later by grisly, up-close video of the aftermath of the first bomb shot by Colton Kilgore, a North Carolina man who had been on hand to film his mother-in-law crossing the finish line but ended up capturing several members of his family nearly bleeding to death from wounds sustained in the explosion.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1972" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Prosecutors paused the video at one point, and from the witness stand, Kilgore spoke of seeing his sister-in-law’s leg horrifically mangled by the bomb — testimony that seemed designed to brace the room for what was coming. But some jurors still gasped seconds later as the Kilgore’s footage showed the woman sitting stunned in a thickening pool of blood, her foot nearly blown off as people around her moaned and screamed in anguish. It was the most gruesome evidence shown on the first day of testimony, but prosecutors have braced family members and victims for even worse things are to come, including autopsy photos of the three who died — their bodies burned and torn apart by the bombs.<a data-rapid_p="10" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/boston-marathon-bombing-1366214084-slideshow/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;"><span class="yui-editorial-embed" id="yui_3_0_0-2-1425563831278"></span></a></div><div class="yom-figure yom-fig-middle" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1922" style="background-color: white; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin: 0px auto 15px; max-width: 100%; overflow: hidden; width: 630px;"><figure class="cover get-lbdata-from-dom go-to-slideshow-lightbox" data-orig-index="0" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1921" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a data-rapid_p="11" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/boston-marathon-bombing-1366214084-slideshow/" style="color: #324fe1; text-decoration: none;"></a><a class="cover-anchor" data-rapid_p="12" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" id="cover-fd7a379bb603f2aa0499b734b0c85c5d" name="cover-fd7a379bb603f2aa0499b734b0c85c5d" style="color: #324fe1; position: absolute; top: -100px;"></a><div class="cta-overlay" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1920" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 356px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 630px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 567px; zoom: 1;"></span><div class="cta-text large" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-top: 35px; opacity: 0; position: relative; text-align: center; top: 178px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View photo</div><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 7px; border-bottom-right-radius: 7px; border-top-left-radius: 7px; border-top-right-radius: 7px; cursor: pointer; height: 54px; left: 315px; line-height: 0; margin-left: -38px; margin-top: -27px; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; top: 178px; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 76px; z-index: 1;">.</span></div><img alt="CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: This Monday, April 15, 2013 photo shows a man who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforceme..." class="editorial" data-preembed="image" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/9nB3hnrNaFaDEigbVpeWbw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2015-03-05/721d9fd0-c333-11e4-8c46-3143cebbb085_673622752c03820d2f0f6a70670012decrop.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat; border: 0px; display: inline; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-height: 1px; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: bottom; visibility: visible !important; width: 630px;" title="CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: This Monday, April 15, 2013 photo shows a man who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings by law enforceme..." width="630" /></figure><div class="legend" style="background: none; color: grey; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px;">CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: This Monday, April 15, 2013 photo shows a man who was dubbed Suspect No. 2 in the Boston …</div></div><div class="yom-fig-frame" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin: auto; text-align: center; width: 650px;"><span id="schemaorg"></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px;">By that point in the afternoon, there was little mystery about who was behind the attacks. On Wednesday morning, Tsarnaev sat silently as his attorney Judy Clarke told the jury she wouldn’t even try to argue that her 21-year-old client wasn’t involved in the bombings. “It was him,” Clarke said, motioning towards the young, shaggy-haired defendant, who showed little reaction. She told the jury her client and his domineering other brother, Tamerlan, had committed the “senseless, horribly misguided acts.” At the same time, Clarke pleaded with them to keep their “hearts and minds open” for the penalty phase, where the defense is expected to argue Tsarnaev was a troubled kid who was allured by his self-radicalized brother.</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Jurors gasped again when later that afternoon prosecutors introduced into evidence a previously unseen picture of the scene near the finish line just before the first bomb exploded. On the stand was Rebekah Gregory, who had just told the jury that the explosion had been so strong that it shifted all her teeth, causing two to fall out. Last fall, her mangled left leg was finally amputated after doctors decided they couldn’t save it.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1924" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Prosecutor Nadine Pellegrini asked Gregory to find herself in the picture. “Do you recognize that man?” she asked, pointing out a guy with sunglasses and a dark baseball hat who stood next to her in the photo. It was Tamerlan Tsarnaev in what was the first image to link the older brother to the first blast site. Among some in the room, there was a sharp intake of breath at seeing Tamerlan there — though Pelligrini did not identify him by name. “No,” Gregory calmly testified. She had not noticed him that day.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A few feet away, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sat at the defense table staring into the video screen at the picture of his brother. If he had any reaction, no one but the judge, jury and his attorneys could see it.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Earlier, William Weinreb, the assistant U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case, spoke of Tamerlan Tsarnaev as an equal partner in the mayhem of that day, but told the jury he wouldn’t be in court. “That’s because the defendant killed him,” he bluntly said, explaining that the younger Tsarnaev ran over his brother with a car during an altercation with police four days after the bombings.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">At the defense table, Tsarnaev sat still as Weinreb spoke, avoiding eye contact with anyone, even as the dozens of victims and family members of those who died stared at the back of his head — many seeing him in the flesh for the very first time. Aside from his attorneys, the defendant was alone in court. No one in his family had shown up to support him. As recently as January, his father, Anzor, had told reporters that his sons were framed — echoing comments that his older sister had made to reporters last summer. It’s unclear if the family has been cooperative with Tsarnaev’s defense team.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644436632_1974" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">On Thursday, testimony is likely to get even more gruesome. Jeff Bauman, the New Hampshire man who became the public face of the bombing after both of his legs were ripped off by the first bomb, is expected to testify, both about his injuries and tipping off the FBI to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who stood right next to him near the finish line before the explosion. Bauman’s story is familiar, but as with other testimony and evidence presented in the case so far, knowing what happened is unlikely to make it any less horrific.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRBXAhGzkRA/VPmcLl3j1EI/AAAAAAAAAHk/tEvdr4HrJ7w/s1600/5bd4d04327a7d30a6f0f6a70670082ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SRBXAhGzkRA/VPmcLl3j1EI/AAAAAAAAAHk/tEvdr4HrJ7w/s1600/5bd4d04327a7d30a6f0f6a70670082ec.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div>

In Boston Marathon bombing courtroom, gruesome testimony and dread at what is to come

BOSTON—The clock on the video said 2:49 p.m., and it was hard to imagine that anyone in the courtroom didn’t know what was coming up next. I...

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Man shot by police on Skid Row is identified

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2124" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">LOS ANGELES (AP) — A homeless man who was shot to death by police during a confrontation over the weekend was identified under his true name — not the stolen identity he had used for years.</div><div class="body-slot-mod" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.307693481445313px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-width: 300px;"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2122" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Charly Keundeu Keunang, 43, identified Thursday, was listed as being indigent and homeless, and he died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2155" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Keunang, a native of Cameroon, was known on the streets as "Africa." He was killed on Sunday by police officers answering a robbery report. Officers said he became combative, made a grab for the gun of a rookie policeman and was shot by three other officers.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2170" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The shooting was captured on video and prompted several protests.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Keunang's path to Skid Row was marked by mistakes and miscommunication by three governments on three continents over nearly 20 years.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The problems began in the late 1990s when French officials gave him a passport under what turned out to be a stolen name — Charley Saturin Robinet. He came to the U.S., robbed a bank and then was convicted and imprisoned under the same false name.</div><div class="body-related" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-pos="1" data-rapid_p="26" data-uuid="304b18b1-1d58-31f3-8958-07416643cac0" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:b59d8756-a7e3-3224-b2ad-a1c088dee65c;aid:304b18b1-1d58-31f3-8958-07416643cac0;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/february-2000-photo-provided-ventura-county-sheriffs-office-photo-044641870.html" style="color: #324fe1; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="This February 2000 photo provided by Ventura County&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 215px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall " style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall " style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="This February 2000 photo provided by Ventura County&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="215" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Dc7MQwgLjgx6l02JWjMOrA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxNTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/989d74252486c40a6f0f6a70670012ed.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">This February 2000 photo provided by Ventura County Sheriff's Office shows Charley Saturmin Robi …</div></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">U.S. immigration officials wanted to send him back to Cameroon, but that country never responded to requests to take him. So he was released from a halfway house last May, and U.S. probation officials lost track of him in November.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">It took three failed monthly check-ins for a warrant to be issued on a probation violation, and it's unclear whether anyone actually looked for him. He apparently was living the entire time on Skid Row, roughly 50 square blocks of liquor stores, warehouses, charitable missions and a few modest businesses.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Many of the estimated 1,700 people who sleep each night on the sidewalks are mentally ill, like Africa.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego who is chairman of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., said the case points to multiple failures by government.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">He criticized France for not being more diligent in investigating the man's background before issuing a passport and U.S. authorities for not realizing he was a "fraud" before the end of his prison term and then not putting more effort into finding him once he disappeared.</div><div class="body-related" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2105" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-pos="2" data-rapid_p="27" data-uuid="98b2abe9-6a0d-3750-b751-559bd0baf738" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:b59d8756-a7e3-3224-b2ad-a1c088dee65c;aid:98b2abe9-6a0d-3750-b751-559bd0baf738;ct:4;cpos:2;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/protestors-carry-banner-during-rally-front-police-administration-photo-193408047.html" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2104" style="color: #324fe1; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Protestors carry a banner during a rally in front of&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2103" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2102" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 203px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall " style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall " style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Protestors carry a banner during a rally in front of&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="203" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/_ijJnjPiaqq2Lje6PoA8KA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMztxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/fb5866bbfe84bb096f0f6a706700df21.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Protestors carry a banner during a rally in front of the police administration building in downtown  …</div></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Shame on all of them," said Nunez, whose group advocates for stricter immigration policies and enforcement.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Axel Cruau, France's consul general in Los Angeles, said the system for checking backgrounds was vastly different when the man duped French officials.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Let's remember 20 years ago we didn't have the same databases we have today, the same rules, we didn't have biometric design. It was before 9/11," he said.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Using the false name, the man was believed to be a French citizen in 2000 when convicted of robbing a Wells Fargo branch in Los Angeles and pistol-whipping an employee in what he told authorities was an effort to pay for acting classes at the Beverly Hills Playhouse.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">In 2013, as he was nearing his release from a federal prison in Rochester, Minnesota, French officials found the real Robinet in France, Cruau said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement then determined the impostor actually was from Cameroon, but the agency said the African country ignored repeated requests for travel documents, hampering efforts to deport him.</div><div class="body-related" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2114" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-pos="3" data-rapid_p="28" data-uuid="51534cae-c3c5-37d5-bcdf-9eed3a815cd2" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:b59d8756-a7e3-3224-b2ad-a1c088dee65c;aid:51534cae-c3c5-37d5-bcdf-9eed3a815cd2;ct:4;cpos:3;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/protestors-rally-downtown-los-angeles-against-police-shooting-photo-193412819.html" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2118" style="color: #324fe1; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Protestors rally in downtown Los Angeles, against a&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2117" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2116" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 191px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall " id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2119" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall " style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Protestors rally in downtown Los Angeles, against a&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="191" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/jBmZBdjxDOM2fjJXUVtQow--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE5MTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/14dbd0c8fe85bb096f0f6a706700604e.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2113" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Protestors rally in downtown Los Angeles, against a police shooting of a homeless man on Tuesday, Ma …</div></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that immigration authorities cannot detain people indefinitely just because no country will take them. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the government would need a special reason to keep someone in custody after six months if deportation seemed unlikely in "the reasonably foreseeable future."</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2111" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The man was in immigration custody in September 2013 when a federal judge in California ordered him to a halfway house in Los Angeles. He was released from the halfway house in May, said Ed Ross, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons. His sentence included three years of supervision by federal probation officials.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2109" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">___</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644118559_2179" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Spagat reported from San Diego. Associated Press writer Alicia Caldwell in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.</div><div class="yom-remote"><div class="" id="mediacontentrelatedstory_container"><section class="yom-mod " data-ylk="mid:mediacontentrelatedstory;mpos:1;elm:hdln;elmt:ct;cat:Related Stories;rspns:nav;t1:a3;t2:lst-ct;itc:0;sec:lst-ct;" id="mediacontentrelatedstory" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="yom-related-story-module story sidekick " style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="hd" style="margin-left: 15px;"></div></div></section></div></div></div></div>

Man shot by police on Skid Row is identified

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A homeless man who was shot to death by police during a confrontation over the weekend was identified under his true name...

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Cardinal Edward Egan, former archbishop of New York, dies at 82

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644041152_954" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"><b id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644041152_956">Cardinal Edward Egan</b>, the former archbishop of New York who oversaw a broad and sometimes unpopular financial overhaul of the archdiocese and played a prominent role in the city after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, died Thursday. He was 82.<br /></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644041152_949" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Egan, who retired in 2009 after nine years as archbishop, died of cardiac arrest at a New York hospital, the archdiocese announced. As a child he survived polio, which affected his health as an adult, and he also used a pacemaker. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the current archbishop of New York, asked for prayers for Egan and for his family. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Egan "was a generous man who committed his life to serving others."<br /></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644041152_951" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">In 2000, Egan was chosen by Pope John Paul II for the difficult job of succeeding larger-than-life Cardinal John O'Connor, who was a major figure not only in the city, but in the country. From him, Egan inherited an annual deficit of about $20 million. Egan cut spending and laid off staff — and said he wiped out the shortfall within two years.<br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Yet Egan bristled at the suggestion that he was more a manager than shepherd. In a 2001 interview with The New York Times, he said, "I am about, first and foremost, serving 413 communities of faith," he said, referring to the archdiocese's parishes.<br /></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425644041152_952" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">On Sept. 11, after a call from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the cardinal spent the day anointing the dead, distributing rosaries to workers as they searched, mostly in vain, for survivors. Egan later presided over funerals for the victims, sometimes three a day. (AP)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hsh3Huj3lzI/VPmajPpwg2I/AAAAAAAAAHY/RBg7YyhyTqw/s1600/2015-03-05T203625Z_260025439_TM3EB3517AQ01_RTRMADP_3_PEOPLE-CARDINALEGAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hsh3Huj3lzI/VPmajPpwg2I/AAAAAAAAAHY/RBg7YyhyTqw/s1600/2015-03-05T203625Z_260025439_TM3EB3517AQ01_RTRMADP_3_PEOPLE-CARDINALEGAN.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div>

Cardinal Edward Egan, former archbishop of New York, dies at 82

Cardinal Edward Egan , the former archbishop of New York who oversaw a broad and sometimes unpopular financial overhaul of the archdiocese a...

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South Korea police investigate U.S. ambassador attacker's visits to North

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2083" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean police said on Friday they are investigating possible links between a knife attack on the U.S. ambassador to Seoul and the assailant's multiple visits to North Korea, as they also sought to charge him with attempted murder.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2091" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">U.S. ambassador Mark Lippert needed 80 stitches after his face was slashed at a forum discussing Korean unification in the capital, Seoul, on Thursday. The attack was carried out by a Korean nationalist who said he was protesting against annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises that began this week.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2088" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A senior official in the team investigating the attack said police had requested a formal detention warrant, on charges that include attempted murder, for the assailant, identified as 55-year old Kim Ki-jong.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2118" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Investigators have established that Kim made seven visits to North Korea between 1999 and 2007.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2120" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"We are investigating whether there is any connection between the suspect's visits to North Korea and the crime committed against the U.S. ambassador," Yoon Myeong-seong, chief of police in Seoul's central Jongno district, told reporters.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2122" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Most South Koreans have never visited the secretive North. The two states technically remain at war under a truce that ended the 1950-53 Korea War, and a heavily armed border divides the peninsula.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-slideshow go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize " data-list-id="b9d34600-c2ce-11e4-be59-4903ae0f42d9" data-pos="1" data-rapid_p="26" data-type="slideshow" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:d5b5524f-89da-332d-90dd-552d3c7b7cbd;aid:b9d34600-c2ce-11e4-be59-4903ae0f42d9;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/mark-lippert-u-s-ambassador-to-south-korea-attacked-slideshow/" style="color: #324fe1; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Mark Lippert, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, atta&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 159px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall " style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall " style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Mark Lippert, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, atta&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="159" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/VcVhFtIu_r9idL8Ts9GBTg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE1OTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2015-03-05/91f0eff0-c2d0-11e4-a2e2-1bee47de2fca_2015-03-04T234115Z_1372413462_GM1EB350L7L01_RTRMADP_3_SOUTHKOREA-USA-AMBASSADOR.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert leaves after he was slashed in the face by an unidentifi …</div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2124" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kim denied on Friday that his actions were connected in any way with North Korea, calling the suggestion "nonsense", and told reporters he had never been to the North, as he left a police station and headed to court for his warrant hearing.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2126" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">According to South Korea's Unification Ministry, Kim planted trees near the North Korean city of Kaesong, near the border, during his visits there. The ministry said it had authorized his visit requests at the time.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kim also faces charges for assaulting a foreign envoy and obstructing business operations. Police raided his home and office early on Friday, looking for evidence of whether he also broke a state security law that bans supporting North Korea.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">In 2010, Kim tried to attack the Japanese ambassador to South Korea by throwing a piece of concrete and was given a suspended jail term, according to police.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2128" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kim was a member of the pro-unification group that hosted the Thursday forum.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">North Korean state media has said the attack against Lippert was "deserved punishment" for the military drills, calling the assault "the knife of justice". South Korea's Unification Ministry condemned the statement as "senseless".</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The South Korean government ordered increased security for diplomatic missions, including the U.S. embassy, and police said they were providing protection for Lippert.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2131" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Lippert was accompanied by a bodyguard when the attack took place on Thursday. Police were also present, although not at the request of the U.S. embassy or organizers.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2133" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The United States is South Korea's closest ally and maintains a military presence that includes 28,500 personnel. That has drawn protest and criticism from some in South Korea in the past but public opposition has eased in recent years.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Lippert is recovering in a Seoul hospital and has said he is in "good spirits".</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Doctors at Yonsei University's Severance Hospital said Lippert was likely to remain there until early next week, when they planned to remove his stitches.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2137" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Lippert underwent surgery on Thursday for an 11-cm (4 inches) gash on the right side of his face and a puncture wound on his left wrist that caused nerve damage, which was repaired.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1425643912116_2135" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">(Additional reporting by Christine Kim and Seungyun Oh; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Paul Tait and Tony Munroe)</div></div>

South Korea police investigate U.S. ambassador attacker's visits to North

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean police said on Friday they are investigating possible links between a knife attack on the U.S. ambassador to ...

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