LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) – News Corp’s Rupert
Murdoch has stepped down from a string of boards overseeing the
Sun, Times and Sunday Times newspapers in Britain, the company
said in an internal memo on Saturday.

The company described the news as a “corporate housecleaning
exercise” linked to the announcement in June that News Corp
would split into two separate companies: a smaller publishing
division and a much larger entertainment and TV group.

LONDON (Reuters) – New York police believe Iranian Revolutionary Guards or their proxies have been involved so far this year in nine plots against Israeli or Jewish targets around the world, according to restricted police documents obtained by Reuters.

Reports prepared this week by intelligence analysts for the New York Police Department (NYPD) say three plots were foiled in January, three in February and another three since late June. Iran has repeatedly denied supporting militant attacks abroad.

LONDON (Reuters) – New York police believe Iranian Revolutionary Guards or their proxies have been involved so far this year in nine plots against Israeli or Jewish targets around the world, according to restricted police documents obtained by Reuters.

Reports prepared this week by intelligence analysts for the New York Police Department (NYPD) say three plots were foiled in January, three in February and another three since late June. Iran has repeatedly denied supporting militant attacks abroad.

LONDON July 13 (Reuters) – Last December, a purported
Islamic fighter called Amir Ghrozni posted a cryptic message on
a password-protected website connected to al Qaeda.

“London, perhaps the punishment is near,” the message said.
“Await the glad tidings, as we will never calm down.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal emergency money began filtering out this week to two storm-ravaged states, with funds going to help West Virginia and Ohio buy generators and other equipment needed to restore power.

But two other states, Maryland and Virginia, said they had not yet decided whether to seek federal assistance.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A brief, violent storm that brought the U.S. capital to its knees in the midst of a heat wave dramatically highlighted that millions of Americans remain vulnerable to extended power blackouts because of a reluctance to invest in infrastructure and patchy, ineffective regulations.

Electrical utilities are advising customers in and around Washington that it may well be a whole week before all power is restored after the unusually potent storm that ravaged the mid-Atlantic region on Friday. Many customers are outraged as to why it would take so long.

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) – A brief, violent storm that
brought the U.S. capital to its knees in the midst of a heat
wave dramatically highlighted that millions of Americans remain
vulnerable to extended power blackouts because of a reluctance
to invest in infrastructure and patchy, ineffective regulations.

Electrical utilities are advising customers in and around
Washington that it may well be a whole week before all power is
restored after the unusually potent storm that ravaged the
mid-Atlantic region on Friday. Many customers are outraged as to
why it would take so long.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – United Technologies Corp on Thursday admitted selling China software that helped Beijing develop its first modern military attack helicopter, one of hundreds of export control violations over nearly two decades.

At a federal court hearing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United Technologies and its two subsidiaries, Pratt & Whitney Canada and Hamilton Sundstrand Corp, agreed to pay more than $75 million to the U.S. government to settle criminal and administrative charges related to the violations.

WASHINGTON June 28 (Reuters) – United Technologies Corp
and two of its subsidiaries sold China software enabling
Chinese authorities to develop and produce their first modern
military attack helicopter, U.S. authorities said on Thursday.

At a federal court hearing in Bridgeport, Connecticut,
United Technologies and its two subsidiaries, Pratt & Whitney
Canada and Hamilton Sundstrand Corp, agreed to pay more than $75
million to the U.S. government to settle criminal and
administrative charges related to the sales.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Little more than four months before the U.S. presidential elections, Republican hopeful Mitt Romney’s foreign policy team is facing the same kind of internal rivalries that dogged the administrations of Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes.

Romney’s official campaign website lists 42 official foreign and defense advisers, including some of the Republican Party’s most prestigious experts, many veterans of past administrations.