By Susan Cornwell and Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON | Wed May 23, 2012 4:12pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Secret Service, in his first public appearance since a Colombian prostitution scandal involving his employees surfaced last month, apologized for the misconduct on Wednesday as lawmakers expressed doubt it was an isolated incident. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, gray-haired in a blue striped suit and tie, faced the Senate Homeland Security Committee and asserted that the behavior of a dozen employees in Cartagena in April did not reflect the culture of the agency that protects the president.But Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the committee, said a review of Secret Service records showed that over the past five years there were 64 instances of ... Continue reading →

By Jasmin Melvin and Alister Bull WASHINGTON | Wed May 23, 2012 4:20pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, hoping to spur U.S. innovation in the explosive field of mobile communications, on Wednesday ordered all major federal agencies to make many more of their services available on mobile phones within the next year. "Americans deserve a government that works for them anytime, anywhere, and on any device," Obama said in a statement.His administration is eager to hasten government adoption of new technology since showing itself to be highly tech-savvy after running a 2008 election campaign that was widely praised for the innovative way it used the Internet and social media.Analysts welcomed the move, but voiced skepticism it could be effective unless Obama also freed ... Continue reading →

PESHAWAR, Pakistan | Wed May 23, 2012 7:13am EDT PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been sentenced to at least 30 years in prison, television channels and a local government official said. The official said Shakil Afridi was charged with treason for running a fake vaccination campaign believed to have helped the American intelligence agency track bin Laden in a Pakistani town, where he was killed in a U.S. special forces raid.(Reporting by Ibrahim Shinwari and Jibran Ahmad; Writing by Michael Georgy) Continue reading →

By Glenn Somerville WASHINGTON | Wed May 23, 2012 2:10am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Wanted for the Treasury Department: a new boss who can fix trillion-dollar-plus budget deficits, overhaul the tax system and spur a reluctant Europe into fixing its debt crisis. It's a tall order, especially when the new Treasury chief also must deal with a fractious Congress - and all for a salary lower than that paid to many junior Wall Street bankers.Economists, investors and veterans of past administrations are appraising potential successors to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, either in a new Obama administration, if President Barack Obama is re-elected, or under Mitt Romney.Geithner has made it clear that he is leaving the post he has held since January 2009 even if Obama, ... Continue reading →

By Tabassum Zakaria FORT MEADE, Maryland | Tue May 22, 2012 2:41pm EDT FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - The National Security Agency is trying to expand U.S. cyber expertise needed for secret intelligence operations against adversaries on computer networks through a new cyber-ops program at selected universities. The cyber-ops curriculum is geared to providing the basic education for jobs in intelligence, military and law enforcement that are so secret they will only be revealed to some students and faculty, who need to pass security clearance requirements, during special summer seminars offered by NSA.It is not easy to find the right people for cyber operations because the slice of the hacker community that would make a quality cyber operator inside the government is only a sliver.The ... Continue reading →

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON | Mon May 21, 2012 8:20pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said on Monday that he would resign, following a year of intense criticism over his abrasive management style. A series of reports and congressional hearings have painted Jaczko as a bully who had reduced some senior female employees to tears - accusations that have overshadowed new rules he championed in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex.Jaczko, 41, has consistently dismissed and denied the reports. He said announcing his decision to step down more than a year before his term expired was "not at all" related to the accusations but rather publicly signals his ... Continue reading →

By Piya Sinha-Roy and Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES | Sun May 20, 2012 2:13pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - New action movie "Battleship" collided with Iron Man, The Hulk and the rest of "The Avengers" this weekend at movie theater box offices, and the super heroes came out on top. "Avengers" from Walt Disney Co's Marvel Studios added an estimated $55.1 million to its U.S. and Canadian ticket sales and held the No. 1 box office spot for the third straight weekend, according to studio forecasts on Sunday.The strong performance left big-budget "Battleship," which launched in theaters on Friday, drifting in second place with $25.3 million. Final figures will be released on Monday.Since it opened overseas in late April, "Avengers" has dominated movie theater box ... Continue reading →

NEW YORK | Sat May 19, 2012 8:07pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng said on Saturday after arriving in the United States that he was gratified the Chinese government had been dealing with his situation with "restraint and calm." "I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people," Chen, speaking through a translator, told reporters outside a New York University housing building in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood.He will be studying as a fellow at NYU's School of Law.Chen arrived in the United States shortly after 6 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of ... Continue reading →

By Laura MacInnis CAMP DAVID, Maryland | Fri May 18, 2012 11:47pm EDT CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - Group of Eight leaders agreed in their initial discussions at Camp David on Friday that Iran needs to disclose more about its nuclear ambitions and that it was time to focus on a political transition in Syria, a U.S. official said. The leaders also stressed the importance of having North Korea adhere to international norms with its nuclear program and said it would face more isolation if it "continues down the path of provocation," the official said.The Friday evening dinner, hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, was the first opportunity for the G8 leaders to discuss global security concerns. They will talk about the euro zone crisis ... Continue reading →