The Abbreviated Evening Edition

Due to traveling (NN11) and playing in the mud (don’t ask, trust me it’s messy), the Evening Edition, Punting the Pundits and promotions will be sporadic for the next 2 weeks at both Docudharma and The Stars Hollow Gazette, especially tomorrow.

Bernanke warns of crisis if debt limit not raised

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa – 1 hr 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Tuesday that a failure to lift the government’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling risks a potentially disastrous loss of confidence in America’s creditworthiness.

In comments that could give fresh impetus to talks on raising the legal limit on the nation’s debt, Bernanke said the United States could lose its prized AAA credit rating and the U.S. dollar’s special status as a reserve currency might be damaged if Congress fails to act soon.

6 killed, tanks near Iraq as Syria faces backlash

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Six civilians were killed Tuesday and tanks were deployed near Syria’s border with Iraq, activists said as President Bashar al-Assad came under sharp pressure to halt a crackdown on democracy protests.

“Six civilians perished in the past few hours in Ariha,” east of Jisr al-Shughur, an activist told AFP in Nicosia, without providing further details.

The latest deaths came after fresh protests erupted in the eastern town of Deir Ezzor, a rights activist said, and troops pursued a scorched earth campaign in northern mountains, sending thousands fleeing into Turkey.

Senate sidetracks move to repeal ethanol credit

German E.coli outbreak claims first child victim

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s E.coli outbreak claimed its first child fatality on Tuesday when a two-year-old died from the bacteria in the northern city of Hanover, taking the death toll to 37.

German health authorities have linked the epidemic, the deadliest of its kind in modern history, to contaminated bean sprouts and shoots from a German organic farm sold to consumers and restaurants across the country for eating in salads.

Boehner pressures Obama on Libya operation

WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to explain the legal grounds for the continued U.S. military involvement in Libya and set a Friday deadline for the commander in chief’s response.

Ratcheting up the pressure, the Ohio Republican said in a letter to the White House that the administration clearly will be in violation of the 1973 War Powers Act this weekend. Obama did not seek congressional consent for the operation within 60 days of the March 19 U.S. airstrikes against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.

Gay judge’s same-sex marriage ruling upheld

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge on Tuesday upheld a gay judge’s ruling that struck down California’s same-sex marriage ban, noting that his fellow jurist could not be presumed to have a personal stake in the case just because he was in a long-term relationship with another man.

In a 19-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker had no obligation to divulge whether he wanted to marry his own gay partner before he declared last year that voter-approved Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.

[Republican Huntsman to announce White House run

Republican Huntsman to announce White House run]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman will announce his bid for the White House next Tuesday, bringing a moderate Republican and expert on America’s fastest growing competitor into the race to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.

“I intend to announce that I will be a candidate for the presidency a week from today,” Huntsman, former U.S. ambassador to China, said at an event hosted by Thomson Reuters.

The formal announcement of his candidacy will be made on June 21 near the Statue of Liberty, a source close to Huntsman said.

Obama visits Puerto Rico with eye on US voters

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Wooing Hispanic voters back home, President Barack Obama kept his campaign pledge to become the first president since John F. Kennedy to make an official visit to this recession-battered U.S. territory. “The aspirations and the struggles on this island mirror those across America,” Obama declared Tuesday.

On a sweltering day, thousands crowded the main roads and waved flags as Obama’s motorcade roared by. A huge banner filled eight stories of a building, featuring the images of Kennedy and Obama. “We are proud to be part of history,” it said.

NATO resumes aristrikes on Tripoli

TRIPOLI, Libya – NATO resumed its airstrike on the Libyan capital of Tripoli late Tuesday, blasting at least two targets just before midnight, after military leaders voiced concerns about sustaining the operations if the alliance mission drags on.

The targets of the late night airstrikes were not immediately clear, and there was no word about casualties.

East of the capital, alliance aircraft have begun dropping leaflets warning government troops to abandon their posts outside Zlitan, which lies just west of the rebel-held port city of Misrata.

Arizona wildfire sets new record at 469,000 acres

EAGAR, Ariz (Reuters) – The wildfire that has roared out of control for more than two weeks through the pine forests of eastern Arizona set a record on Tuesday as the largest in state history, having consumed over 469,000 acres.

The Wallow Fire, which authorities suspect started from an unattended campfire, has scorched dozens of homes and displaced as many as 10,000 people since it erupted May 29 in the White Mountains region, an area popular among Arizonans as a weekend getaway from the heat of summer.

Levee breaches threaten residents along Missouri River

KANSAS CITY, Mo (Reuters) – Residents in Hamburg, Iowa, were dry on Tuesday morning and waiting for the Missouri River to reach a secondary flood wall following a widely expected and widening levee breach miles south of the city.

Contractors have been raising the secondary levee by several feet near Hamburg, while a secondary levee has limited flooding from another levee breach 45 miles to the south in Big Lake, Missouri, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.

Lawmaker wants accused Iraqis sent to Guantanamo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday called on the Obama administration to send two Iraqis who are accused of trying to help al Qaeda to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. authorities arrested two Iraqi men in Kentucky last month and charged them in federal court with trying to help al Qaeda militants in their home country. One of the suspects was also charged in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

NY lawmakers set to vote on legalizing gay marriage

ALBANY (Reuters) – New York could become the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage next week after Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced a bill on Tuesday that needs support from just one more senator to pass.

Cuomo, a Democrat in his first year in office, had vowed to make same-sex marriage a priority during the final weeks of the legislative session. Lawmakers break on Monday for a lengthy recess.

The state-by-state battle over gay marriage has become one of the most contentious U.S. social issues ahead of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Judge: prison for contractor in Afghan shooting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former Blackwater Worldwide security contractor was sentenced on Tuesday to 37 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter involving the shooting deaths of two Afghans in Kabul.

A federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia, gave the prison term, followed by three years of probation, at a sentencing hearing for Christopher Drotleff, 31, a Virginia Beach resident, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Drotleff and another contractor, Justin Cannon, were convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter in the death of two Afghans and for injuring a third at a Kabul intersection in 2009. They were acquitted on more serious charges.

Army ditches black berets in favor of caps

COLUMBIA, S.C. – It’s hot, it doesn’t keep the sun out of your eyes, and you need two hands and a mirror to make sure it’s on straight. After 10 years of complaints, the Army is all but ditching the black wool beret and allowing soldiers to go back to the old brimmed patrol cap for their everyday duties.

“It’s the military equivalent of being able to wear a baseball cap to work,” said Col. Pete Brooks of the South Carolina Army National Guard. “Wearing the beret in 100-degree South Carolina heat was like wearing a wet piece of black wool on your head.”

JPMorgan shuffles top retail bank executives

NEW YORK (Reuters) — JPMorgan Chase & Co shuffled several retail banking executives, signaling Chief Executive Jamie Dimon’s determination to rebuild the bank’s profits and elevate in-house talent to high-profile roles.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the bank said retail banking chief Charlie Scharf is moving to the firm’s private equity arm and that other senior executives are taking on additional responsibilities in his former division.

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