China’s Xi will meet Obama earlier than expected

May 20, 2013 By
FILE - In this May 6, 2013 file phot, China's President Xi Jinping, shakes hands with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, unseen, during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. China's new leader Xi will confer with President Barack Obama in June in California, months earlier than their expected first meeting, as both sides seek to stem a drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North Korea. (AP Photo/Jason Lee, Pool, File)

BEIJING (AP) — China's new leader Xi Jinping will confer with President Barack Obama next month in California, months earlier than their expected first meeting, as both sides seek to stem a drift in relations, troubled by issues from cyberspying to North Korea. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: US Government

Ark. treasurer accused of taking cash from broker

May 20, 2013 By
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2012, file photo Arkansas State Treasurer Martha Shoffner at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. An affidavit filed Monday, May 20, 2013, in federal court alleges that Shoffner, arrested on an extortion charge, repeatedly took cash payments of at least $36,000, sometimes rolled up and hidden inside a pie box, from a broker who invested state money. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' state treasurer was accused Monday of taking at least $36,000 in cash — sometimes stashed in a pie box — from a broker who later came to manage a large share of the state's $3.3 billion investment portfolio. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: US Government

More Obama aides knew of IRS audit; Obama not told

May 20, 2013 By
FILE - In this May 15, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. It might have seemed a no-win situation to the White House: either keep President Barack Obama in the dark about a looming investigation into political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service or blur legal lines by telling him about an independent audit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups, President Barack Obama's spokesman disclosed Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit beyond those named earlier. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: US Government

AP source: Treasury told WH of IRS disclosure plan

May 20, 2013 By

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Treasury official says the department told the White House twice that the IRS was preparing to make public its targeting of conservative political groups. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: US Government

Public pension employees skip Hawaii conference

May 20, 2013 By
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie speaks at the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems in Honolulu on Monday, May 20, 2013. Organizers of an annual conference for people who manage more than $3 trillion in public sector pension funds in the U.S. and Canada say a significant number of administrators are skipping this year's meeting in Hawaii to avoid the perception they're wasting money by heading to the island paradise. (AP Photo/Oskar Garcia)

HONOLULU (AP) — Organizers of an annual conference for people who manage more than $3 trillion in public sector pension funds in the U.S. and Canada say a significant number of administrators are skipping this year's meeting in Hawaii to avoid the perception they're wasting money by heading to the island paradise. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: US Government