Former U.S. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman (L-R), IRS Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner and U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin take their seats to testify before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on targeting of political groups seeking tax-exempt status from by the IRS, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 22, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

In any scandal, lying to Congress is tough to prove

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Whatever political problems Lois Lerner may have escalated for the Obama administration in the scandal over IRS scrutiny of conservative groups, history suggests neither she nor any other Internal Revenue Service official is likely to face criminal charges related to congressional testimony.  Full Article | Video 

Asian markets sell off on Bernanke remarks, China PMI 2:16am EDT

SINGAPORE - Hawkish comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and weakness in China's factory activity rattled Asian markets on Thursday, sending stock prices down, the U.S. dollar to three-year highs, and Japanese government bond yields to their highest in a year.

The site of the fire and explosion of April 17, 2013 is pictured in West, Texas on  April 24 2013.   REUTERS/Tom Reel/Pool

Poor planning left Texas firefighters unprepared

WEST, Texas - The fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 14 and injured about 200 others in Texas last month highlights the failings of a U.S. federal law intended to save lives during chemical accidents, a Reuters investigation has found.  Full Article | Related Story 

A riot police officer fires teargas during clashes with supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis May 19, 2013. REUTERS/Anis Mili

Crackdown on radical Islamists tests Tunisia

TUNIS - For the first time since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, relations between mainstream Islamists in government and radical Salafist Muslim activists have reached breaking point, sparking deadly clashes in two Tunisian cities.  Full Article 

Ibragim Todashev is pictured in this undated booking photo courtesy of the Orange County Corrections Department. REUTERS/Orange County Corrections Department/Handout

Man questioned on Boston blasts killed by FBI

ORLANDO, Fla./WASHINGTON - An FBI agent shot and killed a man of Chechen origin who turned violent while being questioned about his connection to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of two Chechen brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings.  Full Article 

Apple CEO Tim Cook (C), CFO Peter Oppenheimer (L) and Apple Head of tax operations Philip Bullock appear before a Senate homeland security and governmental affairs investigations subcommittee hearing on offshore profit shifting and the U.S. tax code, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 21, 2013. Apple Inc came under fire on Tuesday at a Senate hearing over an investigation that alleged the U.S. high technology icon has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries and paid little or no taxes to any government.   REUTERS/Jason Reed    (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

Apple takes center stage in tax fight

WASHINGTON - For years, Apple Inc kept a low profile in Washington as it grew into one of the most valuable companies in the world. Now the iPad maker has taken the lead, perhaps inadvertently, on a top priority for U.S. business: simplifying America's tax code.  Full Article 

Meg Whitman, chief executive officer and president of Hewlett-Packard, speaks during the grand opening of the company's Executive Briefing Center in Palo Alto, California January 16, 2013. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

HP raises outlook as Whitman's plan takes hold

SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard raised its 2013 earnings outlook after quarterly results beat low expectations, as CEO Meg Whitman's turnaround plan helped offset shrinking personal computer sales with enterprise computing services.  Full Article 

A U.S. flag from the Plaza Towers elementary school is erected on poles in front of the school in Moore, Oklahoma, May 22, 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Tornado victims astounded at how they survived

MOORE, Oklahoma - Tornado survivors thanked God, sturdy closets and luck in explaining how they lived through the colossal twister that devastated an Oklahoma town and killed 24 people, an astonishingly low toll given the extent of destruction.  Full Article | Video 

Kathrin Jansen, senior vice president of Vaccine Research and Early Development at Pfizer Inc, poses for a portrait in one of her labs at Pfizer headquarters in Pearl River, New York, April 19, 2013. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Pfizer takes a shot at evasive superbug vaccine

CHICAGO - A microbiologist with at least two breakthrough vaccines to her name is turning her attention to taming the superbug MRSA, a drug-resistant bacterium that she has seen ravage a healthy man up close and personally.  Full Article 

Michael O'Hanlon and Sean Zeigler

Civil wars and Syria: lessons from history

Removing Assad would no more end the Syrian conflict than overthrowing Saddam Hussein in 2003 brought stability to Iraq. The U.S. must create a more integrated overall strategy, argue Michael O'Hanlon and Sean Zeigler.  Commentary 

David Rohde

Prosperity without power

Across the BRIC nations, frustrated members of the middle class are demanding change, but traditional power holders from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to India’s large political parties remain entrenched.  Commentary 

Edward Hadas

Apple, hypocrisy and stakeholder tax

Politicians are hypocrites when they complain about the cross-border tax strategies of Apple and other multinationals. But "hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue." It’s high time that companies admit taxes on profit are fair payments for the help that governments give them.  Commentary 

Bethany McLean

How much does Jamie Dimon matter?

To his supporters, he’s the personification of everything that’s best about the financial system. But to detractors, he’s the personification of all that’s wrong with modern banking — the arrogance, the resistance to new regulation, the astronomical pay in the face of obvious mistakes.  Commentary 

Gary Regenstreif

What Hollande can learn from Queen of Hearts

So far there has been little to show for his economic policies. Some actions have backfired and others have not gone far enough.  Commentary 

Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane

U.S. power: Down but still unrivaled

Beijing does not threaten to counterbalance U.S. power as gravely as America’s economy threatens to become imbalanced on its own.  Commentary