The remains of a fertilizer plant burn after an explosion at the plant in the town of West, near Waco, Texas early April 18, 2013. The deadly explosion ripped through the fertilizer plant late on Wednesday, injuring more than 100 people, leveling dozens of homes and damaging other buildings including a school and nursing home, authorities said. REUTERS/Mike Stone (UNITED STATES - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Poor planning left Texas firefighters unprepared

By M.B. Pell, Ryan McNeill and Janet Roberts

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 

U.S. acknowledges killing four Americans in drone strikes 8:17pm EDT

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government formally acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed four Americans, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.
Ibragim Todashev is pictured in this undated booking photo courtesy of the Orange County Corrections Department. REUTERS/Orange County Corrections Department/Handout
U.S.

Man questioned on Boston blasts killed by FBI

By Barbara Liston and Mark Hosenball

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 

Candidates hold U.S. flags during a naturalization ceremony to become new U.S. Citizens at Convention Center in Los Angeles, California February 27, 2013. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Politics

Immigration bill faces next test of diplomacy

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON - Supporters of U.S. immigration reform are hoping that the smooth passage of their legislation through a Senate committee - a departure from the usual infighting in Congress - will boost the likelihood of the bill winning full Senate approval.  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)
Technology

Apple takes center stage in tax fight

By Andy Sullivan, Gabriel Debenedetti and Poornima Gupta

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 

Supporters of Hezbollah and relatives of Hezbollah member Hussein Ahmad Abu Hasan carry his coffin during his funeral in Beirut's suburbs May 21, 2013. On a country road in Lebanon's northeast, traffic is heavy; ambulances screech by, sirens blaring, and cars packed with mourners follow coffins as Hezbollah brings wounded fighters home from Syria, and its dead. Having long denied its engagement in Syria behind President Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah has committed itself this week to the fight for the strategic small town of Qusair, sending hundreds of men and losing dozens wounded and between 20 and 50 killed. Picture taken May 21, 2013. To match Analysis SYRIA-CRISIS/HEZBOLLAH
Syria

With Hezbollah coffins, Syria exports conflict

By Erika Solomon

HERMEL, Lebanon - As civil conflict between Syria's Iranian-backed ruler and Sunni rebels spreads across the Middle East, Hezbollah's drive to save President Bashar al-Assad is testing Lebanon's own fragile, sectarian peace.  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
Natural Disasters

Tornado victims astounded at how they survived

By Carey Gillam and Ian Simpson

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 

U.S. Director of Exempt Organizations for the Internal Revenue Service, Lois Lerner, takes her seat before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on alleged targeting of political groups seeking tax-exempt status by the IRS, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 22, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
U.S.

IRS thwarts quest for answers on scandal

By Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West

WASHINGTON - Three congressional hearings during the past week have allowed lawmakers to vent their anger at the U.S. tax agency for its targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny, but the sessions have yielded few answers about who was responsible.  Full Article 

Musicians from the military bands of China's People's Liberation Army and the U.S. Army take photos during a rehearsal for their joint concert at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, in this October 29, 2012 file photo. REUTERS/China Daily/Files
China

U.S. and China deepen military ties

By Peter Apps

WASHINGTON - Even as the United States accuses China of military espionage and worries about Beijing's more strident posture in the Asia-Pacific region, the ties between the armed forces of the two nations have been getting closer.  Full Analysis 

Opinion

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 

Opinion

David Rohde

Prosperity without power

By David Rohde

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 

Opinion

Edward Hadas

Apple, hypocrisy and stakeholder tax

By Edward Hadas

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 

Opinion

Bethany McLean

How much does Jamie Dimon matter?

By Bethany McLean

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 

Opinion

Gary Regenstreif

What Hollande can learn from Queen of Hearts

By Gary Regenstreif

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

Opinion

Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane

U.S. power: Down but still unrivaled

By Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane

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

REUTERS TV

Apple CEO Tim Cook laughs during 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. REUTERS/Jason Reed

It's time for iTax

Rob Cox and his Breakingviews colleagues discuss why Apple’s minimalist approach to devices should be applied to the overcomplicated U.S. tax code.   Video