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Combative Maine governor sparks firestorm with Vaseline jab

Maine's Republican Governor, Paul LePage, touched off a round of criticism on Thursday when he made a vulgar remark about a Democratic state senator. LePage said during a television interview that Senator Troy Jackson, with whom he has sparred recently over budget issues, "claims to be for the people, but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline."   The remarks followed LePage's promise, at an Americans for Prosperity rally in Augusta, the state capital, to veto a $6.3 billion, two-year budget. Democrats criticized LePage's unwillingness to compromise on the bipartisan budget, which last week passed with two-thirds majorities in both the Maine House and Senate. The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives immediately blasted the remark "LePage's language today crosses a new line - even for him," House Speaker Mark Eves said. "I would not want my children to hear these vulgar comments from the hig

Oregon death row inmate cannot reject reprieve, court rules

A condemned murderer who tried to seek his own death warrant after Oregon's anti-death penalty governor stopped all executions in the state cannot reject that reprieve, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. Democratic governor John Kitzhaber, in a major salvo in the nation's long-running battle over capital punishment, issued a blanket reprieve to all 36 prisoners on Oregon's death row in November 2011, saying he would allow no more executions on his watch because he believed the death penalty was morally wrong.   But Kitzhaber, a former emergency room physician, stopped short of permanently commuting the sentences, saying the state's law on capital punishment was not his alone to decide. That move came just a month before the scheduled execution of Gary Haugen, who had been convicted in two brutal killings and who responded by suing to seek his own death warrant. Haugen argued that he did not want to live in limbo under an indefinite and impermanent repriev

Bernanke says Fed likely to reduce bond buying this year

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the U.S. economy is expanding strongly enough for the central bank to begin slowing the pace of its bond-buying stimulus later this year. Bernanke's confirmation that the Fed is getting closer to pulling back on its $85 billion in monthly asset purchases confirmed investor fears, sending stocks and bonds sharply lower and pushing benchmark Treasury yields to a 15-month high. Moderate growth should lead to a further healing in the job market as headwinds facing the economy ease, Bernanke said. He also said policymakers expect inflation to move back up toward their long-term 2 percent goal. The Fed's willingness to dial back on the amount of stimulus it is pumping into the economy reflects growing confidence in the sustainability and strength of the recovery. Since cutting interest rates to near zero in late 2008, the central bank has more than tripled its balance sheet to about $3.3 trillion to drive borrowing costs do

Asian stocks brace for fall, China data eyed

Asian stock markets were braced for a fall on Thursday in line with Wall Street after the U.S. central bank confirmed that it would begin to withdraw stimulus this year if the economy continued to recover as it expected. Tokyo's Nikkei futures in Chicago and Australia's share price index futures fell, pointing to weaker openings for two of Asia-Pacific's main markets, following a 1.4 percent slide in the U.S. S&P 500 index .SPX . Traders said markets could come under even more pressure if a report on China's factory activity, due at 9.45 p.m. ET, provided fresh evidence of weakness in Asia's economic powerhouse. "Given the market's growing fears over a hard landing for the Chinese economy, a particularly weak number could add to the post-FOMC selling pressure on the emerging currencies as well as the commodity bloc currencies," analysts at BNP Paribas wrote in a note. On Wednesday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Jap

UPDATE 1-Microsoft reverses position on Xbox One Internet, game sharing

Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday that users of its forthcoming Xbox One game console will be able to play games offline without establishing an Internet connection, and will be able to lend or sell used disc-based games. The announcement reverses the company's position when it unveiled the console in May, causing consternation among hardcore gamers. The company had reversed its earlier stance on used games and daily online authentication after listening to "candid feedback" from its fans, Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, said in a blog post on Wednesday.   Last week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced a $499 price tag for its first new Xbox in eight years and said it would go on sale in the United States in November in 21 countries. Its rival, Sony Corp, said it would sell the next-generation PlayStation model for $399 late in the year. At an E3 presentation to announce features

Analysis: Brazil's protests: Not quite a 'Tropical Spring'

Brazil's blossoming protest movement is a coming-of-age for what had been one of Latin America's most politically disengaged youth populations, but does not appear to constitute a major threat to governability or established political parties. The protests, which gathered steam last week and saw some 200,000 Brazilians demonstrate in a dozen cities on Monday, are unlikely to go away anytime soon. Their broad rallying cry, which includes opposition to corruption and recent bus fare increases, has appealed to virtually any Brazilian with a grievance - and there are plenty of problems to go around.   Yet, at least for now, the movement appears to be far more "Occupy Wall Street" than "Arab Spring" in terms of its motives, demographics and likely outcome. That is, the protests are a noisy sign of discontent among a swath of the population that is on average richer and better educated than average Brazilians. A survey of demonstrators in Sao Paulo on Monday

Myanmar constitution likely to dash Suu Kyi's presidential hopes

Her adoring compatriots believe democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is destined to become Myanmar's next president. But don't bet on it. A year ago, the Nobel Peace Prize winner was feted at home and abroad and flush from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party's landslide wins in April 2012 by-elections, which swept her into parliament.   Even a military-drafted constitution designed to exclude her from the highest office seemed a surmountable hurdle. Now the journey from political prisoner to president appears much less certain, even as her ambition is clearer than ever. "I want to be president and I'm quite frank about it," she told journalists at the World Economic Forum in the capital Naypyitaw on June 6. But to emerge as president after a 2015 general election, Suu Kyi, 68, must overcome challenges that would daunt a less formidable political survivor. She must convince a military-dominated parliament to amend the constitution. Even if she