Reuters: Top News

• British police ponder conspiracy after soldier murder
  LONDON (Reuters) - Police investigating the murder of a soldier hacked to death on a busy London street were looking on Friday into whether the two suspected killers, British men of Nigerian descent, were part of a wider conspiracy.
  
  
  
  
• Bridge collapses in Washington state, sending cars into river
  OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Part of a four-lane freeway bridge over a river in rural Washington state collapsed on Thursday, sending vehicles and drivers tumbling into the frigid water, authorities said.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Magnitude 5.7 quake strikes Northern California
  (Reuters) - A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Northern California on Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
  
  
  
  
• Obama seeks end to perpetual U.S. 'war on terror'
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twelve years after the "war on terror" began, President Barack Obama wants to pull the United States back from some of the most controversial aspects of its global fight against Islamist militants.
  
  
  
  
• Boy Scouts of America votes to end century-old ban on gay scouts
  GRAPEVINE, Texas (Reuters) - The Boy Scouts of America voted on Thursday to lift a century-old ban on openly gay scouts in a major victory for gay rights activists, but the decision means a sea of change for an organization that depends heavily on faith-based groups.
  
  
  
  
• Venezuela prosecutor to open probe over leaked recording
  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's prosecutor's office said on Thursday it would open an investigation into in a recording the opposition says features a top government ally accusing the deputy head of the ruling Socialist Party of corruption and conspiring against the new president.
  
  
  
  
• Google faces new federal antitrust probe: source
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in Web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some advertising sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Jobs, housing data show economy has some muscle
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to resilience in the labor market despite belt-tightening by Washington.
  
  
  
  
• Analysis: Markets face rough summer ride as Fed pullback feared
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the past few months, the Federal Reserve has been squarely in the financial markets' corner, thanks to its massive dollops of monetary stimulus. But signs that the central bank is discussing reducing that support by purchasing fewer bonds mean that trading is likely to get bumpier in coming months.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Obama shifts U.S. from 'perpetual war-footing,' limits drone strikes
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday shifted the United States away from a "boundless global war on terror," restricting deadly drone strikes abroad and signaling that America's long struggle against al Qaeda will one day end.