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House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner urged President Barack Obama on Thursday to push Democrats in Congress to back a move to switch student loan interest rates to a market-based system before they double on July 1. In just 10 days, rates on federally backed student loans are due to rise to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent unless Congress acts. Instead, lawmakers have been engaged in partisan squabbling that is expected to end in a last-minute resolution.   In an open letter to the president, Boehner attempted to align a Republican market-based approach to a similar proposal by Obama. The bill Boehner touted, passed by the Republican-led House in May, would peg interest rates at 2.5 percentage points above the 10-year Treasury note and cap rates at 8.5 percent. Rates would be recalculated every year. Under Obama's plan, rates would also be set based on the 10-year note, plus 0.93 percentage point, but fixed for the life of the loan. His plan does not include a rate cap.

President Barack Obama will nominate Jim Comey to be the next FBI director on Friday, picking a former Justice Department official who has deep experience in the U.S. battle against terrorism, a White House official said on Thursday. If confirmed by the Senate, Comey, a Republican, would replace FBI Director Robert Mueller, who has led the agency since just before the September 11, 2001, attacks. Mueller is expected to step down this fall.   A White House official said Obama would make the announcement about Comey on Friday afternoon. "In more than two decades as a prosecutor and national security professional, Jim has demonstrated unwavering toughness, integrity, and principle in defending both our security and our values," the official said. Comey, 52, served as deputy U.S. attorney general for President George W. Bush. He had previously been the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. As assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Come

Thousands of federal agents with high-tech surveillance devices would be dispatched to the U.S.-Mexican border under a deal unveiled on Thursday aimed at winning more Republican support for an immigration bill in the Democratic-led U.S. Senate. Senate budget hawks questioned the costs and benefits of the extra security, but their concerns were overshadowed by the deal's main goal: to win votes for a sweeping revision of U.S. immigration law that will open a pathway to citizenship for up to 11 million undocumented immigrants.   The Senate could vote sometime next week to pass the bill. While there is little doubt that a majority of the 100-member Senate is prepared to vote yes, backers are hoping for 70 or more votes to help propel the measure through the more skeptical Republican-controlled House of Representatives. "I don't know if it's totally well spent," said Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, an important backer of the legislation, referring to t

Clues about what to expect in a White House package of climate measures expected within weeks might be found in a report given to the president in March by a blue-chip team of scientists and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> business leaders. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), led by President class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Barack Obama's chief science adviser John Holdren, listed six major components that should be central to the administration's second-term climate change strategy.   The document outlined a mix of measures that different federal agencies could take on, such as power plant emissions standards by the Environmental Protection Agency and more research and development for carbon capture by the Department of Energy. "We gave him a series of suggestions. It is his internal team - led by Holdren - that is looking at those and other ideas as they develop the strategy," said PCAST member Daniel S

Senator Bill Nelson said contractor Booz Allen Hamilton had hired an employee convicted of lying to the U.S. government for a position in which he would handle classified documents. _0"> Nelson, a Florida Democrat, called on the Senate Intelligence Committee to conduct an investigation broadly into how contractors are handling employees with top secret clearance.   He said he is alarmed by the combination of this incident and the more recent revelation that a National Security Agency contractor who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton leaked sensitive government documents. Nelson, in a letter to Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein, said these incidents merit a probe "to determine more broadly how private contractors are managing the hiring and monitoring of employees who have top secret clearance from the government." A spokesman for Booz Allen Hamilton declined to comment. Nelson said he was reminded earlier this week of a situation in which Booz Allen Hamilt

Republican budget-cutters joined Democratic defenders of food stamps on Thursday to deal a shocking defeat to the $500 billion farm bill backed by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, undermining hopes of enacting legislation before the current stop-gap law expires. The embarrassing loss for Republican leaders was the first time in at least 40 years that the House voted down a farm bill. Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor generally do not bring legislation to the floor until they are sure they have enough votes for passage.   It showed the power of the Tea Party-influenced fiscal conservatives to disrupt legislation. A Library of Congress study showed it also may be the first time in history the House has rejected a farm bill, although in 2012 a farm bill died without being brought to a vote. Agricultural interest groups were stunned. "Today's failure leaves the entire food and agriculture sector in the lurch," the American Soybean A

President class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Barack Obama's pick to oversee mortgage financiers class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Fannie Mae and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Freddie Mac will face stiff resistance in the Senate confirmation process but the White House could still win if he is rejected by labeling Republican senators as obstructionists. Obama nominated Democratic Representative Mel Watt of North Carolina to replace Edward DeMarco as head the Federal Housing Finance Agency on May 1, and many Republicans were quick to make clear they did not like the nomination.   They say the 20-year veteran of the House of Representatives lacks the technical skill to oversee the housing finance market. And in an era of bitter partisan battles over nominations, they are unhappy that Obama picked a career Democratic politician for the high-profile regulatory job. Democratic aides concede that because of Republican procedural hurdles Watt likely will ne

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

British folk band Mumford & Sons' bassist Ted Dwane posted a message on Monday saying he was recovering after brain surgery to remove a blood clot. _0"> Dwane posted a picture of himself with a shaved head on the band's official website with the caption, "Bear with a sore head! Thanks so much for all the well wishing, it seems to be working! I'm home."   The Grammy-winning London band was forced to cancel the final three U.S. dates of its "Summer Stampede" tour last week after doctors discovered a clot on the surface of Dwane's brain, which required immediate surgery. Hawaiian folk musician Jack Johnson filled Mumford & Sons' headline slot on Saturday at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The four-member band, which formed in 2007, also includes Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall and Ben Lovett. They won Album of the Year for "Babel" at the Grammy Awards in February. (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy;

Art collector Charles Saatchi has been cautioned by police for assaulting his wife, the celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, after being photographed grabbing her by the throat in an incident that has fueled a debate in Britain about domestic violence. Photographs of Saatchi, 70, a former advertising tycoon, grasping a tearful Lawson around the neck while the couple were having dinner outside a London restaurant about a week ago were published in a tabloid newspaper on Sunday. On Monday he downplayed the images, saying it was just a "playful tiff" and he was holding her neck to make his point, sparking fury from women's rights group. He said the couple made up although Lawson had moved out while "the dust settled". A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that they were aware of the photographs that appeared in the Sunday People on June 16 and had carried out an investigation.   "Yesterday afternoon, Monday June 17, a 70-year-old man

British actress Gemma Arterton does not need to worry about typecasting with roles ranging from a fairy tale character and literary heroines to MI6 agent Strawberry Fields in the 2008 James Bond film "Quantum of Solace." In "Unfinished Song," a comedy-drama that opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, Arterton, 27, stars as Elizabeth, a music teacher in a boys' school.   She also directs a choir for seniors, which includes Marion, played by Vanessa Redgrave, and forges a special friendship with her cantankerous retired husband, played by Terence Stamp. The following week Arterton will be seen in U.S. theaters as a sexy vampire in Neil Jordan's film "Byzantium." Arterton spoke to Reuters about her choice of characters, sharing the big screen with Redgrave and Stamp, and her first French-speaking role in the upcoming film "Gemma Bovery." Q: You have some interesting films coming out. Two are opening in the space of a week. How did you mana

Young teenagers who make up the second wave of millennials, the generation that began in the 1980s, are more resilient, adaptable and tech savvy than their older counterparts, according to a new study. The 70 million millennials, or Generation Y, have been dubbed the entitled or me generation. Younger millennials, aged 13-17, are very different in outlook, planning and use of technology than 20-somethings.   "The younger millennials have a more practical view of the world than older millennials did at the same age," said Alison Hillhouse, of MTV Insights, which conducted the study. "For today's 20-somethings when they were teenagers their future looked rosy, easier and bright," she added in an interview. "Younger millennials are thinking, planning earlier. Even in their early teens they are worried about their future, their job prospects and paying off college debts more than the first wave of millennials who came of age during the economic boom of th

One of U.S. celebrity chef Paula Deen's employers said on Thursday it was monitoring the controversy over her admission that she has used a racial slur in the past, while Deen's own company said the cooking star does not condone racism. In a May 17 court deposition that surfaced on Wednesday, Deen, who is white, was asked if she had used the so-called N-word, a racial epithet directed against African-Americans, to which she responded: "Yes, of course."   The Food Network, which broadcasts two popular shows featuring Deen and her Southern cooking, said it was keeping an eye on the flap resulting from her statements that have been widely criticized on social media. "Food Network does not tolerate any form of discrimination and is a strong proponent of diversity and inclusion," the network said. The videotaped deposition was taken as part of a lawsuit by a former employee of Paula Deen Enterprises, Lisa Jackson, who is suing Deen and her brother Earl &quo

Doctors at a Rome hospital battled for 40 minutes to try to save the life of James Gandolfini, best known for his Emmy-winning role as a mob boss in the TV series "The Sopranos," before pronouncing him dead, the emergency room chief said on Thursday. Gandolfini, 51, whose performance as Tony Soprano made him a household name and help usher in a new era of American television drama, was vacationing in Rome and had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on Saturday.   He was taken from his Rome hotel to the city's Umberto I hospital late on Wednesday, according to a hospital spokesperson. The actor's 13-year-old son, Michael, had found him collapsed in the bathroom of his Rome hotel room, Gandolfini's manager, Mark Armstrong, said in an email. "The resuscitation maneuvers, including heart massage, etc., continued for 40 minutes and then, seeing no electric activity from the heart, this was interrupted and we declared

From Union Jack booties to "Born to Rule" sleepwear, the British royal family has joined retailers in offering baby products to mark the arrival of the royal heir. Analysts estimate the baby fever could boost the economy by 240 million pounds ($380 million). A baby sleepsuit modeled on a guardsman's outfit is one of the gifts on sale at palace shops by the Royal Collection Trust, which uses all profits for the upkeep of the royal palaces. Prince Charles, the grandfather-to-be, is selling handmade baby shoes through a shop on his country estate Highgrove, while the mother-to-be's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, have added a range of baby goods to their party goods business.   Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), estimated that the arrival of the baby, due in July, could add more than 240 million pounds to the British economy. "This is a good news story and there really is no downside. With the birth coming in July, peopl

A jury on Monday cleared a doctor of negligence in a lawsuit filed by a Delaware truck driver who underwent a penile implant procedure and ended up with an erection that lasted eight months. "We're stunned," attorney Michael Heyden said as he left the New Castle County courthouse, where his client Daniel Metzgar, 44, of Newark, Delaware, was suing urologist Thomas Desperito of Wilmington, Delaware. In April 2010, four months after the procedure was performed, Metzgar experienced swelling and went to a hospital, where he underwent testing. Before going to the hospital, Metzgar had been unable to reach Dr. Desperito. The doctor's lawyer argued that hospital staff who performed tests were unfamiiar with penile implants and were not properly trained to do them. Therefore, the results from the tests, including images showing swelling, did not prove negligence. Metzgar and his attorney during the one-week trial described the frequent discomfort and daily embarrassment

A jury on Monday cleared a doctor of negligence in a lawsuit filed by a Delaware truck driver who underwent a penile implant procedure and ended up with an erection that lasted eight months. "We're stunned," attorney Michael Heyden said as he left the New Castle County courthouse, where his client Daniel Metzgar, 44, of Newark, Delaware, was suing urologist Thomas Desperito of Wilmington, Delaware.   In April 2010, four months after the procedure was performed, Metzgar experienced swelling and went to a hospital, where he underwent testing. Before going to the hospital, Metzgar had been unable to reach Dr. Desperito. The doctor's lawyer argued that hospital staff who performed tests were unfamiiar with penile implants and were not properly trained to do them. Therefore, the results from the tests, including images showing swelling, did not prove negligence. Metzgar and his attorney during the one-week trial described the frequent discomfort and daily embarrassme

Virginia Governor and possible Republican presidential candidate Bob McDonnell used taxpayer money to pay for sunscreen and dog vitamins, the Washington Post reported on Monday, adding to other improper spending the paper says the FBI is investigating. _0"> McDonnell and his wife also used state employees to run personal errands for their adult children and billed the state for deodorant, shoe repairs and a digestive system "detox cleanse," the newspaper said, citing spending records it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.   The Washington Post previously reported that the FBI and a grand jury were investigating a $15,000 catering bill that a campaign donor paid for McDonnell's daughter's wedding in 2011. A McDonnell spokesman, Paul Shanks, told Reuters by email the "reimbursement process that is followed today is the same as the one followed in past years" by previous administrations. Shanks said the Washington Post article "com

Fed up with politicians they call "rats," a group of friends in the eastern Mexican city of Xalapa have put forward their ideal candidate for mayor: a cat named Morris. Xalapa resident Sergio Chamorro, who adopted the cat in August, said the plan began as a joke between friends borne out of their frustration with the Veracruz state government over freedom of speech.   "Fed up of voting for rats? Vote for a cat," reads one campaign poster featuring the black and white cat, using the Spanish "ratas" for rats and "gato" for Morris. Chamorro created a Facebook page advertising Morris' candidacy in May. The page went viral in early June and now has more than 125,000 likes. As the news spread, disillusioned citizens across Mexico nominated a donkey and even a chicken for political offices in the July 7 election. There are seven official candidates for Xalapa mayor, including representatives of Mexico's three major parties. Despite his la

A woman who says she is the unrecognized daughter of Belgian King Albert II has summoned the monarch and two of his children to appear in a Brussels court in her bid to prove he is her father, her lawyer said on Tuesday. _0"> Delphine Boel, a 45-year-old artist, has repeatedly stated that she is the daughter of the king and has used this as a theme in some of her work. First reports about Boel's claims appeared in the Belgian media in the late 1990s. The king has never made any official statement on the subject.   Boel's lawyer, Alain De Jonge, confirmed that his client had launched the legal action, but declined to give details. The palace confirmed that the king, Crown Prince Philippe and Princess Astrid had received a summons to appear in court but gave no further comment. There was no summons for the king's other son, Laurent. According to Belgian law, the king cannot be compelled to appear in court, which limits the chances of Boel succeeding with her ca

A parliamentary hearing on Ukraine's budget was suspended for several hours on Tuesday after opposition deputies alleged that a deputy finance minister presenting the budget report was drunk. _0"> Anatoly Myarkovsky, first deputy finance minister, spoke for 10 minutes on the government's budget performance in 2012.   But when questions were invited, deputies from Ukraine's rowdy opposition called out "He's drunk". One shouted: "Anyone within five meters can tell he reeks like someone who has been drinking vodka. Mr. Speaker, go and sniff for yourself." Speaker Volodymyr Rybak declined, saying it was not for him to check on the behavior of officials or deputies. But he suspended the budget hearing to allow time to clarify whether Myarkovsky had been under the influence of alcohol or not. Myarkovsky himself left the chamber as Rybak was speaking. There was no formal word from his office. When proceedings resumed several hours later, Fin

Kimberly-Clark Corp is planning a 234 million bolivar ($37.1 mln) investment to expand operations in Venezuela , the state news agency said, in a move that should help ease an embarrassing national shortage of toilet paper. _0"> Scarcity of some food items, medicines and basic bathroom products has marred the start of President Nicolas Maduro's government, which began in April.   The shortages have become symbolic of the South American OPEC nation's increasingly tangled economic problems, particularly a shortage of dollars for importers. The government blames private businesses for hoarding and price-gouging. Critics say the shortages, high inflation, and slowing growth are the result of nationalizations and other socialist economics under Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez. Officials say the problems are easing, though Venezuelans still complain they cannot find many items, and queues at supermarkets are a common scene across the nation. "When the shortag

Couples in the United States looking to spice up their sex lives will have to do without certain adult toys after a U.S. trade panel ruled on Monday that some companies are violating a patent held by a Canadian company for a two-armed vibrator. _0"> The U.S. International Trade Commission found that vibrator maker Lelo Inc as well as distributors and a retailer infringe on Standard Innovation Corp's patent for a two-armed vibrator that couples can use during intercourse.   Standard Innovation, which is based in Ottawa, Ontario, and is privately held, filed an infringement complaint against Lelo and a long list of other companies in early 2012, accusing them of infringing on Standard's patent for the adult toys, designed to be worn while a couple has sex. On its website Standard Innovation describes the We-Vibe family of vibrators as "a global sensation." The commission's ruling overturns a preliminary ruling by an ITC judge, who found in January that

Former Mayor Ed Koch was 88 years old when he died in February, despite what his gravestone said. A worker at the Trinity Cemetery in Manhattan noticed last week that the gravestone's inscription shaved 18 years off the mayor's life after a stonecutter transposed two digits in his birth year, a Trinity spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The correct year of 1924 was mistakenly carved as 1942, she said. "It was a simple human mistake," said Tommy Flynn, owner of Flynn Funeral & Cremation Memorial Centers, which worked with Koch to create his funeral monument. "Did you ever write a phone number down wrong?" Flynn said he was horrified to get the call from the cemetery alerting him to the error.   "I've had better days," he said, adding that the inscription had been re-engraved. The stone has been in place for several years since Koch bought the burial plot, but the inscription of the dates was only added last week. George Arzt, a long-time s

A trained gymnast whose naked acrobatics and harassment of passengers at a San Francisco public transit station were captured on video and circulated widely on the Internet is facing criminal charges over his antics, authorities said on Tuesday. Yeiner Alberto Perez Garizabalo, 24, was caught on video doing handstands and contortions on turnstiles and front flips off a concrete newsstand - all in the nude - at a Bay Area Rapid Transit District station on May 10.   Video that drew more than half a million hits on YouTube shows dozens of people watching idly or ignoring Garizabalo as he accosted at least three passengers during his gymnastics routine, putting a man in a headlock and charging two women before being arrested by BART police. Garizabalo was committed to a nearby hospital after his arrest but no police report was filed and he was released the following day, said Stephanie Ong Stillman, spokeswoman for the San Francisco district attorney's office. He was rearrested o