The euro crisis ebbs

April 03, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Step by step, the Continent as a whole is improving.

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The US Supreme Court’s conservative majority voted Wednesday to free wealthy donors to give to as many political candidates and campaigns as they want, further loosening the reins on giving by big contributors as the 2014 campaign moves into high gear. It was a fresh declaration by the 5-to-4 majority that many limits on big-money contributions violate the givers’ constitutional free-speech rights, continuing an erosion of the restrictions under Chief Justice John Roberts. Jr.

Medicare says it’s preparing to release billing data for more than 880,000 doctors, giving consumers an unprecedented look at how personal physicians stack up compared with others. Medicare deputy administrator Jonathan Blum says in a blog that the data could be available as early as April 9.

A private survey shows that US companies increased hiring at a rapid pace last month, suggesting that the jobs market is recovering from a brutal winter. Payroll processer ADP says private employers added 191,000 jobs in March. ADP also revised February’s job creation up to 153,000 from an originally reported 139,000.

The US and the European Union have vowed to help Ukraine reduce its dependence on Russia for energy supplies. US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that they will seek to provide Ukraine natural gas through Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. At the same time, both sides are working to get more gas from Asia to Europe through Azerbeijan and Turkey instead of over Russian soil.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill accused General Motors of a potentially criminal cover-up of its defective ignition switches and fumed at the lack of answers from its new chief executive officer, Mary Barra, during a second day of hearings Wednesday into why GM waited a decade to recall cars with the deadly flaw.

A federal judge on Wednesday halted two executions in Texas, declaring that the state’s prison system must disclose to defense attorneys more information about the supplier of a new batch of lethal-injection drugs. US District Judge Vanessa Gilmore issued a temporary injunction.

A series of three bombs went off Wednesday outside Cairo University, killing a police general and wounding seven people, escalating almost daily battles at campuses fought by Egyptian police and students loyal to the ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. Universities have emerged as the center of the campaign of protests by Morsi’s supporters against the military-backed government that replaced him.

Northwestern University athletes trying to unionize presented their case to Washington lawmakers Wednesday after a federal agency said they have the same rights to bargain collectively as other workers. Even though the issue is not directly before lawmakers, “Congress is an important part of the chessboard,” said former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter, co-founder of the National Colleges Players Association.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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