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Court orders Mississippi town to desegregate schools after 50-year fight
(Reuters) – A federal court has ordered a Mississippi town to consolidate its junior high and high schools in order to fully desegregate its school system after a 50-year battle the town has waged with the U.S. Department of Justice, agency officials said Monday.

Baltimore cop testifies that he arrested, handcuffed Freddie Gray
BALTIMORE (Reuters) – A Baltimore policeman testified on Monday that he, and not a fellow officer on trial for the death of black detainee Freddie Gray, was the one who arrested Gray, in testimony that was the first by another suspect in the high-profile case.

NTSB finds engineer distracted by radio traffic in 2015 Amtrak crash: NBC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded that the engineer of an Amtrak passenger train that crashed in Philadelphia in 2015 was distracted by radio traffic, NBC News reported on Monday, citing an unnamed source.

U.S. captain of doomed El Faro aimed to avoid storm: testimony
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – U.S. Coast Guard investigators on Monday resumed a probe of last year’s deadly sinking of the El Faro off the Bahamas, beginning two weeks of hearings to examine the cargo ship’s operations, weather forecasts and regulatory oversight.

U.S., Russia stalemate on Syria frustrates European powers
UNITED NATIONS/VIENNA (Reuters) – The Obama administration’s failure to convince Moscow that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go is fueling European frustration at being sidelined in efforts to end the country’s five-year civil war, diplomats say.Some diplomats and analysts question whether the United States has misread Russia’s desire to keep Assad in power.

Key plaintiff objects to deal in Uber driver lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A key plaintiff in a driver class action against Uber said he does not support a proposed settlement in which thousands of drivers would receive up to $100 million, but remain independent contractors instead of employees.

Groups seek immediate halt to N.C. law restricting transgender bathroom choice
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) – Several groups supporting the rights of transgender people filed a motion on Monday asking a U.S. court to block North Carolina from enforcing a law that mandates bathroom access according to birth sex while the measure is being challenged.

Irish singer Sinead O’Connor found safe in Chicago area: police
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Police said Irish-born pop star Sinead O’Connor was found safe on Monday, hours after authorities reported her missing in a Chicago suburb, citing a concerned caller who told them the singer apparently had failed to return from a bicycle ride.

Supreme Court tosses rulings backing Obamacare contraception coverage
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The ideologically deadlocked Supreme Court on Monday failed to resolve a major case involving the Obamacare law’s mandatory birth control coverage, telling lower courts to reconsider the matter after tossing out their rulings favoring President Barack Obama.

Zimmerman to try again to sell gun used to kill teenager Martin
(Reuters) – George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed the unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012, will try again this week to sell the handgun he had used in the incident, after an earlier online auction was hijacked by fake buyers.

Islamist militants exploit chaos as combatants pursue peace in Yemen
CAIRO/DUBAI (Reuters) – Islamic State efforts to exploit chaos may have brought Saudi-backed forces and Iran-allied Houthis tentatively closer at peace talks in Yemen’s civil war, but a deal seems unlikely in time to avert collapse into armed, feuding statelets.

Bloodshed blurs Middle East borders set 100 years ago by UK-French pact
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A century after Britain and France secretly mapped out a Middle East they would control upon defeating the Ottomans in World War One, its borders have been blurred by sectarian bloodshed – and some in the region see opportunity in the chaos.

U.S. top court rejects Exxon appeal in groundwater contamination case
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Exxon Mobil Corp’s appeal of a $236 million judgment against the oil company in a case brought by the state of New Hampshire over groundwater contamination linked to a gasoline additive.

Anger, fear sweeps Turkish border town under attack from Islamic State
KILIS, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkish shopkeeper Mehmet Baykal knew he had less than 10 seconds to dive under his desk when he heard another rocket being fired from Islamic State-held territory across the border in Syria.

Hyundai raids Bentley to turbo-charge Genesis luxury drive
BEIJING (Reuters) – After poaching Bentley’s design chief last year, Hyundai Motor Co said on Monday that it has also secured the services of the luxury marquee’s exterior designer.

Philippines incoming president offers olive branch, posts to rebels
DAVAO, Philippines (Reuters) – Philippines President-Elect Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday he would pursue peace talks with Marxist guerrillas and as an olive branch would offer government roles to the Communist Party of the Philippines, including its exiled founder.

Pfizer to buy Anacor in $5.2 billion deal for access to eczema gel
(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc is buying Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc in a $5.2 billion deal to add an eczema gel to its portfolio, a month after the U.S. drug major scrapped plans to buy Allergan Plc .

Buffett’s Berkshire invested $1 billion in Apple
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc on Monday revealed a new stake in Apple Inc , in a bet that the stock’s price could rebound after iPhone sales fell for the first time.

Turkish, coalition forces hit Islamic State targets in Syria, kill 27: media
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish and U.S.-led coalition forces struck Islamic State targets north of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing 27 fighters, state-run Anadolu Agency and other media reported.

Thousands of Afghan Hazaras join power line protest in Kabul
KABUL (Reuters) – Thousands of demonstrators from Afghanistan’s Hazara minority marched in protest through Kabul on Monday saying that they are missing out on a multi-million dollar power transmission line, posing a major challenge to the government of President Ashraf Ghani.

Apple’s Cook visits Beijing after China woes, Didi deal
BEIJING (Reuters) – Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook visited Beijing on Monday, days after announcing a $1 billion deal with ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, and as the U.S. firm tries to reinvigorate sales in China, its second-largest market after the United States.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner faces new challenge: slow sales
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Boeing Co’s high-tech 787 Dreamliner has had its share of trouble, from early production delays to batteries that smoked and burned, grounding the worldwide fleet for months in 2013.

Donald Trump says unlikely to have a good relationship with British PM Cameron
LONDON (Reuters) – Donald Trump has said he is unlikely to have a good relationship with David Cameron because the British prime minister cast the U.S. presidential candidate as “divisive, stupid and wrong” for proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Oil prices jump as Goldman Sachs says market flips into deficit
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices jumped over 1 percent on Monday after long-time bear Goldman Sachs said the market had ended almost two years of oversupply and flipped to a deficit following global oil disruptions.

Fiscal constraints mean BOJ likely to keep helicopter grounded
TOKYO (Reuters) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda likes to keep markets guessing by saying one thing and doing another, but, when it comes to ruling out “helicopter money” to reanimate the economy, officials and close associates say he almost certainly means it.

Why China’s private sector needs a ‘high degree of attention’
BEIJING (Reuters) – Xia Xiaokang and Bruno Chen, who both run private-sector companies, are the sort of businessmen that Chinese leaders are increasingly concerned about as economic growth slows.

Exclusive: Hanover Insurance taps Zubretsky as new CEO – sources
(Reuters) – U.S. property and casualty insurance company Hanover Insurance Group Inc has hired former health insurer Aetna Inc chief financial officer Joseph Zubretsky as its new chief executive officer, people familiar with the matter said.

Didi Chuxing planning New York IPO in 2017: Bloomberg
(Reuters) – Ride hailing app Didi Chuxing is preparing for an initial public offering in New York, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Oaktree urged Tribune Publishing to merge with Gannett: Barron’s
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oaktree Capital Management urged newspaper publisher Tribune Publishing to negotiate a merger with Gannett Co Inc after it declined a purchase offer by Gannett, Barron’s reported, citing 13D filings from May 5-11.

Eurovision win lifts spirits in Ukraine, raises eyebrows in Russia
KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ukrainian politicians hailed their country’s surprise weekend victory in the European Song Contest as a continent-wide endorsement in their smoldering conflict with Russia, while Moscow said the competition had been hijacked by politics.

Norway’s wealth fund to sue Volkswagen over emissions scandal
(Reuters) – Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said on Sunday it plans to join the class-action lawsuits filed against Volkswagen AG over the German automaker’s emissions scandal.

Islamic State on the defensive, territory shrinking in Syria and Iraq: U.S. official
AMMAN (Reuters) – Islamic State has not gained significant ground since it took the Iraqi city of Ramadi a year ago, which it then lost in December, as the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria has been helped by better intelligence and better equipped local forces, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg to meet conservatives on political bias flap
(Reuters) – Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg will meet this week with prominent conservatives in the media, a spokesman said on Sunday, to address allegations of political bias at the popular social networking site.

Suspect explosive device at Manchester United stadium ‘not viable:’ police
LONDON (Reuters) – A suspect package which was subject to a controlled explosion at soccer club Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium on Sunday was an “incredibly lifelike explosive device” which was found not to be viable, police said.

Aide says audio tape didn’t sound like Trump posing as own spokesman
WASHINGTON, 2016 – A top aide to Donald Trump said on Sunday he did not believe a report that the billionaire once posed as his own spokesman to brag about his personal life to a celebrity magazine.

Google faces record 3 billion euro EU antitrust fine: Telegraph
LONDON (Reuters) – Google faces a record antitrust fine of around 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from the European Commission in the coming weeks, the British newspaper Sunday Telegraph said.