LIBOMAN

Cranes tower above construction sites in the financial district of the City of London, in Britain February 13, 2016. REUTERS/Hannah McKay June 2, 2016 LONDON (Reuters) – British construction orders fell last month for the first time in more than three years, as concern about a June 23 referendum on whether Britain should remain a member of the European Union prompted companies to put off new projects, industry figures showed on Thursday. Financial data company Markit said its monthly survey of construction purchasing managers showed the weakest overall growth in activity growth since June 2013, with its headline construction PMI dropping to 51.2 from April’s 52.0. Economists in a Reuters poll had expected the index to hold steady at 52.0 in May. The new orders component fell especially sharply, dropping to 48.1 from 50.1, its first time since April 2013 below the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction and the lowest index reading since March 2...

A gender-neutral bathroom is seen at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, California September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson June 2, 2016 ELKHART, Ind. (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the decision to direct public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice was based on the law and the best interests of the children. Speaking at a town hall event broadcast by the PBS television network, Obama, a Democrat, said the federal government waded into the controversial issue after school districts asked the Education Department for guidance. Republicans have blasted the directive as executive branch overreach, and more than a dozen states have sued the Obama administration to block it. “What happened and what continues to happen is you have transgender kids in schools. And they get bullied. And they get ostracized. And it’s tough for them,” Obama said. “My best interpretation of what our laws and...

Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters/File Photo June 2, 2016 By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) – The United States should not decide its policy on the South China Sea based on what its allies think, and should stick to its promises not to take sides in the dispute, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Thursday ahead of Sino-U.S. security talks. China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and B...

A worker looks at replicas of Kylo Ren's helmet, Finn's Stormtrooper helmet and Poe Dameron's helmet from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", in the Propshop headquarters at Pinewood Studios near London, Britain May 25, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls June 1, 2016 LONDON (Reuters) – From Darth Vader’s melted helmet to Rey’s lightsaber hilt, “Star Wars” fans can now get their hands on replicas of the props used in the sci-fi franchise’s last movie. Disney and Lucasfilm have launched the line of made-to-order precisely detailed items seen in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, created by the Propshop team that helped design and make the props for the film at Britain’s Pinewood Studios. “We’re based in Pinewood Studios where ‘Star Wars’ is actually filmed and we’ve created for the first time a pipeline to be able to manufacture these products and make them available to the consumer,” Propshop director James Enright told Reuters. “They’re unique...

Reserve Deputy Robert Bates is shown in this undated handout photo provided by the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, April 4, 2015, Courtesy Tulsa Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS June 1, 2016 By Lenzy and Krehbiel-Burton TULSA, Okla. (Reuters) – A former Oklahoma reserve deputy convicted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man being subdued by regular deputies last year was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in prison for second-degree manslaughter. Robert Bates, an insurance executive who volunteered as a reserve sheriff’s deputy in Tulsa County, was found guilty in April of the charge stemming from the 2015 death of Eric Harris.Bates, 74, will receive credit for time already served, District Judge William Musseman said. He has been held at the Tulsa County jail since his conviction. Lawyers for Bates said he thought he had a Taser rather than a gun in his hand when he fired at Harris, 44. But prosecutors said Bates’ actio...