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Firing of federal prosecutors in Stevens case urged<p></p>

 
Published March 17, 2012

WASHINGTON

Firing of u.s. prosecutors urged

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski called Friday for the summary dismissal of two federal prosecutors who came under particular criticism in a report about the botched ethics trial of the late Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who was convicted in 2008 on charges that he failed to report gifts related to the remodeling of his home. Murkowski said Stevens would not have lost his Senate seat in the 2008 election if not for the prosecutors' misconduct. A special investigator's report said the two prosecutors, Joseph Bottini and James Goeke, intentionally withheld information from Stevens' defense team. Lawyers for the prosecutors complained that their clients had been smeared. Stevens died in a plane crash in 2010.

NEW YORK

Bloomberg defends Goldman Sachs

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who earned his fortune on Wall Street, dropped by the Goldman Sachs headquarters Thursday in a show of solidarity that included handshakes on the trading floor and burgers with the chief executive. Bloomberg's visit came as the investment bank struggled to cope with an onslaught of negative publicity after a former executive's scathing Op-Ed article in the New York Times that accused the firm of wanton greed and excess. Bloomberg castigated the news media for "piling on" the bank.

MEXICO

Politician slammed on prostitute remark

A Mexican congressman who said all pretty women become prostitutes was asked by his party to give up his bid to run for the Senate on Friday.

Mexico's former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party said in a statement that it won't tolerate discriminatory attitudes. It said party leaders asked Congressman Francisco Moreno Merino to drop his campaign for a Senate seat in July 1 elections.

Elsewhere

France: Investigators in southwestern France searched Friday for a suspected serial killer after two shootings over the past week left three parachutists in the French army dead and another wounded.

Belgium: The country held a day of mourning Friday for the 28 victims of a school bus crash in Switzerland, ringing church bells and stopping trains and factories to show solidarity with heartbroken parents.

Times wires