NEW YORK: US stocks soared to new closing records on Friday after a strong US jobs report revived confidence in the economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 142.38 points (0.96 percent) to 14,973.96, after having breached the 15,000 mark earlier for the first time.
The S&P 500 finished at 1,614.42, up 16.83 points (1.05 percent), also setting a new record and crossing the 1,600 mark for the first time.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index ended at 3,378.63, up 38.01 points (1.14 percent).
The rise followed a US Labor Department report that showed the US economy added 165,000 jobs in April, well above market expectations.
Upward revisions for the prior two months also showed 114,000 more jobs were added than initially estimated.
"The reason the market is heading higher is because most people on Wall Street expect the fundamentals to improve as the year progresses," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's.
Industrial companies were among the biggest gainers in the Dow, including Caterpillar (+3.2 percent), 3M (+1.7 percent) and Alcoa (+1.9 percent).
Insurer AIG gained 5.7 percent after reporting earnings late Thursday of US$1.34 per share, well above the 87 cents projected by analysts.
Food giant Kraft jumped 5.1 percent after the company beat earnings expectations in its quarterly report and said it was on track to "deliver every element of our 2013 financial guidance."
The company saw strong consumption growth in its Kraft Natural and Velveeta cheese brands.
Online networking firm LinkedIn sank 12.9 percent despite reporting earnings that bested expectations. Wall Street was unhappy with its second-quarter revenue forecast of US$342-US$347 million, down from the US$359 million projected by analysts. -- AFP
LOS ANGELES — A fast-growing wildfire along the Pacific Coast Highway northwest of Los Angeles that has already forced thousands of residents to flee the area jumped the roadway Friday morning, threatening parts of a premier U.S. naval installation.
Firefighters on the scene radioed that Naval Base Ventura County, which is backed up to the Pacific Ocean, should be advised that flames had leapt the iconic coastal highway that was the only barrier beween the fire and the facility.
The base said on its Facebook page that the airfield at Point Mugu remained open on a mission-essential basis and had not been evacuated, but base personnel were advised to stay indoors. Photos on the site showed smoke beginning to darken the skies at midmorning, but had not yet affected the housing area.
Kimberly Gearhart, public affairs officer at the base, issued a statement on Facebook page, but did not confirm that the fire had jumped the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH): "The base is NOT in immediate danger from the fire. If/when it crosses PCH, it will be far down the coast from NBVC Point Mugu,"
The naval base, with a population of more than 19,000 personnel, operates two runways, a sea-test range and deep-water port.
More than 10,000 acres of rugged, brush-covered terrain have been burned by the fire that began during the morning rush hour near the major highway and commuter route into Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley on Thursday.
Thousands of people have fled the area as the wildfire, which has damaged 15 homes, threatened 2,000 more and 100 businesses in its race toward Malibu.
Early Friday morning, the blaze was still raging and about 10% contained, local fire officials reported. Forecasters say winds gusting to 45 mph will hit Friday morning but taper off in the afternoon and cooling may begin by evening.
Tom Kruschke, Ventura County fire spokesman, said there is effectively a vast field of coals behind the flaming edges of the wildfire that could flare up when winds return.
"We're going to be at Mother Nature's mercy," Kruschke said.
He said high winds, high temperatures, low humidity, plus dry vegetation from the winter drought "adds up to a perfect storm for wildfire.''
California State University-Channel Islands, a school with nearly 5,000 students that opened in 2002, was evacuated. The Ventura County Fire Department said it had sent 20 fire engines to the campus to protect buildings as flames approached apartments on the eastern edge of the university campus.
Kruschke said that when firefighters first responded, the blaze was confined to 1 acre of brush by a major highway, U.S. 101, near Thousand Oaks and the Camarillo Springs community, but that it quickly expanded in size due to dry weather, high temperatures and winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said.
State officials closed a 10-mile section of the Pacific Coast Highway between Las Posas Road in Ventura County and the Los Angeles County border because of the advancing flames.
More than 900 firefighters were battling the blaze. Earlier, TV news helicopter video showed recreational vehicles parked at a storage facility on fire. Separately, a farm equipment complex went up in flames, triggering small explosions of fire as the blaze engulfed containers of pesticides.
Ken Pimlott, director of the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as CalFire, said conditions are unusually dry for this time of year and create an environment in which fire, once triggered, spreads rapidly. He said much of California is experiencing dry conditions not normally seen until summer.
"The faucet just turned on with fire activity,'' he said in an interview. "We're going into a fire season in the beginning of May, with conditions we would normally see in mid- to late June.''
CalFire moved crews through the night, some to fires in Northern California and others into position around the Los Angeles area, he said.
A fire that broke out Wednesday near Banning in Riverside County was 40% contained by Thursday, with nearly 3,000 acres burned, CalFire said. Several fires were burning in the northern part of the state, including a blaze in Tehama County that had burned 2,000 acres and was only 10% contained, according to the department.
Contributing: Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY; Associated Press
The National Rifle Association is gathering in Houston Friday for its first annual meeting since successfully fending off a major push by President Barack Obama and a number of lawmakers to tighten the nation's gun laws.
An expected 70,000 members of the gun-owners association are arriving in the "Bayou City" for a gun expo and speeches. They'll vote for new NRA leaders have the chance to attend seminars ranging from tips on how to carry a concealed handgun to "advance sausage processing.'' The group says it is playing host to "nine acres of the latest and greatest in guns and gear."
The NRA is also using the event to flex its political muscles. The group bills Friday's Leadership Forum as "a critical campaign stop for any serious contenders for the White House, Congress or any of our nation's governorships who support our Second Amendment freedoms." A partial list of those speaking on Friday reads like a who's-who of presidential ambition, past and future: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and former Sen. Rick Santorum. All are Republicans.
Expect the speakers to warn that defenders of gun rights cannot become complacent after their recent victory in Congress, in which they turned back efforts by Mr. Obama and a largely Democratic set of senators to expand the number of gun-buyers subject to background checks. Democrats also unsuccessfully pushed a ban on semiautomatic rifles known as assault weapons, and a ban on large ammunition clips.
There may be cause for the NRA to remain on guard. Recent polling gives tentative signs that voters are unhappy with some of the senators who voted against an expansion of background checks. The Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, for instance, has found indications that Democratic Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who are running for re-election next year in GOP-leaning states, helped their chances by backing broader background checks for gun sales. PPP also pulled together data that, it says, suggest that senators who voted against the background-check expansion are seeing a backlash from voters.
So far, however, there is no sign that any of those senators is looking for a way to revisit any of the gun-control proposals. But the NRA is sure to warn that gun-control advocates will keep trying. They could point to this story, posted Friday morning by Politico, that says Vice President Joe Biden is gearing up for a new push.
Bursa Malaysia opened lower this morning, continuing its bearish trend from yesterday, on lack of buying interest ahead of the 13th general elections on Sunday, dealers said.
At 9.03am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 5.27 points lower at 1,708.19, after opening 1.92 points easier at 1,711.54.
Market breadth was negative with 39 gainers, 58 losers and 100 counters unchanged, 1,414 counters untraded and 32 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 13.15 million shares worth RM11.78 million.
HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local bourse may hit a high note today, before polling on Sunday, with the benchmark FBM KLCI breaching its existing record level of 1,718.44 points and challenge the immediate resistance barrier of 1,720 points today.
"Giving investors a further boost is the overnight rise on Wall Street. US barometers were up between 0.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent following a drop in jobless claims and an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank," it said in a research note today.
The research house said stocks that could attract interest today included Digi, RHB Capital, UEM Land and YTL Corporation.
"Separately, Genting shares may come under pressure after its
Singapore-listed Genting Singapore's Jan-Mar quarterly results came in below expectation," it added.
On the score board, the Finance Index erased 32.73 points to 15,907.51, the Industrial Index lost 4.82 points to 2,853.79 and the Plantation Index fell 36.04 points to 8,040.54.
The FBM Emas Index gave up 30.03 points to 11,634.60, the FBMT100 lost 30.13 points to 11,484.40, the FBM Ace Index declined 2.23 points to 3,928.51 and the FBM Mid 70 Index slipped 11.47 points to 12,799.82.
Among actives, Daya Materials rose one sen to 21 sen, Systech and Malaysian Airline System was both flat at 8.5 sen and 36.5 sen, respectively.
Heavyweights, Maybank lost one sen to RM9.61, Axiata Group was unchanged at RM6.74 and CIMB Group shed one sen to RM7.69.-- Bernama
NEW YORK: The S&P 500 reached a new all-time high on Thursday, boosted by an expected European Central Bank interest rate cut and a surprisingly good US jobless claims report.
The S&P 500 rose 14.89 points (0.94 percent) to reach 1,597.59, narrowly above the previous record set Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 130.63 points (0.89 percent) to 14,831.58.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 41.49 points (1.26 percent) to 3,340.62.
The gains were a reversal from Wednesday, when all three indices posted solid losses on weak US and Chinese economic data.
"Investors returned to the risk-trade after the ECB lowered its key interest rate in an effort to spur growth and pull the eurozone out of a recession," said Wells Fargo in a market note.
"An improvement in the employment picture is also helping lift the market."
New claims for US unemployment benefits -- an indicator of the pace of layoffs -- fell by 18,000 to 324,000, the lowest level since mid-January 2008.
General Motors increased 3.2 percent after reporting a 13.8 percent drop in first quarter earnings due to weakness in North America. Analysts were cheered by smaller-than-expected losses in GM's European operations
Facebook added 5.6 percent after reporting a 58 percent increase in first-quarter profit, fueled by mobile advertising growth. Facebook said its monthly active users rose 23 percent from a year ago.
Yelp, the online reviews site, jumped 27.4 percent after its first quarter sales beat analyst projections, with a68 percent gain, even as it still reported a net $4.8 million loss overall.
Credit-card firm Visa gained 5.7 percent after topping earnings expectations by 11 cents per share.
Kellogg dipped 1.8 percent after reporting an 11 percent decline in profits. The company reaffirmed its full-year profit forecast. -- AFP
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Thursday morning selected Penny Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and a longtime financial backer of the president, to be the new commerce secretary.
The announcement by Mr. Obama came shortly before he departed for a three-day trip to Mexico and Costa Rica.
"Penny is one of our country's most distinguished business leaders," Mr. Obama said. "She's got more than 25 years of management experience in industries including real estate, finance, and hospitality. She's built companies from the ground up. She knows from experience that no government program alone can take the place of a great entrepreneur. She knows that what we can do is to give every business and every worker the best possible chance to succeed by making America a magnet for good jobs."
The president also selected Michael Froman, a top national security official, to be the new United States trade representative.
Mr. Obama said that Mr. Froman "has established himself as one of the world's foremost experts on our global economy."
"He has won the respect of our trading partners around the world." Mr. Obama said. "He has also won a reputation as being an extraordinarily tough negotiator while doing it. He does not rest until he's delivered the best possible deal for American businesses and American workers. He's fought to make sure that countries that break the rules are held accountable."
Mr. Obama said that he had gotten to know Ms. Pritzker and Mr. Froman not just as leaders and professionals, but also as friends.
"And one of the reasons I'm proud to nominate them is they don't forget what matters," he said. "They know this is not about just growing balance sheets. It's about growing opportunity for people. It's about growing a sense of security for the middle class. And, most of all, they operate with integrity and they understand that public service is a privilege, and you've got to do it right when you get involved on behalf of the American people."
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI came home to the Vatican on Thursday for the first time since he resigned Feb. 28, beginning an unprecedented era for the Catholic Church of having a retired pontiff living alongside a reigning one.
Pope Francis welcomed Benedict outside his new retirement home — a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens — and the two immediately went into the adjoining chapel to pray together, the Vatican said.
The Vatican said Benedict, 86, was pleased to be back and that he would — as he himself has said — "dedicate himself to the service of the church with prayer." Francis, the statement said, welcomed him with "brotherly cordiality."
Unlike the live, door-to-door Vatican-provided television coverage that accompanied Benedict's emotional farewell in February, the Vatican provided no television images of his return Thursday.
The low-key return followed the remarkable yet somewhat alarming images transmitted on March 23 when Francis went to visit Benedict at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, where Benedict was living. In that footage, Benedict appeared visibly more frail and thinner only three weeks after resigning.
Some Vatican officials questioned whether those images should have been released, given how frail Benedict appeared.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, has acknowledged Benedict's post-retirement decline but has insisted the 86-year-old German isn't suffering from any specific ailment and is just old.
"He is a man who is not young: He is old and his strength is slowly ebbing," Lombardi said this week. "However, there is no special illness. He is an old man who is healthy."
Benedict chose to leave the Vatican immediately after his resignation to physically remove himself from the process of electing his successor and from Pope Francis' first weeks as pontiff.
His absence also gave workers time to finish up renovations on the monastery tucked behind St. Peter's Basilica that until last year housed groups of cloistered nuns who were invited for a few years at a time to live inside the Vatican to pray.
In the compact, four-story building, Benedict will live with his personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, and the four consecrated women who look after him, preparing his meals and tending to the household. The building also has a small library, a study and a guest room for when his brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, comes to visit.
"It is certainly small but well-equipped," Lombardi said.
When Benedict announced his intention to resign — the first pontiff to do so in 600 years — questions immediately swirled about the implications of having two popes living alongside one another inside the Vatican.
Benedict fueled those concerns when he chose to be called "emeritus pope" and "Your Holiness" rather than "emeritus bishop of Rome." He also raised eyebrows when he chose to continue wearing the white cassock of the papacy.
Given the political intrigues that plague the Vatican, it wasn't much of a stretch of the imagination to wonder if some cardinals, bishops and monsignors — not to mention ordinary Catholics — might continue making Benedict their point of reference rather than the new pope.
But Benedict made clear on his final day as pope that he was renouncing the job and pledged his "unconditional reverence and obedience" to his then-unknown successor. It was a pledge he repeated in person on March 23 when Francis went to have lunch with him.
It was during that visit that the world saw how weak Benedict had become: Always a man with a purposeful walk, he shuffled tentatively that day, using his cane.
Francis, for his part, seems utterly unfazed by the novel situation. He has frequently invoked Benedict's name and work and has called him on a half-dozen occasions, making clear he has no intention of ignoring the fact that there's another pope still very much alive and now living on the other side of the garden.
Francis' gestures to Benedict during that March 23 visit were also remarkable: He refused to pray on the special papal kneeler in the small chapel of Castel Gandolfo, preferring to join Benedict on a kneeler in the pews, and referring to his predecessor as his "brother."
Now that they're neighbors, they might bump into one another on walks in the Vatican gardens or at the shrine to the Madonna, which is just a stone's throw from Benedict's new home.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The ringgit opened slightly lower against the US dollar, in early trading Thursday, on weak demand from investors, a dealer said.
At 9.19am, the ringgit was quoted at 3.0475/0505 versus the greenback against Tuesday's 3.0410/0440.
The foreign exchange market was closed on Wednesday for Labour Day.
The dealer said investors' interest was more in favour of the US dollar due to lack of clear market direction for the local note.
"Most investors preferred to keep safe assets like the US dollar," he dealer added.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded lower against other major currencies.
The local note weakened against the Singapore dollar to 2.4704/4748 from 2.4633/4678 on Tuesday and fell sharply against the euro to 4.0160/0209 from 3.9702/9751 previously.
It depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.1301/1345 from 3.1139/1185 yesterday and declined against the British pound to 4.7419/7472 from 4.7120/7182 on Tuesday.-- Bernama
Short-term interbank rates are expected to remain stable today as Bank Negara Malaysia intervenes to mop up excess liquidity from the financial system.
The central bank estimated today's liquidity at RM35.571 billion in the conventional system and RM15.465 billion in Islamic funds.
Bank Negara will call for four Al-Wadiah tenders, namely RM1.6 billion for seven days, RM200 million for 14 days, RM700 million for 28 days and RM1.7 billion for 36 days.
The central bank will also conduct a RM10 billion range maturity auction programme for between five days and 92 days, as well as, a RM400 million repo tender and a RM150 million Commodity Murabahah Programme for 14 days.
At 4pm, Bank Negara will conduct up to RM25.2 billion in conventional overnight tender and a RM11 billion Al-Wadiah overnight tender.-- Bernama
Three additional suspects were taken into custody in the Boston Marathon bombing case, the Boston Police Department tells FoxNews.com.
Police would not confirm when the suspects were taken into custody, and referred further questions to the FBI.
Prior to the latest development, authorities had named only brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as suspects in the April 15 bombing at the finish line of the world famous race.
Two of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's UMass-Dartmouth roommates, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, are from Kazakhstan and faced an immigration hearing this morning, sources said. Sources told Fox News they face obstruction charges in connection with the bombing. The identity of the third suspect is unclear.
Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are suspected of taking computers and other equipment from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's apartment and trying to dispose of it after the bombings, sources told Fox News.
Police did not confirm the gender of the third suspect. More information was expected to be provided by the US Attorney's office later Wednesday.
Three people were killed and more than 200 injured when the pair allegedly set two bombs, at least one of which was made from a pressure cooker packed with explosives and shrapnel, amid the crowd.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died April 19, after a shootout hours after authorities showed the brothers on surveillance video and named them as suspects. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital after being wounded in the shootout with police as he and his brother made their getaway attempt. He is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence.
Authorities have searched the Rhode Island home of the parents of Katherine Russell, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow.
The first chops, to the forehead, did not go through the bone and are perhaps evidence of hesitancy about the task. The next set, after the body was rolled over, were more effective. One cut split the skull all the way to the base.
"The person is truly figuring it out as they go," said Douglas Owsley, a physical anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution.
In the meantime, someone — perhaps with more experience — was working on a leg. The tibia bone is broken with a single blow, as one might do in butchering a cow.
That's one possible version of an event that took place sometime during the winter of 1609-1610 in Jamestown. What's not in doubt is that some members of that desperate colony resorted to cannibalism in order to survive.
That cannibalism occurred during the colony's "starving time" was never actually in much doubt. At least a half-dozen accounts, by people who lived through the period or spoke to colonists who did, describe occasional acts of cannibalism that winter. They include reports of corpses being exhumed and eaten; a husband killing his wife and salting her flesh (for which he was executed); and the mysterious disappearance of foraging colonists.
The proof comes in the form of fragments of a skeleton of a girl, about age 14, found in a cellar full of debris in the fort that sheltered the starving colonists. The skull, lower jaw and leg bone — all that remain — have the telltale marks of an ax or cleaver and a knife.
"Historians have to decide whether this type of thing happened," said Owsley, who has examined thousands of skeletal remains, both archaeological and forensic. "I think that it did. We didn't see anybody eat this flesh, but it's very strong evidence."
James Horn, head of research at Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and a historian on the colony, said the discovery "adds a significant confirmation to what was reported to have occurred at Jamestown." Further, it's the only physical evidence of cannibalism in any New World colony, though, as with Jamestown, there are written accounts of the practice in others.
"I tend to be sparing in the use of words like 'unique.' But I think this is one of those finds that literally is," Horn said.
About 130 people inhabited the fort in November 1609. By spring, there were about 60. The girl, most likely a maidservant, though possibly the daughter of a colonist, was one of the casualties.
Her bones were unearthed last August in a part of the fort still under archaeological excavation. About 18 inches of fill remain in the cellar; it's possible more of her skeleton will be found. Enough of her skull exists, however, to imagine what she might have looked like, using CT scanning, computer graphics, sculpture materials and demographic data.
The bones, the reconstruction of her head, and the story were presented Wednesday at an event at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. They will be displayed at Jamestown.
The starving time nearly ended the colony, which was riven by internal dissent, under frequent attack by Powhatan Indians, and short of food almost from its founding in 1607.
U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S. will "rethink" its options for dealing with Syria if it can establish that the government of President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons against its people.
President Obama repeated to a news conference Tuesday - 100 days into his second term - that the use of chemical weapons would be a "game changer," but he said he needed to get all the facts.
Speaking at the White House, Mr. Obama said as early as last year, he asked the Pentagon, military and intelligence officials to prepare for him what options might be available. But he refused to go into detail about what kind of military actions might be involved.
He said the U.S. is already "deeply engaged" in trying to bring about a solution in Syria.
Boston bombing
President Obama says Russia has been "very cooperative" with U.S. authorities since the deadly twin bombing earlier this month at the Boston Marathon, allegedly carried out by two ethnically Chechen brothers.
Obama said suspicions still remain between U.S. and Russian intelligence and law enforcement agencies that date back 20 to 30 years to the Cold War, but he said relations are continually improving.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin is committed to working to make sure Russian authorities cooperate fully with the Boston investigation.
On Americans' response to the bombings, he said one of the things he has been most proud to see is a sense of "resilience and toughness."
He said Americans are not going to be intimidated and will continue to live their lives, while doing everything possible to prevent future attacks.
Budget woes
President Obama says there are "commonsense solutions" to the United States' budget and economic problems, but that he cannot force Republicans to embrace them.
Obama told reporters at Tuesday's news conference that he can urge lawmakers to take steps to solve the nation's budget problems, but ultimately, they themselves are going to have to say they want to "do the right thing."
He said Congress is not fixing spending and that lawmakers are choosing between "pain now and pain later."
Guantanamo
President Obama says the Guantanamo prison should be closed.
Speaking to reporters at a White House news conference, he said, "Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe ... it hurts us in terms of our international standing. It is a recrutment tool for extremists."
He added, "The notion we are going to keep 100 individuals in perpetuity in no man's land ... is contrary to who we are and contrary to our interests."
When asked about force feeding of hunger strikers at Guantanamo, he said, "I do not want these individuals to die."
FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor's daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning.
The agents have been asking associates of the McDonnells about gifts provided to the family by Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and actions the Republican governor and his wife have taken that may have boosted the company, the people said.
Among the topics being explored, they said, is the $15,000 catering bill that Williams paid for the 2011 wedding of McDonnell's daughter at Virginia's historic Executive Mansion. But questions have extended to other, previously undisclosed gifts from Williams to Maureen McDonnell as well, they said.
The interviews, at which Virginia State Police investigators were present, began in recent months as an outgrowth of a federal investigation of securities transactions involving Star Scientific, which produces a dietary supplement called Anatabloc. The company disclosed that probe in a regulatory filing last month, saying it had received subpoenas from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Now, federal officials are trying to determine whether to expand that investigation into a broader look at whether McDonnell or his administration took any action to benefit Star Scientific in exchange for monetary or other benefits, according to the four people familiar with the interviews. It is unclear whether the probe will be broadened.
U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride declined to comment, as did spokesmen for the FBI's Richmond division and the state police.
Tucker Martin, a spokesman for McDonnell, a possible 2016 presidential contender, said, "It is the policy of the governor's office to not comment on any possible investigations."
Jerry Kilgore, an attorney for Williams, also declined to comment.
McDonnell previously has said that he and his wife have known Williams for about five years, that they consider him a personal friend and that the first family's efforts on behalf of Virginia-based Star Scientific are typical of what any governor would do to promote the state's businesses and products.
But the FBI interviews represent a potential escalation of the growing controversy about McDonnell and his wife's relationship with Williams, which has consumed the state capital in recent weeks.
Williams and Star Scientific have given McDonnell and his political action committee more than $120,000 in publicly disclosed campaign donations and gifts, while the McDonnell family has received other benefits, such as a vacation at Williams's lake house in western Virginia.
The McDonnells have taken actions to promote Star Scientific, including allowing the company to hold a 2011 luncheon marking the launch of Anatabloc at the governor's mansion.
The focus of the FBI interviews has been to determine whether any of those actions constituted a quid pro quo — McDonnell using his office to promote the company in return for anything of value for him or his family — people familiar with the questioning said.
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