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Hundreds of migrants missing off Indonesia as boat sinks
Sat,17 Dec 2011 07:13 PM PST
Reuters - JAKARTA (Reuters) - At least 217 people were missing, and possibly scores more, after an overcrowded boat packed with illegal immigrants heading for Australia sank in heavy seas overnight off the coast of east Java in Indonesia, authorities said on Sunday. Many of the passengers on the wooden vessel are believed to be economic migrants from countries including Iran and Afghanistan. Indonesia is a transit point for illegal immigrants from the Middle East who cross the Indian Ocean in search of a better life in Australia. ... Full Story | Top |
Senate passes payroll tax cut, spending bill
Sat,17 Dec 2011 06:39 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Saturday approved a $1 trillion bill to fund the government and a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, putting a cap on a contentious political year but setting up a fresh battle for 2012. Democrats and Republicans were unable to agree on how to cover the cost of extending payroll tax cuts and long-term unemployment benefits for a full year, as President Barack Obama requested. ...
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Key Iowa paper backs Romney for president
Sat,17 Dec 2011 06:30 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES (Reuters) - The main newspaper in Iowa, the Des Moines Register, Saturday endorsed Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential race, less than three weeks before the state holds the first nominating contest for the 2012 election on January 3. The newspaper said Romney stands out in the field of Republican candidates who are trying to become their party's nominee who will attempt to stop Democratic President Barack Obama's re-election bid. ...
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Manning showed warning signs before WikiLeak
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:48 PM PST
Reuters -  FORT MEADE, MD (Reuters) - Bradley Manning, the suspected source of the largest leak of classified U.S. documents in history, displayed warning signs of emotional instability before his alleged wrongdoing and struggled with his gender identity, his attorney said on Saturday. Manning was a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq when he is alleged to have illegally downloaded massive data files from the military's classified network and became a source for anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. ...
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Australia to probe 31-year mystery of baby's death again
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:43 PM PST
Reuters - SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia will hold a new inquest into the controversial 1980 disappearance of baby Azaria Chamberlain at Ayer's Rock, a famous landmark in the central Australian outback, a government spokesman said on Sunday. The inquest will be the fourth into the infant's death, which drew international attention after her mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, was convicted of murder in 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The conviction was later quashed. A conviction against the baby's father, Michael Chamberlain, as an accessory after the fact was also later quashed. ... Full Story | Top |
House sets Monday vote on payroll tax cut bill
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:22 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives has scheduled votes for late on Monday on a payroll tax cut extension approved on Saturday in the Senate, according to House aides. The fate of the legislation in the House was uncertain, however, as aides noted strong opposition to the measure among Republicans who hold a majority in the chamber. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Eric Walsh) Full Story | Top |
Keystone pipe outlook no rosier after Senate vote
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:20 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Senate Republicans claimed victory on Saturday for a bill that may force President Barack Obama to make a speedier decision on a Canada to Texas oil pipeline, but a White House official indicated quick approval of the project is not likely. The two-month payroll tax break extension bill passed by the Senate on Saturday included language that would make Obama decide within 60 days whether TransCanada Corp's 700,000 barrel-a-day Keystone XL oil sands pipeline is in the country's national interest. But the U.S. ...
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Troops, protesters clash in Cairo for third day
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:17 PM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - Military police battled demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square early Sunday, the third day of clashes that have killed 10 people and injured hundreds, only days after the first free election most Egyptians can remember. Egyptian television showed military police advancing from behind their barriers and fighting protesters in the square, the hub of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak, at around 1 a.m. ...
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CME Group cuts charitable giving, citing MF Global
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:08 PM PST
Reuters -  CHICAGO (Reuters) - CME Group Inc, which has given $22 million to Chicago-area schools and charities over the past five years, has stopped making grants through its main foundation, citing the collapse of MF Global Holdings Inc. Investigators are still searching for hundreds of millions of dollars of customer funds that CME says were improperly siphoned off Pin the brokerage's final days to plug its escalating liquidity needs. ...
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Gingrich newcomer team takes on Romney stronghold
Sat,17 Dec 2011 05:01 PM PST
Reuters -  MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters)- As he surged from also-ran to a front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich put a 29-year-old newcomer in charge of his New Hampshire campaign. It was October 21, when the former House of Representatives speaker was way behind in the race for the state's January 10 primary and few believed he had a chance to win the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama next November. "Newt told me, 'You own New Hampshire. ...
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Rapper shot to death in Atlanta
Sat,17 Dec 2011 04:19 PM PST
Reuters - ATLANTA (Reuters) - Rapper Slim Dunkin has been shot to death in Atlanta, police said on Saturday. Dunkin, 24, whose real name was Mario Hamilton, was killed on Friday at a studio where a music video was being filmed, Atlanta police said in a statement. "Moments after his arrival, an argument began and the victim was shot," the statement said. Dunkin was taken to Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital where he died a short time later. He belonged to a group called 1017 Brick Squad, which includes rappers Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame, according to the Atlanta group's Facebook page. ... Full Story | Top |
Senate confirms McFaul as U.S. envoy to Russia
Sat,17 Dec 2011 04:10 PM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration's top adviser on Russia policy, Michael McFaul, was approved by the Senate on Saturday to serve as the country's ambassador to Moscow. McFaul was a leading architect of the Democratic administration's "reset" policy focused on improving relations with Russia and helped negotiate a new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. The former Stanford University professor replaces John Beyrle, who was appointed in 2008 by former President George W. Bush and is expected to leave Moscow later this month. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama signs government spending bill into law
Sat,17 Dec 2011 02:35 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed into law a spending bill that Congress approved to keep the government running, the White House said on Saturday. Earlier on Saturday, the Senate had passed the $915 billion bill to fund most federal activities through next September and avert a government shutdown. It had cleared the House of Representatives on Friday. ...
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WTO ends meeting with no move forward on Doha
Sat,17 Dec 2011 02:22 PM PST
Reuters -  GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization closed its biennial ministerial conference on Saturday with its chairman citing an improved atmosphere in the 153-member club but no concrete moves forward on the Doha round of world trade talks. Little was expected from the meeting on Doha, a deadlocked negotiation that has caused a crisis of confidence in the global trade body. ...
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Peru delays former prisoner Berenson's return to U.S.
Sat,17 Dec 2011 02:14 PM PST
Reuters -  LIMA (Reuters) - Lori Berenson, a New Yorker who spent 15 years in Peruvian prisons for aiding Marxist insurgents, was prevented by Peru's interior ministry from making her first trip home since her 1995 arrest, her lawyer said on Saturday. Berenson, 42, the mother of a 2-year-old boy, was paroled last year after serving 15 years of a 20-year sentence. A judge on Friday gave the U.S. citizen permission to travel abroad, enabling her to head to Lima's airport to catch a plane to the United States. ...
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Senate delays decisions on Obama financial nominees
Sat,17 Dec 2011 02:03 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate on Saturday postponed until next year decisions on whether to approve President Barack Obama's choices to lead agencies that oversee the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law. Several of Obama's picks are waiting to be confirmed by the Senate, including Martin Gruenberg to be chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, Thomas Hoenig to be the FDIC's vice chair and Thomas Curry to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. ...
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Witnesses testify in Bradley Manning Wikileaks case
Sat,17 Dec 2011 04:01 PM PST
Reuters -  FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - Bradley Manning, the suspected source of the largest leak of classified U.S. documents in history, spent his 24th birthday in military court on Saturday listening to investigators detail how they pieced together the case against him. Manning was a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq when he is alleged to have illegally downloaded massive data files from the military's classified network and became a source for anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. U.S. ...
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Romney raises doubts about Gingrich in South Carolina
Sat,17 Dec 2011 01:08 PM PST
Reuters -  CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney sought to create doubts about rival Newt Gingrich among South Carolina conservatives on Saturday by criticizing his high-paid work for mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Romney, on a two-day tour of South Carolina to try to dent Gingrich's big lead in the polls here, all but accused Gingrich of lobbying for Freddie Mac by accepting $1.6 million in consultants' fees from an enterprise at the heart of America's housing crisis. ...
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Nigeria seizes bomb factory after Islamist attacks
Sat,17 Dec 2011 01:04 PM PST
Reuters - MAIDUGURI/KANO (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities raided a bomb making factory Saturday belonging to suspected members of an Islamist sect in the northeast, the military said, after gun and bomb attacks across northern Nigeria over four days killed at least seven people. Militant group Boko Haram is waging a low level insurgency against Nigeria's government. It used to be largely confined to its remote northeast Borno state, but this year has struck other provinces in the mostly Muslim north and the capital, Abuja. ... Full Story | Top |
Arabs may take Syria peace plan to United Nations
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:42 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Arab states may take their proposals for ending Syria's crackdown on protests to the U.N. Security Council next week unless Damascus agrees to implement the initiative, Qatar's foreign minister said on Saturday. Expressing frustration that Syria had not carried out the plan, six weeks after it was first agreed, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said the window for an Arab solution to the crisis was closing. ...
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France Sarkozy's popularity remains stable: poll
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:36 PM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity has remained stable but most voters continue to be unimpressed by his policies, a poll to be published in weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche Sunday showed. The IFOP-JDD poll indicated 34 percent of respondents were satisfied with Sarkozy's policies - unchanged from November, when the president's popularity showed a three percent rise after three months of consecutive falls. The poll only showed approval ratings for Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon, whose popularity inched up four percent in the last month. ...
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Troops beat Cairo protesters, clashes kill 10
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:17 PM PST
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Soldiers beat demonstrators with batons in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday in a second day of clashes that have killed 10 people and wounded hundreds, marring the first free election most Egyptians can remember. Protesters fled into side streets to escape the troops in riot gear, who grabbed people and battered them repeatedly even after they had been beaten to the ground, a Reuters journalist said. Shots were fired in the air. Soldiers pulled down protester tents and set them on fire, local television footage showed. ...
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Panetta says Libya faces long, difficult transition
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:05 PM PST
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Libya's leaders on Saturday they faced a long, hard road in moving on from 42 years of one-man rule and uniting rival militias that still hold the streets in the oil-producing North African state. Panetta, the first U.S. defence chief ever to visit Libya, said Washington stood ready to help but offered no specific aid to a leadership struggling to stamp its authority two months after the capture and killing of Muammar Gaddafi. ...
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USTR's Kirk says no trade war but troubled by China
Sat,17 Dec 2011 12:02 PM PST
Reuters -  GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said on Saturday the United States is not in a trade war with China, but he is troubled by China's tendency to retaliate when other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) launch trade cases against it. "I am troubled by what I see as a trend of China to retaliate when members - not just the U.S., other members of the WTO - bring China to dispute settlement over legitimate matters," Kirk said in an interview. "That's not only disruptive to global trade, it's not only not in the interest of the members of the WTO. ...
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Senate confirms U.S. envoy to Russia
Sat,17 Dec 2011 11:53 AM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration's top adviser on Russia policy, Michael McFaul, was approved by the Senate on Saturday to serve as the country's ambassador to Moscow. McFaul was a leading architect of the Democratic administration's "reset" policy of improving relations with Russia and helped negotiate a new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. The former Stanford University professor replaces John Beyrle, who was appointed in 2008 by former President George W. Bush. ... Full Story | Top |
Iraq Sunni bloc suspends parliament participation
Sat,17 Dec 2011 11:51 AM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni-backed bloc on Saturday suspended its participation in parliament accusing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government of concentrating power, a sign of rising political tensions as U.S. troops withdraw. The move by the Iraqiya parliamentary bloc, headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, intensifies political jostling among the Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs who form Iraq's fragile power-sharing government. Iraqiya said in a statement it was "suspending its participation in parliament ... ... Full Story | Top |
Cradle of Arab Spring celebrates first anniversary
Sat,17 Dec 2011 11:44 AM PST
Reuters -  SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people packed a provincial town square to celebrate the first anniversary on Saturday of Tunisia's democratic revolution in the place where it began, unleashing a tide of popular revolt that has transformed the Arab world. The festive mood in Sidi Bouzid was tempered somewhat, however, by reminders that democratic change in Tunisia has yet to ease poverty and high unemployment - bread and butter issues that preoccupy many Tunisians and have triggered rioting. ...
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Gingrich newcomer team takes on Romney stronghold
Sat,17 Dec 2011 11:43 AM PST
Reuters -  MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters)- As he surged from also-ran to a front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich put a 29-year-old newcomer in charge of his New Hampshire campaign. It was October 21, when the former House of Representatives speaker was way behind in the race for the state's January 10 primary and few believed he had a chance to win the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama next November. "Newt told me, 'You own New Hampshire. ...
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Martin Marietta's offer is "bad deal": Vulcan
Sat,17 Dec 2011 11:18 AM PST
Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Martin Marietta Materials Inc's $4.8 billion takeover offer of Vulcan Materials Co is a "bad deal" and an attempt to buy a larger rival "on the cheap," Vulcan said in court papers late Friday. Vulcan, a Birmingham, Alabama, gravel producer, received the hostile all-stock offer on Monday and said at the time it was reviewing the bid. ... Full Story | Top |
Delayed Texas primary could be a setback for Perry campaign
Sat,17 Dec 2011 10:15 AM PST
Reuters -  SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A panel of three federal judges late on Friday approved a plan to delay the Texas primary elections from March 6 to April 3, a move that could be a blow to Republican Governor Rick Perry's presidential hopes. A likely victory in Texas on March 6 would have given Perry a surge of momentum on Super Tuesday, when 10 other states are holding primaries or caucuses. Now, Texas's primary will be toward the end of the calendar. The delay came amid a series of legal challenges to the state's legislative and congressional redistricting maps. ...
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Obama welcomes tax cut deal
Sat,17 Dec 2011 09:59 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama welcomed a deal on Saturday worked out by divided lawmakers to extend a payroll tax cut for U.S. workers by two months and to continue emergency jobless aid. "This is spending money that also benefits families and businesses and the entire economy, and (the jobless aid is) a lifeline that would have been lost for more than 2.5 million people in the first two months of next year if Congress had not acted," Obama said in brief remarks at the White House. ...
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NATO closes up training mission in Iraq
Sat,17 Dec 2011 09:58 AM PST
Reuters - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - NATO closed its seven-year training mission in Iraq on Saturday, at the same time as U.S. troops withdraw from the country after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The alliance said on Monday it would end its mission after talks with Iraqi officials to extend the programme failed, due to disagreements over legal framework covering NATO forces in Iraq. ... Full Story | Top |
Ruling party nominates Kremlin chief as Duma speaker
Sat,17 Dec 2011 09:26 AM PST
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ruling United Russia party, whose majority was reduced in this month's parliamentary election, on Saturday backed Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin to become speaker of the State Duma (lower house), the party said. Naryshkin, 57, whose nomination had been widely expected, will take over from Boris Gryzlov, who quit in a move apparently aimed at cooling public anger over an election opponents say was rigged in United Russia's favor. ... Full Story | Top |
Gingrich says Freddie money went to overhead, not him
Sat,17 Dec 2011 02:22 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich fought back on Saturday against attacks over the more than $1.6 million in payments he received from mortgage giant Freddie Mac, insisting the money went to overhead for his firm and not to his wallet. On a teleconference with Iowans, Gingrich said he worked with Freddie Mac to help poor people get homes, and he wanted to "set the record straight." The payment received over a six-year period was spent mostly on overhead, the former House of Representatives speaker said. ...
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Warring Yemen forces quit Sanaa, 2 troops die in south
Sat,17 Dec 2011 09:02 AM PST
Reuters -  SANAA (Reuters) - Forces loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his opponents withdrew from their positions in the capital Sanaa on Saturday, witnesses and officials said, in a further sign a peace deal signed last month was being implemented. In southern Yemen, two government soldiers were killed in a clash with Islamist militants, medical sources said, as insurgents linked to al Qaeda challenged the peace accord aimed at pulling the country away from civil war. ...
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Sweden says fiscal pact rules should only affect euro zone
Sat,17 Dec 2011 08:58 AM PST
Reuters - STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden said it would not join a European pact on budget discipline if that meant adopting the tougher rules agreed at last week's EU summit, taking the Nordic country another step closer to Britain's position. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio on Saturday that the pact was not yet finalized so it was too early to decide if Sweden would eventually join. He said he wanted closer cooperation with the 17 euro zone countries. ... Full Story | Top |
Kazakh leader orders curfew after oil city riots
Sat,17 Dec 2011 08:19 AM PST
Reuters - ALMATY (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Saturday declared a 20-day state of emergency in a western oil city where at least 11 people have been killed in the deadliest outbreak of violence in the Central Asian state's recent history. Wounded victims filled hospitals in Zhanaozen and many oil workers stayed at home, fearing for their safety a day after violent clashes between riot police and crowds in a city where thousands of sacked oil workers have been protesting for months. ... Full Story | Top |
Congress passes spending bill to keep government running
Sat,17 Dec 2011 08:09 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Saturday passed a $915 billion bill to fund most federal agency activities through next September and avert a government shutdown. By a vote of 67-32, the Senate approved the legislation that passed the House of Representatives on Friday. It now goes to President Barack Obama for signing into law. A wide range of government agencies, including the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency and Labor Department, faced the possibility of shutting down this weekend as their funding was exhausted without this legislation. ...
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Congo opposition parties plan "ghost towns"
Sat,17 Dec 2011 07:09 AM PST
Reuters - KINSHASA (Reuters) - Congo's opposition plans to turn the sprawling capital Kinshasa and other cities across the country into "ghost towns" in a show of force after the country's highest court confirmed President Joseph Kabila as winner of a disputed November 28 election. A spokesman for the opposition said on Saturday it will ask Kinshasa's 8 million residents to stay at home, joining people across the vast Central African nation in shutting down businesses and bringing public services to a standstill. ... Full Story | Top |
Moody's cut means Belgium must hit deficit goal
Sat,17 Dec 2011 06:40 AM PST
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The downgrade of Belgium's credit rating by agency Moody's underlines the need to cut the budget deficit next year to 2.8 percent of GDP as agreed by the ruling coalition, Belgian Finance Minister Steven Vanackere said on Saturday. While the deficit target and measures to reach it have been agreed by Belgium's six-party ruling coalition, economists expect more austerity steps may be necessary given a weakening economic outlook for the country and the euro zone as a whole. ... Full Story | Top |
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