Today's Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines:
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Divided lawmakers muster modest tax deal
Fri,16 Dec 2011 05:47 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deeply divided U.S. lawmakers on Friday eked out an agreement to extend payroll tax cuts for just two months, and only after Democrats bowed to Republican demands on a controversial oil pipeline. The deal, which still needs approval of the full Senate and House of Representatives, fell far short of President Barack Obama's push for a one-year extension of the tax relief and long-term unemployed benefits to boost the country's fragile economic recovery. ...
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U.S. withdrawal in Iraq rolls into final act
Fri,16 Dec 2011 01:20 PM PST
Reuters -  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - American soldiers signed over their last military base to Iraqi officials on Friday with the U.S. troop pullout drawing to an swift end nearly nine years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. The few thousand remaining U.S. troops are scheduled to leave Iraq before December 31, closing a U.S. military venture that cost the lives of nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis caught up in sectarian strife. Iraqi and U.S. ...
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Inflation eases, creates space for Fed stimulus
Fri,16 Dec 2011 10:28 AM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer prices were flat in November as Americans paid less for cars and gasoline, a further sign of a cooldown in inflation that could give the Federal Reserve more room to help a still weak economy. The Labor Department said on Friday the Consumer Price Index was unchanged last month. Economists had expected an increase of 0.1 percent. Prices spiked earlier in the year, but the report showed the trend has shifted. Over the past 12 months, prices have risen 3.4 percent. That marked a second monthly decline from a three-year high in September. ...
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Moody's cuts Belgium ratings by 2 notches
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:36 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Moody's on Friday cut Belgium's credit rating by two notches, saying the euro zone debt crisis increases funding risks for countries with high public debt burdens. Concerns about Belgium's economic growth prospects and its banking system, particularly with contingent liabilities stemming from the Dexia group bailout, also contributed to the decision, Moody's said. "The fragility of the sovereign debt markets (in the euro zone) is increasingly entrenched and unlikely to be reversed in the near future," Moody's said in a statement. ...
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Regulators sue former top Fannie, Freddie execs
Fri,16 Dec 2011 01:40 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six former top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were sued by U.S. regulators on charges of misleading investors about the mortgage finance companies' exposure to risky home loans in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. The case is one of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's biggest actions against high-level financial industry executives, although the regulator did not specify a dollar amount for damages in the alleged fraud. ...
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Suspected WikiLeaks source appears in court
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:34 PM PST
Reuters -  FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - An American Army intelligence analyst suspected of being behind the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history made his first court appearance on Friday, sitting stone-faced as military prosecutors launched their case against him. Private First Class Bradley Manning, 23, faces charges including aiding the enemy, which could send him to prison for life. He is suspected of being the source of documents that eventually were released on the Internet by WikiLeaks -- data dumps that Washington said jeopardized national security. ...
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Fisher says more Fed easing is "wrong path"
Fri,16 Dec 2011 04:08 PM PST
Reuters -  AUSTIN (Reuters) - More monetary stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve would be the "wrong path," despite the threat the simmering European debt crisis is posing for the U.S. economy, a top Fed official known for his hawkish views on inflation said on Friday. It is up to Congress and the President -- not the U.S. central bank -- to clean up the "yucky mess" that is the country's debt and fiscal problems, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said, reprising what is for him a frequent theme in public speeches. ...
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Barry Bonds gets 2 years probation in steroids probe
Fri,16 Dec 2011 04:48 PM PST
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Home-run king Barry Bonds avoided a prison sentence on Friday over a single criminal conviction related to an investigation of steroids in sports, a punishment one prosecutor called a slap on the wrist.
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Fitch: comprehensive euro zone deal "beyond reach"
Fri,16 Dec 2011 06:44 PM PST
Reuters -  ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - The credit rating agency Fitch has told euro zone countries it believes a comprehensive solution to their debt crisis is beyond reach, putting six euro zone economies including Italy on watch for potential downgrades in the near future. It reaffirmed France's top-notch triple-A rating but even here said the outlook was now negative, meaning it could be downgraded within two years. ...
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Americans losing addiction to "CrackBerrys"
Fri,16 Dec 2011 07:12 PM PST
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - To understand what ails BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd in the U.S. market, just ask eBay Inc Chief Executive John Donahoe. The world's biggest online auction site had about a hundred engineers developing new iterations of eBay's shopping app for Apple Inc's iPhone a few months ago, and another hundred engineers working on Google Inc's Android mobile platform. EBay even had 50 people developing apps for Microsoft's Windows phones, but the e-commerce giant only had "one or two" working on RIM's BlackBerry, according to Donahoe. ...
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Fitch: comprehensive euro zone deal "beyond reach"
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:28 PM PST
Reuters - ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - The credit rating agency Fitch said on Friday it thought a comprehensive solution to the euro zone's debt crisis was beyond reach, putting six euro zone economies including Italy on watch for potential near-term downgrades. It reaffirmed France's top-notch triple-A rating but even here said the outlook was now negative, meaning it could be downgraded within two years. ...
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Exclusive: Google CEO's inner circle: Meet the L Team
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:58 PM PST
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The most powerful group at Google Inc used to be known simply as "The OC," short for operating committee. Now, it goes by a more telling name: "L Team," short for Larry's Team. The change is more than a mere rebranding after Google co-founder Larry Page became chief executive nine months ago, reclaiming a title he last held in 2001. Page has moved quickly to remake the company in his image, and this influential group is responsible for plotting strategic priorities, such as social networking and mobile computing. ...
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Barry Bonds gets 2 years probation in steroids probe
Fri,16 Dec 2011 01:49 PM PST
Reuters - SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Home-run king Barry Bonds avoided a prison sentence on Friday over a single criminal conviction related to an investigation of steroids in sports, a punishment one prosecutor called a slap on the wrist. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sentenced Bonds to two years probation, along with 30 days of home confinement, 250 hours of community service, and a $4,000 fine. Illston handed down the punishment at a hearing in a San Francisco federal court, and she immediately stayed it pending appeal. U.S. ...
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Keystone pipeline looms large in U.S. tax-cut talks
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:50 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers intensified efforts on Friday to extend payroll tax relief for Americans, and it appeared likely that language to speed approval of a controversial oil pipeline might be part of a deal. With Senate leaders huddling in offices near the Senate chamber in search of a payroll tax cut deal, the House of Representatives separately approved a nearly $1 trillion funding bill to avert a government shutdown this weekend and keep federal agencies operating through to September 2012. ...
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Corrected:Bill Gross can't stop bleeding from flagship bond fund
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bill Gross's PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund, keeps shrinking as investors look to put their money with some of his competitors. In November, the mutual fund led by Gross saw about $500 million in outflows, bringing its cash outflow over the past 12 months to $10.3 billion, said Morningstar editorial director Kevin McDevitt. By contrast, November was a banner month for most other taxable bond funds, which took in nearly $10.2 billion in money as a group, according to Morningstar. Over a 12-month period, taxable bonds fund accumulated $105. ...
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Senate leaders reach last-minute accord
Fri,16 Dec 2011 07:03 PM PST
AP -  Senate leaders agreed on compromise legislation Friday night to extend Social Security payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits for two months while requiring President Barack Obama to accept Republican demands for a swift decision on the fate of an oil pipeline that promises thousands of jobs.
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Penn St. coach says he saw, reported molestation
Fri,16 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST
AP -  As soon as he walked into the Penn State locker room, Mike McQueary heard running water and rhythmic, slapping sounds of "skin on skin." He looked in a mirror and saw a naked Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach, holding a young boy by the waist from behind, up against the wall in the campus shower.
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Report slams Dutch Catholic Church over sex abuse
Fri,16 Dec 2011 02:54 PM PST
AP -  As many as 20,000 children endured sexual abuse at Dutch Catholic institutions over the past 65 years, and church officials failed to adequately address it or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigative report released Friday.
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Jurors deadlock in $1B lawsuit against Microsoft
Fri,16 Dec 2011 06:38 PM PST
AP -  A federal jury on Friday failed to reach a verdict in a company's $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. in a case so important to the computer giant that it put Bill Gates on the stand for two days last month.
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Christopher Hitchens, militant pundit, dies at 62
Fri,16 Dec 2011 06:42 AM PST
AP -  Cancer weakened but did not soften Christopher Hitchens. He did not repent or forgive or ask for pity. As if granted diplomatic immunity, his mind's eye looked plainly upon the attack and counterattack of disease and treatments that robbed him of his hair, his stamina, his speaking voice and eventually his life.
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