Today's Politics - Bloomberg News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
East Asian powers set to push trade pact talks
Sat,12 May 2012 07:43 PM PDT
Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China, Japan and South Korea will set in motion formal talks for a three-way free trade pact and unveil an accompanying investment treaty at a summit in Beijing on Sunday. The three nations are major traders, and together accounted for 19.6 percent of the world's economy and 18.5 percent of its exports in 2010, according to a feasibility study of the proposed trade pact that the governments issued late last year. "We agreed to propose that our three countries start negotiations before the end of the year. ... Full Story | Top |
California budget hole deepens to $16 billion: governor
Sat,12 May 2012 07:32 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - California's budget deficit will swell to nearly $7 billion greater than expected due to weak tax revenues and slow progress in cutting budgets, Governor Jerry Brown said on Saturday. Brown said the projected shortfall for the fiscal year ending on June 30 now stood at $16 billion, up from a previous estimate of $9.2 billion made in January. "We are now facing a $16 billion shortfall, not the $9 billion we thought in January," Brown announced in a video posted on YouTube. ...
Full Story | Top |
Connecticut Democrats endorse Murphy for Senate
Sat,12 May 2012 06:29 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW BRITAIN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Connecticut Democrats on Saturday backed Congressman Christopher Murphy to be the party's nominee for an open U.S. Senate seat in November's election, but the vote margin was not enough for him to avoid a primary contest in August. Murphy got 76 percent of the votes at the state party convention to pick the party's nominee for the Senate seat long held by Joseph Lieberman, a Democrat turned independent who announced last year he would not seek re-election. ... Full Story | Top |
New York police frisk more people despite criticism
Sat,12 May 2012 05:18 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police conducted more than 200,000 frisk searches in the first three months of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, even as critics say the practice often is racial profiling. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have long defended the program as one that saves lives and has helped bring violent crime down to historic lows, making New York one of the safest big cities in America. ... Full Story | Top |
Four soldiers in NATO-led force die in Afghanistan
Sat,12 May 2012 05:11 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Four soldiers serving with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan died on Saturday, including two killed in an insurgent attack in the south of the country, the ISAF said in a statement. A third soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan, and the fourth died from an unspecified non-battle-related injury, the statement added. None of the soldiers killed was identified, either by name or country of origin. Nineteen soldiers from the NATO-led force have died so far this month in Afghanistan. ... Full Story | Top |
South Carolina marks ex-slave's daring sail to freedom
Sat,12 May 2012 04:54 PM PDT
Reuters - CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Descendants of Civil War hero Robert Smalls are celebrating the ex-slave who 150 years ago this weekend commandeered a Confederate steamship and evaded batteries overlooking Charleston harbor to reach a Union blockade and freedom. Calling themselves the "family of cousins" and ranging in age from 3 months to 94 years old, Smalls' descendants came to the Charleston Museum on Saturday for weekend events that included dedicating historical markers at harborside and retracing the route of the steamship "Planter" through the harbor. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek president makes last push to avert elections
Sat,12 May 2012 04:03 PM PDT
Reuters -  Greek politicians abandoned their quest to form a government on Saturday, leaving the president with one final opportunity to avert new elections that could drive the debt-choked country out of the European single currency. Greece's political landscape is in disarray after voters humiliated the only parties backing a rescue plan tied to spending cuts, leaving no bloc with sufficient seats to form a government to secure the next tranche of financial aid. ...
Full Story | Top |
U.S. drone strikes kill 10 suspected militants in Yemen
Sat,12 May 2012 03:51 PM PDT
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - Two apparent U.S. drone attacks killed at least 10 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen on Saturday, while Yemeni government forces killed 15 others in a new offensive against insurgents, local and military officials said. U.S. officials said this week they had thwarted a plot by the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to arm a suicide bomber with a non-metallic device, an upgraded version of the "underwear bomb" carried onto an airliner on Christmas Day 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
Merkel faces rout in state vote over austerity
Sat,12 May 2012 03:44 PM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel's conservatives face defeat in a vote in Germany's most populous state on Sunday that could give the left momentum before next year's federal election and fuel criticism of the chancellor's European austerity drive. North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), an industrial state in western Germany with an economy and population roughly the size of the Netherlands, has a history of influencing national politics. ... Full Story | Top |
Kansas lawmakers pass effective ban on Islamic law
Sat,12 May 2012 03:17 PM PDT
Reuters - KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - Kansas lawmakers have passed legislation intended to prevent the state courts or agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws in making decisions, a measure critics have blasted as an embarrassment to the state. The legislation, which passed 33-3 in the state Senate on Friday and 120-0 previously in the House, is widely known in Kansas as the "Sharia bill," because the perceived goal of supporters is to keep Islamic code from being recognized in Kansas. The bill was sent to Republican Governor Sam Brownback, who has not indicated whether he will sign it. ... Full Story | Top |
Netanyahu responds to Palestinian letter
Sat,12 May 2012 02:54 PM PDT
Reuters -  RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinian Authority issued a rare joint statement on Saturday, saying they were committed to peace after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched an envoy to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The envoy carried a letter from Netanyahu replying to one he received last month from Abbas, in which the Palestinian leader stated his grievances over the collapse of peace talks in 2010 and laid out his parameters for a resumption of negotiations. ...
Full Story | Top |
EU observers: Algeria vote a step towards reform
Sat,12 May 2012 02:04 PM PDT
Reuters -  ALGIERS (Reuters) - European Union observers on Saturday endorsed Algeria's parliamentary election as a step towards reform after the vote handed victory to the ruling party, bucking the trend of the "Arab Spring" revolts. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also praised Thursday's election, saying the government had given its people "the opportunity to express their will". It was the first time Algeria had invited EU observers to monitor a vote, a move seen by diplomats as a sign it was committed to a more transparent election. ...
Full Story | Top |
Obama honors 34 'top cops' for bravery on the job
Sat,12 May 2012 01:53 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden honored 34 police officers at the White House on Saturday for "extraordinary acts of bravery," including two cops from Los Angeles who halted a shooting and one from Chicago who intervened during an armed robbery. In their first public appearance together since the vice president was seen to preempt Obama's announcement of support for gay marriage, the two kept to their scripts in the sunny Rose Garden of the White House. ...
Full Story | Top |
Batman, Spider-man, Iron Man guard Obama at fundraiser
Sat,12 May 2012 01:27 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - At George Clooney's celebrity-studded fundraiser for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, the joke of the night was that the Secret Service was backed up by Batman, Spider-Man and the Iron Man - or at least the actors who played them. Karen Blutcher, who won a lottery to attend the fundraiser after contributing $14, described the dinner on Thursday night as the opportunity of a lifetime. She also confessed to being star-struck by the presence of Hollywood royalty including Tobey Maguire, who played Spider-Man, and Iron Man's Robert Downey Jr. ... Full Story | Top |
Thousands march against economic gloom in Spain, UK
Sat,12 May 2012 01:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  Thousands of Spaniards fed up with economic misery and waving banners against bankers marched on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the grassroots "Indignados" movement that has sparked similar protests around the world. Up to 600 people denouncing the Bank of England rallied in London and a Reuters witness said scuffles broke out between some demonstrators and police, with at least 12 arrests. ...
Full Story | Top |
Analysis: Spain faces corrosion not collapse from euro crisis
Sat,12 May 2012 12:59 PM PDT
Reuters -  BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Students are protesting on Barcelona's elegant boulevards, public-sector wages are being cut for the second time in three years and resentment is growing against the central government and beneficiaries of bank bailouts. Such is the daily fallout from the euro zone's debt crisis. Like the rest of Spain, Barcelona is looking at several years of hard grind as the country adjusts to living within its means after the collapse of a debt-financed housing bubble that has brought much of the banking sector to its knees. ...
Full Story | Top |
Romney seeks evangelical votes; opposes gay marriage
Sat,12 May 2012 12:51 PM PDT
Reuters -  LYNCHBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sought on Saturday to calm fears that his Mormon faith would be an obstacle to evangelical Christian voters, stressing shared conservative values while acknowledging religious differences. In a speech at conservative Christian Liberty University - where it is taught that Mormonism is a cult - Romney stressed their common goal of service to God and declared his opposition to gay marriage, a position essential for winning the majority of evangelicals in November. ...
Full Story | Top |
U.S. drone strike kills 5 militants in Yemen: residents
Sat,12 May 2012 12:18 PM PDT
Reuters - ADEN (Reuters) - An apparent U.S. drone attack killed at least five al Qaeda-linked militants in south Yemen on Saturday while Yemeni government forces killed 15 others in a new offensive against insurgents, officials and residents said. U.S. officials revealed earlier in the week that they had thwarted a plot by the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to arm a suicide bomber with a non-metallic device, an upgraded version of the "underwear bomb" carried onto an airliner on Christmas Day 2009. ... Full Story | Top |
Clashes rage in Syria, opposition meets abroad
Sat,12 May 2012 12:04 PM PDT
Reuters -  Rebels fought the army in northern Syria on Saturday, activists said, and Syrian dissidents abroad gathered to try to unify and project themselves as a credible alternative to President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fighting in Idlib province, on Syria's northern border with Turkey and a hotspot of the 14-month-old revolt against Assad's rule. "Violent clashes are raging between Syrian regime forces and armed military defectors ... ...
Full Story | Top |
Exiles: Iran advancing active nuclear arms program
Sat,12 May 2012 11:52 AM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS/VIENNA (Reuters) - An exiled Iranian opposition group said on Saturday that Iran has some 60 scientists and engineers involved in a concerted and expanding program to develop nuclear weapons under defense ministry auspices. However, diplomats say the National Council of Resistance of Iran has had a spotty record with allegations about Iran's nuclear work since exposing a secret uranium enrichment plant at Natanz in 2002. A top U.S. nuclear expert said the NCRI report, like previous ones, should be treated with great skepticism. ...
Full Story | Top |
'Divide and conquer' unions comment dogs Wisconsin governor in recall
Sat,12 May 2012 11:42 AM PDT
Reuters -  MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin's controversial Republican Governor Scott Walker is under fire from Democrats following the release of a year-old video clip in which he describes to a supporter his "divide and conquer" strategy for dealing with organized labor. In the video clip, part of a documentary filmed by a man who has contributed to the campaign of Walker's main Democratic opponent, Walker is chatting with Beloit, Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks before meeting with a local economic development group shortly after he took office in 2011. ...
Full Story | Top |
INTERVIEW-Motor racing-Economic woes weigh on Spanish GP
Sat,12 May 2012 10:43 AM PDT
Reuters - BARCELONA, May 12 (Reuters) - Economic crisis has infectedthe prestigious Spanish Formula One Grand Prix, with the track'sdirector saying it faced a disaster financially as cash-strappedlocals stay away. Crowds at the Circuit de Catalunya just north of Barcelonaare down to barely half the peak of 140,000 in 2007. Those were happier economic times before Europe felt thefull force of the global financial crisis and after Spanishdriver Fernando Alonso had won successive world championships. ... Full Story | Top |
Bahrain protesters clash with police outside capital
Sat,12 May 2012 10:16 AM PDT
Reuters -  MANAMA (Reuters) - Pro-democracy protesters burned tires and clashed with police in Bahrain on Saturday to demand the release of opposition leaders and rights activists, one of whom has been on a three-month hunger strike, residents said. Hundreds of youths gathered in mainly Shi'ite villages outside the Gulf state's capital Manama, some masked and throwing petrol bombs towards rows of riot police, they said. Many chanted "The people want the fall of the regime!" and "Down, down Hamad!", referring to the ruler, King Hamad. Police fired teargas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters. ...
Full Story | Top |
Greece's anti-bailout leftists lead in polls
Sat,12 May 2012 09:57 AM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's radical leftist SYRIZA party has gained support since Sunday's inconclusive election to become the most popular party, but backing for the anti-bailout group is falling, the second opinion poll since the vote showed on Saturday. The main pro-bailout parties, conservative New Democracy and socialist PASOK, were gaining support, according to the poll by Metron Analysis for the Epenenditis weekly. ... Full Story | Top |
Venezuela's Chavez says Cuba treatment successful
Sat,12 May 2012 09:52 AM PDT
Reuters - CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Friday he had successfully completed a series of cancer radiotherapy sessions in Cuba and was hopeful they would have a positive effect on his condition. Chavez, who wants to run for re-election in October, addressed the nation after flying back from Havana. He walked with relative ease from the plane, and spoke in a firm voice, contradicting some rumors that he was too sick to be seen in public. "I can tell you that in the last few days we successfully completed the radiation cycle, as planned by the medical team," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
Chavez shows strength after Cuba cancer treatment
Sat,12 May 2012 09:52 AM PDT
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez strode, sang and gave a rousing speech on Friday in a careful show of vigor after his latest cancer treatment in Cuba fanned rumors he was dying five months before an election. The socialist Chavez, who had only been seen live in public once in the previous month, addressed the nation after flying back from Havana where he has completed six rounds of radiation therapy. ...
Full Story | Top |
EU's Rehn against debt funded growth, backs Spain plan
Sat,12 May 2012 09:52 AM PDT
Reuters -  TALLINN (Reuters) - The European Union's top economic official on Saturday warned against funding national growth packages with new debt and urged governments to stick with structural reforms and cuts to fiscal deficits as the route out of the region's economic crisis. The election of new president in France on a platform calling for growth-oriented economic policies opposed to German lead calls for continued fiscal austerity has opened a debate on economic policy direction at both the national and EU level. ...
Full Story | Top |
China acts to boost loans, bolster flagging economy
Sat,12 May 2012 09:52 AM PDT
Reuters - SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's central bank cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves on Saturday, freeing an estimated 400 billion yuan ($63.5 billion) for lending to head-off the risk of a sudden slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. The People's Bank of China delivered a 50 basis point cut in banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR), effective from May 18, the third cut in six months and one that investors had called for after data on Friday showed the economy weakening, not recovering, from its slowest quarter of growth in three years. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek president to meet party leaders on Sunday
Sat,12 May 2012 09:51 AM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's president will meet the leaders of the country's three biggest parties on Sunday in a last-ditch attempt to cobble together a coalition and avoid a repeat election in a few weeks. The meeting with conservative leader Antonis Samaras, Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos and Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras will take place at 0900 GMT, a statement from President Karolos Papoulias's office said on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek exit not fatal for euro zone: ECB's Honohan
Sat,12 May 2012 09:51 AM PDT
Reuters - TALLINN (Reuters) - A Greek exit from the euro zone would damage confidence in the single currency bloc but not necessarily be fatal, Irish central bank chief and European Central Bank policymaker Patrick Honohan said on Saturday. The prospect of a Greek euro exit has arisen after European countries said Greece cannot get more of the financial aid on which it is dependent if it does not meet the terms of its bailout. But parties backing the bailout program have no majority in parliament after inconclusive elections last week. ... Full Story | Top |
Greek Left Coalition sticks to anti-bailout stance: spokesman
Sat,12 May 2012 09:51 AM PDT
Reuters - ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's Left Coalition party said on Saturday it would stick to opposing an EU/IMF bailout at a meeting between the country's three main parties and the president on Sunday, and would not participate in any government backing the rescue plan. "There is no change (to our position)," SYRIZA spokesman Panos Skourletis told Reuters after Greek President Karolos Papoulias called SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, conservative leader Antonis Samaras and Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos to meet at 0900 GMT on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
German Finance Minister eyes growth measures for Greece
Sat,12 May 2012 09:51 AM PDT
Reuters - Germany is ready to consider additional measures to promote growth in Greece but the struggling economy must still carry out agreed reforms, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag weekly on Saturday. "If the Greeks have an idea of what we could do, in addition, to promote growth, we can always talk and think about this," Schaeuble was quoted as saying. "But ultimately it is about making Greece competitive again, allowing the economy to grow and opening the path to the financial markets again. ... Full Story | Top |
Syria says U.S. allied to "terrorists" in country
Sat,12 May 2012 09:50 AM PDT
Reuters - DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria accused the United States and Western countries on Saturday of colluding with al Qaeda-linked militants to target the country, in the wake of a string of explosions in Damascus and Aleppo the government has blamed on foreign-backed fighters. "Western countries and the United States, which made alliances to wage wars using the pretext of fighting terrorism, are now making alliances with the terrorists which Syria has been facing," Information Minister Adnan Hasan Mahmoud told journalists in Damascus on Saturday. ... Full Story | Top |
Saudi king sacks cleric who attacked social reform
Sat,12 May 2012 09:15 AM PDT
Reuters - RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has sacked a senior cleric after he decried cautious reforms in the world's top oil exporter that allowed women to mix with unmarried men, Saudi Gazette reported on Saturday. The decision to relieve Sheikh Abdulmohsen al-Obeikan of his position as royal adviser was made in a decree issued on the recommendation of Crown Prince Nayef, himself a reputed conservative. The move fits a pattern of recent years in which senior clerics who oppose the government's cautious social reforms too openly have lost their jobs. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran wins release of Turkish journalists in Syria
Sat,12 May 2012 09:14 AM PDT
Reuters - ANKARA (Reuters) - Two Turkish journalists who went missing while reporting on the uprising in Syria two months ago were released on Saturday with Iran's help, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. The release of the pair demonstrated Iran's influence with its ally Syria, which lost Turkey's friendship when it cracked down on pro-democracy protests that erupted last year. Iran and Syria, both isolated by the West, have stuck by each other. ... Full Story | Top |
Libya minister warns Italy on clandestine immigration
Sat,12 May 2012 07:52 AM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - A deteriorating security situation in southern Libya threatens to increase illegal immigration into Europe from Africa, Libyan Foreign Minister Ashour bin Khayyal said on Saturday during a visit to Rome. "For the moment, the situation is not too bad but we have had indications that it could worsen. African immigrants have arrived at the Egyptian-Libyan border," he told reporters at a news conference with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi. "The numbers are not that big, but they could increase and that is why we are giving this warning," Bin Khayyal said. ... Full Story | Top |
Libya minister warns Italy on clandestine immigration
Sat,12 May 2012 07:45 AM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - A deteriorating security situation in southern Libya threatens to increase illegal immigration into Europe from Africa, Libyan Foreign Minister Ashour bin Khayyal said on Saturday during a visit to Rome. "For the moment, the situation is not too bad but we have had indications that it could worsen. African immigrants have arrived at the Egyptian-Libyan border," he told reporters at a news conference with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi. "The numbers are not that big, but they could increase and that is why we are giving this warning," Bin Khayyal said. ... Full Story | Top |
Militant group claims deadly Syrian blasts: video
Sat,12 May 2012 07:43 AM PDT
Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - A little-known militant group claimed responsibility in a video posted online on Saturday for the twin bombing in Syria's capital that killed at least 55 people earlier in the week. The video was narrated by a man whose voice was garbled to disguise his identity. There was no decisive proof in the video to show suspected Islamist group al-Nusra Front had a hand in the operations, which the government said were suicide bombings. The video showed no images of militants making or setting up the bomb and did not claim the attack as suicide bombings. ... Full Story | Top |
Fragmented Syrian opposition debates leadership
Sat,12 May 2012 07:43 AM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - The Syrian National Council (SNC), a fractious umbrella group opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, gathered on Saturday for three days of talks aimed at deciding on its own leadership and shoring up its credibility at home and abroad. Two SNC executive committee members, Samir Nashar and George Sabra, said the council was discussing whether to reelect Burhan Ghalioun, its president since it was set up in exile in August. ... Full Story | Top |
EU observers: Algeria vote a step towards reform
Sat,12 May 2012 07:33 AM PDT
Reuters -  ALGIERS (Reuters) - European Union observers gave a qualified endorsement on Saturday to an Algerian parliamentary election which handed victory to the ruling party, bucking the trend of the "Arab Spring" revolts. Some opposition forces expressed suspicion there had been manipulation of Thursday's vote, a charge the authorities denied. Jose Ignacio Salafranca, head of the EU's observer mission in Algeria, said there were shortcomings in some technical aspects of the election but there were "as many positive points as there were weak points". ...
Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment