Today's Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines: | | Strong winds down trees and power lines in West Thu,1 Dec 2011 08:06 PM PST AP - Some of the worst winds in years blasted through California overnight, sweeping through canyons, gusting up to 97 mph (156 kph), and toppling trees and trucks while knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. Full Story | Top | Senate approves $662 billion defense bill Thu,1 Dec 2011 06:33 PM PST AP - Ignoring a presidential veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a massive, $662 billion defense bill that would require the military to hold suspected terrorists linked to al-Qaida or its affiliates, even those captured on U.S. soil, and detain some indefinitely. Full Story | Top | Senate rejects, for now, extending payroll tax cut Thu,1 Dec 2011 07:17 PM PST AP - The Senate on Thursday sidetracked rival plans to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut, in dueling votes that pave the way for negotiations on a compromise on a core component of President Barack Obama's jobs program. Full Story | Top | Egypt's Islamists poised to dominate parliament Thu,1 Dec 2011 06:27 PM PST AP - Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally. Full Story | Top | Craigslist suspect was wanted as Texas parolee Thu,1 Dec 2011 06:04 PM PST AP - A Texas parolee now linked to a deadly Craigslist robbery scheme was in a jail in the state of Ohio and poised to stay there but was released after Texas officials said they only wanted him extradited if he were convicted on a drug charge, according to court records and a sheriff's office. Full Story | Top | Sarkozy calls for treaty to save euro Thu,1 Dec 2011 06:26 PM PST AP - Germany and France will push for a broad treaty "refounding and rethinking the organization of Europe," French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Thursday. He said that without some new "convergence" among European countries, the continent's crushing debt could destroy the euro. Full Story | Top | Red Sox bring out Bobby Valentine as new manager Thu,1 Dec 2011 05:57 PM PST AP - Bobby Valentine took over as manager of the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, promising to be hardworking, open-minded and even humble as he tries to help the franchise return to the playoffs and forget the disappointment of this season's unprecedented September collapse. Full Story | Top | Auto sales rise to near two-year high Thu,1 Dec 2011 02:27 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales rose 14 percent in November, paced by gains at Chrysler Group LLC and Volkswagen AG, as consumers returned to showrooms even without the lure of a big year-end sale. Chrysler and VW posted the highest percentage gains at 45 percent and 41 percent, respectively. Others posting double-digit gains were Hyundai Motor Co at 22 percent, Nissan Motor Co at 19 percent, and Ford Motor Co at 13 percent. General Motors and Toyota Motor Co trailed with increases of 7 percent. ... Full Story | Top | November chilled retailers stuck in a rut Thu,1 Dec 2011 02:33 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - Earlier hours and bigger promotions were the keys to success for several U.S. retailers in November, while chains that held fast to their same old holiday season strategies were dealt a blow. Among retailers that reported monthly tallies there were clear winners, including Macy's Inc and Saks Inc, and clear losers, such as Kohl's Corp and J.C. Penney Co Inc. Overall, sales at stores open at least a year rose, as was expected, during a critical month for the industry. ... Full Story | Top | Mass. AG hits big banks with foreclosure lawsuit Thu,1 Dec 2011 02:37 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - The Massachusetts attorney general has filed a lawsuit against five large U.S. banks accusing them of deceptive foreclosure practices, a signal of ebbing confidence that a multi-state agreement can be worked out. Attorney General Martha Coakley said on Thursday she filed the lawsuit partly because it has been taking too long to hammer out a nationwide settlement. For more than a year, state and federal officials have been negotiating a deal in which banks would pay billions of dollars in fines - to go toward housing relief - in exchange for legal protection against future suits. ... Full Story | Top | Senate defeats competing payroll tax cut bills Thu,1 Dec 2011 06:43 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Thursday defeated competing payroll tax cut extension plans by Democrats and Republicans, clearing the way for negotiations on compromise legislation that could boost the economy next year. In late-night votes, the Senate, as expected, defeated a Democratic plan that would have extended and expanded the payroll tax cut that is scheduled to expire on December 31. Republicans particularly objected to a new tax on the wealthy to cover the $110 billion in projected lost revenues from continuing the temporary tax cut. ... Full Story | Top | Factories growing despite global slowdown Thu,1 Dec 2011 02:40 PM PST Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. factories shrugged off weakness in the global economy in November as manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in five months, a fresh sign the domestic economy was accelerating. Recent data on consumer spending and private-sector job creation has also boosted optimism on the path of growth. "The economy seems finally to be developing real momentum," said Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York. Also pointing to growth, automakers reported U.S. sales rose 13.9 percent in November from a year earlier, Autodata Corp said. ... Full Story | Top | ECB opens door to action, Sarkozy seeks new treaty Thu,1 Dec 2011 05:34 PM PST Reuters - BRUSSELS/TOULON, France (Reuters) - The new head of the European Central Bank signaled on Thursday it stood ready to act more aggressively to fight Europe's debt crisis if political leaders agree next week on much tighter budget controls in the 17-nation euro zone. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a new treaty incorporating tougher budget discipline, a European Monetary Fund to support countries in difficulty and decisions in the euro area taken by majority vote instead of unanimity. ... Full Story | Top | Senators blast CFTC, Gensler for MF Global mess Thu,1 Dec 2011 07:41 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers blasted the chairman of the U.S. futures regulator on Thursday for his agency's role in the collapse of MF Global and called his recusal from the investigation a way to "avoid the heat." The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and its chairman, Gary Gensler, are under pressure because of the quick collapse of the futures brokerage and for allegedly not policing the firm's bookkeeping closely enough. Investigators are searching for as much as $1. ... Full Story | Top | Insight: Apple vs Samsung lawsuit full of secret combat Thu,1 Dec 2011 05:00 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - The biggest legal battle for the technology industry is playing out in a federal court in Silicon Valley, where Apple is trying to stop Samsung from selling Galaxy phones and tablets in the United States. In the lawsuit, filed in April, Apple accuses Samsung of "slavishly" ripping off its designs for the iPad and iPhone. Although there is worldwide interest in the case, the proceedings have largely been shrouded behind a veil of secrecy: most of the court papers are sealed, meaning they can't be viewed by the public. ... Full Story | Top | Smith replaces Glocer as Thomson Reuters CEO Thu,1 Dec 2011 06:08 PM PST Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters Corp Chief Executive Tom Glocer is stepping down at the end of the year following a slump in the share price in recent months. He will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer James Smith, a veteran Thomson executive who has run the company's most successful operations. The news and information company has undergone a series of structural changes and management shake-ups over the past six months to address the lackluster performance of its Markets business, which mainly serves financial institutions. ... Full Story | Top | Analysis: MF Global proves Enron-era accounting lives on Thu,1 Dec 2011 07:40 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - The off-balance-sheet accounting methods that Enron and Lehman Brothers made famous in their epic failures years ago have a modern-day poster child: MF Global. Like its predecessors, the bankrupt brokerage formerly run by Jon Corzine took advantage of an accounting maneuver to keep certain financial obligations off its books, making the firm look less indebted and thus less a risk than it really was. ... Full Story | Top | Madoff trustee can appeal JPMorgan $19 billion loss Thu,1 Dec 2011 04:18 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - The trustee seeking money for Bernard Madoff's victims won the right to immediately appeal a ruling that took away more than $19 billion of his claims against JPMorgan Chase & Co, Madoff's main bank for two decades. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan last month took away all but $425 million of trustee Irving Picard's $19.9 billion lawsuit against the largest U.S. bank. McMahon found that Picard, as trustee for the estate of Bernard L. ... Full Story | Top | Senate defeats Democratic payroll tax cut plan Thu,1 Dec 2011 05:48 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the Senate on Thursday blocked a one-year extension and expansion of the payroll tax cut that was coupled with a plan to impose a new tax on the wealthy. By a mostly partisan vote of 51-49, the Senate defeated the Democratic legislation and was preparing to vote on a Republican alternative that also was expected to fail. At least 60 votes were needed in the 100-member Senate to pass either measure. Under current law, the payroll tax cut for workers is scheduled to expire on December 31. ... Full Story | Top | Al Qaeda says group kidnapped American in Pakistan Thu,1 Dec 2011 05:08 PM PST Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of an American man in Pakistan and demanded the release of prisoners and an end to air strikes in Muslim countries in exchange for his freedom, according to an Internet statement. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri also said in an audio recording issued on Islamist websites late on Thursday that a senior al Qaeda leader based in Pakistan known as Attiyatullah had been killed in a U.S. air strike in August. ... Full Story | Top | ECB opens door to action, Sarkozy seeks new treaty Thu,1 Dec 2011 02:25 PM PST Reuters - BRUSSELS/TOULON, France (Reuters) - The new head of the European Central Bank signaled on Thursday it stood ready to act more aggressively to fight Europe's debt crisis if political leaders agree next week on much tighter budget controls in the 17-nation euro zone. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a new treaty incorporating tougher budget discipline, a European Monetary Fund to support countries in difficulty and decisions in the euro area taken by majority vote instead of unanimity. ... Full Story | Top | NATO attack threatens war on militants: Pakistan Thu,1 Dec 2011 02:35 PM PST Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan, enraged by a NATO cross-border attack that killed 24 soldiers, could end support for the U.S.-led war on militancy if its sovereignty is violated again, the foreign minister said, warning that "enough is enough." The South Asian nation has already shown its anger over the weekend strike by pulling out of an international conference in Germany next week on Afghanistan, depriving the talks of a central player in efforts to bring peace to its neighbor. "Enough is enough. ... Full Story | Top |
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