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| Senate to vote on "fiscal cliff" deal as deadline approaches Monday, Dec 31, 2012 08:17 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and Senate leaders struck a bipartisan deal on Monday to try to avoid a "fiscal cliff" budget crisis, although the agreement was likely to face stiff challenges in the House of Representatives. Senators were due to vote on the accord before midnight (0500 GMT Tuesday) and independent Senator Joe Lieberman said it had strong support from the Democrats who control the chamber. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. House aims to split Sandy aid bill into two parts Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:54 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to split a $60.4 billion Superstorm Sandy disaster aid bill into two parts, staging votes on $27 billion to fund immediate recovery needs and $33 billion for long-term and other projects, Republican lawmakers and aides said on Monday. The plan for votes on Tuesday or Wednesday would meet the demands of many Republican lawmakers to vote on a smaller initial package of aid for victims of the October 29 storm that devastated New York and New Jersey coastlines. ... Full Story | Top |
| North Korean leader, in rare address, seeks end to confrontation with South Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:41 PM PST  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech broadcast on state media. The address by Kim, who took over power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year editorial published in leading state newspapers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Top Afghan negotiator cautiously optimistic on peace prospects Monday, Dec 31, 2012 07:53 PM PST  KABUL (Reuters) - One of Afghanistan's top peace negotiators said he was cautiously optimistic about prospects for reconciliation with the Taliban and that all sides now realized a military solution to the war was not possible. Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai also told Reuters that the Kabul government hoped to transform the Afghan Taliban into a political movement. He predicted the highly lethal Haqqani militant network would join the peace process if the Afghan Taliban started formal talks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sour end to 2012 masks positive trends in America Monday, Dec 31, 2012 05:53 PM PST  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Many Americans seem to be in a sour mood as 2013 begins, after Hurricane Sandy ravaged parts of the East Coast, a gunman massacred 20 school children in Connecticut and a long, contentious election campaign was followed by failure to resolve the "fiscal cliff" issue by year-end. Americans have not been very optimistic since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, but the gloom had begun to lift this year until the blast of bad news as 2012 ended, IPSOS pollster Cliff Young said on Monday. IPSOS polling showed that some angst set in as the year ended. ... Full Story | Top |
| Best Buy loses two board directors Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:32 PM PST  (Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc said on Monday that two of its board directors had resigned, including one of its former chief executives, almost seven months after its founder, who is now mounting a bid for the struggling retailer, left the board. The departures will leave Best Buy with four vacancies on its 11-member board. The company's fortunes have faltered as consumers increasingly use its big box stores as showrooms for products they end up buying online at Amazon.com Inc and other websites. Best Buy said that G. ... Full Story | Top |
| State Department made "grievous mistake" over Benghazi: Senate report Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:23 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the U.S. mission in Benghazi open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before a deadly attack by militants, a Senate committee said on Monday. A report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the September 11 attacks on the U.S. mission and a nearby CIA annex, in which the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died, faulted intelligence agencies for not focusing tightly enough on Libyan extremists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Chavez in stable condition, says son-in-law Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:34 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in stable condition and spent Monday with his daughters, the cancer-stricken leader's son in law said in an appeal for supporters to ignore rumors about his condition. Chavez has not been seen in public nor heard from in more than three weeks. The vice president said on Sunday that the 58-year-old was suffering a third set of complications after surgery in Cuba on December 11, his fourth operation in 18 months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Clinton suffers clot behind right ear, full recovery seen Monday, Dec 31, 2012 05:39 PM PST  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a blood clot in a vein between her brain and skull behind her right ear but is expected to make a full recovery, her doctors said on Monday in a statement released by the State Department. Clinton did not suffer a stroke or neurological damage as a result of the clot, the doctors said, adding that "she is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family and her staff." The U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces battle to retake Damascus suburb Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:31 AM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Elite Syrian government troops backed by tanks battled on Monday to recapture a strategic Damascus suburb from rebels who have advanced within striking distance of the center of Syria's capital. Five people, including a child, died from army rocket fire that hit the Daraya suburb during the fighting, opposition activists said. Daraya is part of a semi-circle of Sunni Muslim suburbs south of the capital that have been at the forefront of the 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. "This is the biggest attack on Daraya in two months. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Fiscal cliff" deal reached between White House, lawmakers: source Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:42 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and congressional lawmakers have reached a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" that would delay harsh spending cuts by two months, Obama administration officials said on Monday. President Barack Obama called Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who both signed off on the deal, one source said. The agreement includes a balance of spending cuts and revenue increases to pay for the delay in the automatic spending cuts that would go into effect without a deal by lawmakers. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Fiscal cliff" tumble looms despite Senate efforts Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:36 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States was on track to tumble over the "fiscal cliff" at midnight on Monday, at least for a day, as lawmakers held back from supporting an eleventh-hour plan from Senate leaders to avert severe tax increases and spending cuts. The U.S. House of Representatives looked unlikely to vote on a Senate "fiscal cliff" plan before midnight, possibly pushing a legislative decision into New Year's Day, when financial markets will be closed. The plan was heavy on tax increases and light on spending cuts, which was unlikely to appeal to Republicans in the House. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombs kill 23 across Iraq as sectarian strife grows Monday, Dec 31, 2012 12:29 PM PST  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 23 people were killed and 87 wounded in attacks across Iraq on Monday, police said, underlining sectarian and ethnic divisions that threaten to further destabilize the country a year after U.S. troops left. Tensions between Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year. Militants strike almost daily and have staged at least one big attack a month. The latest violence followed more than a week of protests against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by thousands of people from the minority Sunni community. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Indian student's gang rape, murder, two worlds collide Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:32 AM PST  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - One of hundreds of attacks reported in New Delhi each year, the gang rape and murder of a medical student caught Indian authorities and political parties flat-footed, slow to see that the assault on a private bus had come to symbolize an epidemic of crime against women. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's leader sees currency stabilizing "within days" Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:12 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's pound fell to a record low on Monday as the president signaled his government would allow it to depreciate slowly for several more days to stop a drain on foreign reserves that has driven the economy into crisis since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Hit by a new bout of political turmoil in the last month, the pound had weakened to a record low on Sunday at a new dollar auction brought in by the central bank. It fell further at a second auction on Monday, last trading at 6.37 to the dollar on the interbank market. ... Full Story | Top |
| Equities rally as U.S. "cliff" deal nears; oil up Monday, Dec 31, 2012 01:24 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rallied on Monday and global equities finished their best year in the last three as U.S. lawmakers closed in on a deal to avoid a budget crisis that many fear could cripple the world economy in 2013. U.S. President Barack Obama said Congress was close to an agreement that would start chipping away at the deficit without raising middle-class taxes. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell also said an agreement was "very, very close," though it wasn't clear whether a vote would happen on Monday or be pushed into early 2013. U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for U.S. ambassador Monday, Dec 31, 2012 02:50 AM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - The Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda has offered a bounty for anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador to Yemen or an American soldier in the impoverished Arab state, a group that monitors Islamist websites said. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said it was offering three kilograms of gold for the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa, Gerald Feierstein, the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said, citing an audio released by militants. AQAP will also pay 5 million rials ($23,350) to whoever kills any American soldier in Yemen, it said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Venezuela's Maduro channels Chavez, lacks his charisma Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:12 AM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - He uses Hugo Chavez's bombastic language, brandishes the constitution and showers opponents with vitriol at every turn. But Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro is struggling to replicate the extraordinary charisma of his boss, who is battling to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba. Named as heir apparent by Chavez just before the president returned to Havana for his fourth surgery in December, the 50-year-old former bus driver has become the face of the socialist government in South America's top oil exporter. ... Full Story | Top |
| China factory sector strongest since May 2011: survey Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:11 AM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's vast manufacturing sector hit its fastest pace in December since May 2011, a survey of private factory managers showed, with a sub-index for new orders pointing to continued strength in the new year. The final reading for the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 51.5 in December, well above the preliminary reading of 50.9 published in the middle of the month and November's final reading of 50.5. ... Full Story | Top |
| Stung Bankia investors look to courts for justice Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:13 AM PST  MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish savers and pensioners who have seen their money wiped out by investing in state-rescued lender Bankia are likely to seek redress in court rather than wait for any official inquiry, which looks increasingly unlikely. About 350,000 stockholders will share the pain of the bank's European bailout, many of them bank clients who were sold the shares through an aggressive marketing campaign for its stock market flotation in 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces push to retake Damascus suburb Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:51 AM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Damascus on Monday as elite troops backed by tanks tried to recapture a strategic suburb from rebels in one of the largest military operations in that district in months, opposition activists said. Five people, including one child, died from army rocket fire that hit Daraya, the activists said. Daraya is one of a series of interconnected Sunni Muslim suburbs that ring Syria's capital and have been at the forefront of the 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. "This is the biggest attack on Daraya in two months. ... Full Story | Top |
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