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| Body of India rape victim arrives home in New Delhi Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:03 PM PST  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The body of a woman whose gang rape provoked protests and rare national debate about violence against women in India arrived back in New Delhi early on Sunday. The unidentified 23-year-old medical student died from her injuries on Saturday, prompting promises of action from a government that has struggled to respond to public outrage. She had suffered brain injuries and massive internal damage in the attack on December 16, and died in hospital in Singapore where she had been taken for treatment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Employer wins relief from U.S. contraceptives mandate Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 06:45 PM PST (Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court has temporarily barred the U.S. government from requiring an Illinois company to obtain insurance coverage for contraceptives, as mandated under the 2010 healthcare overhaul, after the owners objected on religious grounds. More than 40 lawsuits are challenging a requirement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires most for-profit companies to offer workers insurance coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices and other birth control methods. Friday's 2-1 order by a panel of the 7th U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate leaders work to avoid New Year's "fiscal cliff" Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 04:22 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators burrowed into their offices on Saturday to see if they could stop the U.S. economy from falling off of a "fiscal cliff" in just three days when the biggest tax increases ever to hit Americans in one shot are scheduled to begin. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell worked through the day on a possible compromise that would set aside $600 billion in tax increases and across-the-board government spending cuts that are set to kick in next week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Britain heading in the right direction: Cameron Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 04:02 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday Britain was heading in the right direction on all its major issues and could look forward to 2013 with realism and optimism. In a New Year video message, Cameron said the country had made progress on cutting its budget deficit, reforming welfare and improving school standards. Deficit reduction and preserving Britain's credit rating have been goals for the coalition of Cameron's Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, which came to power in June 2010 just after the budget deficit peaked at 11.2 percent of GDP. ... Full Story | Top |
| Woman accused of pushing man in N.Y. subway death charged with murder Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 03:22 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The woman arrested on suspicion of shoving a man to his death in front of an oncoming New York subway train was charged on Saturday with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the second such fatality this month for one of the world's busiest transit systems, prosecutors said. The district attorney for the New York City borough of Queens said the suspect, Erika Menendez, 31, who was seen muttering to herself before the attack, had admitted to investigators that she pushed the victim, Sunando Sen, 46, on Thursday because "I hate Hindus and Muslims. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former President George H.W. Bush moved out of intensive care Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 02:58 PM PST  HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush's condition improved enough for him to be moved on Saturday out of the intensive care unit and into a regular room at the Houston hospital where he was admitted last month for respiratory problems, a spokesman said. Bush, 88, who served as president from 1989 to 1993, entered Methodist Hospital on November 23 for treatment of what doctors said was bronchitis, and he was moved into the ICU last Sunday after suffering a number of medical complications, including a persistent fever. ... Full Story | Top |
| Death of India rape victim stirs anger, promises of action Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 02:07 PM PST NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A woman whose gang rape provoked protests and rare national debate about violence against women in India died from her injuries on Saturday, prompting promises of action from a government that has struggled to respond to public outrage. The unidentified 23-year-old medical student suffered a brain injury and massive internal damage in the attack on December 16 and died in hospital in Singapore where she had been taken for treatment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Berlusconi says Monti plotting with Italy's center left Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 01:45 PM PST  ROME/MILAN (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday that outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti was plotting with the left in his centrist alliance's bid to win Italy's national election in February, but centrist leaders denied any secret accord. Monti, who replaced Berlusconi as prime minister last year when Italy was scrambling to avert a financial crisis, said on Friday he wanted to unite a broad coalition of factions around a reform agenda aimed at easing the country's economic woes. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: After "fiscal cliff" dive, more battles, new cliffs Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 01:20 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Whether or not the "fiscal cliff" impasse is broken before the New Year's Eve deadline, there will be no post-cliff peace in Washington. With the political climate toxic in Congress as the cliff's steep tax hikes and spending cuts approach, other partisan fights loom, all over the issue that has paralyzed the capital for the past two years: federal spending. The first will come in late February when the Treasury Department runs out of borrowing authority and has to come to Congress to get the debt ceiling raised. ... Full Story | Top |
| Four killed when Russian airliner crash lands Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 12:55 PM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian airliner flying without passengers broke into pieces after it slid off the runway and crashed onto a highway outside Moscow upon landing on Saturday, killing four of the eight crew on board and leaving smoking chunks of fuselage on the icy road. The crash during peak holiday travel ahead of Russia's New Year's vacation, which runs from Sunday through January 9, cast a spotlight on the country's poor air-safety record despite President Vladimir Putin's calls to improve controls. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria doomed to "hell" without political deal: envoy Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 10:40 AM PST  MOSCOW/AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - The international mediator touting a peace plan for Syria warned on Saturday of "hell" if the warring sides shun talks, and Moscow accused enemies of President Bashar al-Assad of blocking negotiations. U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said in Moscow that responsible people inside and outside Syria should "help the Syrians stop their descent into more and more bloodshed, into more and more chaos and perhaps a failed state". ... Full Story | Top |
| Blood spattered on the bricks where Syria bomb falls Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 10:38 AM PST AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - Standing in the wreckage of his home, destroyed in an air strike two hours before, Abu Badri surveyed the damage as relatives scoured the rubble for any valuables they could retrieve. "We'll have to find a tent to stay in near the border with Turkey. What else can we do?" said the 38-year-old man, walking on a pile of broken concrete under a collapsed roof. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yale under fire for new campus in restrictive Singapore Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 10:36 AM PST  NEW HAVEN (Reuters) - For more than 300 years, Yale University has prided itself on training top students to question and analyze, to challenge and critique. Now, Yale is seeking to export those values by establishing the first foreign campus to bear its name, a liberal arts college in Singapore that is set to open this summer. The ambitious, multimillion-dollar project thrills many in the Yale community who say it will help the university maintain its prestige and build global influence. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: For Senate leaders, a mission impossible from Obama Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 09:22 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following a Friday meeting with congressional leaders, an impatient and annoyed President Barack Obama said it was "mind boggling" that Congress has been unable to fix a "fiscal cliff" mess that everyone has known about for more than a year. He then dispatched Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, on a mind-boggling mission: coming up with a bipartisan bill to break the "fiscal cliff" stalemate in the most partisan and gridlocked U.S. Congress of modern times - in about 48 hours. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela sees 2012 inflation at 19.9 percent, below target Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 09:07 AM PST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan inflation reached 19.9 percent in 2012, the central bank said in a preliminary estimate on Saturday, beating its official target thanks to strict price controls that business leaders say are unsustainable in the long term. The government of President Hugo Chavez has capped prices for a wide range of consumer goods, helping contain inflation that has traditionally been the highest in Latin America. The 2012 target had been between 22 and 25 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Same-sex couples marry in Maine for first time Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:53 AM PST  PORTLAND, Maine (Reuters) - The first gay and lesbian couples to wed under Maine's new same-sex marriage law exchanged vows early on Saturday in a series of spare but joyous civil ceremonies held shortly after midnight. "We finally feel equal and happy to be living in Maine," an exuberant Steven Bridges, 42, said shortly after he and his newly wedded husband, Michael Snell, 53, became the first couple at City Hall in Maine's largest town to tie the knot. ... Full Story | Top |
| Starbucks expands cup campaign aimed at U.S. fiscal deal Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:43 AM PST  (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp is expanding its campaign of using messages written on coffee cups to inspire U.S. lawmakers to reach a deal and avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts. As President Barack Obama and congressional leaders were in a final effort to reach a budget agreement before year's end, Starbucks this week began urging workers in its roughly 120 Washington, D.C.-area shops to write the words "come together" on customers' cups. A spokesman for the world's largest coffee chain said the company would expand the effort to all U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Argentina asks U.S. court to block payouts for debt holdouts Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:27 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Argentina is urging a U.S. appeals court to reverse an order requiring the country to pay $1.33 billion to creditors who did not participate in its two debt restructurings, a legal case that could have huge ramifications for global debt markets. Lawyers for Argentina's government said in court papers filed late on Friday that a trial judge was "wrong to ignore the chorus of voices" who opposed his November order on payments to so-called "holdout" creditors. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil proposes looser fiscal rules to spur growth Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:26 AM PST  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's government has proposed changes to a fiscal responsibility law that set the foundation for a decade of economic prosperity in Latin America's largest economy, two local newspapers said on Saturday. The changes would make it easier for the government to cut Brazil's high tax burden and enact other stimulus measures after two years of slow economic growth, but they could also rattle investors who fear President Dilma Rousseff has been too quick to modify bedrock economic principles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street Week Ahead: Cliff may be a fear, but debt ceiling much scarier Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:25 AM PST  (Reuters) - Investors fearing a stock market plunge - if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week - may want to relax. But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rejected French tax measures worth 300-500 million euros: finance minister Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:25 AM PST PARIS (Reuters) - The French Constitutional Council's rejection on Saturday of a 75 percent upper income tax rate and other minor measures in the 2013 budget will affect some 300-500 million euros worth of tax revenues, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said. "The rejected measures represent 300 to 500 million euros. Our deficit-cutting path will not be affected," Moscovici told BFM television. He added that the Socialist government would resubmit a proposal to raise taxes on high incomes in 2013 and 2014. (Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Catherine Bremer; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Full Story | Top |
| French court rejects 75 percent millionaires' tax Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:25 AM PST  PARIS (Reuters) - France's Constitutional Council on Saturday rejected a 75 percent upper income tax rate to be introduced in 2013 in a setback to Socialist President Francois Hollande's push to make the rich contribute more to cutting the public deficit. The Council ruled that the planned 75 percent tax on annual income above 1 million euros ($1.32 million) - a flagship measure of Hollande's election campaign - was unfair in the way it would be applied to different households. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. confronts failure of diplomacy in Syria Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:13 AM PST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Attempts by the United Nations to end the bloody 21-month-old Syrian conflict through diplomacy have been a resounding failure and there is little reason to expect a quick change given the Russian-U.S. rift on Syria. After a year of intensive diplomatic efforts by the world body, U.N.-Arab League peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria has made no more progress than his predecessor, former U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rebels extend reach in Central African Republic ahead of peace talks Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:07 AM PST  BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic took control of a strategic town north of the capital on Saturday after soldiers defending it withdrew, ramping up tensions ahead of planned peace talks. The three-week-old uprising by SELEKA rebels poses the biggest threat yet to President Francois Bozize's near ten-year rule over the former French colony - a nation plagued by poverty and turmoil despite its rich natural resources. ... Full Story | Top |
| SyriaAir cancels flight from Cairo to Aleppo Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 08:06 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's national airline cancelled a flight from Cairo to Aleppo on Saturday due to poor security conditions around the airport, Cairo airport officials said. Rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last week they would target Aleppo's international airport and opposition activists said on Saturday there had been a big explosion near the complex overnight. The SyriaAir flight had been due to fly to Aleppo before continuing to Damascus. ... Full Story | Top |
| Only political process can save Syria from "hell": envoy Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 07:11 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syria faces "hell" if no deal is struck to end 21 months of bloodshed, an international mediator said on Saturday, but his talks in Russia brought no sign of a breakthrough after a week of intense diplomacy. U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov both said there was still a chance for a negotiated solution to the conflict, which has killed more than 44,000 people and set world powers against one another. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt starts currency auctions, says reserves critical Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 07:04 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's central bank introduced a new auction system for buying and selling U.S. dollars to help conserve foreign reserves, which it said had reached a critical level. Political turmoil over the last month has prompted a rush by investors and ordinary citizens to switch their Egyptian pounds into foreign currency on concerns the government might devalue or bring in capital controls. ... Full Story | Top |
| CAR rebels occupy Sibut after army withdraws: resident, official Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 06:58 AM PST BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic took control of the town of Sibut, 190 km (115 miles) north of the capital Bangui, after national army and Chadian soldiers stationed there withdrew, a resident and the head of the pro-government youth movement said on Saturday. "The rebels arrived at around 9 a.m. on two trucks and several motorcycles and took positions at strategic points in the town, firing their guns," said Yvon Jolier Bema, a Sibut resident who fled to Bangui. "The national army and the Chadians had left on Friday in the direction of Bangui. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt lets building material cross its border into Gaza Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 06:45 AM PST  ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Islamist-led Egypt allowed building materials into Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Saturday for the first time since Hamas seized control of the Palestinian enclave in 2007, an Egyptian border official said. It was part of a shipment of building materials donated by the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, which has pledged $400 million to finance reconstruction in Gaza. The Islamist group Hamas has run Gaza since driving out its rivals in the Palestinian Authority. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Times editor Rees-Mogg, who supported Mick Jagger, dies Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 06:33 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of Britain's Times newspaper who famously backed Mick Jagger when the Rolling Stones singer was jailed for a drug offence, has died at the age of 84. On its website, the Times said Rees-Mogg, a former chairman of the Arts Council and vice-chairman of the BBC, had been suffering from oesophageal cancer. Rees-Mogg became editor of the paper in 1967 and, despite establishment credentials built up at independent school and Balliol College, Oxford, soon showed a rebellious streak. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arab officials visit cash-strapped Palestinian territory Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 06:08 AM PST  RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Top Arab officials paid a rare visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday to discuss a Palestinian financial crisis that President Mahmoud Abbas hopes will be eased by Arab donations. Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr congratulated the Palestinians on a successful United Nations status upgrade last month, but stopped short of promising the badly-needed funds. "Palestine is in need of material and political support," Elaraby told a news conference in the Palestinians' de facto capital of Ramallah. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spaniard convicted in Cuban dissident death returns home Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 05:53 AM PST MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish political activist who was convicted in the death of prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya in a car crash in Cuba in July arrived in Spain on Saturday to serve out his four-year prison sentence, media reports said. Angel Carromero, a leader of the youth wing of Spain's ruling People's Party, was tried in Cuba and found guilty of reckless driving in the accident which killed one of the most important leaders of Cuba's small opposition community. ... Full Story | Top |
| Polish bishop who built secret communist-era churches dies at 94 Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 05:45 AM PST WARSAW (Reuters) - Retired Polish Archbishop Ignacy Tokarczuk, who built churches in secret in defiance of the communist authorities, becoming a folk hero for many, has died at the age of 94, PAP news agency said on Saturday. One of the Soviet bloc's more colorful anti-communist clerics, Tokarczuk clandestinely built hundreds of churches under the noses of the officially atheist government in the 1960s and 1970s. ... Full Story | Top |
| Macedonian opposition rallies to demand early elections Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 05:43 AM PST  SKOPJE (Reuters) - Several thousand people rallied in front of the headquarters of Macedonia's rightist ruling party on Saturday demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and early elections. The rally was the culmination of days of smaller countrywide protests provoked by an incident last week when the opposition was ejected from the parliament after a disagreement and a brawl over the size of next year's budget. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian jet splits apart after landing, none killed: airport Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 05:38 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian jet with 11 crew and no passengers board went off a runway and split into three pieces after landing at Moscow's Vnukovo airport but nobody was killed, an airport spokeswoman said. There may have been injuries among crew of the Tupolev Tu-204 jet, spokeswoman Yelena Krylova said in televised comments. (Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Writing by Steve Gutterman) Full Story | Top |
| Passenger jet goes off runway outside Moscow, catches fire: Ifax Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 05:01 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - A passenger plane ran off an airport runway outside Moscow on Saturday and caught fire, the Interfax news agency reported, citing police. There was no immediate word on the type of plane or how many people were aboard. An initial report from Interfax said the plane had landed hard on a highway. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Alison Williams) Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Mursi says Assad "regime" has no future in Syria Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 04:42 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on Saturday his country supported the Syrian revolution and that President Bashar al-Asasd's administration had no place in Syria's future. Mursi said Egypt's priority was to halt the bloodshed and to work, with "Arab, regional and international support and consensus", for a political solution that would allow "the Syrian people to replace the current regime" with elected leaders. "All of that while preserving the unity of Syria," Mursi, an Islamist, said during a televised speech to Egypt's Shura Council, or upper house of parliament. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces seize Homs district from rebels: activists Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 04:39 AM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces have pushed rebels from a district in Homs after several days of fierce fighting in the strategically important city, opposition activists said on Saturday. The army moved into Deir Ba'alba, a neighborhood on the northeastern edge of Homs, they said, leaving the rebels controlling just the central neighborhoods around the old city and the district of Khalidiyah, immediately to the north. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's president says economy grew 2.6 pct in July-Sept Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 04:35 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's economy, buffeted by political and economic strife, grew by an annual 2.6 percent in the third quarter of 2012, President Mohamed Mursi said in a televised speech on Saturday. The uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 chased away tourists and investors, slowing growth. In the year to end-June, gross domestic product grew by 2.2 percent, up from 1.8 percent in the 2010/11 financial year, according to statistics published by the Finance Ministry. Full Story | Top |
| Blast in Pakistan's Karachi kills six on bus, 48 hurt Saturday, Dec 29, 2012 04:31 AM PST  KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb went off on a bus in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Saturday killing six people and wounding 48, police and a hospital official said. Pakistan's commercial capital and biggest city has seen numerous militant attacks over the past 10 years and is also plagued by violence between rival ethnic-based factions. The bus sustained serious damage in the explosion and a subsequent fire. While police said the bomb had been planted on the bus, provincial official Sharfud Din Memon said it was left on a motor-bike and went off as the bus passed. ... Full Story | Top |
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