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| Record number of claims against NYC police in FY 2011: report Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 07:38 PM PST (Reuters) - A record number of legal claims were filed against the New York City Police Department in fiscal year 2011, according to a report scheduled for release on Thursday. In fiscal 2011, which ended June 30, 2011, a total of 8,882 claims were filed against the NYPD, up from the previous high of 8,110 filed in fiscal year 2010, New York City Comptroller John Liu said in the report. The city also settled $185.6 million of personal injury and other tort claims that involved the NYPD, a 35 percent increase from fiscal 2010, the report said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three Afghans dead in new blast at U.S. base in Afghan east Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 06:54 PM PST  KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed three people in an attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the same base where a suicide bomb attack killed seven CIA employees three years ago. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the eastern town of Khost, saying they had sent a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives to the base. "The target was those who serve Americans at that base," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Afghanistan's NATO-led force said the bomber did not get into the base nor breach its perimeter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hawaii lieutenant governor named to replace late U.S. Senator Inouye Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 06:37 PM PST HONOLULU (Reuters) - Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz was named on Wednesday to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of fellow Democrat Daniel Inouye. Schatz, 40, was appointed by Governor Neil Abercrombie, also a Democrat, to succeed Inouye for the two years remaining in the term. Because Schatz and Inouye are from the same party, the change does not alter the balance of power in the 100-member Senate, where Democrats are expected to maintain a 55-45 majority over Republicans in January. ... Full Story | Top |
| Children, many ill, would be victims of Russia ban on U.S. adoption Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 06:06 PM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Family Christmas cards and smiling snapshots of children sent by their adoptive American parents fill Galina Sigayeva's office in Russia's second city St Petersburg. Many of them were crippled by illness and in desperate need of medical care before her agency helped organise their adoption into U.S. families, she recalls. Children's rights campaigners say children like these will suffer most if President Vladimir Putin approves a law barring American adoptions that has been rubber-stamped by Russian lawmakers. The act retaliates against a new U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's Mandela discharged from hospital: government Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 06:05 PM PST  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital, ending a nearly three-week stay during which he was treated for a lung infection and had surgery to remove gallstones, the government said on Wednesday. The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been moved to his Johannesburg home. He has been in frail health for several years. "He will undergo home-based high care at his ... home until he recovers fully," the government said in a statement issued by the presidency. ... Full Story | Top |
| Imminent threat of labor unrest averted at Northwest ports Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 06:04 PM PST SEATTLE (Reuters) - The threat of imminent labor unrest at four U.S. Pacific Northwest ports was averted on Wednesday as the dockworkers union said its members would stay on the job despite "substandard" contract terms being imposed unilaterally by grain shippers. Both sides in the stalemate left open the door to further negotiations. A spokesman for the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service told Reuters the agency was in contact on Wednesday with the parties. ... Full Story | Top |
| Los Angeles police offer gift cards to take guns off streets Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 05:21 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police traded gift cards for guns in Los Angeles on Wednesday, in a buyback program Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced as a crime-fighting response to the deadly shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut. Police officers handed out $200 grocery store gift cards to people who turned in an automatic weapon, and $100 gift cards to those who provided a handgun, rifle or shotgun. Los Angeles has held an annual gun buyback since 2009, and similar events have been organized in years past in several other cities, including Detroit and Boston. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-U.S. President George H.W. Bush in intensive care Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 04:46 PM PST  AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital and is in "guarded condition," family spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday. "The president is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family," McGrath said in a statement. "Following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever, President Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital on Sunday where he remains in guarded condition," McGrath said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Washington stirs for "fiscal cliff" talks as Obama heads home Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 04:30 PM PST  WASHINGTON/HONOLULU (Reuters) - Efforts to prevent the U.S. economy from going over a "fiscal cliff" stirred back to life on Wednesday with less than a week to go before potentially disastrous tax hikes and spending cuts kick in at the New Year. In a sign that there may be a way through deadlock in Congress, Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner urged the Democrat-controlled Senate to act to pull back from the cliff and offered to at least consider any bill the upper chamber produced. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former President George H.W. Bush in intensive care: spokesman Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 03:52 PM PST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital and is in "guarded condition," family spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday. "The President is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family," McGrath said in a statement. Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit on Sunday, McGrath said. (Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Paul Thomasch) Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic wants French help as rebels close in on capital Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 03:25 PM PST BANGUI (Reuters) - A government minister in the Central African Republic on Wednesday called for French soldiers stationed there to intervene as rebels closed in on the capital having passed the last major town to the north. The appeal for help came as hundreds of people protested outside the French Embassy in Bangui, the capital, throwing stones at the building and tearing down the French flag in anger at a rebel advance through the north of the country. Paris did not immediately respond to the aid request but announced that French troops would be deployed to secure the embassy. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. administration urges Republicans not to block "fiscal cliff" deal Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 03:00 PM PST HONOLULU (Reuters) - As President Barack Obama cut short a Christmas vacation to resume talks to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of automatic year-end tax hikes and spending cuts, the White House on Wednesday called on congressional Republicans not to stand in the way of a resolution in the U.S. Congress. "It's up to the Senate Minority Leader not to block a vote, and it's up the House Republican leader, the Speaker of the House ... to allow a vote," a senior administration official told reporters traveling with the president. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Treasury's tools to delay hitting debt limit Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 02:43 PM PST (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday announced the first of a series of emergency measures to delay the date the United States will reach the statutory $16.4 trillion limit on its debt. Republicans want to use the need to raise the nation's borrowing authority as leverage in talks over averting the so-called fiscal cliff. The White House is insisting any budget deal include an increase in the debt ceiling. Wrangling over the debt limit in 2011 led Standard & Poor's to strip the United States of its prized AAA credit rating. It also cost taxpayers $1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Treasury unveils plan to buy time under debt ceiling Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 02:43 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury on Wednesday announced the first of a series of measures that should push back the day when the government will exceed its legal borrowing authority as imposed by Congress by around two months. Without any action, Treasury said the government is set to reach its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling on December 31. The government is facing a crunch on the debt ceiling because the issue has become ensnarled in talks to avoid some $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts due to begin in early January. ... Full Story | Top |
| Nicaragua volcano spews ash cloud, residents evacuated Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 02:29 PM PST  MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua's tallest volcano has belched an ash cloud hundreds of meters (feet) into the sky in the latest bout of sporadic activity, prompting the evacuation of nearby residents, the government said on Wednesday. The 5,725-foot (1,745-meter) San Cristobal volcano, which sits around 85 miles north of the capital Managua in the country's northwest, has been active in recent years, and went through a similar episode in September. The latest activity began late on Tuesday. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo called on residents who live within a 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu, Jordan's Abdullah discuss Syria chemical arms: reports Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 02:10 PM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secretly met Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman to discuss the risk of Syria's chemical weapons falling into the hands of Islamist militants, Israeli media reports said on Wednesday. Two TV stations and Israeli news sites quoted unnamed Israeli officials confirming a report in the London-based Arabic language daily, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, that such a summit had been held. Netanyahu's spokesmen have declined to comment on the reports. ... Full Story | Top |
| House Speaker Boehner urges Senate to act on "fiscal cliff" Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 01:59 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday urged the Senate to pass its version of legislation to avert the "fiscal cliff," in a sign that congressional efforts to avoid a budget crisis are coming back to life days ahead of the year-end deadline. In a statement issued by Boehner and his top lieutenants, the Republican leadership team said "the Senate must act first" to revive efforts to avert the $600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to be triggered on January 1. ... Full Story | Top |
| Congress awaits Obama's return for late push on "fiscal cliff" Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 01:38 PM PST WASHINGTON/HONOLULU (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday edged closer to the "fiscal cliff" as Congress waited for President Barack Obama to return from vacation in Hawaii and make one final attempt to avoid huge tax hikes and spending cuts in the New Year. In the absence of Obama, there was no sign of either side in Congress making an effort to strike a deal. The corridors of the Capitol building were empty except for an occasional police officer, and members' office doors stayed locked. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. charges analyst in IBM insider trading case Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 01:12 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Wednesday announced charges against a research analyst for trading and tipping others ahead of a 2009 acquisition by computer giant IBM, expanding a related insider trading case filed last month. Federal prosecutors charged Trent Martin, who worked at a Connecticut brokerage firm, for purchasing shares of SPSS before IBM agreed to the $1.2 billion deal. He was also charged with passing the information to others, including his roommate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sudan's Bashir says ready to meet Kiir to try to get oil flowing Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 01:01 PM PST  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Wednesday he was ready to meet his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir to try to move forward with setting up a demilitarized border zone and restart oil flows. His comments raise the prospect that the two could set aside their differences after signing agreements in September meant to secure their disputed border and to allow the South to resume oil exports after the two came close to war in April in the worst violence since Juba seceded last year. ... Full Story | Top |
| Police investigate NBC News anchor for showing gun clip Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 12:30 PM PST  (Reuters) - NBC News anchor David Gregory is being investigated by police after displaying what he said was a high-capacity gun clip on Sunday's broadcast of "Meet the Press," Washington's Metropolitan Police Department said Wednesday. Gregory held up what appeared to be a 30-round gun magazine - which would be barred under Washington municipal code - while hosting the nationally broadcast interview with National Rifle Association Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre. ... Full Story | Top |
| Future of state estate taxes hangs on U.S. "fiscal cliff" Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 11:50 AM PST (Reuters) - Falling off the "fiscal cliff" is a bad thing, right? Not necessarily for some state governments that could begin collecting more in estate taxes on wealth left to heirs if the United States goes over the "cliff," allowing sharp tax increases and federal spending cuts to take effect in January. In an example of federal and state tax law interaction that gets little notice on Capitol Hill, 30 states next year could collect $3 billion more in estate taxes if Congress and President Barack Obama do not act soon, estimated the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's contentious Islamist constitution becomes law Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 11:48 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi admitted on Wednesday that Egypt's economy faces serious problems after he enacted a new, bitterly contested constitution that is supposed to help end political unrest and allow him to focus on the financial crisis. The president said the economy also had great opportunities to grow, but earlier the Egyptian pound tumbled to its weakest level in almost eight years as ever more people rushed to buy dollars and withdraw their savings from banks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Biggest U.S. news events of 2012 Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 11:29 AM PST  (Reuters) - The following were some of the top news stories in the United States during 2012. FEBRUARY Trayvon Martin shooting. Martin, an unarmed black teenager was shot dead in Florida by neighborhood watch patrol volunteer George Zimmerman. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self defense during a struggle, but will stand trial next June for murder. Whitney Houston, among the top singers of the 1980s and 1990s, died at age 48. MARCH Deadly Midwest tornadoes. A spate of tornadoes and thunderstorms tore across the South and Midwest, killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds of others. ... Full Story | Top |
| France deploys soldiers to protect embassy in Central African Republic Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 10:56 AM PST PARIS (Reuters) - France has deployed soldiers stationed in the Central African Republic to secure its embassy in the capital Bangui, after protesters threw stones at the embassy and some managed to enter the compound, the defense ministry said on Wednesday. President Francois Hollande ordered the ministry to take all measures to ensure the security of the embassy and French nationals in the country, his office said in a separate statement. "These measures were quickly implemented and will be extended as long as necessary," Hollande's office added. ... Full Story | Top |
| For Obama's second inauguration, a subdued, less crowded Washington Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 10:23 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It is one of those occasions that is quintessential Washington: the inauguration of a president, a multi-day festival of patriotism, politics, optimism and self-congratulation. All of that will be on display on January 21, when President Barack Obama is publicly sworn in for his second four-year term. But this inauguration will be far less grand than Obama's first in 2009, when a record 1.8 million visitors flooded the city to see the nation's first black president take office. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Syria, "father of martyrs" speaks of revenge Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 10:20 AM PST AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - After losing three sons and two grandsons, 70-year-old Abdelhalim Haj Omar has no doubt about the fate he wants for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "I hope Bashar, God willing, doesn't die until they slaughter his whole family in front of him and they bring him here so that all of Syria can get their revenge from him," he says in the Syrian town of Azaz, on the border with Turkey. "He destroyed the country and killed its people," he adds, speaking in his carpentry workshop where stacks of wood are piled up next to finished wooden door frames. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turkish ex-president's son wants autopsy report made public Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 10:17 AM PST  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The full report of an autopsy on late President Turgut Ozal, who led Turkey out of military rule in the 1980s, should be released for public scrutiny, the former leader's son said on Wednesday. Ozal's body was recently exhumed after years of rumors that was murdered by militants of the "deep state" - a shadowy group within the Turkish establishment of the day. He had angered some with his efforts to end a Kurdish insurgency and survived an assassination bid in 1988. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japanese adventurer feared killed in Russian road accident Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 09:41 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Japanese adventurer who was cycling across Russia is believed to have been killed on Wednesday in a road accident near the Arctic circle, Russian officials and media said. Authorities believe a Japanese man who died after being hit by a car from behind on the Kola Peninsula some 300 km (185 miles) south of Murmansk was Haruhisa Watanabe, said Sergei Klyushev, a Russian Foreign Ministry official in Murmansk. "He died at the scene after sustaining multiple injuries," Klyushev said by phone. ... Full Story | Top |
| UAE says arrests cell planning attacks Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 09:40 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Security forces in the United Arab Emirates have arrested a cell of UAE and Saudi Arabian citizens which was planning to carry out militant attacks in both countries and other states, the official news agency WAM said on Wednesday. The U.S.-allied UAE, a federation of seven emirates and a major oil exporter that has supported Western counter-terrorism efforts in the region, has been spared any attack by al Qaeda and other insurgency groups. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's Mursi calls for unity, vows to fix economy Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 09:39 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi urged all political powers on Wednesday to take part in a national dialogue to resolve lingering tensions and promised to take necessary steps to heal the economy. In his first address to the nation since the adoption of a new constitution, he said he was considering possible cabinet changes and planned to introduce incentives to make Egypt a more attractive investment destination. "The coming days will witness, God willing, the launch of new projects ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Arab league chief, ministers to visit Ramallah to discuss aid Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 09:28 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - A delegation of Arab ministers and high-ranking officials led by Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby will visit Ramallah on Saturday to offer moral support and discuss financial aid for the Palestinian Authority, an Arab League source said on Wednesday. Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh are among those heading to the central West Bank city. They will meet briefly with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the source said. The delegation, according to the source, will congratulate the Palestinian Authority on a successful U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Islamist vigilantes step up threats in Egypt's Sinai Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 08:59 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - An Islamist group in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula threatened to launch a crusade against drug use and cigarette smoking in the lawless desert region on Wednesday, prompting fears about the growing influence of radical groups in post-revolutionary Egypt. The country's new constitution, adopted this week, states that the principles of sharia, Islamic law, are the main source of legislation. Rights groups say the document contains vague language, such as references to "national" morals, which they believe hardliners can take advantage of to impose religious restrictions on people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Starbucks to use cups for "fiscal cliff" message to lawmakers Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 08:51 AM PST  (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp will use its ubiquitous coffee cups to tell U.S. lawmakers to come up with a deal to avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax hikes and government spending cuts. Chief Executive Howard Schultz is urging workers in Starbucks' roughly 120 Washington-area shops to write "come together" on customers' cups on Thursday and Friday, as President Barack Obama and lawmakers return to work and attempt to revive fiscal cliff negotiations that collapsed before the Christmas holiday. Whether members of Congress actually drink in the message is another matter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russian parliament approves ban on American adoptions Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 08:16 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children went to President Vladimir Putin for his signature on Wednesday after winning final approval from parliament in retaliation for a U.S. law that targets Russian human rights abusers. Putin has strongly hinted he will sign the bill, which would also outlaw some U.S.-funded non-governmental groups and impose visa bans and asset freezes on Americans accused of violating the rights of Russians. The Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, voted unanimously to approve the bill, which has clouded U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda blames France for Sahel hostage deadlock Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 08:13 AM PST PARIS (Reuters) - A leader of al Qaeda's North African arm, AQIM, has accused France of failing to engage in negotiations to release French hostages the group is holding in the Sahel. In a four-minute video message carried by regional news website Sahara Media, Abdel Hamid Abu Zeid said four hostages seized in Niger two years ago were alive and said Paris had not taken up AQIM's invitation to negotiate their release. ... Full Story | Top |
| Anti-rebel protestors attack French embassy in CAR Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 08:02 AM PST BANGUI (Reuters) - Hundreds of people protested outside the French Embassy in Central African Republic on Wednesday, throwing stones at the building and tearing down the French flag in anger at a rebel advance in the north of the country. Some protestors accused France of backing the rebels while others demanded French forces in the country help the army fight off the rebel push, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. A smaller group of protestors, mainly youths linked to the ruling party, gathered outside the U.S. Embassy while cars carrying white passengers were stoned, the reporter said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria to discuss Brahimi peace proposals with Russia Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 07:49 AM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said. Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying to broker a peaceful transfer of power, but has disclosed little about how this might be done. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dakota Indians mark hangings of 1862 with trek on horseback Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 07:39 AM PST  ST. PAUL, Minn (Reuters) - The day after Christmas will be somber for Dakota Indians marking what they consider a travesty of justice 150 years ago, when 38 of their ancestors were executed in the biggest mass hanging in U.S. history. Overshadowed by the Civil War raging in the East, the hangings in Mankato, Minnesota, on December 26, 1862, followed the often overlooked six-week U.S.-Dakota war earlier that year -- a war that marked the start of three decades of fighting between Native Americans and the U.S. government across the Plains. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mental illness, poverty haunted Afghan policewoman who killed American Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 07:35 AM PST  KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan policewoman suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at police headquarters in Kabul suffered from mental illness and was driven to suicidal despair by poverty, her children told Reuters on Wednesday. The woman was identified by authorities as Narges Rezaeimomenabad, a 40-year-old grandmother and mother of three who moved here from Iran 10 years ago and married an Afghan man. ... Full Story | Top |
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