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| Toyota seeks to settle acceleration cases for $1.1 billion Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 06:23 PM PST  DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp plans to spend $1.1 billion to resolve sweeping U.S. class-action litigation over claims that millions of its vehicles accelerate unintentionally, as the Japanese automaker looks to turn the page on the biggest safety crisis in its history. About 16 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles sold in the United States spanning the model years 1998 to 2010 are covered by the action, according to court filings made public on Wednesday. Thirty nameplates are affected, including the top-selling Toyota Camry midsize sedan and Corolla compact car. Toyota, the No. ... 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Home prices rose in ninth straight month: S&P Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 06:50 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Single-family home prices rose in October for nine months in a row, reinforcing the view the domestic real estate market is improving and should bolster the economy in 2013, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.7 percent in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, stronger than the 0.5 percent rise forecast by economists polled by Reuters. ... 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Three Afghans dead in new blast at U.S. base in Afghan east Tuesday, Dec 25, 2012 09:48 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 that is believed to be used by the CIA and which a suicide bomber attacked three years ago killing seven CIA employees. 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. ... Full Story | Top |
| Children, many ill, would be victims of Russia ban on U.S. adoption Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 01:53 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 12:16 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 |
| 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 |
| Toyota to settle acceleration cases for up to $1.4 billion Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 03:41 PM PST  DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has agreed to pay as much as $1.4 billion to settle U.S. litigation claims that its vehicles suddenly and unintentionally accelerated, according to court filings made public Wednesday. Toyota said it will take a one-time pre-tax charge of $1.1 billion to cover the estimated costs of the settlement. Hagens Berman, the law firm representing Toyota owners who brought the case in 2010, said in a press release the settlement was valued between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion. ... 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 |
| 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 |
| China consumers driving economic rebound: survey Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 03:05 AM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's consumers are leading an uneven recovery in the world's second biggest economy that has retailers expecting stronger sales in six months, early results of a national survey showed on Wednesday. The China Beige Book survey of more than 2,000 executives revealed that the retail sector had the strongest revenue growth and business expectations in the fourth quarter of 2012. The survey broadly detected a mild economic recovery with the hard-hit sectors of real estate, mining and manufacturing - to a lesser extent - joining retail at the head of the upswing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pipeline blast, quake strike 2014 Olympics Russian host Sochi Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 04:11 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, which will host the 2014 Winter Olympics, has been hit by a gas pipeline blast and a mild earthquake, a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Irina Gogoleva, of Russia's Emergencies Ministry, said no one was hurt and there was no apparent damage to the city's infrastructure after a 5.3 magnitude earthquake was reported at 0242 local time on Wednesday (2242 GMT on Tuesday). "Emergencies Ministry servicemen scoured through the city districts, bridges and electrical cables, there was no damage," Gogoleva said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spring Wish denied as suicide bomber brings down Afghan juice empire Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 03:09 AM PST  KABUL (Reuters) - When a Taliban suicide bomber killed two people on the edge of the Afghan capital this month, there was another casualty - a global fruit juice business optimistically called "Spring Wish" which provided work for thousands of farmers across the country. Mustafa Sadiq's empire had been expanding healthily, bringing in badly needed foreign capital, before the attack inflicted the kind of financial loss cash-strapped Afghanistan can ill afford. ... Full Story | Top |
| Winter storms hit eastern U.S., snarl post-holiday travel Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 03:24 PM PST  WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - The severe winter weather that hit parts of the central and southern United States on Christmas Day moved eastward on Wednesday, causing flight delays and dangerous road conditions for holiday travelers in the Northeast and Ohio Valley. Some flights headed for New York, Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey, experienced delays averaging one to four hours due to the inclement weather, the Federal Aviation Administration said. About 1,300 U.S. flights had been canceled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware.com. ... Full Story | Top |
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