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| Senate leaders to make last-ditch "fiscal cliff" effort Friday, Dec 28, 2012 05:21 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and U.S. congressional leaders agreed on Friday to make a final effort to prevent the United States from going over the "fiscal cliff," setting off intense bargaining over Americans' tax rates as a New Year's Eve deadline looms. With only days left to avoid steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could cause a recession, two Senate veterans will try to forge a deal that has eluded the White House and Congress for months. Obama said he was "modestly optimistic" an agreement could be found. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate approves $60.4 billion Superstorm Sandy aid bill Friday, Dec 28, 2012 06:19 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Friday approved a $60.4 billion aid package to pay for reconstruction costs from Superstorm Sandy, which ravaged mid-Atlantic and northeastern states, after defeating Republican efforts to trim the bill's cost. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to quickly take up the bill, which includes $12 billion to repair and strengthen the region's transportation system against future storms. "There is no time to waste," Reid said. ... Full Story | Top |
| India gang rape victim dies in Singapore hospital Friday, Dec 28, 2012 08:02 PM PST  SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian woman whose gang rape in New Delhi triggered violent protests died of her injuries on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, bringing a security lockdown in Delhi and recognition from India's prime minister that social change is needed. The Indian capital braced for a new wave of protests, closing metro stations and banning vehicles from the city centre district where young activists had converged to demand improved women's rights. The news came in the early hours of the morning in India and there were no signs of protests as morning broke. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria opposition leader rejects Moscow invitation Friday, Dec 28, 2012 06:25 AM PST  ALEPPO PROVINCE, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's opposition leader has rejected an invitation from Russia for peace talks, dealing another blow to international hopes that diplomacy can be resurrected to end a 21-month civil war. Russia, President Bashar al-Assad's main international protector, said on Friday it had sent an invitation for a visit to Moaz Alkhatib, whose six-week-old National Coalition opposition group has been recognized by most Western and Arab states as the legitimate voice of the Syrian people. ... Full Story | Top |
| Monti says will lead centrists in Italian vote Friday, Dec 28, 2012 12:55 PM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Friday he would lead a centrist alliance in an election in February, ending weeks of speculation over his political future and confirming his bid for a second term. The announcement clears up some of the uncertainty hanging over election and puts Monti in a three-way contest for power with the center-left Democratic Party (PD), which is leading in the polls, and Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt opposition says Islamists trying to stifle dissent Friday, Dec 28, 2012 11:18 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition accused President Mohamed Mursi's Islamist allies of trying to muzzle dissent on Friday after prosecutors decided to investigate whether prominent government critics were guilty of sedition. The probe, which comes a month after Mursi replaced the chief prosecutor, further sours the political climate as the leader and his opponents face off over a new constitution that became law on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Three New Jersey police officers shot; gunman reported dead Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:34 PM PST GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (Reuters) - A shootout broke out in a suburban New Jersey police station on Friday when a 39-year-old man who had been taken into custody attacked a police officer, stealing her gun and shooting her and two other officers before he was killed. One of the officers, Sergeant James Garber, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to his stomach and was in stable condition, while the other two, Officer Ruth Burns and Sergeant Kevin Thyne, were treated at Cooper University Hospital and released, police said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Deal reached to avert U.S. port strike for now Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:14 PM PST  (Reuters) - The union representing nearly 15,000 dockworkers at U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coast seaports stretching from Boston to Corpus Christi, Texas, reached a tentative contract deal with shipping companies on Friday, averting a strike that threatened to wreak havoc on the U.S. economy. The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance clinched a deal in federally-mediated talks less than two days before a strike deadline set by the union to coincide with expiration of the contract on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Putin signs ban on U.S. adoptions of Russian children Friday, Dec 28, 2012 11:52 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Friday that bans Americans from adopting Russian children and imposes other sanctions in retaliation for a new U.S. human rights law that he says is poisoning relations. Washington has called the new Russian law misguided, saying it ties the fate of children to "unrelated political considerations", and analysts say it is likely to deepen a chill in U.S.-Russia relations and harm Putin's image abroad. ... Full Story | Top |
| Housing, factory data point to momentum in economy Friday, Dec 28, 2012 10:34 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Contracts for U.S. home resales hit a 2-1/2-year high in November and factory activity in the Midwest expanded this month, suggesting some strength in the economy despite the threat of tighter fiscal policy. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, increased 1.7 percent to 106.4 - the highest level since April 2010 when the home-buyer tax credit expired. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi Sunnis stage big anti-government rallies Friday, Dec 28, 2012 09:02 AM PST  RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters from Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority poured onto the streets after Friday prayers in a show of force against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, keeping up a week-long blockade of a major highway. Around 60,000 people blocked the main road through Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital, setting fire to the flag of Shi'ite Iran and shouting "out, out Iran! Baghdad stays free" and "Maliki you coward, don't take your advice from Iran". ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate leaders to make last-ditch "fiscal cliff" effort Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:49 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders agreed on Friday to make a final effort to prevent the United States from going over the "fiscal cliff," setting off intense bargaining over Americans' tax rates as a New Year deadline looms. The focus now turns to the Senate, where Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, and Mitch McConnell, who heads the Republican minority, will try to come up with a deal that can then be approved in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives before the end of the year. ... Full Story | Top |
| India gang-rape victim dies in Singapore hospital Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:42 PM PST  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Indian gang-rape victim whose assault in New Delhi triggered nationwide protests died in hospital on Saturday of injuries suffered in the attack, a Singapore hospital treating her said. The death of the 23-year-old medical student could spawn new protests and possibly fresh confrontations with the police, especially in the Indian capital, which has been the focus of the demonstrations. "We are very sad to report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4:45 a.m. on Dec 29, 2012 (15:45 a.m. ET Friday). ... Full Story | Top |
| Residents flee Bangui as rebels pause for talks Friday, Dec 28, 2012 08:51 AM PST  BANGUI (Reuters) - Residents of Central African Republic's riverside capital Bangui fled in overloaded cars and boats on Friday or stockpiled food and water as rebel forces paused at the city gates for ceasefire talks. An insurgency has swept across much of the poverty-stricken but resource-rich former French colony since December 10, posing the biggest threat yet to President Francois Bozize's nearly 10 years in power and threatening a humanitarian crisis. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Under siege, Japan central bank wakes up to political reality Friday, Dec 28, 2012 10:18 AM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - Within a day of Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party sweeping to power in elections this month, elite bureaucrats in Japan's central bank rushed to ready what amounted to a surrender offer. Abe had run his campaign with a relentless focus on economic policy and had called on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to take drastic steps to end the nation's long bout of deflation, or else face a radical makeover at the hands of parliament. The vote had become an unexpected referendum on the BOJ itself, and the bank had lost. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu set to win Israel election but rightists gain: polls Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:27 AM PST  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is set to win a parliamentary election on January 22 although the popularity of a far-right party opposed to Palestinian statehood is growing, polls showed on Friday. Two out of three surveys showed the right-wing Likud losing voters to political newcomer Naftali Bennett's religious party Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home)and to a fractured center-left bloc. All still predicted a strong right-wing coalition emerging in the 120-seat parliament, which would assure Netanyahu another term. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistan Taliban chief says group will negotiate, but not disarm Friday, Dec 28, 2012 03:38 AM PST  DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - The head of Pakistan's Taliban said his militia is willing to negotiate with the government but not disarm, a message delivered in a video given to Reuters on Friday. The release of the 40-minute video follows three high-profile Taliban attacks in the northern city of Peshawar this month: an attack by multiple suicide bombers on the airport, the killing of a senior politician and eight others in a bombing and the kidnap of 22 paramilitary forces on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. General Assembly voices concern for Myanmar's Muslims Thursday, Dec 27, 2012 09:54 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly expressed serious concern on Monday over violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar and called upon its government to address reports of human rights abuses by some authorities. The 193-nation General Assembly approved by consensus a non-binding resolution, which Myanmar said last month contained a "litany of sweeping allegations, accuracies of which have yet to be verified." Outbreaks of violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingyas have killed dozens and displaced thousands since June. ... Full Story | Top |
| After Jackson, EPA faces decisions on U.S. fracking boom Friday, Dec 28, 2012 01:27 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The past four years of U.S. environmental regulation was marked by a crackdown on emissions that angered coal miners and power companies. Over the next four, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency will have to decide whether to take on an even larger industry: Big Oil. Following Lisa Jackson's resignation on Wednesday, her successor will inherit the tricky task of regulating a drilling boom that has revolutionized the energy industry but raised fears over the possible contamination of water supplies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former President George H. W. Bush improving, spokesman says Friday, Dec 28, 2012 11:15 AM PST  (Reuters) - Former President George H. W. Bush remained in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital on Friday, but "continues to improve" and his exchanges with medical staff now include singing, according to a statement from a Bush family spokesman. Bush, 88, was admitted to Methodist Hospital on November 23 for bronchitis. He was transferred to intensive care on Sunday after setbacks including a persistent fever. "President Bush remains in the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital, where he continues to improve," family spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement on Friday. ... Full Story | Top |
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