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| Democrats, Republicans apart on key "fiscal cliff" issues: Reid Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 11:27 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Sunday that Democrats and Republicans still had key differences in talks to avert a looming year-end "fiscal cliff," and he had not been able to make a counteroffer to the latest Republican proposal. "I've had a number of conversations with the president and at this stage we're not able to make a counteroffer," Reid said on the Senate floor. He said that as the day wears on, Democrats may be able to make such an offer. "I think that the Republican leader has shown absolutely good faith. ... Full Story | Top |
| With hours remaining, fiscal deal uncertain Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 11:18 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chances of a deal to prevent the economy from tumbling over a "fiscal cliff" remained uncertain on Sunday as lawmakers haggled over how to prevent taxes for all Americans from rising on New Year's Day. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell worked on a compromise to stop automatic tax hikes for most Americans on January 1. Any agreement needs to be rushed through both chambers of Congress before midnight on Monday. One Democratic Senate aide said it was uncertain whether the leaders would reach an accord. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate leaders still have no fiscal cliff deal, time running out: senior aide Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 10:29 AM PST (Reuters) - Senate leaders have not yet been able to reach a deal to a avert a "fiscal cliff," and with time running out, it is uncertain if they will get one, a senior Senate aide said on Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have been aiming to reach an agreement by 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) so that they can present it to previously scheduled closed-door meetings of their respective Democratic and Republican colleagues in an attempt to beat a New Year's Day deadline. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italian Nobel scientist Montalcini dies at 103 Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 10:13 AM PST  ROME (Reuters) - Rita Levi Montalcini, joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and an Italian Senator for Life, died on Sunday at the age of 103, her family said. The first Nobel laureate to reach 100 years of age, she won the prize in 1986 with American Stanley Cohen for their discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein that makes developing cells grow by stimulating surrounding nerve tissue. Her research helped in the treatment of spinal cord injuries and has increased understanding of cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's and conditions such as dementia and autism. ... Full Story | Top |
| Republican Senator says chances very good for limited "fiscal cliff" deal Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 08:49 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that chances for a limited "fiscal cliff" deal in the next 48 hours were "exceedingly good," as talks to avoid tax increases and spending cuts on New Year's Day went down to the wire. "I think people don't want to go over the cliff if we can avoid it," Graham, a leading conservative, said on Fox News Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama says failure to reach fiscal deal would hurt markets Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 08:05 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Financial markets would be affected adversely if U.S. lawmakers fail to agree on a "fiscal cliff" deal before Tuesday, President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, while urging Congress to act quickly to extend tax cuts for middle-class Americans. Lawmakers are seeking a last-minute deal that would set aside $600 billion in tax increases and across-the-board government spending cuts that are set to start within days. ... Full Story | Top |
| Body of India rape victim cremated in New Delhi Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 06:52 AM 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 on Sunday and was cremated at a private ceremony. Scuffles broke out in central Delhi between police and protesters who say the government is doing too little to protect women. But the 2,000-strong rally was confined to a single area, unlike last week when protests raged up throughout the capital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Michigan hospital blazes trail in fight against fungal meningitis Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 04:04 AM PST  CHICAGO (Reuters) - After his first day working at St Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor hospital's newly created Fungal Outbreak Clinic, Dr David Vandenberg struggled to describe to his boss the enormity of what lay ahead. He settled on a line from the movie Jaws. "We're going to need a bigger boat," Vandenberg told Dr Lakshmi Halasyamani, chief medical officer of the Michigan hospital, echoing the film's local police chief after he first eyes a 25-foot (7.5-metre) killer shark. The St Joseph Mercy clinic has been at the front line of the fight against one of the biggest ever U.S. ... 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 03:51 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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