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| Tentative "fiscal cliff" deal emerges in Senate Monday, Dec 31, 2012 11:16 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate leaders were hammering out a last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" on Monday, but it was still unclear if rank-and-file lawmakers would back the agreement, particularly those in the Republican-led House of Representatives. A deal to avert the fiscal crisis was said to be in the works in the Senate that would raise tax rates on household income above $450,000, said a source familiar with the talks. The agreement would permanently extend the lower tax rates for those below the $450,000 cut off. ... Full Story | Top |
| State Department made "grievous mistake" over Benghazi: Senate report Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:23 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the U.S. mission in Benghazi open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before a deadly attack by militants, a Senate committee said on Monday. A report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the September 11 attacks on the U.S. mission and a nearby CIA annex, in which the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died, faulted intelligence agencies for not focusing tightly enough on Libyan extremists. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Venezuela's Maduro channels Chavez, lacks his charisma Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:12 AM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - He uses Hugo Chavez's bombastic language, brandishes the constitution and showers opponents with vitriol at every turn. But Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro is struggling to replicate the extraordinary charisma of his boss, who is battling to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba. Named as heir apparent by Chavez just before the president returned to Havana for his fourth surgery in December, the 50-year-old former bus driver has become the face of the socialist government in South America's top oil exporter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shares up on hopes U.S. to avoid fiscal cliff Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:25 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday and global equities headed for their best year in the last three as U.S. lawmakers neared a deal to avoid a budget crisis that many fear could cripple the world economy in 2013. A tentative deal that would raise taxes on those earning more than $400,000, extend middle class tax cuts and postpone some defense spending cuts was expected to garner support of a majority of Senate Republicans. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces battle to retake Damascus suburb Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:31 AM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Elite Syrian government troops backed by tanks battled on Monday to recapture a strategic Damascus suburb from rebels who have advanced within striking distance of the center of Syria's capital. Five people, including a child, died from army rocket fire that hit the Daraya suburb during the fighting, opposition activists said. Daraya is part of a semi-circle of Sunni Muslim suburbs south of the capital that have been at the forefront of the 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. "This is the biggest attack on Daraya in two months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bombs kill 16 across Iraq as sectarian strife grows Monday, Dec 31, 2012 06:49 AM PST  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Explosions killed at least 16 people and wounded 76 across Iraq on Monday, police said, underlining sectarian and ethnic divisions that threaten to further destabilize the country a year after U.S. troops left. Tensions between Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in Iraq's power-sharing government have been on the rise this year. Militants strike almost daily and have staged at least one big attack a month. The latest violence followed more than a week of protests against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by thousands of people from the minority Sunni community. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Indian student's gang rape, murder, two worlds collide Monday, Dec 31, 2012 09:32 AM PST  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - One of hundreds of attacks reported in New Delhi each year, the gang rape and murder of a medical student caught Indian authorities and political parties flat-footed, slow to see that the assault on a private bus had come to symbolize an epidemic of crime against women. ... Full Story | Top |
| Egypt's leader sees currency stabilizing "within days" Monday, Dec 31, 2012 10:12 AM PST  CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's pound fell to a record low on Monday as the president signaled his government would allow it to depreciate slowly for several more days to stop a drain on foreign reserves that has driven the economy into crisis since the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Hit by a new bout of political turmoil in the last month, the pound had weakened to a record low on Sunday at a new dollar auction brought in by the central bank. It fell further at a second auction on Monday, last trading at 6.37 to the dollar on the interbank market. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda in Yemen offers bounty for U.S. ambassador Monday, Dec 31, 2012 02:50 AM PST  DUBAI (Reuters) - The Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda has offered a bounty for anyone who kills the U.S. ambassador to Yemen or an American soldier in the impoverished Arab state, a group that monitors Islamist websites said. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said it was offering three kilograms of gold for the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa, Gerald Feierstein, the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said, citing an audio released by militants. AQAP will also pay 5 million rials ($23,350) to whoever kills any American soldier in Yemen, it said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Secretary of State Clinton hospitalized with blood clot Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 08:04 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital on Sunday with a blood clot linked to a concussion she suffered earlier this month, the State Department said in an announcement that looked sure to fuel speculation over the health of one of America's best-known political figures. Clinton, 65, has been out of the public spotlight since mid-December, when officials said she suffered a concussion after fainting due to a stomach virus contracted during a trip to Europe. ... Full Story | Top |
| China factory sector strongest since May 2011: survey Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:11 AM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - Activity in China's vast manufacturing sector hit its fastest pace in December since May 2011, a survey of private factory managers showed, with a sub-index for new orders pointing to continued strength in the new year. The final reading for the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 51.5 in December, well above the preliminary reading of 50.9 published in the middle of the month and November's final reading of 50.5. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Huawei partner offered embargoed HP gear to Iran Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 03:06 PM PST  (Reuters) - A major Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran's largest mobile-phone operator in late 2010, documents show. China's Huawei, the world's second largest telecommunications equipment maker, says neither it nor its partner, a private company registered in Hong Kong, ultimately provided the HP products to the telecom, Mobile Telecommunication Co of Iran, known as MCI. ... Full Story | Top |
| Stung Bankia investors look to courts for justice Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:13 AM PST  MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish savers and pensioners who have seen their money wiped out by investing in state-rescued lender Bankia are likely to seek redress in court rather than wait for any official inquiry, which looks increasingly unlikely. About 350,000 stockholders will share the pain of the bank's European bailout, many of them bank clients who were sold the shares through an aggressive marketing campaign for its stock market flotation in 2011. ... Full Story | Top |
| Assad's forces push to retake Damascus suburb Monday, Dec 31, 2012 03:51 AM PST  AMMAN (Reuters) - Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Damascus on Monday as elite troops backed by tanks tried to recapture a strategic suburb from rebels in one of the largest military operations in that district in months, opposition activists said. Five people, including one child, died from army rocket fire that hit Daraya, the activists said. Daraya is one of a series of interconnected Sunni Muslim suburbs that ring Syria's capital and have been at the forefront of the 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. "This is the biggest attack on Daraya in two months. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senate approves Baer to head Justice Department's antitrust team Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 06:13 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Sunday approved prominent antitrust attorney William Baer to head the Justice Department's Antitrust Division 10 months after he was tapped by President Barack Obama. The Senate voted 64-26 to approve Baer's nomination, which ran into problems with some Republicans because of secret information in an FBI background report. Baer, an antitrust and white collar criminal defense attorney with the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP, has worked in the past for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). ... Full Story | Top |
| Merkel says euro zone crisis far from over Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 03:02 PM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - The euro zone sovereign debt crisis is far from over even though reform measures designed to address the roots of the problem are beginning to bear fruit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said in her New Year's address. In a taped interview to be broadcast on Monday evening, Merkel urged Germans to be more patient even though the euro zone crisis has already dragged on for three years. She drew a line linking German prosperity to a prosperous European Union. "For our prosperity and our solidarity we need to strike the right balance," Merkel said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fiscal deal stalls as clock ticks to deadline Sunday, Dec 30, 2012 03:04 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Efforts to prevent the economy from tumbling over a "fiscal cliff" stalled on Sunday as Democrats and Republicans remained at loggerheads over a deal that would prevent taxes for all Americans from rising on New Year's Day. One hour before they had hoped to present a plan, Democratic and Republican Senate leaders said they were still unable to reach a compromise that would stop the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that could push the U.S. economy back into recession. ... Full Story | Top |
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