Today's Politics - Bloomberg News Headlines - Yahoo! News: | | Myanmar holds peace talks with KNU to end 62-year conflict Wed,11 Jan 2012 11:55 PM PST Reuters - PA-AN, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar's government opened peace talks with the Karen National Union (KNU) on Thursday to try to end the country's longest-running rebellion as part of a drive to strike ceasefire deals with all its ethnic separatist groups. Both the government and the 19-member KNU delegation were optimistic that deals could be reached later in the day on three key areas on the agenda, which would be a small step towards the lifting of two decades of Western sanctions on Myanmar. ...
Full Story | Top | Marine abuse tape may dent Afghan peace talk drive Wed,11 Jan 2012 11:47 PM PST Reuters - KABUL (Reuters) - A video showing what appear to be American forces in Afghanistan urinating on dead Taliban fighters could set back efforts to broker peace talks just as the Obama administration is launching a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy. The video, which was posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke. It is likely to stir up already strong anti-U.S. ... Full Story | Top | Analysis: Japan PM bets on breaking "Groundhog Day" cycle Wed,11 Jan 2012 11:41 PM PST Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - A prolonged cycle of dashed hopes, failed strategies and policy deadlock -- Japanese politics is reminding some critics of the comedy film "Groundhog Day," in which the hero repeatedly wakes to find he is living the same wintry day over and over. But Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, now trying to crack that cycle and enact a tax rise to curb a huge public debt, might take heart from the 1993 film's happy ending, where the time-loop is broken by learning from past mistakes. "In 'Groundhog Day' the guy actually learns ... ... Full Story | Top | Algeria aide says Syria has made effort on crisis Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:46 PM PST Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Algeria's foreign minister said on Wednesday Syria's government had taken steps to defuse the crisis in the country and that it was the taking up of arms by the opposition that threatened wider violence. The comments by Mourad Medelci at a U.N. news conference highlighted differences among Arab states over the 10-month-old anti-government uprising in Syria, which an Arab League monitoring mission is currently investigating. "The government has taken some steps. ... Full Story | Top | Half-naked South Korean soldiers train for winter war Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:46 PM PST Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - Cool under fire took on new meaning for more than 200 South Korean soldiers this week as they stripped off their shirts, flung snow on each other and walked through an ice-encrusted stream -- all part of drills to hone endurance. North and South Korea have yet to sign a peace treaty after the 1950-1953 Korean War, and tension remains high along the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) that splits the peninsula -- particularly after the North's young new leader, Kim Jong-un, assumed power last month. ... Full Story | Top | Haiti to mark two years after catastrophic quake Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:30 PM PST Reuters - PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti will commemorate the two-year anniversary on Thursday of a devastating earthquake that ravaged the Western Hemisphere's poorest country as it struggles to rebuild and hundreds of thousands of quake victims remain homeless. Haitians are expected to hold solemn ceremonies at massive grave sites to remember the dead from Haiti's worst-ever natural disaster. The 7.0 magnitude quake on January 12, 2010, lasted only 10 to 20 seconds but toppled buildings and homes like cards and killed roughly 300,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless. ...
Full Story | Top | Gingrich warns in South Carolina about "moderate" Romney Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:20 PM PST Reuters - ROCK HILL, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich, back on conservative turf in South Carolina, warned on Wednesday that nominating a "moderate" like Mitt Romney was a recipe for defeat in November's election. A day after a poor fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, Gingrich urged South Carolina conservatives to rally around his candidacy or face the likelihood Romney will be the Republican nominee to challenge President Barack Obama on November 6. ...
Full Story | Top | Republicans head to South Carolina, guns blazing Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:20 PM PST Reuters - COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican presidential contenders brought buckets of cash and sharp rhetoric to South Carolina on Wednesday for an intense 10-day battle that may determine whether anyone can stop front-runner Mitt Romney's march to the party's nomination. A Romney victory in the January 21 South Carolina primary, the next in a series of state-by-state contests among the Republican candidates, could extinguish his rivals' hopes of keeping him from becoming the nominee to take on Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 general election. ...
Full Story | Top | "Mormon moment" examined in U.S. survey Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:11 PM PST Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Most Mormons believe their religion is not well understood by Americans and many sense hostility but a survey done as Mormonism gains political and cultural prominence shows they are also optimistic that tolerance of their faith is rising. The New York Times and other media have dubbed this the "Mormon moment" with two Mormons - Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman - vying for the Republican nomination to run for U.S. president, a hit play ("The Book of Mormon"), a popular cable television series (HBO's "Big Love") and the best-selling "Twilight" vampire books written by a Mormon. ... Full Story | Top | "Rocket man" Kim Jong-il immortalized in North Korea Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:09 PM PST Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea declared February 16 the "Day of the Shining Star" to commemorate the birthday of late "Great Leader" Kim Jong-il, using the same name as a long-range rocket developed under his trademark songun, or military first, policy. During his 17-year reign, Kim oversaw major developments in the North's military -- mainly a nuclear weapons program and work toward building a long-range ballistic missile. The secretive state also announced Kim's body will lie in state permanently at the same mausoleum housing his father's embalmed body. ...
Full Story | Top | Analysis: Romney lacks clear remedy for U.S. economy Wed,11 Jan 2012 10:03 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - Mitt Romney, the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, is promising Americans deep spending cuts, smaller government, trade penalties on China, a new Federal Reserve chairman and sweeping deregulation. The bold economic strategy Romney has sketched out in his White House bid seems designed to appeal to the radicalized conservative base of the Republican Party enamored of the gold-standard ideas promoted by libertarian congressman Ron Paul and budget slashers in the populist Tea Party movement. ...
Full Story | Top | Top US official meets Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Wed,11 Jan 2012 09:54 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number two official in the U.S. State Department met with a leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday but chose not to see a more hardline Islamist group that has also fared well in Egypt's first free legislative vote in decades. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns met Mohamed Morsi, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), in Washington's highest level outreach to the Islamist group as part of a series of meetings with Egyptian political figures in Cairo, the State Department said. ... Full Story | Top | Pressure mounts on Pakistan's accidental president Wed,11 Jan 2012 09:38 PM PST Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Asif Ali Zardari, under threat from a memo seeking U.S. help in preventing a coup by Pakistan's powerful generals, has never managed to dispel the notion he is an accidental president. Zardari was elected in 2008 on the back of a sympathy vote after his far more charismatic wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated shortly after returning from self-exile late the previous year. His rule has been a rocky one ever since and his relationship with the country's most powerful institution -- the military -- has become increasingly strained. ... Full Story | Top | Nigeria sect leader defends killings in video Wed,11 Jan 2012 09:34 PM PST Reuters - ABUJA (Reuters) - The leader of Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram said recent killings of Christians were justifiable revenge attacks and President Goodluck Jonathan had no power to stop the group's insurgency, in the first video of him posted online. The 15 minute video of Abubakar Shekau posted on YouTube is similar in style to messages submitted by other Islamist groups like al Qaeda, a sign of the growing influence other jihadist movements are having on the sect. ...
Full Story | Top | Egypt parties vow to protect freedoms in constitution Wed,11 Jan 2012 09:33 PM PST Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian political parties and religious figures agreed on Wednesday to protect civic freedoms in a new constitution, but steered clear of more contentious questions about the future of the nation after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. The principles were approved at a meeting sponsored by al-Azhar, Egypt's prestigious seat of Sunni Muslim learning and attended by senior Coptic Christian clerics, Islamic scholars, Islamists, liberals and youth activists. ... Full Story | Top | Mississippi judge bars release of inmates pardoned by Barbour Wed,11 Jan 2012 09:32 PM PST Reuters - STARKVILLE, Mississippi (Reuters) - A Mississippi judge barred the state Wednesday from releasing prisoners newly pardoned by former Governor Haley Barbour, a conservative Republican who outraged some by granting clemency to more than 200 convicts as he was leaving office. The judge's order blocked the release of 21 inmates still serving time when their pardons were announced and who remained incarcerated, the injunction said. It also ordered five others who already had been freed to appear for a hearing later in January. ... Full Story | Top | Senegal court rejects Habre extradition to Belgium Wed,11 Jan 2012 09:30 PM PST Reuters - DAKAR (Reuters) - A Senegalese court on Wednesday rejected a Belgium request to extradite former Chad president Hissene Habre to Belgium to stand trial for alleged atrocities while he was in power. The decision of the Dakar appeals court comes days after President Abdoulaye Wade said he would back sending Habre to Belgium for trial under a law enabling it to judge acts committed outside its borders. Habre has lived in exile in Senegal since he was ousted in 1990. ...
Full Story | Top | Oil union threat may make Nigeria govt negotiate Wed,11 Jan 2012 09:21 PM PST Reuters - ABUJA (Reuters) - The threat of disruption to Nigerian oil output may force President Goodluck Jonathan's government to negotiate with unions as an indefinite, nationwide strike and protests over fuel subsidy cuts enters its fourth day on Thursday. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in cities up and down Africa's most populous nation this week to protest against the January 1 removal of the subsidy, which more than doubled the price of petrol to around 150 naira a litre. ...
Full Story | Top | IRS watchdog accuses agency of "bait-and-switch" Wed,11 Jan 2012 08:32 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - The Internal Revenue Service has persuaded U.S. taxpayers to disclose hidden offshore bank accounts but then sometimes failed to cap the penalties, as promised, an agency watchdog said on Wednesday, accusing the IRS of "bait and switch." The Taxpayer Advocate Service, an oversight arm of the IRS, wrote in its annual report to Congress that a series of IRS voluntary disclosure programs allowing wealthy Americans to come forward and disclose their hidden accounts in exchange for reduced penalties had caused some taxpayers to pay more than they had been led to believe was required. ... Full Story | Top | Carter doubts Egypt military will fully submit to civilian rule Wed,11 Jan 2012 08:07 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Jimmy Carter, following a meeting with Egypt's military rulers, expressed doubt they would completely submit to a civilian government, The New York Times reported on Wednesday. Carter, 87, was in Cairo with a group from his human rights organization, the Carter Center, to help monitor the end of the final round of the first parliamentary elections since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power last February, the Times said. ... Full Story | Top | Iran lacks avenues for condemning hits on scientists Wed,11 Jan 2012 06:39 PM PST Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran may be outraged at the killing of another nuclear scientist in broad daylight, but it lacks viable avenues for international condemnation or prosecution of what could be an attempt to sabotage its nuclear program. Tehran urged the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to condemn the latest in a series of assassinations, which it said were "cruel, inhumane and criminal acts of terrorism" aimed at undermining a nuclear program that Western powers and Israel suspect is for weapons. ... Full Story | Top | U.S. military moves carriers, denies Iran link Wed,11 Jan 2012 06:39 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday that a new aircraft carrier strike group had arrived in the Arabian Sea and that another was on its way to the region, but denied any link to recent tensions with Iran and portrayed the movements as routine. The shift in the powerful U.S. naval assets comes at a moment of heightened tensions with Iran, which has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz - the world's most important oil shipping lane - if U.S. and EU sanctions over its nuclear program cut off its oil exports. The U.S. ... Full Story | Top | Ahmadinejad says Iran has done nothing wrong Wed,11 Jan 2012 06:39 PM PST Reuters - HAVANA (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashed the victory sign and said Iran had done nothing to warrant enmity from its enemies after he arrived in Cuba on Wednesday amid heightened international tensions. He said nothing about the bomb attack that killed an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran earlier in the day, which his government blamed on Israel and the United States, the leaders of international opposition to Iran's nuclear program. ... Full Story | Top | South Carolina governor defends Romney, free market Wed,11 Jan 2012 05:48 PM PST Reuters - COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, got some help from South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Wednesday in pushing back against charges from his rivals that he was a corporate raider. Romney launched his campaign for South Carolina ahead of the state's January 21 primary by appealing for the support of conservatives worried about President Barack Obama's handling of the economy. Romney has won the first two contests in the state-by-state battle for his party's nomination to face Obama, a Democrat, on November 6. ... Full Story | Top | Americans see rich and poor in conflict, study finds Wed,11 Jan 2012 04:54 PM PST Reuters - (Reuters) - Americans believe that there is more conflict between rich and poor than between immigrants and the native-born or between blacks and whites, according to a Pew Research Center opinion survey released on Wednesday. Researchers found 30 percent of Americans say there are "very strong conflicts" between the poor and the rich, which is the largest share expressing that opinion since the question was first asked in 1987, the Pew report said. In all, 66 percent of respondents to the Pew survey said there are either "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between rich and poor. ...
Full Story | Top | Former Penn State athletic director has cancer Wed,11 Jan 2012 04:43 PM PST Reuters - PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Former Penn State University Athletic Director Tim Curley, who faces perjury charges stemming from the child sex abuse scandal that has rocked the school, is suffering from lung cancer, his family said on Wednesday. A malignant cancerous tumor was discovered in June 2010 and half of Curley's lung was removed, his family said in a statement. The statement said he had not undergone chemotherapy or radiation, but did not elaborate. ...
Full Story | Top | FDA clears Canada OJ, holds other imports for tests Wed,11 Jan 2012 04:15 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators will soon release a batch of orange juice imports from Canada, the first supplies to enter the country since authorities began testing for an illegal fungicide widely used by top supplier Brazil. The Food and Drug Administration said this week it was testing orange juice shipped into the United States for carbendazim, a chemical that is illegal for U.S. citrus but commonly used in Brazil to fight mold on trees. Juice that tests positive will be stopped at the border. ... Full Story | Top | Arab monitors say unable to halt Syrian killings Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:54 PM PST Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - An Algerian has quit the Arab League team sent to check Syria's compliance with an Arab peace plan, and a second monitor said he might leave because the mission was failing to end the killing of civilians protesting against the president's rule. The 22-member League, which suspended Syria in November, sent the monitors last month to verify if Syria was carrying out an agreement to halt its crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. ...
Full Story | Top | Exclusive: Second Arab monitor may quit Syria over violence Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:50 PM PST Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - An Arab observer delegation in Syria is running into further difficulties, with two members either quitting or threatening to do so within 24 hours because their mission is proving ineffectual in ending the suffering of civilians. An observer who declined to give his name said on Wednesday he was ready to walk out, exposing rifts in an Arab peace effort a day after Anwar Malek, an Algerian observer, told Al Jazeera TV he had quit Syria because the peace mission was a "farce. ...
Full Story | Top | FDA clears Canada OJ, holds other imports for tests Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:44 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health regulators will soon release a batch of orange juice imports from Canada, the first supplies to enter the country since authorities began testing for an illegal fungicide widely used by top supplier Brazil. The Food and Drug Administration said this week it was testing orange juice shipped into the United States for carbendazim, a chemical that is illegal for U.S. citrus but commonly used in Brazil to fight mold on trees. Juice that tests positive will be stopped at the border. ... Full Story | Top | Iran lacks avenues for condemning hits on scientists Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:20 PM PST Reuters - UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran may be outraged at the killing of another nuclear scientist in broad daylight, but it lacks viable avenues for international condemnation or prosecution of what could be an attempt to sabotage its nuclear program. Tehran urged the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to condemn the latest in a series of assassinations, which it said were "cruel, inhumane and criminal acts of terrorism" aimed at undermining a nuclear program that Western powers and Israel suspect is for weapons. ... Full Story | Top | Buffett to Republicans: if you pay, so will I Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:18 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON/BOSTON (Reuters) - Warren Buffett is willing to put his money where his mouth is, if only congressional Republicans would join him. The American billionaire investor, in the new issue of Time magazine, says he would donate $1 to paying down the national debt for every dollar donated by a Republican in Congress. The only exception is Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell - for whom Buffett said he would go $3-to-$1. The idea stems from a New York Times opinion piece Buffett wrote last August in which he said the rich ought to pay more taxes. ...
Full Story | Top | Top Latin Kings gang leader sentenced to 60 years Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:09 PM PST Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - The top national leader of the Latin Kings street gang was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on Wednesday after being convicted last April on racketeering conspiracy and related charges involving drug dealing and violence, prosecutors said. Augustin Zambrano, 51, also known as "Big Tino" and "Viejo," was the highest-ranking leader of the Latin Kings to be convicted since Gustavo "Gino" Colon, who is serving a life sentence imposed in 2000, prosecutors said. ... Full Story | Top | U.S. Marines probe video of men urinating on Taliban corpses Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:05 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps said on Wednesday it would investigate a video showing what appears to be American forces in Afghanistan urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. The video, which was posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage combat uniforms urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." The other makes a lewd joke about a shower. A copy of the video can be seen at http://www.youtube. ... Full Story | Top | As Romney rises, Tea Party sees Senate as "bulwark" Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:04 PM PST Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - As Mitt Romney inches toward the Republican Party's presidential nomination, many conservative activists are increasingly focused on a different political prize for 2012: the Senate. Republicans, who currently have 47 of the 100 Senate seats, are seen as having a good shot of winning control of the upper chamber because they are defending far fewer seats in the November election. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is the clear frontrunner for the party's presidential nomination after victories in the Iowa and New Hampshire nominating contests this month. ...
Full Story | Top | Senator urges Navy to build more high-end warships Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:02 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy should boost production of high-end warships to protect the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base and ensure it is prepared for new challenges as the U.S. military focuses more on the Asia Pacific region, a senior Republican senator said on Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top | Ahmadinejad says Iran has done nothing wrong Wed,11 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST Reuters - HAVANA (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashed the victory sign and said Iran had done nothing to warrant enmity from its enemies after he arrived in Cuba on Wednesday amid heightened international tensions. He said nothing about the bomb attack that killed an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran earlier in the day, which his government blamed on Israel and the United States, the leaders of international opposition to Iran's nuclear program. ... Full Story | Top | Exclusive: Republicans move to control Keystone approval Wed,11 Jan 2012 02:54 PM PST Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Republicans, who are urging President Barack Obama to back the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline, are now working on plans to take the reins of approval from the hands of the president should the White House say no. North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, whose state is counting on the pipeline to help move its newfound bounty of shale oil, is drafting legislation that would see Congress give the green light to the project by using its constitutional powers to regulate commerce with foreign nations, an aide told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top | Gingrich warns in S.Carolina about "moderate" Romney Wed,11 Jan 2012 02:34 PM PST Reuters - ROCK HILL, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich, back on conservative turf in South Carolina, warned on Wednesday that nominating a "moderate" like Mitt Romney was a recipe for defeat in November's election. A day after a poor fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, Gingrich urged South Carolina conservatives to rally around his candidacy or face the likelihood Romney will be the Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in November. ...
Full Story | Top | Nigeria sect leader defends killings in video Wed,11 Jan 2012 02:32 PM PST Reuters - ABUJA (Reuters) - The leader of Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram said recent killings of Christians were justifiable revenge attacks and President Goodluck Jonathan had no power to stop the group's insurgency, in the first video of him posted online. The 15 minute video of Abubakar Shekau posted on YouTube is similar in style to messages submitted by other Islamist groups like al Qaeda, a sign of the growing influence other jihadist movements are having on the sect. ... Full Story | Top |
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