Today's Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
|
|
Tight race in Iowa kicks off 2012 campaign
Mon,2 Jan 2012 10:03 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Iowa Republicans cast the first votes of the 2012 White House campaign on Tuesday, with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul in a high-stakes battle to win the party's kick-off nominating contest. Voters will gather in schools, libraries and other public spots across the state to render judgment in the frequently shifting Republican race to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama in the November 6 election. Santorum, a conservative former U.S. ...
Full Story | Top |
Same-store sales seen up 4.3 percent in December
Mon,2 Jan 2012 09:11 PM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - When top retailers post their December sales this week, Wall Street analysts are expecting them to report a healthy end to the holiday season, helped by discounts, improved consumer sentiment and tactics like extended hours and layaways. Some 22 major chains, from Macy's Inc and Target Corp to Costco Wholesale Corp and Gap Inc should post an aggregate 4.3 percent increase in December sales at stores open at least a year, according to Thomson Reuters, capping a season that started moderately but gained steam in December. ...
Full Story | Top |
Arab League says Syria monitors are helping
Mon,2 Jan 2012 03:57 PM PST
Reuters -  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The head of the Arab League has said its peace monitors are helping to ease a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Syria, but urged President Bashar al-Assad's government to carry out a peace plan in full. Meanwhile army defectors whose armed insurgency has threatened to overshadow the peaceful popular uprising captured dozens of members of the security forces by seizing two checkpoints Monday, the opposition said. ...
Full Story | Top |
Iran test-fires missiles in Gulf exercise
Mon,2 Jan 2012 06:53 AM PST
Reuters -  TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had successfully test-fired what it described as two long-range missiles, flexing its military muscle in the face of mounting Western pressure over its nuclear program. The announcement came at the climax of 10 days of naval exercises in the Gulf, during which Tehran has warned it could shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of world oil is shipped, if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports. ...
Full Story | Top |
New York firebomb attacks hit mosque, Hindu site
Mon,2 Jan 2012 12:38 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police are investigating as bias crimes four Molotov cocktail attacks on Sunday night including one against a mosque with 75 people inside and another against a Hindu place of worship. No injuries were reported. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday assigned state law enforcement officials to assist the New York City investigation, saying the attacks "go against everything we stand for as New Yorkers and Americans," and the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attacks. ...
Full Story | Top |
Sarkozy, Merkel to meet as Europe seeks crisis exit
Mon,2 Jan 2012 08:17 AM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - France's Nicolas Sarkozy will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on January 9 for talks that are likely to centre on new rules to enforce budget discipline across the European Union. The two leaders are anxious to flesh out a plan agreed at a December summit by all EU members except Britain for a new treaty to forge closer fiscal integration, as Europe battles to stem a sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone. The French president's office announced the upcoming meeting but gave no further details. ...
Full Story | Top |
Factory output subdued going into 2012
Mon,2 Jan 2012 04:22 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Global manufacturing activity was subdued going into 2012, with the euro zone's industrial sector suffering its fifth straight month of declines in December and Asian factories mostly stuck in a rut. Monday's purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) provided further evidence that Europe is unlikely to avoid a recession. The rate of decline of activity in euro zone factories eased slightly to raise hopes the downturn will not be as severe as feared, though hiccups in the Spanish and Czech deficit reduction programs emphasized the extent of the continent's debt troubles. ...
Full Story | Top |
Rupert Murdoch splashes opinions on Twitter
Mon,2 Jan 2012 10:17 PM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has rung in the New Year with a new Twitter account that includes praise for Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum and opinions on President Barack Obama's policies and the Steve Jobs biography. By Monday night, just two days after he started his Twitter account, the 80-year-old chief of News Corp had already issued more than 20 tweets and acquired 74,000 followers. Teri Everett, a spokeswoman for News Corp, confirmed the Twitter account (http://twitter.com/#!/rupertmurdoch) was Murdoch's. ...
Full Story | Top |
Nigerian anger heats up as petrol prices rocket
Mon,2 Jan 2012 12:49 PM PST
Reuters - ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian motorists and unions vented their anger Monday at a sudden more than doubling of fuel prices, a day after government subsidies were removed in a sweeping economic reform that could trigger mass protests. Opposition leaders, unionists and local rights groups have condemned the move by the state's fuel regulator, which they say will hike the prices of goods at a time when many Nigerians, the majority of whom live on less than $2 per day, already find basic commodities too expensive. ... Full Story | Top |
Bachmann seeks miracle in presidential race
Mon,2 Jan 2012 07:24 PM PST
Reuters -  OSKALOOSA, Iowa (Reuters) - Facing colossal odds in the Republican nomination race, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann cast her struggle in Biblical terms on Sunday in a late attempt to win over conservative voters. Bachmann spoke from the pulpit of a small church in rural Iowa, telling the congregation about a small group of Israelites who emerged victorious from a battle in which they were outmatched in numbers and weaponry. ...
Full Story | Top |
Libyans linked to Gaddafi can't run in election: draft
Mon,2 Jan 2012 07:46 AM PST
Reuters -  TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyans with ties to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi will be banned from running in elections under a bill drafted by the country's new rulers. Academics who wrote about Gaddafi's "Green Book," containing his musings on politics, economics and everyday life, will also be barred from running under the draft law, published online by the National Transitional Council (NTC) on Sunday night. ...
Full Story | Top |
Prosecutors to take stage Tuesday in Mubarak trial
Mon,2 Jan 2012 04:44 AM PST
Reuters -  CAIRO (Reuters) - The trial of Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak will resume in earnest Tuesday when judges begin hearing arguments from prosecutors, who say Mubarak and his co-defendants are to blame for the deaths of hundreds of protesters. Lawyers demanded Monday that the head of Egypt's ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, be summoned back to the court to give fresh testimony. They also asked for Tantawi's deputy General Sami Anan to give evidence. ...
Full Story | Top |
Bachmann seeks miracle in presidential race
Sun,1 Jan 2012 03:55 PM PST
Reuters -  OSKALOOSA, Iowa (Reuters) - Facing colossal odds in the Republican nomination race, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann cast her struggle in Biblical terms on Sunday in a late attempt to win over conservative voters. Bachmann spoke from the pulpit of a small church in rural Iowa, telling the congregation about a small group of Israelites who emerged victorious from a battle in which they were outmatched in numbers and weaponry. ...
Full Story | Top |
Santorum sends Iowa caucus rivals scrambling
Mon,2 Jan 2012 03:52 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES (Reuters) - With time running out, rivals of surging Republican Rick Santorum raised doubts about his conservative record on Monday in hopes of heading off a last-minute victory by the former senator a day before Iowa kicks off the 2012 presidential election season. Santorum, a second-tier candidate until a jump in the polls last week, claimed the momentum as he and the other Republican candidates barnstormed across Iowa making final arguments and trying to bolster turnout ahead of Tuesday's Iowa caucuses. ...
Full Story | Top |
Spain public deficit may top 8 percent: minister
Mon,2 Jan 2012 05:38 AM PST
Reuters -  MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's public deficit for 2011 may be higher than the 8 percent of GDP forecast by the new government, the economy minister said Monday, fuelling fears the country faces a prolonged period of tight budgets and economic contraction. Spain had originally targeted a 2011 deficit of 6 percent of gross domestic product, but the newly elected conservatives said Friday the deficit would be 8 percent. ...
Full Story | Top |
Analysis: U.S. fighter sales soar in time for campaign
Sun,1 Jan 2012 02:13 PM PST
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Booming Middle East purchases of U.S. fighter jets will be a bright spot in what is expected to be a sluggish economy in 2012, possibly paying dividends for President Barack Obama's bid for a second term. Beneficiaries include Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, whose respective F-16 and F-15 production lines are being extended by U.S. government sales to Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Oman, among other rich arms deals announced in recent weeks. ...
Full Story | Top |
Hackers target emails of UK's Gordon Brown: report
Mon,2 Jan 2012 03:51 AM PST
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - British police have found evidence that private investigators working for newspapers hacked into the email account of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown while he was finance minister, The Independent newspaper reported on Monday. Hundreds of other people may have also had their emails intercepted, perhaps as many as were caught up in the phone hacking scandal at News International's now defunct News of the World tabloid, the paper said. Detectives were looking at evidence from about 20 computers seized from private investigators, the newspaper reported. ...
Full Story | Top |
Crisis talk, austerity calls mark euro anniversary
Sun,1 Jan 2012 09:33 AM PST
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Policymakers marked the 10th anniversary on Sunday of the introduction of euro notes and coins by urging governments in the currency bloc to save and consolidate to overcome their debt crisis. While German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the euro "a clear success story" and pledged the currency would remain stable, he also urged vulnerable debtor states to follow a tough savings course in 2012, boost their competitiveness and work to win back market confidence. ...
Full Story | Top |
Insight: Shortage of ADHD drug Adderall seen persisting
Sun,1 Jan 2012 03:06 PM PST
Reuters - BOSTON (Reuters) - A shortage of Adderall, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, shows little sign of easing as manufacturers struggle to get enough active ingredient to make the drug and demand climbs. Adderall, a stimulant, is a controlled substance, meaning it is addictive and has the potential to be abused. The Drug Enforcement Administration tightly regulates how much of the drug's active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) can be distributed to manufacturers each year. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. is top 2012 property investment pick
Sun,1 Jan 2012 10:04 AM PST
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States will remain the top choice of most global commercial real estate investors in 2012, but the country has lost ground to Brazil which ranked No. 2 this year, according to a survey released Sunday. While the United States offers the most stable and secure option in commercial real estate, investors said improvement in rent and occupancy growth and the repeal of a 1980 foreign investment tax would have the strongest impact on their investment decisions, according to the 20th annual survey of Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) members. ...
Full Story | Top |
Israel, Palestinians to meet Tuesday; prospects hazy
Sun,1 Jan 2012 03:04 PM PST
Reuters -  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet this week after more than a year of deadlock in peacemaking, officials said Sunday, but both sides played down prospects of any imminent resumption of talks. Yitzhak Molcho of Israel and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat will meet Tuesday in Jordan alongside representatives of the Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. "This aims at reaching a common ground to resume direct talks between the two sides and to achieve a Palestinian-Israeli peace accord ... ...
Full Story | Top |
Syria bloodshed defies Arab monitor mission
Sun,1 Jan 2012 03:43 PM PST
Reuters -  AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian security forces killed eight more protesters and an Arab League organization urged Arab monitors to leave Syria, saying unrelenting bloodshed made a mockery of their mission. President Bashar al-Assad's forces, keen to prevent huge protest rallies under the monitors' eyes, have killed at least 286 people since December 23, the day before the mission's leader arrived in Syria, according to activists who tally casualties. Some of Sunday's eight deaths occurred when security forces fired on protesters in the Damascus suburb of Daria, they said. ...
Full Story | Top |
Troops, tanks patrol in northeast Nigeria
Sun,1 Jan 2012 04:27 AM PST
Reuters - MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Heavily armed troops and tanks patrolled the streets of Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria Sunday, witnesses said, after the president declared a state of emergency in parts of the north affected by an Islamist insurgency. President Goodluck Jonathan imposed the state of emergency on the northeast, the conflict-prone central city of Jos, and part of Niger state near Abuja Saturday, and closed the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the northeast. ... Full Story | Top |
Iran reports nuclear progress as sanctions loom
Sun,1 Jan 2012 10:16 AM PST
Reuters -  TEHRAN (Reuters) - - Iran announced a nuclear fuel breakthrough and test-fired a new radar-evading medium-range missile in the Gulf on Sunday, moves that could further antagonize the West at a time when Tehran is trying to avert harsh new sanctions on its oil industry. U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law on Saturday imposing tougher financial sanctions to penalize Iran for a nuclear research programme that the West suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. The move could for the first time hurt Tehran's oil exports, and the European Union is due to consider similar steps soon. ...
Full Story | Top |
With 48 hours left, Romney eyes Iowa breakthrough
Sun,1 Jan 2012 03:57 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The Republican White House hopefuls launched a two-day dash to the finish in Iowa on Sunday, with front-runner Mitt Romney poised for a strong showing that could set him on the path to the nomination. Romney holds a slight edge over rival Ron Paul in recent polls in Iowa's first contest in the state-by-state battle to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama in 2012. "I'm pretty confident we'll have a good night. I don't know who's going to win," Romney told supporters at a packed restaurant in Atlantic, Iowa, adding he was "energized" ahead of Tuesday's ...
Full Story | Top |
Insight: West in political crisis has echoes of 1930s
Sun,1 Jan 2012 05:04 AM PST
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Dysfunctional politics threatens to deliver a protracted period of slow global growth, possibly lasting well beyond 2012, which will only deepen the political and economic problems for the West. The global financial crisis that began four years ago has morphed into a political crisis for the United States and Europe. Leaders incapable of wrestling their debt loads to manageable levels or reviving strong economic growth are stoking turmoil in markets and populist unrest among the citizenry. ...
Full Story | Top |
North Korea calls for "human shields" to protect new leader
Sun,1 Jan 2012 06:17 AM PST
Reuters -  SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea called on its people to rally behind new leader Kim Jong-un and protect him as "human shields" while working to solve the "burning issue" of food shortages by upholding the policies of his late father, Kim Jong-il. The North's three main state newspapers said in a policy-setting editorial traditionally published on New Year's Day that Kim Jong-un has legitimacy to carry on the revolutionary battle initiated by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and developed by his father, the iron-fisted ruler who died two weeks ago. ...
Full Story | Top |
Romney runs strong, but can he connect with voters?
Sun,1 Jan 2012 03:56 PM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Mitt Romney's crowds are larger now. And with the Iowa caucuses looming on Tuesday, it seems inevitable that the former Massachusetts governor will do well in, if not win, the first contest in the race for the Republican nomination for president. ...
Full Story | Top |
Iran successfully tests domestically made nuclear fuel rods: TV
Sun,1 Jan 2012 04:21 AM PST
Reuters - TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has successfully produced and tested fuel rods for use in its nuclear power plants, state television reported on Sunday, in a snub to international demands that it halt sensitive nuclear work. The rods, which contain natural uranium, were made in Iran and have been inserted into the core of Tehran's research nuclear reactor, the television reported. Nuclear fuel rods contain small pellets of fuel, usually low-enriched uranium, patterned to give out heat produced by nuclear reaction without melting down. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. imposes sanctions on banks dealing with Iran
Sat,31 Dec 2011 02:16 PM PST
Reuters -  HONOLULU (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed into law on Saturday a defense funding bill that imposes sanctions on financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, while allowing for exemptions to avoid upsetting energy markets. The sanctions target both private and government-controlled banks - including central banks - and would take hold after a two- to six-month warning period, depending on the transactions, a senior Obama administration official said. ...
Full Story | Top |
"Occupy" makes annual list of most overused words
Sat,31 Dec 2011 04:47 PM PST
Reuters -  BOSTON (Reuters) - Occupy this: the trash bin. At least, so say students at Michigan's Lake Superior State University who released an annual list of words they deem so misused, overused and cliched they should be banished in the year ahead. "Occupy," the term associated with the months-long protest movement in New York and across the United States against income inequality and a variety of other social ills, was among the 12 nominees after just a few months of overexposure. ...
Full Story | Top |
Romney runs strong, but can he connect with voters?
Sun,1 Jan 2012 04:07 AM PST
Reuters -  DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Mitt Romney's crowds are larger now. And with the Iowa caucuses looming on Tuesday, it seems inevitable that the former Massachusetts governor will do well in, if not win, the first contest in the race for the Republican nomination for president. ...
Full Story | Top |
Man with explosives stopped at Texas airport
Sat,31 Dec 2011 04:17 PM PST
Reuters - (Reuters) - By Jim Forsyth SAN ANTONIO, Dec 31 (Reuters) - A man found to be carrying explosives in "military grade wrapping" was detained at a western Texas airport on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of the area, officials said. The explosives were found during a routine inspection at a security checkpoint inside Midland International Airport, Midland city spokeswoman Tasa Watts said. The Transportation Security Administration evacuated the terminal and conducted a security sweep, she said. ... Full Story | Top |
Nigeria's Jonathan declares state of emergency
Sat,31 Dec 2011 01:17 PM PST
Reuters -  ABUJA (Reuters) - President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Saturday in parts of Nigeria plagued by a violent Islamist insurgency, and ordered shut the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger in the northeast. Coming nearly a week after radical sect Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day, including one at a church that killed at least 37 people and wounded 57, Jonathan told state television the measures would aim to restore security in troubled parts of Nigeria's north. ...
Full Story | Top |
Euro could become world's leading currency: Noyer
Sat,31 Dec 2011 11:18 AM PST
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - The euro could become the world's leading currency in the next decade if leaders of the single-currency bloc succeed in tightening fiscal integration, European Central Bank policymaker Christian Noyer said in an article to be published in the Journal du Dimanche. European leaders struck a historic deal at an emergency summit in Brussels on December 9 to draft a new treaty for deeper economic union, in an attempt to stem the debt crisis that is threatening to cause the collapse of the single currency. The news temporarily calmed markets. ...
Full Story | Top |
Romney would veto immigration "dream" act
Sat,31 Dec 2011 07:36 PM PST
Reuters -  LEMARS, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said on Saturday he would veto a proposal granting U.S. citizenship to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children, a pledge that won hearty applause from Iowa conservatives he hopes to win over. A young woman asked Romney about the bipartisan proposal known as the Dream Act, during an appearance at a crowded restaurant in Le Mars, a conservative Republican stronghold in western Iowa. ...
Full Story | Top |
U.S. steps up sanctions as Iran floats nuclear talks
Sat,31 Dec 2011 01:48 PM PST
Reuters - HONOLULU/TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed new sanctions against Iran into law on Saturday, shortly after Iran signaled it was ready for fresh talks with the West on its nuclear programme and said it had delayed long-range missile tests in the Gulf. Tensions between Iran and the West have grown since EU leaders said they wanted to set tougher sanctions against Tehran by the end of next month in a bid to force it to curb a research programme that they suspect is developing nuclear weapons. In the absence of a fresh mandate from the U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
Celebrities may temper Twitter comments after 2011 blunders
Sat,31 Dec 2011 12:03 PM PST
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Celebrities may resist the urge to send a stream of consciousness on Twitter in the new year, after famous people tweeted their way into trouble on everything from boxer briefs to breast-feeding in 2011. NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne became the latest celebrity to blunder on Twitter, when he recently had to apologize for a tweet critical of public breast-feeding. But Kahne has been far from alone in discovering Twitter's pitfalls. ...
Full Story | Top |
Romney feels campaign trail energy close to home
Sat,31 Dec 2011 10:35 AM PST
Reuters -  HAMPTON, New Hampshire (Reuters) - It was standing room only as Mitt Romney briefly took time out from Iowa to campaign in Republican strongholds in New Hampshire, where he holds a wide lead approaching the state's first-in-the-nation primary. Romney spent almost as much time posing for photographs and signing autographs for energized fans as he did making his pitch to become the Republican presidential nominee. ...
Full Story | Top |
U.S. in $3.5 billion arms sale to UAE amid Iran tensions
Sat,31 Dec 2011 07:42 AM PST
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has signed a $3.5 billion sale of an advanced antimissile interception system to the United Arab Emirates, part of an accelerating military buildup of its friends and allies near Iran. The deal, signed on December 25 and announced on Friday night by the U.S. Defense Department, "is an important step in improving the region's security through a regional missile defense architecture," Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement. The U.S. Congress had been notified of the proposed sale in September 2008 by former President George W. ... Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment