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| Obama, Karzai accelerate end of U.S. combat role in Afghanistan Friday, Jan 11, 2013 05:27 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama's determination to wind down a long, unpopular war. Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground in talks at the White House on U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| No clear path for Obama to act alone on U.S. debt cap: experts Friday, Jan 11, 2013 10:04 PM PST  NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House would be taking a risk if it tries to make a constitutional end-run around Congress' authority to raise the debt ceiling, legal experts said. The "public debt" clause of the 14th Amendment is being cited by a number of lawmakers as giving President Barack Obama a legal way to issue debt and pay bills, working around the debt ceiling and avoiding default. The 14th Amendment is best known for extending civil rights protections in the wake of the Civil War. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malian army drives back Islamist rebels with French help Friday, Jan 11, 2013 06:16 PM PST  PARIS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian government troops drove back Islamist rebels from a strategic central town after France intervened on Friday with air strikes to halt advances by the militants controlling the country's desert north. Western governments, particularly former colonial power France, had voiced alarm after the al Qaeda-linked rebel alliance captured the town of Konna on Thursday, a gateway towards the capital, Bamako, 600 km (375 miles) south. President Francois Hollande said France would not stand by to watch the rebels push southward. ... Full Story | Top |
| Flu reaches epidemic level in U.S., says CDC Friday, Jan 11, 2013 02:57 PM PST  (Reuters) - Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and the flu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The early start and fast spread of flu this season - especially after 2011-2012's very mild outbreak - has overwhelmed doctors' offices and hospitals, forcing some patients to wait through the night to be seen in emergency departments. Nine of the 10 U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| AIG sues NY Fed over right to sue Bank of America, others Friday, Jan 11, 2013 06:03 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc has filed a lawsuit against a vehicle created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to help bail out the insurer, in a bid to preserve its right to sue Bank of America Corp and other issuers of mortgage debt that went sour. The complaint filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan seeks a declaration that AIG has not transferred billions of dollars of "litigation claims" to Maiden Lane II, including many related to the insurer's $10 billion lawsuit against Bank of America. ... Full Story | Top |
| BofA director settlement over Merrill triples to $62.5 million - source Friday, Jan 11, 2013 06:08 PM PST  (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp directors have reached a $62.5 million settlement to resolve investor claims over the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co, a person familiar with the matter said, after a federal judge expressed reservations about an earlier version of the accord. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan on Friday agreed to increase the size of the settlement from $20 million, the person said. This came after Castel had indicated in a January 4 order that he had yet to be persuaded of the fairness of the settlement, which also includes governance reforms. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lawyer says suspect in Oregon bomb plot was entrapped Friday, Jan 11, 2013 08:03 PM PST  PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - An attorney for a Somali-born man charged with trying to blow up a crowd of people at a Christmas tree-lighting event in Oregon told a court on Friday his client was a hard-partying college student manipulated by FBI agents posing as Islamist militants. But a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements in the federal trial of Mohamed Osman Mohamud that he acted on his own volition in what he thought was a plan for a mass killing. Mohamud, a former Oregon State University student and a naturalized U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Biden gun proposals likely to spark fight in Congress Friday, Jan 11, 2013 05:10 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden wrapped up a series of White House meetings on Friday and prepared recommendations to curb gun violence that will call for expanded background checks on gun buyers and set up a heated, likely uphill battle in Congress to revive a ban on military-style assault weapons. Biden, who heads a task force due to give President Barack Obama recommendations next week, met with representatives of the video game industry, whose products often enable players to carry out shootings in graphically violent games. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. launches safety review of 787 after recent issues Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:15 PM PST  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government ordered a wide-ranging review of Boeing's latest passenger jet, the 787 Dreamliner, citing concern over a fire and other recent problems but insisting the plane was still safe to fly. It was unclear how long the review will take or how much it will ultimately cost Boeing, but the company was concerned enough that it sent a top executive to a Washington press conference on the problem. Boeing shares fell 3 percent. ... Full Story | Top |
| Central African Republic signs peace deal with rebels Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:05 PM PST  LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Central African Republic's government and rebels agreed on Friday to the formation of a national unity government under a ceasefire deal to end an insurgency that swept to within striking distance of the capital. The agreement, signed in Gabon's coastal capital Libreville after three days of talks mediated by regional neighbors, averted the biggest threat to President Francois Bozize's decade in charge of the mineral-rich former French colony. Aid groups had warned that a rebel attack on the capital Bangui could trigger a humanitarian crisis. "God is great. ... Full Story | Top |
| Democrats urge Obama to be ready to bypass Congress on debt cap Friday, Jan 11, 2013 02:27 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Democratic senators urged President Barack Obama on Friday to be ready to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval in order to avert a damaging debt default. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his leadership team said Obama should use "any lawful steps" under his authority to "ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis." They urged Obama to act on his own if Republicans insist on a debt limit extension that is coupled with "unbalanced or unreasonable" spending cuts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Readying for Sandy, NJ Transit erred in modeling storm Friday, Jan 11, 2013 07:11 PM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Transit incorrectly used federal government software that otherwise could have warned officials against a disastrous decision to leave hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment in a low-lying rail yard before Superstorm Sandy struck, a Reuters examination has found. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: JPMorgan faces action on laundering controls Friday, Jan 11, 2013 10:14 AM PST  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are expected to order JPMorgan Chase & Co to correct lapses in how it polices suspect money flows, two people familiar with the situation said, in the latest move by officials to force banks to tighten their anti money-laundering systems. The action against JPMorgan, which is expected as soon as Friday, would be in the form of a cease-and-desist order, which regulators use to force banks to improve compliance weaknesses, the sources said. JPMorgan will probably not have to pay a monetary penalty, one of the sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Foreign fighters seek Islamic state in post-Assad Syria Friday, Jan 11, 2013 10:11 AM PST  ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Huddled around a fire in a bombed-out building in Aleppo, foreign jihadists say they are fighting for a radical Islamic state in Syria - whether local rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad like it or not. Among their fellow revolutionaries and civilians, these foreigners draw both respect for their iron discipline and fear that if Assad falls, they may turn on former allies to complete the struggle for an Islamic caliphate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria rebels seize base as envoy holds talks Friday, Jan 11, 2013 12:35 PM PST  BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Rebels seized control of one of Syria's largest helicopter bases on Friday, opposition sources said, in their first capture of a military airfield used by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Fighting raged across the country as international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi sought a political solution to Syria's civil war, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva. But the two world powers are still deadlocked over Assad's fate in any transition. ... Full Story | Top |
| Spain seizes valves bound for Iran's nuclear program: ministry Friday, Jan 11, 2013 02:11 PM PST  MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police arrested two men and seized the contents of a truck bound for Iran loaded with materials destined for use in the Islamic state's nuclear program, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. The truck, intercepted on a motorway in northern Spain early on Wednesday, was carrying highly corrosion-resistant valves, the ministry said in a statement. Police were examining computer databases and documents at Fluval Spain, the company where the two arrested men worked, a ministry spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malian army beats back Islamist rebels with French help Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:59 PM PST  PARIS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian government troops drove back Islamist rebels from a strategic central town after France intervened on Friday with air strikes to halt advances by the militants controlling the country's desert north. Western governments, particularly former colonial power France, had voiced alarm after the al Qaeda-linked rebel alliance captured the town of Konna on Thursday, a gateway towards the capital Bamako 600 km (375 miles) south. President Francois Hollande said France would not stand by to watch the rebels push southward. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Karzai accelerate end of U.S. combat role in Afghanistan Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:24 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama's determination to wind down a long, unpopular war. Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground in talks at the White House on U.S. demands for immunity from prosecution for any U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Imports point to soft fourth-quarter growth but firmer spending Friday, Jan 11, 2013 07:45 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened in November due to a surge in imports, pointing to a sharp slowdown in economic growth during the last three months of 2012. Still, the trade gap's growth was driven by imports of consumer goods, a potentially positive sign for household spending if the gains in imports were not a one-time rebound following a disruptive storm. America's trade deficit widened 16 percent in November to $48.7 billion, the Commerce Department said on Friday. Analysts were expecting the deficit to shrink to $41. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan troop levels top agenda in Obama-Karzai talks Friday, Jan 11, 2013 07:37 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai began a crucial round of talks on Friday that are expected to help determine how fast the United States withdraws troops from Afghanistan and whether it leaves a residual force after 2014. Hosting Karzai at the White House, Obama faces the challenge of pressing ahead with his re-election pledge to continue winding down the long war in Afghanistan while preparing the Afghan government to prevent a slide back into chaos and a Taliban resurgence once most NATO forces are gone. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. stock mutual funds gain $7.5 billion, most since 2001: Lipper Friday, Jan 11, 2013 09:32 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors in U.S.-based funds poured $7.53 billion into stock mutual funds, the most since 2001, after U.S. lawmakers reached a deal to avert tax increases and spending cuts, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper service showed on Thursday. The inflow into stock mutual funds in the week ended January 9 was the biggest since May of 2001, while stock exchange-traded funds gained $10.78 billion in new cash. When combined, the sums of cash into the two fund groups amounted to a massive $18.32 billion inflow into stock funds overall. That is the most net new cash since mid-2008. ... Full Story | Top |
| Shi'ite leader challenges Pakistan army chief over attacks Friday, Jan 11, 2013 10:17 AM PST  QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - In a rare challenge, a Shi'ite Muslim leader publicly criticized Pakistani military chief General Ashfaq Kayani over security in the country on Friday after bombings targeting the minority sect killed 93 people. The criticism of Kayani, arguably the most powerful man in the South Asian state, highlighted Shi'ite frustrations with Pakistan's failure to contain Sunni Muslim militant groups who have vowed to wipe out Shi'ites. ... Full Story | Top |
| Kurdish rebel group sees nationalist hand in Paris killings Friday, Jan 11, 2013 10:37 AM PST  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Kurdish rebels suggested on Friday that clandestine Turkish nationalists may have assassinated three Kurdish activists in Paris, but Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the killings appeared to have been the result of an internal feud. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said the execution-style killings of the three women in an institute in central Paris had been premeditated and planned and warned France would be held responsible if it failed to get to the bottom of their deaths. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israeli women soldiers have "right stuff" for border watch Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:45 AM PST  ISRAELI-EGYPTIAN BORDER (Reuters) - Breaking cover from a lookout point disguised as a dune, four soldiers storm into the open, ploughing through the sand with rifles aloft. Their battle cries are like seagull calls, and from under their helmets, ponytails flap. Team Mor is a spotter unit on Israel's fenced-off border with Egypt, deployed at night to intercept would-be infiltrators from the lawless Sinai desert. Like dozens of others along the tense divide, it is all-female. ... Full Story | Top |
| Prolific sex abuser Savile "groomed a nation": UK police Friday, Jan 11, 2013 05:58 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - The late British TV presenter Jimmy Savile, honored by both the queen and the pope, sexually assaulted hundreds of people, mainly children, at BBC premises and hospitals over six decades of unparalleled abuse, a police-led report said on Friday. Savile, one of Britain's biggest TV stars in the 1970s and 1980s, abused youngsters at 13 hospitals where he did voluntary work as a porter and fundraiser, and even at a hospice treating terminally ill patients. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan troop levels top agenda for Obama-Karzai talks Friday, Jan 11, 2013 12:04 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will hold a critical round of talks on Friday that could help determine how fast the United States withdraws troops from Afghanistan and whether it leaves a residual force after 2014. Hosting Karzai at the White House, Obama faces the challenge of pressing ahead with his re-election pledge to continue winding down the long war in Afghanistan while preparing the Afghan government to prevent a slide back into chaos and a Taliban resurgence once most NATO forces are gone. ... Full Story | Top |
| Turf war feared after Syrian rebel leader killed Friday, Jan 11, 2013 04:22 AM PST AMMAN (Reuters) - The killing of a senior Islamist rebel commander near Syria's border with Turkey could indicate a turf war between armed groups that will hamper their struggle to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sources told Reuters. Thaer al-Waqqas, northern commander of al-Farouq Brigades, one of Syria's largest rebel groups, was shot dead at a rebel-held position in the town of Sermin, a few kilometres from Turkey, early on Wednesday morning, rebel sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU's Rehn rules out Cyprus debt restructuring Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:11 AM PST  BERLIN (Reuters) - The euro zone is not considering a debt restructuring for Cyprus, the EU's top economic official was quoted on Friday as saying, as the heavily indebted island struggles to negotiate an international aid deal. Cyprus applied for a financial rescue last June after its banks suffered huge losses on the EU-approved writedown on Greece's debt. But it has so far failed to persuade its European partners to sign off on the package, given concerns the level of the island's indebtedness means it would be unable to repay the aid without further concessions from international lenders. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Euro convergence trades could return to fashion Friday, Jan 11, 2013 12:22 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - Like mini-skirts and flared trousers, some fashions have a habit of coming back, even if never quite like the original. Could it be the turn again of euro convergence funds? Such funds, enabling investors to buy into the bonds or shares of countries looking to join the European Union or euro zone, were some of the hottest trends around until the first throes of the credit crisis five years ago. The euro debt crisis, however, saw that convergence concept rapidly discarded. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boeing Dreamliner hit by two more mishaps in Japan Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:56 AM PST  TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner jet suffered a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan on Friday - the latest in a series of incidents to test confidence in the sophisticated new aircraft. All Nippon Airways Co said a domestic flight from Tokyo landed safely at Matsuyama airport in western Japan after a crack developed on the cockpit windscreen, and the plane's return to Tokyo was cancelled. The same airline later said oil was found leaking from an engine of a 787 Dreamliner after the plane landed at Miyazaki airport in southern Japan. ... Full Story | Top |
| Rights group warns Pakistan faces worsening sectarian violence Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:04 AM PST  QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Violence against Pakistani Shia Muslims is rising and some communities are living in a state of siege, a human rights group said on Friday, warning that sectarian violence will only get worse a day after 114 people were killed in bombings. Most of the deaths were caused by twin attacks in the western city of Quetta, near the Afghan border, the worst violence against Shias in decades. "Last year was the bloodiest year for Shias in living memory," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Pakistan Human Rights Watch. ... Full Story | Top |
| Accused Colorado movie gunman hearing ends with no plea Friday, Jan 11, 2013 10:38 AM PST  CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Accused movie theater gunman James Holmes made a brief court appearance on Friday, a day after he was ordered to face trial, but his lawyers asked for more time to prepare for a plea to charges he shot 12 people to death and wounded dozens of others. As expected, a Colorado state court judge granted a defense request to postpone arraignment for the 25-year-old former neuroscience doctoral student to give his legal team more time to study the voluminous evidence and testimony presented by prosecutors in a preliminary hearing earlier this week. ... Full Story | Top |
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