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| Congress approves some Sandy storm relief amid anger over delay Friday, Jan 04, 2013 01:14 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Congress on Friday approved $9.7 billion in initial relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy, but New York and New Jersey lawmakers seethed over delays in passing the rest of a $60.4 billion federal aid package. The House of Representatives voted 354-67 to keep the National Flood Insurance Program solvent and able to pay claims of thousands of homeowners who suffered flood damage in coastal New York, New Jersey and Connecticut from the October storm. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mediocre job growth points to slow grind for U.S. economy Friday, Jan 04, 2013 11:05 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers kept their pace of hiring steady in December, falling short of the levels needed to bring down a still lofty unemployment rate and pointing to lackluster economic growth in 2013. Other data on Friday gave stronger signals on the health of the economy, with the U.S. service sector activity expanding the most in 10 months. Payrolls, excluding farm jobs, grew by 155,000 last month, the Labor Department said. That was a touch more than analysts' expectations and only slightly below the revised gain of 161,000 reported for November. ... Full Story | Top |
| Chavez swearing-in can be delayed: Venezuelan VP Friday, Jan 04, 2013 06:40 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for January 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery, Venezuela's vice president said on Friday. Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement for Chavez or calling a new election in the South American OPEC nation. In power since 1999, the 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public for more than three weeks. ... Full Story | Top |
| AT&T, Microsoft among donors to Obama's second inauguration Friday, Jan 04, 2013 06:36 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 400 donors, including AT&T Inc and Microsoft, have contributed money to help pay for the festivities to mark President Barack Obama's inauguration to a second term, organizers said on Friday. The committee of Obama supporters organizing the parade and other gala events did not say how much money has been raised so far, disclosing only the list of "benefactors," most of whom are individuals. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed officials suggest possible end to asset purchases in 2013 Friday, Jan 04, 2013 05:47 PM PST  SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve could halt its asset purchases this year, two top Fed officials suggested on Friday, a view also gaining traction among economists at Wall Street's top financial institutions. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, a voting member of the Fed's monetary policy panel in 2013, said a drop in the unemployment rate to 7.1 percent would probably constitute the "substantial improvement" in the labor market that the central bank seeks. That's the bar for the Fed's policy-setting committee to halt the current round of asset purchases that it began in September. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House says Congress must raise debt limit Friday, Jan 04, 2013 07:18 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it is vital for Congress to quickly resolve future tax and spending feuds, and raise the U.S. borrowing authority to avoid economic uncertainty. "It is quite clear that the economy will be better if Congress does its job and does what it routinely has done historically which is raise the debt limit without problem," Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in an interview on Bloomberg television. ... Full Story | Top |
| "Nobody helped us for an hour:" Indian rape witness Friday, Jan 04, 2013 12:53 PM PST NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Passers-by left a gang-raped Indian student lying unclothed and bleeding in the street for almost an hour, a male friend who was assaulted with her said on Friday in his first public comments on the case that provoked a global outcry. The 23-year-old student died in hospital two weeks after she was attacked on December 16 in a private bus in New Delhi, prompting street protests over the Indian authorities' failure to stem rampant violence against women. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pakistani girl shot by Taliban leaves British hospital Friday, Jan 04, 2013 12:56 PM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - A Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education has been discharged from a British hospital after doctors said she was well enough to spend time recovering with her family. Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban in October and brought to Britain for treatment, was discharged on Thursday but is due to be re-admitted in late January or early February for reconstructive surgery to her skull, doctors said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Budget battles threaten to limit Obama's second-term agenda Friday, Jan 04, 2013 11:30 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a brutal "fiscal cliff" battle, President Barack Obama's looming budget confrontation with Congress threatens to sharply curtail his second-term agenda and limit his ambitions on priorities such as immigration reform and gun control. Obama has vowed to push ahead with other legislative priorities during the fiscal fight, but faces the likelihood that they will be elbowed aside in a fierce struggle with Republicans over approaching deadlines to raise the limit on federal borrowing, cut spending and fund government operations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syria blames "terrorists" for deadly petrol station blast Friday, Jan 04, 2013 03:26 PM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria said on Friday a car bomb at a crowded petrol station in Damascus was set off by "terrorists", a term it uses for rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The blast on Thursday night killed 11 people and wounded 40 at a station packed with Syrians queuing for fuel, which has become scarce in the 21-month insurgency against Assad, in the second petrol station attack in the capital this week, opposition activists said. "Terrorists ... ... Full Story | Top |
| GM recalls more than 69,000 vehicles that could roll away Friday, Jan 04, 2013 06:19 AM PST  (Reuters) - General Motors Co is recalling more than 69,000 full-size trucks and vans globally that could roll away after being parked due to a potential steering column defect, the automaker said on Friday. The vehicles may have been built with a fractured park lock cable or a malformed steering column lock actuator gear, and could roll away after the driver has exited the vehicle, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. GM said most of the affected vehicles are believed to be still on dealer lots or in transit to dealers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Abbas sees Palestinian unity as Fatah rallies in Gaza Friday, Jan 04, 2013 05:27 AM PST  GAZA (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas predicted the end of a five-year split between the two big Palestinian factions as his Fatah movement staged its first mass rally in Gaza with the blessing of Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave. "Soon we will regain our unity," Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the 2007 civil war between the two factions, said in a televised address to hundreds of thousands of followers marching in Gaza on Friday, with yellow Fatah flags instead of the green of Hamas. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Geithner's planned departure puts Obama in tough spot Friday, Jan 04, 2013 03:22 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's plans to leave near the end of January put the White House in a tricky spot, depriving the Obama administration of its longest-serving economic adviser for its next fiscal showdown with Congress. Geithner, who spent his years as Treasury secretary battling the financial crisis and then fighting with Republican lawmakers in 2011 over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, has wanted to leave government service for some time. ... Full Story | Top |
| EU says Iran not responded to nuclear talks proposal Friday, Jan 04, 2013 08:52 AM PST  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has proposed a time and place for further talks on Iran's nuclear program, but Iran has yet to respond, an EU spokesman said on Friday. Iran said earlier on Friday it had agreed to resume talks in January with six major powers - represented by the EU - but the EU spokesman said Tehran had not yet replied to proposals made on December 31. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lebanon asks for $180 million to aid Syrian refugees Friday, Jan 04, 2013 05:50 AM PST  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon, now a haven for 170,000 Syrians fleeing civil war, has asked foreign donors for $180 million to help care for them and said it will register and recognize refugees after a year-long hiatus. The Beirut government has officially sought to "dissociate" itself from the 21-month-old struggle in Syria, nervous about the destabilizing impact of the increasingly sectarian conflict in its bigger neighbor on its own delicate communal balance. But there has been pressure from humanitarian agencies and the public to do more to help Syrian refugees in Lebanon. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: "Fiscal cliff" fracas: From smiles to distrust to rancor Friday, Jan 04, 2013 02:30 AM PST  (Note: includes graphic language) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It began so optimistically. On November 16, after their first "fiscal cliff" session with President Barack Obama, the four leaders of Congress had stood in the driveway of the White House shoulder-to-shoulder for what is a rare photo these days, Republicans and Democrats together, smiling. There they were at the microphone, talking about a "framework" for tax reform and deficit reduction. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Korea says Japan must heal wounds of wartime excesses Friday, Jan 04, 2013 02:54 AM PST  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's president-elect said on Friday that Japan needed to come to terms with its colonial history as tension between two Asian allies of the United States simmered over Japan's rule of Korea and an island dispute. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a December 31 interview he wanted to issue a statement that would supersede a landmark 1995 apology for Japan's military aggression, a move bound to raise hackles in South Korea, ruled by Japan from 1910-1945, and in China, where bitter wartime memories run deep. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. ends long Google probe with only mild reprimand Friday, Jan 04, 2013 11:37 AM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a major victory for Google Inc, U.S. regulators on Thursday ended their investigation into the giant Internet company and concluded that it had not manipulated its Web search results to hurt rivals. The Federal Trade Commission did, however, win promises from Google that it would end the practice of "scraping" reviews and other data from rivals' websites for its own products, and to allow advertisers to export data to independently evaluate advertising campaigns. ... Full Story | Top |
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