Thursday, December 29, 2011

Foreign monitors energize Syrian protests (AP)

Foreign monitors energize Syrian protests (AP)

Foreign monitors energize Syrian protests (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 01:01 PM PST

In this image made from amateur video released by Ugarit and accessed Wednesday Dec. 28, 2011 purports to show anti-government forces shooting at a bus convoy in Daraa, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via APTN) TV OUT. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL.AP - The presence of Arab League monitors in Syria has re-energized the anti-government protest movement, with tens of thousands turning out over the past three days in cities and neighborhoods where the observers are expected to visit. The huge rallies have been met by lethal gunfire from security forces apparently worried about multiple mass sit-ins modeled after Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Romney plans aggressive push before Iowa caucuses (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 01:01 PM PST

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at Rastrelli's restaurant in Clinton, Iowa, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)AP - Feeling optimistic, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday was positive on TV with an upbeat, new ad but in person went negative against President Barack Obama. He also announced an aggressive schedule of campaign events for the days leading up to next week's caucuses.

For Iran, cost of closing strait may outweigh gain (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 01:01 PM PST

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Iranian Navy personnel take part in their naval maneuvers dubbed Velayat 90 on the Sea of Oman, Iran, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. An Iranian surveillance plane has recorded video and photographed a U.S. aircraft carrier during Iran's ongoing navy drill near a strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Ali Mohammadi) NO SALESAP - With missile batteries, fleets of attack boats and stocks of naval mines, Iran can disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz but probably cannot completely shut down the world's most important oil route, military analysts say. The question for Iran's leadership is whether it is worth the heavy price.

Bachmann vows to stay in GOP race despite setbacks (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:54 PM PST

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. gestures while speaking during a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)AP - Vowing to press ahead through the Iowa caucuses, Republican Michele Bachmann dismissed the notion Thursday that her presidential campaign was in disarray.

US finalizes deal to sell F-15s to Saudi Arabia (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:01 PM PST

AP - The sale of $30 billion worth of F-15SA fighter jets to Saudi Arabia has been finalized, boosting the military strength of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East to help counter Iran, the Obama administration announced Thursday.

Muslims upset by NYPD to boycott mayor's breakfast (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 01:09 PM PST

FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2011 file photo, people pass below a New York Police Department security camera, upper left, which is above a mosque on Fulton St., in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York. Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods. The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)AP - The goodwill that Mayor Michael Bloomberg built among the city's Muslims with his support of the "ground zero mosque" was threatened this week as Islamic leaders decried a newly disclosed police effort to gather intelligence on Muslim neighborhoods.

Vt. reopens last highway destroyed by Irene (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:14 PM PST

Chad Poston of VTrans moves a sign on Route 107 in Bethel, Vt. in preparation for its reopening, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. The state highway is the last to reopen after being washed out by flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Irene. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)AP - After hundreds of thousands of tons of rock were hauled out and tens of thousands of man-hours were spent, Vermont celebrated the completion of the biggest single engineering challenge following the flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Irene.

Worst year in decades for endangered elephants (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 11:50 AM PST

FILE - In this May 27, 2005 file photo, elephants drink at a water hole in Kenya's Tsavo East national park. It's been a disastrous year for elephants, perhaps the worst since ivory sales were banned in 1989 to save the world's largest land animals from extinction, the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo, File)AP - Large seizures of elephant tusks make this year the worst on record since ivory sales were banned in 1989, with recent estimates suggesting as many as 3,000 elephants were killed by poachers, experts said Thursday.

Scholars want help identifying slaves' origins (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 11:45 AM PST

This March 2010 photo provided by Emory University shows Liz Milewicz, former project manager for African-Origins. Researchers using audio recordings of names found in Courts of Mixed Commission records for Havana, Cuba, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, to identify their likely ethno-linguistic origins, at Emory University in Atlanta. The recordings helped connect the sound of the name to its spelling, enabling a more accurate assessment of the name's possible ethnic origins. (AP Photo/Emory University, Bryan Meltz)AP - Almost two centuries before there was a man named Obama in the White House, there was a man named Obama shackled in the bowels of a slave ship. There is no proof that the unidentified Obama has ties to President Barack Obama. All they share is a name. But that is exactly the commonality that Emory University researchers hope to build upon as they delve into the origins of Africans who were taken up and sold.

Wynonna Judd engaged to Highway 101 drummer (AP)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:45 PM PST

FILE- In this Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 file photo, Wynonna Judd waits on the sidelines before singing the national anthem at an NFL football game between the New Orleans Saints and the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, Tenn. Judd is engaged to her boyfriend, the drummer for the country group Highway 101. Judd, 47, and Cactus Moser, 54, got engaged Dec. 24. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)AP - Wynonna Judd is engaged to her boyfriend, the drummer for the country group Highway 101. Judd, 47, and Cactus Moser, 54, got engaged Dec. 24. They are currently touring together as Wynonna and The Big Noise.

Economy gaining momentum, housing shows a pulse (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 12:14 PM PST

Reuters - New U.S. claims for jobless benefits rose last week but the underlying trend pointed to an improving labor market, while regional factory data showed the economy gaining momentum as the year ended.

Syrian forces kill 25 protesters, monitors reach cities (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:12 AM PST

Reuters - Syrian security forces shot dead 25 people on Thursday, including in cities being visited by Arab League monitors to check whether President Bashar al-Assad is keeping a pledge to end a crackdown on popular unrest.

Italy seeks bigger euro fund after tough debt sale (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:46 AM PST

Reuters - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti sought reinforcement for the euro zone's bailout fund and pledged new efforts to boost the economy after a disappointing bond auction on Thursday underlined the threat to the country's shaky public finances.

Russia battles fire on nuclear submarine (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 11:43 AM PST

Firefighters work to extinguish fire at the Roslyakovo shipyard in the northern Russian region of Murmansk, in this still image taken from video, December 29, 2011. REUTERS/TV21/HandoutReuters - Russia used helicopters and tugboats to battle a fire that engulfed a nuclear submarine docked at a shipyard on Thursday, but emergency officials said radiation levels were normal.

Could Romney score an early knockout? (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 07:43 AM PST

Reuters - Mitt Romney's campaign did its best on Wednesday to lower expectations, but no one was really buying it.

Turkey acknowledges killing civilians in Iraq strike (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 10:18 AM PST

Locals gather around bodies of people who were killed in air strikes in Ortasu village near the southeastern Turkish town of Sirnak, December 29, 2011. Turkish warplanes launched air strikes against suspected Kurdish militants in northern Iraq near the Turkish border overnight, the military said on Thursday, but local officials said the attack killed 35 smugglers who were mistaken for guerrillas. The Turkish military confirmed it had launched the strikes after unmanned drones spotted suspected rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but said there were no civilians in the area and it was investigating the incident. REUTERS/Emin Bal/IHAReuters - Turkish warplanes killed 35 civilian smugglers in northern Iraq after mistaking them for Kurdish militants, Ankara's ruling party said on Thursday, promising not to allow a cover-up of an incident that threatens to wreck relations with minority Kurds.

Alibaba hires U.S. lobbying firm as it eyes Yahoo (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Dec 2011 07:14 PM PST

Reuters - Alibaba Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm in a sign that the Chinese e-commerce company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc in the event that talks to unwind their Asian partnership fail.

Iran warns U.S. over Strait of Hormuz (Reuters)

Posted: 29 Dec 2011 07:46 AM PST

A military personnel participates in the Velayat-90 war game on Sea of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran December 28, 2011. REUTERS/Fars News/Hamed JafarnejadReuters - A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Thursday the United States was not in a position to tell Tehran "what to do in the Strait of Hormuz," state television reported, after the U.S. said it would preserve oil shipments in the Gulf.
Posted by Harshad at 1:18 PM

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