Saturday, December 29, 2012

Egypt's president warns against dangers to economy

Egypt's president warns against dangers to economy


Egypt's president warns against dangers to economy

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:43 PM PST

An Egyptian key maker smokes a water pipe as he watches President Mohammed Morsi speaks at the Shura Council, the country's upper house of parliament, in Cairo, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. Egypt's Islamist president has warned against any unrest that could harm the drive to repair the country's economy in a sharply worded speech pushing the opposition to work with his government. Mohammed Morsi has made the comments in his first speech to the newly convened upper house of parliament, saying it was time for the nation to turn to "production, work, seriousness" after two years of turmoil. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist president used his first address before the newly convened upper house of parliament on Saturday to warn against any unrest that could harm the country's battered economy, as he renewed calls for the opposition to join in a national dialogue.


Rice wins Armed Forces Bowl, 33-14 over Air Force

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:43 PM PST

Air Force quarterback Connor Dietz (11) pitches the ball as Rice defensive end Tanner Leland (13) chases during the first half of the Armed Forces Bowl NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Freshman quarterback Driphus Jackson threw for 264 yards in relief of Rice's hurt starter, including two touchdown passes to Jordan Taylor, and the Owls beat Air Force 33-14 in the Armed Forces Bowl on Saturday.


Richardson, Davis win titles at US Long Track

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:30 PM PST

Heather Richardson comes through the final turn in the 500-meter race at the U.S. Long Track Speedskating Championships at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Richardson won the event. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann) LOCAL TV OUT; MAGAZINES OUT; DESERET NEWS OUTKEARNS, Utah (AP) — Heather Richardson dominated the U.S. Long Track Championships for the second day in a row Saturday, setting a national record in winning the 1,000 meters and wrapping up the sprint title. Olympian Shani Davis won the men's 1,000.


Berlusconi criticizes Monti's campaign about-face

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:27 PM PST

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi arrives at Milan's central train station, Italy, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. Italian Premier Mario Monti announced Friday he is heading a new campaign coalition made of up centrists, business leaders and pro-Vatican forces who back his "ethical" vision of politics, aiming for a second mandate in office if his fledging reform movement wins big in parliamentary elections. Monti was appointed premier 13 months ago after his scandal-plagued predecessor Silvio Berlusconi failed to stop Italy from sliding deeper into the eurozone debt crisis. He quit earlier this month after Berlusconi pulled his party's support from Monti's government, but is now continuing in a caretaker role until the next elections. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)ROME (AP) — Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi sharply criticized the decision by Mario Monti to run in Italy's general elections and vowed Saturday to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the 2011 fall of his government and appointment of Monti as Italy's premier.


Over the fiscal cliff: Soft or hard landing?

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:25 PM PST

House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer of Md., pauses during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012, where he urged House Republicans to end the pro forma session and call the House back into legislative session to negotiate a solution to the fiscal cliff. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were still in disarray as lawmakers returned to the Capitol to confront the tax-and-spend crisis. A tone-setting quotation was Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's assertion that the House under Republican Speaker John Boehner had been "operating with a dictatorship."


AP source: UConn to extend coach Ollie's contract

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:24 PM PST

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut has called a news conference to announce a new contract for men's basketball coach Kevin Ollie.

Russian FM says Assad won't go

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:23 PM PST

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and U.N. envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi meet in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister said Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of stepping down and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise.


Vega recalls 30,000-plus motorcycle helmets

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 11:59 AM PST

Vega Helmet Corp. is recalling more than 30,000 XTS motorcycle helmets after testing found that a few did not meet crash protection safety standards.

Senate leaders work to avoid New Year's "fiscal cliff"

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 11:32 AM PST

Senate Majority Leader Reid walks to his office at the U.S. Capitol in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators burrowed into their Capitol offices on Saturday to see if they can stop the economy from falling off a "fiscal cliff" in just three days when the biggest tax increases ever to hit Americans in one shot are scheduled to begin. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell were expected to work through the day on a possible compromise that would set aside $600 billion in tax increases and across-the-board government spending cuts that are set to kick in next week. ...


Death of India rape victim stirs anger, promises of action

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 11:01 AM PST

Demonstrators hold candles during a candlelight vigil for a gang rape victim who was assaulted in New DelhiNEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A woman whose gang rape provoked protests and rare national debate about violence against women in India died from her injuries on Saturday, prompting promises of action from a government that has struggled to respond to public outrage. The unidentified 23-year-old medical student suffered a brain injury and massive internal damage in the attack on December 16 and died in hospital in Singapore where she had been taken for treatment. ...


4 dead in Moscow airliner crash

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:59 AM PST

Rescuers work at the site of careered off the runway plane at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. A Tu-204 aircraft belonging to Russian airline Red Wings careered off the runway at Russia's third-busiest airport on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing several people. (AP Photo/Alexander Usoltsev)MOSCOW (AP) — A passenger airliner careered off the runway at Russia's third-busiest airport and partly onto a highway while landing on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing at least four people.


Last-minute fiscal cliff talks in Senate

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:55 AM PST

President Barack Obama arrives to make a statement on the fiscal cliff negotiations with congressional leaders in the briefing room of the White House on Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, in Washington. The negotiations are a last ditch effort to avoid across-the-board first of the year tax increases and deep spending cuts. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate leaders groped for a last-minute compromise Saturday to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly prevent deep spending cuts at the dawn of the new year as President Barack Obama warned that failure could mean a "self-inflicted wound to the economy."


Bolivia expropriates Spanish energy subsidiaries

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:53 AM PST

The exterior of Spanish energy company Iberdrola is seen, in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. President Evo Morales has nationalized electricity distribution subsidiaries of the Spanish energy company Iberdrola. Morales issued a decree Saturday allowing the takeover of shares in Empresa de Electricidad de La Paz (Electropaz) and Empresa de Luz y Fuerza de Oruro (Elfeo), which supply energy in the Andean nation. Soldiers guarded the installations of the electricity distribution companies, marked with signs reading: "Nationalized". (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — President Evo Morales nationalized electricity distribution subsidiaries of the Spanish energy company Iberdrola in a public ceremony on Saturday.


After a century, US Arabs look for pieces of past

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:45 AM PST

In this early 1950s photo, Hussien Karoub, right, talks with his son Muhammad Karoub at his Karoub Printing business in Highland Park, Mich. (AP Photo/Karoub Family)DETROIT (AP) — Tossing and shivering below deck, Hussien Karoub felt ill. In the cold, crowded conditions, sleep came seldom. When it did, it didn't last long: The cries of children and the moans of those even sicker than he was made certain of that.


Berlusconi says Monti plotting with Italy's centre left

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:41 AM PST

Former Italian PM Berlusconi gestures as he arrives at Milan train stationROME/MILAN (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday that outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti was plotting with the left in his centrist alliance's bid to win Italy's national election in February, but centrist leaders denied any secret accord. Monti, who replaced Berlusconi as prime minister last year when Italy was scrambling to avert a financial crisis, said on Friday he wanted to unite a broad coalition of factions around a reform agenda aimed at easing the country's economic woes. ...


Blood spattered on the bricks where Syria bomb falls

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:38 AM PST

AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - Standing in the wreckage of his home, destroyed in an air strike two hours before, Abu Badri surveyed the damage as relatives scoured the rubble for any valuables they could retrieve. "We'll have to find a tent to stay in near the border with Turkey. What else can we do?" said the 38-year-old man, walking on a pile of broken concrete under a collapsed roof. ...

Violence, gangs scar Chicago community in 2012

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:37 AM PST

In this Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 photo, two boys walk past Christmas decorations in the barred window of a business along 79th Street in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The violence in 2012 has gripped a handful of neighborhoods, including Auburn-Greshman, where the police districtís 43 homicides (as of Dec. 21) ranked highest in the city. This one corridor on the city's South Side offers a window into the larger mayhem. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)CHICAGO (AP) — It was February, the middle of lunch hour on a busy South Side street. The gunman approached his victim in a White Castle parking lot, shot him in the head, then fled down an alley.


Yale under fire for new campus in restrictive Singapore

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:36 AM PST

File photo of the Theodore Dwight Woolsey statue at Yale University in New HavenNEW HAVEN (Reuters) - For more than 300 years, Yale University has prided itself on training top students to question and analyze, to challenge and critique. Now, Yale is seeking to export those values by establishing the first foreign campus to bear its name, a liberal arts college in Singapore that is set to open this summer. The ambitious, multimillion-dollar project thrills many in the Yale community who say it will help the university maintain its prestige and build global influence. ...


Obama: Congressional leaders may avoid cliff dive

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:27 AM PST

President Barack Obama pauses while he speaks to reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington after meeting with Congressional leaders regarding the fiscal cliff, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is urging Congress to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, saying the nation "can't afford a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy."


Arab League chief says Palestinians to petition UN

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 12:44 PM PST

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby speaks during a press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said Saturday that two decades of talks with Israel have been "a waste of time" and that Palestinians will soon take a new statehood bid to the U.N.


Budget battle sends mixed signals on health care

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:16 AM PST

President Barack Obama speaks to reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington after meeting with Congressional leaders regarding the fiscal cliff, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)WASHINGTON (AP) — Confused about the federal budget struggle? So are doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals who serve the 100 million Americans covered by Medicare and Medicaid.


Woman in custody in NYC subway shoving death

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:15 AM PST

Commuters wait on the platform as a train passes through the 40th St-Lowry St Station, where a man was killed after being pushed onto the subway tracks, in the Queens section of New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Police are searching for a woman suspected of pushing the man and released surveillance video Friday of her running away from the station. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)NEW YORK (AP) — A woman is in custody in the death of a man who was shoved in front of a speeding subway train, and she "made statements implicating herself," New York City police said Saturday.


McCartney, 'God particle' scientist get honors

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 10:04 AM PST

LONDON (AP) — Stella McCartney, who designed the uniforms worn by Britain's record-smashing Olympic team, and Scottish physicist Peter Higgs, who gave his name to the so-called "God particle," are among the hundreds being honored by Queen Elizabeth II this New Year.

State Dept. strengthens Haiti travel warning

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:59 AM PST

People walk by the remains of a market burned in an overnight fire in the Haitian capital's Market District in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. The market is one of several that have burned over the past year. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)The State Department has issued a revised Haiti travel advisory, warning Americans planning to travel to the Caribbean island nation about robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities.


Four killed when Russian airliner crash lands

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:55 AM PST

A plane wreckage is removed from a highway near Moscow's Vnukovo airportMOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian airliner flying without passengers broke into pieces after it slid off the runway and crashed onto a highway outside Moscow upon landing on Saturday, killing four of the eight crew on board and leaving smoking chunks of fuselage on the icy road. The crash during peak holiday travel ahead of Russia's New Year's vacation, which runs from Sunday through January 9, cast a spotlight on the country's poor air-safety record despite President Vladimir Putin's calls to improve controls. ...


Police have suspect in custody in NYC subway death

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:48 AM PST

Commuters wait on the platform as a train passes through the 40th St-Lowry St Station, where a man was killed after being pushed onto the subway tracks, in the Queens section of New York, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Police are searching for a woman suspected of pushing the man and released surveillance video Friday of her running away from the station. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police say they have a suspect in custody in the death of a man who was shoved in front of a speeding subway train.


Saints, coach Sean Payton agree to terms on deal

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:48 AM PST

File-This Jan. 15, 2007 file photo shows New Orleans Saints football coach Sean Payton listening to a question at a news conference in New Orleans. The suspended New Orleans Saints head coach has agreed in principle to a multiyear contract extension, according to two people familiar with the deal, said Friday Dec. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File)NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints and suspended coach Sean Payton will indeed be together again next season as the bounty scandal fades into history and the bid to win a second Super Bowl resumes.


Egypt's presidents warns unrest

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:41 AM PST

An Egyptian key maker smokes a water pipe as he watches President Mohammed Morsi speaks at the Shura Council, the country's upper house of parliament, in Cairo, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. Egypt's Islamist president has warned against any unrest that could harm the drive to repair the country's economy in a sharply worded speech pushing the opposition to work with his government. Mohammed Morsi has made the comments in his first speech to the newly convened upper house of parliament, saying it was time for the nation to turn to "production, work, seriousness" after two years of turmoil. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist president warned against any unrest that could harm the drive to repair the country's battered economy in his first address before the newly convened upper house of parliament on Saturday, urging the opposition to work with his government.


Syrian airline cancels flight to Aleppo

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:35 AM PST

FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2012 file photo, a man runs between debris after a mortar shell hit a street killing several people in the Bustan Al-Qasr district of Aleppo, Syria. 2012 was a year of storms, of raging winds and rising waters, but also broader turbulence that strained our moorings. Old enmities and grievances resurfaced in the Middle East, clouding the legacy of the 2011 Arab spring. And the number of dead in the Syrian civil war passed 40,000. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras, File)BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's national airline canceled a flight to Aleppo on Saturday because of fighting near its international airport, while the United Nations top envoy to the country said it faced "hell or a political process" but gave no sign a truce was in sight.


Vultures pick at visitors' cars in Fla. Everglades

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:26 AM PST

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Visitors to parts of Everglades National Park are getting tarps and bungee cords to make their vehicles less delectable to vultures.

Analysis: For Senate leaders, a mission impossible from Obama

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:22 AM PST

U.S. President Obama makes a statement to reporters in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following a Friday meeting with congressional leaders, an impatient and annoyed President Barack Obama said it was "mind boggling" that Congress has been unable to fix a "fiscal cliff" mess that everyone has known about for more than a year. He then dispatched Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, on a mind-boggling mission: coming up with a bipartisan bill to break the "fiscal cliff" stalemate in the most partisan and gridlocked U.S. Congress of modern times - in about 48 hours. ...


Woman charged in New York firefighter slayings

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:13 AM PST

Bryan Bayer, Vice President of the West Webster Firefighters Association, looks at a memorial placed at a car inside the main fire hall, dedicated to two volunteer firefighters who were shot on Christmas Eve, in West Webster, New YorkALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — William Spengler raised no alarms in prison for 17 years and for more than a decade afterward. Well-spoken, well-behaved and intelligent, his demeanor was praised by four straight parole boards that nevertheless denied him parole, worried that bludgeoning his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer showed a violent streak that could explode again.


Argentina to court: revert order on debt holdouts

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 09:12 AM PST

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is asking a US appeals court to reverse an order for the country to pay $1.33 billion to "holdout" creditors who refused to join two swaps for the country's defaulted debt.

Egypt transfers tons of building materials to Gaza

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:59 AM PST

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2012 file photo, smoke rises during an explosion from an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations by militants to include the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels. 2012 was a year of storms, of raging winds and rising waters, but also broader turbulence that strained our moorings. Old enmities and grievances resurfaced in the Middle East, clouding the legacy of the 2011 Arab spring. And Israeli and Palestinian civilians suffered through another escalation of the conflict in Gaza. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa, File)EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Thousands of tons of building materials such as cement and steel began crossing into the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said, temporarily easing a five year old blockade on the coastal territory.


Egypt's central bank: reserves at "critical" level

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:50 AM PST

An Egyptian key maker smokes a water pipe as he watches President Mohammed Morsi speaks at the Shura Council, the country's upper house of parliament, in Cairo, Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. Egypt's Islamist president has warned against any unrest that could harm the drive to repair the country's economy in a sharply worded speech pushing the opposition to work with his government. Mohammed Morsi has made the comments in his first speech to the newly convened upper house of parliament, saying it was time for the nation to turn to "production, work, seriousness" after two years of turmoil. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)CAIRO (AP) — The Central Bank of Egypt says the country's foreign currency reserves are at a "critical" minimum level.


Ryan Seacrest: 'Rockin' in another year on ABC

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:44 AM PST

Ryan Seacrest, producer and host of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC, poses for a portrait Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 in New York. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP Images)NEW YORK (AP) — Yes, Ryan Seacrest has a New Year's resolution for 2013: improve his skill at dancing.


Venezuela VP in Cuba to visit ailing Chavez

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:38 AM PST

In this photo provided by Cuba's state newspaper Granma, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez , left, talks with Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro, center, as Venezuelan Attorney General Cilia Flores watches at the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012. Maduro arrived in Cuba to visit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is recovering from a surgery_ his fourth operation related to his pelvic cancer since June 2011. (AP Photo/Granma, Juvenal Balan Neyra )HAVANA (AP) — Venezuela's vice president arrived in Havana on Saturday in a sudden and unexpected trip to visit President Hugo Chavez as he recovers from cancer surgery.


U.N. confronts failure of diplomacy in Syria

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:13 AM PST

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Attempts by the United Nations to end the bloody 21-month-old Syrian conflict through diplomacy have been a resounding failure and there is little reason to expect a quick change given the Russian-U.S. rift on Syria. After a year of intensive diplomatic efforts by the world body, U.N.-Arab League peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria has made no more progress than his predecessor, former U.N. ...

Saudi 2013 budget sees revenues over $220 billion

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:06 AM PST

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's official news agency says King Abdullah's cabinet has approved the kingdom's largest ever annual budget, projecting revenues of 829 billion rials, or $221 billion, for 2013 and 820 billion rials, or $219 billion of expenditure.

Top law professor quits Zimbabwe rights watchdog

Posted: 29 Dec 2012 08:04 AM PST

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The head of an independent but state-funded human rights commission says he has quit because of a lack of financial support and inadequate legislation empowering it to monitor the situation and punish violations.

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