Yahoo! News: Politics News

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• Democrats want jobless benefits in 'cliff' deal
• Obama: Republicans blocking middle-class tax cuts
• Obama request for Sandy aid could face hurdles
• Israel's Olmert says country facing unprecedented isolation
• Investors offer about $38.8 billion in Greek debt buyback: source
• U.S. trade-human rights link tests Obama-Russia ties
• UK hospital says royal prank call appalling after nurse death
• Monti calls time after restoring credibility to Italy
• Italy PM Monti says he will resign when budget passed
• China's Wanxiang wins auction for U.S. government-backed A123
• Italy PM Monti will resign as soon as budget passed - statement
• Ghanaians show democratic mettle in cliff-hanger vote
• National Menorah set to be lit in Washington for Hanukkah
• Sudan activists urge more protests after student deaths
• Obama Inauguration's Big Donor Packages Previewed
• Egyptian military says only dialogue can avert disaster
• Man suspected of involvement in Benghazi attack held in Egypt
• Analysis: Canada's foreign limits may hit oil sands growth
• Pakistan's Zardari in UK, meets girl shot by Taliban
• Doha climate talks throw lifeline to Kyoto Protocol
• Feted in Gaza, Hamas leader hits out at Israel
• Factbox: What do the Doha talks mean for the carbon market?
• Factbox: Key decisions at Doha talks on climate change
• UK anti-austerity protestors target Starbucks cafes
• Berlusconi in comeback bid to become Italy premier
• Syrian rebels elect new military commander
• North Korea looks set to delay controversial rocket launch
• Charlie Crist Is Now a Democrat
• Belfast rally demands return of British flag
• Sri Lankan impeachment panel finds chief justice guilty
• End drawing close for Syria's Assad: German spy chief
• Afghan leader says to raise spy attack with Pakistan
• Former South Africa president Mandela admitted to the hospital
• Syrian rebels elect head of new military command
• Berlusconi says he is running again for premier
• USDA chief: Rural America becoming less relevant
• Boehner Pulls Back On Tax-Rate Openness
• Syrian rebels elect head of new Islamist-dominated command
• Berlusconi says will run for Italian leadership again

Democrats want jobless benefits in 'cliff' deal Posted: 08 Dec 2012 07:37 AM PST Hovering in the background of the "fiscal cliff" debate is the prospect of 2 million people losing their unemployment benefits four days after Christmas.

Obama: Republicans blocking middle-class tax cuts Posted: 08 Dec 2012 03:08 AM PST President Barack Obama said Saturday that Republicans in the House are blocking a bill that would prevent a tax increase on the first $250,000 of income earned by all Americans.

Obama request for Sandy aid could face hurdles Posted: 08 Dec 2012 12:45 AM PST President Barack Obama's proposal for $60.4 billion in federal aid for states hit by Superstorm Sandy adds a huge new item to an end-of-year congressional agenda already packed with controversy.

Israel's Olmert says country facing unprecedented isolation Posted: 08 Dec 2012 03:12 PM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said on Saturday that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu was taking Israel into unprecedented isolation with its policy on Jewish settlements. He singled out Israel's recent announcement that it would build new settlement homes in the E1 corridor near Jerusalem. The plan has sparked international protest. Olmert said such plans had been around for years. But making the announcement days after the United States sided with Israel against the Palestinians' successful bid for de facto statehood recognition by the U.N. ...

Investors offer about $38.8 billion in Greek debt buyback: source Posted: 08 Dec 2012 03:05 PM PST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece is set to purchase back about half of its debt owned by private investors, broadly succeeding in a bond buyback that is key to the country's international bailout, a Greek government official said on Saturday. Greek and foreign bondholders offered the targeted 30 billion euros ($38.8 billion) in the deal, which is central to efforts by Greece's euro zone and International Monetary Fund lenders to cut its debt to manageable levels. "The buyback went well in broad terms. ...

U.S. trade-human rights link tests Obama-Russia ties Posted: 08 Dec 2012 03:00 PM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's passage of legislation to punish Russians who violate human rights is the first big test of the resolve of Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama to improve relations since their election victories. Obama, who launched a "reset" in relations with Russia less than four years ago, is likely to sign the law even though Moscow sees it as "aggressively unfriendly." Damage to U.S.-Russian relations is all but inevitable. ...

UK hospital says royal prank call appalling after nurse death Posted: 08 Dec 2012 02:36 PM PST LONDON/PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - The London hospital that treated Prince William's pregnant wife Kate condemned on Saturday an Australian radio station that made a prank call seeking information about the duchess, after the apparent suicide of a nurse who answered the phone. There has been renewed soul-searching over media ethics after Jacintha Saldanha, 46, the nurse who was duped by the station's call to the King Edward VII hospital, was found dead in staff accommodation nearby on Friday. ...

Monti calls time after restoring credibility to Italy Posted: 08 Dec 2012 02:30 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - Mario Monti, who announced on Saturday that he intended to resign after just over a year as Italy's prime minister, restored international credibility to his country and dragged it back from the brink of financial collapse. The 69-year-old former European commissioner replaced the scandal-plagued Silvio Berlusconi in November last year as skyrocketing borrowing costs threatened to plunge Italy into a Greek-style debt crisis. ...

Italy PM Monti says he will resign when budget passed Posted: 08 Dec 2012 03:16 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti announced on Saturday that he would resign once next year's budget is approved, two days after Silvio Berlusconi's party withdrew its parliamentary support for his technocrat government. Only hours before the announcement, Berlusconi, who has stepped up attacks on Monti over recent weeks, said he would run to become premier for a fifth time on a platform that attacks the former European Commissioner's stewardship of the economy. ...

China's Wanxiang wins auction for U.S. government-backed A123 Posted: 08 Dec 2012 02:27 PM PST WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - China's largest maker of auto parts won a politically sensitive auction for A123 Systems Inc , a bankrupt maker of batteries for electric cars that was funded partly with U.S. government money, the investment banker for A123 said on Saturday. Timothy Pohl of Lazard Freres said Wanxiang Group Corp's bid of about $260 million topped a joint bid from Johnson Controls Inc of Milwaukee and NEC Corp of Japan for the maker of lithium-ion batteries. ...

Italy PM Monti will resign as soon as budget passed - statement Posted: 08 Dec 2012 02:21 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, whose government lost the support of the main center-right party this week, intends to resign after checking to see if parliament can pass next year's budget law, President Giorgio Napolitano's office said on Saturday. Monti said he does not now feel that he has the support of parliament after Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom withdrew its support from his government this week and therefore intended to resign, the statement said. ...

Ghanaians show democratic mettle in cliff-hanger vote Posted: 08 Dec 2012 02:00 PM PST ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana electoral workers tallied final ballots on Saturday in a tight election troubled by delays and technical glitches, but which officials hope will burnish the country's reputation as a model democracy in Africa. Incumbent President John Dramani Mahama was in a near-deadlock with rival Nana Akufo-Addo, according to early unofficial results, raising the prospect of a repeat of the close race in 2008 that pushed Ghana to the brink of chaos. ...

National Menorah set to be lit in Washington for Hanukkah Posted: 08 Dec 2012 01:30 PM PST (Reuters) - The National Menorah will be lit near the White House on Sunday for Hanukkah, in a celebration that features the U.S. Navy Band and is one of the most high-profile events in the country to mark the Jewish holiday. The eight-day Hanukkah celebration, also known as the Festival of Lights, starts at sundown on Saturday. The lighting of the National Menorah in Washington, on the Ellipse near the White House, dates back to 1979 when then-President Jimmy Carter participated in the ceremony at nearby Lafayette Park. ...

Sudan activists urge more protests after student deaths Posted: 08 Dec 2012 01:19 PM PST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese activists blamed authorities on Saturday for the deaths of four student protesters whose bodies were discovered in a canal near a provincial university and called for further demonstrations against the government. State news agency SUNA reported all activities at Gezira University - located in an agricultural region south of Khartoum - had been suspended after four students "drowned". ...

Obama Inauguration's Big Donor Packages Previewed Posted: 08 Dec 2012 01:14 PM PST The biggest donors to President Barack Obama's second inauguration have been notified on what benefits will be available to them during that day's festivities. Corporations and other organizations that donate in the highest bracket — $1 million — will have access to a children's concert,...

Egyptian military says only dialogue can avert disaster Posted: 08 Dec 2012 12:40 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military, stepping into a crisis pitting Islamist President Mohamed Mursi against opponents who accuse him of grabbing excessive power, said on Saturday only dialogue could avert "catastrophe". State broadcasters interrupted their programs to read out an army statement telling feuding factions that a solution to the upheaval in the most populous Arab nation should not contradict "legitimacy and the rules of democracy". ...

Man suspected of involvement in Benghazi attack held in Egypt Posted: 08 Dec 2012 12:34 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian authorities are holding a man whose militant group is suspected of links to an attack in Libya in which the American ambassador was killed, U.S. officials in Washington and a security source in Cairo said on Saturday. "They arrested Mohamed Gamal," said one U.S. official. The security source in Cairo, giving the man's full name as Mohamed Gamal Abu Ahmed, said the suspect was being questioned about an alleged role in the attacks in Benghazi in September in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador, died along with three other American officials. U.S. ...

Analysis: Canada's foreign limits may hit oil sands growth Posted: 08 Dec 2012 12:18 PM PST CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - New Canadian rules limiting control of its oil sands by foreign state-owned companies may turn away some investors who now covet more than minority stakes just as the industry seeks massive amounts of capital to fuel its growth ambitions. The oil sands in western Canada, the world's third-largest crude reserve and source of much of the United States' oil imports, need an estimated C$120 billion ($121 billion) in investment in the next decade, according to the Alberta government, and the industry must tap numerous foreign sources for much of it. ...

Pakistan's Zardari in UK, meets girl shot by Taliban Posted: 08 Dec 2012 12:11 PM PST BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Asif Zardari held a private meeting on Saturday with Malala Yousufzai, the teenage Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban after advocating education for girls, at the British hospital where she is being treated. Yousufzai, who was shot in the head at close range by the Pakistan Taliban in October as she left school in the Swat valley, was flown for specialist treatment at the hospital which has treated hundreds of British soldiers wounded in Afghanistan. ...

Doha climate talks throw lifeline to Kyoto Protocol Posted: 08 Dec 2012 11:44 AM PST DOHA (Reuters) - Almost 200 nations extended a weakened United Nations plan for combating global warming until 2020 on Saturday with a modest set of measures that would do nothing to halt rising world greenhouse gas emissions. Many countries and environmentalists said the deal at the end of marathon two-week U.N. talks in OPEC-member Qatar would fail to slow rising temperatures or avert more floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels. ...

Feted in Gaza, Hamas leader hits out at Israel Posted: 08 Dec 2012 11:30 AM PST GAZA (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, in a defiant speech during his first ever visit to Gaza, told a mass rally on Saturday he would never recognize Israel and pledged to "free the land of Palestine inch by inch". A sea of flag-waving supporters poured into the city centre for celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Islamist group, which has ruled the Gaza Strip - a small splinter of coastal land - since 2007. Meshaal was born in the nearby West Bank but spent all his adult life in exile before arriving in Gaza on Friday for a triumphal visit. ...

Factbox: What do the Doha talks mean for the carbon market? Posted: 08 Dec 2012 11:19 AM PST (Reuters) - U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar, were unlikely to have any impact on depressed carbon markets, analysts said. Extended debate gave the Kyoto Protocol, the world's only global pact on curbing climate change, a fragile lifeline. But it did nothing to raise ambition on cutting emissions, which could have helped to reduce a surplus of offsets and emissions allowances that have crushed markets. AAUS After years of haggling, the European Union came up with an internal agreement on how to deal with its surplus of international allowances, known as Assigned Amount Units (AAUs). ...

Factbox: Key decisions at Doha talks on climate change Posted: 08 Dec 2012 11:19 AM PST (Reuters) - Following are major decisions by almost 200 nations at U.N. meeting on climate change in Doha, Qatar, November 26 to December 7: KYOTO PROTOCOL The conference agreed to an eight-year extension to 2020 of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding U.N. pact for combating global warming. It now obliges about 35 industrialized countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of at least 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during the period 2008-12. Nations will pick their own targets for 2020. ...

UK anti-austerity protestors target Starbucks cafes Posted: 08 Dec 2012 10:39 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of demonstrators protested at Starbucks cafes across Britain on Saturday accusing the U.S. coffee chain of avoiding paying corporation tax at a time when the government was cutting essential services because of a fall in revenues. At one central London outlet activists from the anti-austerity UK Uncut movement staged a sit-in, chanting "Starbucks pay your taxes" and briefly setting up a children's crèche before police moved them on. Protests were held at more than 40 of the multinational's cafes, including in Liverpool, Birmingham and Cardiff, UK Uncut said. ...

Berlusconi in comeback bid to become Italy premier Posted: 08 Dec 2012 10:30 AM PST Billionaire media baron Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned in disgrace with Italy tottering through the European debt crisis, announced Saturday he was making a comeback and running for a fourth term as premier.

Syrian rebels elect new military commander Posted: 08 Dec 2012 10:26 AM PST AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebel groups have chosen a former officer to head a new Islamist-dominated command, in a Western-backed effort to put the opposition's house in order as President Bashar al-Assad's army takes hits that could usher his downfall. In Turkey, a newly formed joint command of Syrian rebel groups has chosen Brigadier Selim Idris, one of hundreds of officers who have defected from Assad's army, as its head, opposition sources said on Saturday. ...

North Korea looks set to delay controversial rocket launch Posted: 08 Dec 2012 10:24 AM PST SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea will likely postpone the launch of a long-range rocket, state news agency KCNA said on Saturday, but gave no reasons for delaying the plan which has been widely condemned by countries including Russia and the United States. KCNA quoted a spokesman for the country's space agency, which plans to send a satellite into space on the rocket, as saying it was "seriously examining the issue of readjusting the launching time of the satellite". ...

Charlie Crist Is Now a Democrat Posted: 08 Dec 2012 09:29 AM PST Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida, has officially switched his party affiliation, three months after speaking at the Democratic National Convention in South Carolina. Crist made the announcement on Twitter late Friday night, including a picture of him holding up a Florida voter...

Belfast rally demands return of British flag Posted: 08 Dec 2012 09:13 AM PST BELFAST (Reuters) - Around 2,000 pro-British loyalists rallied in central Belfast on Saturday for the return of the British flag to the roof of city hall after a vote by Irish nationalist councilors to remove it sparked a week of rioting. Twenty-eight police officers have been injured in the most widespread pro-British street violence for years in the province as the flag became a rallying point for people who feel there have been too many concessions to Irish nationalists. Rioters fired bricks and petrol bombs at police and burned out cars overnight, hours after U.S. ...

Sri Lankan impeachment panel finds chief justice guilty Posted: 08 Dec 2012 09:11 AM PST COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's chief justice has been found guilty on three counts by an impeachment panel, a government minister said on Saturday, in a case that has raised international concerns about the independence of the judiciary. "We have found her guilty of three charges out of the first five we have investigated," Nimal Siripala de Silva, minister of irrigation and a member of the impeachment committee, told reporters. He said the charges against Shirani Bandaranayake included financial irregularities, conflict of interest, and failure to declare her assets. ...

End drawing close for Syria's Assad: German spy chief Posted: 08 Dec 2012 09:09 AM PST BERLIN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government is its final stages and will be unable to survive as more parts of the country slip from his control, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency (BND) said. "Armed rebels are co-ordinating better, which is making their fight against Assad more effective," Gerhard Schindler told the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung newspaper, in an interview made public on Saturday. "Assad's regime will not survive. ...

Afghan leader says to raise spy attack with Pakistan Posted: 08 Dec 2012 09:07 AM PST KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday a suicide bombing that wounded his intelligence chief was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta and that the issue would be raised with Islamabad. Karzai stopped short of directly blaming neighboring Pakistan, a regional power seen as critical to U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan before NATO combat troops leave by the end of 2014. On Thursday, a suicide bomber posing as a peace messenger wounded Afghanistan's intelligence chief, Asadullah Khalid, dealing a blow to a nascent reconciliation process. ...

Former South Africa president Mandela admitted to the hospital Posted: 08 Dec 2012 09:03 AM PST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president Nelson Mandela was admitted to hospital on Saturday for medical tests, although the government said there was no cause for alarm. A statement from President Jacob Zuma's office gave no details of the condition of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader. "Former President Mandela will receive medical attention from time to time which is consistent with his age," the statement said. "President Zuma assures all that Madiba is doing well and there is no cause for alarm," it added, referring to Mandela by his clan name. ...

Syrian rebels elect head of new military command Posted: 08 Dec 2012 08:59 AM PST AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebel groups have chosen Brigadier Selim Idris, a former officer in President Bashar al-Assad's army, to head their new Islamist-dominated military command, opposition sources said on Saturday. Idris, whose home province of Homs has been at the forefront of the Sunni Muslim-led uprising, was elected by 30 military and civilian members of the joint military command after talks attended by Western and Arab security officials in the Turkish city of Antalia. ...

Berlusconi says he is running again for premier Posted: 08 Dec 2012 08:42 AM PST Billionaire media baron Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned in disgrace a year ago with Italy tottering through the European debt crisis, on Saturday announced he is running for a fourth term as premier.

USDA chief: Rural America becoming less relevant Posted: 08 Dec 2012 08:30 AM PST Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has some harsh words for rural America: It's "becoming less and less relevant," he says.

Boehner Pulls Back On Tax-Rate Openness Posted: 08 Dec 2012 08:04 AM PST Speaker John Boehner is reaffirming that he will not back down from his opposition to a tax-rate hike for any Americans, after seeming to suggest on Friday he might, in fact, be open to a fiscal cliff compromise that could allow the income tax rate on the wealthiest to rise next year, though not as high as currently scheduled.

Syrian rebels elect head of new Islamist-dominated command Posted: 08 Dec 2012 07:25 AM PST AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebel groups have chosen Brigadier Selim Idris, a former officer from President Bashar al-Assad's army who defected, to head a new unified military command dominated by Islamists, opposition sources said on Saturday. Idris was elected by 30 military and civilian members of the joint command after talks attended by Western and Arab security officials in the Turkish city of Antalia. (Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Amman newsroom)

Berlusconi says will run for Italian leadership again Posted: 08 Dec 2012 07:05 AM PST ROME (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Saturday he would run to become the country's leader for a fifth time, confirming his return to politics after months of indecision. "I'm going to race to win," Berlusconi told reporters at the practice field for AC Milan, the soccer club he controls. "And again I'm doing it out of a sense of responsibility. ...

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