Yahoo! News: Politics News

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• Race may be down to a handful of unknowns
• In campaign, a battle over owning America's story
• Obama out to rekindle 2008 magic; Romney hits jobs
• Race may be down to a handful of unknowns
• Chicago teachers resume negotiations to avoid major strike
• Obama out to rekindle 2008 magic; Romney hits jobs
• Romney reaching out to white male voters at NASCAR race
• Top DRC opposition figure seeks asylum from South Africa in Burundi
• Biden Recounts Near-Arrest in His College Years
• Obama widens lead over Romney despite jobs data: Reuters/Ipsos poll
• Hundreds of Germans protest against euro rescue steps
• Mitt Romney Vows God Will Stay in GOP Platform
• Report: France's Arnault seeks Belgian passport
• Thousands of Greeks protest against new round of austerity cuts
• Greek PM: Painful cuts will restore credibility
• Yemen army kills four suspected Islamist militants
• Niger denies it has said Gaddafi son can leave
• French hostages kidnapped in Niger by al Qaeda appear in video
• Obama campaigns with former Republican Crist in crucial Florida
• McCain: Iran situation a 'train wreck'
• Obama: GOP Selling Tax Cuts to 'Help Your Love Life'
• EU pushes more moves to stem debt crisis
• Romney works to put Virginia in his win column
• Web Extra: Read Sen. Rand Paul's New Book Intro
• Joe Biden Challenges Press to 'Fact Check Me'
• In campaign, a battle over owning America's story
• Obama, Romney open the homestretch
• Hong Kong backs down on China education plan
• Biden to Media: ‘Fact Check Me’
• New road connecting Egypt and Sudan to open on September 20: MENA
• Syrian troops storm Damascus refugee area, chase rebels
• Louisiana governor appeals ruling on black supreme court justice
• Tornadoes Confirmed in DC Area

Race may be down to a handful of unknowns Posted: 08 Sep 2012 03:06 PM PDT Flush with cash, Mitt Romney plans to open a new front in the White House race by challenging President Barack Obama in upper Midwest states where he might not have dug in otherwise. Obama is intensifying his efforts to cast his Republican rival as out of touch, which he's already been working pretty hard at doing.

In campaign, a battle over owning America's story Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:55 AM PDT Over and over, they spun different versions of the same notion. We are telling America's story, they said. We are redefining, recapturing, reframing the American dream. A deep obsession with the story of America — who tells it and who gets to write its next chapter — was a rare piece of common ground that speakers at the Republican and Democratic conventions managed to share.

Obama out to rekindle 2008 magic; Romney hits jobs Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:51 PM PDT Eager to change the subject after a dismal jobs report, President Barack Obama tried to rekindle some of the enthusiasm of his 2008 campaign Saturday with a bus tour through a must-win swath of Florida, urging supporters not to "buy into the cynicism that somehow the change we fought for isn't possible." Republican Mitt Romney wasn't about to stop hammering Obama over the weak economy, though, as the two sides jostled over who can best salve the anxieties of the middle class.

Race may be down to a handful of unknowns Posted: 08 Sep 2012 03:06 PM PDT Flush with cash, Mitt Romney plans to open a new front in the White House race by challenging President Barack Obama in upper Midwest states where he might not have dug in otherwise. Obama is intensifying his efforts to cast his Republican rival as out of touch, which he's already been working pretty hard at doing.

Chicago teachers resume negotiations to avoid major strike Posted: 08 Sep 2012 03:05 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Chicago Teachers Union resumed "intense" negotiations on Saturday with the nation's third-largest school district to avert what would be the biggest U.S. labor strike in a year over Mayor Rahm Emanuel's demand for sweeping school reforms. Some 29,000 teachers and support staff have threatened to strike on Monday, setting up an awkward confrontation between Emanuel, President Barack Obama's former top White House aide, and organized labor in the president's home city. ...

Obama out to rekindle 2008 magic; Romney hits jobs Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:51 PM PDT Eager to change the subject after a dismal jobs report, President Barack Obama tried to rekindle some of the enthusiasm of his 2008 campaign Saturday with a bus tour through a must-win swath of Florida, urging supporters not to "buy into the cynicism that somehow the change we fought for isn't possible." Republican Mitt Romney wasn't about to stop hammering Obama over the weak economy, though, as the two sides jostled over who can best salve the anxieties of the middle class.

Romney reaching out to white male voters at NASCAR race Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:44 PM PDT VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (Reuters) - Mitt Romney was set to try another lap around the track on Saturday to win over NASCAR stock-car racing fans. Romney, the Republican presidential candidate facing President Barack Obama, will visit a NASCAR race on Saturday night in Virginia, targeting white male voters in a swing state where early voting begins in two weeks. Romney needs to win among white men by a healthy margin to offset the advantages Obama enjoys with women as well as black and Hispanic voters. ...

Top DRC opposition figure seeks asylum from South Africa in Burundi Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:25 PM PDT KINSHASA (Reuters) - A top opposition figure in the Democratic Republic of Congo wanted by the government on treason charges is seeking asylum in the South African embassy in neighboring Burundi, a spokesman for the Congolese government said on Saturday. The government accuses Roger Lumbala, a Congolese MP and former rebel, of helping Rwanda support a rebellion in eastern Congo that has deepened political divisions in the capital Kinshasa, where the government and the opposition accuse each other of fanning the flames of the distant war. ...

Biden Recounts Near-Arrest in His College Years Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:22 PM PDT ATHENS, Ohio — Vice President Joe Biden told the story of a run-in with the cops he had back in the 1960s during a college trip to Athens, home of Ohio University where he was nearly arrested for stepping foot in a women's dorm where...

Obama widens lead over Romney despite jobs data: Reuters/Ipsos poll Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:08 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, picking up support following the Democratic National Convention, widened his narrow lead over Republican U.S. presidential challenger Mitt Romney in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Saturday. The latest daily tracking poll showed Obama, a Democrat, with a lead of 4 percentage points over Romney. Forty-seven percent of 1,457 likely voters surveyed online over the previous four days said they would vote for Obama if the November 6 elections were held today, compared with 43 percent for Romney. "The bump is actually happening. ...

Hundreds of Germans protest against euro rescue steps Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:56 PM PDT KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) - Hundreds of protestors marched up to Germany's top court in Karlsruhe on Saturday, urging it to reject the euro zone's new rescue fund in its keenly-awaited ruling this week and voicing growing unease with bailouts. Around 700 protestors chanting "We are the people" took to the streets, calling upon the German constitutional court to recognize that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) impinges on parliament's budgetary sovereignty. "This ESM is not compatible in my view with democracy, freedom and sovereignty," said protestor Philipp Porep. ...

Mitt Romney Vows God Will Stay in GOP Platform Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:49 PM PDT VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Making reference for the first time to the Democrats' about-face on having the word "God" in their party's platform, Mitt Romney said here today that if he is elected, God will not be removed from the Republican platform. "I will not...

Report: France's Arnault seeks Belgian passport Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:22 PM PDT A Belgian newspaper says Bernard Arnault, France's wealthiest businessman and boss of the LVMH luxury house, has applied for Belgian citizenship.

Thousands of Greeks protest against new round of austerity cuts Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:17 PM PDT THESSALONIKI, Greece (Reuters) - Thousands of Greeks marched at an annual fair in Greece's second-biggest city on Saturday to protest against a new round of wage and pension cuts demanded by international lenders in exchange for aid to stave off bankruptcy. The demonstration by about 15,000 trade unionists and leftists was the first major protest against a nearly 12-billion-euro austerity package being readied by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to appease EU and IMF inspectors who arrived in Athens on Friday to review Greece's reform progress. ...

Greek PM: Painful cuts will restore credibility Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:11 PM PDT Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras insisted Saturday that the latest package of deep spending cuts, which will once again affect wages and pensions, will be the last, but he also defended the measures as necessary to restoring his country's financial credibility.

Yemen army kills four suspected Islamist militants Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:49 PM PDT ADEN (Reuters) - Four suspected Islamist militants have been killed in a gunfight with Yemen's army and allied tribal fighters in the impoverished country's turbulent south, which has become al Qaeda's most formidable base, a local official said on Saturday. Up to 50 militant fighters were battling government forces and their tribal allies in mountains near the town of Jaar, which the army recaptured in June after a 15 month occupation by Ansar al-Sharia. ...

Niger denies it has said Gaddafi son can leave Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:45 PM PDT NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger on Saturday denied reports it had agreed to allow Saadi Gaddafi, one of the sons of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, to leave the West African country where he has been under house arrest after fleeing Libya last year. His lawyer, Nick Kaufman, had earlier told France 24 television that Niger had agreed to let his client leave the country and that he had lodged a number of asylum claims with other countries. ...

French hostages kidnapped in Niger by al Qaeda appear in video Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:42 PM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - Four French men kidnapped by al Qaeda militants in northern Niger almost two years ago appeared in a video on Saturday appealing to French President Francois Hollande and their employers to continue negotiations to secure their release. The seven-minute video, posted on a Mauritanian news website, shows the four men - Pierre Legrand, Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dole and Marc Ferret - looking healthy and kneeling in a desert setting with armed men in traditional Bedouin clothing and turbans standing over them carrying kalashnikov rifles. ...

Obama campaigns with former Republican Crist in crucial Florida Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:27 PM PDT SEMINOLE, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama kicked off a two-day bus tour of the key election battleground state of Florida on Saturday with former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who endorsed Obama's 2008 rival John McCain but has since left the Republican Party. Trying to build on the momentum of this week's Democratic National Convention and overcome another tough jobs report, Obama is spending the weekend canvassing a state that he and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, both want to win in order to achieve victory in the November 6 U.S. election. ...

McCain: Iran situation a 'train wreck' Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:26 PM PDT U.S. Sen. John McCain says he is disappointed with his party's presidential candidate for sidestepping world affairs in his campaign for the White House but reserves his most scathing words for the current dweller, blaming Barack Obama for inaction while the situation in Syria and elsewhere "cries out for American leadership."

Obama: GOP Selling Tax Cuts to 'Help Your Love Life' Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:20 PM PDT ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Mocking his opponents' economic agenda, President Obama says Republicans are pushing tax cuts as the prescription to cure the ailing economy, "help you lose a few extra pounds," and even "help your love life." The president unveiled the new quip Friday, but today he...

EU pushes more moves to stem debt crisis Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:10 PM PDT CERNOBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - European Union officials pushed on Saturday to accelerate moves to stem the bloc's long debt crisis as Italian premier Mario Monti warned that economic suffering was fuelling divisive nationalism on the continent. Monti said he had proposed an EU summit in Rome to discuss the rise of anti-European populism, divisions between north and south and nationalistic prejudices that have been fostered by resentment against austerity measures. "Old stereotypes and old tensions have re-emerged," Monti said. ...

Romney works to put Virginia in his win column Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:08 PM PDT Mitt Romney is back in tightly contested Virginia, where he's trying to deny President Barack Obama another victory in a state that typically goes for Republican presidential nominees.

Web Extra: Read Sen. Rand Paul's New Book Intro Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:58 AM PDT Excerpted from "Government Bullies" by Senator Rand Paul. Used with permission from Center Street, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Introduction Ronald Reagan famously said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'...

Joe Biden Challenges Press to 'Fact Check Me' Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:58 AM PDT ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Vice President Joe Biden extended an invitation to the media to check the veracity of his claims on Medicare, telling the press to "fact check me." "What they're proposing, and this is a fact.  I say to the press, 'Fact check me,'"...

In campaign, a battle over owning America's story Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:55 AM PDT Over and over, they spun different versions of the same notion. We are telling America's story, they said. We are redefining, recapturing, reframing the American dream. A deep obsession with the story of America — who tells it and who gets to write its next chapter — was a rare piece of common ground that speakers at the Republican and Democratic conventions managed to share.

Obama, Romney open the homestretch Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:53 AM PDT President Barack Obama on Saturday pronounced Republicans "dead wrong" for calling America a country in decline, offering a rebuttal to the "naysayers" who drew attention to the nation's staggering debt and anemic job growth. Republican rival Mitt Romney said there's nothing wrong that a new president can't fix.

Hong Kong backs down on China education plan Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:28 AM PDT HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's government withdrew plans for a compulsory Chinese school curriculum on Saturday after tens of thousands took to the streets in protest at what they said was a move to "brainwash" students. The decision by the island's pro-China Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to make the curriculum voluntary for schools came a day before elections for just over half the seats of Hong Kong's 70-seat legislature. ...

Biden to Media: ‘Fact Check Me’ Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:14 AM PDT ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Democratic Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday went on the attack in central Ohio, shooting down claims that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan that the United States is in decline.

New road connecting Egypt and Sudan to open on September 20: MENA Posted: 08 Sep 2012 11:11 AM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - A new road linking Egypt to its southern neighbor Sudan will be inaugurated on September 20, significantly cutting transport costs between the two countries, a senior Egyptian official was cited by state news agency MENA as saying on Saturday. The road, which cost 45 million Egyptian pounds ($7.4 million) to build, will connect the village of Qastal in southern Egypt to the northern Sudanese city of Halfa, said Ibrahim Amer, a senior transport official, according to MENA. (Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Syrian troops storm Damascus refugee area, chase rebels Posted: 08 Sep 2012 10:29 AM PDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government troops stormed an area of Damascus populated by Palestinian refugees on Saturday after a four-day artillery assault on the southern suburb where rebels have been sheltering, opposition activists said. President Bashar al-Assad's forces have largely preferred to use air power and artillery to hit areas where rebels are dug in, deploying infantry only once many have fled. Activists said the new ground onslaught put civilians at risk. ...

Louisiana governor appeals ruling on black supreme court justice Posted: 08 Sep 2012 10:14 AM PDT NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Lawyers for Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal have challenged a U.S. federal judge's ruling that would allow a black state supreme court justice to become the court's next chief justice. Jindal, who is Indian-American, on Friday asked an appeals court to review a lower-court decision to allow black justice Bernette Johnson's to succeed a white chief justice retiring next year. The dispute over whether Johnson should be the first black justice to head the Louisiana court has highlighted long-standing racial tensions in the state. ...

Tornadoes Confirmed in DC Area Posted: 08 Sep 2012 10:07 AM PDT A severe line of thunderstorms is currently moving eastward over the beltway with the capability of producing quarter-sized hailstones, tornadoes, and gusts exceeding 70 miles per hour. Around 3:50 p.m., the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado near Fairfax, Va.A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for the entire D.C. - Baltimore area until 10 p.m.In June, a strong "derecho" line of thunderstorms swept through the area, leaving 1 million people without power.

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