Yahoo! News: Politics News

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• DC hotels less busy for Obama's 2nd inauguration
• Some urge Boehner: let Dems pass fiscal cliff bill
• Central African Republic rebels seize central town, defying foreign troops
• Link between pot, psychosis goes both ways in kids
• New York gunman left note declaring plan to kill people
• Egypt approves constitution drafted by Mursi allies
• U.S. urges Egyptians to bridge divisions after constitutional vote
• U.S. moves to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea
• Pope's Christmas message focuses on Mideast, China
• First Lady Tracks Santa From Hawaii
• Affleck Won't Be Running for Senate
• Egypt constitution approved with 63.8 percent: election committee
• Gunmen kill six in northeast Nigeria church attack
• Partial list of taxes and fees in health overhaul
• Health care tax hikes for 2013 may be just a start
• Eight killed in Yemen clashes; attacks in capital target officers
• Cameroon archbishop calls same-sex marriage crime against humanity
• Pope decries slaughter of 'defenseless' Syrians
• Christmas provides Connecticut town a break from mourning
• Pope gives advice as Italians prepare for bitter campaign
• Gulf Arabs decry Iran "interference" in region
• Syria envoy seeks peace as clashes rage
• Worried Egypt slaps new controls on travelling with cash
• Dakota Indians mark hangings of 1862 with trek on horseback
• Afghans seek policewoman's motive for killing U.S. contractor
• Over the fiscal cliff: How hard a landing?
• Egypt says stability key to fixing economy: PM
• Iran to conduct navy drill in Strait of Hormuz in December
• 5 Ways This Obama Inauguration Will Be Different
• Archbishop of Canterbury says Anglican church wounded, not dead
• Former South African president Mandela "much better": Zuma
• Israel says has no proof poison gas used in Syria
• Five killed in Yemen clashes, brigadier shot dead
• Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms
• Syrian refugees face harsh winter in desperate conditions
• Iran says defeats cyber attack on industrial sites
• Japan's incoming PM keeps up pressure on BOJ to attack deflation

DC hotels less busy for Obama's 2nd inauguration Posted: 25 Dec 2012 10:48 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Visitors coming to the nation's capital for President Barack Obama's second inauguration can't stay in the one place President Ronald Reagan's family once called an eight-star hotel. That spot is the White House, and it's booked for the next four years. Still, inauguration-goers have a range of lodging options — from crashing on a friend's couch to rooms that cost thousands of dollars a night.

Some urge Boehner: let Dems pass fiscal cliff bill Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:05 AM PST In case the public weren't frustrated enough over Congress' failure to resolve the "fiscal cliff," consider this: lawmakers probably could enact a compromise quickly and easily if Republican leaders let Democrats provide most of the votes.

Central African Republic rebels seize central town, defying foreign troops Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:29 PM PST BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic seized the central town of Kaga Bandoro on Tuesday despite the presence of foreign troops meant to support the government, a government official said. The fall of the town, 333 km (207 miles) north of the capital Bangui, came hours after the Seleka rebel alliance said they would suspend their push and means they now have a firm grip on the north and east of the fragile nation. ...

Link between pot, psychosis goes both ways in kids Posted: 25 Dec 2012 01:57 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Marijuana (cannabis) use may be linked to the development of psychotic symptoms in teens - but the reverse could also be true: psychosis in adolescents may be linked to later pot use, according to a new Dutch study. "We have focused mainly on temporal order; is it the chicken or the egg? As the study shows, it is a bidirectional relationship," wrote the study's lead author Merel Griffith-Lendering, a doctoral candidate at Leiden University in The Netherlands, in an email to Reuters Health. ...

New York gunman left note declaring plan to kill people Posted: 25 Dec 2012 01:26 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gunman who killed two volunteer firefighters and wounded two others in a Christmas Eve ambush in upstate New York left a typewritten note saying he planned to burn down his neighborhood and start "killing people," authorities said on Tuesday. The gunman, William Spengler, 62, opened fire on volunteer firefighters who responded to a house fire he deliberately set early on Monday morning in Webster, New York, a suburb of Rochester, authorities said. Spengler shot and killed himself in an ensuing gunfight with police. ...

Egypt approves constitution drafted by Mursi allies Posted: 25 Dec 2012 03:14 PM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi's allies, results announced on Tuesday showed, proving that liberals, leftists and Christians have been powerless to halt the march of Islamists in power. Final elections commission figures showed the constitution adopted with 63.8 percent of the vote in the referendum held over two days this month, giving Mursi's Islamists their third straight electoral victory since veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a 2011 revolution. ...

U.S. urges Egyptians to bridge divisions after constitutional vote Posted: 25 Dec 2012 12:18 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday urged all sides in Egypt to increase political engagement after Egyptian officials announced that voters had overwhelmingly approved a new constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi's Islamist allies. "President Mursi, as the democratically elected leader of Egypt, has a special responsibility to move forward in a way that recognizes the urgent need to bridge divisions," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement, noting that many Egyptians had voiced "significant concerns" over the constitutional process. ...

U.S. moves to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea Posted: 25 Dec 2012 11:54 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration formally proposed a controversial sale of advanced spy drones to help South Korea bear more of its defense from any attack by the heavily armed North. Seoul has requested a possible $1.2 billion sale of four Northrop Grumman Corp RQ-4 "Global Hawk" remotely piloted aircraft with enhanced surveillance capabilities, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement dated on Monday and distributed on Tuesday. South Korea needs such systems to assume top responsibility for intelligence-gathering from the U.S. ...

Pope's Christmas message focuses on Mideast, China Posted: 25 Dec 2012 11:53 AM PST VATICAN CITY (AP) — In his Christmas message to the world Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the slaughter in Syria and for more meaningful negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, while encouraging more religious freedom under China's new leaders.

First Lady Tracks Santa From Hawaii Posted: 25 Dec 2012 11:18 AM PST While President Obama spent his Christmas Eve afternoon golfing with friends, the first lady was hard at work helping children from across the country track Santa's every move. Mrs. Obama took roughly 30 minutes out of her Hawaiian family vacation to answer calls from children...

Affleck Won't Be Running for Senate Posted: 25 Dec 2012 10:54 AM PST Those hoping the United States Senate may get a little less gray and a bit more celebrity-studded won't be getting their Christmas miracle today. Despite speculation, Ben Affleck announced late Monday he would not go after John Kerry's Senate seat in his native Massachusetts if...

Egypt constitution approved with 63.8 percent: election committee Posted: 25 Dec 2012 10:00 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's new constitution, drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi, has been approved by 63.8 percent of voters in a two-round referendum, the supreme election committee said on Tuesday. The result, which followed votes held on December 15 and on December 22, matched an earlier unofficial tally given by Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood. "We have seriously investigated all the complaints," judge Samir Abu el-Matti of the Supreme Election Committee told a news conference. The final official turnout was 32.9 percent. ...

Gunmen kill six in northeast Nigeria church attack Posted: 25 Dec 2012 09:51 AM PST KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed six people at a church in northeast Nigeria early on Tuesday, the third year running that Christmas services have come under deadly attack in the country, the military said. The strike took place after a Christmas Eve midnight service outside the town of Potiskum in northeastern Yobe state, where Islamist sect Boko Haram has carried out several attacks this year. "Unknown gunmen attempted to attack Potiskum but were repelled by the troops. ...

Partial list of taxes and fees in health overhaul Posted: 25 Dec 2012 09:05 AM PST Starting in 2014, President Barack Obama's health care law will expand coverage to some 30 million uninsured people. At the same time, insurers no longer will be allowed to turn away those in poor health, and virtually every American will be required to have health insurance — through an employer or a government program or by buying it on their own.

Health care tax hikes for 2013 may be just a start Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:59 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — New taxes are coming Jan. 1 to help finance President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Most people may not notice. But they will pay attention if Congress decides to start taxing employer-sponsored health insurance, one option in play if lawmakers can ever agree on a budget deal to reduce federal deficits.

Eight killed in Yemen clashes; attacks in capital target officers Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:47 AM PST SANAA (Reuters) - At least six militants and two soldiers were killed in Yemen on Tuesday in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa, a defense ministry official and residents said. Separately, gunmen and bombers targeted three senior military officers and the transport minister in a series of attacks in the capital Sanaa. In one incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defense, outside the ministry's offices in Sanaa, a police source said. Further details were not immediately available. ...

Cameroon archbishop calls same-sex marriage crime against humanity Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:43 AM PST YAOUNDE (Reuters) - One of Cameroon's most senior Christian leaders on Tuesday called same-sex marriages a "crime against humanity", ramping up anti-gay rhetoric in the Central African state. As in most African nations, homosexuality is illegal in Cameroon. But a number of incidents have highlighted the clash between a largely conservative culture backed by draconian law and youth for some of whom it is less of an issue. "Marriage of persons of the same sex is a serious crime against humanity," Victor Tonye Bakot, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Yaounde, told followers at Christmas Day mass. ...

Pope decries slaughter of 'defenseless' Syrians Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:30 AM PST VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI wished Christmas peace to the world Tuesday, decrying the slaughter of the "defenseless" in Syria, urging Israelis and Palestinians to find the courage to negotiate and encouraging China's new leaders to allow more religious freedom.

Christmas provides Connecticut town a break from mourning Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:25 AM PST NEWTOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - Christmas has helped some people in the grieving Connecticut town of Newtown cope a little better with the shooting tragedy that killed 20 schoolchildren, while others have yet to feel the holiday joy. Smiles returned for those taking a respite from the mourning now that funerals for the victims have concluded. For the crestfallen, the holiday spirit was absent in a town that just buried its children. "We're getting through this with our faith and our prayer. ...

Pope gives advice as Italians prepare for bitter campaign Posted: 25 Dec 2012 08:04 AM PST ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict sent a political Christmas greeting to Italians on Tuesday as they head into an election campaign expected to be brutal and bitter: think, cooperate for the common good and don't discard values when making big choices. The pope, in his Christmas greetings in 65 languages, said in his special message to Italians that he hoped the spirit of the day would "make people reflect, favor the spirit of cooperation for the common good and lead to a reflection on the hierarchy of values when making the most important of choices". ...

Gulf Arabs decry Iran "interference" in region Posted: 25 Dec 2012 07:39 AM PST MANAMA (Reuters) - Six U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states demanded on Tuesday that Iran end what they called interference in the region, reiterating a long-held mistrust of their main rival. The Islamic Republic denies trying to subvert Saudi Arabia and its wealthy Gulf neighbors. A communique issued at the end of a two-day summit of the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also urged action to halt mass killings and violations of international law in Syria. ...

Syria envoy seeks peace as clashes rage Posted: 25 Dec 2012 07:19 AM PST BEIRUT (Reuters) - International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi pursued mediation efforts in Damascus on Tuesday, but there was no pause in the bloodletting as Syrian Christians marked a bleak Christmas Day with prayers for peace. "We are here in a cave that symbolizes Syria right now," said a priest standing beside a nativity scene in a grotto. "It is cold here but the door is open to all refugees," he told Syrian state TV. "Amid the hunger, cold and deprivation, we still have hope for peace and love for our country. ...

Worried Egypt slaps new controls on travelling with cash Posted: 25 Dec 2012 07:05 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has banned travelers from carrying more than $10,000 in foreign currency in or out of the country, as officials worry over pressure on its pound currency and a rush by Egyptians to withdraw their savings from banks. Political turmoil over the past month has raised fears among ordinary citizens and investors that the government - which has pushed back talks to seal IMF funding till January - may not be able to get its fragile finances under control. ...

Dakota Indians mark hangings of 1862 with trek on horseback Posted: 25 Dec 2012 06:52 AM PST ST. PAUL, Minn (Reuters) - The day after Christmas will be somber for Dakota Indians marking what they consider a travesty of justice 150 years ago, when 38 of their ancestors were executed in the biggest mass hanging in U.S. history. Overshadowed by the Civil War raging in the East, the hangings in Mankato, Minnesota, on December 26, 1862, followed the often overlooked six-week U.S.-Dakota war earlier that year -- a war that marked the start of three decades of fighting between Native Americans and the U.S. government across the Plains. ...

Afghans seek policewoman's motive for killing U.S. contractor Posted: 25 Dec 2012 06:32 AM PST KABUL (Reuters) - An Iranian-Afghan policewoman who killed a U.S. contractor at the police headquarters in Kabul may have been motivated by a personal grudge, said security officials, who were also probing possible Taliban or al Qaeda involvement. The officials said the woman named as Narges seemed wracked with remorse over the shooting. They said she held an Iranian passport but offered no evidence that Iran may have orchestrated the attack. She arrived at police headquarters on Monday morning and headed to a bathroom where she loaded a pistol and hid it under her long scarf, they said. ...

Over the fiscal cliff: How hard a landing? Posted: 25 Dec 2012 05:55 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were in disarray as lawmakers fled the Capitol for their Christmas break. "God only knows" how a deal can be reached now, House Speaker John Boehner declared.

Egypt says stability key to fixing economy: PM Posted: 25 Dec 2012 05:33 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil said on Tuesday that political stability was crucial to luring back foreign investors and tourists to help plug a yawning budget deficit and heal the country's ailing economy. In a statement hours before the expected announcement of the result of a divisive constitutional referendum, Kandil said President Mohamed Mursi's government was committed to taking steps to improve economic growth. ...

Iran to conduct navy drill in Strait of Hormuz in December Posted: 25 Dec 2012 05:32 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will begin six days of naval drills in the Strait of Hormuz at the end of this week, an Iranian naval commander said on Tuesday, an exercise meant to showcase its military capabilities in what is a vital oil and gas shipping route. The "Velayat 91" drills will be held from Friday to Wednesday across an area of about 1 million square kilometers in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and northern parts of the Indian Ocean, said Habibollah Sayyari, according to Iranian media. ...

5 Ways This Obama Inauguration Will Be Different Posted: 25 Dec 2012 05:09 AM PST 1. Fewer People

Archbishop of Canterbury says Anglican church wounded, not dead Posted: 25 Dec 2012 04:41 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no". ...

Former South African president Mandela "much better": Zuma Posted: 25 Dec 2012 03:45 AM PST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela is looking much better after more than two weeks in hospital, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday. Zuma, who visited Mandela on Christmas Day, said in a statement that doctors were happy with the progress the elder statesman was making. "We found him in good spirits. He was happy to have visitors on this special day and is looking much better. The doctors are happy with the progress that he is making," said Zuma. ...

Israel says has no proof poison gas used in Syria Posted: 25 Dec 2012 03:36 AM PST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel voiced doubt on Tuesday about the accuracy of Syrian activists' reports that chemical weapons had been used against rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. "We have seen reports from the opposition. It is not the first time. The opposition has an interest in drawing in international military intervention," Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Army Radio. "As things stand now, we do not have any confirmation or proof that (chemical weapons) have already been used, but we are definitely following events with concern," he said. ...

Five killed in Yemen clashes, brigadier shot dead Posted: 25 Dec 2012 03:28 AM PST SANAA (Reuters) - At least five militants were killed and three soldiers wounded in Yemen on Tuesday in fighting near a damaged oil pipeline east of the capital Sanaa, a defense ministry official and residents said. In a separate incident, two gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead Brigadier Fadel Mohammed Ali, an adviser to the minister of defense, outside the ministry's offices in Sanaa, a police source said. Further details were not immediately available. ...

Tajikistan blocks scores of websites as election looms Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:48 AM PST DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan blocked access to more than 100 websites on Tuesday, in what a government source said was a dress rehearsal for a crackdown on online dissent before next year's election when President Imomali Rakhmon will again run for office. Rakhmon, a 60-year-old former head of a Soviet cotton farm, has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation of 7.5 million for 20 years. He has overseen constitutional amendments that allow him to seek a new seven-year term in November 2013. ...

Syrian refugees face harsh winter in desperate conditions Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:45 AM PST BAB AL-SALAMEH, Syria (Reuters) - Huddled inside thin plastic tents in a makeshift camp after fleeing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's bombs thousands of refugees say they face a new enemy. "The cold is killing us," many of them say. Having survived a conflict in which more than 40,000 people are estimated to have been killed, refugees at the Bab al-Salameh camp on the Syrian-Turkish border say the winter is now a bigger threat to them than the violence engulfing their country. ...

Iran says defeats cyber attack on industrial sites Posted: 25 Dec 2012 02:14 AM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - An Internet virus attacked computers at industrial sites in southern Iran, in an apparent extension of a covert cyber war that initially targeted the country's nuclear facilities, an Iranian official said. Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, has tightened online security since its uranium enrichment centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which Tehran believes was planted by arch-adversaries Israel or the United States. ...

Japan's incoming PM keeps up pressure on BOJ to attack deflation Posted: 25 Dec 2012 12:54 AM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kept up his calls on Tuesday for the Bank of Japan to drastically ease monetary policy by setting an inflation target of 2 percent, and repeated that he wants to tame the strong yen to help revive the economy. Abe, a security hardliner who will be sworn in as premier on Wednesday, when he is also expected to appoint his cabinet, is prescribing a mix of aggressive monetary policy easing and big fiscal spending to beat deflation and rein in the strong yen. ...

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