Yahoo! News: Politics News

---

• Colin Powell says GOP having 'an identity problem'
• Sen. Corker raises issue of Hagel's 'temperament'
• NRA says Congress will not pass weapons ban
• Gun groups: Push to ban assault weapons will fail
• France bombs Islamist strongholds in north Mali
• EU draft bank rescue plan says countries must share burden: FT
• Internet activist, programmer Aaron Swartz dead at 26
• France says Algeria supportive of its Mali operation
• Pakistan Shi'ites stop Quetta protest after PM sacks minister
• New reform-minded farm law needed, says big farm group
• An Oxford in Changzhou? International schools spread across China
• Chinese workers abducted in Sudan's Darfur
• Protestors against gay marriage mass at Eiffel Tower
• Berlusconi gains in Italy polls, leads in key region
• Analysis: Japan's Abe rolls out strategic PR, policy campaign
• Avis' buy of tiny Zipcar could be in antitrust fast lane
• Gay marriage protest converges on Eiffel Tower
• Iraq finance minister escapes bomb attack on his convoy
• Canada pledges better water for aboriginals amid blockade threat
• French actor Depardieu sides with Putin, criticizes opposition
• Libya plans diplomatic security force after attacks
• Armed men abduct four Chinese workers in Sudan's Darfur
• U.S. envoy says Iran working to destabilize Yemen: report
• France's Iliad behind on mobile network deployment: paper
• Syrian forces kill 36 in bombardment east of capital: opposition
• Krugman Scolds Jon Stewart for Trillion Dollar Coin Coverage
• Getting comfortable with living on the edge
• Analysis: French early strike shakes up Mali intervention plan
• Republicans add "temperament" to questions about Hagel at Pentagon
• Obama to push ahead on immigration overhaul early in 2013: NYT
• Sunday Sound: Heard on 'This Week'
• Russia tells Syria rebels: seek dialogue with Damascus
• ICRC head in Myanmar to gain access to prisons, conflict zones
• Vatican criticizes gay adoption, topless women protest
• Timeline: Marriage and homosexual rights in France
• Top Venezuelan leaders in Cuba to support Chavez
• India police arrest six in new gang rape case: papers
• Berlusconi group leads in key region ahead of Italy vote

Colin Powell says GOP having 'an identity problem' Posted: 13 Jan 2013 09:56 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says his own Republican Party is having "an identity problem."

Sen. Corker raises issue of Hagel's 'temperament' Posted: 13 Jan 2013 08:40 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican senator says he thinks the issue of "overall temperament" will come up during former Sen. Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearing to be defense secretary.

NRA says Congress will not pass weapons ban Posted: 13 Jan 2013 09:24 AM PST WASHINGTON (AP) — The powerful gun lobby is gauging enough support in Congress to block a law that would ban assault weapons, despite promises from the White House and senior lawmakers to make such a measure a reality.

Gun groups: Push to ban assault weapons will fail Posted: 13 Jan 2013 02:58 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gun rights groups on Sunday forecast that bids to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips would fail in Congress, as Vice President Joe Biden prepares this week to give President Barack Obama proposals to curb gun violence. Even some congressional Democrats indicated that a bill to revive the U.S. assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 would have a difficult time winning passage in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-led Senate. "An assault weapons stand-alone ban - on just guns alone ... ...

France bombs Islamist strongholds in north Mali Posted: 13 Jan 2013 02:51 PM PST BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - French fighter jets pounded Islamist rebel strongholds deep in northern Mali on Sunday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country's north. The attacks on Islamist positions near the ancient desert trading town of Timbuktu and Gao, the largest city in the north, marked a decisive intensification on the third day of the French mission, striking at the heart of the vast area seized by rebels in April. ...

EU draft bank rescue plan says countries must share burden: FT Posted: 13 Jan 2013 02:43 PM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Struggling euro zone countries seeking future aid from the region's rescue fund to prevent their banks collapsing will have to share the cost burden, according to a draft euro zone proposal seen by the Financial Times. Countries asking for help would have to either invest alongside the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) or guarantee it against any losses, according to the plan, which the newspaper said had been circulated in late 2012 among finance ministry officials. ...

Internet activist, programmer Aaron Swartz dead at 26 Posted: 13 Jan 2013 02:13 PM PST (Reuters) - Internet activist and computer prodigy Aaron Swartz, who helped create an early version of the Web feed system RSS and was facing federal criminal charges in a controversial fraud case, has committed suicide at age 26, authorities said on Saturday. Police found Swartz's body in his apartment in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on Friday, according to a spokeswoman for the city's chief medical examiner, which ruled the death a suicide by hanging. Swartz is widely credited with being a co-author of the specifications for the Web feed format RSS 1. ...

France says Algeria supportive of its Mali operation Posted: 13 Jan 2013 02:02 PM PST PARIS (Reuters) - Algeria has allowed France full use of its air space in its military intervention against Islamist rebels in Mali and is ready to seal its border if the conflict moves north, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday. Fabius said he was in regular contact with the government in Algeria, which had pushed for a political solution to the crisis in Mali over a military intervention, and was grateful it was being supportive of the operation. ...

Pakistan Shi'ites stop Quetta protest after PM sacks minister Posted: 13 Jan 2013 01:32 PM PST QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Shi'ite Muslims protesting over one of Pakistan's deadliest sectarian attacks called off their three-day-old sit-in early on Monday after Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visited them and agreed to some of their demands. Ashraf told leaders from the Shi'ite Hazara community that the federal government had sacked the chief minister of Balochistan province, one of the protesters' main demands. (Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

New reform-minded farm law needed, says big farm group Posted: 13 Jan 2013 01:30 PM PST NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Farmers want a new reform-minded farm law even if it means the end of a popular $5 billion-a-year subsidy that is paid regardless of need, the president of the largest U.S. farm group said on Sunday. "There's a great deal of concern how this drought is going to play out in 2013," President Bob Stallman said at the opening of the American Farm Bureau convention. Sixty percent of the nation is currently under severe to extraordinary drought. Congress is months overdue in an overhaul of U.S. farm subsidy law. ...

An Oxford in Changzhou? International schools spread across China Posted: 13 Jan 2013 01:18 PM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - The website for a private school in Changzhou, one of China's smaller cities, features blue blazers and plaid skirts, music classes and an ivy-clad brick doorway -- all the trappings of the British school system designed to appeal to wealthy Chinese parents. In choosing a smaller city, Oxford International College - no relation to the British university - is tapping into a growing market of upwardly-mobile Chinese willing to pay as much as 260,000 yuan ($41,700) a year for a Western-style education and a ticket to college overseas for their children. ...

Chinese workers abducted in Sudan's Darfur Posted: 13 Jan 2013 01:14 PM PST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Unknown armed men have kidnapped four Chinese workers in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, the state news agency SUNA said on Sunday. The assailants abducted the Chinese -- one engineer and three drivers -- together with five Sudanese colleagues late on Saturday near al-Fasher in North Darfur, SUNA said, adding that all had been working for a Chinese road company. Authorities were pursuing the kidnappers with 18 military vehicles, SUNA said, without giving further details. ...

Protestors against gay marriage mass at Eiffel Tower Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:57 PM PST PARIS (Reuters) - Several hundred thousand people massed at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday to protest against President Francois Hollande's plan to legalize gay marriage and adoption by June. Three columns of protesters, waving pink and blue flags showing a father, mother and two children, converged on the landmark from different meeting points in Paris. Many came after long train and bus rides from the provinces. ...

Berlusconi gains in Italy polls, leads in key region Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:55 PM PST ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition is gaining ground ahead of next month's elections, which could make it harder for Italy's left to form a stable parliamentary majority, polls showed on Sunday. The center left still looked on course to get most seats after the February 24-25 vote and lead efforts to tackle recession and unemployment in the euro zone's third-largest economy. ...

Analysis: Japan's Abe rolls out strategic PR, policy campaign Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:53 PM PST TOKYO (Reuters) - Buoyed by a December election landslide, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is rolling out a comprehensive PR strategy mixing Facebook, public appearances and policy announcements to prop up voter ratings ahead of a crucial July poll in an effort to avoid becoming just the latest of the country's short-term leaders. ...

Avis' buy of tiny Zipcar could be in antitrust fast lane Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:50 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When car rental giant Avis announced in early January that it planned to buy Zipcar, hipsters across the United States gnashed their teeth in unison. But an informal poll by Reuters of nine antitrust experts, many of whom lamented the deal privately for the feared loss of a lively upstart, found that eight of the nine expect U.S. regulators to approve the deal. The quirky Zipcar is admired for its new approach to car rental. Young, monied professionals who have decided to live car-free and broke college students can join and then rent a car for $11. ...

Gay marriage protest converges on Eiffel Tower Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:19 PM PST PARIS (AP) — Holding aloft ancient flags and young children, hundreds of thousands of people converged Sunday on the Eiffel Tower to protest the French president's plan to legalize gay marriage and thus allow same-sex couples to adopt and conceive children.

Iraq finance minister escapes bomb attack on his convoy Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:15 PM PST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb hit Iraqi Finance Minister Rafaie al-Esawi's convoy west of Baghdad as he left a meeting on Sunday, wounding two of his guards, his office and security sources said. It was not clear whether Esawi was the target of the bombing. The Sunni Muslim minister is caught up in a crisis that has triggered protests in Sunni regions and is straining Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's power-sharing government. "A roadside bomb exploded near his convoy. His car was not hit and he is safe, but two guards were wounded," a spokesman for Esawi's office said. ...

Canada pledges better water for aboriginals amid blockade threat Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:09 PM PST TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada will spend C$330.8 million over the next two years to improve water systems on aboriginal lands, as the Conservative government tries to deal with growing unrest on native reservations. The government said it will improve water systems in more than 50 First Nation communities on reserves where residents often complain of deplorable infrastructure and housing. ...

French actor Depardieu sides with Putin, criticizes opposition Posted: 13 Jan 2013 12:02 PM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - French actor Gerard Depardieu, recently awarded Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin, has praised the former KGB spy and said his political opponents offer no real alternative. Depardieu, who has been accused in France of abandoning his homeland to avoid a proposed 75 percent tax for millionaires, told the state-run Rossiya-24 television that Putin personified Russia's complex and fascinating national character. "I like this man very much, he is a very powerful political activist. ...

Libya plans diplomatic security force after attacks Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:56 AM PST TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya plans to create a special force to protect diplomats, government sources said, after a gun attack on an Italian consul exposed the precarious security situation in the North African state. Unidentified gunmen in Benghazi opened fire on Guido De Sanctis's armored car on Saturday. The diplomat was unhurt but the attack was a reminder of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission there that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. "We are discussing putting in place a force that would look after diplomats. ...

Armed men abduct four Chinese workers in Sudan's Darfur Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:49 AM PST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Unknown armed men have kidnapped four Chinese workers in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, the state news agency SUNA said on Sunday. The assailants abducted the Chinese - one engineer and three drivers - together with five Sudanese colleagues late on Saturday near al-Fasher in North Darfur, SUNA said, adding that all had been working for a Chinese road company. Authorities were chasing the kidnappers with 18 military vehicles, SUNA said, without giving further details. ...

U.S. envoy says Iran working to destabilize Yemen: report Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:36 AM PST SANAA (Reuters) - Iran is working with southern secessionists in Yemen to expand its influence and destabilize the strategic region around the Straits of Hormuz, the U.S. envoy to Yemen was quoted as saying on Sunday. Yemen's state news agency Saba cited U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein as accusing Iran of supporting south Yemeni leaders trying to revive the formerly independent state of South Yemen, and naming Ali Salem al-Beidh, who runs a pro-independence satellite TV station from Lebanon, as one of them. ...

France's Iliad behind on mobile network deployment: paper Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:33 AM PST PARIS (Reuters) - France's newest mobile operator Iliad has fallen behind schedule in building its mobile network, having installed 1,779 antennas by the end of 2012, short of its target of 2,500 antennas, Les Echos newspaper reported. The report is likely to spark criticism from Iliad's larger rivals - France Telecom, Vivendi's SFR, and Bouygues - which have at times accused the newcomer of not investing enough to build its network. ...

Syrian forces kill 36 in bombardment east of capital: opposition Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:31 AM PST AMMAN (Reuters) - Government forces killed at least 36 people, 14 of them children, in a bombardment of rebel-held areas on the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday, Syrian opposition activists said. Video footage showed women weeping over the dismembered bodies of children strewn across a field in Eastern Ghouta, near an air defense base on the edge of the town of Muleiha, 5 km (3 miles) east of Damascus. ...

Krugman Scolds Jon Stewart for Trillion Dollar Coin Coverage Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:20 AM PST In a "This Week" web exclusive, New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman sounded off on Comedy Central host Jon Stewart's dismissive take on minting a platinum trillion dollar coin as a debt ceiling quick fix. "It is a funny thing. But...

Getting comfortable with living on the edge Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:16 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Just as you learn to put up with a nagging toothache, this week is expected to provide fresh evidence that the U.S. economy is getting used to life on the edge of the fiscal cliff. Of course, putting off that trip to the dentist is not necessarily wise. The longer Washington delays, the more painful it will become to narrow its gaping budget deficit. But surveys of U.S. ...

Analysis: French early strike shakes up Mali intervention plan Posted: 13 Jan 2013 11:09 AM PST JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - France has rushed to help Mali block a push south by Islamist rebels from its desert north but a U.N.-backed intervention plan to dislodge al Qaeda and its allies faces a tough enemy and terrain and could still take months - if it succeeds at all. The original timetable for the AFISMA intervention force of 3,300 West African troops with western logistical, financial and intelligence backing did not foresee deployment before September, to allow time for full preparation. ...

Republicans add "temperament" to questions about Hagel at Pentagon Posted: 13 Jan 2013 10:54 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Opponents of President Barack Obama's choice of Chuck Hagel to become the next U.S. defense secretary stepped up criticism of the Republican former senator on Sunday, with one lawmaker questioning whether Hagel has the right temperament for the job. Hagel, who was nominated to the job last Monday, spent much of last week calling senators before confirmation hearings begin in the coming weeks to address portrayals of his stance on Israel and his record on Iran, U.S. officials said. ...

Obama to push ahead on immigration overhaul early in 2013: NYT Posted: 13 Jan 2013 10:47 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is forging ahead on a wide-ranging plan to overhaul the U.S. immigration system early this year, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Obama wants to advance the plan even as he faces tough battles with Congress over fiscal issues and gun-control laws, and may lay out his ideas during his annual State of the Union address on February 12, the Times said, citing senior administration officials and lawmakers. ...

Sunday Sound: Heard on 'This Week' Posted: 13 Jan 2013 10:45 AM PST Below are some of the notable comments made Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Guests included Armed Services Committee member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee; Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass; ABC News...

Russia tells Syria rebels: seek dialogue with Damascus Posted: 13 Jan 2013 10:39 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Syrian opposition should make counter-proposals to those President Bashar al-Assad made in a recent speech, to start a dialogue that could end the fighting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday. "President Assad came out with initiatives aimed at inviting all opposition members to dialogue. Yes, these initiatives probably do not go far enough. Probably they will not seem serious to some, but they are proposals," the Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. ...

ICRC head in Myanmar to gain access to prisons, conflict zones Posted: 13 Jan 2013 10:25 AM PST GENEVA (Reuters) - The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to set up inspections of its prisons and seek access to conflict-hit border areas, the humanitarian agency said on Sunday. The surprise six-day visit, the first by an ICRC president, follows an announcement by President Thein Sein's office last November that authorities would allow ICRC officials to visit detention centers, it said. "Myanmar's government has signaled its readiness to discuss a number of humanitarian issues with us. ...

Vatican criticizes gay adoption, topless women protest Posted: 13 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican underlined its opposition to gay adoption on Sunday as same-sex marriage supporters staged a topless protest in front of the pope in St. Peter's Square. The Vatican paper L'Osservatore Romano published a response to an Italian court's rejection of an appeal by a father who feared his son would not have a balanced upbringing if he lived with his mother and her female partner. The Court of Cassation ruled it was "mere prejudice" to assume that living with a homosexual couple could be detrimental for a child's development. ...

Timeline: Marriage and homosexual rights in France Posted: 13 Jan 2013 09:55 AM PST (Reuters) - Marchers filed through the French capital on Sunday to protest against President Francois Hollande's plan to legalize gay marriage and adoption. Here is a timeline on marriage and the rights of homosexuals in France. 1791 - Following the French Revolution, the penal code is amended to decriminalize homosexual acts. But social disapproval in the traditionally Catholic country remains strong until recent years. ...

Top Venezuelan leaders in Cuba to support Chavez Posted: 13 Jan 2013 09:45 AM PST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's three most powerful government figures after President Hugo Chavez gathered in Havana on Sunday to check on their ailing leader's condition and meet with Cuban allies. Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, Congress head Diosdado Cabello, and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez have been shuttling to and from Cuba since the 58-year-old socialist president's fourth and most serious cancer operation a month ago. Chavez, who missed his own inauguration for a new, six-year term last week, has not been seen or heard from in public since the surgery. ...

India police arrest six in new gang rape case: papers Posted: 13 Jan 2013 09:37 AM PST NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police arrested six people including a bus driver after a woman said she was gang raped in the northern state of Punjab, newspapers said on Sunday. The reports come weeks after a student in Delhi was assaulted and beaten in a moving bus and thrown bleeding onto the street in a case that sparked outrage in the country. In the latest assault, the woman was travelling by bus to her village on Friday night when the driver and his assistant drove her to a deserted location, the Indian Express newspaper said. ...

Berlusconi group leads in key region ahead of Italy vote Posted: 13 Jan 2013 09:30 AM PST ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition is leading in a vital battleground region ahead of next month's Italian election, making it harder for left-wing rivals to form a stable parliamentary majority, according to a poll on Sunday. Whoever wins the February 24-25 vote will have to tackle a deep recession and rising unemployment in the euro zone's third-largest economy as well as keeping strained public finances under control. ...

You are subscribed to email updates from Politics News Headlines - Yahoo! News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610