(AP) Little time left to head off longshoremen’s strikeBy DAVID B. CARUSO and SCOTT MAYEROWITZAssociated PressNEW YORKShipments of products as varied as flat-screen TVs, sneakers and snow shovels could sit idle at sea or get rerouted, at great time and
TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Poor Japanese manufacturing data on Friday gave new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe more ammunition to push for big spending and easy money to salvage the world’s third-largest economy from decades of deflation and its fourth
(AP) Champagne loses fizz in Europe after tough yearBy LORI HINNANTAssociated PressPARISEuropeans are finding fewer reasons to pop open a bottle of Champagne as another year of economic troubles and high unemployment saps the region’s appetite for the finer things.
(AP) Iraqi Sunnis demonstrate in Anbar, west of BaghdadFALLUJAH, IraqWitnesses say tens of thousands of Iraqi Sunni Muslims have massed along a major western highway in the latest of a week of large demonstrations against the Shiite-led government. The protesters
Top US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said he will meet President Barack Obama on Friday at the White House, amid a tense stand-off over how to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
(AP) White House meeting a last stab at a fiscal dealBy JIM KUHNHENNAssociated PressWASHINGTON Amid partisan bluster, top members of Congress and President Barack Obama were holding out slim hopes for a limited fiscal deal before the new year. But
The 2010 law setting the estate tax at 35% for estates under $5 million dollars is set to expire in January 2013. In five days, the exemption plummets to $1 million dollars. It’s going to cost your family more money
(AP) Futures dip as US hurdles toward fiscal cliffNEW YORKStock futures are moving lower ahead of a last-ditch effort by the White House and GOP congressional leaders to hash out a budget deal before a year-end deadline strikes. Dow Jones
(AP) Over the fiscal cliff: Soft or hard landing?By CONNIE CASSAssociated PressWASHINGTON 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
Muslim Clerics in Kyrgyzstan have issued a fatwa, outlawing New Years celebrations in the predominantly Muslim country. Ravshan Eratov, head of the Kyrgyz Muslim Religious Administration announced “This New Year is not a religious holiday. It is not related to
On Thursday, Governor Rick Snyder signed an emergency manager bill into law, giving the power of oversight and financial efficiency back to Michigan localities. Snyder stated: “These new laws recognize the vital importance of financially stable, economically vibrant communities to
Most of the new healthcare taxes will fall on high income earners, but the middle class and medical device industry will also take a hit. Directly impacting taxpayers is the Medicare tax hike on high income wage earners, higher taxes
(AP) Egypt’s opposition leaders under investigationBy SARAH EL DEEBAssociated PressCAIRO Egypt’s chief prosecutor ordered an investigation on Thursday into allegations that opposition leaders committed treason by inciting supporters to overthrow Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. The probe by a Morsi-appointed prosecutor
Star Jones apparently has never seen political parties disagree over important issues. Jones, best known for her co-hosting gig on “The View” and her product-placement marriage, blasted the GOP as racist for daring to challenge President Barack Obama on the
Norman Schwarzkopf, the US general who led 1991 Operation Desert Storm, which liberated Kuwait from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, has died at the age of 78, a US official said Thursday. Schwarzkopf, an American hero known popularly as “Stormin Norman,”
Endless supplies of cigarettes, a BMW or Mercedes for between $4,000 and $6,000 but fuel at vastly inflated prices — the black market is thriving on the Syria-Turkey border. Abu Mohammad Faid, who turns up at Abu Ahmad’s car lot
Japan’s new leaders set to work Thursday on dismantling plans to rid the country of nuclear power by 2040, pledging to review a post-Fukushima policy. The pro-business Liberal Democratic Party-led government also said they would give the green light to
Shares in Spain’s bailed-out lender Bankia plunged on the stock market Thursday after banking authorities said it had a negative of value of 4.148 billion euros ($5.5 billion). Shares in Bankia, which is at the heart of a crisis in
Troubled Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest lender, issued a profit warning on Thursday, saying its 2012 results would be a lot worse than last year’s due to increased provisions for bad debt. BoC said that the group’s results for
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he believes the embattled eurozone is already past the peak of its three-year-long debt crisis, citing positive developments in Greece and France. In an interview with mass-circulation Bild to appear in Friday’s edition, Schaeuble
By GEORGE M. WALSHAssociated PressThe gunman who lured two firefighters to their deaths died of a self-inflicted shot to the head and wasn’t hit by return fire from a police officer, New York State Police said Thursday. But investigators still
Speaker Boehner has alerted members of the House that the chamber will reconvene Sunday evening. The announcement was initially made on a conference call Thursday afternoon with members of the GOP caucus. It isn’t clear whether any votes are scheduled
Matt Damon is one of Hollywood’s more outspoken celebrities, and he’s not afraid of using his film projects to further his progressive agenda. Just watch – if you can – his 2010 bomb “Green Zone” which rewrites recent history to
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the Neval Thomas Elementary School in Washington, D.C., on December 21. Duncan, an ardent proponent of gun control, hails from Chicago, where such shootings are ridiculously common despite gun control. At the
By MARK KENNEDYAP Drama WriterNEW YORKThe theater community will honor Jack Klugman and Charles Durning by dimming Broadway’s lights in back-to-back memorials. The marquees at all Broadway theaters will go dark for one minute at 8 p.m. Thursday in honor
