WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Signs that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack by hostage-taking Islamist militants on a remote gas plant in Algeria are of great concern to American authorities, U.S. intelligence officials said on Thursday. While Algerian authorities apparently have not yet provided Western governments with cast-iron proof, a senior U.S. intelligence official said, "We're taking very seriously the reports of the two Canadians' involvement. ...
CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi have called mass demonstrations on Friday, raising the prospect of more bloodshed despite a pledge by politicians to back off after the deadliest week of his seven months in office. Protests marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak have killed nearly 60 people since January 25. It prompted the head of the army - the institution that effectively ran Egypt for six decades until Mursi's election - to warn that the state was on the verge of collapse. ...
After weeks of speculation, Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch of South Boston launched his bid for a U.S. Senate seat representing Massachusetts, declaring his candidacy in an upcoming special election and kicking off an intra-party primary battle between himself and U.S. Rep. Ed Markey of Malden,...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill allowing the U.S. government to borrow money beyond its record $16.4 trillion debt limit won final congressional approval on Thursday, clearing the way for President Barack Obama to sign it into law. The Democratic-led Senate passed the bill, 64-34, a week after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved it, 285-144. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators working to craft immigration legislation is focusing on how to define when the border is secure, one of several contentious issues that could cause the whole deal to collapse, a key Senate negotiator said Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Colorado Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia is a leading candidate to become secretary of labor during President Barack Obama's second term, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday. Garcia, a Hispanic former president of Colorado State University-Pueblo, would bring racial diversity and a Western flair to Obama's team. The president has faced criticism for selecting white men to fill cabinet vacancies at the departments of state, defense, and treasury. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary, sparred Thursday with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee over his record on a variety of national security issues. Below is a summary of his past and current statements on Iran, nuclear weapons, and other key topics.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden says curbs on guns can reduce firearm deaths but won't ensure an end to mass killings like December's slaying of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after a federal appeals court said the Obama administration is setting overly optimistic production quotas for the struggling biofuels industry, the government has issued new standards that raise production estimates for 2013.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators hammered former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel at his confirmation hearing Thursday on issues ranging from Israel and Iran to his support for a group that advocates the elimination of nuclear weapons. But with most Democrats in his corner, an unflustered Hagel seemed headed for approval as defense secretary.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress passed must-do legislation Thursday to permit the government to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars more to meet its obligations, averting a first-ever government default that had loomed as early as mid-February.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has approved must-do legislation to permit the government to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars more to meet its obligations, averting a first-ever government default that had loomed as early as mid-February.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co held what it called a "productive conversation" with an Arab-American group that labeled the firm's Super Bowl ad racist, but will not change the commercial featuring an Arab walking through a desert with a camel. "We did express regret that the ad had been misunderstood," Coca-Cola spokeswoman Lauren Thompson said in an email. "We are very concerned by these allegations and in no way is our ad meant to be derogatory to any group. ...
Late Wednesday afternoon a story exploded across the Internet, pitting two historic presidents from opposite ends of the political spectrum against each other in Chicago. The Daily Mail reported the Illinois boyhood home of Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president, was being demolished to make way...
PHOENIX (Reuters) - A man suspected in Wednesday's fatal Arizona office shooting that killed one man and critically wounded a prominent Phoenix lawyer has been found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said on Thursday. Arthur Douglas Harmon, 70, was suspected of opening fire in an office building in central Phoenix on Wednesday following a legal mediation meeting, police said. Phoenix police said Harmon was found dead on Thursday in the suburb of Mesa. A handgun was found nearby. ...
ATLANTA (Reuters) - At least one student was wounded on Thursday in a shooting at a middle school in Atlanta, police said. "There is one boy who was shot. He's OK," an Atlanta police spokeswoman told parents outside Price Middle School in southeast Atlanta. An Atlanta fire department official identified the student as a 14-year-old, who was hit in the head and taken to hospital. The official added that a teacher was treated for superficial injuries at the scene. MyFoxAtlanta.com said three suspects were in custody and the school was on lockdown after the shooting. ...
PARIS (Reuters) - France deported a Moroccan man on Thursday suspected of links to the radical Islamist group Forsane Alizza, the Interior Ministry said, after the threat of domestic attack escalated following its intervention in Mali. Ali Benhammou, who was sent back to Morocco, had been involved in two cells linked to the French group Forsane Alizza (Knights of Pride) which "had made France a priority target," the ministry said in a statement. Benhammou been trying to travel to Iran, with the ultimate objective of reaching Afghanistan, the ministry said. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is letting his jobs council expire, cutting off one source of input from business leaders while unemployment remains stubbornly high.
KADUNA/KANO (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least five police in two attacks in northern Nigeria on Thursday, casting doubt on the ceasefire declared days earlier by a purported Islamist commander and highlighting how difficult it will be to end insecurity in the region. Around 60 gunmen in the Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna state attacked the divisional police station and branches of Ecobank and First Bank with grenade launchers and assault rifles, killing three policemen, police said. ...
