Political News from Yahoo

Bangladesh withdraws request for WB funding after graft allegation

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh has dropped plans to seek World Bank funding for a bridge over the Padma river after the bank withheld assistance until the government completed an investigation into allegations of corruption in the project. The World Bank last year cancelled a $1.2 billion credit for the 6.2-km (4-mile) bridge, which would be the country's longest water crossing, after it found "credible evidence" of high-level corruption among Bangladeshi officials. On Friday, the bank said it had received a letter from the government, withdrawing its request for funds to help build the bridge. ...

G20 should focus on debts, not Japan-bashing: Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's top financial diplomat said the Group of 20 should focus on making new commitments to curb borrowing, and not rush to judge Japan's bid to reflate its economy when policy makers meet this month. Moscow hosts finance ministers and central bankers on February 15-16 as controversy over "currency wars" has opened a rift between indebted rich nations and faster-growing exporters who fear a wave of competitive devaluations. ...


Jailed Pussy Riot member suffering headaches, fatigue: bandmate

MOSCOW (Reuters) - One of the jailed members of Russian punk protest collective Pussy Riot has been moved to a prison with a hospital after suffering headaches and fatigue, her bandmate said in remarks broadcast on Friday. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, was one of three women sentenced to two years in prison for a "punk prayer" in Russia's main cathedral last February in which they called on the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Vladimir Putin. Tolokonnikova was sent to a Corrective Colony No. 14 in the Mordovia region after losing her appeal in October. ...


Assertive Obama Gets Good Marks From the Public

President Obama and Vice President Biden are settling into a good-cop, bad-cop routine. Biden supplies empathy, negotiating skills and comic relief. Obama is assertive, sometimes combative, clear about what he wants and when he wants it, and given to reminders that a, he won the election and b, polls show the public agrees with his agenda.

China factories in mild rebound amid patch Asia recover

BEIJING (Reuters) - Asia's manufacturers face a challenging business climate in the coming months, a clutch of surveys suggested on Friday, with China's vast factory sector managing only a shallow rebound at the start of 2013 as feeble foreign demand dragged on sales. Two separate versions of China's purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed on Friday that factory output in the world's second-biggest economy rose in January, but the pace of the revival in activity was uneven. The patchy nature of the recovery on Chinese factory floors was repeated in other PMI releases across Asia. ...


Report warns of U.S. state inactivity on consumer health reforms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only 11 of the 50 U.S. states have moved to implement new consumer safeguards under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, raising questions about how major health insurance reforms will be enforced, a report released on Friday says. The report by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund found 39 states have yet to pass laws or issue regulations on seven reforms, including coverage for people with preexisting medical conditions, a ban on coverage waiting periods and limits for out-of-pocket consumer costs. ...

What I Learned Covering Hillary Clinton

I stopped betting against Hillary Rodham Clinton 23 years ago when I watched her crush one man’s ambitions to preserve her husband’s career.

Civil libertarians challenge Anchorage sidewalk-sitting ban

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Civil libertarians filed suit in Alaska on Thursday to challenge an Anchorage ban on sitting or lying on public sidewalks they said was enacted partly as a response to one man's prolonged protest outside City Hall. The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, called the 2011 ordinance a violation of the right to free speech and peaceful assembly. The suit also targets a related ban on panhandling in downtown Anchorage. ...

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