KUWAIT (Reuters) - Donors pledged more than $1 billion at an international aid conference in Kuwait on Wednesday for Syrians displaced by nearly two years of fighting, a Kuwaiti minister said in remarks carried by the state news agency KUNA. Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah al-Mubarak al-Sabah told reporters he hoped the total pledges would reach the target of $1.5 billion set by the United Nations by the end of the meeting later in the day. (Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky writing by Sami Aboudi)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will appear as an unscheduled witness Wednesday at the year's first congressional hearing on curbing gun violence, adding drama to a session that was already slated to hear from a top official of the National Rifle Association.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain is warning fellow Republicans that failure to pass comprehensive immigration legislation could mean continued election losses for the GOP, as Republican-friendly states like Arizona fall to the Democrats.
By MICHAEL FALCONE (@michaelpfalcone) NOTABLES TODAY ON THE HILL — GIFFORDS, KELLY AND LAPIERRE Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, her astronaut husband Mark Kelly, and Wayne LaPierre, the fiery executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee today in...
DUBAI (Reuters) - At an economic summit of Arab leaders in Riyadh last week, Saudi Arabia's crown prince called for a minimum 50 percent increase in the capital of a fund that lends money for development projects around the region. Prince Salman, next in line to the Saudi throne, said the kingdom was ready to pay its share in any expansion of the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, now capitalized at 2 billion Kuwaiti dinars ($7.1 billion). ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says closing loopholes in the background check system for gun purchasers won't threaten firearms owners' Second Amendment rights to own a gun and is a matter of common sense.
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's liberal opposition leader called for a broad national dialogue with the Islamist government, all political factions and the powerful military on Wednesday, aimed at stopping the country's eruption of political violence that has left more than 60 dead the past week.
PARIS (Reuters) - Mali's interim government in Bamako must begin immediate talks with the country's northern population including armed groups that recognize the territorial integrity of the West African state, France said on Wednesday. "The Malian authorities must begin without delay talks with the legitimate representatives of the northern population and non-terrorist armed groups that recognize Mali's integrity," French Foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said. ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Representative Gabby Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, will make an appearance on Wednesday at the first congressional hearing on gun violence since last month's Connecticut elementary school massacre. According to a senior Democratic aide and a person familiar with the proceedings, Giffords will testify at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. ...
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The two top contenders and their running mates in Kenya's presidential race, including two politicians facing crimes against humanity charges at an international court, have been officially registered by Kenya's electoral authority.
SIENA, Italy (Reuters) - Italy's market regulator Consob joined the government and the Bank of Italy on Wednesday in defending its oversight of Monte Paschi as magistrates investigated allegations of bribery and accounting malpractice at the historic bank. Italy's third-largest lender has been plunged into crisis over an opaque series of derivatives and structured finance deals that have produced losses of 720 million euros ($970 million) and raised growing questions about possible corruption by bank officials. ...
LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC is hiring a former U.S. deputy attorney general with a background in fighting drug cartels to help the global bank avoid a repeat of lapses in its anti-money-laundering controls that led to a $1.9 billion fine. The penalty, the largest ever paid by a bank, followed a long U.S. investigation into HSBC's Mexican and U.S. operations that concluded last month with scathing criticism of the systems it used to stop the proceeds of organized crime passing through its accounts. Jim Comey, who was U.S. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate aide says wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be a surprise witness at Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on how to curb gun violence.
BRUSSELS/CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's urgent hunt for buyers for its oil is being thwarted as the European Commission sticks to a plan to label fuel from tar sands deposits as highly polluting, deterring refiners bound by environmental rules. Intense pressure from Canada, seeking new markets to compensate for dwindling U.S. buying and discounted sales, has not convinced the EU executive to abandon its proposal to brand tar sands oil as more carbon-intensive than conventional crude. "The Commission stands by its proposal," said an EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ...
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia scrapped a law enforcement agreement with the United States on Wednesday, further turning back the clock on a "reset" in relations since President Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin last year. An order to end the deal, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, was posted on the government's website. It said the agreement, under which Washington provides financial assistance for law enforcement and drugs control programs, "does not address current realities and has exhausted its potential". ...
