Political News from Yahoo
Consumer alert: new health care markets on the way
Purported death threat throws Nevada assembly into uncertainty
Syrian rebels, army clash in Damascus during U.N. visit
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels clashed with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in southwest Damascus on Sunday, forcing the closure of the main highway to the southern town of Deraa, activists said. The fighting came as United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos visited Syria ahead of a U.N. aid conference which aims to raise $1.5 billion for millions of people made homeless, hungry and vulnerable by the 22-month-old conflict. ...
Al Qaeda targets Germans, Britons in Libya: Spiegel
Outgoing AU chief condemns Africa's response to Mali crisis
Scandal-hit Monte Paschi seeks new investor to revive bank
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena is seeking a financial investor to help revive the ailing lender and will remove a current cap on voting rights to help raise 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), its chairman said. "I would like to have a long-term financial investor," Alessandro Profumo told Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview published on Sunday. "Nationality is not a problem. The important thing is that it believes in our project". Late on Saturday the Bank of Italy gave its approval to Monte Paschi's request for 3.9 billion euros ($5. ...
Mark Boal: Government Inquiry Into 'Zero Dark Thirty' 'Crosses a Line'
Iranian workers demand South Korea 'return' funds
France favors Lauvergeon as EADS board chief: paper
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande wants Anne Lauvergeon, former chief executive of French nuclear reactor maker Areva, to chair the board of European planemaker EADS , French Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche reported. The paper quotes a source close to the government as saying that Lauvergeon is "the choice of Francois Hollande for the presidency of the group". It added that Hollande had discussed the nomination with German chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday and that "Germany agrees with the French choice". ...
Japan to boost military headcount amid china island row
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is set to boost the number of military personnel, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Sunday, as the new government led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) tackles a territorial spat with China over East China Sea islets. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led the LDP to a landslide election victory last month, promising to beef up the military and stand tough in the dispute over tiny, uninhabited islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. ...
'Zero Dark Thirty' Debate: Torture Has No Place in a Civilized Society
Election loss forces Singapore into delicate balancing act
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - It was just one seat in parliament but the loss of a by-election this weekend will force Singapore's long-ruling People's Action Party (PAP) to take a hard look at how it balances investor and voter needs in one of the world's biggest financial centers. With anger rising in the wealthy Asian city-state over soaring living costs, reliance on foreign workers and a widening income gap, the opposition Workers' Party took the PAP-held seat in the Punggol East ward by a convincing margin of nearly 11 percent in Saturday's poll. ...
Italy central bank approves Monte Paschi bailout request
ROME/MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's central bank on Saturday gave its approval to a request by scandal hit bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena for 3.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of state loans, the latest step in the battle to revive the ailing bank. The Bank of Italy's backing was the final stage required to free up the financial help for Italy's third biggest lender, which this week revealed loss-making derivatives trades that could cost it about 720 million euros. ...
