Archive for Top Stories
Reuters Top News: 19 February 2009
February 20th, 2009 • Reuters, Top Stories
- Obama housing plan will have impact in March: Bair
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration’s $275 billion program to stem a wave of U.S. home foreclosures will start having an impact as soon as March, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman Sheila Bair said on Thursday. - Netanyahu wins backing in Israeli PM contest
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of becoming Israel’s prime minister again were boosted on Thursday by the conditional backing of an ultra-nationalist politician who emerged as a kingmaker in a close election. - U.S. judge rules Spitzer documents be unsealed
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge ordered the unsealing of documents in an investigation that linked former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to a prostitution ring, potentially shedding more light on a scandal that forced Spitzer to resign. - Sebelius considered for U.S. health secretary
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is a leading contender for U.S. health secretary, a post that will spearhead the effort to overhaul the healthcare system, a U.S. official said on Thursday. - Clinton to focus on North Korea in Seoul talks
SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and South Korean officials on Friday plan to discuss how to rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program amid talk of a possible power struggle in Pyongyang. - California lawmakers break impasse, pass budget
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California lawmakers approved a state budget package on Thursday to close a $42 billion deficit, ending a lengthy standoff with a slate of bills that aim to raise taxes, slash spending and increase borrowing. - U.S. seeks more UBS account records in tax battle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government sued UBS AG on Thursday, seeking disclosure to the Internal Revenue Service of thousands of the Swiss bank’s U.S. customers with secret accounts, the Justice Department said. - Obama reassures Canada on open trade
OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday assured Canada, his country’s biggest trading partner, he would not pursue protectionist policies and the two neighbors agreed to cooperate on cleaner energy technology. - Nearly 5 million Americans drawing jobless benefits
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers drawing unemployment aid jumped to a record high of nearly 5 million, the government said on Thursday, as a worsening economy made it increasingly hard to find jobs. - FBI finds Allen Stanford in Virginia
WASHINGTON/ST.JOHN’S (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement officials found Texas billionaire Allen Stanford in the Fredericksburg, Virginia, area on Thursday, and served him with a complaint accusing him of an $8 billion fraud.
Reuters Top News: 18 February 2009
February 19th, 2009 • Reuters, Top Stories
- Sen. Burris pleads for a chance amid calls to resign
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Fending off calls for his resignation, Roland Burris on Wednesday said he would cooperate with investigations into whether his appointment to a U.S. Senate seat was tainted by dealings with the former Illinois governor accused of trying to sell the seat. - Israel links Gaza deal to soldier’s release
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel decided Wednesday against lifting its border blockade of the Gaza Strip until Hamas agreed to the release of a captured Israeli soldier, putting a longer-term ceasefire proposal by Egypt on hold. - Russia, Georgia agree plan to avoid new clashes
GENEVA (Reuters) - Russia and Georgia have agreed on a mechanism to try to prevent any flareups around the breakaway South Ossetia region from turning into full-scale clashes, international mediators said on Wednesday. - Two professors theorize on bin Laden hideout
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After all these years, where is Osama bin Laden? Two college geography professors think they know. - Court rejects releasing Guantanamo prisoners in U.S.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a ruling that 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held for years at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba must be freed in the United States. - U.S. sees hard year in Afghanistan even with more troops
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The American general running the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday predicted a tough year ahead despite the addition of 17,000 more U.S. troops to break a stalemate with Taliban insurgents in the south of the country. - Bankruptcy remains an option for GM, analysts say
DETROIT (Reuters) - A government-backed bankruptcy reorganization remains an option for saving General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, analysts said on Wednesday, even though the automakers have said they would rather not go down that road. - Bernanke cuts growth view, considers inflation target
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers largely gave up hope for economic growth in 2009 and discussed setting an inflation target last month as a deepening recession heightened fears of a dangerous decline in prices. - Hundreds seek their money as Stanford fallout spreads
ST. JOHN’S/CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of people rushed on Wednesday to withdraw money from banks in Antigua and Venezuela linked to Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, as the fallout from U.S. fraud charges against him rippled from the United States to the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe. - Obama unveils plan to tackle housing crisis
MESA, Arizona (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama pledged up to $275 billion on Wednesday to help stem a wave of home foreclosures, part of a broad effort using massive sums of government money to push the country out of recession.
Reuters Top News: 17 February 2009
February 18th, 2009 • Reuters, Top Stories
- Gaza, slump seen spurring rise in anti-Semitism
LONDON (Reuters) - Israel’s offensive in Gaza and the global economic downturn have spurred a rise in physical and verbal attacks on Jews, participants in an international conference on anti-Semitism said Tuesday. - Trump Entertainment files for bankruptcy
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc, the casino operator named for Donald Trump, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday as recession and declining gambling revenues battered the company and its rivals. - Israel engaged in covert war inside Iran: report
LONDON (Reuters) - Israel is involved in a covert war of sabotage inside Iran to try to delay Tehran’s alleged attempts to develop a nuclear weapon, a British newspaper said on Tuesday, quoting a former CIA agent and intelligence experts. - With no budget, California to cut 20,000 state jobs
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California, which is on the brink of running out of cash, will notify 20,000 state workers on Tuesday their jobs may be eliminated, a spokesman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday. - White House seeks to rein in executive pay excesses
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the Obama administration has to sort out some rules on executive pay limits, but is determined to address the issue. - New scrutiny over Burris Senate nomination
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Roland Burris came under fresh scrutiny on Tuesday after disclosing he tried to raise money for the disgraced former Illinois governor who named him to the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama. - Obama signs stimulus into law, housing moves next
DENVER (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus bill into law on Tuesday as global markets plunged on fears that the recession would deepen despite government action around the world. - Obama orders thousands of U.S. troops to Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, in his first major military decision, has authorized the Pentagon to send an extra 17,000 troops to Afghanistan to tackle worsening insurgent violence, the White House said on Tuesday. - GM needs up to $30 billion in aid to avoid failure
DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp said on Tuesday it could need a total of up to $30 billion in U.S. government aid — more than doubling its original aid — and would run out of cash as soon as March without new federal funding. - U.S. charges Allen Stanford with “massive” fraud
HOUSTON/ST JOHN’S, Antigua (Reuters) - Texas billionaire Allen Stanford and three of his companies were charged with “massive ongoing fraud” Tuesday as federal agents swooped in on his U.S. headquarters.
