A year from Election Day, Democrats are crafting a campaign strategy for Vice President Joe Biden that targets the big three political battlegrounds: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, states where Biden might be more of an asset to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign than the president himself.
DUBAI (Reuters) - A report that slammed Bahrain for using systematic torture to crush pro-democracy protests has put pressure on the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state to take some steps toward political reform but the opposition doubt anything substantive is in the works. The hardhitting findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), headed by international rights lawyer Cherif Bassiouni, vindicated majority Shi'ites and opposition groups over claims of repression during martial law brought in after the government broke the protests up. ...
Police officers who pepper-sprayed a group performing a traditional Polynesian haka dance after a high school football game say their use of force was justified because they feared a riot was imminent.
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian government is open to the idea of including additional economic stimulus in its next budget if the European debt crisis threatens to derail the country's relatively successful recovery. "We stand ready to respond again in a flexible and pragmatic manner if the economic challenges from beyond our shores begin to threaten jobs and the economy here," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a speech in Toronto. But he added a cautionary note that any new stimulus measures will be targeted. ...
BAALBEK, Lebanon (Reuters) - Weapons dealer Abu Wael has traded guns in Lebanon's Bekaa valley since the last days of his country's civil war, nearly a quarter of a century ago. This has been his busiest year ever. Unrest in neighboring Syria has sent demand for weapons soaring, doubling prices for Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons and helping supply the increasingly well armed insurrection challenging President Bashar al-Assad. ...
BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN, Jordan (Reuters) - Only five years ago, critical remarks by Pope Benedict about Islam sparked off violent protests in several Muslim countries. Never very good, relations between the world's two largest religions sank to new lows in modern times. This week, while protesters in the Arab world were demanding democracy and civil rights, Catholics and Muslims met along the Jordan River for frank and friendly talks about their differences and how to get beyond their misunderstandings. ...
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's budget deficit will not fall below a key euro zone ceiling in 2014 as planned, if the debt-laden country fails to decide additional austerity measures in June, a set of updated forecasts revealed on Friday. Assuming no more measures are taken, the budget gap will narrow to just 4.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2015 instead of the 1.1 percent assumed under a previous set of forecasts made in June, the finance ministry data showed. ...
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped three Westerners and killed a fourth in the historic northern Mali town of Timbuktu Friday, the second hostage-taking in the region in two days, Malian government and local sources said. One government source and a local tourist guide identified the person who was killed as a German. The guide said two of those taken hostage were Dutch and one South African, though there was no official confirmation of their nationalities. ...
Large and small companies have told Republican-led congressional committees what the party wants to hear: dire predictions of plant closings and layoffs if the Obama administration succeeds with plans to further curb air and water pollution.
ABOARD THE USS WASP (Reuters) - The 16-ton fighter jet slowed to a stop off the warship's port beam, where it hovered like a floating rock as thousands of pounds of thrust from its engine and lift fan stirred up a cloud of mist from the Atlantic Ocean 100 feet below. After a brief hesitation, the sleek, new gray airplane - a Marine Corps version of the radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - slipped quickly sideways over the amphibious assault ship and then dropped to the flight deck with a gentle bump. ...
