News Archive - 20 January 2015

>HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba will tell the United States in face-to-face talks this week it wants to be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism before restoring diplomatic relations, a senior foreign ministry official said on Tuesday. The two adversaries will meet in Havana on Wednesday...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will challenge a skeptical Republican-led Congress on Tuesday to back tax increases on the wealthy to help lift up middle-class Americans in a State of the Union speech that will outline his vision for his last two years in office. On foreign policy, Obama...

>Obama said a U.S. led coalition of countries is stopping the advance of the group in Iraq and Syria. "I call on this Congress to show the world that we are united in this mission by passing a resolution to authorize the use of force against ISIL," Obama said...

>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell as much as 5 percent on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 global economic forecast and key producer Iran hinted prices could drop to $25 a barrel without supportive OPEC action. Genscape, an analytics firm that monitors U.S. oil stocks,...

>By Steve HollandWASHINGTON Jan 20 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama aims in Tuesday night's State of the Union address to outline his plans to help middle class people left behind by the economic recovery through tax increases on the most wealthy and by signing trade deals to expand markets for...

>Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:  We are fifteen years into this new century.  Fifteen years that dawned with terror touching our shores; that unfolded with a new generation fighting two long and costly wars; that saw a vicious recession spread across our nation and...

Oil prices edged up on Wednesday in a further sign of support around current levels, but analysts fretted that the outlook for the next six months remained bleak due to oversupply. Oil fell as much as 5 percent on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 global economic...

President Barack Obama claimed credit on Tuesday for an improving economy and defiantly told his Republican adversaries in Congress to "turn the page" by supporting an expensive domestic agenda aimed ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says if Congress passes new sanctions on Iran, it will "all but guarantee" that delicate nuclear talks with Iran will fail.

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama made a feisty pitch for economic populism in his penultimate State of the Union Tuesday night, touting the improving economy on his watch and making the case that government has a role in ensuring equal opportunity for all. Obama began his speech at 9:10...

President Barack Obama challenged the Republican-led Congress on Tuesday to break out of the "tired old patterns" of confrontational politics and back an effort to lift the middle class, with higher taxes on the rich and trade deals.

Analysis of President Obama's 2015 State of the Union.

>INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL* GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares buoyed by ECB easing hopes, euro soft* Oil prices edge up in early trading but outlook remains weak* MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf markets slip again but property buoys Egypt as pound weakens* PRECIOUS-Gold near 5-month high on economy, stimulus worries* Clashes hit Yemen capital again as Houthis pursue...

>NEW YORK - U.S. stocks closed little changed on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund reduced its growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016, increasing speculation that central banks would take more aggressive policy moves to spark economic improvement.The lower forecasts implied less demand for fuel through 2016, contributing...

Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site. A man looks at a sign that reads 'Thanks Nisman. Justice. I am Nisman' placed outside the office of the prosecutor who is investigating the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. is willing to provide whatever help France needs as it investigates the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month.

Blair MacIvor, left, and Vince Rigby, Cape Breton veterans who served on tours with the United Nations and NATO, stand in front of the former Veterans Affairs office in Sydney that closed last year.

(CNN) — It’s enough to make Mulder and Scully seethe with envy. Nearly 130,000 pages of declassified Air Force files on UFO investigations and sightings are now available in one place online. Declassified government records about UFOs have long existed on microfilm in the National Archives in Washington, DC. Many...

>* Investors expect ECB to unveil quantitative easing* Yen steps back ahead of BOJ announcement* Gold at 5-month highBy Hideyuki SanoTOKYO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Asian shares held firm and the euro stayed under pressure on Wednesday as investors counted on the European Central Bank to unveil a stimulus drive,...

Three new doctors have joined the staff at All Saints Springhill Hospital and are accepting new patients. Bruce Quigley, CEO of the Cumberland Health Authority, said in a news release that the three physicians will help ensure that all local residents have access to a primary care provider.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- High-momentum tech names pulled stock markets into positive territory in the late hours of the session even as crude oil prices took another sharp turn lower on continued worries of global oversupply. The S&P 500 gained 0.15%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.03%, and the Nasdaq jumped 0.

Equities rose worldwide on Tuesday, with Wall Street reversing early losses and the dollar climbing 1 per cent against the Japanese yen, as diminishing global growth prospects bolstered hopes for central bank stimulus.

>Relations between Tehran and Riyadh soured after Iran's 1979 revolution brought to power Shi'ite clerics opposed to the conservative Sunni Muslim kingdom.The two countries, struggling for regional influence and power, have backed opposite sides in the Syria and Yemen conflicts and argued over global oil prices.An Iranian official...

>"There's not a rush on this. These negotiations are going forward. I don't want to disrupt the negotiations," Senator Sherrod Brown, the ranking member of the banking committee, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.The banking committee had been scheduled to hold public and classified hearings on Iran this...

Rebel fighters entered Yemen's presidential palace after a brief clash with the compound's security guards, witnesses and security sources say.

The Canadian consulate in Yemen's capital is operating as usual, although Canadians are "urged to leave the country immediately."

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2015 / Christian Newswire / -- "The recent attacks in Paris and Nigeria remind us again that religious freedom and religious engagement need to be central pillars of U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy—we ignore this fact at our peril," said Cong. Chris Smith, (NJ-04)...

Political leaders, journalists' groups and others around the world have expressed horror at the attack by gunmen on the Paris offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Here are some of the reactions:

>By Thomas GroveMOSCOW Jan 20 (Reuters) - Russia might deliver a long-overdue S-300 air defence missile system to Iran, honouring a contract that was cancelled in 2010 following strong pressure from the West, Iranian and Russian media said on Tuesday.Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is visiting Tehran and signed...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen’s U.S.-backed leadership came under serious threat Monday as government troops clashed with Shiite rebels near the presidential palace and a key military base in what one official called “a step toward a coup.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Key elements of the economic proposals President Barack Obama will outline in his State of the Union address Tuesday appear to be aimed at driving the debate in the 2016 election on income inequality and middle-class economic issues, rather than setting a realistic agenda for Congress.

Israel’s strike on an Iranian general in Syria has prompted ominous warnings from both Tehran and its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, including the threat of “devastating thunderbolts” against the Jewish state. As alarming as some of the rhetoric may be, neither party is likely to risk major retaliation against Israel,...

ISTANBUL (AP) — In what could be the final chapter of a graft investigation that once seemed to threaten the inner circle of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's parliament is preparing to vote on whether to send four former ministers to court.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress and President Barack Obama are on a fast track toward confrontation over sanctions on Iran.

New evidence has emerged of China's interest in exploiting Antarctica's minerals despite an international agreement preventing it.

"Iran has no plan (to hold an emergency OPEC meeting) and is currently in consultations with other OPEC member states in a bid to prevent the sharp fall in the oil price, but these consultations have yet to bear fruit," said Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on the Iranian oil ministry's...

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The mysterious death of an Argentine prosecutor just days after he accused the president of directing a cover-up in the bombing of a Jewish community centre two decades earlier has jolted the country with accusations of foul play coming from all sides.