Senate democrats try again on tax plan to raise rates on top earners
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats said Monday that they would try for the fifth time in two months to raise taxes on top earners to pay for legislation that would reduce Social Security payroll taxes, as President Barack Obama sought to keep congressional Republicans on the defensive, asserting that their intransigence could cause a tax increase for tens of millions of American workers.
European Central Bank head suggests wider rescue is possible, pending spending discipline
FRANKFURT, Germany — Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, laid the groundwork for a more aggressive response to the debt crisis Thursday, suggesting that the bank could increase its support for the European economy if political leaders took more radical steps to enforce spending discipline among members.
EU tightens sanctions against Iran after embassy attack
BERLIN — The European Union announced tightened sanctions against Iran on Thursday in the aftermath of the storming of Britain’s Tehran embassy, adding 180 Iranian officials and companies to a blacklist that freezes their assets and bans travel to member states.
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CAIRO — The Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm Thursday distanced itself from a more conservative Islamist party as early vote tallies indicated that the two factions would claim the two largest roles in the first Parliament elected since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
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HONG KONG — The Chinese manufacturing sector contracted in November, according to a closely watched barometer, indicating that a key engine of global growth is getting dragged down by the economic woes of Europe and the United States and by the Chinese authorities’ moves to cool inflation.
After Clinton visit, US to relax some curbs on aid to Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the United States would loosen some restrictions on international financial assistance and development programs in Myanmar, in response to a nascent political and economic opening in the country.
Seasonal temperatures for now, but warming up
Earlier this week, New England experienced above normal temperatures. Highs have been in the mid to upper 60s (18–20°C) with generally clear weather (despite the quick 0.76” of rain at Logan Airport last Tuesday night). But today, cooler weather has arrived since winds have become northerly and are bringing air down from Canada. A high pressure just to our west will keep cool air blowing in through Saturday.
Israeli leader visits Jordan to discuss Palestinian issue
JERUSALEM — King Abdullah II of Jordan played host Monday to Shimon Peres, the president of Israel, in an effort to make progress on the stubborn Palestinian question at a time of regional diplomatic uncertainty and fragmentation.
Obama meets with EU leaders on debt crisis
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met with top European Union leaders as the eurozone sovereign debt crisis entered a perilous new phase, with increasing worries about the sustainability of the 17-country monetary union and borrowing costs climbing to new peaks.
Silver Lake and Microsoft expected to bid for stake in Yahoo
A consortium of investors led by the private equity firm Silver Lake and Microsoft is one of several parties that will be submitting a plan to take a minority stake in Yahoo, according to people briefed on the matter.
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BAGHDAD — A yellow taxi loaded with explosives blew up Monday at the crowded front gates of a prison north of Baghdad, killing at least 13 people, many of them security guards or civilians waiting to visit jailed family members.
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MOGADISHU, Somalia — The al-Shabab militant group, which has already blocked many aid agencies from reaching starving people in Somalia’s famine zones, ordered 16 more aid agencies to shut down Monday. Heavily armed al-Shabab fighters then raided the offices of several aid groups, looted equipment and accused the aid workers of being spies.
Showers, then seasonable weather
Yesterday was an unseasonably warm day here in the Cambridge area. Logan Airport recorded a high of 67°F. This was 20 degrees warmer than the normal high, but well shy of the record of 74°F.
Democrats propose extended payroll tax cut
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats introduced legislation Monday to extend and expand an expiring payroll tax cut, setting the stage for a showdown with Republicans who are almost certain to reject the Democrats’ proposal for paying for the cut.
Syria calls the Arab League’s sanctions ‘economic war’
DAMASCUS, Syria — The Arab League declared “economic war” on Syria when it leveled broad trade sanctions against it, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said Monday, warning that the country could use its strategic location to retaliate.
Obama sidestepped the deficit committee debacle
WASHINGTON — In remaining aloof from the special deficit committee in Congress even as it collapsed on Monday, President Barack Obama showed his calculation more clearly than ever before: Republicans will never agree to raise taxes on the wealthy to balance any spending cuts, so let the voters decide.
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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Opening statements in the most significant stage of a U.N.-backed trial of Khmer Rouge leaders began Monday with a horrifying account of the atrocities of a regime that a prosecutor said was responsible for the deaths of one-fourth of the population during its four-year rule from 1975 to 1979.
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HONG KONG — Solar panel makers in China plan to shift some of their production to South Korea, Taiwan and the United States in hopes of defusing a trade case pending against them in Washington, according to industry executives.
Syrian opposition meets with British officials
ISTANBUL — Syria’s political opposition widened its outreach Monday, sending representatives to Britain as the Syrian government withstood signs of further isolation over an uprising that is increasingly resembling a prolonged armed struggle to oust President Bashar Assad.
Arrest of top adviser to Iran’s president is reported
A simmering rivalry between Iran’s president and powerful adversaries within the conservative hierarchy spilled into the open Monday when judiciary forces briefly arrested his top media adviser, who also runs the official news agency and a leading newspaper, witnesses and Iranian news accounts said. The witnesses said the adviser, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, was handcuffed for an hour in a raid on his Tehran office and released only after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatened to come personally and free him. The security forces used tear gas when they barged into the office, the witnesses said, and they arrested at least 32 other people. It was not clear whether the others had been released. Javanfekr is the chief executive of the official Islamic Republic News Agency, known by its acronym, IRNA, and the manager of IRNA’s print affiliate, Iran, the official daily newspaper. He is one of the most powerful figures in publicizing Iran’s government policies and messages to the outside world. Details on the exact circumstances of the raid were not clear. But the episode appeared to be the most dramatic instance in which the friction between Ahmadinejad and conservatives in the government emerged in the open; the president’s conservative critics have increasingly challenged him over what they regard as a “deviant current” of presidential advisers who want to subvert the authority of the Islamic clergy.