US job market shrugs off fears of 'fiscal cliff'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market proved resilient in December despite fears that a budget impasse in Washington would send the economy over the fiscal cliff and trigger growth-killing tax hikes and spending cuts.Employers added 155,000 jobs last month, roughly matching the solid but unspectacular monthly pace of the past two years.The gains announced Friday weren't enough to reduce unemployment,...

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TSX rises as data boosts sentiment; energy leads

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index finished broadly higher on Friday, with energy companies leading the gains, as encouraging North American economic data bolstered investor sentiment.Energy stocks, which make up about 25 percent of the index were up 1.07 percent. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd was the most positive stock on the TSX, adding 2.06 percent to C$30.15. Encana Corp was also...

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Fed officials eye timeline for ending asset purchases

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve could halt its asset purchases this year if the economy improves and unemployment drops, two top Fed officials said on Friday, a view seconded by most economists at Wall Street's top financial institutions.Meanwhile, another top Fed official warned the U.S. central bank's aggressive easing plan threatens the Fed's credibility.St. Louis Fed President James...

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Northern Irish fighting rages on as rioters branded "a disgrace"

 Northern Irish police came under attack by pro-British loyalists on Friday as the province's first minister branded rioters "a disgrace" and said they were playing into the hands of rival militant nationalists.Rioting began a month ago after a vote by mostly nationalist pro-Irish councilors to end the century-old tradition of flying the British flag from Belfast City Hall every day unleashed...

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U.N. Security Council voices worry about Central African Republic rebels

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council voiced alarm on Friday at an advance by rebels in Central African Republic that has brought them within striking distance of the mineral-rich nation's capital, and renewed its call for a negotiated solution to the crisis. Central African Republic President Francois Bozize will refuse to leave power during talks with the Seleka rebel alliance, his...

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India gang-rape victim's friend recounts attack

NEW DELHI (AP) — The companion of a woman who was gang-raped aboard a moving bus in India's capital said Friday that after being attacked for 2 1/2 hours, the pair was thrown on the side of the road, where passersby ignored them and police debated jurisdiction issues before helping them.The male companion, who has not been named, made the comments in a TV interview, the first time he had recounted...

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Venezuela VP: Chavez could be sworn in by court

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's vice president said Friday that President Hugo Chavez could be sworn in by the Supreme Court later on if he's not able to take the oath of office next week before lawmakers because of his struggle with cancer.Vice President Nicolas Maduro made the comment in a televised interview on Friday night, dismissing the argument by some opposition leaders that new elections...

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Chavez swearing-in can be delayed: Venezuelan VP

 President Hugo Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for January 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery, Venezuela's vice president said on Friday.Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement for...

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Fed minutes short-circuit Wall Street rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped on Thursday after signs the Federal Reserve has growing concern about its highly stimulative monetary policy, giving investors reason to pull back after a two-day rally.The minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting, released on Thursday, showed increasing reticence about adding to the central bank's $2.9 trillion balance sheet, which it expanded sharply in response...

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Asian shares drop on Fed minutes, dollar extends gain

 Asian shares fell on Friday, tracking overnight weakness in global equities, but the dollar gained as U.S. debt yields rose after several Federal Reserve officials expressed concerns about continuing to expand stimulative bond buying.Minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting released on Thursday showed some voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee were increasingly concerned...

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Wal-Mart appoints Lev Khasis to develop new store concepts

The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc appointed Lev Khasis as president and chief executive of New Formats for Walmart International, a company spokesperson said.Khasis, who joined Wal-Mart in 2011 as senior vice-president, will focus on developing new store concepts that can be deployed across markets, Wal-Mart spokesperson Kevin Gardner said in an e-mail statement.Khasis built up Russia's...

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Congress members seek investigation of Shell barge

 Calls for federal scrutiny of Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilling operations in Arctic waters swelled Thursday with a request for a formal investigation by members of Congress.The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition called on the Interior Department and the Coast Guard to jointly investigate the New Year's Eve grounding of the Shell drilling vessel Kulluk on a remote Gulf of Alaska...

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Google emerges from FTC probe relatively unscathed

 Google has settled a U.S. government probe into its business practices without making any major concessions on how the company runs its Internet search engine, the world's most influential gateway to digital information and commerce.Thursday's agreement with the Federal Trade Commission covers only some of the issues raised in a wide-ranging antitrust investigation that could have culminated...

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Ivory Coast stampede survivors blame barricades

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Survivors of a stampede in Ivory Coast that killed 61 people, most of them children and teenagers, after a New Year's Eve fireworks display said Wednesday that makeshift barricades stopped them from moving along a main boulevard, causing the crush of people.Ivory Coast police said unknown people put tree trunks across the Boulevard de la Republique where the trampling took...

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C. African Republic leader faces rebel threat

DAMARA, Central African Republic (AP) — More than 30 truckloads of troops from Chad line the two-lane highway just outside of Damara, supporting Central African Republic government forces who want to block a new rebel coalition from reaching the capital.In a display of force, the turbaned fighters hold their rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons they threaten to use if the rebels seeking to...

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Venezuela's opposition demands "whole truth" about Chavez health

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition on Wednesday demanded the government tell "the whole truth" about the health of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez, who has not been heard from in three weeks after undergoing a grueling operation in Cuba.Officials have acknowledged the usually garrulous former soldier's health is delicate after his fourth cancer surgery in 18 months, but they have offered...

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Myanmar military admits airstrikes against Kachin

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military acknowledged launching airstrikes against ethnic Kachin rebels in the north and said it captured a hilltop post from where the insurgents had attacked government supply convoys.The statement broadcast on state television Wednesday contradicted government claims two days earlier that the military was not carrying out offensive air attacks on the Kachin, raising...

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APNewsBreak: Google exec chairman to visit NKorea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Google's executive chairman is preparing to travel to one of the last frontiers of cyberspace: North Korea.Eric Schmidt will be traveling to North Korea on a private, humanitarian mission led by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that could take place as early as this month, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The sources, two people familiar with the group's...

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Congress tightens belt, trims spy budget for 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has drastically trimmed the budget for U.S. spies and satellites for 2013, though not quite as deeply as the White House wanted.In one of the last votes of the year, House lawmakers voted Monday 373-29 in favor of a Senate-passed bill to slightly boost the president's $72 billion budget request for intelligence agencies including the CIA, adding extra cash for the counterterrorism...

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Shell drill ship runs aground on island off Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Royal Dutch Shell PLC's foray into Arctic offshore drilling has suffered a serious setback after one of its two Alaska drilling rigs ran aground in shallow water off a small island.Officials at a unified command center run by the Coast Guard, Shell, state responders and others said the Kulluk grounded Monday night on rocks off the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, an uninhabited...

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Analysis: Economy would dodge bullet for now under fiscal deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A deal worked out by Senate leaders to avoid the "fiscal cliff" was far from any "grand bargain" of deficit reduction measures.But if approved by the House of Representatives, it could help the country steer clear of recession, although enough austerity would remain in place to likely keep the economy growing at a lackluster pace.The Senate approved a last-minute deal early...

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Bill to avert fiscal cliff heads to House

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation to negate a fiscal cliff of across-the-board tax increases and sweeping spending cuts to the Pentagon and other government agencies is headed to the GOP-dominated House after bipartisan, middle-of-the-night approval in the Senate capped a New Year's Eve drama unlike any other in the annals of Congress.The measure cleared the Senate on an 89-8 vote early Tuesday, hours...

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