In the US, political factors rise

February 12, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Nov. 4 is circled in red on the calendars of Republicans and Democrats.

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China and Taiwan hailed a new chapter in their relations on Tuesday and said their ties would advance after they held their highest-level government talks since they split during a civil war in 1949. The two-hour discussions in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing marked a leap forward in official dialogue, sidestepping Beijing’s refusal to recognize the self-governing island’s sovereignty. No formal agreements were signed, with both sides saying just the fact that they could meet as equals marked a major step forward.

Reassuring words from the new head of the Federal Reserve sent stocks soaring on Tuesday and gave the market its longest winning streak this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 200 points after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said she would continue the central bank’s market-friendly, low-interest rate policies. Investors also welcomed news that Congress appeared poised to raise the US borrowing limit.

Algeria’s Ministry of Defense says 77 people were killed and one man survived after a military transport plane crashed into a mountain in eastern Algeria. The statement said Tuesday the C130 Hercules turboprop was carrying 74 passengers and four crew members. After radio and radar contact with the flight was lost at 11:37 a.m. local time, three helicopters were sent to find the plane. The ministry said it had slammed into Mt. Fortas, 30 miles from the flight’s destination city of Constantine.

The most decorated country in Winter Olympic history earned four more medals Tuesday, and the most famous snowboarder in the world had his hopes for a third straight gold in the halfpipe dashed. Norway won double gold in the cross-country freestyle sprints while picking up silver medals in the women’s sprint and in the women’s 10-kilometer biathlon pursuit. The US saw several of its best hopes evaporate: Shaun White, the flamboyant snowboarder, was dethroned by Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov, and another US gold medal prospect, cross-country skier Kikkan Randall, was eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the women’s freestyle sprint.

The House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to restore full cost-of-living increases to pension benefits for younger military retirees, responding eagerly to election-year pressure from veterans groups. The Senate debated a similar bill as lawmakers hastened to reverse course on the most controversial cut contained in budget legislation approved less than two months ago.

The Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday lost a federal appeal in a legal battle over its effort to institute competency exams and other new regulations for as many as 700,000 paid tax preparers. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling last year that the IRS lacked authority to impose the new rules without congressional authorization.

Shirley Temple, the dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang and danced her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, died Monday at her home near San Francisco. A talented and ultra-adorable entertainer, Shirley Temple was America’s top box-office draw from 1935 to 1938, a record no other child star has come near. She beat out such grown-ups as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, and Joan Crawford. In later life, she became active in politics and held several diplomatic posts in Republican administrations.

Aid workers failed to evacuate anyone from blockaded rebel-held neighborhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs on Tuesday or deliver any food, increasing pressure on them to complete the ambitious humanitarian operation before a fragile truce expires, activists and Syrian Red Crescent officials said. In Geneva, meanwhile, government and opposition leaders met for another round of face-to-face negotiations on how to halt the civil war.

Attorney General Eric Holder called on a group of states Tuesday to restore voting rights to ex-felons, part of a push to fix what he sees as flaws in the criminal justice system that have a disparate impact on racial minorities. “It is time to fundamentally rethink laws that permanently disenfranchise people who are no longer under federal or state supervision,” Holder said, targeting 11 states that he said continue to restrict voting rights for former inmates, even after they’ve finished their prison terms.

The United States is cracking down on the sale and purchase of ivory in hopes of curbing a surge in illicit poaching that’s threatening to wipe out elephants and other species in Africa. The ivory ban is a key component of a new, national strategy for combating wildlife trafficking, unveiled Tuesday by the White House, seven months after President Obama issued a call to action during a visit to Tanzania.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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