Cut to the News . . . Your Daily News Briefing
Saturday, December 12, 2009 Make us your homepage
Top Breaking News
This Morning's Cut
Leading The News
House Strikes at Wall Street . . . Passes legislation to restrict operations of big banks as well as powers of the Fed. Wall Street Journal
Concern Grows on U.S. Radicalization . . . Fort Hood rampage and Pakistan arrests point to growing internal threat. New York Times
Health Care Showdowns Loom . . . Key votes over the next ten days. Fate of bill remains uncertain. McClatchy Newspapers
Politics
Wall Street Journal
S.C. First Lady Files for Divorce . . . One day after Gov. Mark Sanford said he hoped to reconcile, Jenny Sanford says she filed for divorce. The State
Judge Blocks Ban on Acorn Funding . . . Ruling could prevent permanent ban on funding now moving through Congress.
Wall Street Journal
Congress Eyes $1.8T Debt Limit Increase . . . Would allow the government to keep the machinery running through December 2010. Associated Press
Opinion: Is Obama Moving to the Center? . . . Speeches supporting new business tax cuts and justifying war raise the question.
Peggy Noonan
National Security
Iran Says it Will Agree to Uranium Exchange
But it will do so according to its own mechanisms and timetable, the foreign minister says.
USA Today
Father Turned in Five Americans to Pakistanis . . . He was alarmed that they were determined to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan. McClatchy Newspapers
Marines Struggle to Recruit Afghanis for War . . . Obstacles include candidates' drug use, illiteracy, and fear of the Taliban.
Christian Science Monitor
Pakistan Taliban Offensive Over . . . PM says drive in South Wazristan at an end. Militants may have just gone somewhere else.
The Independent
CIA Drops Blackwater . . . Contract gave employees with the company an operational role in one of the CIA’s most significant covert programs. New York Times
Money
Goldman Sachs Fueled AIG's Gambles . . . Played bigger role than has been publicly disclosed in fueling the mortgage bets that nearly felled the insurer AIG.
Wall Street Journal
Pay Czar Cuts Salaries . . . Feinberg cuts pay to $500,000 for executives at firms receiving government bailout money, but waives it for some. Washington Times
Economic Reports Stir Recovery Hopes . . . Consumers are spending, companies rebuilding stockpiles and Chinese exports are coming back. Associated Press
International
UN Sets High Bar on Emissions Cuts . . . Proposal would have rich countries make heavy cuts while funding effort of poorer countries like China.
Wall Street Journal
Turkey Bans Main Kurdish Party . . . Political uncertainty looms as country's highest court rules against Kurdish party over alleged terror links. The Guardian
Greece Struggle to Stay Afloat . . . Credit rating downgraded last week amid soaring deficit and structural woes. New York Times
Blair: I Would Have Removed Saddam Anyway . . . Says he would have taken the decision to remove Hussein even without evidence of WMD. CNN
You Must Also Know . . .
Immigration Officials Arrest 300 in California . . . Cite criminal activity in deporting or detaining suspects.
New York Times
Woman, 98, Indicted for Murder . . . Accused of killing roommate, 100, in nursing home after argument over a table. Boston Globe
Renowned Ice Climber Dies in Montana . . . Guy Lacelle dies after an avalanche swept him off a gully in Montana.
The Guardian
Top UN Official to Leave Afghanistan . . . Kai Eide's tenure marred by controversy over handling of fraud-marred election and attack on U.N. workers. Associated Press
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