American journalist missing in Syria

 An American journalist has been missing in Syria since he was kidnapped more than one month ago, his family said Wednesday, less than two years after he was held by government forces in Libya while covering that country's civil war.The family of James Foley, of Rochester, N.H., said he was kidnapped in northwest Syria by unknown gunmen on Thanksgiving day.Foley, 39, has worked in a number of...

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U.N. worried about reports of air strikes in Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern on Wednesday at reports of air strikes in Myanmar's Kachin State, where a 20-month conflict between government troops and rebels has been escalating."(Ban) has taken serious note of the most recent reports indicating air strikes against targets in Kachin State," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement."While details...

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Wall Street ends sour week with fifth straight decline

 Stocks fell for a fifth straight day on Friday, dropping 1 percent and marking the S&P 500's longest losing streak in three months as the federal government edged closer to the "fiscal cliff" with no solution in sight.President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders met at the White House to work on a solution for the draconian debt-reduction measures set to take effect beginning next...

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Cliff may be a fear, but debt ceiling much scarier

 Investors fearing a stock market plunge - if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week - may want to relax.But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets.Market strategists say that while falling off...

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Stung Bankia investors look to courts for justice

 Spanish savers and pensioners who have seen their money wiped out by investing in state-rescued lender Bankia are likely to seek redress in court rather than wait for any official inquiry, which looks increasingly unlikely.About 350,000 stockholders will share the pain of the bank's European bailout, many of them bank clients who were sold the shares through an aggressive marketing campaign...

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Indian stocks third best performers globally

Mumbai, Dec 31 (IANS) After a dismal show a year ago, the Indian stock market emerged as the third best performer globally in 2012, with a return of over 25 percent for a key index on the back of $24 billion foreign fund inflows and robust buying by domestic investors.The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ranked third in terms of returns after the yields of the 50-scrip...

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Stocks open mixed as budget deadline nears

 Stocks are little changed in early trading on Wall Street as a budget deadline approaches with no deal in sight.The Dow Jones industrial average was down six points at 12,931 shortly after the opening bell Monday.The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up two points at 1,405 and the Nasdaq composite edged up 10 points to 2,970.There are just hours to go before a midnight deadline, when sweeping...

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