December jobs report: 155,000 new jobs, unemployment stays at 7.8 percent

The employment picture continues to improve, but Congress' budget battles remain a source of concernThe Labor Department reported on Friday morning that the economy added a solid 155,000 jobs in December, and that the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.8 percent — tied for its lowest level in four years. The report is the latest evidence that the labor market — after years of periodic setbacks...

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Why this year's Oscars will be the least snooty ever

Finally, the Academy seems to realize that box-office success isn't a disqualifying factorIt happens every winter: A beautiful starlet wakes up at the crack of dawn to read a list of movies that will vie for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and millions of people around the country groan. "Never heard of them," America says.But this year — for the first time in many, many years — not only will...

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Why repeating your message isn't the same as staying on message

Somewhere along the line, political consultants must have told politicians and their spokespeople to repeat their answers over and over again. The logic behind their recommendation: News organizations often have space for only a single quote per person, so if you utter the same sentence over and over again, they'll be forced to use it. That may have worked many years ago, but it doesn't work anymore....

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Is gridlock inevitable in the 113th Congress?

The 112th Congress closed up shop to widespread jeers. Will its newly sworn in successor be any less ineffective?Among the nicer things said lately about the extraordinarily ineffective, widely insulted 112th Congress: At least it was more popular than gonorrhea and North Korea. And now, with the 113th Congress having been sworn in Thursday, some analysts are speculating hopefully that, with 20 percent...

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Is Promised Land unfair to the energy industry?

The new Matt Damon film, which tackles the controversy over hydraulic fracturing, has fracking fans crying foulPromised Land, a Matt Damon-starring drama that hits movie theaters today, tells the story of a small town debating whether to allow a corporation to use its hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking") process to extract energy from their land. (Watch a trailer for Promised Land below.) Of course,...

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Silence, ringing of bells to honor victims of school massacre

NEWTOWN, Conn./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Americans will remember the victims of the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre with a moment of silence on Friday, just before a powerful U.S. gun rights lobbying group plunges into the national debate over gun control.Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy called for residents of his state to observe the moment at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) to mark a week since...

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Putin in Brussels for Russia-EU summit focused on energy, Syria

BRUSSELS - Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Brussels for a summit with European Union leaders that is expected to focus on energy disputes and the Syrian crisis and could be marred by EU concerns about the Kremlin's clampdown on dissent.For Putin, the main issue in Friday's talks is EU energy market regulations intended to boost competition, which Moscow has described as discriminatory against...

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Asian shares slide as U.S. budget impasse creates anxiety

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares slid on Friday after a Republican proposal to deal with a U.S. fiscal crunch failed to get enough support, deepening uncertainty over the U.S. can avert the "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to start January 1."Markets disliked signs of further delay in talks, with the risk that a deal may not be reached by the end of the year deadline,"...

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Cyprus says suggestions of a haircut on its debt are unfounded

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Cyprus dismissed as unfounded on Thursday any suggestion the IMF is seeking a writedown of the island's debt before it agrees to participate in a multi-billion euro bailout.Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly was responding to a German media report that the International Monetary Fund had advocated a haircut on Cypriot bonds as a condition for IMF participation in an aid programme...

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Juncker rules out haircut on Cypriot debt

BERLIN (Reuters) - Outgoing Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday dismissed the possibility of writing down Cypriot sovereign debt, saying that would risk the credibility of the euro zone."We didn't say all Greek speaking countries, we said Greece. It is part of the credibility to stick to the signals you have sent," Juncker told German radio Deutschlandfunk."I expect that a haircut will not...

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