Nominee to be Libyan foreign minister turns down the job

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The man proposed as Libya's foreign minister has rejected the post despite being cleared by an Integrity Commission which was asked to examine his ties to deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.Ali Aujali, Libya's former ambassador to the United States was among eight of the 27 ministers nominated by Prime Minister Ali Zeidan who were referred to the commission, which studies the backgrounds...

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Egypt panel implicates Mubarak, military in deaths

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian fact-finding mission determined that Hosni Mubarak watched the uprising against him unfold through a live TV feed at his palace, despite his later denial that he knew the extent of the protests and crackdown against them, a member of the mission said Wednesday.The mission's findings increase pressure for a retrial of the 84-year old ousted president, who is already serving...

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Venezuela opposition: Chavez secrecy feeds rumors

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's opposition demanded that the government reveal specifics of President Hugo Chavez's condition Wednesday, criticizing secrecy surrounding the ailing leader's health more than three weeks after his cancer surgery in Cuba.Opposition coalition leader Ramon Guillermo Aveledo said at a news conference that the information provided by government officials "continues...

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U.N. lifts Syria death toll to "truly shocking" 60,000

AMMAN/GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 60,000 people have died in Syria's uprising and civil war, the United Nations said on Wednesday, dramatically raising the death toll in a struggle that shows no sign of ending.In the latest violence, dozens were killed in a rebellious Damascus suburb when a government air strike turned a petrol station into an inferno, incinerating drivers who had rushed there for...

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Oil down slightly as fiscal-cliff talks continue

The price of oil fell slightly Friday, as the stock market drifted lower and efforts continued in Washington to strike a budget deal before the year-end deadline.U.S. benchmark crude fell 7 cents to finish at $90.80 a barrel.Hopes that a budget compromise might be reached were still alive as congressional leaders met with President Barack Obama at the White House. The Republican-dominated House is...

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Stocks drop as hope for a budget deal slips away

 Stocks are dropping again on Wall Street as investors lose hope that Washington will meet a self-imposed deadline for reaching a budget deal by year-end.The five-day losing streak for the Dow Jones industrial average was the longest since July.The Dow lost 158 points to close at 12,938 Friday.The Standard & Poor 500 index fell 15 points to 1,402 and the Nasdaq dropped 25 points to 2,960.The...

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Wall Street ends sour week with 5th 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 week....

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