| By Derek Caney
Syrian opposition groups and the Syrian government signed a new ceasefire deal that is supposed to take effect at midnight on Dec. 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. He also said that Russia had agreed to reduce its military deployment in Syria.
The Obama administration plans to announce a series of retaliatory measures against Russia for alleged cyber espionage in an effort to help President-elect Donald Trump. Targeted economic sanctions, indictments, leaking information to embarrass Russian officials or oligarchs, and restrictions on Russian diplomats in the United States are all on the table. But messing with Russian internet messaging is not. Further sanctions may be an effective tool in part because they would be difficult for Trump to roll back and because Russia hates dealing with them. "For the rest of the world, (sanctions are) like having 'scumball' stamped on your forehead." – Jim Lewis, Center for Strategic and International Studies "I think we ought to get on with our lives," President-elect Donald Trump said of the effort to retaliate against Russia.
After years of running flat out, Gulf Coast oil refiners are lining up repairs in 2017. But a severe labor shortage could delay work, drive up costs and raise accident risks.
Polly want a cracker? 
Pope Francis receives a parrot from a performer of the Golden Circus during his Wednesday general audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican Dec. 28, 2016. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
Around the country - Debbie Reynolds, star of "Singin' In The Rain" and other musicals, died of a stroke at age 84, a day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, died from a heart attack.
- Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel's building of settlements on occupied land was jeopardizing Middle East peace, voicing unusually frank frustration with America's longtime ally weeks before he is due to leave office. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Kerry of bias, adding that Israel did not need to be lectured to by foreign leaders.
- Trump's goal of overhauling the tax code in 2017 will depend partly on the work of an obscure congressional committee tasked with estimating how much future economic growth will result from tax cuts.
Around the world - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen plans to pass through the United States when she visits Latin America next month. China is unhappy with that move, urging the U.S. to block any such stopover.
- Political leaders don't often brag about their ability to throw people from helicopters. That changed today with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
- Japan's defense minister visited the Yasukuni Shrine to Japan's war dead, just after accompanying Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a historic visit to Pearl Harbor. China and South Korea consider Yasukuni a symbol of Japan's militarism and a reminder of its wartime atrocities. Both countries voiced their disapproval, with China saying it would make "solemn representations" to Japan.
Around Wall Street - U.S. shale drillers are set to ramp up spending on exploration and production next year as recovering oil prices prompt banks to extend credit lines for the first time in two years.
Digits of the day: 111 The dollar slipped to a two-week low against the yen, mirroring a fall in U.S. bond yields as weaker-than-expected economic data weighed on the greenback and waning risk appetite boosted Japan's safe-haven currency. Meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 111 points yesterday putting the index even further from the 20,000 landmark. - A top investigator into the electronic theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank is turning his attention to bank technicians who he suspects hooked up its transactions system to the public internet, giving hackers access.
Today's reason to live R.E.M. – Sweetness Follows |
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