Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Science & Health Sep 30, 2013
Glitches, logistical problems plague exchanges
by Sarah Kliff
Buying health insurance will be as easy as purchasing a plane ticket or shopping on Amazon, President Barack Obama has promised. Maybe, but perhaps not on Tuesday — the day when millions of Americans are supposed to be able to start buying coverage under ...
Science & Health Sep 30, 2013
Obama's health plan set for launch — ready or not
Starting Tuesday, an estimated 50 million Americans who do not have health insurance are to start signing up for coverage as the core of President Barack Obama’s overhaul takes hold. Subsidies will be available to help those with lower incomes pay for insurance. And ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 30, 2013
Democrats, Republicans in eleventh-hour showdown as shutdown looms
As the U.S. government teeters on the brink of a partial shutdown, congressional Republicans and Democrats traded blame for the failure to reach agreement on a temporary funding bill to keep federal agencies open. Congress was closed for the day Sunday after a post-midnight ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 29, 2013
Shutdown nears as House delays health law
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved legislation early Sunday imposing a one-year delay on key parts of America’s health care law and repealing a tax on medical devices as the price for avoiding a partial government shutdown Tuesday. Senate Democrats had already pledged to ...
World Sep 29, 2013
NSA gathers data on U.S. citizens' social connections: report
The National Security Agency began mining Americans' email and phone data in 2010 to map out their social connections and locations, according to The New York Times.
Politics & Diplomacy | ANALYSIS Sep 29, 2013
Shutdown quandary shows Washington's breakdown
by Karen Tumulty
Washington once again stands at a moment of crisis — only this time, Democrats and Republicans are not negotiating a way to avoid it. They are not even speaking to one another. The cumulative effect of almost three years of governing by near-death experience ...
World Sep 29, 2013
Iranian protester hurls shoe at Rouhani after phone conversation with Obama
A shoe was thrown at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s motorcade as he arrived home to a mixed reception after his historic call with U.S. President Barack Obama. Newspapers hailed the first contact with a U.S. president in more than three decades as the ending ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 29, 2013
Politics and pride drive Putin's anti-U.S. shift
by Kathy Lally
First, Vladimir Putin accused Hillary Rodham Clinton of inciting protests against him at the end of 2011. The next fall, the Russian president threw the U.S. Agency for International Development out of his country. Then he decided civic groups that get U.S. financing must ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 28, 2013
Singh tones down hopes for Pakistani premier talks
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday toned down expectations for a planned meeting with Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif on Sunday at the United Nations, saying Pakistan remains an “epicenter of terrorism.” Singh, making what will likely be a farewell visit to the White ...
Politics & Diplomacy Sep 28, 2013
Senate sends spending bill to House fate
Democrats in the U.S. Senate set up a clash with House Republicans that could lead to a partial shutdown of the federal government in the coming week, approving a spending bill Friday that includes funding for President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul — a ...
World Sep 28, 2013
Obama, Rouhani speak in historic call
U.S. President Barack Obama and his Iranian counterpart hold the first direct contact between leaders of their estranged nations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Editorial Sep 27, 2013
Moving forward with Iran
Although Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani did not meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the U.N. this week, each man signaled a desire for a rapprochement.