RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ― Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ government narrowly dodged a full-blown cash crisis after Israel agreed Wednesday ― under intense international pressure ― to resume the transfer of $100 million a month in frozen tax funds.The episode illustrated the fragile financial foundations of Abbas’ West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and the broad international consensus that it needs to keep functioning to ensure some stability, especially at a time of diplomatic deadloc

TOKYO (AP) ― Radioactive debris from melted fuel rods may have seeped deeper into the floor of a Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear reactor than previously thought, to within a foot from breaching the crucial steel barrier, a new simulation showed Wednesday.The findings will not change the ongoing efforts to stabilize the reactors more than eight months after the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was disabled, but they harshly depict the meltdowns that occurred and conditions within the reactors, which will be

BERLIN (AP) ― Widespread corruption ignited protests this year across the Middle East and in those nations badly shaken by Europe’s debt crisis as citizens demanded accountability from their governments, an international watchdog said Thursday.A movement for greater transparency took on greater momentum in 2011 forcing leaders and bureaucracies to “heed the demands for better government,” Transparency International said in its annual corruption perceptions index that scored 183 countries based o

MOSCOW (AP) ― Alexei Balitsky, a student at Russia’s top engineering school, is among hundreds of people across the country who have complained of pressure to vote for the Kremlin’s party in this weekend’s parliamentary elections.The independent election watchdog group Golos said Wednesday that about a third of the 4,000 complaints of violations it has received so far come from voters who say they are being pressured ― mostly by bosses at work or professors at universities ― to vote for United R

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Political parties in Belgium, which has been without a government for 535 days, agreed Wednesday on the blueprint of a ruling coalition to be headed by French-speaking Socialist Elio Di Rupo.“There is a global agreement, on the reform of the state, socio-economic questions and a government platform,” a source close to the negotiations told AFP.Di Rupo emerged from the talks with a smile, but refused comment after days of trying to hammer out a deal between six parties split by p

Major demonstrations nearing end as police dismantle Philadelphia, L.A. sitesNEW YORK (AP) ― The overnight police raids in Philadelphia and Los Angeles that dismantled two of the nation’s biggest Occupy Wall Street encampments leave just a few major “occupations” still going on around the U.S. But activists are already changing tactics and warning of a winter of discontent, with rallies and marches every week.The camps may bloom again in the spring, organizers said, and next summer could bring h

NEW YORK (AP) ― Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its credit ratings for many of the world’s largest financial institutions, including the biggest banks in the U.S.Bank of America Corp. and its main subsidiaries are among the institutions whose ratings fell at least one notch Tuesday, along with Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co.S&P said the changes in 37 financial companies’ ratings reflect the firm’s new criteria fo

TOKYO (AFP) ― Energy-saving electric cars with advanced green technology vie for attention as the Tokyo Motor Show opens Wednesday, with robots and computers becoming ever more part of the vehicles on display.Companies are showcasing concept cars with “transformable” bodies and automotive computers linked to smart phones, while showing off energy-efficient vehicles with electric, fuel cell and hybrid engines.On display on Wednesday will be the compact, fuel-efficient cars with which Japanese car

BUDAPEST (AP) ― Hungary’s central bank said Tuesday it was raising its main interest rate from 6 percent to 6.5 percent after Moody’s recently downgraded the country’s debt rating to junk status.The decision takes effect on Wednesday. The change is the first time the National Bank of Hungary has adjusted its base rate since Jan. 25, when it raised it by a quarter percentage point.Central bank President Andras Simor said the bank’s rate-setting Monetary Council voted unanimously for the hike, add

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- Eurozone inflation hit 3.0 percent for the third month running in November, official data showed on Wednesday, but analysts expect the European Central Bank to slash its main rate due to the debt crisis.The ECB, the guardian of euro price stability, wants to keep inflation below 2.

BEIJING (AP) -- China will have about 780,000 people infected with the AIDS virus by the end of this year, state media reported Wednesday, with most having contracted it through heterosexual sex.The official Xinhua News Agency said a report from the Ministry of Health and the United Nations estimate

BAGHDAD (AP) ― Vice President Joe Biden arrived on a surprise visit to Iraq late Tuesday in a trip designed to chart a new relationship between the two countries after all American forces have left the country in just over a month.After nearly nine years of war, the U.S. now must navigate a future without American troops in Iraq. Iraq’s vast oil resources, the massive U.S. Embassy presence here and Iraq’s strategic location in the Middle East ― next to Iran ― ensure American interest will remain