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Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) greets supporters after a speech at the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park in Berlin July 24, 2008. (Jim Young/Reuters)

Obama says his foreign tour will reassure Americans

1 hour, 48 minutes ago

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama hopes his visit to Europe and the Middle East will show U.S. voters that he is a safe pair of hands, the Democrat said in an interview on Friday.

  • Greg Ohme works on framing a house in North Aurora, Illinois during the worst housing slump in decades July 24, 2008. (Jeff Haynes/Reuters)
    Senate on course to vote Saturday on housing bill Thu Jul 24, 8:42 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate was on course for a Saturday vote to approve a major housing market rescue bill with a lifeline for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bond market action on Thursday indicated investors in the two mortgage finance giants were encouraged.

  • Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown waits to meet his Kenyan counterpart Raila Odinga on the step of 10 Downing Street in London July 23, 2008. (Luke MacGregor/Reuters)
    Election loss deals bitter blow to UK's Brown 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

    GLASGOW (Reuters) - Britain's ruling Labor Party lost one of its safest parliamentary seats, results showed on Friday, deepening doubts within the party about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ability to win the next election.

  • A couple wades through streets flooded by Hurricane Dolly in Harlingen, Texas, July 24 , 2008. (Joe Mitchell/Reuters)
    Flooding feared along U.S.-Mexico border from Dolly Thu Jul 24, 6:17 PM ET

    BROWNSVILLE, Texas (Reuters) - Hurricane Dolly, which lashed the U.S.-Mexico coastline, weakened to a tropical depression on Thursday over South Texas, but concern remained over flooding along the populous Rio Grande Valley.

  • Private security contractors patrol the Department of Energy's Stategic Petroleum Reserve in Bryan Mound, Texas May 20, 2008. (Donna W. Carson/Reuters)
    House bid to sell oil from reserve fails Thu Jul 24, 5:35 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Thursday failed to pass legislation intended to cool off gasoline prices by requiring the government to sell 70 million barrels of light sweet crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the national stockpile.

  • Australian pilot Captain John Francis Barters (R) looks at the damage to a Qantas Airways plane after it made an emergency landing at the Manila International airport July 25, 2008. (Handout/Reuters)
    Holed Qantas plane in emergency landing at Manila 13 minutes ago

    MANILA (Reuters) - A Qantas Airways plane made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after part of its undercarriage blew off, triggering a loss in cabin pressure during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne.

  • In this photograph of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. Military, defendant Salim Hamdan (R) watches a video of himself under interrogation, shown as part of his trial, inside the courthouse at Camp Justice, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba July 23, 2008. Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver, knew the target of the fourth hijacked jetliner in the Sept. 11 attacks, a prosecutor said on Tuesday in an attempt to draw a link between him and the al Qaeda leadership in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial. (Janet Hamlin/Pool/Reuters)
    Bin Laden driver was not read rights, court told Thu Jul 24, 7:16 PM ET

    GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - A driver for Osama bin Laden was not told of any rights against self-incrimination under years of interrogation, FBI agents told the Guantanamo war crimes court on Thursday.

  • Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox testifies at the U.S. House Financial Services Committee about financial market regulatory restructuring in Washington July 24, 2008. (Larry Downing/Reuters)
    Accounting change not meant to shock: SEC's Cox Thu Jul 24, 4:23 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An accounting change that could force banks to bring trillions of dollars of off-balance sheet transactions back on their books will be implemented in a way that will not create unnecessary shocks, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday.

  • A newly built home sits vacant with a 'for sale' sign in front, in the Courtland Ridge development in Alpine, Utah, March 26, 2008. (George Frey/Reuters)
    Home sales at 10-year low, jobless claims jump Thu Jul 24, 4:15 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jobless claims jumped and the pace of existing home sales tumbled to a 10-year low as slowing growth hit hiring and a glut of unsold houses weighed on real estate, data released on Thursday showed.

  • World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy smiles before an informal session of the Trade Negociation Committee at the WTO headquarters in Geneva July 21, 2008. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)
    WTO talks live another day, little progress so far Thu Jul 24, 7:57 PM ET

    GENEVA (Reuters) - Marathon trade talks limped into another day on Friday but with little progress so far on the tortuous negotiations ministers said it would soon be time to decide whether a deal was at all possible.

  • An aerial view of the Pentagon building in Washington, June 15, 2005. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
    Pentagon agency faulted for jeopardizing ID data Thu Jul 24, 7:25 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Personal data collected on military, civilian and contractor employees seeking federal security clearances between 1997 and 2005 could be at risk due to inaccurate record-keeping by the Pentagon agency that did the investigations, an audit showed on Thursday.

  • Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) greets supporters after a speech at the Victory Column in Tiergarten Park in Berlin July 24, 2008. (Jim Young/Reuters)
    Obama presses Europe on Afghanistan in Berlin Thu Jul 24, 4:15 PM ET

    BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama urged Europe to stand by the United States in stabilizing Afghanistan in a speech to over 200,000 in Berlin that stressed the need for unity in the face of new threats.

  • A F-16 aircraft from the Pakistan Air Force fires an air-to-air live missile at its target during the Missile Firing Camp 2007 exercise at the PAF firing range near Karachi April 16, 2007. (Pakistan Air Force/Handout/Reuters)
    U.S. wants counterterror funds for Pakistan F-16s Thu Jul 24, 3:30 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has proposed shifting $226.5 million in U.S. counterterrorism aid to Pakistan to upgrade Pakistani F-16 fighters, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

  • The sun lights the exterior of the New York Stock Exchange, as people walk past on the shadowed street, July 16, 2008. (Chip East/Reuters)
    Wall Street tumbles, led by financials Thu Jul 24, 4:33 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks tumbled more than 2 percent on Thursday after a report showing yet another drop in U.S. home sales prompted investors to take profits in financial shares, which had rallied over the past week.

  • U.S. President George W. Bush prepares to make remarks on his freedom agenda at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington July 24, 2008. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
    Bush seeks to pass baton on his "Freedom Agenda" Thu Jul 24, 1:27 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday urged his successor to carry on what he called his "freedom agenda" of promoting human rights, democracy, and free trade around the world.

  • Men destroy opium poppies during a poppy eradication campaign in the eastern province of Ningarhar April 9, 2007. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)
    Ex U.S. official: Afghan leader shields drug trade Thu Jul 24, 11:14 AM ET

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's former point man in the fight against the heroin trade in Afghanistan has accused Afghan President Hamid Karzai of obstructing counter-narcotics efforts and protecting drug lords.

  • Walter Nones (C) and Simon Kehrer (R), Italian climbers who were rescued by the Pakistan Army, arrive at Islamabad International Airport July 25, 2008. The two Italian mountaineers, who were stranded for 10 days on one of the world's deadliest peaks in northern Pakistan, were rescued on Thursday, Pakistani army rescuers said. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood (PAKISTAN)
    Pakistani PM expected to hear price of U.S. support 2 minutes ago

    ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - New Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani can expect U.S. demands for action against militants in tribal lands on the Afghan border, along with usual statements of support, when he visits Washington next week.

  • Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith plays tourist guide to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a visit to Kings Park in Perth July 25, 2008. (Stringer/Reuters)
    Pakistan needs to do more to close Afghan border: Rice 2 hours, 59 minutes ago

    PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that Pakistan needed to do more to help curb the flow of militants across its border into Afghanistan as the Taliban had increased terrorist activity.

  • Bird egg samples collected from the BioDiversity Research Institute's study of toxins in Maine are shown in this April 20, 2008 image. (Mercedes Grandin/Reuters)
    Maine wages fight against toxic chemicals Thu Jul 24, 8:18 PM ET

    AUGUSTA, Maine (Reuters) - Hannah Pingree was so alarmed when she learned she had dangerously high levels of mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals in her body that she took her case to the Maine state legislature and challenged chemical makers.