Congress’ next fights over jobless aid, taxes

Congress’ next fights over jobless aid, taxes

WASHINGTON

Congress’ failed deficit-cutting supercommittee has faded away, but the pressure on lawmakers to quickly confront a stack of expensive economic issues is only growing. Before leaving town for Christmas and New Year’s, lawmakers face decisions on whether to renew payroll tax cuts that have meant an average of nearly $1,000 for more than 120 million families this year. Congress also must determine whether to extend unemployment benefits for millions of long-term jobless Americans.

Man who led cops to Oswald is honored

DALLAS

Dallas police honored a man on Tuesday whose “keen observation skills and strong sense of civic duty” led them to Lee Harvey Oswald, who had crept into the back of a darkened movie theater to hide Nov. 22, 1963, shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Police Chief David Brown presented Johnny Calvin Brewer with the department’s Citizen’s Certificate of Merit and praised his selfless act and “exemplary conduct” 48 years ago during a ceremony at the Texas Theatre — the same place where Oswald was captured about 80 minutes after Kennedy was killed.

UN panel votes to condemn Syria

BEIRUT

A United Nations committee voted Tuesday to condemn Syria for its violent crackdown on protesters, stepping up pressure on the country’s increasingly isolated president, Bashar Assad, after Turkey’s prime minister urged him to step down.

Critics and even some allies are growing increasingly impatient with Syria, where U.N. officials estimate 3,500 people have been killed since anti-government demonstrations erupted in March.

A leading opposition group, the Local Coordination Committees, reported that 32 more people were killed Tuesday, including six children.

Giffords goes home for Thanksgiving

TUCSON, Ariz.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has returned to her hometown of Tucson for a private visit with her family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Giffords’ staff says the congresswoman arrived in Tucson on Tuesday evening from Houston. She plans to spend Thanksgiving with her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, her parents and other family members and friends.

Giffords was among 19 people shot Jan. 8 as she met with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket. Six people died, and Giffords still is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.

The congresswoman had been undergoing intensive rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston since late January. She was discharged in June to begin outpatient treatment.

Italians: Cut debt without sacrifices

ROME

Few Italians are willing to make personal sacrifices — such as retiring at age 67 instead of 65, or even earlier — though they believe cutting the country’s public debt is a top priority, according to an AP-GfK poll released Tuesday.

And most Italians think the country should stay in the 17-nation eurozone even though the European Union is demanding such tough economic reforms.

A full 93 percent of Italians said reducing the public debt was either an “extremely” or “very important” goal for the government to tackle.

Yet, only about a quarter of Italians favor reforming labor laws to make it easier to fire workers, or raising the retirement age — considered critical to curb Italy’s public spending and boost economic growth.

Combined dispatches