| Obama touts Hagel, says no decision on defense secretary job Dec 30th 2012, 17:11  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama offered strong support for former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as the potential next U.S. defense secretary but said in remarks aired on Sunday that he had not yet decided on a nominee for the Pentagon post. Hagel is considered a leading candidate to replace outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, but the former Nebraska lawmaker has come under criticism for his record on Israel and for a comment that being gay was an inhibiting factor for being an ambassador. "I've served with Chuck Hagel. I know him. He is a patriot. ...
|  | U.S. farm-state lawmakers agree to farm subsidy law extension Dec 30th 2012, 17:09 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Farm-state lawmakers have agreed on a one-year extension of a farm law that, if enacted, would head off a possible doubling of U.S. milk prices to $7.OO or more a gallon in 2013. The compromise resulted from bipartisan discussions in the House of Representatives' Agriculture Committee and talks with colleagues in the U.S. Senate, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, the House panel's chairman, said in a statement on Sunday. ... | | Obama skeptical of NRA proposal to put more guns in schools Dec 30th 2012, 16:57  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast on Sunday he hopes to get new U.S. gun control measures passed during the first year of his second term and is skeptical of a proposal by the National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby to put armed guards in schools. Obama assigned Vice President Joe Biden to lead a task force to come up with proposals on guns at the beginning of 2013 after the massacre of 20 children and six adults by a gunman at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, this month. "I'd like to get it done in the first year. ...
| | Little Republican support for Hagel for Defense post-senator Dec 30th 2012, 14:41 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Sunday there was very little support among Republicans for Chuck Hagel as defense secretary if President Barack Obama decides to nominate him. "If he sends Chuck Hagel up, it will be a confirmation hearing of consequence," Graham said on Fox News Sunday. "There would be very little Republican support for his nomination, at the end of the day, there will be very few votes." (Reporting By Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by David Brunnstrom) | | Storms on U.S. Plains stir memories of the "Dust Bowl" Dec 30th 2012, 14:16  LIBERAL, Kansas (Reuters) - Real estate agent Mark Faulkner recalls a day in early November when he was putting up a sign near Ulysses, Kansas, in 60-miles-per-hour winds that blew up blinding dust clouds. "There were places you could not see, it was blowing so hard," Faulkner said. Residents of the Great Plains over the last year or so have experienced storms reminiscent of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Experts say the new storms have been brought on by a combination of historic drought, a dwindling Ogallala Aquifer underground water supply, climate change and government farm programs. ...
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