4 SKoreans freed after being kidnapped in Nigeria

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Four South Korean construction workers and a Nigerian colleague who were kidnapped in southern Nigeria have been freed. The five employees of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. were preparing for the construction of factories when they were abducted by unidentified gunmen Monday in Bayelsa state. Bayelsa State police chief Kingsley Omire said Saturday that the kidnappers "freely released" their hostages at about 9.30 p.m. Friday. He said no ransom was paid. Seoul's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday that the release was the result of "persistent persuasion." Omire said no one was hurt and that the Bayelsa State government had a strict no-ransom police. Kidnappings for ransom are frequent in Nigeria's oil-rich delta.

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Burger King's Whopper returns to France

PARIS (AP) — For the first time in 15 years, Burger King served its flame-grilled Whoppers in France, a country better known for its gastronomy than fast food. Burger King Worldwide opened a restaurant at Marseille airport on Saturday, returning to France thanks to an agreement with Autogrill, which operates restaurants at highway service stations. The burger chain, the world's second biggest behind McDonald's, closed its 39 French restaurants in 1997, because they were not profitable. Burger King says their next restaurant is planned at a highway service station in Champagne in the first half of 2013.

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Obama tries to rescue fiscal talks for post-Christmas deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday tried to rescue stalled talks on a fiscal crisis after a Republican plan imploded in Congress, but there was little headway as lawmakers and President Barack Obama abandoned Washington for Christmas. In remarks before flying to Hawaii for a break, Obama suggested reaching a short-term deal on taxes and extending unemployment insurance to avoid the worst effects of the "fiscal cliff" on ordinary Americans at the start of the New Year. "We've only got 10 days to do it. So I hope that every member of Congress is thinking about that. Nobody can get 100 percent of what they want," said Obama. Obama said he wanted to sign legislation extending Bush-era tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans in the coming days. The Democrat appeared to be offering bickering lawmakers a way to fix the most pressing challenge - tax cuts that expire soon - while leaving thorny topics such as automatic spending cuts or extending the debt ceiling for later. Obama called on lawmakers to use the holiday break to cool off frayed nerves, "drink some eggnog, have some Christmas cookies, sing some Christmas carols," and come back next week ready to make a deal. Negotiations were thrown into disarray on Thursday when House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner failed to convince his fellow Republicans to accept tax cuts for even the wealthiest of Americans as part of a possible agreement with Obama. "How we get there, God only knows," Boehner told reporters on Friday when asked about a possible comprehensive fiscal cliff solution. If there is no agreement, taxes would go up on all Americans and hundreds of billions of dollars in automatic government spending cuts would kick in next month - actions that could plunge the U.S. economy back into recession. Obama spoke to Boehner on Friday and held a face-to-face White House meeting with the top Democrat in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Before his defeat in Congress, Boehner had extracted a compromise from Obama to raise taxes on Americans making more than $400,000 a year, instead of the president's preference of those with income of $250,000 a year. But with talks stalled on the level of spending cuts to which Obama would agree, Boehner attempted a backup plan to raise taxes only on those making more than $1 million a year - amounting to just 0.18 percent of Americans. BAD DEFEAT FOR BOEHNER Boehner's reverse in the House was worse than first thought. A key Republican lawmaker said Boehner scrapped the vote when he realized that between 40 and 50 of the 241 Republicans in the House would not back him. Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress are insisting that the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes in order to help reduce federal budget deficits and avoid deep spending cuts. Republicans control the House and Democrats control the Senate. Stocks dropped sharply early Friday on fears that the United States could go fall back into recession if politicians do not prevent it. But major indexes lost less than 1 percent, suggesting investors still held out hope that an agreement will be brokered in Washington. "I think if you get into mid-January and (the talks) keep going like this, you get worried, but I don't think we're going to get there," said Mark Lehmann, president of JMP Securities, in San Francisco. Boehner, joined by his No. 2, Eric Cantor, at a Capitol Hill news conference, said the ultimate fault rests with Obama for refusing to agree to more spending reductions that would bring down America's $1 trillion annual deficit and rising $16 trillion debt. "What the president has proposed so far simply won't do anything to solve our spending problem. He wants more spending and more tax hikes that will hurt our economy," Boehner said. Democrats responded with incredulity. House members, heading to their home states for the holidays, were instructed to be available on 48 hours notice if necessary. "They went from 'Plan B' to 'plan see-you-later,'" Obama adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC on Friday morning. The crumbling of Boehner's plan highlights his struggle to lead some House Republicans who flatly reject any deal that would increase taxes on anyone. Republican Representative Tim Huelskamp criticized Boehner's handling of the negotiations, saying the speaker had "caved" to Obama opening the door to tax hikes. Huelskamp, a dissident first-term congressman from Kansas, said he was not willing to compromise on taxes even if they are coupled with cuts to government spending sought by conservatives. Fiscal conservatives "are so frustrated that the leader in the House right now, the speaker, has been talking about tax increases. That's all he's been talking about," Huelskamp said on MSNBC on Friday morning.

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EU to give Spain, France more time to cut deficit: press

MADRID (Reuters) - The European Commission will propose giving Spain, France and several other euro zone states more time to cut their public deficits below the target limit of 3 percent of GDP, newspaper El Pais said on Saturday. Citing senior Spanish and European Union sources, the Madrid-based daily said France could get an extra year, allowing it to narrow its fiscal gap by 2014, while Spain would be given one or two more years beyond that date. France said on Saturday that it would maintain its deficit-reduction goal for 2013 regardless of any softer line from Brussels. A Commission spokeswoman declined to comment on the report. Spain's fiscal targets are to be reassessed in February, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said last month. No additional austerity efforts are needed until 2014, he added, when more structural reforms are likely to be required. France does not appear to need additional belt-tightening and may have room for a "softer adjustment", the commissioner also said in an interview with France's Le Monde newspaper on Friday. But France said on Saturday it planned to stick to its 3 percent goal for next year. "Our public finance path remains unchanged as it was fixed in the autumn," an aide to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said. The French government's 2013 budget is based on a 0.8 percent growth forecast for the year - more optimistic than the flat economic output predicted by Brussels and the International Monetary Fund. European and Spanish sources had said earlier this month that Spain's fiscal path was likely be loosened to offset the country's second recession in three years. Such decisions need a formal discussion between the 27 European commissioners as well as a political green light from euro zone finance ministers. Spain sought support from its European partners this year for its ailing banks, hit by a burst property bubble. Recession is also undermining government efforts to keep the public debt burden in check, and financial markets expect Madrid to seek sovereign aid sometime next year. Madrid is to unveil new curbs on index-linked pension payouts and accelerate increases to the retirement age. Both EU demands must be met for Spain to tap international aid, lower its debt costs and fix its stricken economy. According to El Pais, the Commission has agreed on a new Spanish deficit path of 7 percent of economic output in 2012 and 6 percent in 2013. That compares to current targets of 6.3 percent for 2012 and 4.5 percent for 2013. Senior Spanish officials told Reuters this month the deficit would probably come in at around 7 percent at year end. Spain's 17 highly devolved autonomous regions are broadly on course to meet their deficit target of 1.5 percent of GDP, while the central government is heading for a deficit close to 5.5 percent, including social security spending.

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Will he or won't he? Italy awaits Monti's decision

ROME (AP) — Italy's president dissolved parliament Saturday, setting the stage for general elections in February and leaving only one lingering question from Premier Mario Monti's 13-month term trying to fix Italy's troubled finances: whether he will run. Monti will announce his decision Sunday, ending weeks of speculation and jockeying that have dominated Italy's political discourse and preoccupied much of Europe, which is eager to see Monti's financial reforms continue in the continent's third-largest economy. With polls showing a Monti-led list would only garner about 15 percent of the vote, all signs indicated he would refrain from campaigning or even allowing his name to be used on a political ticket grouping a handful of small centrist parties. "Monti leaning towards a 'no'," the Turin daily La Stampa headlined Sunday. "Monti pulls back on running," Corriere della Sera said on its front page. Whether he might endorse a centrist movement is another matter. "It's clear that Monti's candidacy would give authority to our political platform, but we'll respect his choices, whatever they may be," said Pier Ferdinando Casini, one of the centrist leaders who have been actively courting Monti in recent weeks. Monti resigned Friday after ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi's party withdrew its support from his technical government, forcing a crisis that brought a premature and chaotic end to the legislature's five-year term. Monti was tapped by Italy's president to lead the country in late November 2011 after Berlusconi was forced to resign, having lost the confidence of international markets in his ability to save the country from a Greek-style debt crisis. The respected economist and former European Union commissioner won back a degree of international credibility for the country through a series of tax hikes and fiscal reforms that were deeply unpopular at home. Italy's borrowing rates have come down significantly, thanks also to the European Central Bank's bond-buying program. Monti's resignation set in motion a series of procedures that culminated with President Giorgio Napolitano signing a decree Saturday to dissolve parliament. Polls indicate the center-left Democratic Party will win the vote, with the upstart populist movement of comic Bepe Grillo coming in second and Berlusconi's People of Freedom party coming in third. Berlusconi's party has been in disarray ever since he resigned, with defections of top party leaders and chaos over whether the billionaire media mogul will run himself. He has flip-flopped several times about his intentions, with his latest that he would run but would step aside if Monti runs. Berlusconi's party has also been discredited by a series of party funding scandals that have seen dozens of local politicians placed under investigation for allegedly misusing public funds for personal use. He also was convicted of tax fraud in October and is on trial on charges he paid for sex with an underage woman. He has denied the charges and is appealing the conviction. He also recently announced he was dating a woman nearly 50 years his junior.

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World Series Goes to Game 7 After an Epic Win by St. Louis

After being one strike away from elimination in back-to-back innings, the St. Louis Cardinals twice rallied from two runs down towin an 11-inning classic and force Game 7 of the World Series. RELATED: The Texas Rangers' Campaign Against 'The Wave' The Cards trailed Texas by two runs in both the ninth and tenth innings, but got multiple clutch hits from the likes of Albert Pujolsand Lance Berkman to the tie the game both times. Then David Freese — who tied the game with a triple in the ninth — led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a monster home run to center field,leaving baseball fans giddy at the prospect of a seventh game, the first in the World Series since 2002. RELATED: Red Sox-Yankees Games Are Unbearably Long The epic, four-hour-plus contest was a sloppy affair (the teams combined for five errors), but is already being compared to some of the best games in Series history. Particularly other great Game Sixes, like the ones in 1975, 1986, 1991, and 1993. RELATED: Tebow Booed in New York; Yachtsmen Mourned in San Francisco The game featured 15 pitchers (not counting one who had to pinch hit in the 10th), 5 home runs and 5 errors. One of the home runs came from St. Louis' Allen Craig, who was only in the game because outfielder Matt Holiday hurt his finger getting picked off first by Texas catcher Mike Napoli. RELATED: An Embarrassing Ending: Manny Ramirez Retires Game 7 will be tomorrow night at 8 p.m., in St. Louis. The starting pitchers are expected to be Matt Harrison, who lost Game 4 for Texas and Chris Carpenter, who (thanks to yesterday's rain delay) will start his third game of the series on just three days rest.

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Baseball Had A Really Good Night on Friday

So much for the risk of major media-market teams missing the World Series. Twenty-five million people watched Game Seven between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.
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It's a truism of sports journalism — at least of the shouty AM radio call-in show variety — that no one's really going to care about the World Series if a marquee team doesn't make it to October. Think of the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers, or (somehow?) the Chicago Cubs.
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That myth was demolished Friday night by Game 7 of the Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers, which was watched by 25 million people, the largest audience for a baseball game since 2004, the year of the historic Red Sox comeback against the Yankees and their first Series win since Russia had a tsar.
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The ratings were big, Sports Illustrated reports, and the game was the best-watched Friday TV event since the 2010 Olympics.
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Some caveats: St. Louis has long thought of itself as a preeminent baseball town, and the Rangers' local fan base, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan sprawl-plex, isn't exactly a small market. But the results would seem to suggest that the best way to get a lot of people watching a World Series is to make it a really great series. And to go a full seven games.

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