Will Congress have a New Year’s Eve cliff countdown?

The House could then vote for a compromise measure that would, technically, lower taxes after the Bush-era tax cuts expire. Such a measure would give GOP House members some “cover” in two years when they come up for re-election.

Will Congress have a New Year’s Eve cliff countdown?

Making matters more complex is the theory that some Republicans want the steep tax hikes and spending cuts that make up the fiscal cliff to kick in—at least for a few days.

Obama_Boehner_State_of_the_Union_2011President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are set to resume work on fiscal cliff talks on Thursday, assuming the president’s return from Hawaii isn’t delayed by bad weather.

One rumored stop-gap package would be a delay on taxing households with income under $250,000, an extension of unemployment benefits, a patch to the alternative minimum tax and a delay to spending cuts known as the sequester.

“We’re going to spend New Year’s Eve here, I believe,” he told CNN.But on further review, maybe Lieberman wasn’t joking after all.

That leaves the Democrats and Republicans with five days to agree on a fiscal cliff compromise, get the bills written for such measures, and hold two high-profile public votes.

The temporary measure would have to get passed by the GOP-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate in near-record time, and it still wouldn’t fix the long-term problems that are part of the fiscal cliff debate.

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Historically, market trading is light on December 31, but next Monday could be an interesting day, especially if talks fall apart on the weekend.

The one factor that could force a stop-gap package before New Year’s Day is a very, very bad reaction from Wall Street.

However, that isn’t a consensus opinion. Some market watchers believe fiscal cliff scenarios have been priced into the market already, while others are expecting negotiations to finalize in January, before much damage happens.

On Sunday, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said she expected any action in the waning days of the year to be “a patch because in four days we can’t solve everything.”

However, there was growing pessimism the Democrats could get any Republican support in the House unless a stop-gap measure include a delayed tax hike for all households and cuts to social programs.

But the Republicans also have to deal with some less-than-favorable factors.

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There were reportedly no talks between the sides during the Christmas holiday break, so negotiations won’t start until Thursday.

For starters, there will be fewer GOP members in the House and Senate after the New Year, as a new crop of Congress members takes office. And public opinion polls show most Americans will blame GOP leadership if the fiscal cliff becomes a reality.

Outgoing Senator Joe Lieberman seemingly joked on Sunday that the fiscal cliff vote could come as gigantic crowds amass on New Year’s Eve to celebrate the holiday.

The Constitution in 2013: Gains or losses on rights?10 facts about 10 new members of CongressFive things to fear most about the fiscal cliff

Then, the divided Republican House would need to agree on a measure proposed by Democrats. Last week, GOP House members couldn’t agree on a bill offered by its own leader, John Boehner.

Even getting a stop-gap measure through the Senate will be tricky, since its GOP leadership will need to forgo a filibuster to get a bill passed.

So far, investors are watching and waiting to see what happens by the weekend.

The assumption going into Thursday was that President Barack Obama and Senate majority leader Harry Reid would agree on some type of stop-gap measure to delay middle-class tax hikes and hold off some spending cuts.

In a New York Times article, Julia Coronado, the chief North American economist at BNP Paribas, was pessimistic. “Markets have been incredibly complacent about this,” she said. And investors won’t be happy if the fiscal cliff happens. “The markets will take that hard.”

The official countdown clock for the fiscal cliff starts on Thursday, and a big question will be if Congress will be in session next Monday night.

A bad day on Wall Street could lead to a late night in Washington.

Egypt's Morsi: Constitution sets up a new republic

In this image released by the Egyptian…

The main opposition National Salavation front said it refuses to join the current dialogue as it stands, calling it "farcical and simply theater" and saying it would only enter a "real and effective" dialogue.

"We won't deal with dialogues based on pretention," Abdel-Ghani said. He said the opposition won't take part in an attempt by Morsi simply to convince the United States — which has called for compromise and talks — that he is reaching out to his opponents without offering real substance.

The constitution is Egypt's first since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in Feb. 2011. The opposition questioned its legitimacy, arguing it passed with a very low turnout of around 33 percent and without a national consensus. They say the charter restricts freedoms, ignores rights of minorities and women and enshrines Islamic rule.

Christian activist Mona Makram…

Egypt's Morsi: Constitution sets up a new republic
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He said the group would study Morsi's speech to determine whether it was a serious call.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president said Wednesday that the disputed constitution just approved in a referendum establishes a new republic and he called on the opposition to join a dialogue to heal rifts over the charter and shift the focus to repairing the economy.

He said there is room in Egypt for an effective, national opposition.

Essam el-Erian vice chairman of…

"The Egyptian people passed the constitution with nearly a two-thirds majority," he said. "But I acknowledge that a respectable proportion chose to say 'no,' and it is their right." The constitution passed with nearly 64 percent voting "yes."

Members of the constitutional assembly…

In the first speech since official results a day earlier showing the constitution was approved, Mohammed Morsi said he acknowledges the "respectable" proportion that voted against the constitution drafted by his Islamist allies. But he offered no concrete gestures to an opposition that has so far rejected his offer of dialogue and vowed to fight the charter.

"As we set on a new phase moving from the first republic to the second republic, a republic that has this constitution as its strong base. ... I renew my pledge to respect the law and constitution," Morsi said, repeating his oath of office based on the new charter.

Morsi's comment signaled a break with the governing system in place in Egypt since 1952, when a military coup pushed out the Western-backed king, and Egypt was declared a republic.

Morsi, the first elected president after Mubarak, said a national dialogue aimed to set "a road map" for the future. He renewed his invitation to political parties to join a dialogue he launched before the referendum results came out.

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In this image released by the Egyptian…

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Members of the constitutional assembly…

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Morsi countered that argument, saying it was the country's first constitution passed and drafted through a popularly approved process. He said the charter respects human dignity and enshrines values of moderation. It protects freedoms and ensures the right to work, to education and to health, he said.

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Morsi defended decrees he issued in November granting himself sweeping powers, which sparked a wave of protests. He said the decrees, since revoked, were necessary to swiftly push through the constitution to a referendum to end instability and open the road for development. The opposition had urged him to postpone the vote.

"The president is talking to himself," said Hussein Abdel-Ghani, a leading figure in the group told a press conference after Morsi's speech. He pointed out that most of the representatives in that dialogue are either Islamist parties or "cardboard" opposition, likening it to old attempts by Mubarak's regime to appear to be reaching out to the opposition.

He said he asked the current prime minister to do a limited reshuffle to his Cabinet, and vowed that new investment projects will launched in the coming days, including moves to facilitate investment.

Under the new constitution, the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, the traditionally toothless upper house, was granted temporary legislative powers and began its work on Wednesday. It will legislate until elections for a new lower house are held within two months.

Experimental Private Rocket Makes Highest Test Hop Yet

The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is one of several companies developing new vehicles for private space travel. The company is one of two firms with NASA contracts to provide unmanned cargo deliveries to the International Space Station. SpaceX's $1.6 billion deal with NASA calls for 12 cargo missions to the space station using the company's unmanned Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rockets.?

SpaceX ultimately envisions using three recyclable components for future space travel: a rocket second stage, a rocket first stage, and a cone-shaped capsule.

SpaceX is also developing a?manned version of its Dragon capsule ?and is one of several firms competing for NASA contracts to ferry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit.

Experimental Private Rocket Makes Highest Test Hop Yet
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In mid-November, the Grasshopper rocket flew nearly two stories (17.7 feet or 5.4 meters) up during its?second test flight. The rocket's debut flight in September flew 6 feet (1.8 meters) into the air before landing. So far, all of the prototype's tests have been successful.

In the latest test at SpaceX's proving grounds in MacGregor, Texas, the Grasshopper rocket flew for 29 seconds and reached a height of more than 130 feet (40 meters). A video of the Grasshopper test flight shows the rocket soaring up into the Texas sky, then smoothly descending to land on four spindly legs.

While most rockets today land in the ocean after reaching space, a land-based landing is preferred for this hardware. Brackish seawater can cause unnecessary damage to otherwise reusable pieces of a rocket. Each piece of the rocket will land separately so that they can be collected for later use. The two rocket stages' landings will be aided by their engines and the capsule's descent should be cushioned by a parachute.

The SpaceX Grasshopper rocket prototype…

A rocket has never successfully landed intact after being launch to space. While?NASA's space shuttles?were reusable after launch, the huge 15-story external tanks that helped them reach orbit were not recycled.?

SpaceX's Quest For Rocketry's Holy Grail - SPACE.com Exclusive Video SpaceX Dragon Capsule's 1st Station Cargo Flight to Station (Photos) Quiz: How Well Do You Know SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship? Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The rocket takes off like a typical vertically launched rocket, but its landing method makes it unique. Grasshopper has four steel, springy legs to support its weight, allowing it to gently land in the same way it takes off.

Grasshopper stands at 10 stories tall (108 feet, 32.9 meters) and houses the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, the same rocket that launched the?Dragon capsule to the International Space Station?earlier this year. A Merlin 1D engine and a steel support structure round out the Grasshopper's unique design.

The experimental reusable rocket, called the Grasshopper, made its highest and longest flight yet on Dec. 17, marking the prototype's third successful test by the private spaceflight company SpaceX.

A privately built rocket prototype that could lead to a completely reusable spaceflight system has passed its biggest test yet — a 12-story hop and smooth landing.

With Grasshopper, SpaceX is trying to solve a long-standing challenge with spaceflight: cost. Because today's rockets aren't completely reusable, they act as expensive, one-use machines. Companies are now trying to develop rockets that can both launch from and land on Earth intact, in order to be flown again on future missions.

SpaceX is planning more sophisticated, even higher hops for Grasshopper in the coming months, company officials said.

Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter?@mirikramer?or SPACE.com?@Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook?&?Google+.?

Newtown trying to give kids a sense of normalcy

UConn's men's basketball team and its coaches made a trip to the academy Thursday and played games with the kids, posed for photos and signed autographs. "It was great for us to be able to see some smiles on their faces and to spend some time with them," Coach Kevin Ollie said.

Ford said that is healthy. He said children will remember their friends as they go about doing normal kid things.

"Getting back into the school is like getting back on the horse," Robinson said. "Some of the scariness is gone once they cross that threshold. They are just so happy to see their teachers."

Some students and their parents on Thursday toured the Chalk Hill school in Monroe, a former middle school being reopened next week for the Sandy Hook students. An open house is planned for Wednesday.

Newtown trying to give kids a sense of normalcy

"The idea was to get them away from the house, the television and all the coverage of this tragedy and get them to a place where kids can just be kids," said D'Amico, a longtime youth coach in town.

In the meantime, they've been treated to field trips, toy giveaways and some organized play time.

Associated Press writer John Christoffersen in New Haven, Conn., contributed to this report.

Todd Wood of Newtown has five children, the youngest age 4 and the oldest in college. His children's piano teacher lost a child in the shooting, and the family knows other victims as well.

"A couple times someone would drop a weight (in the facility's health center) and you would hear a bang and there would be a kid who would freeze for a second," he said. "But that would last a split-second. Most of the time, everyone just had a great time."

"They are all going to be thinking about what happened," he said. "That, unfortunately, is inescapable. But this gives them a chance to say, 'Life is carrying on.' Nothing will be the same, but it's also continuing in ways that it should be."

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — The children at the Sandy Hook Elementary school won't be returning to classes for another week, but officials from the town, school district and local agencies are doing their best in the meantime to keep them occupied following a massacre at their school two weeks ago.

"That's been, I think, helpful at least in the short term just to kind of keep them doing things, keep them seeing their friends and being nearby and talking to family," Connors said.

"A couple of the teachers have done pizza parties," said Janet Robinson, Newtown's school superintendent. "Another met her kids at the library so they could have a little reading time together. The most important thing has been connecting the students back to their teacher and their classmates."

The Newtown Youth Academy, a nonprofit sports center, opened its doors to all kids in town at no cost shortly after the shooting. But from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. last week, the building's turf field, basketball and tennis courts, and giant inflatable obstacle course were reserved just for Sandy Hook Elementary students.

"We certainly don't want to traumatize them any more than they've already been traumatized," said Lt. J. Paul Vance, the department's spokesman. "If (an interview is) not necessary it won't be done. Our investigators will make all those determinations."

University of Connecticut psychologist Julian Ford, who spent time counseling in Newtown in the first days after the shooting, said it's important for the grieving process to include an outlet that lets children know that while things will never be the same, it's OK to enjoy life.

Chris Wolcott, the sport's academy's operations manager, said the best part of having the kids at the center is that the tragedy is pushed aside, at least for a little while.

In the meantime, Ford has encouraged parents to keep the kids involved in a normal holiday routine and deal with the tragedy as it comes up, rather than making it a focal point of their lives.

"We did Christmas, we had our lights here, we've tried to make things as normal as possible," he said. "But we also went down to see the memorials. I don't want to shield them from it. I want to let them grieve in their own way."

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The students have not attended school since a gunman killed 20 of their schoolmates and six adults on Dec. 14. They are slated to return to a different school next Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, school buses were loading up at the Youth Academy for a trip to Stamford and a larger complex, Chelsea Piers, which also has ice rinks and an indoor swimming pool, said academy owner Peter D'Amico. Sports celebrities, such as Brooklyn Nets forward Kris Humphries, planned to meet them there.

David Connors, who has 8-year-old triplets who attend Sandy Hook, said he and his wife have made play dates with their friends, brought the kids to see family for the holidays and participated in the class get-togethers and recreation events.

There have been arts and crafts for the smaller kids, as well as face-paintings. Some celebrities, including two members of the Harlem Globetrotters and former University of Connecticut basketball star Tina Charles, also have stopped by to play with the children.

He said he's found that each child has reacted differently to the tragedy. He said he is not making the shooting the center of his family's life but is not pretending it didn't happen, either.

State police said they plan to keep their contact with the children to a minimum as they continue investigating the shooting.

34 Tornadoes Reported From Texas to Alabama

In the Houston area a tree fell onto a pickup truck, killing the driver, ABC affiliate WTRK reported. In Louisiana, a 53-year-old man died when a tree fell on his house, and a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy highway near Fairview, Okla., according to the Associated Press.

34 Tornadoes Reported From Texas to Alabama

Tuesday's extreme weather caused an 8-foot deep sinkhole in Vicksburg, Miss. Alma Jackson told ABC News that a concrete tank that was in her backyard fell into the sinkhole.

The last killer tornado around Christmas, Vaccaro said, was a Christmas Eve EF4 in Tennessee in 1988, which killed one person and injured seven. EF4 tornadoes can produce winds up to 200 mph.

ABC News' Matt Gutman, Max Golembo and ABC News Radio contributed to this report.

"It's really very disturbing," she said. "Because it's on Christmas day, and then to see this big hole in the ground and not have any explanation, and not be able to cover it. And the rain is pouring down."

The deadliest Christmastime tornado outbreak on record was Dec. 24 to 26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.

Across the Gulf region, from Texas to Florida, over 280,000 customers are still without power, with 100,000 without power in Little Rock, Ark. alone.

The punishing winds mangled Mobile's graceful ante-bellum homes, and today, dazed residents are picking through debris while rescue crews search for people trapped in the rubble.

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"[We] got in the truck and made it out there to the road. And that's when the tornado was over us. And it started jerking us and spinning us, "she said."This tree got us in the truck and kept us from being sucked up into the tornado."

"Conditions don't look quite as volatile over a large area as we saw on Christmas day but there will be a risk of tornadoes, some of them could be rather strong, across eastern portions of North Carolina and the northeastern part of South Carolina," he said.

Bill Bunting with the National Weather Service's Severe Storms Prediction Center said that the damage may not yet be done.

"We've got a lot of damage, we've got people hurt," one Mobile resident told ABC News. "We've had homes that are 90 percent destroyed."

At least eight states issued blizzard warnings Tuesday, as the storms made highways dangerously slick heading into one of the busiest travel days of the year.

The last time a number of tornadoes hit the Gulf Coast area around Christmas Day was in 2009, when 22 tornadoes struck on Christmas Eve morning, National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro told ABC News in an email.

Severe Christmas day weather tore across the deep South, spinning off 34 possible tornadoes and killing at least three people in its path, while extreme weather is forecast throughout today for parts of the East Coast.

Teresa Mason told ABC News that she and her boyfriend panicked when they saw the tornado heading toward them in Stone County, in southern Mississippi, but she says they were actually saved when a tree fell onto the truck.

The storm first pounded Texas, then touched down in Louisiana and blasted through homes in Mississippi. In Mobile, Ala., a wide funnel cloud was barreled across the city as lightning flashed inside like giant Christmas ornaments.

Central African Republic wants French help as rebels close in on capital_1

A Reuters reporter at the scene of Wednesday's demonstrations said some protesters had accused France of backing the rebels while others had demanded French forces in the country help the army fight off the rebel push.

Nesirky also confirmed that dependents and all "non-essential" U.N. staff had been temporarily relocated. He added that Ban's special representative in the country, Margaret Vogt, "continues to engage the government and the rebel leaders with a view to ensuring a ceasefire and initiating dialogue."

Bozize came to power in 2003 after a brief war and has repeatedly relied on foreign intervention to fend off rebellions and insecurity stemming from neighboring conflicts.

"We call on the (army) to lay down its weapons as (President Francois) Bozize has lost all his legitimacy and does not control the country," he said.

It was not clear whether the rebels, who have swept across the country on pick-ups and motorbikes, met resistance in Sibut.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York, Leigh Thomas in Paris, Andrew Quinn in Washington and David Lewis in Dakar; Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Paul Simao)

Central African Republic wants French help as rebels close in on capital

Article: France deploys soldiers to protect embassy in Central African Republic

The rebel push through a string of towns in recent weeks has highlighted the fragility of the land-locked nation, which has rich deposits of uranium as well as gold and diamonds but has been largely unstable since independence from France in 1960.

French broadcaster RFI on Wednesday quoted Josue Binoua, the CAR's minister for territorial administration, calling for French intervention.

On Tuesday, the rebels took the central town of Kaga Bandoro despite the presence of troops from neighboring nations who were meant to shore up the weak national army.

"It is not clear if (the rebels) are going to be able to march in and take it. I guess we will know later tonight."

The United States also called for dialogue and has "strongly encouraged" its citizens to leave the country until the security situation improved. Air France's weekly Paris-Bangui flight had to turn back "due to the situation in Bangui".

As night fell, Bangui's residents stocked up on food and other provisions, and some people in northern neighborhoods said they would sleep with relatives or friends elsewhere.

"It is true, they are at the gates of Bangui," a government official told Reuters, asking not to be named.

Vincent Floreani, deputy spokesman in the French foreign ministry, did not comment on the appeal for help but said the crisis had to be resolved through dialogue.

"We are waiting for France to come to our help!" he was quoted as saying on RFI's website in response to a question over what Bangui expected from France's troops stationed there.

French military officers act as advisors to the CAR's army and Paris in the past has helped prop up or oust governments. However, France is increasingly reluctant to directly intervene in conflicts in its former colonies.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman, Martin Nesirky, issued a statement saying Ban "strongly condemns the armed attacks on several towns in the Central African Republic perpetrated by the coalition of rebel groups 'SELEKA'."

TENSE CAPITAL

"These developments gravely undermine the peace agreements in place and the efforts of the international community to consolidate peace in the Central African Republic," he said.

With a government that holds little sway outside the capital, some parts of the country have long endured the consequences of conflicts in troubled neighbors Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo spilling over.

The appeal for help came as hundreds of people protested outside the French Embassy in Bangui, the capital, throwing stones at the building and tearing down the French flag in anger at a rebel advance through the north of the country.

Colonel Djouma Narkoyo, a spokesman for the Seleka rebel alliance, which says it wants the full application of a peace deal to end a previous rebellion or else it will topple the president, said fighters would not, for now, enter Bangui.

Paris did not immediately respond to the aid request but announced that French troops would be deployed to secure the embassy. The United Nations criticized the rebel advance.

A smaller group of protesters, mainly youths linked to the ruling party, gathered outside the U.S. Embassy and stoned cars carrying white passengers, the reporter said.

A military source and an aid worker said the rebels had got as far as Damara, 75 km (47 miles) from Bangui, by late afternoon, having skirted Sibut, where some 150 Chadian soldiers had earlier been deployed to try and block a push south by a rebel coalition.

French nuclear energy group Areva is the main mining firm in the country with the Bakouma uranium deposit in the south.

BANGUI (Reuters) - A government minister in the Central African Republic on Wednesday called for French soldiers stationed there to intervene as rebels closed in on the capital having passed the last major town to the north.

U.N. officials told Reuters privately that around 50 essential U.N. staff have remained in the CAR while the rest were relocated to Senegal.

"It has been a pretty tense day in the city. It is hard to tell who is with who," an aid worker told Reuters.

Several armies from Central Africa have troops in the CAR as part of the MICOPAX stabilization mission, and Chad sent extra soldiers earlier this month to try and halt the rebel advance.

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The French Defence Ministry said some of the 250 soldiers in the country as part of the MICOPAX peacekeeping mission had been sent to secure the embassy and protect French nationals.

CAR is one of several nations in Central Africa where U.S. Special Forces have been deployed to help regional armies track down the notorious Lords Resistance Army rebel group.

US holiday retail sales growth weakest since 20010

Buying picked up in the second half of November as retailers offered more discounts and shoppers waylaid by the storm finally made it into malls, he said.

Last-minute shoppers like Kris Betzold, of Carmel, Ind., embraced discounts that were available before Christmas.

The West and South posted gains of between 2 percent and 3 percent, still weaker than the 3 percent to 4 percent increases expected by many retail analysts.

It's the first major snapshot of retail sales during the holiday season through Christmas Eve. A clearer picture will emerge next week as retailers like Macy's and Target report revenue from stores open for at least a year. That sales measure is widely watched in the retail industry because it excludes revenue from stores that recently opened or closed, which can be volatile.

In the run-up to Christmas, analysts blamed the weather and worries about the "fiscal cliff" for putting a damper on shopping. Superstorm Sandy battered the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states in late October. Many in the New York region were left without power, and people farther inland were buried under feet of snow. According to McNamara, the Northeast and mid-Atlantic account for 24 percent of U.S. retail sales.

The SpendingPulse data include sales by retailers in key holiday spending categories such as electronics, clothing, jewelry, luxury goods, furniture and other home goods between Oct. 28 and Dec. 24. They include sales across all payment methods, including cards, cash and checks.

But as the weather calmed, the threat of the "fiscal cliff" picked up. In December, lawmakers remained unable to reach a deal that would prevent tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect at the beginning of 2013. If the cuts and tax hikes kick in and stay in place for months, many economists expect the nation could fall back into recession.

"We went out yesterday, and I noticed that the sales were even better now than they were at Thanksgiving," said Betzold Monday while shopping at an upscale mall in Indianapolis. Betzold, who said the sluggish economy prompted her and her husband to be more frugal this year, noted that she saved about $25 on a Kindle Fire she found at Best Buy.

The news media discussed this possibility more intensely as December wore on, making Americans increasingly aware of the economic troubles they might face if Washington is unable to resolve the impasse. Sales never fully recovered, Cohen said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. holiday retail sales this year grew at the weakest pace since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. In 2012, the shopping season was disrupted by bad weather and consumers' rising uncertainty about the economy.

The results were weakest in areas affected by Sandy and a more recent winter storm in the Midwest. Sales declined by 3.9 percent in the mid-Atlantic and 1.4 percent in the Northeast compared with last year. They rose 0.9 percent in the north central part of the country.

Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.

"A lot of the Christmas spirit was left behind way back in Black Friday weekend," Cohen said, referring to the traditional retail rush the day after Thanksgiving. "We had one reason after another for consumers to say, 'I'm going to stick to my list and not go beyond it.'"

Despite the weak numbers out Tuesday, retailers still have some time to make up lost ground. The final week of December accounts for about 15 percent of the month's sales, said Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. As stores offer steeper discounts to clear some of their unsold inventory, they may be able to soften some of the grim results reflected in Tuesday's data.

Holiday sales are a crucial indicator of the economy's strength. November and December account for up to 40 percent of annual sales for many retailers. If those sales don't materialize, stores are forced to offer steeper discounts. That's a boon for shoppers, but it cuts into stores' profits.

In 2008, sales declined by between 2 percent and 4 percent as the financial crisis that crested that fall dragged the economy into recession. Last year, by contrast, retail sales in November and December rose between 4 percent and 5 percent, according to ShopperTrak, a separate market research firm. A 4 percent increase is considered a healthy season.

Online sales, typically a bright spot, grew only 8.4 percent from Oct. 28 through Saturday, according to SpendingPulse. That's a dramatic slowdown from the online sales growth of 15 to 17 percent seen in the prior 18-month period, according to the data service.

Shoppers were buffeted this year by a string of events that made them less likely to spend: Superstorm Sandy and other bad weather, the distraction of the presidential election and grief about the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn. The numbers also show how Washington's current budget impasse is trickling down to Main Street and unsettling consumers. If Americans remain reluctant to spend, analysts say, economic growth could falter next year.

Online sales did enjoy a modest boost after the recent snowstorm that hit the Midwest, McNamara said. Online sales make up about 10 percent of total holiday business.

US holiday retail sales growth weakest since 2008 Related Content

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Spending by consumers accounts for 70 percent of overall economic activity, so the eight-week period encompassed by the SpendingPulse data is seen as a critical time not just for retailers but for manufacturers, wholesalers and companies at every other point along the supply chain.

In the end, even steep last-minute discounts weren't enough to get people into stores, said Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst at the market research firm NPD Inc.

Still, this season's weak sales could have repercussions for 2013, he said. Retailers will make fewer orders to restock their shelves, and discounts will hurt their profitability. Wholesalers, in turn, will buy fewer goods, and orders to factories for consumer goods will likely drop in the coming months.

A report that tracks spending on popular holiday goods, the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, said Tuesday that sales in the two months before Christmas increased 0.7 percent, compared with last year. Many analysts had expected holiday sales to grow 3 to 4 percent.

In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012,…

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Steve Jobs' yacht impounded

Steve Jobs' yacht impounded
The late Apple co-founder never had a chance to use the yacht, which cost about $126m to build, before he died last year.
A lawyer for designer Philippe Starck's company Ubik, Roelant Klaassen, said Mr Starck had only received about $8m of the $11m he was commissioned to work on the vessel.
He said the yacht was impounded on Wednesday and would stay in a Dutch port pending payment from lawyers for Jobs' estate.
"There is some unfinished business, namely two invoices which were issued by Ubik last summer after Mr Jobs died," Mr Klaassen said.
Jobs' plans for the 70m yacht featured in Water Isaacson's biography of the former Apple CEO which was released after Jobs' death last year.
The vessel was finally finished in October this year and christened Venus.

Another polio worker shot in Pakistan, six killed in attacks

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Another polio worker was shot and badly injured in Pakistan on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks that left 6 female health workers dead in 24 hours.

The shooting in the northern city of Peshawar so soon after the other killings calls into question whether the U.N.-backed campaign to eradicate polio in Pakistan can continue.
It's unclear who is behind the killings.
The Taliban have repeatedly issued threats against the polio eradication campaign and health workers said they received calls telling them to stop working with the "infidels". But a Taliban spokesman said his group was not involved.
A global vaccination campaign has eradicated the disease from everywhere except Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Wednesday's victim was part of a team of four or five men administering polio vaccinations when gunmen opened fire on the group, said a doctor at Lady Reading Hospital where the man was being treated. He remains in a critical condition.
On Monday and Tuesday, six female health workers were killed in attacks in the southern port city of Karachi and Peshawar. The youngest was 17-years-old.
The shootings, five of which happened in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, led provincial health authorities to suspend the polio eradication campaign in the province of Sindh.
But authorities in Khyber Paktunkhwa, where the capital is Peshawar, said they would not accept a recommendation to suspend the campaign.
"You know halting the campaign at this stage would create more problems as it's not a one-day phenomenon. If we stopped the campaign it would encourage the forces opposing the polio vaccination," said local official Javed Marwat.
Polio can paralyze or kill within hours of infection. It is transmitted person-to-person, meaning that as long as one child is infected, the disease can be passed to others.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Ihsanullah Ihsan, told Reuters his group was not involved. The Taliban have repeatedly said the campaign is a Western conspiracy to sterilize or spy on Muslims.
Their suspicions were only increased after it emerged that the CIA had used a fake vaccination campaign to gather information about Osama bin Laden.
On Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said the campaign needed to continue.
"We cannot and would not allow polio to wreak havoc the lives of our children," he said in a statement.
Pakistan had 20,000 polio cases in 1994 but vigorous vaccination efforts had brought the number down to 56 in 2012, the statement said.