Nepal's only int'l airport shut due to grass fire (AP)

AP - A grass fire has closed Nepal's only international airport and forced flights to divert to India.

Russian FM in Syria amid escalating violence (AP)

AP - Syrian forces renewed their assault on the flashpoint city of Homs Tuesday as Russia's foreign minister stressed the need for reform and dialogue during talks in Damascus with President Bashar Assad about the country's escalating violence.

Wall St edges lower as Greece deal advances (Reuters)

Reuters - Stocks edged lower at the open on Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome of discussions on a bailout package for Greece from international lenders that would help the country avoid a chaotic default.

Bernanke repeats vow to shield U.S. from Europe fallout (Reuters)

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday renewed a pledge to prevent Europe's financial crisis from damaging the U.S. economy in testimony before Congress that mirrored remarks he made last week.

Bernanke repeats vow to shield U.S. from Europe fallout (Reuters)

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday renewed a pledge to prevent Europe's financial crisis from damaging the U.S. economy in testimony before Congress that mirrored remarks he made last week.

Greek unions strike before leaders' talks (Reuters)

Reuters - Greek party leaders face crunch talks on Tuesday to secure a new international bailout and avoid a chaotic debt default, caught between EU demands that they accept painful reforms now and a national strike against more austerity.

$4M needed to clean up lead, secure Nigeria mines (AP)

AP - An international watchdog says cleaning up toxic lead and securing gold mines in an impoverished northern Nigerian state will cost an estimated $4 million.

Coca-Cola beats Street, eyes cost savings (Reuters)

Reuters - Coca-Cola Co reported better-than-expected quarterly results and announced a new cost-savings program on Tuesday that it will use to boost its brands and mitigate higher commodity costs.

Glencore-Xstrata deal meets shareholder opposition (Reuters)

Reuters - At least two top 10 shareholders in miner Xstrata plan to vote against a takeover by commodities trader Glencore, threatening the creation of a powerhouse spanning mining, agriculture and trading.

Crash kills 11, mostly migrant farm workers (Reuters)

Reuters - A crash between a flatbed truck and a van carrying migrant farm workers on a rural crossroads in southwestern Ontario killed 11 people, media reported on Tuesday, in one of the most deadly vehicle accidents in Canadian history.

Maldives president quits after mutiny on paradise (Reuters)

Reuters - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, widely credited with bringing democracy to the hideaway resort islands, resigned on Tuesday after weeks of opposition protests erupted into a police mutiny and what an aide said amounted to a coup.

Watchdogs to drag shadow banks into the light (Reuters)

Reuters - Beyond the reach of regulators, and about half the size of the world's banking industry, a thriving breed of "shadow banks" is emerging that could trigger the next chapter in the global financial crisis.

Coca-Cola adjusted 4Q results beat Street (AP)

AP - Coca-Cola Co.'s fourth-quarter net income dropped 71 percent, weighed down by restructuring charges and a difficult comparison with last year's fourth quarter, when the beverage maker had a hefty benefit from buying its bottlers.

Greek party leaders seek deal as bankruptcy looms (AP)

AP - Greek party leaders will seek Tuesday a long-delayed agreement on harsh cutbacks that bailout creditors demanded to save the country from bankruptcy but which have fueled nationwide outrage — a general strike snarled public services and thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens.

Lavrov says seeks peace in Syria as forces bombard Homs (Reuters)

Reuters - Russia's foreign minister said he told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday that Moscow wanted to see peace in the Arab world as Syrian forces resumed a bombardment of Homs, a hub of protest and rebellion against Assad's rule.

Standoff continues between Brazil troops, police (AP)

AP - Striking police officers in Brazil's third-largest city are refusing to leave a legislature building they've occupied for a week.

Iran shrugs off latest U.S. sanctions, trade suffers (Reuters)

Reuters - Iran castigated its U.S. adversary on Tuesday over new financial measures to disrupt Iranian commerce, and a default on payment for rice purchases highlighted the encroachment of sanctions on the staples of everyday life.

Exclusive: Iran defaults on rice payments to India (Reuters)

Reuters - Iranian buyers have defaulted on payments for about 200,000 tonnes of rice from their top supplier India, exporters and rice millers said on Tuesday, a sign of the mounting pressure on Tehran from a new wave of Western sanctions.

Toyota lifts profit forecast as disaster woes fade (AP)

AP - Toyota's quarterly profit slid 13.5 percent on production setbacks caused by last year's tsunami disaster and the flooding in Thailand, but Japan's top automaker raised its annual earnings forecast, saying a recovery is on track.

Key states move closer to foreclosure-abuse deal (AP)

AP - California and New York, the key holdouts in a long-awaited settlement over foreclosure abuses, moved closer Monday to backing a deal that would force the five largest mortgage lenders to reduce loans for about 1 million households. More than 40 U.S. states have agreed to a nationwide settlement.

Obama Seeks to Cool War Fever While Keeping Up Pressure on Iran (Time.com)

Time.com - Nobody likely envies the challenge President Barack Obama faces getting his "messaging" right on Iran

Between Lots of Rocks and Hard Places: Greece's Bad Options (Time.com)

Time.com - Faced with austerity, debt and the potential return to the drachma, the Greeks have nothing but bleakness in their immediate future

BP preparing "vigorously" for oil spill lawsuits (Reuters)

Reuters - BP said it was preparing "vigorously" for lawsuits related to its Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which are due to start later this month, as it unveiled a rise in fourth-quarter earnings boosted by higher oil prices and one-off gains.

Netanyahu can't fly solo in Israel to attack Iran (Reuters)

Reuters - Three decades ago, an Israeli prime minister faced his cabinet and invoked the Holocaust in an emotional appeal to approve an air strike against an Arab atomic reactor.

AP Enterprise: Brown bank regulator an insider (AP)

AP - Gov. Jerry Brown's appointee to head the department that oversees banking, financial and consumer regulations in California led a trade association that fought against tighter lending restrictions before the subprime mortgage crisis exploded and was an executive with Washington Mutual when the now-failed bank was among the most aggressive marketers of loans to high-risk borrowers.

Australia floods fail to dampen big cotton crop (Reuters)

Reuters - Australia's projections for a bumper cotton crop remain on track despite a week-long deluge in major growing regions that forced thousands of residents from their homes and left rivers dangerously swollen.

The Worthless Junk the 1 Percent Waste Their Money On (ContributorNetwork)

ContributorNetwork - COMMENTARY | Strictly speaking, the 1 percent -- people whose incomes put them above the other 99 percent of us, starting at about $340,000 a year as of 2009, according to IRS data -- don't actually spend much of their money.

Oklahoma governor plans to cut state income taxes (Reuters)

Reuters - Oklahoma's Republican governor announced a plan on Monday to dramatically cut state income tax rates and eventually do away with them altogether, and said the state would pay for the cuts by closing "loopholes."

Senegalese opposition denounce president's bid for third term (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor - The eight candidates came in convoys from their respective corners of Dakar to Obelisk Square in the heart of the Senegalese capital, where crowds of color-coordinated supporters awaited them while listening to political hip-hop anthems in Wolof - the local dialect. A single microphone stood on stage and each of them were introduced as "president" before they took it.

South Africa's cautious UN vote for Syrian action (The Christian Science Monitor)

The Christian Science Monitor - Russia and Chinaâs joint veto of a United Nations resolution urging Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step down has kicked up a firestorm of criticism from the West and from human rights activists.

Merger fails, but D.Boerse CEO says allies a must (Reuters)

Reuters - D.Boerse CEO eyes new allies as NYSE deal crumbles Deutsche Boerse (DB1Gn.DE) does not believe it can survive in the long term without a new partner despite the collapse of its proposed $7.4 billion merger with NYSE Euronext , its chief executive told a German newspaper.

Euro zone sales tumble at Christmas, no sign of growth (Reuters)

Reuters - Retail sales in the euro zone tumbled unexpectedly in December, the biggest drop in the Christmas period in three years, data showed on Friday, with rising joblessness and stubborn inflation undercut signs of a stabilization in Europe's economy.