Special Report: America's route to recovery
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (Reuters) - When Bob Hagan was a boy people hereabouts equated the coke dust they swept off their doorsteps each day with opportunity, for it came from the steel mills that built this city. After graduating from high school more than 40 years ago, Hagan worked briefly at one of the local steel mills that dominated the local economy. In 1971, he became a locomotive engineer at railroad company CSX Corp, switching rail cars in every mill and yard in the area over the years.
Detroit scare sparks debate on full-body scanners
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Technology exists that might have detected explosives hidden in the underwear of a Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit, but cost and privacy worries have until now prevented its widespread use. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is suspected of trying to ignite an explosive called PETN using a chemical-filled syringe as Northwest Flight 253 approached Detroit on Christmas morning.
Fewer consumers finish holiday buying: survey
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An unprecedented 22 percent of U.S. consumers said they did not finish their Christmas shopping this year as fewer discounts kept many wallets closed, according to a survey released on Tuesday. While nearly 63 percent said bigger deals were needed to loosen their purse strings, about 11 percent blamed bad weather that hit the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on the weekend before Christmas, according to Britt Beemer, founder of consumer research and marketing firm America's Research Group.
Obama blames "systemic failures" for plane attack
KANEOHE, Hawaii (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday blamed "human and systemic failures" for allowing a botched Christmas Day attack aboard a Detroit-bound airliner and a U.S. official said the incident was linked to al Qaeda. Interrupting a vacation in Hawaii for the second straight day to address the U.S. public, Obama listed several mistakes that allowed a 23-year-old Islamic militant from Nigeria to smuggle explosives onto a plane to the United States.
North Korea says U.S. man arrested for illegal entry
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it had detained a U.S. citizen who entered its territory, apparently confirming a report that an American activist crossed into the communist state to raise awareness about Pyongyang's human rights abuses. Robert Park, 28, walked over the frozen Tumen river from China and into North Korea last Friday, other activists said. He told Reuters ahead of the crossing that it was his duty as a Christian to make the journey and that he was carrying a letter calling on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to step down.