LITTLE ROCK — George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, who’s been hospitalized in Houston since Nov. 23 with complications from bronchitis, continues his recovery, contradicting a mistaken posting of his obituary by Der Spiegel on the German news weekly’s website that was quickly taken down.
Rowan Williams, 62, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, is leaving his post as head of the 80 million-strong Church of England after a decade to start a new role as Master of Cambridge University’s Magdalene College and will be succeeded by 56-year-old former oil executive Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham.
President Barack Obama has signed into law a five-year extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. government to monitor overseas phone calls and e-mails without obtaining a court order for each intercept but requires a warrant before targeting Americans for surveillance.
Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has suffered “new complications” after his cancer surgery in Cuba, according to Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who gave few details but said the president’s condition remains “delicate.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said in an interview on Fox News Sunday that he sees “very little Republican support” for the possible nomination of former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel from Nebraska for secretary of defense.
Carol Galante, who has spent more than a year as acting commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, has been confirmed as the agency’s new head after a 69-24 vote in the Senate confirmed her as an assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Peer Steinbruck, the Social Democratic Party of Germany’s candidate for chancellor, drew criticism for his comments in an interview that his opponent Chancellor “Angela Merkel is popular because she gets a women’s bonus” helping her popularity.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/31/2012