Investors Look for Openings Under New Prime Minister
Investors are seeking clearer indications of the pace and extent
of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to revive economic
growth in the world's second-most-populous country.
Since coming to power in May Mr. Modi has moved cautiously,
focusing on streamlining government, tackling corruption and
removing bureaucratic hurdles to business.
His finance minister has pledged overhauls that could include
opening more sectors to foreign investment and broader policy
shifts--such as allowing private companies to mine coal and
streamlining tax policies--in a bid to bolster Mr. Modi's campaign
to make the country a manufacturing hub. His advisers counsel
patience, saying fixing India will take time.
Niharika Mandhana
New VA Head Faces Balky Computers, Tardy Projects
Bob McDonald, a former Procter & Gamble Co. chief executive
who took charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs in July, won
early plaudits from Congress and veterans groups for efforts to
rebuild trust at the embattled agency.
In the new year, a number of programs the West Point graduate
put in place should begin to take hold. But the agency still
suffers from an unreliable computer system, over-budget and delayed
construction projects and concern that it isn't moving fast enough
to take care of veterans seeking medical appointments at its
hospitals.
Ben Kesling
Price Plunge Aids Consumers But Could Harm Oil Patch
Consumers are seeing a boost to their wallets from the sharp
drop in gasoline prices. But energy-producing states, which
benefited from the drilling boom brought about by hydraulic
fracturing, are bracing for a potential decline in jobs and tax
revenue from falling oil prices.
Though analysts caution that it is too early to predict how much
lower prices could affect regional economies, a prolonged dip would
certainly hit states such as Texas, where the oil and gas sector
made up 13.5% of economic activity in 2013, according to the
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. An energy-industry retrenchment
also could slow down North Dakota, which has seen a surge in
housing prices and jobs in stores and restaurants that serve oil
and gas workers, in addition to direct energy employment.
Miguel Bustillo
Alleged Creator of Silk Road Drug Website Set for Trial
The criminal trial of Ross Ulbricht, the alleged mastermind of
the online drug market Silk Road, is slated to begin this month.
Prosecutors say Silk Road users were able to buy everything from
narcotics to forged passports on the site. They accuse Mr. Ulbricht
of conspiring to have six people killed to stop them from becoming
witnesses against him.
There is no evidence any of the killings took place, according
to prosecutors. Mr. Ulbricht, who has pleaded not guilty, faces
decades in prison if convicted.
Christopher M. Matthews
Afghanistan and Pakistan Vow to Fight Militants
A rampage by Pakistani Taliban militants that claimed the lives
of 132 schoolchildren in December spurred the governments of
Afghanistan and Pakistan to vow decisive action against
terrorism.
For that pledge to gain traction, the neighbors must overcome
years of distrust. During Afghan President Hamid Karzai's 13 years
in office, relations between Kabul and Islamabad were often
poisonous.
New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was elected on a pledge to
bring the Taliban to the negotiating table and lift his country out
of its crippling dependence on foreign aid. For that, he will need
Pakistan's support.
The Afghan Taliban have long sought refuge across the border in
Pakistan. Islamabad, in turn, blames Kabul for allowing the
Pakistani Taliban to flourish in Afghan territory.
Nathan Hodge
Improved Relations With U.S. Could Take Time to Pay Off
Cuba's leaders face a challenge in tempering hopes among
residents that better relations with the U.S. will translate into
greater wealth and freedom.
As Washington and Havana move to normalize ties after 54 years
of hostility, the Cuban government will be wary of any challenge to
the tight control it holds over citizens.
In January, the two nations are set to start talks to establish
embassies in each other's countries. The formal U.S. embargo on
most trade and investment in Cuba--whose revocation depends on
congressional action--is expected to remain in place for now.
José de Córdoba
States struggle to Roll Out Common Core Standards
States likely will keep struggling with the Common Core academic
standards, and the accompanying changes in curricula and
testing.
The standards have been adopted by 45 states, with financial
incentives from the Obama administration. This spring, many
students across the country will take Common Core-aligned state
tests for the first time.
Some parents, educators and elected officials have pushed back,
complaining the standards de-emphasize the classics, overemphasize
math and word problems and intensify a culture of test-taking. But
the handful of states that have dropped the standards find there is
no easy replacement. South Carolina is hustling to implement its
own state-written standards by the fall, but some teachers say the
new guidelines are a mishmash and inferior to Common Core.
Valerie Bauerlein
Pope Francis
to Make First Visit To U.S.
U.S. Roman Catholics are preparing for the first visit by Pope
Francis in September. The trip, expected to draw millions of
people, has just one confirmed stop so far, Philadelphia, but the
pope has suggested he also will visit Washington, New York and
Mexico.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has said the papal appearance
could be the largest event in his city's modern history. With 1.4
million Catholics, Philadelphia is one of the largest archdioceses
in the U.S.
The last papal visit to the U.S. was in 2008, when Pope Benedict
visited New York and Washington.
The pope's trip will come as the American church is grappling
internally with the more inclusive direction Francis is attempting
to set, and externally with the Obama administration over the
federal health-care mandate.
Scott Calvert
GOP Gains Might Lead To More Abortion Curbs
Republican gains in state legislatures in the 2014 midterm
elections are likely to spark a fresh wave of attempts to curb
abortion.
States passed 231 laws restricting abortion between 2011 and
2014, more than in the entire previous decade, according to the
Guttmacher Institute.
The new year could keep that pace going, now that the GOP has
increased the number of legislative chambers it controls to 68 from
57, while Democratic-led chambers have decreased to 30 from 41.
Abortion-rights organizations are gearing up to fight measures
that already have been introduced, including one in Tennessee that
would require doctors to display or describe an ultrasound to a
woman seeking an abortion.
Arian Campo-Flores
President Could Face Pushback in Overhaul Plans
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is set to face resistance
to his economic overhaul this coming year following scandals over
influence peddling and the presumed killing of 43 missing students
that have galvanized his opponents.
At stake isn't only the government's efforts to attract $50
billion in private energy investments over the next four years as
it opens that industry after more than seven decades, but also its
progress in the development of key infrastructure projects. Those
include a $9 billion airport for the country's capital and a $3.7
billion high-speed train line between Mexico City and the central
city of Querétaro.
Santiago Pérez
Gov. Brown Starts Fourth Term, Pushes Rail Project
California Gov. Jerry Brown will be inaugurated in January to an
unprecedented fourth term. The 76-year-old Democrat has said his
ambitions for his final term include seeing through priorities of
the term just ending, including reworking how state money is
distributed to schools and building the nation's first true
high-speed rail line.
Though it has been in planning for years, the rail system will
have a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 6 to signal the start of
sustained construction.
The system has been a topic of hot debate--and lawsuits by
opponents--but Mr. Brown has won billions in state funding for the
line from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and said he plans to move
forward without additional federal commitments.
Alejandro Lazo
Nation Seeks 'Black Zero' Of a Balanced Budget
If all goes according to plan, Germany this year will balance
its federal budget for the first time since 1969. The goal has
acquired such totemic significance in the debt-averse country that
it has a nickname, "the Black Zero"--German bookkeeper-speak for a
small surplus. Leaders of both major parties--joined in a unity
government by a chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose fiscal prudence
contributes to her broad domestic appeal--hail it as a landmark
achievement.
Adopted by Parliament in November, the balanced budget is now
law. But whether it becomes reality remains uncertain. An
international chorus--including Washington and the International
Monetary Fund--wants Germany to use its solid financial position to
spend more on its infrastructure to support the European
economy.
Anton Troianovski
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