The phone call hit like a one-two punch. Days before Thanksgiving, AT&T’s heavyweight lobbying team was busy setting up meetings with antitrust authorities scrutinizing the company’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, was on the line for AT&T’s chief executive, Randall Stephenson, and its chief of lobbying, James Cicconi. In a few hours, Genachowski said, he would announce his opposition to the deal. AT&T was stunned. Read full article > >

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How AT&T fumbled its $39 billion bid to acquire T-Mobile

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The owner of a West Virginia mine where 29 men died in the deadliest U.S. coalfield accident in decades will pay $210 million, the largest settlement ever in a federal investigation of a mine disaster, prosecutors said Tuesday. U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said the deal would compensate victims’ families, pay fines and improve underground safety. It also does not prevent the future prosecutions of individuals on criminal charges in the April 2010 blast. Read full article > >

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US Attorney: W.Va. mine disaster yields $210M settlement, allows individual prosecutions

The education secretary says there is no “hidden pot of gold” to improve the deal on the table for teachers preparing to strike over pensions.

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Gove warns teachers over strikes

There was little sign on Thursday that the deal for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to transfer power to his vice president had calmed Yemen, as simmering conflicts broke out into the open.

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5 Protesters Die In New Violence in Yemen

The companies withdrew a merger application with the F.C.C. and said AT&T would take a $4 billion charge if the deal fails. But they also said they would still pursue the $39 billion merger.

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AT&T Deal With T-Mobile Takes a Step Back

AKUREYRI, Iceland — This isolated expanse of land is pocked by steaming fissures, molten mud pools and lava fields — perhaps an unlikely place for a Chinese tycoon to build a resort. But that’s exactly what Huang Nubo wants to do. And the deal, if approved, will account for a big chunk of this remote island nation. Read full article > >

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Iceland government probes why Chinese tycoon wants big chunk of its land

Prime Minister George Papandreou said that the decision on the deal, which includes fresh financial assistance but also imposes unpopular austerity measures, belonged to the Greek people.

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Greece Plans Referendum on Latest Europe Aid Deal

THE JUBILATION and relief that greeted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as they returned home Tuesday superficially suggested a breakthrough in long-stalled relations between Israelis and Palestinians. The opposite is more likely. On closer inspection, the deal between Hamas and the government of Binyamin Netanyahu looks likely to inject more poison into an already bitter standoff. Read full article > >

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The Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap offers little new hope for peace

One result of the deal could be a more confrontational, Hamas-imbued Palestinian movement that could reshape regional relationships and pose a challenge to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

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Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap May Reshape Regional Politics

Australian miner Macarthur Coal backs a revised takeover bid from Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal valuing the deal at $5.2bn.

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Macarthur Coal backs takeover bid

NBC/Comcast has won the U.S. Olympic TV rights for the next four games, for $4.38 billion. The media conglom snagged the deal for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia; the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, as well as the 2018 Winter Games and the 2020 Games for which sites have not yet been selected. Read full article > >

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NBC wins U.S. Olympic TV rights through 2020 [Updated]

Twitter is in negotiations to buy TweetDeck, the London-based Twitter aggregation service, for an estimated $40 million, sources said. Neither side has commented on the deal. TweetDeck, which employs only 15 staff members, was started in 2008 by…

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Twitter to Buy TweetDeck: Report

JERUSALEM — The reconciliation pact signed last week by the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas was denounced by Israel and has left Washington weighing its response, but Palestinian mediators who helped broker the deal say it opens new opportunities for a resumption of peace talks. The accord, which provides for the formation of a transitional government of technocrats to prepare for elections in a year, also sets a goal that Fatah and Hamas say they share: a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with a capital in Jerusalem, next to Israel. Read full article > >

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Fatah-Hamas pact called new chance for peace

John McKenney’s a smart guy. A lawyer and tax expert, McKenney left Washington a few years ago and moved to Sarasota, Fla. He got a tan, took up yoga, started dating a well-heeled local woman. She brought McKenney into her well-heeled crowd. Soon, all the heels in the group were clicking about a new, can’t-miss foreign currency deal, paying 5 percent a month, 60 percent a year. The trader doing the deal, Beau Diamond, was young but well known around town. His father, Harvey, was a local health and fitness celebrity. Read full article > >

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Investment fraud isn’t relegated to Wall Street: Beware the Ponzi schemer next door

An 11th-hour deal reached late Friday in Washington means hundreds of thousands of federal employees will stay on the job and the public will be able to get passports, visit national parks and receive other federal services.

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More budget wrangling ahead