Deal: House and Senate negotiators reached a budget deal for the first time in three years, potentially avoiding another government shutdown in January. Washington’s Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said, “We have broken through the partisanship and gridlock.”

  The agreement restores $65 billion to defense and domestic spending while cutting in other places. Medicare’s budget gets cut by $25 billion through 2023, and fees will rise on airline tickets to pay for security. For the Democrats, the deal restores half the sequester budget cuts. The Republicans stopped new taxes and an extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.

 Republican Sen. Paul Ryan said, “”What am I getting out of this? I’m getting more deficit reduction. So the deficit will go down more by passing this than if we did nothing.” Being the point man on this deal could also make Ryan the leading Republican candidate for president.

Wheel Woman: General Motors picked Mary T. Barra, the company’s global VP of product development, to be the next CEO. She’ll be the first woman to run a major American car company. Barra, an electrical engineer, has been with GM for 33 years and is the daughter of a GM employee. In recent years she’s worked to streamline bureaucratic approval of new vehicles while reducing the variety of models to make production cheaper. The news comes just a day after GM got its emancipation from the federal bailout.

World: Ukrainian riot police abandoned an effort early this morning to clear demonstrators occupying central Kiev. The police had moved into Independence Square from all sides behind riot shields, but the situation turned into a 9-hour standoff. World leaders condemned the use of force and Ukraine’s interior minister later promised that force will not be used again.

 The Ukrainian demonstrations began three weeks ago when President Viktor F. Yanukovich abruptly trashed political and free trade agreements with the European Union that he had promised to sign.

• The parliament in Uruguay voted to legalize the cultivation and recreational use of marijuana. The law will allow Uruguayans 18 and older to buy 1.4 oz. of marijuana a month. The bill’s backers said they hope legalizing marijuana will deflate the drug cartels. It’s certainly going to be a boon to the fast-food business.
• Meanwhile, India’s supreme court upheld a law criminalizing gay sex.

Shake: President Obama is being pilloried for shaking the hand of Cuban President Raul Castro at the memorial for Nelson Mandela, the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize for forgiving his enemies. Florida Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban immigrant, said, “when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant.” Obama, who also was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, spontaneously shook Castro’s hand as he walked down a line of dignitaries. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has not been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said it was like Neville Chamberlin shaking Hitler’s hand.

What’s That?: Sign language experts say the translator at the Nelson Mandela memorial was a fraud who moved his hands in meaningless gestures. He was handsome and well dressed, though. 

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