Today's Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News: | | Romney under pressure to score debate win against Obama Tue,2 Oct 2012 11:05 PM PDT Reuters - DENVER (Reuters) - Republican candidate Mitt Romney is under pressure to produce a strong performance on Wednesday at his first face-to-face debate with President Barack Obama to try to turn around a race for the White House that has been edging away from him. The 90-minute encounter offers the chance to reach more than 60 million people on television, a far greater audience than watched either candidate speak at the Democratic and Republican conventions. ...
Full Story | Top | U.S. had early indications Libya attack tied to organized militants Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:01 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Within hours of last month's attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, President Barack Obama's administration received about a dozen intelligence reports suggesting militants connected to al Qaeda were involved, three government sources said. Despite these reports, in public statements and private meetings, top U.S. officials spent nearly two weeks highlighting intelligence suggesting that the attacks were spontaneous protests against an anti-Muslim film, while playing down the involvement of organized militant groups. ...
Full Story | Top | Spain's tax take tumbles as companies go abroad Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:51 PM PDT Reuters - MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's corporate tax take has tumbled by almost two thirds from pre-crisis levels as small businesses fail and a growing number of big corporations seek profits abroad to compensate for the prolonged downturn at home. Attractive tax benefits can accrue to companies expanding overseas, but for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government, which now seems resigned to accepting a European financial rescue, the income flow is reversed. ...
Full Story | Top | Michelle Obama rallies supporters as early voting opens in Ohio Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:03 PM PDT Reuters - CINCINNATI, Ohio (Reuters) - First lady Michelle Obama rallied supporters to back her husband as early voting began on Tuesday in the key electoral swing state of Ohio where the Democrats hope to take advantage of a lead in opinion polls. "Are we going to just sit back and watch everything we worked for and fought for just slip away?" she asked a boisterous crowd of 6,800 in downtown Cincinnati. ...
Full Story | Top | Exclusive: Best Buy founder presses forward on possible $11 billion buyout plan Tue,2 Oct 2012 09:05 PM PDT Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc founder Richard Schulze and at least four private equity firms have started examining the books of the world's largest consumer electronics chain, early steps toward what could become a potential $11 billion buyout, according to people familiar with the matter. Apollo Global Management LLC, Cerberus Capital Management LP, TPG Capital LP and Leonard Green & Partners LP are among firms that are conducting due diligence on Best Buy, as are Schulze and his financial advisers at Credit Suisse Group AG, several sources told Reuters. ...
Full Story | Top | China services PMI falls to lowest in nearly two years Tue,2 Oct 2012 09:17 PM PDT Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - China's normally robust services sector weakened sharply in September to its lowest point since November 2010, as slow growth in manufacturing finally began to feed through to the rest of the economy, an official survey showed on Wednesday. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the sector fell to 53.7 in September from 56.3 in August, weighed by weakened construction services and transport as well as lackluster new orders overall, according to the latest survey from the National Bureau of Statistics. ...
Full Story | Top | Analysis: "Critical but stable" world nods at more risk Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:15 PM PDT Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Like a patient in a critical but stable condition, the world economy may be in for years of low, spluttering growth and yet a lack of volatility may be acting as a green light for investors. The paralyzing effect of economic uncertainty on investment, business and household planning has been stark over the past five years of credit crisis and the deep and synchronized global recession of 2008/2009 is seared into many minds. Extraordinary monetary and fiscal policy stimuli around the globe look set to continue for the foreseeable future. ...
Full Story | Top | Chinese firm sues Obama for blocking wind farm near drone site Tue,2 Oct 2012 05:42 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small Chinese firm has sued President Barack Obama for squashing its bid to build wind farms close to a naval training site, but experts say the suit is long shot for a firm that greatly underestimated U.S. suspicions about Chinese intentions. Ralls Corp, which is owned by two Chinese nationals, was installing wind turbines close to the training site in Oregon, which, according to the facility's web site, is used to test unmanned drones - a highly sensitive and prized U.S. technology. The U.S. ...
Full Story | Top | "Fiscal cliff" fears may impede faster job growth Tue,2 Oct 2012 01:36 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job growth likely improved only slightly in September as businesses remained cautious out of fear a sharp tightening of the government's budget could deliver a big blow to the economic recovery early next year. Employers are expected to have added 113,000 jobs to their payrolls, an increase from 96,000 in August, with the unemployment rate edging up by a tenth of a percentage point to 8.2 percent, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The data, to be released by the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. (12.30 p.m. ...
Full Story | Top | Pennsylvania judge: Voter ID law a no-go for November 6 Tue,2 Oct 2012 04:04 PM PDT Reuters - HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A judge on Tuesday blocked Pennsylvania from requiring voters to show photo identification in November's U.S. election, a decision that could influence turnout in a top electoral prize in the presidential race. In a setback for Republican state officials who championed the controversial law and had hoped it would help them deliver Pennsylvania for their party's presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson delayed its implementation until after Election Day, November 6. ...
Full Story | Top | Iran to enrich uranium to 60 percent if nuclear talks fail Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:47 AM PDT Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran would enrich uranium up to 60 percent purity if negotiations with major powers over its nuclear program fail, an Iranian lawmaker said on Tuesday, in comments that may add to Western alarm about Iranian intentions. Mansour Haqiqatpour, deputy head of parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said 60 percent enrichment would be to yield fuel for nuclear submarines, which often require uranium refined to high levels. ...
Full Story | Top | Chicago teachers vote on ratifying deal that ended strike Tue,2 Oct 2012 01:59 PM PDT Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago public school teachers began voting on Tuesday on whether to ratify an agreement with Mayor Rahm Emanuel that suspended a strike in the third-largest U.S. school district. The Chicago Teachers Union has urged its 29,000 members to ratify the proposed contract, which calls for an average 17.6 percent pay raise for teachers over four years and some improvements in benefits. Union President Karen Lewis declined to say whether members would ratify the deal. "I don't have a crystal ball," she said. ...
Full Story | Top | Libya yet to work out U.S. cooperation in Benghazi probe Tue,2 Oct 2012 06:38 PM PDT Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya and the United States have yet to agree how a U.S. investigative team will cooperate in a probe into a deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, a senior Libyan official said on Tuesday. FBI agents were sent to Libya after the September 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission and another facility in which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans died. So far they have conducted interviews in Tripoli and have yet to go to Benghazi. ...
Full Story | Top | Key witness in Sandusky sex abuse case sues Penn State Tue,2 Oct 2012 04:18 PM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - A key witness in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal sued Pennsylvania State University on Tuesday for more than $8 million on whistleblower, defamation and misrepresentation grounds. Mike McQueary, a former Penn State assistant football coach, claimed in the suit filed in Center County Court that he lost his job, was misled and publicly scorned because he had told about one of the attacks. Sandusky, a retired Penn State football defensive coordinator, was convicted in June on 45 counts of child molestation in a case that riveted national attention on child sexual abuse. ...
Full Story | Top | Iran's Ahmadinejad says Syria crisis may engulf region Tue,2 Oct 2012 11:46 AM PDT Reuters - ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday warned that hostilities in Syria could engulf the region and accused some Syrians of trying to use their country's conflict to settle scores with Tehran. In comments to Al Jazeera television, Ahmadinejad said that a national dialogue and new elections - rather than war - were the only way to solve the Syrian crisis, saying the Syrian people should choose their own path. "There is another way to find a solution, it is national, mutual understanding in order for there to be elections in the future," he said. ...
Full Story | Top | Philippines defies church to push family planning Tue,2 Oct 2012 05:37 PM PDT Reuters - MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino is squaring off against his country's powerful Catholic church in a bid to give people free access to the means to limit the size of their families. The predominately Catholic country has one of Asia's fastest-growing populations together with significant levels of chronic poverty. While neighbours have accelerated towards prosperity, the Philippines has lagged. Economists say high population growth is a primary factor for that, but the church disagrees. ...
Full Story | Top | Assad rejected leaders' bid for peace in Syria: former PM Tue,2 Oct 2012 02:37 PM PDT Reuters - DUBAI (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad vetoed demands by senior leaders to pursue a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria after some of his top security aides were killed in an attack in July, his former prime minister said in remarks broadcast on Tuesday. Riyad Hijab, who defected in early August, told Al Arabiya television that the death of Defence Minister Daoud Rajha and his deputy, Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, in a bomb attack on a security meeting in Damascus had persuaded him that there was no military solution to the crisis. ...
Full Story | Top | Libya yet to work out U.S. cooperation in Benghazi probe Tue,2 Oct 2012 01:34 PM PDT Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya and the United States have yet to agree how a U.S. investigative team will cooperate in a probe into a deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, a senior Libyan official said on Tuesday. FBI agents were sent to Libya after the September 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission and another facility in which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans died. So far they have conducted interviews in Tripoli and have yet to go to Benghazi. ...
Full Story | Top | Insight: Delays dog U.S. government loans to green energy projects Tue,2 Oct 2012 03:49 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A year after the U.S. government raced to meet a deadline to finish loan agreements with dozens of clean energy companies, less than half the total money promised has been handed over. Technical questions and companies' own failures in hitting contractual milestones are behind some of the holdups. But government officials fearful of taking a risk on firms that could collapse may have also caused some of the delays. ... Full Story | Top | Philippines defies church to push family planning Tue,2 Oct 2012 03:37 PM PDT Reuters - MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Benigno Aquino is squaring off against his country's powerful Catholic church in a bid to give people free access to the means to limit the size of their families. The predominately Catholic country has one of Asia's fastest-growing populations together with significant levels of chronic poverty. While neighbors have accelerated towards prosperity, the Philippines has lagged. Economists say high population growth is a primary factor for that, but the church disagrees. ...
Full Story | Top | France drops rape inquiry into ex-IMF head Strauss-Kahn Tue,2 Oct 2012 12:04 PM PDT Reuters - LILLE, France (Reuters) - French public prosecutors have shelved an investigation into allegations that disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a man once tipped to become president of France, had engaged in group rape. In a statement on Tuesday, the prosecution service said it acted after a young woman retracted an allegation against the 63-year-old, who is also fighting wider accusations of sexual misdemeanor in France and a civil case in the United States. ...
Full Story | Top | Google withdraws U.S. patent complaint against Apple Tue,2 Oct 2012 01:42 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility has dropped a complaint of patent infringement against Apple without explanation. In a brief filing with the International Trade Commission on Monday, Motorola Mobility said it was dropping without prejudice a complaint that Apple had infringed on seven Motorola patents. Apple did not return telephone calls seeking comment and Google said only: "As we have said many times before, we will continue to vigorously defend our partners". ...
Full Story | Top | Syria's Assad tours Aleppo, orders more troops into battle: paper Tue,2 Oct 2012 09:55 AM PDT Reuters - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is visiting the city of Aleppo to take a first-hand look at the fighting between government forces and rebels and has ordered 30,000 more troops into the battle, a Lebanese paper said on Tuesday. Al-Diyar newspaper, which is known for its pro-Assad stance, said the president had flown by helicopter at dawn from the presidential palace in Damascus to Aleppo. It did not specify what day the trip started but said that Assad was still in Aleppo. ...
Full Story | Top | Tycoon's alliance wins election in Georgia Tue,2 Oct 2012 02:43 PM PDT Reuters - TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili on Tuesday conceded defeat in parliamentary elections to a coalition led by a tycoon promising to ease tensions with Moscow, four years after the staunch U.S. ally lost a war with Russia. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who has long been openly hostile to Saakashvili, welcomed the opposition victory as opening the way for "more constructive and responsible forces" to enter the Georgian parliament. ...
Full Story | Top | U.S. officials sought more security before Libya attack: lawmakers Tue,2 Oct 2012 04:35 PM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials in Washington denied repeated requests from Americans in Libya for more security at the U.S. mission in Benghazi before last month's attack that killed four Americans there, two Republican lawmakers said on Tuesday. U.S. Representatives Darrell Issa and Jason Chaffetz wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding details of the requests for more security - which they said were made amid numerous attacks on Westerners in Libya in recent months. ...
Full Story | Top | Analysis: Romney would send consumers healthcare bill, with benefits Tue,2 Oct 2012 04:04 AM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has a prescription for controlling soaring costs within the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare system, partly by making consumers pay more of their own medical bills. Romney's vow to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul has played prominently in the campaign, even as Romney has offered few details about his alternative. But as he prepares to face Obama in their first presidential debate on Wednesday, Romney is giving a few hints. ...
Full Story | Top | Libya yet to work out U.S. cooperation in Benghazi probe Tue,2 Oct 2012 11:12 AM PDT Reuters - TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya and the United States have yet to agree how a U.S. investigative team will cooperate in a probe into a deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, a senior Libyan official said on Tuesday. FBI agents were sent to Libya after the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate and a safe house in which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans died. But so far, they have remained in Tripoli and have yet to go to Benghazi. Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz said the prosecutor general had so far given only verbal approval for a joint investigation. ... Full Story | Top | Clinton will respond to lawmakers, cooperate in Benghazi probe: spokeswoman Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:43 AM PDT Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will respond on Tuesday to U.S. lawmakers who wrote to her requesting information about an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi last month in which four people died, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. Clinton is ready to cooperate "closely" with Congress in investigating the attack in Benghazi, Nuland said at a regular daily news briefing. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the assault on the mission the evening of September 11. ...
Full Story | Top | Our revolution has been stolen, say Libya's jihadists Tue,2 Oct 2012 05:45 AM PDT Reuters - DERNA, Libya (Reuters) - From the mountains of Afghanistan and the streets of Baghdad to the iron cages of Guantanamo Bay, Libyans from Derna have made their small city a big name in global jihad. Now, with their nemesis Muammar Gaddafi gone, many are home - but say their battle for an Islamic state has only just begun. The death of the U.S. ambassador last month in the sack of Washington's consulate in Benghazi - an assault Washington says may have involved al Qaeda-allied militants - has shone a global spotlight on armed Islamists across eastern Libya. ...
Full Story | Top | Samsung allowed to sell Galaxy Tab in U.S. as court lifts ban Tue,2 Oct 2012 04:31 AM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - A U.S. court removed a temporary sales ban against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy Tab 10.1 won by Apple Inc in a patent dispute, allowing the South Korean company to sell the product in the United States. While the Galaxy 10.1 is an older model, the lifting of the ban could still help Samsung in the run-up to the pivotal holiday shopping season. "We are pleased with the court's action today, which vindicates our position that there was no infringement of Apple's design patent and that an injunction was not called for," Samsung said in a statement. ...
Full Story | Top | Yemen forces kill three Qaeda leaders in bomb factory raid Tue,2 Oct 2012 07:19 AM PDT Reuters - SANAA (Reuters) - Security forces on Tuesday stormed a house in south Yemen used by al Qaeda to make bombs, killing three militant leaders, the interior and defense ministries said. Yemen, a U.S. ally, has been in upheaval since a popular uprising ousted veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh in February. It has been struggling, with U.S. support, to suppress an Islamist insurgency that could menace nearby top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and sea lanes used to ship crude. ... Full Story | Top | Vatican butler alleges harsh conditions after arrest Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:18 AM PDT Reuters - VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict's former butler, on trial for stealing papal documents, told a Vatican court on Tuesday that during the first weeks of his detention he was held in an isolation room so small he couldn't stretch out his arms and with light on constantly. Paolo Gabriele said that during those weeks he had suffered damage to his eyesight and had felt under psychological pressure. On the first night in the room in the Vatican's police station, "even a pillow was denied me", he said. ...
Full Story | Top | Hollande party split on French deficit goal Tue,2 Oct 2012 07:51 AM PDT Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande faced divisions in his party on Tuesday over a 2013 budget crucial to his credibility with euro zone partners, after top Socialists publicly questioned next year's deficit target. The split over the cut in the budget shortfall is the latest political embarrassment for Hollande just as surveys show his popularity ratings have nose-dived since his election on a perception he is not doing enough to kick-start the economy and tackle unemployment at 13-year highs. ...
Full Story | Top | U.S. auto sales post best month in 4-1/2 years Tue,2 Oct 2012 02:52 PM PDT Reuters - DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales last month posted their best showing in 4-1/2 years, helped by cheap financing, rising consumer confidence and a major rebound by Toyota Motor Corp . The September sales pace was 14.94 million vehicles as calculated on an annualized basis, exceeding analyst estimates of 14.5 million, according to Autodata Corp. This was the highest rate since March 2008, about four months after the start of the 2007-2009 U.S. recession. U.S. auto sales last month rose 13 percent to 1,188,865 new vehicles. Analysts, on average, had expected an increase of less than 9 percent. ...
Full Story | Top | Border Patrol agent killed, another wounded in Arizona Tue,2 Oct 2012 09:47 AM PDT Reuters - PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot dead and another wounded while on patrol on Tuesday in a drug smuggling corridor in Arizona, near the border with Mexico, authorities said. Sheriff's deputies were called to the scene in Naco, southeast of Tucson, at 1:33 a.m. local time (4:33 a.m. EDT/0833 GMT) by the Border Patrol following reports that one of its agents had been shot, Cochise County Sheriff's spokeswoman Carol Capas said. Deputies found one dead agent and another with non-life-threatening injuries, Capas said. ...
Full Story | Top | Rajoy says Spain won't request aid this weekend Tue,2 Oct 2012 10:48 AM PDT Reuters - MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday a request for European aid was not imminent following a report the country could apply for help as soon as this weekend. Rajoy made the comments after meeting in Madrid with the 17 leaders of Spain's regions. European officials told Reuters late on Monday that Spain was ready as early as next weekend to ask the euro zone and the European Central Bank to start buying its bonds, but Germany had signaled it should hold off. ...
Full Story | Top | Chicago teachers vote whether to ratify deal that ended strike Tue,2 Oct 2012 08:31 AM PDT Reuters - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago public school teachers will decide on Tuesday whether to ratify an agreement with Mayor Rahm Emanuel that suspended a strike in the nation's third-largest school district. The Chicago Teachers Union has urged its 29,000 members to ratify the proposed contract, which calls for an average 17.6 percent pay raise for teachers over four years and some benefit improvements. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis refused to say Tuesday how she voted on the contract or whether union members would ratify it. "I don't have a crystal ball," she said. ...
Full Story | Top | As controversy swirls, Chesapeake picks Webb as lawyer Tue,2 Oct 2012 06:01 AM PDT Reuters - (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp has hired James Webb as its legal counsel as it tries to recover from damaging reports about controversial land deals in Michigan and personal loans taken out by its chief executive. Webb, who has worked on a contract basis for Chesapeake for the past four months, will be its top lawyer, the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer said in a statement Friday. He replaces Henry Hood, who held the position from April 2006 through June 2012 and will remain a senior vice president, overseeing Chesapeake's land and regulatory departments. ... Full Story | Top | Romney softens immigration stance, seizes upon Biden comment Tue,2 Oct 2012 03:37 PM PDT Reuters - DENVER (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Mitt Romney positioned himself on Tuesday for a high-stakes presidential debate, softening his stance on immigration while his campaign accused the White House of a "stunning admission" that it had failed on the economy. Trailing in many polls, Romney is widely seen as needing to score a win at the televised debate in Denver on Wednesday night when the two men square off over domestic issues like the economy, immigration and healthcare. ...
Full Story | Top | Exclusive: In-fighting raises concern over Volvo Car recovery - sources Mon,1 Oct 2012 10:12 PM PDT Reuters - BEIJING (Reuters) - A boardroom-level conflict at Sweden-based luxury auto firm Volvo Car Corp is infecting some day-to-day decisions and threatens to hamper its Chinese owner's efforts to turn the business around, sources close to the company said. Chief Executive Stefan Jacoby and Vice Chairman Hans-Olov Olsson are locked in an often personal in-fight that began to develop after China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co bought the Swedish brand from Ford Motor Co two years ago, the sources said. ...
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