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| Northeast back to business after Sandy's hard hit Wednesday, Oct 31, 2012 12:40 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Millions across the U.S. Northeast stricken by massive storm Sandy will attempt to resume their normal lives on Wednesday as companies, markets and airports reopen despite grim projections of power and mass transit outages around New York for several more days. With six days to go before the November 6 elections, President Barack Obama will visit flood-ravaged areas of the New Jersey shore, where the storm of historic proportions made landfall on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghanistan presidential election set for April 2014 Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:08 PM PDT  KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will hold its next presidential election on April 5, 2014, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday. President Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, had denied speculation that security problems and the exit of foreign troops that year would delay the poll. The credibility of the vote will be vital to the security and stability of Afghanistan after the final foreign combat troops have left by the end of 2014. Karzai's re-election in 2009 was blighted by allegations of fraud. ... Full Story | Top |
| In hurricane, Twitter proves a lifeline despite pranksters Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:51 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As Hurricane Sandy pounded the U.S. Atlantic coast on Monday night, knocking out electricity and Internet connections, millions of residents turned to Twitter as a part-newswire, part-911 hotline that hummed through the night even as some websites failed and swathes of Manhattan fell dark. But the social network also became a fertile ground for pranksters who seized the moment to disseminate rumors and Photoshopped images, including a false tweet Monday night that the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange was submerged under several feet of water. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hong Kong named top financial center for second year Wednesday, Oct 31, 2012 12:05 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Hong Kong was named the world's top financial center for the second year running by the World Economic Forum (WEF), thanks to the strength of its business environment, infrastructure and a favorable tax regime. The WEF's annual Financial Development Report considered a wide range of factors and underscored the rise of Asian trading centers and the influence of China as the world's second-largest economy. Rival surveys based purely on the total value of transactions typically put New York or London in top place. ... Full Story | Top |
| News Corp seals $2.1 billion Australia pay-TV deal Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:40 PM PDT  MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp boosted its share of Australia's pay-TV market after shareholders in Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd voted in favor of a A$2 billion ($2.1 billion) takeover offer from News. The deal will double the stake of News Corp's Australian arm in dominant pay-TV operator Foxtel to 50 percent and give it 100 percent of content provider Fox Sports, increasing its pay-TV exposure at the same time as it cuts costs at its print operations. Consolidated Media said shareholders at a meeting on Wednesday voted 99.9 percent in favor of the takeover. ... Full Story | Top |
| Barclays says new U.S. probes, profit hit by PPI Wednesday, Oct 31, 2012 12:26 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays unveiled two new U.S. regulatory probes on Wednesday as the bank, already rocked by an interest rate rigging scandal, said profits fell by a fifth due to charges for the mis-selling of insurance. Barclays said the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were investigating whether its relationships with third parties who help it win or retain business are compliant with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is also being investigated for past power trading in the western United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Investment sponges for a growth-saturated world Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:54 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - When paltry growth, systemic risk and resource scarcity are darkening the global horizon, investors must hunt shrewdly to find stocks resilient enough to ride out the storm. Far from being cathartic, the past five years of credit crisis and the subsequent slow, painful debt paydown has merely nudged the world economy deeper into the dangers posed by dramatic population growth, aging in rich economies and shortages of natural resources and capital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Disney to buy "Star Wars" producer for $4.05 billion Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 08:58 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co agreed to buy filmmaker George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd and its "Star Wars" franchise for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that includes the surprise promise of a new film in the series in 2015. The deal unites a boutique Northern California film studio that brought special effects into the digital era with a venerable Hollywood powerhouse that has shown a knack for getting the most out of big-name entertainment brands. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Romney put aside campaign for storm relief - for now Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:16 PM PDT  KETTERING, Ohio (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday briefly put aside their fierce battle for the White House, as they avoided politics to focus on relief efforts after mammoth storm Sandy left millions of Americans struggling to recover. With a week left in a deadlocked election race, Obama canceled campaign trips planned for Tuesday and Wednesday to stay in Washington and supervise storm recovery, while Romney held a storm relief event in the swing state of Ohio but ducked most political talk. The campaign truce was likely to be short-lived. ... Full Story | Top |
| Superstorm Sandy cuts power to 8.1 million homes Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:37 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than 8.1 million U.S. homes and businesses were without power on Tuesday after Hurricane Sandy tore down power lines, flooded electrical networks and sparked an explosion at a Consolidated Edison substation on Manhattan's East River. About a quarter of New York City's homes and businesses were without power 15 hours after Hurricane Sandy roared ashore accompanied by a nearly 14-foot (4.2-metre) tidal surge that flooded empty subway and highway tunnels. Con Edison warned parts of New York City would be without power for a more than a week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hurricane Sandy losses may be triple those of Irene Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:53 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy appears to have easily caused twice or even three times the losses of last year's Hurricane Irene, but final totals will be hard to come by for some time because of the scale of the disaster, catastrophe forecasting companies said on Tuesday. One of the biggest questions now is who will pay for the extensive damage to municipal infrastructure -- subway tunnels, train tracks, electrical transformers, coastal boardwalks and piers -- that Sandy left behind along the East Coast. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama, FEMA hustle federal disaster relief to Sandy's aftermath Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 07:36 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. federal agency in charge of disaster relief, under intense pressure to show the Obama administration can quickly respond to the devastation caused by the massive storm Sandy, said it has plenty of cash to deliver timely aid to the millions of people struggling to recover. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency also noted on Tuesday that President Barack Obama fast-tracked funds to areas hardest hit as the agency seeks to prove it can smoothly work with the states to give basic relief, just a week before Election Day. ... Full Story | Top |
| Romney sticks to storm relief script at Ohio event Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:48 AM PDT  KETTERING, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, blown off the campaign trail by Hurricane Sandy, drew a fine line between politicking and storm relief on Tuesday as the weather cast an unpredictable pall over the race with just a week to go until Election Day. With President Barack Obama holed up in Washington monitoring relief efforts, Romney faced the challenge of trying to demonstrate his presidential credentials without appearing insensitive to the millions of Americans affected by the storm. ... Full Story | Top |
| For Chris Christie, a Jersey shore drama that's also political Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 03:04 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When someone dared to ask Chris Christie how Superstorm Sandy would influence next week's U.S. elections, the New Jersey governor displayed the confrontation-loving, hard-charging style that has made him a rising national figure. "I don't give a damn about Election Day," Christie told a news conference on Tuesday in Ewing, New Jersey, 64 miles southwest of New York City. "Let the politicians who are on the ballot worry about Election Day. It's not my problem. ... Full Story | Top |
| Race is tied, but most think Obama will win: Reuters/Ipsos poll Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:51 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. presidential race remains a dead heat one week before Election Day but most Americans think President Barack Obama will defeat Republican Mitt Romney, according to a Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released on Tuesday. Obama leads Romney among likely voters by 47 percent to 46 percent, a statistically insignificant margin, the online survey found. Neither candidate has held a clear lead since early October. But 53 percent of all registered voters predicted Obama would win the November 6 election, while only 29 percent said Romney would be the victor. ... Full Story | Top |
| Disney to buy "Star Wars" producer for $4.05 billion Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:16 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co agreed to buy filmmaker George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd and its "Star Wars" franchise for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that includes the surprise promise of a new film in the series in 2015. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger told analysts on Tuesday that the plan is to release a new movie in the series every two to three years thereafter. The last "Star Wars" picture was "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005, and Lucas has in the past denied any plans for more. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. and EU push for progress in troubled Balkans Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:47 PM PDT  SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Europe and the United States teamed up on Tuesday to press Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo to overcome the legacy of Yugoslavia's bloody collapse as a condition of closer integration with the West. "If you do not make progress you will be left behind," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned at the start of a trip to the region with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. NATO member Croatia will follow Slovenia in joining the 27-nation EU next year, but accession is a very distant prospect for the other five countries carved from federal Yugoslavia in the 1990s. ... Full Story | Top |
| East Coast crippled by massive storm, death toll climbs Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:29 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Millions of people were left reeling in the aftermath of the whipping winds and heavy rains of the massive storm Sandy on Tuesday as New York City and many parts of the eastern United States struggled with epic flooding and extensive power outages. The storm killed at least 40 people, including at least 18 in New York City, and insurance companies started to tally billions of dollars in losses. Sandy, which crashed ashore with hurricane-force winds on Monday near the New Jersey gambling resort of Atlantic City, was the biggest storm to hit the country in generations. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek government gets key backing to pass reforms Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:42 PM PDT  ATHENS (Reuters) - An overwhelming majority of Greek Socialist lawmakers have agreed to vote in favor of contested austerity reforms, party officials told Reuters on Tuesday, sharply increasing the odds of securing parliamentary approval for the measures. Near-bankrupt Greece needs to push through spending cuts and tax measures worth 13.5 billion euros as well as a raft of reforms to appease EU and IMF lenders and secure bailout money needed to avoid running out of cash next month. ... Full Story | Top |
| UBS to cut 10,000 jobs in fixed income retreat Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:30 PM PDT  ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss bank UBS unveiled plans on Tuesday to fire 10,000 staff and wind down its fixed income business, returning to its private banking roots as it adapts to tough capital rules that make it harder to turn a profit from trading. Zurich-based UBS will focus on wealth management and a smaller investment bank, ditching much of the trading business that ran up $50 billion in losses in the financial crisis and is embroiled in a global LIBOR rate-fixing investigation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran pulls back from nuclear bomb goal: Israeli defense minister Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:42 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has drawn back from its ambitions to build a nuclear weapon, Israel's defense minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday, while warning that his country may still have to decide next year whether to launch a military strike against it. Tehran denies its nuclear work has any military dimensions but governments in Europe and the United States are increasingly concerned over its intentions. Diplomacy and successive rounds of economic sanctions have so far failed to end the decade-old row, raising fears of Israeli military action against its arch-enemy. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama and Christie make unlikely traveling companions Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 03:12 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - No one's calling it a "campaign" event. But it will surely dominate the presidential campaign on Wednesday when Democratic President Barack Obama and New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie inspect storm damage in the hard hit coastal state - together. Had Obama been traveling with any old Republican governor, few would have taken notice. But Christie is not any old governor. He's young, at 50, and a possible Republican presidential contender as soon as 2016, should Mitt Romney happen to lose. And he's not just any critic of Obama. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama to travel to New Jersey Wednesday to view storm damage Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:10 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will travel to New Jersey on Wednesday to view damage caused by massive storm Sandy, the White House said in a statement. "Tomorrow afternoon, the president will travel to New Jersey where he will join Governor (Chris) Christie in viewing the storm damage, talking with citizens who are recovering from the storm and thanking first responders who put their lives at risk to protect their communities," the statement said. Obama canceled campaign appearances planned for Ohio on Wednesday because of the storm. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama says storm not yet over, government to aid local authorities Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 11:48 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the federal government would do all it could to help local authorities cope with damage caused by the massive storm Sandy. The president, speaking at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross, said the storm, which slammed into some of the most densely populated areas of the eastern United States on Monday, was "not yet over" and that there were still risks. "It is still moving north," he said. "There are still communities that could be affected. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama cancels campaign trip, will view storm damage Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:13 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama canceled campaign appearances in Ohio on Wednesday and scheduled a trip to New Jersey instead to survey damage caused by powerful storm Sandy, a move designed to portray him as a strong leader a week before Election Day. Obama, who is in a close race with Republican rival Mitt Romney, has dropped three days of campaigning in battleground states to oversee the government response to the storm, which crippled New York City and much of the eastern United States. ... Full Story | Top |
| Netanyahu says strike on Iran would be good for Arabs Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:45 AM PDT  PARIS (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought on Tuesday to convince Arab states that an Israeli military strike on Iran would benefit them, removing a potential threat and easing tensions across the Middle East. Netanyahu has made a number of veiled threats to attack Iran's nuclear program and has appealed to the United States and the United Nations to set a limit for Tehran on its further development. In an interview published on Tuesday with French magazine Paris Match, Netanyahu said such a strike would not worsen regional tensions, as many critics have warned. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tidal surge on river floods three New Jersey towns Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:18 PM PDT  TETERBORO, New Jersey (Reuters) - A wall of water, at times greater than 5 feet high, swept through three towns in northern New Jersey early Tuesday, a parting shot from Hurricane Sandy that prompted the evacuation of a few thousand people from their homes. The tidal surge up the swollen Hackensack River started just after midnight, and there was little time for the unprepared towns of Little Ferry, Moonachie and Carlstadt to rouse their roughly 19,000 residents and urge them to seek higher ground. ... Full Story | Top |
| Washington D.C. escapes worst of storm Sandy Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:00 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's capital appeared to have escaped the worst of the mammoth storm Sandy on Tuesday, although concerns remained about the potential for severe flooding along the Potomac River. Washington, D.C., suffered high winds and rains that brought down trees on some homes and flooded a few roads. But the area got off lightly compared to New York City and New Jersey, where Sandy came ashore on Monday night. More than 4 inches of rain fell over the course of the storm in Washington, the National Weather Service said Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Syrian air force on offensive after failed truce Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 04:51 PM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes bombed rebel targets with renewed intensity on Tuesday after the end of a widely ignored four-day truce between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and insurgents. State television said "terrorists" had assassinated an air force general, Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khalidi, in a Damascus suburb, the latest of several rebel attacks on senior officials. In July, a bomb killed four of Assad's aides, including his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and the defense minister. ... Full Story | Top |
| Home prices climb further in August Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 07:38 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices gained further traction in August, the latest sign that the housing market is on the mend, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, in line with economists' forecasts. It was the seventh straight month of increases, extending the longest continuous string of gains since prices were boosted by the homebuyer tax credit in 2009 and 2010. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. companies hustle to re-staff, reopen after Sandy Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:50 PM PDT  NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - After Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast, companies scrambled on Tuesday to assess the damage and figure out how to staff up as soon as possible. Transportation hubs in New York and Washington were closed due to Sandy, one of the biggest storms to ever hit the country. The storm bashed the coast for hours with high winds and waves that caused widespread flooding, then Sandy dropped just below hurricane status before making landfall on Monday night in New Jersey. ... Full Story | Top |
| Sandy leaves unprecedented challenges for New York City subways Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 09:55 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The giant storm Sandy wreaked havoc on the New York City subway system, flooding tunnels, garages and rail yards and threatening to paralyze the nation's largest mass-transit system for days. "The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night," Joseph Lhota, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, said in a statement early on Tuesday. He later said that water was "literally up to the ceiling" at one downtown station. ... Full Story | Top |
| New Jersey PATH train likely out for at least a week: Governor Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 08:01 AM PDT (Reuters) - The New Jersey PATH train service between New York City and New Jersey is likely to be suspended for at least a week to 10 days, the state's governor, Chris Christie, told a news conference on Tuesday. Still, commuters will be able to get to New York, Christie said, since ferry service should be restored before then, and highways will be open. (Reporting by Martinne Geller in New York; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz) Full Story | Top |
| Sandy strikes in Canada too, far from storm's center Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 12:41 PM PDT  (Reuters) - More than 100,000 Canadians were still without power on Tuesday after the huge storm Sandy toppled trees and power lines in Canada's most populous provinces, killed one person, and halted units at an Ontario refinery. But Canada was far from the center of the storm and the impact was tiny compared to the vast outages and widespread flooding seen in the U.S. East Coast on Monday and Tuesday. The weakened storm is expected bring rain to Eastern Canada and Quebec on Tuesday and into Wednesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Greek journalists strike over suspension of presenters Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 05:56 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek state television journalists accused the government of censorship and began a series of work stoppages on Tuesday after two well-known presenters were suspended for criticizing a government minister. Their removal came on the same day an editor went on trial for printing a list of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, prompting outrage at the swift pursuit of journalists in comparison to the sluggish crackdown on suspected tax evaders. ... Full Story | Top |
| Hurricane Sandy disrupts Northeast U.S. telecom networks Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:38 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Power outages and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy disrupted telecommunications services in Northeastern states on Tuesday, resulting in spotty coverage for cellphones, television, home telephones and Internet services. While all the region's telecom service providers were having problems, Verizon Communications, which serves many of the states in the hurricane's path, may have suffered some of the worst damage from the storm to its wireline network. ... Full Story | Top |
| Outages, floods hit two New Jersey refineries; others restart Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 10:05 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The second-largest refinery on the East Coast has suffered "some" flooding and a power outage from Hurricane Sandy, while two smaller plants also lost power, as glitches threaten to slow the recovery in fuel supplies. While the region's biggest plant, in Philadelphia, and several others were ramping up operations after escaping damage, other facilities, pipelines and terminals were struggling to restore supplies that had slowed to a trickle. ... Full Story | Top |
| Possible levee break in New Jersey floods three towns Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 06:11 AM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A possible levee breach in northern New Jersey on Tuesday, flooded three towns with 4 to 5 feet of water in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, prompting the evacuation of hundreds from their homes. The towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt were underwater after the swollen Hackensack River broke its banks, affecting around 2,000 residents, said Jeanne Baratta, chief of the Bergen County Executive. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ford profit beats forecast on record North America margins Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 02:09 PM PDT  DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co posted a third-quarter profit that trounced Wall Street forecasts on Tuesday, driven by higher vehicle prices and record profit margins of 12 percent in North America. Worldwide, Ford earned $800 million more through price increases than it did last year. Half of that jump came from North America, where Ford has earned more than $2 billion and posted margins over 10 percent for three quarters in a row. The No. 2 U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
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