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| Facebook's mobile surprise allays growth fears Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 07:29 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc grew mobile advertising revenue several times in the third quarter, a faster-than-expected pace that helped drive shares in the world's No. 1 social network nearly 13 percent higher. Facebook said on Tuesday that it now gets 14 percent of its advertising revenue from mobile ads, helping to reassure investors that the social network is beginning to figure out how to earn money off smartphone and tablet users. ... Full Story | Top |
| Apple unwraps mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 05:59 PM PDT  SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Apple Inc will begin to sell an 8-inch version of the iPad on Friday to compete with Amazon.com Inc's Kindle and other smaller tablets, but it set a higher-than-expected price tag of $329 that Wall Street fears could curb demand. The 7.9 inch "iPad mini" marks the iPhone-maker's first foray into the smaller-tablet segment. Apple hopes to beat back incursions onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in a larger tablet space - one that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Fed to keep buying bonds despite firmer U.S. growth Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 09:14 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve appears intent to stick to its bond-buying stimulus on Wednesday, having already indicated it would take more than a modest show of economic strength for policymakers to begin taking their foot off the gas. The Fed unveiled a third round of bond purchases last month to try to rev up a sluggish economic recovery despite a looming presidential election that some thought might deter action. Now analysts believe the central bank will wait until at least December to make any changes to its current plans to buy $40 billion of mortgage debt per month. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emails Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:07 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show. The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks. The brief emails also show how U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Goldman director Gupta awaits sentence in insider case Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 09:07 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The sentencing on Wednesday of fallen Wall Street titan Rajat Gupta for insider trading could come down to whether a judge agrees that his lifetime of charity counts against sending him to prison. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc board member was convicted in June of leaking boardroom secrets to hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, his friend and former business associate, at the height of the financial crisis. Gupta, 63, is to be sentenced by Manhattan U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who oversaw the four-week trial. ... Full Story | Top |
| Dow cutting jobs, closing plants as growth slows Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:17 PM PDT  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co, the largest chemical maker in the United States, said on Tuesday it plans to cut 5 percent of its workforce and shutter 20 plants as part of a restructuring program aimed at countering a slowing global economy. Dow and other chemical companies face slipping demand for products around the world. Rival DuPont slashed its earnings forecast and announced 1,500 job cuts. "The reality is we are operating in a slow-growth environment in the near-term and, while these actions are difficult, they demonstrate our resolve to tightly manage operations... ... Full Story | Top |
| Explosions, fire at arms factory in Sudan's capital Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 04:58 PM PDT  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A huge fire broke out after a loud explosion on Tuesday night at an arms factory in Sudan's capital Khartoum, a Reuters witness said. Soldiers blocked roads to the factory where more explosions took place as firefighters tried to contain the blaze, a Reuters reporter at the scene in southern Khartoum said. The state-linked Sudanese Media Centre said the fire and explosions had occurred at the Yarmouk ammunition factory. The army spokesman was not immediately available for comment. There were no immediate reports of casualties. ... Full Story | Top |
| After final debate, Obama says election comes down to trust Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 02:46 PM PDT  DAYTON, Ohio (Reuters) - President Barack Obama warned voters on Tuesday that Republican rival Mitt Romney cannot be trusted to deal honestly with the public as the presidential campaign shifted from televised confrontation to a frantic dash for votes. After three televised debates that have boosted Romney's prospects before the November 6 election, Obama delivered what is likely to be his closing argument: that, unlike Romney, he has been honest with voters about his plans to deliver a broadly shared prosperity over the next four years. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama debate win unlikely to shift race: Reuters/Ipsos poll Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 02:41 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Voters say President Barack Obama did a better job than Republican challenger Mitt Romney in Monday's debate but their opinions of each candidate did not shift significantly, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. Some 47 percent of registered voters surveyed in the online poll judged Obama the victor, while 31 percent believed Romney won. But neither candidate's favorability ratings shifted in the wake of Monday's debate, the last of three televised matchups before the November 6 election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda goes underground in Yemen against U.S.-driven crackdown Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 12:56 PM PDT  ADEN (Reuters) - A U.S.-backed military onslaught may have driven Islamist militants from towns in Yemen they seized last year, but many have regrouped into "sleeper cells" threatening anew the areas they vacated, security officials and analysts say. The resilience of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), despite increased U.S. drone strikes to eliminate militants, is worrying for top oil exporter Saudi Arabia next door and the security of major shipping lanes in the seas off Yemen. ... Full Story | Top |
| Before meningitis outbreak, firm avoided sanctions Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 09:46 AM PDT  BOSTON (Reuters) - The pharmacy tied to a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak escaped harsh punishment from health regulators several times in the years leading up to the health crisis that has raised questions about oversight of the customized drug mixing industry, newly released state records show. Problems at the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Massachusetts, date as far back as 1999, the year after it began operations, according to hundreds of pages of documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request. ... Full Story | Top |
| Italy earthquake verdict will cause "paralysis:" agency Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 12:35 PM PDT  ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Civil Protection agency said on Tuesday that the manslaughter conviction of seven scientists and officials over a deadly 2009 earthquake in the central city of L'Aquila would create "paralysis" in disaster assessment and prevention. On Monday, a court sentenced the group to six years in prison for failing to warn of the magnitude 6.3 quake which hit L'Aquila in the early hours of April 6, 2009, killing 308 people and devastating the medieval city. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama holds narrow edge two weeks ahead of election: Reuters/Ipsos poll Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 11:36 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama pulled slightly ahead of Republican Mitt Romney in a Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll on Tuesday, but the race remained essentially tied with two weeks to go until the November 6 election. Obama led Romney among likely voters by a statistically insignificant margin of 1 percentage point, 47 percent to 46 percent. The four-day online tracking poll includes some responses taken after the two candidates' final televised debate, but the full impact will not register for several days. ... Full Story | Top |
| Facebook mobile revenue grows faster than expected Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 03:43 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc grew mobile advertising revenue several times in the third quarter, a faster-than expected pace that helped reassure investors that the world's No. 1 social network is beginning to figure out how to earn money off smartphone and tablet users. The company now gets 14 percent of its advertising revenue from mobile ads, translating into more than $150 million -- a surge from an estimated $40 million to $50 million in the second quarter and almost nothing in the first. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel kills three Hamas militants after Qatari emir leaves Gaza Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 04:27 PM PDT  GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed three Hamas gunmen in Gaza Strip air strikes on Tuesday which the military said targeted squads preparing to launch rockets into the Jewish state. The air force operations followed other Palestinian attacks, including a bomb blast that wounded an Israeli army officer patrolling the Gaza border, on a day that saw the isolated, Hamas-governed enclave receive its first foreign head of state, the emir of Qatar. ... Full Story | Top |
| Apple unwraps mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 04:22 PM PDT  SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Apple Inc will begin to sell an 8-inch version of the iPad on Friday to compete with Amazon.com Inc's Kindle and other smaller tablets, but it set a higher-than-expected price tag of $329 that Wall Street fears could curb demand. The 7.9 inch "iPad mini" marks the iPhone-maker's first foray into the smaller-tablet segment. Apple hopes to beat back incursions onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in a larger tablet space - one that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Explosions, fire at arms factory in Sudan's capital Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 05:12 PM PDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A huge fire broke out after several explosions late on Tuesday at an arms factory in Sudan's capital of Khartoum, witnesses said. Soldiers blocked roads to the Yarmouk ammunition factory where more blasts erupted as firefighters tried to contain the blaze, said a Reuters reporter at the scene in southern Khartoum. After two hours the fire had been almost extinguished. The governor of Khartoum state, Abdelrahman al-Khidir, said some people had been taken to hospitals after inhaling smoke but otherwise there were no casualties, according to the state news agency SUNA. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Village cafe shootout spells trouble for Assad Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 09:10 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - A warm autumn day in the Syrian village of Qardaha and a man walks in to a cafe where two customers are arguing. He pulls a gun; shots are fired. The newcomer is wounded and one of the other men killed. But this is no obscure local feud; it reveals frictions among President Bashar al-Assad's core supporters. For Qardaha is the ancestral home of the ruling dynasty. And the man who strode in with a pistol was the beleaguered president's cousin. Accounts vary of what happened next. ... Full Story | Top |
| Apple set to unwrap mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 01:43 PM PDT  SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Apple Inc is expected to make its biggest product move on Tuesday since debuting the iPad two years ago, launching a smaller, cheaper tablet into a market staked out by Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc. Apple hopes to beat back their charge onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in the larger 10-inch tablet space that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Car bombs, mortars kill nine in Baghdad Shi'ite districts Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:01 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bomb blasts and mortars killed at least nine people and wounded 28 more in Shi'ite districts in Baghdad on Tuesday, just days before Iraqis started celebrating the Islamic Eid al-Adha religious festival. Car bombs exploded and mortars landed around the Shi'ite neighborhood of Shula, northwestern Baghdad, killing 8 people and wounded 28, and another person was killed by a mortar round in Kadhimiya area, police and hospital sources said. ... Full Story | Top |
| BBC chief denies cover-up over sexual abuse Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 10:07 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - The head of the BBC denied on Tuesday helping to cover up sexual abuse by one of its former stars but accepted the British broadcaster had been damaged by a scandal that has shaken public trust in a national institution. George Entwistle, who was announced as the 90-year-old media organization's new boss in August, told hostile lawmakers that failures at the BBC had allowed Jimmy Savile, once one of Britain's top TV presenters, to prey on young girls for years. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Turkish gold trade booms to Iran, via Dubai Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:37 AM PDT  DUBAI/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - To see one of Iran's financial lifelines at work, pay a visit to Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport and find a gate for a flight to Dubai. Couriers carrying millions of dollars worth of gold bullion in their luggage have been flying from Istanbul to Dubai, where the gold is shipped on to Iran, according to industry sources with knowledge of the business. The sums involved are enormous. Official Turkish trade data suggests nearly $2 billion worth of gold was sent to Dubai on behalf of Iranian buyers in August. ... Full Story | Top |
| Iran says may stop oil sales if sanctions tighten Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:26 AM PDT  DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it would stop oil exports if pressure from Western sanctions got any tighter and that it had a "Plan B" contingency strategy to survive without oil revenues. Western nations led by the United States have imposed tough sanctions on the Islamic Republic this year in an attempt to curb its nuclear program that they say is designed to produce atomic weapons. Tehran says its nuclear plans are peaceful. "If sanctions intensify we will stop exporting oil," Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told reporters in Dubai. ... Full Story | Top |
| UCI backs Armstrong ban Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 01:58 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life on Monday after the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) sanctions against the American. The decision effectively destroyed Armstrong's last hope of clearing his name after he was exposed as a drug cheat, triggering a wave of condemnation and legal threats. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama on attack in foreign policy debate, but Romney steady Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 07:25 AM PDT  BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama scolded challenger Mitt Romney for being "all over the map" on foreign policy in their final presidential debate on Monday, but the Republican appeared to have passed the "commander-in-chief" test of looking authoritative on national security issues. With two weeks left until Election Day, the high-stakes debate strayed frequently into domestic policy, with Romney seeking to bolster his argument that Obama had bungled the U.S. economic recovery. ... Full Story | Top |
| Latvia sees good and bad as Russian money haven Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:23 AM PDT  RIGA (Reuters) - Offshore funds flowing from crisis-hit Cyprus have helped boost bank deposits in Latvia, strengthening the small Baltic state's position as an offshore banking centre for neighboring Russia and other ex-Soviet states. Non-resident deposits are near 50 percent of total bank deposits, a record high, with Latvia's location next to Russia its key advantage. It has drawn funds from both businesses and rich individuals, who see it is as a stable proxy for Western banks, with the added attraction that Russian is widely spoken. ... Full Story | Top |
| White House: nothing new in Obama's comment on automatic cuts Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 02:46 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday that there was nothing new in President Barack Obama's unqualified remark that automatic spending cuts looming in January "will not happen." Obama's comment, made during his debate on Monday night with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, has set off speculation that the president is aware of a new development or perhaps planning to take a significant step himself to halt the cuts. ... Full Story | Top |
| Over 100,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon now: UNHCR Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 03:26 AM PDT  GENEVA (Reuters) - Lebanon has become the third of Syria's neighbors after Turkey and Jordan to register more than 100,000 refugees from Syria's civil war, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday. In all, more than 358,000 Syrians fleeing the 19-month-old conflict have registered in four neighboring states, including Iraq, and tens of thousands more have fled but not sought international assistance, it said. ... Full Story | Top |
| UPS profit drops, shares rise on outlook Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 08:45 AM PDT  (Reuters) - United Parcel Service Inc reported lower quarterly profit on Tuesday, citing slowing global trade, and said there was "some uncertainty" about the strength of the coming holiday season. The share price rose 2.7 percent after UPS slightly revised its 2012 forecast, signaling to Wall Street it would top the consensus estimate for the fourth quarter, which includes the important holiday shipping season. Third-quarter earnings per share at the world's largest package delivery group, matched estimates, but quarterly revenue fell from a year ago and missed the Wall Street view. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Sewage, "sloppy fits" and a tomb - Goldman's India build Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 03:39 AM PDT  LONDON/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs' reputation for hard-nosed efficiency faces a test in the chaos of Indian building standards, according to architects hired by the Wall Street bank. Construction is due to start soon on a Bangalore campus for some 4,000 back-office Goldman Sachs staff, but a report by Toronto-based architect Adamson Associates seen by Reuters said the project faces a string of obstacles including shoddy construction, corruption, poor sanitation and an on-site tomb. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb wounds Israeli officer on Gaza border Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 03:35 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli officer was severely wounded on Tuesday when a bomb went off beside an army patrol along the border with the Gaza Strip, a military spokeswoman said. The attack came hours before the Emir of Qatar arrived in Gaza in the first visit by a head of state to the blockaded enclave since it was taken over in 2007 by the Iranian-backed Islamist Hamas movement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will deliver a strong response to the attack. "We will fight and we will hit them very, very hard," Netanyahu said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Papal butler's alleged accomplice goes on trial on November 5 Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 04:53 AM PDT  VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A Vatican computer expert will go on trial on November 5 for aiding and abetting the pope's former butler Paolo Gabriele, who was convicted this month of stealing papal documents, a spokesman for the Holy See said on Tuesday. Claudio Sciarpelletti, a close friend of Gabriele, works in the Vatican's Secretariat of State, equivalent to the prime minister's office. Gabriele received an 18-month custodial sentence after admitting to leaking highly sensitive papers, including letters to the pope, that alleged corruption in the Vatican's business dealings. ... Full Story | Top |
| BBC chief says sex abuse claims "very grave" Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 03:03 AM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - The director general of the BBC said on Tuesday allegations of sexual abuse carried out by one of the publicly funded broadcaster's former stars represented a very grave matter that had an impact on its reputation. "This is a gravely serious matter and one cannot look back at it with anything other than horror," George Entwistle told lawmakers on parliament's Culture and Media Committee. ... Full Story | Top |
| Yahoo's new CEO Mayer takes on the mobile challenge Tuesday, Oct 23, 2012 06:16 AM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Chief Executive Marrisa Mayer promised to modernize Yahoo's websites and make them more smartphone-friendly in her debut appearance at the helm of the struggling company, faulting it for underinvesting in the "mobile wave". Mayer, once a rising star at Google Inc who took charge at Yahoo in July, told analysts on a conference call that she wanted to focus Yahoo's efforts around the "daily habits" of users such as email, the home page, Internet search and mobile devices. ... Full Story | Top |
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