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| Tropical Storm Sonia weakens near Mexico's Pacific coast Sunday, Nov 03, 2013 07:32 PM PST Tropical Storm Sonia weakened as it approached the Pacific coast of Mexico on Sunday, but threatened heavy rains over swaths of western Mexico that have experienced major flooding over the past couple of months. Sonia was churning 115 miles east of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and the center of the storm was expected to reach the mainland coast early on Monday, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The storm was expected to weaken rapidly after making landfall and dissipate over Mexico on Monday afternoon, it added. Sonia was expected to produce rainfall of 3 to 10 inches in both Sinaloa and Durango states, the NHC said. Full Story | Top |
| China sends graft busters to more provinces, government departments Sunday, Nov 03, 2013 07:07 PM PST China has sent anti-corruption investigators to six more provinces and four government departments, the Chinese Communist Party's corruption watchdog said on Monday, in the government's latest move to tackle graft. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has dispatched inspectors to government departments that include official news agency Xinhua and the Commerce Ministry, the watchdog said in a statement on its website. Since taking office in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called corruption a threat to the ruling Communist Party's survival and vowed to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies". These investigations are unrelated to this new round of probes, or the previous one, which began in May. The May probes, which lasted through the summer and reported back in September, targeted five regions and five departments, including the poor southern province of Guizhou, the southeastern province of Jiangxi and coal-rich Inner Mongolia, as well as the state-owned China Grain Reserves Corporation and the China Publishing Group Corp. The party has so far given few details of the outcome of the first round of investigations, in line with its secretive nature, though the anti-corruption watchdog publishes website reports of a steady stream of minor officials being probed. Full Story | Top |
| Britons turn to junk food after financial crisis - study Sunday, Nov 03, 2013 04:13 PM PST  Britons hurt by lower incomes and rising food prices after the financial crisis have cut back on fruit and vegetables and turned instead to fatty, sugary, processed food, an academic study showed on Monday. The net effect has been that Britons are spending 8.5 percent less in real terms on food purchased at home than before the recession - with the trend even greater for pensioners and families with young children. The research is likely to be politically sensitive at a time when Britain's Conservative-led government is under pressure from the Labour Party, over declining standards of living and sharply rising demand at food banks which hand out free food to the poorest Britons. People have economised by buying less food, measured in number of calories, but also on its quality, picking products that are less nutritious and higher in saturated fat and sugar. Full Story | Top |
| Centrica set to drop 2 billion pounds offshore wind farm plans: report Sunday, Nov 03, 2013 03:33 PM PST is likely to drop plans to build a 2 billion-pound wind farm because of insufficient government subsidies, the Telegraph reported on Sunday, citing three sources. Centrica will not go ahead with the Race Bank wind farm project off the Norfolk coast unless proposed government subsidies are significantly increased, the sources told the newspaper. Offshore wind power is still in its infancy and its financing is a political issue because cash-strapped governments balk at the subsidies the industry says are necessary until economies of scale and streamlined processes can make it more competitive. Full Story | Top |
| East Libya movement launches government, challenges Tripoli Sunday, Nov 03, 2013 01:59 PM PST By Ayman Warfalli and Ghaith Shennib BENGHAZI/TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) - Leaders of an autonomy movement in Libya's oil-rich east unilaterally declared a regional government on Sunday, in a challenge to the weak central government as new violence erupted in the restive region. The announcement is a symbolic blow to efforts by the Tripoli government to reopen eastern oil ports and fields blocked since summer by militias and tribes demanding a greater share of power and oil wealth. Lawlessness has blighted large areas of the OPEC producer since the 2011 war that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. The government has been unable to rein in militia groups, armed tribes and radical Islamists. Full Story | Top |
| Tropical Storm Sonia draws closer to Mexico's Pacific coast Sunday, Nov 03, 2013 12:59 PM PST Tropical Storm Sonia picked up speed as it took aim at the Pacific coast of Mexico on Sunday, threatening intense rains over a large portion of western Mexico that experienced major flooding over the past couple of months. Sonia was churning 115 miles south of the resort city of Los Cabos at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and was expected to approach the mainland coast Sunday night or early Monday, the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. Sonia is expected to produce rainfall of 3 to 10 inches in both Sinaloa and Durango states, the NHC said. Mexico's national water commission said heavy rains could extend to seven other western and northern states. Full Story | Top |
| Khamenei tells Iran's hardliners not to undermine nuclear talks Sunday, Nov 03, 2013 04:55 AM PST  By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader gave strong backing on Sunday to his president's push for nuclear negotiations, warning hardliners not to accuse Hassan Rouhani of compromising with the old enemy America. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments will help shield Rouhani, who has sought to thaw relations with the West since his surprise election in June, from accusations of being soft on the United States, often characterized in the Islamic Republic as the "Great Satan". Iran will resume negotiations with six world powers, including the United States, in Geneva on Thursday, talks aimed at ending a standoff over its nuclear work that Tehran denies is weapons-related. Rouhani hopes a deal there will mean an end to sanctions that have cut the OPEC country's oil exports and hurt the wider economy, but any concession that looks like Iran is compromising on what it sees as its sovereign right to peaceful nuclear technology will be strongly resisted by conservatives. Full Story | Top |
| Magnitude 5.0 quake jolts eastern Japan, no tsunami warning Saturday, Nov 02, 2013 10:46 PM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5 jolted eastern Japan including the capital, Tokyo, on Sunday, the NHK public broadcaster and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and no tsunami warning was issued. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Robert Birsel) Full Story | Top |
| Japan ruling party questions plan to let Fukushima evacuees go home: media Saturday, Nov 02, 2013 09:35 PM PDT A Japanese ruling party official has called into question a government plan to let people who fled from the Fukushima nuclear disaster go home, saying the government should identify areas that will never be habitable. The Fukushima plant north of Tokyo was battered by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, leading to meltdowns and explosions that sent plumes of radiation into the air and sea. But Shigeru Ishiba, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said it was inevitable that some people would never go back. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, has been struggling to stop radiation leaks from the wrecked plant. Full Story | Top |
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