By Kwasi Kpodo ACCRA | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:51pm EST ACCRA (Reuters) - An Israeli military team arrived in Ghana on Thursday to help search for survivors a day after a four-storey shopping mall collapsed in the West African state's capital Accra, killing at least nine. Officials said more people than initially thought were still trapped in the wrec...

GAZA | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:49pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - Gunfire from Israeli forces killed a Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local medics said, during border clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants. The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a militant group, said its gunmen had confronted an Israeli force of four tanks an...

By Trisha Sertori NUSA DUA, Indonesia | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:38pm EST NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday the age of nuclear deterrence was long gone and any country still stockpiling nuclear weapons was "mentally retarded". He again denied Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons, a day after th...

By Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard BEIJING | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:34pm EST BEIJING (Reuters) - President Hu Jintao warned China's incoming leaders on Thursday that corruption threatened the ruling Communist Party and the state, but said the party must stay in charge as it battles growing social unrest. In a state-of-the-nation address to more than 2,...

By Alan Baldwin LONDON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:30pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Formula One drivers have been told to mind their language after world champion Sebastian Vettel and race winner Kimi Raikkonen turned the air blue on the podium at last Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A spokesman for the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:16pm EST (Reuters) - United Continental Holdings, the world's largest air carrier, said disruptions to operations including the cancellation of nearly 5,300 flights because of superstorm Sandy, reduced revenue and profit in October. United, which operates a major hub at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, said in a statement lat...

KHARTOUM | Thu Nov 8, 2012 12:02pm EST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Thursday promised his country would respond robustly to what he believes was an Israeli bombing of a Khartoum arms factory and said he was in "perfect health" after undergoing surgery in Saudi Arabia. Sudan last month accused Israel of carrying out an a...

By Margarita Antidze TBILISI | Thu Nov 8, 2012 11:57am EST TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian prosecutors on Thursday charged a former minister and two army officials with abuse of power, in what the opposition calls political persecution by the new government. A coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili ousted President Mikheil Saakashvili's pa...

By Daren Butler ISTANBUL | Thu Nov 8, 2012 11:31am EST ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Retired Turkish military commanders have expressed fury that a former top Kurdish rebel has been allowed to testify against them in a coup trial, citing it as proof the proceedings were meant only to intimidate and undermine the armed forces. Semdin Sakik, known as "Finge...

JERUSALEM | Thu Nov 8, 2012 11:25am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli archaeologists are scratching their heads over a possible 8,500-year-old murder mystery after discovering two skeletons at the bottom of an ancient well. Flint sickle blades and arrowheads found in the eight-meter (26 foot)-deep Stone Age well in the Jezreel Valley in Israel's Galilee ...

By Erika Solomon HAREM, Syria | Thu Nov 8, 2012 10:24am EST HAREM, Syria (Reuters) - Unarmed and cornered by Syrian rebel fighters, the man seemed to accept his death with more silent sorrow than surprise; his killers did not hesitate as they shot their prisoner. The incident, filmed by a Reuters video crew, happened last week in Harem, near Alep...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 9:34am EST (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co has reached an agreement in principle with the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve two previously disclosed investigations related to mortgage-backed securities, the company disclosed in a quarterly filing on Thursday. The company did not say how much the settlements could ...

By Euan Rocha TORONTO | Thu Nov 8, 2012 9:06am EST TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd said on Thursday it won a much-coveted U.S. government security clearance for its yet-to-be-launched platform for BlackBerry 10 devices, due to hit store shelves in the first quarter of 2013. The company said its BlackBerry 10 platform has received the F...

FRANKFURT | Thu Nov 8, 2012 9:06am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Central Bank expects the euro zone economy to remain poor, ECB President Mario Draghi said after the bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday. "Economic activity in the euro area is expected to remain weak," Draghi told his regular monthly news conference after the ECB held i...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 9:01am EST (Reuters) - Hanoi has been chosen as the host city for the 2019 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said on Thursday. The Vietnamese capital, which hosted the 2003 Southeast Asian Games and the 2009 Asian Indoor Games, beat Indonesia's Surabaya for the right to stage the 18th edition of...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:59am EST (Reuters) - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc unveiled details of the long-awaited single-cup espresso machine it will launch with Italy's Luigi Lavazza SpA, marking its entry into the espresso, cappuccino and latte brewer category. The machine, to be called Keurig Rivo Cappuccino and Latte System, will have a suggested retail price of...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:58am EST (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S3 became the world's best-selling smartphone model last quarter, pushing aside Apple Inc's iPhone, which has dominated the chart for more than two years, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Thursday. Strategy Analytics estimated Samsung sold 18 million S3 models in the third quarter, compare...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:56am EST (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co said U.S. regulators have approved a plan for the bank to use its capital to buy back as much as $3 billion of its stock in the first quarter of 2013. JPMorgan had suspended buybacks in May and submitted a new capital plan to the Federal Reserve in August after containing its "London Whale" derivative...

By Rania El Gamal and Andrew Hammond DOHA | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:50am EST DOHA (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad scotched any suggestion he might flee Syria and warned that any Western military intervention to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond. Speaking in an interview with Russia Today (RT) televisio...

By Gennady Fyodorov MOSCOW | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:44am EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - World discus champion Darya Pishchalnikova could face a life ban from athletics if she is found guilty of taking a prohibited substance, the head of Russia's anti-doping agency (RUSADA) said on Thursday. RUSADA executive director Nikita Kamayev said the World Anti-Doping A...

WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 9:13am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in September as exports increased, suggesting the economy expanded more than previously believed in the third quarter. The seasonally adjusted monthly trade gap fell to $41.55 billion, the smallest deficit since December 2010, the Commerce Department said on Th...

By Peter Rutherford HONG KONG | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:34am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - The NFL is enjoying rapid growth in China but it will not stage a game there until the fan base reaches a tipping point to avoid damaging its "brand equity", the head of the league's Chinese operation told Reuters. Rated by Forbes as the world's richest professional ...

WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:33am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, a sign the labor market's slow recovery was gaining traction although a severe storm distorted the data. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 355,000, the Labor...

By Henry Foy and Matthias Williams GURGAON, India | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:31am EST GURGAON, India (Reuters) - India Inc. demanded simpler tax rules, faster project approvals and tougher rules on corruption at an economic summit on Thursday, as companies challenged the government to push for deeper economic fixes than a handful of recent reforms. Temp...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:25am EST (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) on Thursday reported a 1.8 percent drop in October sales at established restaurants around the world, its first monthly sales fall since March 2003, hurt by stiff competition in a weak economy. Analysts, on average, expected a 1.07 percent decline in sales at restaurants open at least 13 months, accor...

By Ernest Scheyder Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:23am EST (Reuters) - Duke Energy Corp (DUK.N), the largest power company in the United States, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday due to benefits from its summer acquisition of rival Progress Energy. For the third quarter, the company posted net income of $594 million, up from $472 million a yea...

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK | Thu Nov 8, 2012 9:09am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to rise slightly at the open on Thursday after stronger-than-expected U.S. job market data and a rise in exports a day after stock indexes posted the largest drops in months. Data showed the U.S. trade deficit narrowed in September as exports increase...

Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:19am EST (Reuters) - Kellogg Co (K.N) said on Thursday it expects reported net sales growth to be about 7 percent and earnings per share growth to be between 5 and 7 percent for 2013. The world's largest cereal maker also said it was sticking with its expectations for 2012. The maker of Corn Flakes, Eggo waffles and Keebler cookies said it conti...

By Elaine Lies TOKYO | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:16am EST TOKYO (Reuters) - The suave and sensitive Edward Cullen of "Twilight" may be the norm for vampires these days, but fictional monsters such as Dracula originally sprang from the fear of inexplicable diseases and the mysteries of death in the natural world. So argues science journalist Matt Kaplan i...

By Tim Hepher and Cyril Altmeyer PARIS | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:11am EST PARIS (Reuters) - EADS (EAD.PA) blamed a funding row with Germany for contributing to a 3 billion euro cash outflow so far this year, which put a blot on the Airbus parent's stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday and hit its shares. Finance Director Harald Wilhelm ...

By Jorge Dan and Milton Castillo SAN MARCOS, Guatemala | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:04am EST SAN MARCOS, Guatemala (Reuters) - A strong earthquake off the coast of Guatemala killed at least 48 people and trapped others under rubble on Wednesday, crushing homes and cars, destroying roads and forcing evacuations as far away as Mexico City. Most of the dead ...

By Jonny Hogg NYABIBWE, Democratic Republic of Congo | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:02am EST NYABIBWE, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Miners clustered in a muddy riverbed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo watch as a bag of tin ore is weighed on scales hung from a shovel and then sealed with a small plastic tag. The simple "bag and tag" initi...

By Alan Baldwin LONDON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 8:00am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Frenchman Cyril Abiteboul became the youngest team principal in Formula One on Thursday with Caterham naming the 35-year-old as successor to Malaysian entrepreneur and co-owner Tony Fernandes. Abiteboul was already the chief executive of the British-based team, who have yet to...

KHARTOUM | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:53am EST KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Rebels in Sudan's main oil state said on Thursday they had shot down a government Antonov military aircraft after it had bombed targets in the territory's Nuba mountains area. Sudan's armed forces spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Insurgents from the Sudan People's Lib...

By Imtiaz Shah KARACHI, Pakistan | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:52am EST KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least one person when he rammed his vehicle into the gates of a military base in Pakistan's largest city on Thursday, police said, the latest in a series of audacious attacks on security forces. Thirteen people were wound...

LONDON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:51am EST LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron warned on Thursday that speculation about the identity of an unidentified member of his ruling Conservative party accused of sexually abusing children could turn into a witch-hunt against gay people. Cameron, who leads a troubled two-party coalition, ordered an in...

By Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard BEIJING | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:13am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - President Hu Jintao warned China's incoming leaders on Thursday that corruption threatened the ruling Communist Party and the state, but said the party must stay in charge as it battles growing social unrest. In a state-of-the-nation address to more than 2,0...

By Maria Sheahan BERLIN | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:07am EST BERLIN (Reuters) - Engineering conglomerate Siemens AG aims to save 6 billion euros ($7.7 billion) over the next two years as it fights to stay competitive in a weak global economy. Siemens, Germany's most valuable company which makes products ranging from fast trains and gas turbines to hearin...

By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:03am EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google will increase the cash it allocates to its venture-capital arm to up to $300 million a year from $200 million, catapulting Google Ventures into the top echelon of corporate venture-capital funds. Access to that sizeable checkbook means Google Ventures wil...

By Jessica Wohl Thu Nov 8, 2012 7:03am EST (Reuters) - Target Corp is bringing reviews from tech news website CNET into its aisles in time for the holiday season as it tries to stand out from a crowd of stores and websites selling a mix of new gadgets. The partnership between the discount chain and CNET, a website popular with gadget enthusiasts and known...