Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:53pm EDT (Reuters) - Sixth seed Nicolas Almagro stormed through the deciding set to defeat Sam Querrey 6-4 6-7 6-0 and seal a place in the Valencia Open quarter-finals on Thursday, boosting his chances of making next month's World Tour finals in London. Almagro, who ended the singles career of retiring friend and Spanish compatriot Juan Carlos ...

By John Irish and Lamine Chikhi PARIS/ALGIERS | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:42pm EDT PARIS/ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria has given its tacit approval for an Africa-led military intervention in northern Mali to rout Islamist militants despite reservations the operation could spill over into its territory and ...

By Larry Fine SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:40pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval said he received 300 text messages after his triple home run night in the World Series opener and a presidential tweet from back home in Venezuela. Sandoval's power surge triggered the Giants' 8-3 win over the Detr...

By Phil Stewart and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:45pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon defended its decision not to deploy forces to Benghazi, Libya, as soon as the U.S. mission came under attack on September 11th, saying it would have been irresponsible to put forces in harm's way without better information. President Ba...

By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian NEW YORK | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:32pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks eked out small gains on Thursday in another uninspiring session on Wall Street, with worries about weak business spending keeping investors wary. After the close of trading, Apple Inc (AAPL.O), the most valuable public company in the United States, post...

By Mariam Karouny and Stephanie Nebehay BEIRUT/GENEVA | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:31pm EDT BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Damascus residents reported artillery barrages by Syrian troops on Thursday hours before the scheduled start of a ceasefire to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. They said the shelling by troops stationed on a mountain overlooking th...

By Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:29pm EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China's year of political intrigue is likely to spring a few more surprises yet, as the ruling Communist Party tries to pull off a smooth leadership change next month against a backdrop of purges, plots and prison sentences. Just weeks away from the once-in-a-decade successi...

By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:27pm EDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The government of Myanmar is delaying crucial decisions on ways to reduce tensions in volatile regions, a U.N. investigator said on Thursday, as sectarian violence raged for a fifth day between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in western Myanmar. Hundreds o...

By Alexei Anishchuk and Gleb Bryanski MOSCOW | Thu Oct 25, 2012 5:02pm EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed talk that Russian President Vladimir Putin has a back problem that prompted him to postpone foreign visits and might require surgery. Putin, who began a six-year presidential term in May and turned 60 on October 7, was s...

By Michael Stott NOVO OGARYOVO, Russia | Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:44pm EDT NOVO OGARYOVO, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin flatly rejected on Thursday Western criticism of the imprisonment of the Pussy Riot punk protest band, saying its three female members deserved their fate because they threatened the moral foundations of Russia. During a...

Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:42pm EDT (Reuters) - Shares of online streaming music service Pandora Media closed down 12 percent on a report that Apple Inc was in serious talks with major music labels to start an advertising-supported internet radio service by early next year. A deal could be reached by mid-November with Apple starting a service within the first three month...

LONDON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 4:41pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange said on Thursday the United States would have to give up its "immoral" investigation into his whistle blowing website before he considered leaving the confines of the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Assange has been sheltering in the embassy since June to avoid extrad...

By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:44pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said on Thursday it bought a small, mobile start-up company in New York, marking one of new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's first moves to revamp the struggling Web pioneer by acquiring outside products and technology. Yahoo purchased Stamped, whic...

By Samuel P. Jacobs WASHINGTON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:18pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican challenger Mitt Romney held a 1 percentage point lead over President Barack Obama in Thursday's Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll in a presidential race that is effectively a dead heat less than two weeks before Americans vote. In a repeat of Wednesday'...

Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:03pm EDT (Reuters) - Dallas Mavericks guard Delonte West has been suspended indefinitely for a second time in two weeks because of an unspecified conduct issue, the National Basketball Association team said on Thursday. West, an eight-year league veteran, was hit with his previous suspension nine days ago after the Mavericks beat the Houston Ro...

By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:57pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate intelligence committee on Thursday said it will hold hearings in November on security and intelligence issues raised by the September 11 attacks on American facilities in Libya. In a statement, the committ...

LONDON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:54pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - A U.S. expert panel assessing Novo Nordisk's ultra long-acting insulin, degludec, will study its heart safety, raising a potential obstacle to approval in the world's top market. The panel will meet November 8 to focus on the issue, "as meta-analyses of several clinical trials suggest an excess risk...

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:53pm EDT JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main coalition partner, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, plan to merge their right-wing parties ahead of Israel's January 22 election, a cabinet minister said on Thursday. "The fact they reached agreement should be welcomed b...

BRUSSELS | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:52pm EDT BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has agreed to discuss future steps in nuclear talks with Iran's chief negotiator, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. It would be the first contact between Ashton and Iran's Saeed Jalili since EU governments imposed new sanctions on Tehran in mid-...

By Nicola Leske NEW YORK | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:47pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp launched its new Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet on Thursday in a bid to revive interest in its flagship product and regain ground lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing. "We've reimagined Windows and we've reimagined the whole P...

PARIS | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:30pm EDT PARIS (Reuters) - Three-times Tour de France winner Greg LeMond has called on International Cycling Union (UCI) President Pat McQuaid to quit in the wake of the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. American LeMond, who won the Tour in 1986, 1989 and 1990, wrote an open letter on his Facebook page on Thursday criticizing McQ...

Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:27pm EDT (Reuters) - The National Basketball Association (NBA) board of governors has unanimously approved the sale of the Memphis Grizzlies to an investor group led by Robert Pera, the league said on Thursday. Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley in June reached an agreement to sell the franchise to Californian businessman Pera and his group."We ar...

By Mariam Karouny and Stephanie Nebehay BEIRUT/GENEVA | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:25pm EDT BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria's army command announced a ceasefire on Thursday to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha but said it reserved the right to respond to any rebel attack or moves to reinforce President Bashar al-Assad's armed foes. A Free Syrian Arm...

By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:19pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street edged up on Thursday, retreating from session highs as investors were wary of betting aggressively after the S&P 500's worst five-day stretch since May and the data sent more tepid signals on the economy. Business investment showed signs of stalling in Sep...

By Ange Aboa DIVO, Ivory Coast | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:10pm EDT DIVO, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - Extortion at illegal roadblocks manned by police, soldiers and customs officials has increased in Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions in recent months and threatens to undermine reforms aimed at improving farmer incomes, officials said on Thursday. Main crop h...

By Andrew Callus LONDON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:04pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - International oil company BP (BP.L), weakened and distracted by its troubles in the United States and Russia, is in danger of losing touch with the leaders in an industry where strength and focus yield the richest pickings. "I can't help thinking they've sort of lost their w...

By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW | Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:02pm EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia wants to know more about the scale and scope of NATO's post-2014 mission in Afghanistan before deciding whether to keep cooperating with the Western alliance, an envoy for President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. Moscow, NATO's Cold War-era foe and still a freq...

MADRID | Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:58pm EDT MADRID (Reuters) - Spain joined other European countries in halting the sale of anti-influenza vaccines made by Swiss group Novartis, after small particles were found in some of the injections. Spain will halt the sale of all the Chiromas and Chiroflu vaccines, produced by Novartis in Italy, the Spanish Medicines and...

LONDON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:24pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Fifty-two people are confirmed to be suffering from dengue fever in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira and another 404 probably have the mosquito-borne disease, health officials said on Thursday. Two cases of dengue - also called "breakbone fever" because of the severe pain it can cause - have a...

Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:16pm EDT (Reuters) - The deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis tied to tainted steroid medications from a Massachusetts company expanded to 18 states on Thursday with South Carolina reporting its first probable case of the disease. New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Massachusetts, shipped the steroid to 23 states and all but five of ...

By Caroline Copley ZURICH | Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:15pm EDT ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis said flu vaccines that Italy has banned from sale are safe and it does not expect other countries to take similar action. Italy banned four anti-influenza vaccines produced by Novartis on Wednesday pending tests for possible side effects after sma...

By Bill Berkrot Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:14pm EDT (Reuters) - Biogen Idec Inc reported much higher-than-expected third-quarter profit on Thursday on increased sales of its drugs for multiple sclerosis and cancer, and the U.S. biotechnology company raised its full-year earnings forecast. The results were also helped by lower-than-expected costs, analysts said."...

YANGON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:13pm EDT YANGON (Reuters) - Hundreds of homes burned and gunfire rang out as sectarian violence raged for a fifth day between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in western Myanmar on Thursday, pushing the death toll to nearly 60 and testing the country's nascent democracy. Security forces struggled to stem Myanmar's worst communa...

WASHINGTON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:10pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his allies raised $111.8 million October 1-17, his campaign said on Thursday, a high-profile period that included two of the three televised presidential debates. Romney's strong performance in the first debate with President Barack Obama on...

PARIS | Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:08pm EDT PARIS (Reuters) - World tennis number four Rafa Nadal has pulled out of the Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour finals in London as he is still recovering from his left knee injury, the ATP said on Thursday. The 11-times grand-slam singles champion has not played since he suffered a shock second-round loss to Czech L...

NEW YORK | Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:06pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - London Olympic gold medalist Tianna Madison and former hurdling world champion Lolo Jones have been selected in the United States bobsleigh team, raising the prospect the pair could compete at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. The two sprinters were among a group of six women selected on Thursday as...

KABUL | Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:46am EDT KABUL (Reuters) - A man wearing an Afghan police uniform has shot dead two U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan, NATO said on Thursday. The assailant turned his weapon against the forces in Uruzgan province, it said in a statement."Insider" attacks on Western forces have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces ...

By Ben Hirschler LONDON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:22am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Three of Europe's top drugmakers reported falls in third-quarter earnings on Thursday, hurt by patent losses, but the common story hides different trajectories at the rival groups. While AstraZeneca faces years of continuing sales declines, due to a lack of new drugs to rep...

NEW YORK | Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:15am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer expects the Windows 8 operating system to open a new chapter in the company's history and thrust it back into the forefront of technology. "We've reimagined Windows and we've reimagined the whole PC industry," Ballmer told Reuters Television ...

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON | Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:10am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Business investment showed signs of stalling in September, an indication that worries over a possible sharp tightening in the federal budget are already weighing on the economy. Other data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment b...