By Sinead Carew and Noel Randewich NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:22pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Texas Instruments Inc's quarterly revenue fell as demand for its chips slipped on economic concerns, and the company forecast more weakness this quarter in all its customer segments. The U.S. chipmaker, which supplies companies ranging from computer mak...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:48pm EDT (Reuters) - Padraig Harrington, a late replacement in the four-man field for this week's PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda, is banking on third time lucky after twice being beaten in a playoff at the elite, end-of-season event. Irishman Harrington accepted an invitation to compete at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton after British ...

WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:09pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Securities regulators on Monday adopted rules designed to bolster risk management practices for clearing agencies. The new rules, which are required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, mark the latest effort by the Securities and Exchan...

LONDON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:03pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile operator EE said Britain's first 4G service will cost from 36 pounds ($57.72) a month under a pricing strategy designed to lure smartphone customers to its superfast network before rivals are able to launch competing products. Chief Executive Olaf Swantee said the company's tariffs, which ran...

By Alwyn Scott EVERETT, Washington | Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:52pm EDT EVERETT, Washington (Reuters) - As director of 777 manufacturing at Boeing Co (BA.N), Jason Clark is busy overseeing more than 3,000 factory workers who build seven of the $300 million airliners every month. He's about to get a lot busier.On Tuesday, that production rate rises to 8....

By Himank Sharma Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:39pm EDT (Reuters) - Western Digital Corp's first-quarter profit topped lowered Wall Street expectations but the company said slowing PC sales and falling IT spending would hurt current-quarter sales and eat into margins. The company's shares, which rose after the quarterly beat, reversed course and were trading down 5 ...

By Alexei Oreskovic and Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO | Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:38pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's new CEO Marissa Mayer sketched out her plan for revamping the mobile and search advertising business, outlining publicly for the first time her vision for getting the ailing Web company back on its feet. Mayer, once a rising star a...

WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:35pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Congressman Barney Frank defended the nation's largest bank on Monday, saying in a statement that the government was wrong to go after JPMorgan Chase & Co for the alleged misdeeds of Bear Stearns. Frank, the co-author of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, said federal a...

WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:32pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Commodities regulators ordered Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that the brokerage failed to diligently supervise employees that handle customer accounts. A customer of the firm, recently re-named Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, improperly traded futur...

By Dan Levine and Jessica Wohl Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:20pm EDT (Reuters) - A new lawsuit accused Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) and two staffing agencies of requiring temporary employees to show up early for work, stay late, and work through lunch at the world's largest retailer. The proposed class action, filed on Monday in a Chicago federal court, alleged Wal-...

By Tom Miles GENEVA | Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:15pm EDT GENEVA (Reuters) - The world's biggest economies, especially the European Union and Japan are using protectionist policies that fly below the World Trade Organization's radar, according to a forthcoming study by two experts. The study, by Vinod Aggarwal, professor of political science at Berkeley,...

By Simon Evans Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:08pm EDT (Reuters) - Alarm bells are ringing for a Baltimore Ravens team heading into their bye week leading the American Football Conference's North division but still smarting from a 43-13 road loss to the Houston Texans. A team fancied by many to reach the Super Bowl when the season began suddenly looks vulnerable, and...

HOUSTON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:06pm EDT HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) plans to pay off more than half of a pricey $4 billion bridge loan after receiving $2.8 billion in cash from the sale of some of its oil and gas properties in the Permian Basin. The loan, made in May, was a lifeline at the time for the U.S. energy company that was st...

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO | Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:56pm EDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - The risks of taking hormone therapy to prevent heart disease and osteoporosis in post menopausal women far outweigh the benefits and such treatment is not recommended, according to new guidelines from an influential panel of U.S. health advisers. The guidelines from th...

By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO | Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:46pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Monday that its $199 Kindle Fire HD tablet has been the best-selling product on the company's website since the gadget went on sale more than a month ago. Amazon started selling a range of new Kindle Fires on September 6 and the company s...

By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:43pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 ended flat on Monday after a late-day bounce, as worries about slower global growth hitting corporate sales were offset by earnings that beat expectations. Technology shares led the day's gains and pushed the Nasdaq up 0.4 ...

By Nicola Leske Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:32pm EDT (Reuters) - The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said it will end its contract with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd in favor of Apple Inc's iPhone, dealing a new blow to RIM just months before it launches a vital new device. The agency said in a solicitation document posted last week...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:03pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most women can wait three to five years between Pap tests to screen for cervical cancer, according to guidelines released Monday by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The recommendations fall in line with two separate sets of guidelines r...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:02pm EDT (Reuters) - Brady Quinn will replace Matt Cassel as starting quarterback for the struggling Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders, the National Football League (NFL) team said on Monday. The Chiefs have made a dismal 1-5 start to the 2012 NFL season and coach Romeo Crennel said he wanted to change the team's d...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:52pm EDT (Reuters) - Green Bay Packers safety Charles Woodson will miss six weeks with a broken collarbone suffered during Sunday's 30-20 road win over the St. Louis Rams, the National Football League (NFL) team said on Monday. Woodson, 36, who also broke his collarbone during the 2010 season's Super Bowl, underwent an X-ray earlier on Monday t...

By Brandon Lowrey LOS ANGELES | Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:47pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The man suing Britney Spears for a large amount of money claiming he was her manager for several months was in fact a "gofer" who performed menial tasks, one of the world's top music executives testified in court on Monday. Sam Lutfi, one of Spears' closest friend...

By Frederik Joelving NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:45pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Downing a cup of beans or lentils every day may help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar and possibly reduce their risk of heart attacks and stroke, according to a small study out today. Researchers found that compared with a diet rich in who...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:44pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Possibly driven by a surge in painkiller abuse, the number of drug and alcohol problems diagnosed by U.S. doctors increased by 70 percent between 2001 and 2009, according to new research. "We know that increases in prescription drug use are a big part of what's...

By Frederik Joelving NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:41pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women about to have breast cancer surgery may want to pay extra attention to the radiation treatment they could be offered afterward. A new study shows a new and increasingly popular treatment called brachytherapy is tied to more wound and skin complications t...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:14pm EDT (Reuters) - Using an unconventional swing that has been compared to a man trying to kill a snake with a garden hose, American Tommy Gainey struck a blow for the 'everyman' golfer with his one-shot victory at the McGladrey Classic. A veteran of virtually every mini-circuit in the United States over the past two decades, the 37-year-old ...

By Rex Gowar BUENOS AIRES | Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:03pm EDT BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - World middleweight champion Sergio Martinez would like a shot at Floyd Mayweather but said on Monday he would not lose sleep trying to pin down the elusive American. "Mayweather skirts around things so it's complicated to focus on going after him," the 37-year-old so...

By Bill Berkrot Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:47pm EDT (Reuters) - The extended shutdown of a sister company of the pharmacy at the center of the deadly meningitis outbreak may exacerbate drug shortages for some hospitals and healthcare providers, health regulators said. Ameridose, a drug manufacturer owned by the same pe...

LONDON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:43pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - British singer Adele has given birth to a baby boy, British media reported. There was no statement on her official website and her spokesman said "no comment" on Monday in reply to a request for confirmation. The 24-year-old, whose album "21" topped chart...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:39pm EDT (Reuters) - Genealogy website operator Ancestry.com agreed to be acquired for $1.6 billion by a group led by Europe-based private equity firm Permira Advisors LLC, four months after it put itself up for sale following the cancellation of a TV show based on its research. The company, whose website...

By Steve Holland and Sam Youngman BOCA RATON, Florida | Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:34pm EDT BOCA RATON, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face off in front of the cameras for a final time on Monday as opinion polls show their battle for the White House has tightened to a dead heat. With 15 days to go until t...

By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:34pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney has closed the gap with President Barack Obama and the two candidates are now tied in the November 6 presidential race, according to a Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll released on Monday. The online survey of likely voters found Obama and Romn...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:31pm EDT (Reuters) - Monster Beverage Corp shares fell 10 percent on Monday after news that it is being sued by the family of a 14-year-old teenager who died after drinking two cans of its Monster Energy drink. The family of teenager Anais Fournier filed a lawsuit on Friday against Monster for failing to warn about the product's dangers.Accordi...

SAN FRANCISCO | Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:30pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard will honor an agreement to sell solid-state storage devices made by Violin Memory but has no plan to extend the deal to future products, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that HP was planning to end its agreement selling ...

By Keith Coffman Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:19pm EDT (Reuters) - Native American activist-turned-actor Russell Means died on Monday at his home in South Dakota, his family said in a statement. He was 72. "Our dad and husband now walks among our ancestors," the statement said.The firebrand former leader of the American Indian Movement and onetime Libertarian Party...

By Nastassia Astrasheuskaya MOSCOW | Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:56pm EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two female members of Russian punk group Pussy Riot convicted of protesting against President Vladimir Putin in a cathedral have been sent to prisons far from Moscow despite requesting to serve out their terms in the capital, a lawyer said on Monday. Maria Alyokhi...

By Dominic Evans and Angus MacSwan BEIRUT | Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:49pm EDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in gunbattles in the Lebanese capital Beirut and coastal Tripoli on Monday in further unrest linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria, security and hospital sources said. The clashes have heightened fe...

By Nick Zieminski NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:42pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. corporate executives are more worried about providing healthcare benefits to their employees than about issues like wages, taxes or attracting qualified workers, according to a survey by the world's No. 1 staffing company, Adecco SA. In Adecco's poll of senior exec...

By Ali Shuaib WADI DINAR, Libya | Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:06pm EDT WADI DINAR, Libya (Reuters) - Families fleeing violence in the besieged Libyan city of Bani Walid said on Monday there were shortages of food and water and the city's hospital was under fire as militias loyal to the government shelled the former stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi. The isola...

HELSINKI | Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:04pm EDT HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen was unhurt after being confronted by a man with a knife during a pre-election rally in the western city of Turku, his aides said on Monday. A man talked to Katainen before pulling out a knife, Katainen's spokesman Kari Mokko said. The man was immediately gra...

By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:46pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An idea percolating in the Congress, aimed at helping avoid the "fiscal cliff," would scrap the steep across-the-board spending cuts of $109 billion set to start on January 2 and replace them with more targeted savings of about $55 billion, according to aides famili...