El Diario de Tristán

VIENNA (Reuters) - After two days of rare and intensive talks in Tehran, senior U.N. nuclear officials may have felt they were finally making headway towards getting Iran to address suspicions that it is bent on developing the ability to make atom bombs.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks closed slightly lower on Monday as lingering questions about Europe's debt crisis and corporate earnings overshadowed growing optimism about economic growth after a five-week rally.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama - bolstered by a stronger economic outlook and recent job growth - would win in a match-up against the two leading Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, a poll on Monday showed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States closed its embassy in Damascus on Monday and President Barack Obama vowed to ratchet up pressure on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step down, even as world powers remained divided over how to end the crisis.

LONDON/CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Top executives at Glencore and Xstrata are hammering out the final details of a proposed $80 billion merger, including the premium on offer by the commodities trading giant to secure approval from the miner's shareholders.

LONDON (Reuters) - To get an idea of the economic mountain euro zone strugglers Greece and Portugal have to climb, consider this: per million inhabitants, they each filed fewer than eight applications with the European Patent Office in 2010.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces bombarded Homs on Monday, killing 50 people in a sustained assault on several districts of the city which has become a centre of armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian National Council opposition group said.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Is what is good for Chrysler good for America?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mad rush to move client money out of MF Global Inc. after its collapse left two firms with the bulk of customer accounts, while other brokerages emerged with only minor gains from the chaos of carving up a multibillion-dollar business.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fears that Greece might not accept the terms of a proposed new bailout deal brought a rally in global shares and the euro to a halt on Monday, undermining the positive effect of better global economic data.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, one of Wall Street's most powerful figures, has become the first major business leader to join a national media campaign in support of same-sex marriage.

(Reuters) - About a year ago, when it became clear that taking Facebook Inc public was a matter of when not if, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg went out and poached Caroline Everson, then global advertising head at Microsoft Corp.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (Reuters) - Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney on Monday focused his campaign's firepower on Rick Santorum to head off the former senator's surge in two of three states with nominating contests this week.

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Manuel Noriega, Panama's drug-running military dictator of the 1980s, was taken from prison to a public hospital on Sunday after suffering a possible stroke, but a top health official said he was stable.

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Sunday there were important risks to consider before any military strike against Iran and made clear he does not want to see more conflict in the oil-producing Gulf region.

ATHENS/PARIS (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Greece Monday to make up its mind fast on accepting the painful terms for a new EU/IMF bailout, but the country's political leaders responded by delaying their decision for yet another day.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - The New York Giants reclaimed the greatest prize in North American sports with a nail-biting 21-17 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

(Reuters) - An "intentional" house explosion on Sunday near Tacoma, Washington killed the husband and two sons of a Utah woman missing since December 2009, fire department officials said.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Latest from the Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.

(Reuters) - An "intentional" house explosion on Sunday near Tacoma, Washington killed the husband and two sons of a Utah woman missing since December 2009, fire department officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Israel has not yet decided how to respond to concerns about Iran's nuclear program and said there was no evidence that Iran has the "intentions or capabilities" to wage attacks on U.S. soil.

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian militant group based in the oil-producing Niger Delta said it attacked an oil pipeline owned by Italian firm Eni on Sunday, a strike the military said was the work of criminal gangs.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's two major labor unions plan a 24-hour strike on Tuesday against austerity measures and reforms demanded by international lenders in exchange for a new bailout package, union officials said on Sunday.

CAIRO (Reuters) - The cases of 40 foreign and Egyptian activists, including 19 Americans subject to travel bans over their work for pro-democracy and other groups, have been referred to court, judicial sources said Sunday, deepening a row with the United States.

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Manuel Noriega, Panama's drug-running military dictator of the 1980s, was taken from prison to a public hospital after suffering a possible stroke, the national police said on Sunday.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will prepare Cairo's Torah prison hospital so it can receive ousted President Hosni Mubarak from the military hospital where he is now detained, an Interior Ministry official said on Sunday, an announcement that could help calm protests.

KIEV/LONDON (Reuters) - Bitterly cold weather sweeping across Europe claimed more victims Sunday, brought widespread disruption to transport services, and left thousands without power with warnings that low temperatures would continue into next week.

KIEV/LONDON (Reuters) - Bitterly cold weather sweeping across Europe claimed more victims on Sunday, brought widespread disruption to transport services, and left thousands without power with warnings that low temperatures would continue into next week.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers told Greece it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately held debt until it guaranteed to implement reforms to secure a second financing package from the euro zone and the IMF.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It does not guarantee him re-election in November, but it is an advantage President Barack Obama is likely to carry into the fall: a broad base of supporters who have given him the symbolic vote of confidence with a donation of less than $200.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will target any country used as a launchpad for attacks against its soil, the deputy Revolutionary Guards commander said, expanding Tehran's range of threats in an increasingly volatile stand-off with world powers over its nuclear ambitions.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army-backed government said it was preparing to move ousted President Hosni Mubarak to a Cairo prison hospital in an apparent bid to calm protests, but clashes continued with police firing tear gas at demonstrators hurling rocks and broken tiles.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The majority of Germans feel the euro currency bloc would be better off if debt-crippled Greece left it, a poll published in mass-selling newspaper Bild am Sonntag showed on Sunday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has a stake in helping euro zone countries get through their debt crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published on Sunday, pointing to Europe's importance as a market and hinting at more possible support for beleaguered exporters.

TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Official investigations into a massive fraud at Japan's Olympus Corp are highly likely to lead to further revelations on the scandal soon, according to the firm's former chief executive, Michael Woodford, who blew the whistle on the affair.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Among the slick, million-dollar ads for the likes of Pepsi and Honda during the Super Bowl this Sunday, viewers in Washington will see a far more modest spot. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be sitting on a couch touting an issue most politicians avoid like the plague: gun control.

KABUL (Reuters) - A secret NATO report showing the strength of confidence among the Afghan Taliban is raising concerns from Kabul to Washington that the militant group might overrun the country again when foreign combat forces finally leave.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mounted a lavish celebration on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the failed coup that helped launch his political career, as opposition leaders slammed the event as a blemish on the country's democracy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Police removed protesters as they confiscated bedding and most tents on Saturday from an "Occupy" protest site just blocks from the White House, enforcing a no-camping rule for the public McPherson Square they had ignored for months.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Memory chipmaker Micron Technology's board appointed company veteran Mark Durcan as chief executive a day after longtime Chairman and CEO Steve Appleton was killed in a plane crash.

CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian government building was set on fire on Sunday as protests disrupted the heart of Cairo for a fourth day and public figures demanded a faster transition to civilian rule.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's coalition parties must tell the European Union on Monday whether they accept the painful terms of a new bailout deal as EU patience wears thin with political dithering in Athens over implementing reforms.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Republican Newt Gingrich vowed on Sunday to press ahead with his struggling presidential bid after a big loss in Nevada, saying he will focus on drawing a contrast with "timid" rival Mitt Romney.

BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western and Arab states voiced outrage Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have backed an Arab plan urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power, and Washington vowed harsher sanctions against Damascus.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers told Greece on Saturday it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately-held debt until it guaranteed it would implement reforms needed to secure a second financing package from the euro zone and the IMF.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military faced pressure on Saturday to speed up its transfer of power to civilians, as top public figures demanded a faster transition and street protests against army rule disrupted the heart of Cairo for a third day.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The possibility of a sovereign default by Greece cannot be ruled out, Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers from the single currency zone, said in a German magazine on Saturday.

MUNICH (Reuters) - The U.S. military, which is cutting its presence in Europe, plans to expand its training of European partners to cope with new threats posed by interlinked criminal and militant networks smuggling weapons and drugs, said the U.S. commander in Europe.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mounted a lavish celebration on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the failed coup that helped launch his political career, as opposition leaders slammed the event as a blemish on the country's democracy.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece has just one day left to strike a deal with impatient lenders and reluctant political party leaders on a 130 billion rescue plan before the country is pushed towards a chaotic default, its finance minister warned on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Police removed bedding and most tents on Saturday at an "Occupy" protest site just blocks from the White House, enforcing a no-camping rule at a public square that has housed protesters for months.

MUNICH (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reassured European allies on Saturday that Washington remains committed to their security despite an austerity drive, as NATO pushed for new ways for alliance members to maintain capabilities at lower cost.

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban denied on Saturday that the group's leader Mullah Omar wrote to the White House last year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Among the slick, million-dollar ads for the likes of Pepsi and Honda during the Super Bowl this Sunday, viewers in Washington will see a far more modest spot. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be sitting on a couch touting an issue most politicians avoid like the plague: gun control.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary is seeking an international credit line of 15 to 20 billion ($20 to $26.3 billion) euros, the secretary of state heading the prime minister's office, Mihaly Varga, was quoted on Saturday as saying.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Saturday pressed lawmakers to pass his proposal to provide up to $10 billion in aid to struggling homeowners, saying a failure to address the housing crisis would put the rest of the economy at risk.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Russians defied bitter cold in Moscow on Saturday to demand fair elections in a march against Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule, while supporters of the prime minister staged a rival rally drawing comparable numbers.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would not retreat from its nuclear program even if its crude oil exports grind to a halt, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's oil minister said that the Islamic state would certainly cut its oil exports to "some" European countries, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - With a huge lead in the polls, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney appeared poised for an easy win in Nevada on Saturday that would put him in firm command of the party's see-sawing presidential nominating race.

BOISE, Idaho/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 3 - Micron Technology Inc Chief Executive and Chairman Steve Appleton died in a small plane crash on Friday, a major loss for a U.S. memory chipmaker already struggling with sluggish computer sales and declining prices.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia and China vetoed on Saturday a U.N. resolution that backed an Arab plan calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit, stalling global efforts to end his bloody crackdown on unrest after hundreds were reported killed in the city of Homs.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader threatened on Friday to retaliate against the West for sanctions, a day after a U.S. newspaper said defense secretary Leon Panetta believed Israel was likely to bomb Iran within months to stop it building a nuclear bomb.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to a near three-year low, giving a boost to President Barack Obama.

ZURICH (Reuters) - The first indictment of a Swiss private bank over hiding untaxed money for wealthy Americans has heightened tension among private bankers fearful of being next in the firing line.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - With the enemy at the gates, Bashar al-Assad was dining out.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Two American women kidnapped by gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Friday were released into army custody a few hours later, security sources said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to a near three-year low, giving a boost to President Barack Obama.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Republican front-runner Mitt Romney surged on Friday toward an apparent easy win in Nevada, with a new poll showing him beating rival Newt Gingrich by a 2-to-1 margin on the eve of the state's presidential nominating contest.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's government struggled on Friday to agree tough labor reforms that would appease both wary political leaders and irate lenders faced with a rising bill to save the country from bankruptcy.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - It's the year's hottest initial public offering, but some wealth managers find themselves having a hard time recommending Facebook to their clients.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader threatened on Friday to retaliate against the West for sanctions, a day after a U.S. newspaper said defense secretary Leon Panetta believed Israel was likely to bomb Iran within months to stop it building a nuclear bomb.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives will swiftly take up a Senate-passed bill to curb insider trading by lawmakers next week, a top Republican said on Friday as Congress clamors to promote the measure in the face of flagging approval ratings.

LONDON (Reuters) - In June 2000, when American medical regulators posted a warning letter on the Internet about problems at a breast-implant maker in southern France, French authorities didn't pay much attention.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An $80 billion marriage of commodities trader Glencore and miner Xstrata could lead to a new round of takeovers in iron ore, creating a goliath eager to muscle its way onto one of mining's richest and most closely guarded sectors.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday the Islamic Republic would not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear course, threatening retaliation for sanctions aimed at Iran's oil exports.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employment growth probably slowed in January as messengers hired during the busy holiday shopping season were laid off, but the improving labor market trend should remain intact.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand court refused an appeal by the founder of online file-sharing site Megaupload.com to be freed on bail, Friday, agreeing with prosecutors there was a risk he would attempt to flee before an extradition hearing.

(Reuters) - The United States indicted Wegelin, the oldest Swiss private bank, on charges that it enabled wealthy Americans to evade taxes on at least $1.2 billion hidden in offshore bank accounts, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.

NEW YORK/BANGALORE (Reuters) - Sara Lee Corp Executive Chairman Jan Bennink thinks it is time for his company to reinvest in the single-serve coffee market.

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A third round of large-scale asset purchases by the Federal Reserve is not needed and would compound the difficulties of tightening monetary policy when the time finally comes, a top Fed official said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation backed down from its decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and birth control services, following a massive outcry by supporters of the world's largest breast cancer charity.

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - After stumbling with remarks suggesting he was indifferent to America's poor, Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney was endorsed on Thursday by one of the country's most famous wealthy businessmen - real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to cut funding for Planned Parenthood erupted into a crisis over abortion rights on Thursday, fueling an angry public debate about the future of the leading breast cancer charity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Businessman and reality TV personality Donald Trump is endorsing Mitt Romney in the race for the 2012 Republican nomination, sources said on Thursday, a day after U.S. media reported the real estate mogul would be endorsing Romney's rival Newt Gingrich.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Ronald O'Hanley has emerged as an outspoken force inside Fidelity Investments, giving a speech on Thursday that touched on sex, drugs and revolution as he warned that young Americans face getting a raw deal from the U.S. retirement system.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, European governments and Arab states have begun discussing the possibility of exile for Bashar al-Assad despite skepticism the defiant Syrian president is ready to consider such an offer, Western officials said on Wednesday.

KABUL (Reuters) - Among the snippets in a secret NATO report detailing the hopes of jailed Taliban militants to retake Afghanistan was news the Islamist movement had set up telephone hotlines for Afghans to report anonymously on failures of its shadow government.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New claims for unemployment benefits in the United States fell more than expected last week, pointing to further healing in the nation's battered jobs market.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - At least a half-dozen major U.S. companies whose computers have been infiltrated by cyber criminals or international spies have not admitted to the incidents despite new guidance from securities regulators urging such disclosures.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is considering increasing its participation in the rescue funds aimed at resolving the European debt crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told journalists on Thursday.

LONDON (Reuters) - The centre of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper clean-up operation is an unimposing set of offices in a corner of the company's campus in Wapping, east London.

BRUSSELS/KABUL (Reuters) - The United States took Kabul by surprise by laying out plans to end its Afghan combat role earlier than expected, just after the leak of a secret report that the Taliban is confident of regaining control of the country.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Josef Ackermann's reign at Deutsche Bank ended in a surprise quarterly loss on Thursday, with the bank hit by a downturn in bond trading due to the euro zone crisis and writedowns on holdings in drug and gambling companies.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Ailing Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp warned it was heading for a bigger-than-expected $2.9 billion annual loss, presenting a daunting task for incoming CEO Kazuo Hirai, who vowed to move quickly to turn things around.

LONDON (Reuters) - Commodities trader Glencore is in talks to buy mining group Xstrata in an all-share transaction that could create a combined group worth more than 50 billion pounds ($79 billion), shaking up the industry with its biggest deal to date.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian troops closed public squares in Hama on Thursday after residents poured red paint symbolizing blood on the ground to mark the 30th anniversary of the massacre President Bashar al-Assad's father carried out during an uprising against his rule.

PORT SAID, Egypt (Reuters) - Seventy-four people were killed when supporters clashed at an Egyptian soccer match, prompting fans and politicians on Thursday to turn on the ruling army for failing to prevent the deadliest incident since Hosni Mubarak was ousted.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Federal authorities successfully kept a U.S. businessman in jail on Wednesday ahead of his trial on charges relating to trade secret theft, and argued that it was Chinese government representatives who directed him to obtain valuable technology manufactured by chemical giant DuPont.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives, seeking to cut the U.S. deficit and burnish its own tarnished image, passed a bill on Wednesday to extend a pair of pay freezes for federal workers, including one for lawmakers.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a rare criminal prosecution to emerge from the financial crisis, two former Credit Suisse traders admitted on Wednesday to conspiring to manipulate the value of about $3 billion in subprime mortgage-backed securities in order to hide losses as the U.S. real estate market began to collapse in 2007.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook unveiled plans for the biggest ever Internet IPO that could raise as much as $10 billion, but made it clear CEO Mark Zuckerberg will exercise almost complete control over the company, leaving investors with little say.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has ordered an extensive review of how futures brokerages are regulated, following the collapse of MF Global three months ago, a CFTC official told Reuters on Wednesday.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Allen Stanford funneled $2 billion of investor money from his offshore bank to pay operating expenses at his other companies, including money-losing airlines and his cricket concerns, a former Stanford Financial Group accountant said on Wednesday.

(Reuters) - AMR Corp, the parent of bankrupt American Airlines, wants to slash 13,000 jobs and terminate employee pension plans as part of a cost-cutting strategy the carrier says is necessary to compete with rivals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Millionaires would pay a minimum 30 percent effective tax rate under a law introduced on Wednesday in the Senate with the backing of President Barack Obama and named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

(Reuters) - A proposed settlement to resolve mortgage abuses by top U.S. banks will give states broad authority to punish firms that mistreat borrowers in the future, according to documents seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should deploy ships, step up covert activities and sharpen its rhetoric to make more credible the threat of a U.S. military strike to stop Iran's nuclear program, a bipartisan group said on Wednesday.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the retired Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia whose competence to testify in an upcoming church sex abuse trial was hotly debated in court, died in his sleep on Tuesday, the church said.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Arriving in Egypt last year, Julie Hughes had hoped to help write history by aiding the country's new generation of politicians and civil society groups to build a democratic future.

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Political winds from the Arab Spring are filling the sails of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, as it seeks a course out of international isolation to the forefront of the Palestinian national movement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed a multi-billion-dollar package to help U.S. homeowners refinance and stave off foreclosure, part of an election-year push that is likely to face an uphill battle by the Republican opposition in Congress.

LONDON (Reuters) - Four radical Islamists admitted in court Wednesday plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange as part of a campaign of al Qaeda-inspired attacks across the British capital in the run-up to Christmas 2010.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook filed on Wednesday to raise a targeted $5 billion in a hotly anticipated initial public offering, setting the stage for Silicon Valley's biggest-ever IPO.

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian carmaker Fiat-Chrysler surprised the market with lower 2012 profit targets that were still better than expected, sparking a share rally as investors shrugged off the threat of a weakening European economy that saw it cut its revenue outlook.

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse could try to put the disappointment of their failed $7.4 billion merger deal behind them by turning their attention to European exchange and clearing assets and a less ambitious growth path.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chinese government representatives directed a U.S. businessman to obtain valuable technology manufactured by chemical giant DuPont and U.S. authorities were seeking on Wednesday to keep him in jail ahead of his trial on charges relating to trade secret theft, prosecutors said in newly released court documents.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Whenever Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been down and in need of an enforcer, one has been there.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp named Vice President Kazuo Hirai as president and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer who will step down from day-to-day management in a long-expected change for a company struggling to regain its driving force in consumer electronics.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Groups known as "Super PACs" raised more than $42 million to back Republican U.S. presidential contenders in 2011, according to campaign filings that show how new donation rules are allowing a relatively few wealthy Americans to shape the race.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's prime minister is calling the country's political leaders in the next few days to seek backing for more austerity after the International Monetary Fund warned this was key to securing the new bailout Athens needs to avoid a messy default.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta faces an unexpectedly challenging NATO meeting this week that could expose embarrassing rifts in the Western alliance just as President Barack Obama prepares to host a summit of allied leaders this spring in the middle of an election year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran is feeling the bite from economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear program, which is capable of producing a weapon although Iranian leaders have not yet decided to do so, top intelligence chiefs told Congress on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia signaled on Wednesday it would veto a draft U.N. resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down unless it explicitly ruled out military intervention in the bloodshed touched off by protests against his rule.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Manufacturing growth accelerated in January to its highest level in seven months, though a measure of employment faded and private-sector employers added fewer jobs than expected, data showed on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc warned of a possible operating loss in the first quarter following a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit, a sign that the online retailer will keep spending heavily on expansion at the expense of short-term returns.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a rare criminal prosecution to emerge from the financial crisis, two former Credit Suisse traders admitted on Wednesday to conspiring to manipulate the value of about $3 billion in subprime mortgage-backed securities in order to hide losses as the U.S. real estate market began to collapse in 2007.

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ran into a wall of criticism on Wednesday for remarks suggesting he was indifferent to America's poor, after scoring a resounding victory in the Florida primary.

(Reuters) - U.S. authorities are preparing to charge former Credit Suisse Group AG employees with criminal and civil fraud related to write-downs on subprime mortgage derivatives at the height of the financial crisis, sources familiar with the matter said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc warned of a possible operating loss in the first quarter following a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit, a sign that the online retailer is continuing to spend heavily on expansion and new ventures at the expense of shorter-term profits.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Facebook is expected to submit paperwork to regulators on Wednesday morning for a $5 billion initial public offering and has selected Morgan Stanley and four other bookrunners to handle the mega-IPO, sources close to the deal told IFR.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is headed for a fourth straight year with a $1 trillion-plus budget deficit, congressional forecasters said on Tuesday, giving Republicans ammunition to hammer President Barack Obama's spending record in November's elections.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will soon get regular, albeit incomplete, reports on how oil markets are coping ahead of broader sanctions on Iran that could help him justify easing off sanctions to prevent a politically damaging jump in crude prices.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration asked intelligence agencies for additional assessments of the risks of transferring five senior Taliban detainees to a third country as part of efforts to broker peace with Afghan militants, U.S. spy chiefs told Congress on Tuesday.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's private sector creditors could take a loss of more than 70 percent in a planned debt swap, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said on Tuesday.

(Reuters) - Efforts to legalize marijuana for recreational use are gaining momentum in Washington state and Colorado, despite fierce opposition from the federal government and a decades-long cultural battle over America's most commonly used illicit drug.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's justice minister said on Tuesday he had sent back a letter from the U.S. ambassador that asked for an end to a travel ban on Americans being investigated for alleged illegal funding of pro-democracy groups.

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp reported quarterly earnings that narrowly beat expectations, on higher oil prices and asset sales of about $1 billion, but the company's shares dropped nearly 2 percent as its oil and gas production fell short of estimates.

LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc has hired Dixons Chief Executive John Browett, who revived the British electronics retailer by emphasizing customer service, to lead the iPad maker's global retail expansion.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices fell more steeply than expected in November, and consumers turned less optimistic in January, highlighting the hurdles still facing the bumpy economic recovery.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran is feeling the bite from economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear program, which is capable of producing a weapon although Iranian leaders have not yet decided to do so, top U.S. intelligence chiefs told Congress on Tuesday.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece must make "difficult" decisions in the coming days to clinch a debt swap agreement and a 130 billion euro bailout package needed to avoid an unruly default, the government said on Tuesday.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian authorities have ended the search for bodies in the submerged sections of the capsized Costa Concordia, more than two weeks after the giant cruise liner capsized off the Tuscan coast, officials said on Tuesday.

(Reuters) - Europe's second-biggest electrical goods retailer Dixons Retail said on Tuesday that its chief executive was leaving the company to join the world's most valuable technology corporation, Apple, as senior vice president of retail.

(Reuters) - Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo said the company's recently announced online content policy was meant to be a transparent way to handle government requests for the removal of certain content and did not mean it is actively monitoring Tweets, the Wall Street Journal reported.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp, Japan's biggest chip maker, booked a 72 percent fall in quarterly operating profit on Tuesday and slashed its annual profit forecast as a strong yen and the euro-zone debt crisis hit profits.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co slashed its annual profit guidance to the lowest level in three years as it counted the cost of natural disasters in Japan and Thailand and a strong yen. But it forecast a healthy rebound next year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For a central bank that wants to make transparency its hallmark, the Federal Reserve's new forecast of nearly three more years of super-low rates has left room for a few doubts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House hopeful Mitt Romney's lead over rival Newt Gingrich has stretched to 15 percentage points in Florida, according to results of a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, just a day before the state's Republican primary.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republicans will propose legislation on Tuesday calling for $260 billion in spending on transportation infrastructure for up to five years, an election-year proposal touted as a job creator in a tough economy.

(Reuters) - A California judge has dismissed a fraud claim brought by Oracle Corp against Hewlett-Packard Co in the bitter legal battle between the two companies over the Itanium platform.

UNITED NATIONS/AMMAN (Reuters) - Arab and Western states urged the U.N. Security Council to act swiftly on a resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside as his government's forces reasserted control of Damascus suburbs on Tuesday after beating back rebels at the gates of the capital.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior International Monetary Fund official said on Monday that China was taking steps to reduce property bubble risks and said it has room to add fiscal stimulus if conditions worsen.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel cemented her political ascendancy in Europe Monday when 25 out of 27 EU states agreed to a German-inspired pact for stricter budget discipline, even as they struggled to rekindle growth from the ashes of austerity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's latest plan to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages drew fire on Monday as an election year ploy, and even supporters said it was likely to help only at the margins.

ORLANDO/TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Anticipating victory in Florida's game-changing Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, Mitt Romney looked ahead while his struggling rival Newt Gingrich vowed to press on with his White House quest.

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned it may downgrade "a number of highly rated" Group of 20 countries from 2015 if their governments fail to enact reforms to curb rising healthcare spending and other costs related to ageing populations.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Just a week before futures brokerage MF Global filed for bankruptcy, the firm's chief financial officer told analysts at Standard & Poor's that its capital position had "never been stronger," according to the ratings agency.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The possible release of detained Taliban leaders is likely to join Iran's nuclear ambitions at the top of a busy agenda when the top seven American intelligence chiefs testify before the Congress this week.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Monday said it was temporarily suspending high-speed ground and flight operations of more than 15 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets after discovering improperly packed parachutes under the pilot's ejection seat.

(Reuters) - An Oregon special election in which national Democrats have sought to paint the Republican congressional candidate as a Tea Party radical foreshadows a tactic the party will employ in its quest to take back Congress seats lost in the 2010 election.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - After being hammered by record high food prices in 2011, which helped ignite the Arab Spring uprisings, consumers worldwide may find some relief in 2012 if U.S. farmers, induced by last year's high crop prices, plant more fields to grain this year.

WASHINGTON/CHARLOTTE (Reuters) - State and federal officials are close to a settlement with the largest U.S. banks over mortgage abuses, with states facing an end-of-the-week deadline to decide whether they will sign on, people close to the talks said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several American citizens have taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo amid a sharpening dispute between Washington and Egypt over U.S.-funded pro-democracy groups in the country, the State Department said on Monday.

LONDON (Reuters) - The world is running out of time to make sure there is enough food, water and energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and to avoid sending up to 3 billion people into poverty, a U.N. report warned on Monday.

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Italian island of Giglio until the end of the year or longer before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer spending was flat in December as households put the largest rise in income in nine months into their savings, potentially signaling slower consumption early in 2012.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union.

LONDON (Reuters) - Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli will stand trial in September after pleading not guilty on Monday to charges related to the loss of more than $2 billion on trades the Swiss bank says were unauthorized.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China intends to establish Shanghai as the global centre for yuan trading, clearing and pricing over the next three years as part of broader plans to make the commercial hub an international financial centre by 2020.

(Reuters) - Citigroup's chairman, Richard Parsons, is considering giving up the position to focus on other interests, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the situation.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel cemented her political ascendancy in Europe on Monday when 25 out of 27 EU states agreed to a German-inspired pact for stricter budget discipline, even as they struggled to rekindle growth from the ashes of austerity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney's lead over rival Newt Gingrich edged up to 12 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Sunday, as Romney's front-runner status stabilized and Gingrich continued to slip.

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) - Crews cleaned up Oakland's historic City Hall on Sunday from damage inflicted overnight during violent anti-Wall Street protests that resulted in about 400 arrests, marking one of the largest mass arrests since nationwide protests began last year.

DUNEDIN, Florida (Reuters) - A confident Mitt Romney solidified his lead in Florida polls and ridiculed Republican rival Newt Gingrich on Monday, calling his opponent's attacks "sad" and "painfully revealing" the day before the state's crucial presidential primary.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Street battles raged at the gates of the Syrian capital on Monday as President Bashar al-Assad's troops sought to consolidate their grip on suburbs that rebel fighters had seized only a few miles from the centre of government power.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders will sign off on a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone at a summit on Monday and are expected to agree on a balanced budget rule in national legislation, with unresolved problems in Greece casting a shadow on the discussions.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Critics of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin drove in their hundreds around central Moscow on Sunday in cars trailing white ribbons, a symbol of Russia's protest movement, staging a mobile demonstration to demand fair elections.

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy used a primetime television interview on Sunday to flesh out a flurry of measures to boost employment and competitiveness which he hopes to rush through France's parliament before a presidential election in April.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the age of Twitter and Facebook, many Super Bowl viewers will use the commercial breaks to go online and see what people are saying about the game. This year, advertisers want them to tweet about their favorite commercials as well.

(Reuters) - The Big Three automakers may be on the rebound but the original Motor City, Detroit, is still battling to turn the tide of decline. One of the people leading the fight is Charles Pugh.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Greece must surrender control of its budget policy to outside institutions if it cannot implement reforms attached to euro zone rescue measures, the German economy minister was quoted as saying on Sunday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to deflect growing international pressure on Germany to agree an increase in the euro zone's bailout funds Sunday by saying talks were still continuing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republican lawmakers on Sunday said they expect to forge a deal with Democrats to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires at the end of February but offered no specifics on how they would pay for it.

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Around 2,000 Syrian troops backed by tanks launched an assault to retake Damascus suburbs from rebels on Sunday, activists said, a day after the Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria because of worsening violence.

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Italian island of Giglio until the end of the year or longer before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said on Sunday.

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) - More than 400 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested in Oakland during a night of skirmishes in which police fired tear gas and bean bag projectiles, the city said on Sunday, marking one of the biggest mass arrests since nationwide economic protests began last year.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - A new team of U.S. trade enforcers will make countries think twice about putting up unfair barriers to American exports, President Barack Obama's top trade official said.

LUTZ, Florida (Reuters) - Republican Newt Gingrich struggled to halt surging rival Mitt Romney's momentum on Sunday, accusing him of launching false attacks as polls showed Romney widening his lead two days before Florida's presidential primary.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos met leaders of political parties in his coalition on Sunday to persuade them to back painful reforms demanded by the near-bankrupt country's foreign lenders.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney's lead over rival Newt Gingrich edged up to 12 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Sunday, as Romney's front-runner status stabilized and Gingrich continued to slip.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barely clinging to power, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh arrived in the United States on Saturday, apparently to treat burns and other wounds suffered in an assassination attempt in June.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian government forces have killed at least 33 people in a rebel town near the Lebanese border in the last few days in an attack to dislodge army defectors and insurgents, activists and residents of a nearby town said Sunday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Within months after taking over as chief lobbyist at mortgage lender Freddie Mac in 1999, Mitchell Delk hired a prominent Washington insider to advise him on how to build support among conservatives on Capitol Hill: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House hopeful Mitt Romney widened his lead over rival Newt Gingrich to 11 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Saturday, up from 8 points a day earlier, as he cemented his front-runner status in the Republican nomination race.

LONDON (Reuters) - Foreign troops must carefully phase their withdrawal from Afghanistan ahead of an end-2014 deadline, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday, after France suggested giving Afghan forces full responsibility for security in 2013.

ADEN (Reuters) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh was heading to the United States on Saturday, Yemen's state news agency said, a week after leaving for Oman under a plan for him to step down to end a year of protests against his rule.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - European companies owed oil by Iran could lose out if Tehran imposes a ban on crude exports to the European Union next week, the head of Iran's state oil company said on Saturday.

(Reuters) - Top Goldman Sachs Group Inc executives received previously restricted stock awards that are now worth $47.7 million, according to regulatory filings, though the executives are still limited in selling most of their Goldman stock.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Budding bankers expecting the bumper bonuses of years gone by will have to think again, with only the top performers likely to be paid top dollar.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Sudan said on Saturday it would free tankers carrying cargoes of South Sudanese crude it had seized earlier this month, in a push to defuse a row over transit fees between former civil war foes that both depend on oil for almost all their income.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's army killed 11 suspected Boko Haram insurgents during a gun battle at a checkpoint in the Islamist sect's heartland of Maiduguri on Saturday, the field operations officer in the remote northeastern city said.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde led a global push on Saturday for the euro zone to boost its financial firewall, saying "if it is big enough it will not get used."

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece and its private creditors said on Saturday they were piecing together the final elements of a debt swap and expected to have a deal ready next week, essential for sealing a new bailout and avoiding an uncontrolled default.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is pushing for Greece to relinquish control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second rescue package, a European source told Reuters on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested four current and former staff of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid plus a policeman on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected payments by journalists to officers, police and the newspaper's publisher said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fitch downgraded the sovereign credit ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia and Spain on Friday, indicating there was a 1-in-2 chance of further cuts in the next two years.

PANAMA CITY/ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Bolstered by positive poll numbers, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday sought to vanquish rival Newt Gingrich in Florida with a biting new ad about ethics charges and a mocking tone about his debate complaints.

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Arab League suspended its monitoring mission in Syria on Saturday because of worsening violence, a move Damascus said was an attempt to draw foreign intervention as it struggles to quell a 10-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Newt Gingrich struggled to regain momentum in the Republican presidential race on Friday as two new polls showed him falling behind rival Mitt Romney, who was seen as the winner of the final debate before the Florida primary.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department issued civil subpoenas to 11 financial institutions as part of a new effort to investigate misconduct in the packaging and sale of home loans to investors, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday.

(Reuters) - Facebook's initial public offering is likely to set a new standard for how low investment banks are willing to go on advisory fees to win big business.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc has never turned "a blind eye" to the problems in its supply chain and any suggestion it does not care about the plight of workers is "patently false," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an email to employees.

CAMBRIDGE, Maryland (Reuters) - President Barack Obama vowed on Friday to push back hard against Republicans who try to obstruct his election-year proposals on taxes and jobs, as he sought to rally congressional Democrats and move past a period of strained relations.

(Reuters) - Facebook plans to file documents as early as Wednesday for a highly anticipated IPO that will value the world's largest social network at between $75 billion and $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal cited unidentified sources as saying on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fitch downgraded the sovereign credit ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia and Spain on Friday, indicating there was a 1-in-2 chance of further cuts in the next two years.

(Reuters) - U.S. health regulators detained three shipments of Brazilian orange juice and six from Canada that tested positive for the fungicide carbendazim, which is illegal in the United States.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Security forces killed 37 people in Syria on Friday, activists and residents said, as people in Homs mourned 14 members of a family they said were slain by militiamen in one of the worst sectarian attacks in a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

(Reuters) - Chevron Corp reported lower quarterly earnings on Friday, missing Wall Street forecasts, as rising spending on oil and gas projects and losses at its U.S. refinery business offset gains from higher crude oil prices.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at its fastest pace in 1-1/2 years in the fourth quarter, but a rebuilding of stocks by businesses and slower business spending warned of weaker growth in early 2012.

(Reuters) - Ford Motor Co reported a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Friday as commodity costs shot up and results from operations outside North America fell short of expectations.

LONDON (Reuters) - News Corp executive James Murdoch, under pressure from a phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World tabloid, is to quit the board of drug maker GlaxoSmithKline as he spends more time on his new role in the United States.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is growing at 2-3 percent but still faces big challenges to repair damage wrought by the financial crisis, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday.

ROME (Reuters) - Costa Cruises has offered 11,000 euros ($14,500) in compensation to each of the more than 3,000 passengers aboard its liner that ran aground and capsized two weeks ago, Italian consumer groups said on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks hovered near a 5-1/2 month high on Friday as investors anticipated an imminent conclusion to Greek debt talks while lower Spanish bond yields and a fall in Italy's six-month borrowing costs also supported the euro.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer prices fell for the third consecutive month in the year to December, and mild deflation is expected to persist this year as energy prices stabilize and worries about Europe's debt crisis suppress wage growth and economic activity.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece and its private creditors head back to the negotiating table on Saturday to put together the final pieces of a long-awaited debt swap agreement needed to avert an unruly default.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co posted a record $4.7 billion quarterly operating profit, driven by booming smartphone sales, and will spend $22 billion this year to boost production of chips and flat screens to pull further ahead of smaller rivals.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney took the fight to chief rival Newt Gingrich on Thursday in his most aggressive debate performance yet, five days ahead of Florida's primary vote.

(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp reported a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street's view, but its shares fell as investors in the world's biggest coffee chain focused on softness in Europe rather than strength in the United States.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil giant BP has lost its attempt to shift over $15 billion of costs related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill onto contractor Transocean, increasing the possibility BP may have to foot the entire $42 billion clean up bill.

(Reuters) - In 2009, federal investigators finally arrested Houston financier R. Allen Stanford. For twenty years, Stanford allegedly had run a $7 billion Ponzi scheme from his offshore bank on the Caribbean island of Antigua. U.S. authorities had been nosing around Stanford's empire for longer than a decade but hesitated to open a full-blown probe.

CAMPOS, Brazil (Reuters) - A Brazilian prosecutor plans to file criminal charges against Chevron Corp and some of its local managers within weeks, adding the threat of prison sentences to an $11 billion civil lawsuit as punishment for a November offshore oil spill.

(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp reported a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street's view, but its shares fell as investors in the world's biggest coffee chain focused on softness in Europe rather than strength in the United States.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - This time, the cheering will be back. Five days before their showdown in Florida's Republican presidential primary, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney headed into a debate on Thursday night that had the makings of a raucous encounter between increasingly bitter rivals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon unveiled a 2013 budget plan that would cut $487 billion in spending over the next decade by eliminating nearly 100,000 ground troops, mothballing ships and trimming air squadrons in a bid to create a smaller, agile force with a new strategic focus.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Barney Frank, the 16-term congressman from Massachusetts who was one of the first openly gay figures in U.S. national politics, plans to marry his partner, his office said on Thursday.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican was shaken by a corruption scandal Thursday after an Italian television investigation said a former top official had been transferred against his will after complaining about irregularities in awarding contracts.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Since the start of the year, one phrase has tripped off the lips of European leaders more than any other: "jobs and growth." After two years of debt crisis and budget austerity, there is a strong desire to shift the narrative on.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two hostages rescued by U.S. special forces in a daring raid in Somalia have been flown to an American naval installation in Italy, a U.S. defense official said on Thursday.

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve took the historic step on Wednesday of setting an inflation target, a victory for Chairman Ben Bernanke that brings the Fed in line with many of the world's other major central banks.