Wed Dec 5, 2012 4:10pm EST (Reuters) - Four-times major champion Phil Mickelson will launch his 2013 PGA Tour campaign at next month's Humana Challenge in La Quinta, California, tournament organizers said on Wednesday. The American left-hander is the leading all-time money winner at the 72-hole pro-am celebrity event, previously known as the Bob Hope Classic, and...

By Dave Graham MEXICO CITY | Wed Dec 5, 2012 4:10pm EST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A plaintiff in a case against Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) in which a Mexico City civil court made a $2.7 billion preliminary judgment against the U.S. firm said on Wednesday he and his partners were willing to accept a legal settlement for less. The ruling by the 49th Civil Co...

LONDON | Wed Dec 5, 2012 4:03pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - A veteran BBC TV and radio presenter was charged with three counts of indecent assault by British police on Wednesday, the latest high-profile figure to be questioned since a sex scandal erupted at Britain's publicly funded broadcaster. The charges will be a further embarrassment for the BBC, which w...

Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:54pm EST (Reuters) - Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis returned to practice on Wednesday, raising hopes he could yet make a comeback this season after tearing a muscle in his arm. Lewis was initially expected to be out of action until next year because of a torn triceps he suffered two months ago that needed surgery.The 37-year-old remains o...

By Matt Cowan PARIS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:51pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - Instagram's youthful Chief Executive Kevin Systrom allowed himself a luxury at a Paris technology conference that he never feels comfortable doing in San Francisco: wearing a tie. The founder of the popular photo-sharing app, now owned by Facebook, looks less comfortable when aske...

NEW YORK | Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:40pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Advertising sales at Walt Disney Co's sports powerhouse ESPN are running slightly ahead of the level they reached at the same point last year, Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said on Wednesday. At the ESPN cable television network, "we have now seen a slight improvement" in the pace of ...

BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:38pm EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO on Wednesday called on North Korea to cancel plans for its second rocket launch of 2012, saying it would violate U.N. resolutions and could further destabilize the Korean peninsula. NATO ambassadors expressed "grave concern at North Korea's declared intent to launch a rocket using ballistic ...

By Liana B. Baker Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:29pm EST (Reuters) - Passing on a pricy Disney distribution deal could help premium movie channel Starz become a more attractive acquisition target for media companies when Liberty Media spins it off in late December or January, analysts say. Netflix said on Tuesday it signed a deal with Disney that gives it exclusive r...

By Karolos Grohmann LAUSANNE, Switzerland | Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:25pm EST LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - A number of national Olympic committees (NOCs) and authorized Games ticket resellers got off with a slap on the wrist by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday for breaching ticket rules ahead of this year's London Olympics, A report...

By Claire Davenport BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:11pm EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Internet users in Europe may be allowed to copy parts of some copyrighted files legally under reforms to outdated rules governing the murky world of online piracy, EU officials said on Wednesday. Entertainment and software companies, who say they are losing billions of...

By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES | Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:03pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - American R&B singer Alicia Keys scored her fifth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday with "Girl on Fire," unseating reigning chart queen Rihanna. Keys' fifth studio album sold 159,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which was the lowe...

By Christine Kearney NEW YORK | Wed Dec 5, 2012 3:00pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, whose choice of novel rhythms, classical structures and brilliant sidemen made him a towering figure in modern jazz, has died at the age of 91, his longtime manager and producer Russell Gloyd said on Wednesday. Brubeck died of heart failure ...

WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 5, 2012 2:53pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. airline company executives, complaining that their industry is over-taxed and over-regulated, on Wednesday called for a national airline policy to help them shore up profits and jobs. "Right now, we are subject to what is really a hodge-podge of ill-thought-out regulations and taxes," sa...

By Matt Smith DUBAI | Wed Dec 5, 2012 2:50pm EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Inter-governmental regulation of the Internet could deter investment, raise costs for consumers and hinder online access, a U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday. The United States has been leading efforts to stop a United Nations body from extending its authority into cyberspace.U.S. A...

By Erika Solomon and David Brunnstrom BEIRUT/BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 2:46pm EST BEIRUT/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Washington fears a "desperate" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could use chemical weapons as rebels bear down on Damascus, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, repeating a vow to take swift action if he does. Rebels fig...

By Karolos Grohmann LAUSANNE, Switzerland | Wed Dec 5, 2012 2:35pm EST LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Four 2004 Athens Olympic medalists, including Ukraine's shot put champion Yuriy Bilonog, have been stripped of their medals after re-tested samples stored for eight years proved positive, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wedne...

By Chris Michaud NEW YORK | Wed Dec 5, 2012 2:00pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - When it comes to power, politics trumps business, according to a new Forbes ranking on Wednesday that found heads of state occupying six of the top 10 spots among the world's most powerful people, led by President Barack Obama. The annual list selected what Forbes said we...

By Karolos Grohmann LAUSANNE, Switzerland | Wed Dec 5, 2012 1:48pm EST LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong will hold on to his 2000 Sydney Olympic bronze medal a little longer after the International Olympic Committee said it would wait for the international cycling union to inform him before moving to strip him of it. The 41-year-o...

By Jeffrey Heller and Justyna Pawlak JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 1:29pm EST JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Israel moved ahead with plans to build 3,000 settler homes in one of the most sensitive areas of the West Bank, as the European Union summoned Israel's envoy to add its voice to a storm of international protest. Israeli Prime Minist...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Wed Dec 5, 2012 1:27pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Scottish DJ Calvin Harris may not be the most recognizable face in the U.S. music scene, but after writing Rihanna's biggest chart hit and with two other top 20 singles, Harris is fast becoming a chart staple. Harris, 28, found success in the UK over the last five ...

TOKYO | Wed Dec 5, 2012 1:03pm EST TOKYO (Reuters) - One of Japan's top kabuki actors, who worked hard to modernize the centuries-old theater form and performed around the world, died on Wednesday after a five-month battle with cancer, Japanese media reported. Kanzaburo Nakamura, 57, was born to a family of longstanding performers in the ancient kabuki t...

By Alexandra Alper MEXICO CITY | Wed Dec 5, 2012 12:47pm EST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc has until mid-January to appeal a Mexican civil court's $2.7 billion judgment against it, an official at the court told Reuters on Wednesday. The ruling, which perplexed the tech world, was issued on Friday. It involves allegations of breach of contract...

Wed Dec 5, 2012 12:42pm EST (Reuters) - Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher has confirmed reports that he could miss the rest of the regular season because of a hamstring injury but was hopeful he could make it back to help his team in their playoff drive. The eight-time Pro Bowler, injured during Sunday's overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks, told FOX TV in...

Wed Dec 5, 2012 11:55am EST (Reuters) - Davis Love III, winner of the 1997 PGA Championship and U.S. captain at the 2012 Ryder Cup, was named as recipient of the U.S. Golf Association's Bob Jones Award on Wednesday. Presented annually since 1955, the award, considered the USGA's highest honor, recognizes an individual who demonstrates the spirit, personal charact...

Wed Dec 5, 2012 9:13am EST (Reuters) - Apple Inc's iPad and iPad mini tablets would lose some market share to devices running on Google Inc's Android platform for the full year, research firm International Data Corp (IDC) said. Apple's worldwide tablet market share would slip to 53.8 percent in 2012 from 56.3 percent in 2011, while Android products would increase...

FRANKFURT | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:40am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Sales of Daimler's (DAIGn.DE) Mercedes-Benz luxury brand climbed 5.7 pct to 120,346 vehicles in November, an all-time high for that month, as rising U.S. volumes fully offset a decline in China. Mercedes sales chief Joachim Schmidt reaffirmed the bra...

NEW YORK | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:39am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private-sector employers added 118,000 jobs in November, shy of economists' expectations, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 125,000 jobs.October's private payrolls were revised ...

WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:37am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nonfarm productivity increased at a much faster clip than initially thought in the third quarter as businesses held the line on hiring even as output surged, with unit labor costs falling at their fastest pace in almost a year. Productivity increased at a 2.9 percent annual rate, the fastest ...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:37am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Wednesday after comments from China's new leader boosted global growth expectations. Still, some earlier gains were trimmed after data showed U.S. private-sector employers added 118,000 jobs in November, shy of economists' expectations.Chinese Communis...

By Marwa Awad and Tamim Elyan CAIRO | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:29am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called for a rally backing President Mohamed Mursi outside his palace on Wednesday and leftists planned a counter-demonstration, raising fears of clashes in a crisis over a disputed push for a new constitution. Mursi returned to work at h...

NEW YORK | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:57am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp intends to open at least 3,000 net new stores in the Americas region by 2017, the company said on Wednesday. At the outset of a New York meeting on its growth strategy, the company also said China should become its second-largest market ...

By Luke Baker BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:22am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Much has been written over the past year about the risks of a two-speed Europe in which the 17 euro zone countries move ahead more rapidly than the rest of the European Union. Such a divergence, the conventional wisdom goes, could mark the beginning of an unraveling of nearl...

By David Milliken and Peter Griffiths LONDON | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:13am EST LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne said on Wednesday he would break a key debt promise and warned that growth will be weaker than expected in a bleak outlook that could damage his party's hopes of winning a 2015 election. In a budget update to parlia...

By Eric de Castro NEW BATAAN, Philippines | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:06am EST NEW BATAAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Blocked roads and severed communications in the southern Philippines frustrated rescuers on Wednesday as teams searched for hundreds of people missing after the strongest typhoon this year killed at least 283 people. Typhoon Bopha, with cent...

By Lionel Laurent PARIS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 8:05am EST PARIS (Reuters) - France's top banks are taking advantage of calmer markets to return to expanding in the United States, a year after deep cuts to their investment banks saw them lose ground to rivals in the world's biggest financial market. BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), France's largest bank, and clo...

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO | Wed Dec 5, 2012 7:57am EST COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's main opposition said on Wednesday the chief justice, facing an impeachment motion moved by the ruling party, must be given a chance to cross-examine witnesses amid a standoff between the judiciary and the government . The dispute has raised the ...

VIENNA | Wed Dec 5, 2012 7:53am EST VIENNA (Reuters) - A nuclear-armed Iran would cause a regional arms race and make Tehran more isolated and vulnerable, according to a former Iranian negotiator who argues that the Islamic state is not seeking to build nuclear bombs. Israel and the United States suspect Iran is developing a nuclear arms capability and h...

BRUSSELS | Wed Dec 5, 2012 7:48am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday it was crucial that NATO allies stick to their commitments to fund Afghanistan's security forces after Western forces end their combat role in the country in 2014. Afghanistan's foreign backers have pledged $4.1 billion per year to fund Afghan ...

By Matt Falloon and David Milliken LONDON | Wed Dec 5, 2012 7:48am EST LONDON (Reuters) - More austerity looks certain when British finance minister George Osborne presents a half-yearly budget statement on Wednesday, even if he tries to juggle some spending around to ease the pain. A darker economic outlook means Osborne is likely to commit to f...

LONDON | Wed Dec 5, 2012 7:45am EST LONDON (Reuters) - "Skyfall", the 23rd official James Bond movie, has become the most successful film in British box office history, earning 94.3 million pounds ($152 million), its producers said on Wednesday. The tally, earned over 40 days, surpasses the previous record of 94.0 million pounds set by 2009 3D adventure ...