Thu Nov 29, 2012 12:56am EST (Reuters) - Alex Morgan's first-half hat-trick proved she has not lost her scoring touch as the United States women's soccer team blanked Ireland 5-0 in an international friendly on Wednesday. Morgan, who netted a game-winning Olympic semi-final goal last summer when the U.S. took gold, showed little rust as she wowed the crowd in Por...

By Miyoung Kim SEOUL | Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:57pm EST SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co is taking aim at its Japanese rivals with an Android-powered digital camera that allows users to swiftly and wirelessly upload pictures to social networking sites. The Galaxy camera lets users connect to a mobile ne...

TOKYO | Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:03pm EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Like many Japanese, Kogoro Kurata grew up watching futuristic robots in movies and animation, wishing that he could bring them to life and pilot one himself. Unlike most other Japanese, he has actually done it. His 4-tonne, 4-meter (13 feet) tall Kuratas robot is a grey behemoth with a built-in pilot...

By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:05pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican unity against raising tax rates for the wealthy began to show cracks on Wednesday after a conservative congressman said he would back an agreement with President Barack Obama to raise rates on the rich but extend tax cuts for income belo...

By Alistair Barr LAS VEGAS | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:00pm EST LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's cloud computing division is going after big corporate customers, a new focus that will put the fast-growing unit into direct competition with some of the world's largest technology companies. Andy Jassy, head of Amazon Web Services or AWS, criticized t...

Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:29pm EST (Reuters) - R&B star Mary J. Blige was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging the Grammy winner and her husband defaulted on a $2.2 million bank loan. According to court documents filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Signature Bank is seeking to recoup the original loan plus $58,000 in interest.Blige, 41, who has s...

NEW YORK | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:03pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new shareholder lawsuit over Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of British software firm Autonomy has named Big Four audit firms Deloitte and KPMG as defendants, alleging they missed numerous red flags about Autonomy's accounting. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, Californ...

By Laura Zuckerman Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:25pm EST (Reuters) - A study by polar researchers has revealed an ancient community of bacteria able to thrive in the lightless, oxygen-depleted, salty environment beneath nearly 70 feet of ice in an Antarctic lake, giving insight into the unique ecosystem. The research, fu...

LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:02pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Emmy-winning dramas "Homeland", "Mad Men" and British period piece "Downton Abbey" will compete for the annual Producers Guild Awards for the top shows on U.S. television, organizers announced on Wednesday. But last year's winner - HBO's lavish ...

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK | Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:56pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose in volatile trade on Wednesday after comments from the top Republican in Congress on a possible compromise to avoid the "fiscal cliff" turned the market on its head. House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said he was optimistic that a budget deal to...

By Leila Abboud PARIS | Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:49pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - Vivendi (VIV.PA) is examining four non-binding offers above 6 billion euros ($7.75 billion) for its Brazilian broadband specialist GVT, according to a person familiar with the situation. The offers are below the 7 billion euros that sources had earlier told Reuters Vivendi was ...

By Bill Rigby BELLEVUE, Washington | Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:47pm EST BELLEVUE, Washington (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer defended his company's record on innovation and financial performance at the annual shareholders' meeting, but conceded that he should have moved faster to get into the booming tablet market dominated by A...

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Katya Wachtel NEW YORK | Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:44pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government is threatening to file civil securities fraud charges against SAC Capital Advisors and is tightening the regulatory screws around Steven A. Cohen, the $14 billion hedge fund's founder and one of the industry's most famous trade...

LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 28, 2012 2:13pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson plans to take his one-man theater show on the road across the United States early next year. Tyson, 45, made the announcement on ABC's late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Tuesday."Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth" is an autobiographical monolog...

By Ruma Paul and Nivedita Bhattacharjee DHAKA/CHICAGO | Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:56pm EST DHAKA/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Three supervisors of a Bangladeshi garment factory were arrested on Wednesday as protests over a suspected arson fire that killed more than 100 people raged on into a third day, with textile workers and police clashing in the streets of a...

By Tamim Elyan and Yasmine Saleh CAIRO | Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:42pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - The assembly writing Egypt's constitution said it could wrap up a final draft later on Wednesday, a move the Muslim Brotherhood sees as a way out of a crisis over a decree by President Mohamed Mursi that protesters say gives him dictatorial powers. But as Mursi...

WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:41pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he hopes he can reach agreement with the U.S. Congress before Christmas to avoid the looming "fiscal cliff" and shrink the budget deficit, and urged supporters to pressure lawmakers via Twitter and other social media. "Our ultimate goal is an agreemen...

By Roberta Rampton and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:35pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government banned BP Plc from new federal contracts on Wednesday over its "lack of business integrity" in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, a move that could imperil the British energy giant's U.S. footing. The suspension, announ...

LONDON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 1:20pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists from Britain, Germany and the United States have unlocked key components of the genetic code for wheat, helping to create varieties that are more productive and better able to cope with disease, drought and other crop stresses. The identification of around 96,000 wheat genes, and insights...

WASHINGTON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:43am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Speaker John Boehner voiced optimism that Republicans could broker a deal with the White House to avoid year-end austerity measures, saying on Wednesday that Republicans were willing to raise revenues if Democrats agreed to spending cuts. "I am optimistic that we can continue to work ...

By Chris Wickham LONDON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:39am EST LONDON (Reuters) - A small British company with a dream of building a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines Ltd believes its Sabre engine, which would operate like...

By Stephanie Nebehay and Noah Browning GENEVA/RAMALLAH, West Bank | Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:03am EST GENEVA/RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - More European states joined France on Wednesday in backing a Palestinian bid for limited statehood, but Britain held back, saying it wanted an assurance that the Palestinians would not pursue Israel through the I...

By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD | Wed Nov 28, 2012 9:57am EST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan and the United States have restored full military and intelligence ties after relations hit a low point last year, and Islamabad will take further steps to support a nascent Afghan peace process, Pakistan's foreign minister said on Wednesday. Full cooperat...

By Edmund Blair CAIRO | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:23am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of demonstrators were in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a sixth day on Wednesday, demanding that President Mohamed Mursi rescind a decree they say gives him dictatorial powers, while two of Egypt's top courts stopped work in protest. Five months into the Islamist leader's t...

By Foo Yun Chee and Sonya Dowsett BRUSSELS/MADRID | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:19am EST BRUSSELS/MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's four nationalized banks will more than halve their balance sheets in five years, slash jobs and impose hefty losses on bondholders, under plans approved by the European Commission on Wednesday. The measures open the door for nearly ...

LONDON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:18am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday it would support a Palestinian bid for a diplomatic upgrade at the United Nations if it were assured that the Palestinians would return to peace talks and would not pursue Israel through the International Criminal Court. The United Nations is due to hold a vote on Thursday ...

CAIRO | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:16am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - A Cairo court on Wednesday sentenced to death seven Egyptian Christians tried in absentia for participating in an anti-Islam video that was released on the Internet in September and prompted violent protests in Muslim countries. "The seven accused persons were convicted of insulting the Islamic religi...

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:05am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two car bombs exploded in an attack that killed at least 34 people on Wednesday in a district of the Syrian capital loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The explosions struck the eastern neighborhood of Jaramana, home to many of Syria's Druze minority as well as Christians wh...

By Jonny Hogg GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:02am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have started withdrawing from towns captured since last week from government troops, following a deal brokered by Uganda, their military leader said on Wednesday. Such a pull-...

By Scott Malone Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:57am EST (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N) plans to unveil on Thursday a new push into service businesses, with a series of programs to help airlines, railroads and hospitals that use its heavy equipment operate more efficiently. The drive is part of the largest U.S. conglomerate's effort to boost its margins and ma...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:55am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures fell on Wednesday as investors grew more concerned about the lack of progress in U.S. budget talks to avoid looming spending cuts and tax hikes, setting the S&P 500 up for a third consecutive day of decline this week. * Chief executives from top U.S. corp...

JERUSALEM | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:49am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's navy detained a group of Gaza fishermen on Wednesday, saying they had gone beyond a recently expanded fishing zone off the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave. Fishermen on two boats were detained and taken to Israel's Mediterranean port of Ashdod for questioning, an Israeli militar...

BEIJING | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:45am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's cabinet vowed on Wednesday to tighten laws on the expropriation of farmland, warning that the problem risked fuelling rural unrest and undermining the country's food security. "Rural land has been expropriated too much and too fast as industrialization and urbanization accelerate," state n...

DOUAI, France | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:28am EST DOUAI, France (Reuters) - A French court postponed a decision on Wednesday on requests that it call off a sex offence inquiry where former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn risks trial on a charge of "aggravated pimping". The court in Douai, a town north of Paris, had been scheduled to rule on Wednesday on the l...

Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:27am EST (Reuters) - Chinese solar panel makers Yingli Green Energy Holding Co and JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd joined rivals in saying that they would turn to their domestic market to drive shipment growth in the face of steep U.S. import duties and a slump in panel prices. Yingli expects shipments to grow rapidly in markets like China in the four...

By Stanley Carvalho ABU DHABI | Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:11am EST ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) TAQA.AD will buy a number of BP's (BP.L) North Sea assets for over $1.3 billion in a sign relations between Britain and the Gulf emirate are on the mend. The deal comes weeks after a visit by Prime Minister David Cameron to the em...

By Tarmo Virki HELSINKI | Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:30am EST HELSINKI (Reuters) - Canada's Research In Motion (RIM) has lost a contract dispute over the use of Nokia patents in a case which could halt sales of its BlackBerry phones if it does not reach a deal to pay royalties to the Finnish company. Nokia said on Wednesday a Swedish arbitrator had ruled...

DUBAI | Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:28am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will continue enriching uranium "with intensity", with the number of enrichment centrifuges it has operating to increase substantially in the current year, the country's nuclear energy chief was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The comments by Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, the head of Iran's Atomic Ener...

By Gyles Beckford WELLINGTON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:21am EST WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people packed New Zealand's capital city, clambering on roofs and hanging onto lamp posts on Wednesday to get a glimpse of the stars at the red carpet world premiere of the film "The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey". Wellington, where director Pet...

LONDON | Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:16am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Finland's Valtteri Bottas will join Pastor Maldonado at Williams next season after the British team announced their 2013 driver line-up on Wednesday. Bottas, who was been the team's test driver since 2010, steps up in place of Brazil's Bruno Senna.Venezuela's Maldonado has been rewarded for winning ...