ZURICH | Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:13am EST ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss private bank Pictet is under investigation by the U.S. authorities, the bank said on Sunday, making it the latest Swiss bank to come under scrutiny in a U.S. probe into the use of foreign banks by wealthy Americans seeking to avoid paying tax. Pictet said in a statement the U.S. Department of...

BUENOS AIRES | Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:11am EST BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina will to go an appeals court in New York on Monday to challenge the ruling of a U.S. judge who last week issued a decision that raised the specter of a technical default by the South American country, a newspaper said. A decade after committing the biggest sovereign default in ...

By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON | Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:09am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is undefeated in the nearly two years since it began settling corporate tax disputes with Canada through a winner-takes-all process popularly known as baseball arbitration. Tax lawyers and accountants in both countries said the U.S. Internal ...

LONDON | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:47am EST LONDON (Reuters) - British defense contractor BAE Systems (BAES.L) may close one of its major shipyards in Britain as it looks to balance capacity with future workloads, a top executive has told a newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. Nigel Whitehead, who is group managing director, programs and support, told...

ZURICH | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:30am EST ZURICH (Reuters) - U.S. jazz musician Marcus Miller was injured on Sunday along with members of his band when their bus crashed in Switzerland, killing the driver, police said. The two-time Grammy winner was travelling with 10 members of his band from Monte Carlo in Monaco to Hengelo in the Netherlands when the bus cr...

LONDON | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:24am EST LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Sunday urged the United States to take a more active role in seeking a lasting settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, warning of a "final chance" for a two-state solution. Eight days of fighting between Israel and Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled encl...

SHANGHAI | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:18am EST SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has carried out its first successful landing of a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier, state media said on Sunday, a symbolically significant development as Asian neighbors fret about the world's most populous country's military ambitions. The home-built J-15 fighter jet took off fro...

LONDON | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:11am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) is facing the increasing likelihood of having to settle separately with the UK and U.S. authorities investigating its involvement in the global interest rate-setting scandal, the Sunday Telegraph said. The British newspaper said RBS is concerned it could receive a "dou...

By Jonny Hogg and Richard Lough GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:05am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo said on Sunday it would not negotiate with M23 rebels in the east until they pulled out of the city of Goma, but a rebel spokesman said Kinshasa was in no position to set conditions on peace talks. ...

By Tony Jimenez DUBAI | Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:56am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - World number one Rory McIlroy picked up $2.33 million worth of desert treasure after repelling a record-breaking charge from Ryder Cup team mate Justin Rose to win the DP World Tour Championship on Sunday. Rose almost spiked the guns of the Northern Irishman, who shared the ove...

By Dominic Evans BEIRUT | Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:37am EST BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and cities across the Jewish state if it attacked Lebanon. Speaking four days after the ceasefire which ended a week of conflict between Israel and the Isla...

By Matt Smith Sun Nov 25, 2012 7:29am EST (Reuters) - Etihad Etisalat Co (Mobily), Saudi Arabia's second-biggest telecoms operator, has asked to meet the industry regulator after it was suspended from selling pre-paid SIM cards, a company spokesman said, describing the ban as "astonishing". Mobily's sales of pre-paid, or pay-as-you-go SIM cards will remai...

By Anis Ahmed and Ruma Paul DHAKA | Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:37am EST DHAKA (Reuters) - Fire swept through a garment factory on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital killing more than 100 people, the fire brigade said on Sunday, in the country's worst-ever factory blaze. Working conditions at Bangladeshi factories are notoriously poor, with little enfo...

By Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan | Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:36am EST DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A bomb killed at least five people and wounded 90 near a Shi'ite procession in Pakistan on Sunday, police said, as the government struggles to stop a wave of attacks by sectarian Sunni militant groups determined to wipe out the minority ...

By Tony Jimenez DUBAI | Sun Nov 25, 2012 5:00am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - South Africa has replaced Spain as the jewel in the European Tour crown after being given six tournaments on the 2012-13 schedule released by officials on Sunday. The new campaign kicks off with the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship in Durban from December 6-9 before moving...

By Susan Heavey and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON | Sun Nov 25, 2012 1:02am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's re-election this month gave supporters of comprehensive immigration reform an immediate dose of optimism. They hoped that Obama, bolstered by the 70 percent-plus support he received from Hispanic voters, might now feel ready ...

Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:45pm EST (Reuters) - The NBA champion Miami Heat have staged a thrilling fightback to keep their unblemished home record alive, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 110-108 on Saturday. The Heat, down by 11 at halftime and by seven with just under two minutes remaining, stormed home thanks mainly to Ray Allen who scored the last seven points to pus...

Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:31pm EST (Reuters) - Center Andrew Bynum would be out indefinitely due to continued problems with his knees, the Philadelphia 76ers said on Saturday. Bynum has bone bruises in both knees and a "weakened cartilage state", according to doctors and is yet to play for Philadelphia after being part of a four team, 12-player trade that moved him from...

Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:16pm EST (Reuters) - Britain's Ricky Hatton announced his retirement from boxing for a second time after his comeback ended in a ninth-round knockout defeat by Ukrainian welterweight Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester, England on Saturday. Britain's 34-year-old two-weight former world champion had lost 4-1/2 stone in preparation for his first f...

By Jessica Wohl and Alistair Barr CHICAGO/SAN FRANCISCO | Sat Nov 24, 2012 7:32pm EST CHICAGO/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online shopping has grown sharply so far this holiday shopping season after U.S. retailers pushed out a slew of mobile and Internet deals that lured consumers before Cyber Monday, traditionally the biggest day for e-commerce in ...

By Manuele Lang ASPEN, Colorado | Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:51pm EST ASPEN, Colorado (Reuters) - With most of her rivals in the doldrums, especially Lindsey Vonn, Tina Maze found herself in the pole position of the early World Cup season thanks to her victory in the Aspen giant slalom on Saturday. The discipline's world champion has now won two out of t...

By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES | Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:33pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - South Korean rap star Psy's music video "Gangnam Style" on Saturday became the most watched item ever posted to YouTube with more than 800 million views, edging past Canadian teen star Justin Bieber's 2-year-old video for his song "Baby." The milestone was the l...

By Patrick Lang Sat Nov 24, 2012 5:16pm EST LAKE LOUISE, Alberta, Nov 24 - Aksel Lund Svindal made the most of his experience and terrain knowledge to clinch his fourth World Cup victory in Lake Louise, this time in a downhill, on Saturday. "To me, it's like home here. The snow, the cold, the landscape, it's very similar to Norway and I've always had good...

By Alan Baldwin SAO PAULO | Sat Nov 24, 2012 3:56pm EST SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton grabbed pole position in Brazil on Saturday for his last race with McLaren while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel took a big step towards becoming Formula One's youngest triple champion. Championship leader Vettel will start Sunday's season-ending race in four...

By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON | Sat Nov 24, 2012 3:44pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, in a bid to show support for small businesses, took his daughters on an early Christmas shopping trip on Saturday as the U.S. retail sector swings into high gear this holiday season. Promoting "Small Business Saturday," the third annual e...

By Andrew Torchia DUBAI | Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:34pm EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai announced plans for a huge tourism and retail development including the largest shopping mall in the world, a fresh sign that the glitzy emirate has recovered its commercial ambitions after a crippling corporate debt crisis three years ago. The development, on the outsk...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA | Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:58pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - Israel eased restrictions on Gaza fishermen and farmers on Saturday, Palestinian officials said, advancing a three-day-old truce brokered by Egypt after a week of fierce fighting. Gaza's children also headed back to school in their hundreds of thousands, in another indicatio...

Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:49pm EST (Reuters) - Knight Capital Group Inc (KCG.N) is in talks about possibly selling its market-making operation, its largest and most profitable business, but it is not known if a deal will happen, a source said on Saturday. The securities firm has been approached by at least two rivals about its market-making operation, which uses complic...

By Tom Perry CAIRO | Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:34pm EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faces a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered calls for more protests following a day of violence across Egypt. Judges in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, t...

By Jonny Hogg and Elias Biryabarema GOMA/KAMPALA | Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:29pm EST GOMA/KAMPALA (Reuters) - African leaders called on eastern rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday to abandon their aim of toppling the government and leave the city of Goma they captured this week. The appeal came from heads of state of the central African ...

By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD | Sat Nov 24, 2012 11:42am EST ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed at least seven people near a Shi'ite procession in Pakistan on Saturday, police said, with security forces on high alert over fears of large-scale sectarian attacks on the minority sect across the country. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed U.S. al...

Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:45am EST (Advisory: please note strong language in paragraph seven) By Louis Charbonneau and Susan CornwellUNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Susan Rice has had a series of diplomatic triumphs as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. President Barack Obama, an old friend, showed he has her back when last week he publicly challenged her Rep...

FRANKFURT | Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:07am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEGn.DE) expects the merger of its T-Mobile USA with MetroPCS Communications Inc (PCS.N) will reap "several billions of euros" in synergies, Telekom chairman Ulrich Lehner told a German weekly magazine. "The position of Deutsche Telekom in the USA will improve ...

PARIS | Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:05am EST PARIS (Reuters) - French mobile operator SFR is planning to announce lower-than-expected job cuts on Wednesday, French daily Le Figaro reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified source close to the matter. The French daily said that instead of the 2,000-job cuts expected by unions in the summer the number would be "...

By Giselda Vagnoni GUBBIO, Italy | Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:02am EST GUBBIO, Italy (Reuters) - European banks have asked the European Commission to postpone the introduction of tougher global bank capital rules by a year to 2014 after U.S. regulators delayed application of the new requirements. The new rules, known as Basel III, are the world's regula...

By Jonny Hogg and Richard Lough GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:38am EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo's army reinforced its positions south of the city of Goma on Saturday to halt a rebel advance, as African leaders met in Uganda to try to end the deepening crisis in an area long plagued by ethnic a...

By Tom Perry CAIRO | Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:44am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Youths clashed with police in Cairo on Saturday as protests at new powers assumed by President Mohamed Mursi stretched into a second day, confronting Egypt with a crisis that has exposed the split between newly empowered Islamists and their opponents. A handful of hardcore activis...

By Jihan Abdalla RAMALLAH | Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:39am EST RAMALLAH (Reuters) - The body of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed on Tuesday, eight years after his death, in an investigation to establish if he was murdered, a Palestinian official said on Saturday. A French court opened a murder inquiry in August into Arafat's death in...

By Astrid Wendlandt PARIS | Sat Nov 24, 2012 9:37am EST PARIS (Reuters) - Former president Nicolas Sarkozy denied receiving "a penny" in campaign funds from France's richest woman Liliane Bettencourt, according to excerpts of his testimony to judges published on Saturday by the French daily Sud-Ou...

FRANKFURT | Sat Nov 24, 2012 8:42am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German business software maker Software AG (SOWG.DE) has the financial flexibility to make any acquisition worth up to 1 billion euros ($1.30 billion), a German weekly said on Saturday, citing finance director Arnd Zinnhardt. "We are so well positioned in terms of our operating activities and ...