By Ritsuko Ando HELSINKI | Tue Nov 13, 2012 9:48am EST HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia's new Lumia smartphones are trickling into the market and early signs suggest they may sell well enough to give the handset maker more time in its fight against industry leaders Samsung and Apple. But investors shouldn't expect a quick turnaround for the struggling ...

By Bill Rigby SEATTLE | Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:32am EST SEATTLE (Reuters) - The executive most widely tipped to be the next chief executive of Microsoft Corp has left the world's largest software maker barely two weeks after launching the flagship Windows 8, as CEO Steve Ballmer moved to tighten his grip on the company. The exit of 23-year veteran St...

By Bill Rigby SEATTLE | Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:32am EST SEATTLE (Reuters) - The executive most widely tipped to be the next chief executive of Microsoft Corp has left the world's largest software maker barely two weeks after launching the flagship Windows 8, as CEO Steve Ballmer moved to tighten his grip on the company. The exit of 23-year veteran St...

DUBAI | Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:23am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran unveiled new missile and artillery systems on Tuesday, Iranian media reported, on the second day of large-scale military exercises which officials said were aimed at sending a warning to those threatening the Islamic Republic. Played out against a backdrop of high tension between Iran and the Wes...

LONDON | Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:10am EST LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones have added a fifth date to their 50th anniversary tour later this year, the band announced on its website. In between two shows at London's O2 Arena starting on November 25 and two more at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ opening on December 13 the veteran quartet will play the...

FRANKFURT | Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:06am EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Ford's (F.N) decision to close three factories and cull 5,700 jobs in Europe will not serve as a blueprint for General Motors' (GM.N) Opel unit, where upcoming cuts will be far milder, the German carmaker's top labour leader said. Mass market carmakers Ford, Opel, Peugeot (PEUP.PA) and Fiat (F...

By Yasmine Saleh CAIRO | Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:01am EST CAIRO (Reuters) - Syria's new opposition body sought Arab and European backing on Tuesday, but Britain and France seemed to set new conditions for its recognition as an interim government to take over should President Bashar al-Assad fall. The Syrian leader has vowed to fight to the death in a ...

LONDON | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:58am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Charles does not have seven eggs cooked for him for breakfast, according to the Royal Family's new website which aims to dispel popular myths surrounding the British monarchy. "No, he doesn't and never has done, at breakfast or any other time", Clarence House said in response to the claims th...

FLORENCE, Italy | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:54am EST FLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - Three people died when their car fell off a collapsed bridge on Tuesday, as flooding battered central Italy for a third straight day, forcing part of Italy's main north-south highway to close. Water levels were receding, however, in Venice, the lagoon city and Unesco world heritage...

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:45am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell on Tuesday amid investor concern about the looming U.S. "fiscal cliff" debate and how a lack of agreement in Congress could hurt the nation's economy. Equities have been pressured in recent sessions by worries over the cliff - a series of budge...

By Andrew Callus and Douglas Busvine LONDON/MOSCOW | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:37am EST LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - British oil company BP (BP.L) took a further step towards closer ties with Russian state oil company Rosneft (ROSN.MM) on Tuesday as the partners in its existing venture in the oil-rich country dropped their opposition to the tie-up. AAR, th...

By Martinne Geller Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:24am EST (Reuters) - Home Depot Inc (HD.N) reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday and raised its full-year outlook as the world's largest home improvement chain benefited from a recent uptick in the U.S. housing market. The nascent recovery in housing has encouraged professional contractors to buy...

By Ayla Jean Yackley DIYARBAKIR, Turkey | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:24am EST DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - When Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged the existence of a "Kurdish problem" to a rally in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Mayor Osman Baydemir was among thousands who stood to applaud a momentous declaration. For decades, Turkey had ...

By Jan Strupczewski and Annika Breidthardt BRUSSELS | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:17am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A public clash between Greece's international lenders over how Athens can bring its debts down to a sustainable level has reignited fears that the crisis could flare up anew. Euro zone finance ministers suggested that Greece, where the euro zone...

LONDON | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:12am EST LONDON (Reuters) - A British Royal Navy submariner admitted in court on Tuesday that he met two men he thought were Russian agents to pass on military secrets, including the sailing dates of British nuclear submarines. Petty officer Edward Devenney, 30, from Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to a char...

By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:10am EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Christina Aguilera has the vocal chops, the look, the strut and millions of new fans thanks to her stint as a judge on TV singing contest "The Voice." But can she still sell records?The singer, who had global hits with "Genie in a Bottle" and the female empowerment...

By Keith Weir LONDON | Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:04am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Sponsorship deals and record revenues from the sale of almost 11 million tickets helped London organizers to hit their target of raising 2.4 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) to stage the Olympics and Paralympics. The income covered the core costs of putting on the world's largest ...

By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM | Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:40am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel struck three targets in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Tuesday and warned an on-going crisis with Palestinian militants had not been resolved, despite a marked decrease in rocket-fire from the territory. The Israeli military said its warplanes successfully hit...

BEIJING | Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:14am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it supports the Palestinian bid for U.N. observer status, with a vote on the matter at the United Nations later this month. China has traditionally had close relations with the Palestinians, but in recent years also has had good ties with Israel, especially in the field of de...

HARARE | Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:07am EST HARARE (Reuters) - At least $2 billion of diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange fields have been stolen by people linked to President Robert Mugabe's party, a diamond watchdog has said, although the state mining firm said the gems were sold transparently. Partnership Africa Canada, a member of the Kimberley Process initiat...

By Jack Kim and David Chance SEOUL | Tue Nov 13, 2012 5:49am EST SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's government should resume publishing polls on nuclear safety after a loss of public confidence in the sector in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster, an opposition South Korean lawmaker said on Tuesday. The call came as South Korea, whose public is t...

LONDON | Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:51am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone (VOD.L) wrote down the value of its business in Spain and Italy by 5.9 billion pounds ($9.4 billion) and lowered its full-year outlook on Tuesday after reporting its first fall since 2010 in its key organic service revenue metric. The British company posted a 1.4 percent fall in group organ...

HELSINKI | Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:43am EST HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia Siemens Networks made strong gains in the mobile telecom equipment market in the third quarter, narrowing the gap with market leaders Ericsson and Huawei, telecoms industry research firm Dell'Oro said on Tuesday. Nokia Siemens reported record third quarter profits last month on the back of...

By Bill Rigby and Dan Levine Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:41am EST (Reuters) - Microsoft and Google's Motorola Mobility unit are set to square off on Tuesday at a trial with strategic implications for the smartphone patent wars and which could reveal financial information the two companies usually keep under wraps. The proceeding in a Seattle federal court will det...

By Braden Reddall Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:21am EST (Reuters) - Albert Einstein once wrote that he would rather have been a plumber than a physicist because of the independence it would allow him. Faced with the growing power of big oilfield service firms - playfully derided as "plumbers" by some in the industry - many oil men might now feel the same way. Break...

By Jibran Ahmad PESHAWAR, Pakistan | Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:18am EST PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Haqqani network, seen as the most lethal insurgent faction in Afghanistan, would take part in peace talks with the United States but only under the direction of their Afghan Taliban leaders, a top faction commander said on Tuesday. The rare flexibi...

By Chris Wickham LONDON | Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:52am EST LONDON (Reuters) - An international team of astronomers has produced the first map of the universe as it was 11 billion years ago, filling a gap between the Big Bang and the rapid expansion that followed. The study, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, shows the universe went...

By Bill Rigby SEATTLE | Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:34am EST SEATTLE (Reuters) - The executive most widely tipped to be the next chief executive of Microsoft Corp has left the world's largest software maker barely two weeks after launching the flagship Windows 8, as CEO Steve Ballmer moved to tighten his grip on the company. The exit of 23-year veteran St...

KABUL | Tue Nov 13, 2012 1:54am EST KABUL (Reuters) - A rocket landed near the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul and two others struck near the airport highway and a private television station, security officials said. The rocket attacks were a reminder of Afghanistan's security challenges as most NATO combat troops prepare to withdraw at the end of 20...

SYDNEY | Tue Nov 13, 2012 1:19am EST SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian rock group INXS has called it quits as a live touring band after 35 years, thanking fans and honoring late frontman Michael Hutchence in a statement on Tuesday. INXS, which sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, including more than 10 million alone of their 1987 breakthrough "Kick", ...

By Ronald Grover Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:20am EST (Reuters) - NBC is expected to name Alexandra Wallace, a senior vice president of the network's news division, as the executive in charge of "The Today Show," the latest reshuffling of the show's personnel after it slipped to second in ratings this year behind "Good Morning America." Wallace, who would be the ...

By Nicola Leske Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:06am EST (Reuters) - Security software maker Palo Alto Networks Inc, which went public in July, is teaming up with VMware Inc to expand its range of security products to virtual machines and networks. The companies will announce the partnership at a Palo Alto Networks' industry event in Las Vegas on Tuesday.The Palo Alt...

LOS ANGELES | Mon Nov 12, 2012 10:37pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal entertainment unit is laying off about 500 employees at cable channels, Jay Leno's late-night TV show and the Universal Pictures movie studio, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The cuts add up to about 1.5 percent of the company's workforce ...

WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 12, 2012 9:25pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two dozen business, labor and civic leaders, including the chief executives of major U.S. corporations such as Ford, IBM and Wal-Mart, will meet President Barack Obama to discuss how to control the federal deficit, said the White House on Monday. Obama was scheduled to meet labor and civic l...

By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 12, 2012 9:01pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, Lockheed Martin Corp, on Monday cited dramatic growth in the number and sophistication of international cyber attacks on its networks and said it was contacting suppliers to help them shore up their security. Chandra McMahon, Lockhe...

MANAGUA | Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:41pm EST MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua has begun talks with the International Monetary Fund over a financial aid package that aims to bolster efforts to reform taxes and pensions, the country's central bank president said on Monday. Alberto Guevara, president of the central bank of...

By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES | Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:27pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The puppeteer behind the "Sesame Street" character Elmo has taken a leave of absence from the children's television show to contest allegations, disputed by the performer and producers, that he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy, the show's production ...

By Martyn Herman LONDON | Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:13pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - The world's top three players all scaled dizzy heights in 2012 but Novak Djokovic ended the year staring down at his rivals after grinding down Roger Federer to win the ATP World Tour Finals title in brutal fashion at London's O2 Arena on Monday. The 25-year-old shed sweat a...

JERUSALEM | Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:11pm EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft struck three times in Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday morning, hitting a weapons storage facility and two rocket launching sites used by militants, the military said in a statement. As a growing crisis in the Gaza Strip moved into a fifth day, the Israeli army said it had s...

By Sinead Carew NEW YORK | Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:09pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless said on Monday that its board agreed to pay a total dividend of $8.5 billion to its two parent companies, Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L). The announcement follows months of investor speculation as to whether Verizon Wireless ...