By Daren Butler ISTANBUL | Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:45am EDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Jailed Kurdish militants on hunger strike in Turkey may start to die within the next 10 days, Turkey's main medical association warned on Thursday, saying the prime minister's dismissal of the protest as a "show" risked hardening their resolve. The hunger strike entered it...

KUWAIT | Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:29am EDT KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti authorities have decided to free a prominent opposition politician on bail after charging him with insulting the ruling emir, his lawyer said on Thursday. Although OPEC member Kuwait has avoided the kind of mass pro-democracy unrest seen in other Arab countries, tensions have mounted between ...

BAGHDAD | Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:28am EDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi court sentenced fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi to death for a second time on Thursday on a charge of involvement in a plot to assassinate an interior ministry official, a judicial spokesman said. Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim who fled to Turkey earlier this year when Shi'ite-led Iraqi ...

By Alan Baldwin ABU DHABI | Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:25am EDT ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Formula One is unlikely to float on the stock market before 2014, the sport's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Thursday. "The market's going to take a little bit of settling down, I think," the 82-year-old billionaire told Reuters in the paddock at the Abu Dh...

By Renee Maltezou ATHENS | Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:20am EDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek lawyers launched their defense of a prominent journalist on Thursday charged with breaking private data rules after he published the names of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks believed to be holding Swiss bank accounts. The printing of the "Lagarde List" by magazine edito...

Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:19am EDT (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.N) said Thursday it is working with banks to issue $2 billion in debt to pay off more-expensive loans on its bloated balance sheet. The company said it is setting up a five-year term loan facility, and would use proceeds to pay off a loan it obtained in May of this year, as well as other debt.It I...

By Patrick Johnston SINGAPORE | Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:10am EDT SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Tiger Woods said fatigue was the reason he skipped this week's World Golf Championship event in Shanghai. As Australian Adam Scott and South African Louis Oosthuizen grabbed the first-round lead at the $7 million event in China on Thursday, the 36-year-old Woods was ...

By Madeline Chambers BERLIN | Thu Nov 1, 2012 9:03am EDT BERLIN (Reuters) - Erwin Rommel, the World War Two German field marshal celebrated as the brilliant and humane "Desert Fox", is portrayed in a new film as a weak man torn by his loyalty to Adolf Hitler and the dawning realization that he was serving a devil. The drama, due to be broadcast o...

By Angus McDowall RIYADH | Thu Nov 1, 2012 8:42am EDT RIYADH (Reuters) - At least 22 people were killed when a fuel truck crashed into a flyover in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, triggering an explosion that brought down an industrial building and torched nearby vehicles, officials and state media said. Health ministry spokesman Saad al-Qa...

BEIJING | Thu Nov 1, 2012 8:40am EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Thursday it had proposed new initiatives to head off an escalation of violence in Syria, including a phased, region-by-region ceasefire and the establishment of a transitional governing body. China has been strongly criticized by some in the Arab world for failing to take a stronger s...

By Aung Hla Tun YANGON | Thu Nov 1, 2012 8:05am EDT YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's parliament approved a foreign investment bill on Thursday and lawmakers expect it to be signed into law quickly by the president since his office had come up with wording that helped end a dispute over certain clauses. The bill had passed back and forth between the l...

By Peter Griffiths and Maria Golovnina LONDON | Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:48am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Britain faces a crisis that could end with the world's sixth largest economy leaving the European Union, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned ahead of a showdown over budget spending with other states in the 27-member bloc. A day after Prime Minister ...

By Sara Webb and Thomas Escritt AMSTERDAM | Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:43am EDT AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Jeroen Dijsselbloem looked set to become the next Dutch finance minister after Prime Minister Mark Rutte summoned the Labor MP, who is expected to back austerity at home and a tough line on euro zone deficit sinners, to a meeting on Thursday. Dijsselbloem...

By Elaine Lies TOKYO | Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:32am EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Justin Cronin was writing literary fiction when he and his daughter, then eight, dreamed up a vampire trilogy set in a post-apocalyptic world just for fun - until he belatedly realized what they'd put together, and sat down to write. Cronin said he's still a little astonished by ...

By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:10am EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Floating robots to gather storm data, fuel cells for power outages, and tools to choose evacuation routes and help responders stay connected to the Internet are among the innovations that increasingly will help responders deal with future disasters, start-up com...

SHENZHEN, China | Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:03am EDT SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Adam Scott will be making the headlines for all the right reasons after the Australian produced a spectacular finish to earn a share of the first-round lead at the WGC-HSBC Champions Tournament on Thursday. A year ago, Scott found himself unwillingly involved in an uncomfortable sit...

By Karolos Grohmann BERLIN | Thu Nov 1, 2012 7:01am EDT BERLIN (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will investigate Lance Armstrong's 2000 Olympics bronze medal after the American was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in the biggest doping scandal to hit the sport. "The IOC will now immediately start the process concer...

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 1, 2012 5:46am EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singer-composer Bill Dees, best known for his songwriting collaboration with Roy Orbison on the hits "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "It's Over," has died at age 73 in Mountain Home, Arkansas, according to an obituary posted online by a local funeral home. Dees, a Texas native who got his start in t...

By Tim Kelly TOKYO | Thu Nov 1, 2012 5:41am EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Struggling Japanese TV maker Sharp Corp warned it might not be able to survive on its own, as it almost doubled its full-year net loss forecast to $5.6 billion, and said it was considering alliances with other companies. In a statement, the company said it booked massive second-qua...

TOKYO | Thu Nov 1, 2012 5:04am EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp, the struggling maker of Aquos TVs, increased its full-year operating loss forecast to 155 billion yen ($1.94 billion) from a previous 100 billion yen loss forecast. At a net level, it almost doubled its full-year loss forecast to 450 billion yen. Sharp said, however, it expects to p...

By Jahmal Corner Thu Nov 1, 2012 4:02am EDT (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Clippers picked up where they left off in their budding rivalry with the Memphis Grizzlies, claiming a 101-92 home triumph in the season-opener for both teams on Wednesday. Facing a Grizzlies side they edged out over seven games in the Western Conference first-round playoffs last seas...

TOKYO | Thu Nov 1, 2012 3:25am EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp booked a small operating profit in the second quarter, after a loss a year ago, helped by the sale of a chemicals business that offset weak demand for its TVs and other devices, and it kept its full-year profit guidance. July-September operating profit of 30.3 billion yen ($379 millio...

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO | Thu Nov 1, 2012 3:05am EDT SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO (Reuters) - Micron Technology's plan to acquire Japanese memory chipmaker Elpida took a big step toward completion after a Tokyo court approved the agreement and dismissed a rival proposal promoted by a group of bondholders. A district court in Tokyo said on Wednesday it was referring b...

Thu Nov 1, 2012 2:55am EDT (Reuters) - James Harden delivered a monster debut for Houston on Wednesday with 37 points and 12 assists just hours after the Rockets stumped up the massive contract he had been seeking in Oklahoma City. Harden, the NBA's reigning Sixth Man of the Year, was traded to the Rockets on Saturday after the Thunder balked at his demands for a...

LOS ANGELES | Thu Nov 1, 2012 2:10am EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Aunt Rosemary was not George Clooney's only famous relative. You can add a certain Civil War American president to the Oscar-winning actor's family tree. Politics has apparently run in the activist actor's blood for centuries, as website Ancestry.com on Thursday revealed that the "Ocean's 1...

By Steve Keating TORONTO | Thu Nov 1, 2012 1:54am EDT TORONTO (Reuters) - With ice hockey on hold due to the NHL's protracted labor dispute sports fans in Toronto turned to basketball for their Halloween entertainment on Wednesday, but despite giving Indiana a scare the Raptors lost 90-88 in their NBA season opener. George Hill's lay-up with two ...

By Naomi Tajitsu WELLINGTON | Thu Nov 1, 2012 1:33am EDT WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Like a good Hollywood sequel, Megaupload is back. Kim Dotcom, the founder of the shuttered file-sharing site that housed everything from family photos to blockbuster films, on Thursday announced a new online storage service called Mega that will give users direct cont...

SYDNEY | Thu Nov 1, 2012 1:20am EDT SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Orica-GreenEDGE team has sacked sports director Matt White after he admitted to doping while riding with Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal cycling team. White voluntarily stood down from the position last month pending an inquiry when he admitted doping after being named in the United States Anti-Dop...

Thu Nov 1, 2012 12:04am EDT (Reuters) - Will Bruin scored twice to give Houston a 2-1 win at Chicago Fire in the Major League Soccer playoffs on Wednesday, earning Dynamo a place in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against Sporting Kansas City. Houston, twice MLS Cup winners and last season's runners-up, will battle the Eastern Conference's top team from the re...

By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:18pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook's new go-to management team of mostly familiar faces failed to drum up much excitement on Wall Street, driving its shares to a three-month low on Wednesday. The world's most valuable technology company, which had faced quest...

LOS ANGELES | Wed Oct 31, 2012 8:40pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood actress Evan Rachel Wood has quietly married Briton Jamie Bell - star of the 2000 "Billy Elliot" dance movie - in a ceremony in California, Wood's spokeswoman said on Wednesday. "The bride wore a custom dress by Carolina Herrera. It was a small ceremony with close family and frie...

Wed Oct 31, 2012 8:36pm EDT (Reuters) - Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested in Texas on Wednesday for criminal trespass when she tried to bring food and other supplies to protesters opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline, a local official said. Ty Oaks, a corrections officer at the Wood County jail, said Stein, 62, was released after she promi...

By Mark Felsenthal ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey | Wed Oct 31, 2012 8:19pm EDT ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (Reuters) - In a close and bitterly fought campaign for president, it was a day of contrasts: President Barack Obama joined New Jersey's Republican governor to tour storm-ravaged areas, while election rival Mitt Romney was relegated to a subdued d...

Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:49pm EDT (Reuters) - Former All-Star pitcher Ervin Santana was traded by the Los Angeles Angels to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday for minor league reliever Brandon Sisk. The 29-year-old Santana was also offloaded for cash considerations after the Angels exercised the right-hander's $13 million option for next season."Acquiring someone with...

By Jonathan Stempel WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:49pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday cleared the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit that challenges the 2010 healthcare overhaul on religious grounds, including a claim that it helps fund abortions. Liberty University, a Christian college in Lynch...

By Lisa Lambert SARASOTA, Florida | Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:43pm EDT SARASOTA, Florida (Reuters) - For his political opponents, Vice President Joe Biden might have been playing a trick, but for some of his ardent supporters, he could have been dispensing a special treat on Halloween: mentioning on Wednesday a possible run for president in 2016. After ...

By Brendan O'Brien MILWAUKEE | Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:26pm EDT MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin could make history next week as the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate, according to the final poll before the November 6 election released on Wednesday by the Marquette University Law school. The poll showed B...

By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 31, 2012 6:50pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hopes to reintroduce cyber security legislation opposed by business groups once lawmakers return after Tuesday's election, a Senate aide said, adding that a White House executive order might pave the way for a compromise on the b...

By Mark Felsenthal ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey | Wed Oct 31, 2012 6:18pm EDT ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (Reuters) - Putting aside partisan differences, President Barack Obama and Republican Governor Chris Christie toured storm-stricken parts of New Jersey on Wednesday, taking in scenes of flooded roads and praising each other for their response to s...

By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:52pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are neck and neck in four of the most hotly contested states in next week's election, but Obama holds a slight advantage in two of them, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. The online survey of fo...