By Steve Holland CORAL GABLES, Florida | Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:36pm EDT CORAL GABLES, Florida (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Mitt Romney held back from his usual attacks on President Barack Obama on Wednesday with the East Coast reeling from storm Sandy, but the positive tone did not extend to other Republican speakers at his events. As Obama tr...

By Thomas Ferraro DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania | Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:15pm EDT DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A new poll released on Wednesday is the latest indication that Pennsylvania, which has not voted Republican in a presidential race since 1988, could do so again next week. In one month, an 11-percentage-point lead held by President Barack...

By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT | Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:50pm EDT BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Wednesday they had begun arming sympathetic Palestinians to fight a pro-Assad faction in a Palestinian enclave in Damascus - a move which could fuel spiraling intra-Palestinian violence. Two rebel commanders told Reuters they expected their Palestinian...

By Peter Griffiths LONDON | Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:36pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered a humiliating defeat in parliament on Wednesday after Conservatives rebelled over Europe, an issue that has divided his party for decades and helped bring down previous leaders. Although the result carried no legal weight, the ...

LOS ANGELES | Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:25pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The desk where Bram Stoker wrote his famed 1897 book "Dracula" is going up for auction next month after having been restored and turned into a work of art, auction company Profiles in History said on Wednesday. The desk, which will be auctioned off by the California company on December 15 ...

MADRID | Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:23pm EDT MADRID (Reuters) - The region of Madrid said on Wednesday it would introduce an unpopular one-euro surcharge for medical prescriptions next year as pressure mounts on Spain's cash-strapped regions to curb deficits. The plan is part of Madrid's efforts to save some 2.7 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in next year's budget...

By Marice Richter DALLAS | Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:53pm EDT DALLAS (Reuters) - The number of people infected with the mosquito-borne West Nile virus in the United States continues to grow, but the pace of this year's outbreak is slowing, federal health officials said on Wednesday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 4,891 people have c...

BOSTON | Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:33pm EDT BOSTON (Reuters) - Ameridose, a sister company of the pharmacy linked to a meningitis outbreak that has killed 28 people, announced Wednesday a voluntary recall of all its products, a move to cooperate with regulators that could nevertheless create shortages of some drugs. In particular, the Food and Drug Administrati...

Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:18pm EDT (Reuters) - Another patient has died in Virginia after contracting fungal meningitis from potentially tainted steroid injections supplied by a Massachusetts company, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from the outbreak to 29 nationwide. The latest death brings to three the num...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:02pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Almost a third of women on asthma control medications stop using them during the first few months of pregnancy - despite advice that a mother's uncontrolled asthma is more dangerous to the developing fetus than the drugs, according to a new study from the Netherland...

By Zorianna Kit LOS ANGELES | Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:51pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper and music producer RZA is best known as the leader of the hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan which also includes such popular members as Method Man, Ghostface Killah and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. RZA branched out into film, taking on small acting roles and scor...

By Nick Carey MIDDLETOWN, Ohio | Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:35pm EDT MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (Reuters) - When Ohio voter Paul Presta opened his door to two election canvassers one recent Saturday he interrupted them in mid-sentence and asked Jim Lewis about an issue close to his heart. "Do you support the second amendment?" he asked, referring to the U.S. const...

By Debra Sherman Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:00pm EDT (Reuters) - The best medical innovations for next year include an almond-size device implanted in the mouth to relieve severe headaches and a handheld scanner resembling a blow dryer that detects skin cancer, the Cleveland Clinic said on Wednesday. The clinic's annual list of the best medical innovations for 20...

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY | Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:52pm EDT VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes turned 500 on Wednesday with the Vatican warning it may eventually limit visitors to protect one of the wonders of Western civilization. On October 31, 1512, only 20 years after the discovery of America, Pope Juliu...

ZAGREB | Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:49pm EDT ZAGREB (Reuters) - The United States called on Wednesday for a major overhaul of Syria's beleaguered opposition, saying it was time to move beyond the Syrian National Council (SNC) and bring in those who are "in the frontlines fighting and dying today". Speaking on a visit ...

PARIS | Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:45pm EDT PARIS (Reuters) - The finance committee of France's Senate upper house rejected the law setting out government plans to hit a budget break-even by 2017 on Wednesday as its Communist members voted against it in protest at fiscal rigor across Europe. Even if the law is rejecte...

TRIPOLI | Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:30pm EDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's General National Congress approved new Prime Minister Ali Zeidan's proposed government line-up on Wednesday but cut its session short as security forces fended off protesters outside. Zeidan presented a coalition cabinet on Tuesday, drawn from liberal and Islamist parties, to the national ...

By Sherilee Lakmidas JOHANNESBURG | Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:13pm EDT JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Lonmin management and workers appeared on Wednesday to be shaping up for a new battle after the strike-hit mining company said jobs would be cut. The world's third largest platinum producer, Lonmin is scrambling to get back on its feet after a violent six-wee...

By Amy Norton NEW YORK | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:58pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Twenty minutes of exercise may help kids with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) settle in to read or solve a math problem, new research suggests. The small study, of 40 eight- to 10-year-olds, looked only at the short-term effects of a single bout of e...

CAIRO | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:47pm EDT CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has detained 12 Islamist militants including a Tunisian and a Libyan suspected of having links to al Qaeda and planning attacks inside the country and abroad, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. Egypt, now run by an elected, moderate Islamist president, has been battling to quell Muslim mi...

By Orhan Coskun and Alexandra Hudson BERLIN | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:44pm EDT BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday the European Union (EU) would pursue accession talks with his country in good faith, despite some persistent disagreements. Erdogan said on Tuesday the EU would lose ...

ZURICH | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:09pm EDT ZURICH (Reuters) - Canadian and Swiss health authorities lifted a ban on Novartis's flu vaccines on Wednesday after the drugmaker showed they posed no risk to safety. Italy last week banned the sale of four anti-influenza vaccines produced by Novartis pending tests for possible side effects after small particles were...

GENEVA | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:00pm EDT GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. human rights investigators called on Myanmar on Wednesday to halt deadly sectarian violence and warned it not to use the conflict as a pretext to remove Rohingya minority Muslims. Some 89 people have been killed in clashes between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas in western Myanmar in th...

By Stephen Eisenhammer LONDON | Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:08am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Fresh allegations emerged on Wednesday of sexual misconduct by late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, further damaging the corporation's reputation and increasing pressure on its management. Facing questions on how suspicions about Savile were handled are BBC head George En...

PORT SUDAN | Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:03am EDT PORT SUDAN (Reuters) - Two Iranian warships left Sudan on Wednesday after a visit that drew attention to the countries' military ties less than a week after Khartoum accused Israel of bombing a Sudanese arms factory. Israel accuses the Muslim East African country of channeling weapons to the Gaza Strip, controlle...

Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:39am EDT (Reuters) - Facebook Inc shares fell 4 percent to $21.07 in busy early trade on Wednesday morning on the company's approval to let employees sell some stock. The world's largest social network waived a provision that prevented employees from selling shares until November 14. As a result, Facebook...

BERLIN | Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:23am EDT BERLIN (Reuters) - German Davis Cup captain Patrik Kuehnen will step down at the end of the year after a decade in charge following what he said was a lack of support from the federation during a year marred by infighting and bad results. Kuehnen has been locked in a bitter row for months with world number 19 and Germ...

By Shilpa Jamkhandikar MUMBAI | Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:13am EDT MUMBAI (Reuters) - Suraj Sharma went from being a regular teenager growing up in New Delhi to starring in Ang Lee's big-screen adaptation of the bestselling novel "Life of Pi". The 17-year-old Sharma was picked from more than 3,000 hopefuls to play Pi, an Indian boy who finds himself str...

SHANGHAI | Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:22am EDT SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's ZTE Corp, the world's fourth-biggest handset maker, expects to ship around 50 million smartphones in 2013, up from 35 million units it forecast for this year, a senior company executive said on Wednesday. "We think next year will be very good (for smartphones)," He Shiyou, ZTE's executiv...

NEW YORK | Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:37am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - If you hate having your picture taken, you're in good company - British supermodel Kate Moss does as well. "I'm terrible at a snapshot. Terrible. I blink all the time. I've got facial Tourette's," she told Vanity Fair in the December issue, out on Wednesday.Moss, who has graced countless magazin...

By Russ Blinch TORONTO | Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:33am EDT TORONTO (Reuters) - A humorist, travel writer and novelist who penned a fictional tale about the inner workings of Nigerian email scams won Canada's most prestigious and lucrative literary prize on Tuesday. Will Ferguson won the C$50,000 ($50,000) Scotiabank Giller prize for his novel "419," pu...

VIENNA | Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:39am EDT VIENNA (Reuters) - T-Mobile Austria could slash investment or even withdraw from the country if it is not allowed to compete with rivals that get frequencies needed for fourth-generation LTE mobile products, CEO Andreas Bierwirth told a newspaper. The Deutsche Telekom unit is Austria's second-biggest mobile provider a...

By Jeremy Wagstaff and Lee Chyen Yee NEW DELHI/HONG KONG | Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:31am EDT NEW DELHI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Under-fire Chinese telecoms equipment vendor Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is reaching out to one of its sternest critics: a hacker who accused it of making shoddy products. John Suffolk, the company's global cybersecurity chief, to...

By Mark Lamport-Stokes LOS ANGELES | Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:23am EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The heavily anticipated new era of Los Angeles Lakers basketball began with a whimper as their much vaunted team bristling with All-Stars were beaten 99-91 by an under-strength Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant had given the Lake...

TOKYO | Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:50am EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Softbank said on Wednesday it plans 700 billion yen ($8.8 billion) if capital expenditure in the year to next March 31. Softbank, which announced this month it would buy a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel Corp, the third-largest U.S. carrier, said it plans capex of 550 billion yen ($6.9 billi...

SHENZHEN, China | Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:38am EDT SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - After climbing to a career high fifth in the world rankings and featuring in Europe's Ryder Cup victory, Justin Rose could be forgiven for resting on his laurels as the 2012 season draws to a close. Since he has been mining a rich vein of form in recent months, however, the Briton ...

SEOUL | Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:27am EDT SEOUL (Reuters) - The South Korean soccer player who inflamed a diplomatic row with Japan by waving a political placard at the London Olympics is finally set to receive his bronze medal. Park Jong-woo, banned from the medal ceremony at Wembley, has received a certificate confirming he would receive it, the Korea Footba...

Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:45am EDT (Reuters) - Jake Peavy had two reasons to celebrate on Tuesday when the starting pitcher inked a new deal with the Chicago White Sox and picked up an American League Gold Glove award. Peavy received a two-year contract extension worth $29 million, keeping him with the franchise where he has spent parts of the last four seasons after ar...

By Simon Evans MIAMI | Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:21am EDT MIAMI (Reuters) - Making his Miami Heat debut against the team he left after five seasons, Ray Allen was determined to show his old Boston Celtics team mates that he was still friends, but the feeling was not exactly mutual. As he got ready to enter the opening game of the season between the two ...

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:53am EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As Hurricane Sandy pounded the U.S. Atlantic coast on Monday night, knocking out electricity and Internet connections, millions of residents turned to Twitter as a part-newswire, part-911 hotline that hummed through the night even as some websites failed and swat...