By Simon Evans MIAMI | Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:29am EDT MIAMI (Reuters) - With shiny new diamond-encrusted rings on their fingers, the Miami Heat began their NBA title defence in confident fashion with a 120-107 win over Eastern Conference rivals the Boston Celtics on Tuesday. Miami were presented with championship rings and rose the title banner to ...

Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:24am EDT (Reuters) - The Denver Nuggets have re-signed speedy point guard Ty Lawson to a contract extension, the team announced Tuesday. The new deal is a four-year agreement worth $48 million, according to local reports, and ensures the Nuggets will hold on to their ever-improving floor leader."We are thrilled to have reached an agreement on ...

By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:57pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - From Fab.com to Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc, e-commerce companies scrambled on Tuesday to get goods to buyers on time after Hurricane Sandy tore a swathe of destruction across the U.S. northeast. The storm -- which severed power to warehouses and offices, ripp...

SAN FRANCISCO | Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:56pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's entry in the accelerating mobile tablet race squeezes about 35 percent more viewing space onto a lighter package than rival devices from Google or Amazon.com Inc, but it sports inferior resolution and a lofty price tag, two influential reviewers wrote on Tuesday. The iPad ...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:31pm EDT (Reuters) - Best Busy Co Inc on Tuesday canceled an analyst meeting it had planned to hold in New York this week as the city tries to recover from the massive storm Sandy, postponing Chief Executive Hubert Joly's opportunity to tell investors how he plans to turn the company around. No new date has been set for the meeting, which had ...

MELBOURNE | Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:22pm EDT MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Shareholders in Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd voted in favor of a A$2 billion ($2.07 billion) takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, giving News Corp a greater share of Australia's pay-TV market. The deal will double the stake of News Corp's Australian unit in dominant pay-TV opera...

By Piya Sinha-Roy and Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES | Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:03pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For years, it seemed like another "Star Wars" movie was just a dream, stillborn in a galaxy far, far away. But down on Earth, the Walt Disney movie studio had different ideas, announcing on Tuesday that it planned not one but at least three new ...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:48pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country-pop star Taylor Swift's latest album "Red" has notched up the highest first week U.S. sales figures in a decade. According to Nielsen SoundScan figures, "Red" sold 1.2 million copies in its first week of release, giving Swift her biggest debut numbers in a...

By Mark Lamport-Stokes LOS ANGELES | Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:26pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant gave his Los Angeles Lakers team mates a late boost when he pronounced himself fit enough to play in the regular season opener against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. The All-Star guard, who had been sidelined for eight day...

By John McCrank and Sakthi Prasad Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:00pm EDT (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock exchanges expect to reopen on Wednesday after Sandy, the worst storm to hit New York in nearly 75 years, closed trading for two days. NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) said the New York Stock Exchange would open as usual, although it was prepared to switch to fully electronic t...

SACRAMENTO | Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:58pm EDT SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A California campaign finance regulatory agency can audit a last-minute $11 million out-of-state donation to a political action committee by a mystery group from Arizona, a judge tentatively ruled on Tuesday. A state Superior Court judge in Sacramento wrote that Californians "will suffer irr...

By Alwyn Scott Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:16pm EDT (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said delivery of at least two 787 jets for United Airlines (UAL.N) was taking longer than expected, a surprise hitch in delivery to its first U.S. customer that is set to disappoint some customers wanting to ride the new fuel-efficient aircraft. Boeing said it is working diligently to...

LONDON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:02pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) reports third-quarter results on Wednesday, with new chief executive Antony Jenkins aiming to restore some stability after a tumultuous summer for the UK bank dominated by fallout from the Libor interest rate rigging scandal. Jenkins, appointed CEO at the end of August, has taken o...

SHENZHEN, China | Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:57pm EDT SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - The sponsors of this week's WGC-Champions event have criticised world number one Rory McIlroy and 14-times major winner Tiger Woods for turning down the chance to play in the tournament. The pair played in a lucrative head-to-head exhibition match on Monday at Jinsha Lake in China....

Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:27pm EDT (Reuters) - Organizers of sports events scheduled to take place in the New York area this week were looking at contingency plans on Tuesday, as the eastern United States began to assess the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. Large parts of the region remained without power and transportation in the New York metropolitan area was at...

By David Henry Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:25pm EDT (Reuters) - Sandy could be the toughest challenge yet for the man who fixes JPMorgan Chase & Co's (JPM.N) bank branches after hurricanes. The bank has more branches in and around New York than in other areas like Florida that are more commonly hit by hurricanes. And, with the city's subways damaged, getting e...

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:24pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 1.2 million Ohio residents have already voted in the state which is seen as one of the most crucial in deciding the November 6 presidential election. The Ohio Secretary of State's office said that as of October 26, about 1.26 million voters had cast ballots by mail-in absentee ball...

By Julien Pretot PARIS | Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:24pm EDT PARIS (Reuters) - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga started his quest for an ATP World Tour final spot with a 6-2 4-6 7-6 second-round victory over fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau at the Paris Masters on Tuesday. The sixth seeded Tsonga will claim one of the two remaining spots for next month's season-endin...

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:13pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama canceled campaign appearances in Ohio on Wednesday and scheduled a trip to New Jersey instead to survey damage caused by powerful storm Sandy, a move designed to portray him as a strong leader a week before Election Day. Obama, who is in a close r...

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:11pm EDT CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - In the first inventory of minerals on another planet, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity found soil that bears a striking resemblance to weathered, volcanic sand in Hawaii, scientists said on Tuesday. The rover uses an X-ray imager to reveal the atom...

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:11pm EDT CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - In the first inventory of minerals on another planet, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity found soil that bears a striking resemblance to weathered, volcanic sand in Hawaii, scientists said on Tuesday. The rover uses an X-ray imager to reveal the atom...

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:29pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Early voting in Maryland, which was halted for two days because of Hurricane Sandy, will resume on Wednesday and be extended for one day, the governor said on Tuesday. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who had canceled early voting on Monday and Tuesday, said it would now be extended throug...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:24pm EDT (Reuters) - BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc said it would withdraw an application to test its experimental hepatitis C drug in humans after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expressed concern about its safety. The FDA had concerns about the preclinical toxicity profile of the drug candidate, BCX5191, the company said.The drug belongs ...

By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:12pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - No one's calling it a "campaign" event. But it will surely dominate the presidential campaign on Wednesday when Democratic President Barack Obama and New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie inspect storm damage in the hard hit coastal state - together. Had Oba...

By David Ingram WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:04pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When someone dared to ask Chris Christie how Superstorm Sandy would influence next week's U.S. elections, the New Jersey governor displayed the confrontation-loving, hard-charging style that has made him a rising national figure. "I don't give a damn about Election Da...

By Steve Holland KETTERING, Ohio | Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:03pm EDT KETTERING, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, blown off the campaign trail by Hurricane Sandy, drew a fine line between politicking and storm relief on Tuesday as the weather cast an unpredictable pall over the race with just a week to go until Election Da...

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY | Tue Oct 30, 2012 5:49pm EDT VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - If anyone thinks the Vatican newspaper is still a staid broadsheet that publishes only religious news and harsh papal edicts, consider this: On Tuesday it ran not one but five articles about the new James Bond film. "Skyfall" gets a rave review in l'Osservatore...

By Ernest Scheyder and Deepa Seetharaman Tue Oct 30, 2012 5:43pm EDT (Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co (DOW.N) will take a fourth-quarter charge of up to $1.1 billion related to last week's announcement it will close 20 plants, write down the value of its lithium ion battery business and lay off thousands of workers. Dow, the largest U.S. chemical maker, said t...

By Steve Holland KETTERING, Ohio | Tue Oct 30, 2012 5:24pm EDT KETTERING, Ohio (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney on Tuesday briefly put aside their fierce battle for the White House, as they avoided politics to focus on relief efforts after mammoth storm Sandy left millions of Americans struggling to recover. With a we...

By Dhanya Skariachan NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:45pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - At one New York hospital where backup generators failed, staff carried premature babies down more than a dozen flights of stairs in one of the more dramatic moments for healthcare workers during powerful storm Sandy. Record flooding and power outages across the north...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:16pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who imbibe sugary soft drinks almost every day are 83 percent more likely to have a certain type of stroke than women who rarely drink sodas and other sweetened beverages, according to a new study from Japan. Although the findings don't prove that sweet drinks...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:15pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Smokers miss an average of two or three more days of work each year than non-smokers, according to a new analysis of 29 past studies. Based on that finding, absenteeism due to smoking cost the UK alone 1.4 billion pounds - or $2.25 billion - last year, researche...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:08pm EDT (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co said it agreed to buy film maker George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd for $4.05 billion. Disney will pay about half in cash and issue about 40 million shares at closing for the acquisition of the film studio known for the iconic "Star Wars" movies.(Reporting by Himank Sharma in...

By Sinead Carew NEW YORK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:55pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Power outages and flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy disrupted telecommunications services in Northeastern states on Tuesday, resulting in spotty coverage for cellphones, television, home telephones and Internet services. While all the region's telecom service providers w...

By Lidia Kelly MOSCOW | Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:50pm EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Relatives of Josef Stalin's victims commemorated the Soviet dictator's repression on Tuesday and many condemned Russia's leaders for not taking part. Millions of people were executed or sent to prison camps under Stalin's rule ...

By Rod Nickel Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:41pm EDT (Reuters) - More than 100,000 Canadians were still without power on Tuesday after the huge storm Sandy toppled trees and power lines in Canada's most populous provinces, killed one person, and halted units at an Ontario refinery. But Canada was far from the center of the storm and the impact was tiny compared to t...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:31pm EDT (Reuters) - The exit of Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) longtime mobile software products chief may be a surprise, but a band of able executives led by Tim Cook and a bigger role for design boss Jonathan Ive meant the company was in good hands, analysts said on Tuesday. Ive, Apple's celebrated industrial design chief will now look into both hardw...

Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:28pm EDT (Reuters) - The Indiana Pacers will launch their regular season on Wednesday without their top scorer, former All-Star forward Danny Granger, who has been sidelined "indefinitely" because of a sore left knee. Granger, who averaged a team-high 18.7 points per game last season, was consulting with doctors on Tuesday to get a second opini...

By Robert Evans GENEVA | Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:12pm EDT GENEVA (Reuters) - Pakistan, plagued by Islamists militancy, sectarian violence and frequent disasters that push its people deeper into poverty, told the United Nations on Tuesday it is a democratic and progressive state working to protect human rights. But Western countries and the normally an...

By Ghaith Shennib and Marie-Louise Gumuchian TRIPOLI | Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:04pm EDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Protesters stormed Libya's national assembly on Tuesday, forcing the cancellation of a vote on a proposed coalition government named by the country's new prime minister just hours earlier. Fewer than 100 people, made up of civilians and former r...