By John McCrank and Caroline Humer NEW YORK | Sun Oct 28, 2012 6:09pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock exchanges and Wall Street banks sent crucial employees into Manhattan to stay in hotels and coworkers' homes, preparing to open for business on Monday with at least skeletal staff as Hurricane Sandy threatened to halt mass transit. NYSE Euron...

By Alan Wheatley, Global Economics Correspondent LONDON | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:37pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - The last employment report before the U.S. presidential election is likely to have something for everyone - for those bullish and bearish on the economy and for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Non-farm payrolls in October are forecast to have ri...

By Olzhas Auyezov and Pavel Polityuk KIEV | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:24pm EDT KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's pro-business party seemed likely to hold on to a majority in parliament after an election on Sunday, but it will face a revitalized opposition boosted by a resurgent nationalist party, exit polls showed. Leaders of the ...

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:30pm EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian jets bombarded Sunni Muslim regions in Damascus and around the country on Sunday, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad kept up air strikes against rebels despite a U.N.-brokered truce that now appears to be in tatters. The Local Coordination Committees act...

By Norihiko Shirouzu BEIJING | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:22pm EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - The roots of Toyota Motor Corp's China troubles run far deeper than the anti-Japan protests that have swept the country, stretching back to the 2008 launch of the Yaris subcompact -- a spectacular flop with price-conscious Chinese buyers. The car, a success elsewhere, ...

By Scott Malone Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:15pm EDT (Reuters) - Demand for corporate jets has begun to recover from a post-recession low and is likely to rise over the next decade, with $250 billion worth of new aircraft delivered by 2022, according to a forecast by Honeywell International Inc (HON.N). The forecast projects that companies will increasingly choose...

By Prashant Mehra ANGUL, India | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:14pm EDT ANGUL, India (Reuters) - A few hundred meters from the high walls and barbed wire guarding billionaire Naveen Jindal's upcoming steel plant, a dozen men have gathered at a tea stall. Their plan for this and every day: disrupt any attempt by Jindal's company to lay a water pipeline. The ...

By David Chance and Joyce Lee SEOUL | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:09pm EDT SEOUL (Reuters) - The first payouts from South Korea's state pension fund only started in 2008, but faced with the fastest ageing population among developed nations and one of the lowest birthrates, the country needs to deal with a looming funding crunch. The world's third-largest ...

By Jeremy Wagstaff SINGAPORE | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:07pm EDT SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Amidst our growing love affair with the tablet, spare a thought for its increasingly shelfbound sibling: the e-reader. Take Taiwan's E Ink Holdings Inc, which makes most of the monochrome displays for devices such as Amazon.com Inc's Kindle and Barnes & Noble Inc...

By John Ruwitch and James Pomfret XIANGSHAN/WUKAN, China | Sun Oct 28, 2012 5:01pm EDT XIANGSHAN/WUKAN, China (Reuters) - Hua Youjuan is an unlikely Chinese official. Free-spirited but driven, she left her village at age 17, got a degree in marketing, and opened a string of businesses in nearby cities in eastern China before settling in the coast...

LOS ANGELES | Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:46pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Acclaimed Iran hostage thriller "Argo" brought home its first box-office win over a quiet weekend, leading movie charts with $12.4 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales as would-be moviegoers hunkered down for Hurricane Sandy. The tally for "Argo," directed by and starring Ben Affleck,...

ATHENS | Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:44pm EDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's foreign lenders have refused to make any further concessions on changes to labour laws contested by a junior coalition partner, the country's finance minister said on Sunday, prolonging an impasse on a crucial austerity package. Athens has been locked in talks with its European Union and In...

By Matt Cronin ISTANBUL | Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:41pm EDT ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Serena Williams' motivating factor in her WTA Championships triumph on Sunday was to save her own sanity, the American said after beating Maria Sharapova in the final of the season-ending tournament. Williams capped off a memorable 2012 on the circuit with a 6-4 6-3 victor...

By Julie Gordon SUDBURY, Ontario | Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:42pm EDT SUDBURY, Ontario (Reuters) - In an office trailer parked outside a mine shaft in northern Ontario, operator Carolyn St-Jean leans back in her chair and monitors a machine loading nickel-rich ore into rail cars deep underground. Once filled, the automated train will snake through a ser...

By Lincoln Feast and James Grubel SYDNEY/CANBERRA | Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:04pm EDT SYDNEY/CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia risks losing an opportunity to become a farmyard for Asia, as growing unease over foreigners buying rural land threatens to provoke protectionist policies that may deter much needed investment in agriculture. With its vast landmas...

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON | Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:39pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. debt-ceiling increase could be headed for a Wall Street-rattling showdown in 2013 if Congress, as expected, shuns a quick and easy fix at the end of this year in favor of another round of last-minute brinkmanship. Regardless of who wins t...

By Alessandra Rizzo LONDON | Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:17pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested convicted sex offender and former pop star Gary Glitter on Sunday as part of an investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, media said. Glitter was released on bail some 10 hours later. But the arrest -...

WASHINGTON | Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:56pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has extended his narrow lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among likely voters in a race that remains statistically tied nine days before the election, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll released on Sunday. Obama has a 49 percent to 46 percent edge ov...

TUNIS | Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:15pm EDT TUNIS (Reuters) - Clashes broke out between alcohol sellers and hardline Salafi Muslims in the Tunisian capital, a security official said on Sunday, wounding a police commander in the latest illustration of religious tensions in the home of the "Arab Spring". Tunisia, whose...

By Nigel Davies MADRID | Sun Oct 28, 2012 12:02pm EDT MADRID (Reuters) - An overwhelming majority in the powerful northeastern region of Catalonia want a referendum on independence, an opinion poll showed on Sunday, highlighting increasing dissatisfaction with Spain's central government as it struggles with economic crisis. Although a referendum ...

KUALA LUMPUR | Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:58am EDT KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two Malaysians, suspected of links to al Qaeda, have been arrested in Lebanon, Malaysia's foreign minister Anifah Aman said on Sunday. Local newspapers said the two were believed to have been trying to make their way to Syria to join the 19-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-A...

KHARTOUM | Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:53am EDT KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Rebels in Sudan's Darfur region said on Sunday they had shelled a state capital, in a rare attack on the government stronghold where international peacekeepers are also based. The government did not immediately comment on the report and the claim could not be immediately independently verified....

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY | Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:45am EDT VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, closing a gathering of bishops who discussed how to win back lapsed and lukewarm Catholics, on Sunday said the Church had to develop new ways of reaching out to those who had drifted from the faith. Benedict, 85, said a solemn Mass in St Peter's...

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:19am EDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian jets bombarded Sunni Muslim regions in Damascus and across the country on Sunday, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad kept up air strikes against rebels despite a U.N.-brokered truce that now appears to be in tatters. "The ceasefire is practically over. ...

By a Reuters Staff Reporter SITTWE, Myanmar | Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:17am EDT SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Muslim survivors of six days of sectarian violence in western Myanmar spoke on Sunday of fleeing bullets and burning homes to escape on fishing boats after an attack by once-peaceable Rakhine neighbors. The United Nations said 22,587 people had ...

SANAA | Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:25am EDT SANAA (Reuters) - At least four men suspected of being al Qaeda members were killed in what a local official said was a U.S. drone strike on Islamist militants in northern Yemen on Sunday. It was a rare attack on al Qaeda-linked targets in northern Yemen, an area dominated by Shi'ite Muslim Houthi rebels battling Yeme...

By Garba Mohammed and Isaac Abrak KADUNA | Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:48am EDT KADUNA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove a jeep packed with explosives into a Catholic church in northern Nigeria on Sunday, killing at least eight people, injuring more than 100 and triggering reprisal attacks that killed at least two more, officials said. The bomber drove r...

By Jon Herskovitz JOHANNESBURG | Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:23am EDT JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma intends to drop a four-year-old lawsuit claiming nearly $600,000 in damages from a cartoonist who depicted him poised to rape "Lady Justice", his office said on Sunday. The Sunday Times, named as a defendant in the case, also s...

By Alessandra Rizzo LONDON | Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:04am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - One-time British pop star Gary Glitter was arrested on Sunday as part of an investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, the BBC said. It was the first arrest to be reported in a scandal that has already damaged the reputation ...

By Andrius Sytas VILNIUS | Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:02am EDT VILNIUS (Reuters) - Centre-left parties in Lithuania were expected to win the second and final round of a parliamentary election on Sunday as voters fed up with austerity went to the polls in a contest dominated by public anger over years of tough spending cuts. Economists said the Baltic nat...

SHANGHAI | Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:26am EDT SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Sweden's Peter Hanson capitalized on the early errors of playing partner Rory McIlroy to hold on for a one-shot victory over the world number one at the BMW Masters on Sunday Overnight leader Hanson posted a final round 67 for a 21-under-par total on the Lake Malaren course to capture his second...

BERLIN | Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:59am EDT BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's SAP may be able to sustain high sales from software and related services for a "very long time," co-chief executive Bill McDermott told a German newspaper. "It's our ambition to grow with double-digit numbers for a very long time to come," Euro am Sonntag quoted McDermott as saying in an i...

By Alan Baldwin GREATER NOIDA, India | Sun Oct 28, 2012 7:42am EDT GREATER NOIDA, India (Reuters) - Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won the Indian Grand Prix on Sunday and stretched his Formula One championship lead over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was a battling second, to 13 points with three races remaining. The victory from pole position was t...

By Patrick Johnston KUALA LUMPUR | Sun Oct 28, 2012 6:16am EDT KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - American Nick Watney fired a course-record 10-under-par 61 to overhaul compatriot Bo Van Pelt and win the $6.1 million CIMB Classic on Sunday after a brave run by Tiger Woods again fell short on the back nine. Watney started the day four back of overnight lead...

By Ian Ransom PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia | Sun Oct 28, 2012 6:14am EDT PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia (Reuters) - Retiring MotoGP champion Casey Stoner completed a fairytale farewell at Phillip Island by extending his record to six consecutive victories Down Under on Sunday but deflated home fans holding out hope of a comeback further down the road. "I...

By Alan Baldwin GREATER NOIDA, India | Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:46am EDT GREATER NOIDA, India (Reuters) - The French Grand Prix could be back on the calendar next year for the first time since 2008, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Sunday. Speaking to reporters on his 82nd birthday at the Indian Grand Prix, the Briton suggested France coul...

Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:39am EDT (Reuters) - Two-times NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady has denied money was a factor in his decision to join the Qingdao Eagles in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). "I played 15 years in the NBA," the CBA's highest-profile import told the China Daily newspaper. "I made a lot of money. No, money has nothing to do with it."McGr...

By Jeffrey Hodgson Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:38am EDT (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 hit Canada's Pacific coastal province of British Columbia late Saturday, setting off a small tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey said an earthquake with a 7.7 magnitude had hit ...

GAZA | Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:30am EDT GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed a Hamas gunman it accused of preparing to fire a rocket from the Gaza Strip on Sunday and a separate Palestinian salvo struck a southern Israeli city, causing no damage. The incidents followed a three-day lull since an upsurge in violence last week in which Israel killed at least four Gaza...

By Steve Ginsburg DETROIT | Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:01am EDT DETROIT (Reuters) - The San Francisco Giants rode another virtuoso pitching performance to blank the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Saturday and move within one victory of their second World Series title in three years. San Francisco have a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series and can clai...