By Nick Carey and Bernie Woodall LANSING, Michigan | Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:29am EST LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - As a trained aerospace engineer, Patrick Colbeck applied his penchant for data analysis and "systematic approach" to his new job in early 2011: a Michigan state senator, recently elected and keen to create jobs in the faded industrial po...

Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:09am EST (Reuters) - Google's navigation tool has returned to the iPhone, months after Apple's home-grown mapping service flopped, prompting user complaints, the firing of an executive and a public apology from Apple's CEO. The Google Maps app will be compatible with any iPhone or iPod Touch that runs iOS 5.1 or higher, the company said in a bl...

Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:35am EST (Reuters) - Network equipment maker Ciena Corp's fourth-quarter results missed analysts' estimates as revenue from the packet optical-transport and packet-optical switching businesses fell. Network gear makers have been hit over the past few quarters as telecom service providers, their biggest customers, cut spending and delayed purcha...

LONDON | Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:29am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO) said on Thursday it wanted to play a role administrating overhauled interbank lending rates after British regulators told the news and information company it was not part of a global probe into rate fixing. "The FSA (Financial Services Authority) and Bank of England have sai...

DUBAI | Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:27am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog were in Tehran on Thursday for talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program, but there was no sign they would gain access to the Parchin military complex as requested. The Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) said "no plans were announced yet for inspectors to vis...

By Francesca Landini MILAN | Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:23am EST MILAN (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's potent bond-buying scheme allowed Italy and Spain to complete their challenging 2012 debt funding requirements through successful auctions on Thursday. The ECB's pledge in September to buy unlimited quantities of short-term government bonds of v...

Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:15am EST (Reuters) - Anti-doping will be one of four discussion topics for the International Cycling Union's (UCI) stakeholder consultation to be launched next year, the sport's governing body said on Thursday. The consultation, announced following the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, will look at the future of cycling. Globalization, riders and...

HONG KONG | Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:48am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (FIH), the world's biggest contract maker of cellphones, has replaced its chairman just months after appointing a new CEO at the loss-making company. FIH has seen its shares and financial results languish over the past few years as key clients such as Nokia O...

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS | Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:34am EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union regulators ended an antitrust probe into e-book prices on Thursday, accepting an offer by Apple and four publishers to ease pricing restrictions on Amazon and other retailers. The decision hands online retailer Amazon a victory in its attempt to sell e-book...

By Kiyoshi Takenaka TOKYO | Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:32am EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan scrambled fighter jets on Thursday after a Chinese government plane entered what Japan considers its airspace over disputed islets in the East China Sea, escalating tension between Asia's two biggest economies. Japan protested to China over the incident but China brus...

By Euan Rocha TORONTO | Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:10am EST TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion said a U.S. federal agency, which recently outlined plans to move away from BlackBerry in favor of Apple Inc's iPhone, is now set to begin testing RIM's new BlackBerry 10 platform and devices. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), will ...

STOCKHOLM | Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:08am EST STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish Ice Hockey Association has cleared the deck for more players from north America in its clubs by deciding to scrap a rule that limits teams to two non-EU players. "There has been a desire from clubs to avoid having to limit themselves only to the European market," association chairm...

By Kim Dixon and David Lawder WASHINGTON | Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:44am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sharp differences remained on Wednesday between congressional Republicans and the White House in talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" of steep tax hikes and budget cuts, and negotiators warned the showdown could drag on past Christmas. A Wall Street Journal...

BERLIN | Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:40am EST BERLIN (Reuters) - A leading member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition accused Britain on Thursday of adopting an uncooperative attitude towards the European Union that could cause a "disintegration" of the bloc. Rainer Bruederle, parliamentary leader of the Free Democrats (FDP) who share power with Merkel...

By Christine Kearney and Edith Honan NEW YORK | Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:35am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and the Rolling Stones joined with actors and comedians in headlining a benefit concert on Wednesday for victims of Superstorm Sandy, which six weeks ago devastated scores of communities along the coastline of the U.S. ...

SHANGHAI | Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:18am EST SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has launched a Kindle store for China, the company said on Thursday, selling Chinese electronic books for the mobile Kindle application, in a move that could soon see the device launched in China. The launch of the store could pave the way for a roll-out of Amazon's Kindle device ...

Thu Dec 13, 2012 5:00am EST (Reuters) - An emotional Daniel Popovic fired a sizzling eight-under-par 64 to grab a two-shot opening round lead at the Australian PGA Championship on Thursday after Greg Norman withdrew due to a bout of food poisoning. Popovic, who won the 2012 Australasian PGA qualifying school, flirted with the course record of 62 at the Palmer Coo...

By Ben Hirschler LONDON | Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:30am EST LONDON (Reuters) - An experimental rheumatoid arthritis drug from AstraZeneca proved inferior to Abbott Laboratories' Humira in a clinical study, knocking hopes for one of the few late-stage products in the company's pipeline. The mid-sized study of fostamatinib - which is given as a pill rath...

By Mari Saito TOKYO | Thu Dec 13, 2012 3:05am EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Two years after shifting its focus abroad and millions of dollars in aggressive acquisitions later, Japanese gaming firm DeNA Co Ltd says it's on the verge of turning its first profit in its overseas operations, the company's president told Reuters on Thursday. DeNA's Mobage plat...

Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:41am EST (Reuters) - Mo Williams drained a long-range three-pointer as time expired to give the Utah Jazz a buzzer-beating 99-96 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. Williams had missed a three-pointer seconds earlier but the Jazz corralled an offensive rebound and he got another chance.Williams ran down the clock, pulled u...

By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:12am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a year of knocking on doors and working the phones to get President Barack Obama re-elected, Meechie Biggers had gotten over her fear of talking politics with strangers. So when she came to Washington last week, the small-town real estate agent and a few like-m...

Thu Dec 13, 2012 12:10am EST (Reuters) - South Korean closer Lim Chang-yong is set to sign a deal with Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, though the sidearm pitcher is unlikely to be able to take the mound again until late next season. The 36-year-old righthander, who had elbow surgery earlier this year, told reporters at Incheon Airport on Thursday he had lon...

WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:20pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify on December 20 before the House of Representatives and Senate foreign affairs committees on a report on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, the committees said on Wednesday. The attack on September 11 killed U.S. ...

By Steve Keating TORONTO | Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:02pm EST TORONTO (Reuters) - The snow has just started to fall in the National Basketball Association's most northern outpost and all signs are pointing to a long, bitter winter for the Toronto Raptors. A 94-88 loss to the Brooklyn Nets sent the nose-diving Raptors to their sixth straight defeat and ...

By Mary Slosson SACRAMENTO | Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:15pm EST SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown is undergoing treatment for early-stage prostate cancer with an excellent prognosis for recovery, and the 74-year-old Democrat is expected to keep up a full work schedule, his office said on Wednesday. "Fortunately, this is early-stage...

LONDON | Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:08pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - There is little evidence to back the use of a cannabis extract spray made by GW Pharmaceuticals for spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis, according to a medical journal review published on Thursday. GW Pharma said the report in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB), a British Medical J...

By Scott Malone and David Ingram BOSTON/WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:11pm EST BOSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday that U.S. election officials should register eligible voters automatically and take steps to reduce the long lines Americans encountered in national elections on November 6. In a speech in Bos...

By David Lawder WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:59pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats are moving quickly to push through the Obama administration's full request for $60.4 billion in emergency aid for Superstorm Sandy, but a growing number of Republicans are arguing for a smaller initial amount. The Senate Appropriations Committee relea...

Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:36pm EST (Reuters) - National Hockey League owners and players returned to the bargaining table on Wednesday in a late push to salvage a scaled down season but the two sides appear no closer to reaching a deal. After negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) collapsed last Thursday amid angry rhetoric, talks resumed at a secre...

WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:52pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who came tantalizingly close to winning the Democratic presidential nomination four years ago, played down the notion she would run again for the White House in 2016 in comments aired on Wednesday. Clinton for the past four years has served a...

By Peter Rudegeair NEW YORK | Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:50pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - What began two years ago as an attempt to document on video one day's events all over the world has evolved into a network of tens of thousands of filmmakers able to provide a glimpse into experiences of people living in war zones, closed societies and otherwise inacce...

By Leila Abboud and Alistair Barr PARIS/PALO ALTO, Calif | Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:33pm EST PARIS/PALO ALTO, Calif (Reuters) - Apple's stock may be sliding as investors fret about growing competition, but store visits and interviews with smartphone and tablet shoppers in 10 cities around the world suggest consumers share little of that negativity. Wit...

Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:50pm EST (Reuters) - New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees criticized National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday for his handling of the investigation into the team's cash-for-hits program. The former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player felt Goodell lost credibility with NFL players and fans for doling out suspension...

By Irene Klotz Wed Dec 12, 2012 6:09pm EST (Reuters) - A large asteroid that flies in nearly the same orbit as Earth will make a close pass by the planet, but there's no chance of an impact - at least for hundreds of years, astronomers said on Wednesday. The asteroid, named Toutatis, flies by Earth every four years. During its closest approach on Wednesda...

Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:56pm EST (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc said it would buy Canada's YM BioSciences Inc for about $510 million in cash, getting access to a second experimental drug to treat a rare blood and immune cell disorder. Gilead shares closed down 0.14 percent at $76.23 on the Nasdaq, while YM's U.S.-listed shares closed up 77 percent at $2.88, just unde...

By Irene Klotz Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:47pm EST CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., December 12 - Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found seven galaxies that formed relatively shortly after the universe's birth some 13.7 billion years ago, scientists said on Wednesday, describing them "as baby pictures of the universe." One of the objects may be the oldest g...

PARIS | Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:01pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - Jamaica sprinter Usain Bolt, who retained his three Olympic titles at the London Games, was named sportsman of the year by French daily L'Equipe on Wednesday while American tennis player Serena Williams took the women's prize. Bolt had already received the main French sports award in 2008, after he wo...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:57pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Dying cancer patients are less likely to want aggressive end-of-life care if they watch a short video about CPR than if they simply hear about it, according to a new study. "These are huge differences. You will die very differently if you watch the video than i...

LOS ANGELES | Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:42pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The father of "Modern Family" star Ariel Winter was given temporary control over the teenage actress' estate on Wednesday in a court-approved settlement in Los Angeles after allegations that her mother had abused her. Winter, 14, who plays the brainy and precocious teenager Alex Dunphy on ...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Wed Dec 12, 2012 3:04pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients who go through a mind-body educational course are better able to manage irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to a new study. The benefits of the course were modest, about as large as what are typically seen from taking medications, said Dr. Emeran Maye...