KABUL (Reuters) – Pakistan will consider freeing the former Afghan Taliban second- -in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, if current releases of lower level insurgents help advance peace efforts, officials from both countries told Reuters on Thursday. “After releasing 13 Taliban, Pakistan promised to free Mullah Baradar if these releases prove effective in peace negotiations,” said a senior Afghan official close to talks between Islamabad and Kabul. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi in KABUL and Mehreen Zahra-Malik in ISLAMABAD; Writing by Michael Georgy)
Canada Libor investigators escalate dispute with RBS
OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian agency investigating whether banks manipulated a key global interest rates accused Royal Bank of Scotland Group on Wednesday of failing to cooperate with its probe and of making misleading statements about it. Escalating a dispute over the Canadian Competition Bureau’s request for internal documents, the Ottawa-based agency said RBS was not cooperating fully, as the bank claimed, with the probe into possible collusion in setting the yen Libor rate. …
Canada home sales dip 0.1 percent in October from September: CREA
TORONTO (Reuters) – Sales of existing homes in Canada fell in October from September and year-over year sales were down as well, the Canadian Real Estate Association said on Thursday in the latest sign Canada's housing market is slowing. The indust ry group for Canadian real estate agents said sales activity was down 0.1 percent in October from September. Actual sales for October, not seasonally adjusted, were down 0.8 percent from a year earlier. CREA's Home Price Index rose 3.6 percent in October, the smallest gain since May 2011. (Reporting by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by James Dalgleish) Tough times loom for buoyant housebuilders
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s housebuilders face a dose of harsh economic reality next year as government steps to kickstart sales falter and strategies to bolster their balance sheets run out of steam. Housebuilders have enjoyed stable sales for 18 months as the government put housing centre-stage in its battle to spark economic growth, with plans like NewBuy and Funding for Lending, and any slump would hit these wider ambitions. …
Superstorm Sandy drives US weekly unemployment aid applications up to 439,000
WASHINGTON – Superstorm Sandy drove the number of people in the U.S. seeking unemployment benefits up to a seasonally adjusted 439,000 last week, the highest level in 18 months.
Canada factory sales climb in September on aerospace orders
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian manufacturing sales grew 0.4 percent in September from August due mainly to a sharp rise in the volatile aerospace sector, with sales falling in the heavyweight auto industry and in most other industries, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast, on average, a 0.3 percent gain in factory sales in the month. Sales rose in just eight of the 21 industries surveyed. Excluding the aerospace product and parts industry, manufacturing sales fell 0.7 percent. In volume terms, overall sales were up 0.4 percent. …
Russia threatens tough response if U.S. back rights bill
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia warned the United States on Thursday to expect a tough response if Congress passes “unfriendly and provocative” legislation designed to punish Russian officials for human rights violations. The Foreign Ministry said U.S.-Russian ties were sure to suffer if lawmakers back a move directing the U.S. government to deny visas to Russian officials involved in the detention, abuse or death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in jail in 2009. “Such a step will unavoidably have a negative effect on the whole range of Russian-U.S. …
Spain agrees aid for poor homeowners in eviction row
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain passed a decree on Thursday to help the most needy families facing eviction during the nation's economic crisis, responding to an outcry over a homeowner who killed herself when bailiffs arrived to throw her out. The government said it would suspend evictions for two years for homeowners including those with small children, the disabled and long-term unemployed who can no longer keep up their mortgage repayments. "This is an emergency response to mitigate the effects of the worst of the economic crisis," Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said. … France: time to review ending arms embargo on Syrian rebels
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