SYDNEY – A psychiatrist has told a Sydney court that an Australian investment banker was in a psychotic state when he entered a mansion and chained a fake bomb to a teenager’s neck.
Chinese think tank urges end to one-child policy
A Chinese government think tank is urging the country's leaders to start phasing out its one-child policy immediately and allow two children for every family by 2015, a daring proposal to do away with the unpopular policy. Afghan presidential election set for April 2014
Afghanistan's Election Com mission says the country's next presidential election will be held on April 5, 2014, in a vote that is seen as crucial for the future of the war-ravaged country. Barclays says new U.S. probes, profit hit by PPI
LONDON (Reuters) – Barclays unveiled two new U.S. regulatory probes on Wednesday as the bank, already rocked by an interest rate rigging scandal, said profits fell by a fifth due to charges for the mis-selling of insurance. Barclays said the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were investigating whether its relationships with third parties who help it win or retain business are compliant with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is also being investigated for past power trading in the western United States. … Utility GDF Suez revenues up 8.4 percent this year
Franco-Belgian utility GDF Suez reported Wednesday that its revenues were up 8.4 percent this year so far, driven in part by weather conditions in France and a state decision that will allow the company to recoup money lost in a government-mandated freeze on natural gas prices.
Peavy, White Sox agree to $29 million, 2-year deal; Dodgers give League $22.5 million
Pitcher Jake Peavy and the Chicago White Sox agreed Tuesday to a $29 million, two-year contract. Rugby-Williams surgery puts Japan future and fight in doubt
SYDNEY, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Boxing All Black Sonny Bill Williams said he had surgery on a pectoral injury on Wednesday, which looks likely to delay his return to his Japanese club and force the postponement of his next fight. “Just spoke to the doctor operation went well, Thanks for the support I’ve truly been blessed,” the 27-year-old tweeted to his followers. Williams injured his shoulder and chest while playing for Japanese Top League club Panasonic Wild Knights at the weekend. New Zealand’s heavyweight boxing champion flew to Sydney on Tuesday to prepare for his Nov. …
Hong Kong named top financial center for second year
LONDON (Reuters) – Hong Kong was named the world's top financial center for the second year running by the World Economic Forum (WEF), thanks to the strength o f its business environment, infrastructure and a favorable tax regime. The WEF's annual Financial Development Report considered a wide range of factors and underscored the rise of Asian trading centers and the influence of China as the world's second-largest economy. Rival surveys based purely on the total value of transactions typically put New York or London in top place. … Analysis: Investment sponges for a growth-saturated world
LONDON (Reuters) – When paltry growth, systemic risk and resource scarcity are darkening the global horizon, investors must hunt shrewdly to find stocks resilient enough to ride out the storm. Far from being cathartic, the past five years of credit crisis and the subsequent slow, painful debt paydown has merely nudged the world economy deeper into the dangers posed by dramatic population growth, aging in rich economies and shortages of natural resources and capital. …
South Dakota executes man for 1990 rape, killing of 9-year-old girl
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A South Dakota inmate was executed Tuesday night for the 1990 rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl who disappeared after leaving her home to buy sugar at a nearby store so she could make lemonade.
Australian mining magnate loses bid to throw children's lawsuit out of court
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart lost a court bid on Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit brought by three of her children over control of a $4 billion family trust. Justice Paul Brereton of the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that the case should go to a full trial at a date yet to be determined. Rinehart’s three eldest children are seeking to remove her as the sole trustee of the trust that holds an almost one-quarter share in Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd, one of the world’s largest privately-owned mining companies. …
Schools closed, thousands move to higher ground as cyclone roars toward southern India
NEW DELHI – Authorities in southern India say thousands of people have moved to higher ground and schools and colleges have closed as a cyclone roared in the Bay of Bengal toward coastal areas.
Afghanistan presidential election set for April 2014
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan will hold its next presidential election on April 5, 2014, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday. President Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a th ird term, had denied speculation that security problems and the exit of foreign troops that year would delay the poll. The credibility of the vote will be vital to the security and stability of Afghanistan after the final foreign combat troops have left by the end of 2014. Karzai's re-election in 2009 was blighted by allegations of fraud. … British October consumer morale drops to lowest in six months - GfK
LONDON (Reuters) – British consumer confidence fell to its lowest in six months in October, highlighting the fragility o f Britain's recovery from recession, a survey by researchers GfK NOP showed on Wednesday. The poll's headline index dipped to -30, the lowest since April when the country was in the middle of an economic slump. Analysts had forecast a steady reading of -28. The latest figure contrasts with the official end of recession between July and September, when the economy grew 1 percent, partly helped by the London Olympics. … Shikoku Electric skips profit forecast due to nuclear shutdown
TOKYO (Reuters) – Shikoku Electric Power Co said on Wednesday it will skip issuing a profit forecast for the 12 months to March 31 due to uncertainty over when it can restart its Ikata nuclear plant. All but two of Japan’s 50 nuclear reactors have been idled for safety checks and upgrades after the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, the world’s worst since Chernobyl in 1986. Shikoku Electric said it had a loss of 15.01 billion yen ($188.62 million) for the six months to September 30, after spending more on fossil fuels to generate electricity, compared with a profit of 16. …
Ohio teen found guilty of aggravated murder in Craigslist scheme
AKRON, Ohio – A teenager was found guilty of aggravated murder Tuesday for his role in a deadly plot to lure men desperate for work with phoney Craigslist job offers.
News Corp seals $2.1 billion Australia pay-TV deal
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch's News Corp boosted its share of Australia's pay-TV market after shareholders in Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd voted in favor of a A$2 billion ($2.1 billion) takeover offer from New s. The deal will double the stake of News Corp's Australian arm in dominant pay-TV operator Foxtel to 50 percent and give it 100 percent of content provider Fox Sports, increasing its pay-TV exposure at the same time as it cuts costs at its print operations. Consolidated Media said shareholders at a meeting on Wednesday voted 99.9 percent in favor of the takeover. … Myanmar opium output rises despite eradication effort
(Reuters) – Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has risen for the sixth consecutive year despite a state eradi cation campaign, a United Nations report said on Wednesday, throwing doubt on government assertions the problem would be over by 2014. Unprecedented eradication efforts managed to destroy almost 24,000 hectares (59,280 acres) of poppy fields in the 2012 season, running from the autumn 2011 to early summer this year, more than triple the previous year's total. But the U.N. … Yemen LNG gas pipeline blown up again
DUBAI (Reuters) – A gas pipeline feeding Yemen’s only liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal was blown up again on Tuesday night, the operating company said on Wednesday. “Yemen LNG confirms the sabotage of the 38 inch gas pipeline that links the block 18 to the Balhaf terminal on the Gulf of Aden,” said the company, run by France’s Total. “The explosion occurred at 2200 on October 30, 2012 at 295 km north of Balhaf Liquefaction Plant. …
Indigenous vs. multinationals in Mexico wind power
Mexico is putting up wind power turbines at a breakneck pace and the expansion is pitting energy companies against the Indians who live in one of the windiest spots in the world. 
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