LONDON (Reuters) – Deserting debt-laden, recession-racked North Atlantic and Japan for the fast-growing emerging market world may have been irresistible for some investors but many others still remain timid. Why? It may be a case of “hard power” versus “soft power”. If investment decisions hinged solely on the former – measured by raw data such as economic output, population size and military spending – then convergence between rich and developing nation blocs is nigh on complete. …
Chinese fund Inventis advocates indirect route to North American energy
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Inventis Investment Holdings (China) Ltd, one of China’s oldest private equity firms, hopes it can succeed where the country’s state-owned giants have failed in buying stakes in North American energy companies, the company’s CEO told Reuters. Bids by Chinese state firms have provoked political firestorms in the United States and Canada where lawmakers fear losing control of resources to state-run foreign firms. Notable cases include CNOOC’s failed 2005 bid for Unocal and more recently CNOOC’s $15 billion bid for Canada’s Nexen Inc . …
George Hill hits last-second shot over Howard, and Pacers withstand Kobe's 40 for 79-77 win
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – George Hill’s high-arching shot over Dwight Howard went in with 0.1 seconds left, and the Indiana Pacers withstood Kobe Bryant’s 40-point performance and the Lakers’ last-minute rally for a 79-77 victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
FACTBOX-Cricket-Australia v South Africa third test
Nov 28 (Reuters) – Factbox on the third test between Australia and South Africa, which begins on Friday: – - WHERE? WACA, Perth Capacity: 20,000 (24,500 with temporary seating) – - WHEN? Nov. 30-Dec. 4. Play starts at 1030am local time (0230 GMT) – - AUSTRALIA (World ranking: third) (From) Michael Clarke (captain), Shane Watson, David Warner, Ed Cowan, Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, Matthew Wade, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Johnson. …
French court to rule on dropping pimping charges against ex-IMF chief who denies allegations
PARIS – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief who has successfully fought a handful of accusations linked to his “libertine” lifestyle, will be learning whether charges for aggravated pimping will be dropped.
Dubai back in mega-project mood after fiscal dive
Dubai is suddenly rediscovering its old habits.
China considers easing family planning rules
BEIJING (Reuters) – China is mulling changes to its one-child policy, a former family planning official said, with government advisory bodies drafting proposals in the face of a rapidly ageing society in the world’s most populous nation. Proposed changes would allow for urban couples to have a second child, even if one of the parents is themselves not an only child, the China Daily cited Zhang Weiqing, the former head of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, as saying on Wednesday. …
The biggest struggle yet for Citi's repairman
(Reuters) – When Citigroup Inc's board of directors was looking for a chief executive in 2007, it called Michael O'Neill, who had turned around Bank of Hawaii Corp a few years before. O'Neill spoke to a Citig roup board member on the telephone, but the board was reluctant to consider O'Neill seriously because he had never run a bank of Citigroup's size or complexity, according to a person familiar with the situation. Five years later, O'Neill, 66, is effectively running Citigroup, which is more than 130 times bigger than Bank of Hawaii was last decade, as measured by assets. … Analysis: U.S. pilots vote on deals, other airline staff agitate
(Reuters) – Pilots at United Airlines and American Airlines are due to vote in coming weeks on new labor contracts that in some cases offer the first significant raises in almost a decade. The pay gains reflect better financial times at airlines, and partially offset years of concessions the pilots made as airlines went through bankruptcies and endured huge losses. But other groups of workers at U.S. airlines are not being treated as generously. … Greece, markets satisfied by EU-IMF Greek debt deal
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The Greek government and financial markets were cheered on Tuesday by an agreement between euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund to reduce Greece's debt, paving the way for the release of urgently needed aid loans. The deal, clinched at the third attempt after weeks of wrangling, removes the biggest risk of a sovereign default in the euro zone for now, ensuring the near-bankrupt country will stay afloat at least until after a 2013 German general election. … In communist Cuba, the tax man cometh
HAVANA (Reuters) – Most Cubans have not paid taxes for half a century, but that will change under a new code starting January 1. The landmark regulations will change the relations of Cubans with their government and are a signal that market-oriented reforms, launched since President Raul Castro succeeded his brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008, are here to stay. The recently published code constitutes the first comprehensive taxation in Cuba since the 1959 revolution abolished just about all taxes. …
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares ended a seven-day winning streak on Wednesday and commodities eased as investors fretted that lack of progress in talks on U.S. budget woes risked putting the world's largest economy into recession. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent, retreating from Tuesday's nearly three-week highs, with materials and energy sectors leading the declines. Shares in resource-reliant Australian dropped 0.4 percent, easing from two-week highs, dragged lower by top miners on weaker gold and oil prices. … 
TORONTO/BERLIN (Reuters) – Deep divisions at the Federal Reserve were on display on Tuesday, just two weeks before the U.S. central bank's next policy-setting meeting, with one top Fed official pushing for more easing, and another advoca ting limits. The divide underscores the hurdles Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke faces as he tries to win consensus among his fellow policymakers on the central bank's sometimes controversial efforts to bring down the nation's lofty unemployment rate, which registered 7.9 percent last month. … 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For the past four years, Elisse Walter stood out at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for her deep loyalty to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. Now the veteran regulator and SEC commissioner – one of two Democrats on the SEC & #8211; is moving to the fore at the powerful agency, taking over the chairmanship after Schapiro steps down next month. The promotion is prompting regulatory watchers to talk about whether Walter will blaze her own path. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The bakers' union of Hostess Brands Inc asked the judge overseeing the company's bankruptcy on Tuesday to appoint a Chapter 11 trustee to ensure an orderly wind-down. In a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., lawyers for the union and a related pension fund said they objected to allowing "incumbent management" to supervise the company's liquidation. … 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration said on Tuesday that China's currency remained "significant ly undervalued," but stopped short of labeling the world's second-biggest economy a currency manipulator. Although Beijing controls the pace at which the yuan can rise, the U.S. Treasury said in a congressionally mandated semi-annual report that China did not meet the legal requirements to be deemed a currency manipulator. The label is largely symbolic, but would require Washington to open discussions with Beijing on adjusting the yuan's value. It has been 18 years since the U.S. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – The Mayor of London Boris Johnson on Tuesday described France's Socialist government as left-wing revolutionaries that were driving investors away in a dispute with steelmaker ArcelorMittal. The Conservative mayor mocked the French government as 'sans-culottes,' a radical left-wing class during the French Revolution of 1789, while adding that British capital would welcome business fleeing from France. … 
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand's capital city was taken over by pointy-eared, costumed Hobbit fans on Wednesday, many of whom camped overnight to grab the best spots for the red carpet world premiere of the film later in the day. Wellington, where director Peter Jackson and much of the post production is based, has renamed itself "the Middle of Middle Earth", and fans with prominent Hobbit ears, medieval style costumes, grey beards, wigs, and wizard hats claimed spaces along the 500 meter (550 yards) red carpet. … 
OTTAWA (Reuters) – With deadlines fast approaching, Canada is still weighing two proposed foreign takeovers of domestic energy companies, but a top minister o ffered no clues on Tuesday as to when or how the government would announce the hotly debated decisions. The government says it will unveil new policy guidelines on foreign investment at about the same time it announces verdicts on the proposed takeovers: A bid by China's CNOOC Ltd for Nexen Inc and a bid by Malaysia's Petronas for Progress Energy Resources Corp. … 
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank's compliance chief Stephan Leithner and former board member Hugo Baenziger face skeptical German la wmakers on Wednesday as parliamentarians seek answers about how banks manipulated global benchmark interest rates. … 
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp U.S. executive Jim Lentz said consumers purchasing new vehicles to replace those lost during Superstorm Sandy will mean strong Nove mber U.S. auto sales. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, November U.S. sales will be between 14.8 million and 15.2 million new vehicles, said Lentz, president and chief executive of Toyota Motor Sales, USA. … 
Discovered: Mothers living near freeways more likely to have autistic kids; siblings that get along turn out healthier; high fructose corn syrup linked to diabetes; st range ancient life in Antarctic ice. 
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – A call in the Hungarian parliament for Jews to be registered on lists as threats to national security sparked intern ational condemnation of Nazi-style policies and a protest outside the legislature in Budapest on Tuesday. The lawmaker, from the far-right Jobbik party, dismissed demands he resign, however, and said his remarks during a debate on Monday had been misunderstood – he was, Marton Gyongyosi said, referring only to Hungarians with Israeli passports. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A group of retailers on Tuesday appealed a court order preliminarily approving a $7.2 billion settlement between Visa Inc, Mastercard Inc and me rchants over credit card fees, saying it violated their rights by preventing them from opting out of the pact. U.S. District Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn federal court gave the settlement his initial stamp of approval earlier this month. If the deal receives final approval, it would be the largest federal antitrust settlement in U.S. history, offering nearly 8 million merchants $7. … 
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest has dropped to its lowest level in 24 years, the government said Tuesday. 
Naming the first foreigner to serve as governor of the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694 might have been expected to cause a fuss. Yet the appointment of Canadian Mark Carney has won bipartisan praise in Britain. 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will raise concerns with China over a new map in Chinese passports which details claims to disputed maritime territory, alarming some of its Southeast Asian neighbors, the State Department said on Tuesday. "We do have concerns about this map which is causing tension a nd anxiety between and among the states in the South China Sea," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing. "We do intend to raise this with the Chinese in terms of it not being helpful to the environment we all seek to resolve these issues. … 
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union countries and the bloc's parliament agreed on Tuesday to introduce limited controls on credit ratings agencies after their judgment was called into question in the debt crisis. Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of regulation who helped broker a deal on the new law, said it aimed to reduce the over-reliance on ratings and establish a civil liability regime. The new rules should make it easier to sue the agencies if they are judged to have made errors when, for example, ranking the creditworthiness of debt. … 
PARIS (Reuters) – Ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy sought on Tuesday to broker a truce between the two men locked in a leadership dispute that could break up France's right-wing opposition party j ust months after it lost power. Nine days after a disputed internal leadership election that plunged his UMP party into crisis, the two politicians fighting to become leader agreed to hold a new election, but only if the re-run was endorsed first in a referendum among UMP members. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Over the past seven years, Stifel Financial Corp Chief Executive Ronald Kruszewski has impressed Wall S treet with a series of acquisitions that quintupled the regional brokerage's revenue and rewarded shareholders with a nearly four-fold increase in returns over the last five years. Still, some investors view Kruszewski's latest deal, to buy money-losing investment bank KBW Inc , as a much riskier proposition. … 
Mexican soldiers say beauty queen Maria Susana Flores Gamez had a gun in her hands when she was killed in a hail of gunfire over the weekend. 
Insurgents launched attacks against security forces and civilians in central and northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens, officials said. 
Syrian warplanes bombed an olive oil factory packed with farmers Tuesday, killing at least 20 people in the latest regime strike to rip through a crowd of civilians, activists said. 
Workers have raised the first section of a colossal arch-shaped structure that eventually will cover the exploded nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power station. 
Though it's tricky to link a single weather event to climate change, Hurricane Sandy was "probably not a coincidence" but an example of the extreme weather events that are likely to strike the U.S. more often as the world gets warmer, the U.N. climate panel's No. 2 scientist said Tuesday. 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appeared to be cruising to re-election a few weeks ago, suddenly appears vulnerable as the country prepares to go to the polls in January. 
Not even the Vatican is immune from the economic crisis. 
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Marvin Miller, the soft-spoken union head who led baseball players in a series of strikes and legal battles that won free agency, revolutionized sports and turned athletes into multimillionaires, died Tuesday. He was 95. 
LONDON (Reuters) – When Canadian Mark Carney becomes Bank of England chief next year, he won't only be swapping a vast, sparsely populated, resource-rich country for a small, crowded island on the edge of a European continent in crisis. The outgoing Bank of Canada governor will leave behind an economy which weathered the global financial crisis quite well and is now achieving respectable growth, at least by Europe's dismal standards. … 
The notoriously sexy Pirelli calendar has come to famously sexy Rio de Janeiro and the result is a demure 2013 edition with not a nude in sight.