Feed: Reuters: Top News - AggScore: 55.3

Assad faces new international pressure after massacre

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AMMAN (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad faces renewed international pressure to end the bloodshed in Syria but, with peace envoy Kofi Annan visiting Damascus, his government blamed Islamist militants for a massacre in which U.N. observers had implicated his army.

Egyptians torch Shafiq headquarters as vote triggers violence

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CAIRO (Reuters) - Demonstrators furious that Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister made it into the run-off for Egypt's presidential election set ablaze his campaign headquarters on Monday, witnesses said, underscoring the divisive outcome of the country's historic vote.

Spanish debt costs spiral as crisis deepens

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MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish 10-year borrowing costs neared the 7 percent danger level and Bankia shares hit record lows on Monday after the government, struggling to sort out its finances, proposed putting sovereign debt into the struggling lender.

Shares ease, Spanish debt costs curb risk appetite

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares and the euro eased on Tuesday, with a relief rally from last week's heavy selling faltering quickly as a surge in Spanish borrowing costs added to simmering worries about Europe's debt restructuring challenges.

Analysis: With or without euro, Europe must raise its game

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LONDON (Reuters) - The opening last week in northeastern Spain of a 37-million-euro stretch of motorway to nowhere is an irresistible metaphor for the euro, an ambitious project conceived in better times that is now seemingly running out of road.

Blair says feared fight with Britain's media barons

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LONDON (Reuters) - British leaders have no choice but to court powerful media barons such as Rupert Murdoch or risk savage press attacks which are "full on, full frontal, day in, day out," former Prime Minister Tony Blair told an inquiry on Monday.

Insight: Hedge funds find ways to trade euro misery

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BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two decades ago, George Soros rose to fame and fortune on his now-historic trade in which he took on the Bank of England and shrewdly wagered on a devaluation of the British pound.

Palestinian rivals begin unity government talks

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GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas began talks to form a unity government on Monday in a renewed bid to heal political rifts, paving the way for a general election.

Vatican says trust in Church hurt by scandal

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican, engulfed in the worst crisis in Pope Benedict's papacy, on Monday denied Italian media reports that cardinals were suspects in an investigation into leaks of sensitive documents that led to the arrest of the pope's butler.

Beryl cuts soggy path across U.S. southeast

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ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beryl cut a soggy path across the U.S. southeast on Monday after swirling ashore in Florida at near hurricane strength.