Feed: Yahoo! News: Top Stories - AggScore: 55.4

Annan deputy to brief Security Council by videolink

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GENEVA (Reuters) - Jean-Marie Guehenno, one of international peace mediator Kofi Annan's two deputies, will brief the United Nations Security Council by videolink on Wednesday on the situation in Syria, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Annan, who was holding talks in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, will brief reporters there at 1500 GMT Tuesday, U.N. spokeswoman Corinne Momal-Vanian told a news briefing in Geneva. "He is continuing on a visit to other countries in the region, he will go to number of countries including Jordan and Lebanon," she said of Annan, the ...

Japan's Marubeni says to buy Gavilon for $3.6 billion

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp is to buy U.S. grains merchant Gavilon for $3.6 billion, the company said on Tuesday, deepening its control of grain supplies from North America, the world's top export hub. Acquiring Gavilon could also help the trading house challenge Archer Daniels Midland as the biggest supplier of grains and oilseeds from the United States to China. ...

Spanish bank concerns weigh on euro, shares firm

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LONDON (Reuters) - The euro hovered near a two-year low on Tuesday with investors worrying about Spain's banking problems, the outcome of the Greek elections and the health of the global economy. But speculation that China may soon unveil more spending measures to support flagging growth and a view that U.S. data later in the week will show the recovery in the world's top economy on track helped support equities and commodities. The euro stood at $1.2555, near last week's two-year low of $1. ...

Fewer than 20 Houla victims died from shelling: U.N.

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GENEVA (Reuters) - Fewer than 20 of the 108 people confirmed as having been killed in the "appalling massacre" in the Syrian town of Houla died from artillery and tank fire, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday. Survivors have told U.N. investigators that most of the other victims died in two bouts of summary executions carried out by pro-government Shabbiya militia in the nearby village of Taldaou, U.N. rights spokesman Rupert Colville said. ...

Suu Kyi to embark on first trip abroad in 24 years

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Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi heads to Thailand Tuesday for her first trip abroad in more than two decades, ending an era of isolation and cementing her arrival on the global stage.

Guardian journalist cleared over hacking coverage

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LONDON (Reuters) - Prosecutors investigating a phone hacking scandal at a Rupert Murdoch tabloid said they had decided not to charge a journalist from the rival Guardian newspaper which broke the story for illegally obtaining information from the police. The Guardian's Amelia Hill, who helped to break the story about the alleged widespread criminality at Murdoch's News of the World title, had been questioned by the police over whether she received confidential information from a detective. ...

US 'plain English' activists combat 'gobbledygook'

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Why not say "change" rather than "effect modifications", or "publish" rather than "promulgate", or "pay" instead of "remunerate"? So say plain speaking advocates fighting to end "gobbledygook".

AP NewsAlert

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Philippine Senate finds top judge guilty of not declaring $2.4 million, orders him fired.

Marubeni to part finance Gavilon deal via bank borrowing

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Marubeni Corp said on Tuesday it will finance part of the dollarsignr3.6 billion cost of acquiring U.S. grain merchant Gavilon LLC through bank borrowing. Marubeni said earlier in the day that it will buy Gavilon has debts of dollarsignr2 billion. (Reporting by Miki Kayaoka; Editing by Michael Watson)

Tuna 'may have brought Japan radiation to US'

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Bluefin tuna may have transported radioactive material from Japan's quake-struck Fukushima nuclear plant across the Pacific Ocean to US shores, a study has found.

US envoy under fire in Russia after 'shocking' speech

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Washington's controversial ambassador to Moscow was forced to defend himself through Twitter on Tuesday after the Russian foreign ministry furiously condemned a speech he made as shocking.

Al-Qaeda No2 in Afghanistan killed, NATO says

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Al-Qaeda's second in command in Afghanistan has been killed in an air strike near the Pakistani border, NATO said Tuesday.

Pakistan court shuts plants, angers US investor

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David Walters saw a business opportunity where few other foreign investors would dare to tread: Pakistan's power sector. He forecast profit by importing power stations, linking them to the national grid and selling the electricity to the energy-starved country.

Samsung Galaxy S3 gets head start on rival iPhone

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SEOUL/LONDON (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics launched its top-of-the-range Galaxy S3 smartphone in Europe on Tuesday, aiming to outsell the previous model that helped the South Korean company topple Apple as the world's largest smartphone maker. The Galaxy S3, which tracks the user's eye movements to keep the screen from dimming or turning off while in use, hits stores in 28 European and Middle East countries, including Germany and Britain, as Samsung aims to widen the gap with Apple months ahead of its rival's new iPhone, expected in the third quarter. ...

Samsung boosts Galaxy appeal with Music Hub

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LONDON (Reuters) - Samsung has launched a new music service on the Galaxy S3, its flagship smartphone that rolls out across Europe from Tuesday, to boost its appeal in competition with top devices like Apple's iPhone. T.J. Kang, senior vice president of Samsung Electronics' Media Solution Center, said it was the first time the company had created its own music service from scratch. "Samsung is not known for our content services; we make good hardware products but we haven't done much in the content space but that's changing," he told Reuters. ...