NATO sets "irreversible" but risky course to end Afghan war
CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO set an "irreversible" course out of Afghanistan on Monday but President Barack Obama admitted the Western alliance's plan to end the deeply unpopular war in 2014 was fraught with peril. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. ...
U.S. Senate approves tougher Iran sanctions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate unanimously approved on Monday a package of new economic sanctions on Iran's oil sector just days ahead of a meeting in Baghdad between major world powers and Tehran. The West suspects Iran is working to build a nuclear bomb and the sanctions are meant to strip Tehran of revenue by shutting down financial deals with Iran's powerful state oil and tanker enterprises. Iran has said its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. ...
Suicide bomber kills 90 in Yemen, al Qaeda vows more attacks
SANAA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in army uniform killed more than 90 soldiers in the heart of the Yemeni capital on Monday and an al Qaeda affiliate threatened more attacks if a U.S.-backed campaign against militants in the front-line state did not stop. The bombing, which wounded more than 200 people, underscored the dangers Yemen faces as it battles Islamist militants entrenched in the south and threatening shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. The explosion left scenes of carnage in Sanaa's Sabaeen Square, where the military had been rehearsing for a parade. ...
Bank of America CEO "comfortable" with bank’s investments
(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp is "very comfortable" with the composition of its corporate investment portfolio, which is invested mostly in government-guaranteed mortgage bonds and U.S. Treasury bonds, Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said at an investor conference on Monday. Moynihan was asked about the bank's investments following JPMorgan Chase & Co's disclosure this month that it lost at least $2 billion on a trading strategy by its Corporate Investment Office. ...
Facebook shares sink 11 percent as reality overtakes hype
(Reuters) - Facebook shares sank 11 percent in the first day of trading without the full support of the company's underwriters, leaving some investors down almost 25 percent from where they were Friday and driving others to switch back to more established stocks. Facebook's debut was beset by problems, so much so that Nasdaq said on Monday it was changing its IPO procedures. That may comfort companies considering a listing, but does it little for Facebook, whose lead underwriter, Morgan Stanley, had to step in and defend the $38 offering price on the open market. ...
Wall Street rebounds, but investors dump Facebook
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose more than 1 percent on Monday, with the S&P 500 snapping a six-day losing streak in a rebound from equities' biggest weekly drop in almost six months, but Facebook slumped in its second session after a disappointing debut. Tech shares were among the day's biggest gainers, with an S&P sector index surging 2.8 percent on the strength of Apple Inc . Shares of Apple climbed 5.8 percent to $561.28, leading the Nasdaq to its biggest one-day percentage gain since December 2011. ...
Lawmakers frustrated in Wal-Mart corruption probe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers investigating Wal-Mart Stores Inc for alleged bribery in Mexico are frustrated by the lack of cooperation they have received from the company, a committee staffer familiar with the investigation said. Attorneys for Wal-Mart briefed the committee earlier on Monday about the company's anti-corruption compliance program, the person said. But Wal-Mart has not committed to briefing the panel on the substantive allegations raised by a New York Times report, a key request of the committee, said the staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. ...
No sign of breakthrough in U.N. nuclear chief’s Tehran talks
VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief held talks in Tehran on Monday ahead of a meeting between major powers and Iranian officials this week, but there was no immediate sign of a breakthrough in the tense confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme. Yukiya Amano paid a rare visit to Tehran after voicing hope of its agreement to cooperate with an investigation by his International Atomic Energy Agency into what Western states suspect are Iran's efforts to develop atomic bomb capability. ...
Two dead in Beirut clashes after killing of anti-Assad cleric
ALBIREH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Hundreds of Islamist gunmen fired in the air on Monday at the funeral of a Sunni Muslim cleric whose killing ignited street battles and brought the bloodshed from Syria's 14-month-old uprising spilling across the border into Lebanon. Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahid, an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was buried in northern Lebanon a day after he was shot dead at a Lebanese army checkpoint in a part of that country where Sunni sympathy for Syria's rebels and the uprising against Assad is particularly strong. ...
EU offers Google last chance in antitrust case
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's antitrust chief on Monday ratcheted up the pressure on Google, giving it a matter of weeks to settle an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behavior and avoid formal charges and a possible fine. Even if Google, the world's most popular search engine, offers concessions to resolve the issue, it will still be under the EU spotlight after fresh complaints about its Android mobile software, the top operating system for Internet-enabled smartphones. ...
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