WASHINGTON – Fresh off a feisty debate that re-energized Barack Obama’s bid for a second term, the Democratic president and Republican rival Mitt Romney headed back on the campaign trail on Wednesday to start their final appeals to undecided voters.
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BEIRUT – The international mediator on Syria said on Wednesday its civil war risks spilling across borders to engulf the Middle East and appealed for a temporary truce he said could mark a small step towards defusing 19 months of conflict.
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MILAN/MADRID – The International Monetary Fund called on the eve of a European Union summit for both Spain and Italy to seek euro zone assistance to draw a line under the bloc’s debt crisis, but Rome has rebuffed the idea and Madrid seems likely to apply alone.
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VIENNA – Iran is believed to be further increasing its uranium enrichment capacity at its Fordow plant buried deep underground, Western diplomats say, in another sign of Tehran defying international demands to curb its disputed nuclear programme.
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LONDON – Two British parliamentary committees are due to quiz tax officials about how Starbucks was able to avoid paying tax on 1.2 billion pounds ($1.93 billion) of sales since 2009.
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WASHINGTON – Groundbreaking on new U.S. homes surged in September to its fastest pace in more than four years, a sign the housing sector’s budding recovery is gaining traction and supporting the wider economic recovery.
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AUSTIN, Texas – Lance Armstrong stepped down as chairman of the cancer support charity he founded, as Nike Inc dropped the disgraced cyclist over the doping scandal that will cost him his seven Tour de France titles.
