World

MIAMI,  (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Sandy was expected to become a hurricane today as it approaches the south coast of Jamaica, the U.S.

CANBERRA, (Reuters) – Chinese telecoms equipment firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has done a poor job communicating about itself and in trying to dispel myths surrounding the company, the chairman of its Australian business, a retired admiral, said yesterday.

BEIRUT – Syrian rebels are battling to seize an army base close to the main north-south highway and say its capture would be a big step towards creating a “safe zone” allowing them to focus on Bashar al-Assad’s southern strongholds.

BOCA RATON, Fla (Reuters) – President Barack Obama aggressively attacked Republican challenger Mitt Romney on foreign policy yesterday in their third and final debate in an effort to blunt his opponent’s surge in the polls with two weeks left until Election Day.

LONDON (Reuters) – The head of the BBC goes before lawmakers today with the publicly funded British broadcaster facing one of the biggest crises in its history over accusations it pulled a probe into sexual abuse by a former presenter as part of a wider cover-up.

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists reacted with alarm to the manslaughter conviction of six earthquake experts in Italy for failing to give adequate warning of the 2009 earthquake in the city of L’Aquila that killed 308 people.

BISSAU (Reuters) – Guinea-Bissau’s interim government accused Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries of being behind an assault on an air force base, saying it was part of a strategy to return to power the West African nation’s exiled former prime minister.

LONDON (Reuters) – British newspapers belonging to Trinity Mirror are facing legal claims for phone hacking by four people, including former England football coach Sven Goran Eriksson, media said yesterday.

LONDON (Reuters) – British newspapers belonging to Trinity Mirror are facing legal claims for phone hacking by four people, including former England football coach Sven Goran Eriksson, media said yesterday.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it was investigating reports of five deaths that may be associated with Monster Beverage Corp’s namesake energy drink, and the company’s shares fell more than 14 per cent.

(Reuters) – No matter how artificial and canned the candidates can seem at a presidential debate, no matter how competent or ineffectual the moderator — the nominee’s true self will peak out at some point.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon said yesterday that he has non-aggressive prostate cancer and would need nearly 40 sessions of radiation treatment, only two weeks after the president had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Colombian military and police forces suspected of committing crimes including murder and torture in the country’s long war could escape prosecution under proposed constitutional reforms, UN human rights experts warned yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to reassert his authority over a Conservative Party reeling after a week which saw the resignation of a senior minister and claims of incompetence and elitism at the heart of his government.

MILWAUKEE, (Reuters) – A man opened fire at a spa in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, yesterday, killing three people and wounding four others before taking his own life, police said.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Gunmen exchanged fire in southern districts of Beirut overnight after the state funeral of an assassinated Lebanese intelligence chief ended in violence when angry mourners broke away and tried to storm the offices of Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – An earthquake that killed nine people in Spain last year may have been triggered by decades of pumping water from a nearby natural underground reservoir, suggesting human activities played a role in moving Earth’s crust, scientists reported yesterday.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Fidel Castro is alive and well, according to Elias Jaua, a former Venezuelan vice president who said he met with the Cuban revolutionary leader over the weekend.

(BBC) One of India’s most influential film-makers, Yash Chopra, has died from dengue fever in Mumbai, aged 80.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s political opposition has called for a mass turnout at today’s funeral for slain intelligence officer Wissam al-Hassan, turning the ceremony into a political rally against Syrian authorities and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.