Reuters: Top News - Breaking News - World News

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a 2-1/2-year low last week, pointing to a stronger footing for the labor market as the economic recovery gathers momentum.

Source: Jobless claims data boosts labor market outlook

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's 2012 budget plan will bring a simmering deficit debate to a head when he sends it to Congress on Monday, but the United States is still far from tackling its huge fiscal gap as bond markets watch anxiously.

Source: Obama budget to ignite deficit debate

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BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - Bundesbank chief Axel Weber will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday to discuss his future after the leaked disclosure of his withdrawal from the ECB presidency race hit markets and put her under fire.

Source: Weber to meet Merkel over his shock ECB withdrawal

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Potential Republican presidential candidates flocked to a gathering of conservatives on Thursday to road-test a message that basically boiled down to this: Beat President Barack Obama in 2012.

Source: Possible Republican presidential candidates gather

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HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd may knock on the doors of the tech-heavy Nasdaq or Chicago's CBOE as the world's most valuable stock exchange operator eyes a partner amid a frenzy of merger activity engulfing the sector.

Source: HKEx could look to join hands with Nasdaq and CBOE

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Axel Weber will step down as head of the Bundesbank a year before his term ends, the German government said on Friday, formally ending his chances of becoming the next president of the European Central Bank.

Source: Germany confirms Weber to leave Bundesbank

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama on Friday of presiding over "the greatest job loss in modern American history" in a speech to conservatives that hinted strongly at a run for president.

Source: Romney takes on Obama on handling of economy

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CAIRO (Reuters) - People took to the streets in their thousands demanding the end of the government. They marched on the headquarters of the state broadcaster which had been churning out the government line. The president fell. The army took charge.

Source: Witness: Will history repeat itself in Egypt?

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BEIJING, Feb 12 (Reuters) - China will launch a state-level investment review body to check that merger and acquisition deals struck by foreign firms in one of the world's fastest-growing economies do not endanger "national security," China's State Council, the cabinet, said on Saturday.

Source: China to vet inward M&A deals for national security

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama made a sales pitch on Saturday for his forthcoming fiscal year 2012 budget, pledging that it would help the United States "live within our means while investing in our future."

Source: Obama makes sales pitch for his 2012 budget