* Democrats control Senate, Republicans retain House * Fresh from a decisive re-election win, President Barack Obama returns from the campaign trail on Wednesday with little time to savor victory, facing urgent economic challenges, a looming fiscal showdown and a still-divided Congress able to block his every move. Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney on
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OTE, Greece's biggest telecoms group, is expected to announce a drop in third quarter profit, weighed by recession in its markets and cuts in regulated prices for cell phone calls. Analysts polled by Reuters are forecasting a third-quarter net profit of 92.4 million euros ($118.3 million), down from 104.4 million in the same period last
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The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said it would return to Cyprus this week to resume talks about a potential rescue package for the indebted island nation which has been burned by Greece's debt meltdown. "On the basis of progress made by the authorities since July, an IMF mission is scheduled to return to Cyprus
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Thousands of Greeks shouting anti-government slogans flooded into the main square before parliament on Wednesday, in a massive show of anger against lawmakers due to narrowly pass an austerity package to win aid from lenders. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to barely eke out a win for the budget cuts, tax hikes and labour
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The euro zone economy will barely grow next year but pick up in 2014, the European Commission said on Wednesday, forecasting slower growth than governments in all the bloc's biggest economies expect. The European Union's executive Commission said the 17 countries sharing the euro would grow only 0.1% in 2013 after a bigger than previously
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Cyprus will stay mired in recession through this year and next, the European Commission said on Wednesday, with its cash-strapped banks and the economic gloom in Greece weighing heavily. The island will see its 17.9 billion euro economy contract by 2.3% in 2012 and by another 1.7% in 2013, the Commission said in its autumn
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The belatedly crowned winner of a $23 million California lottery jackpot says she had stuffed the lucky ticket in her car and left it there forgotten for months, until a surveillance camera photo of the ticket's purchase surfaced on the Internet. Only when she recognized her daughter in the picture, which state lottery officials
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Multiple bomb explosions on Wednesday hit a hilltop area in Damascus populated by members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, marking escalation of sectarian attacks in a conflict that has deepened religious Middle East divides. The attack occurred a day after deadly tit-for-tat attacks in segregated neighbourhoods of the capital, deepening the divide between
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Billionaire investor George Soros said late Tuesday that the projected re-election of President Barack Obama will open "the door for more sensible politics." Soros, who has contributed mightily to Democratic causes and supported many liberal and progressive groups, told Reuters: "I'm delighted that President Obama has won. The American electorate has rejected extremist positions." In
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President Barack Obama's re-election victory gives him a second chance to put the U.S. economy on a sound footing but to do so he will need a Treasury chief with sharp deal-cutting skills to get the nation's record debt under control. The president is expected to move quickly to announce a successor for Treasury Secretary
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