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The Swiss franc rose to a high against the euro on Tuesday and a seven-month peak against the dollar as nervousness over the health of the global economy boosted haven demand for the Swiss currency.Some analysts raised concerns that the fresh surge in the Swiss franc could prompt renewed action to stem its gains from the Swiss National Bank, which shelved its policy of intervention in June, sayin

Barack Obama’s Democratic party faces a series of dramatic defeats at every level of government in Washington and beyond in the November midterm elections, according to leading analysts and opinion polls.The University of Virginia’s widely monitored Crystal Ball will on Wednesday forecast sweeping setbacks on Capitol Hill and the loss of a clutch of state governorships on November 2.

Vladimir Putin stepped into a dispute between Norilsk Nickel’s main shareholders on Tuesday but failed to put an end to the fight between Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin, the two rival tycoons vying for control of the company.The Russian prime minister warned the two oligarchs, at a meeting in the Arctic city of Norilsk, that the management would have to work together in the coming weeks to d

Nicolas Sarkozy’s summer crackdown on crime and Roma migrants has thrown the French president’s government into disarray as ministers openly criticise both his lurch to the right and each other.Fadela Amara, the minister for urban regeneration, who is of north African descent, on Tuesday became the latest in a line of government figures or ruling party members to speak out against Mr Sarkozy’s pl

On the main patio of Chile’s presidential palace, La Moneda, authorities have erected a shrine.At the centre stands an image of St Lawrence, protector of miners, surrounded by 32 Chilean flags and a Bolivian flag – one for each of the men who have been trapped almost half a mile underground for nearly a month and face up to four months in their sweltering pit until engineers can drill them out.

Chris Viehbacher, chief executive of Sanofi-Aventis, quickly dispensed with pleasantries in his letter to Henri Termeer, his counterpart at Genzyme, this week in which he went public with the French pharmaceuticals group’s long mooted $18.5bn takeover bid for the US biotech company.He may have chosen to address the letter “Dear Henri, but after that the barrage began.Mr Viehbacher highlighted man

JERUSALEM — An unidentified gunman killed four Israelis at a Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron Tuesday night, just days before the U.S -sponsored peace summit was set to begin in Washington .The military wing of the Hamas movement, which controls Gaza , claimed responsibility.The shooting, just after 8 p.m.local time, was the deadliest attack Israel has seen in years.Israe

JUBA, Sudan – Floods have displaced nearly 60,000 people in the last month in south Sudan with many at risk of malaria and other diseases, the semi-autonomous region's government said Tuesday.The crisis is another hurdle for the war-ravaged south ahead of a referendum on independence in January, which some analysts fear will be hindered by a worsening humanitarian situation with almost hal

God is now speaking directly to Glenn Beck, who claims the date for his Washington, D.C.rally is divine providence.Nobody should be surprised because Beck by inference has compared himself to Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, and Jesus.Beck will be out to restore honor to the nation in a form of divine intervention, without ever defining what honor was earlier besmirched. We can learn much about the eve