Evening Edition

Less than a year after turning a page on a decade of fraught negotiations and failed referendums that ushered in the Lisbon Treaty, the bloc’s 27 leaders agreed to rewrite the rule-book in talks that dragged into the wee hours.

It was the price to pay to avoid a repeat of this year’s Greek turmoil.

Asia’s two big powers have been embroiled in their worst diplomatic row in years, sparked by a territorial dispute that has escalated into protests, scrapped meetings and allegations China is freezing exports of vital minerals.

All eyes in Vietnam’s capital have been on the sparring match and whether the rival premiers, China’s Wen Jiabao and Japan’s Naoto Kan, would hold highly anticipated direct talks.

Rich and poor nations agreed to take “effective and urgent” action to curb the destruction of nature in an effort to halt the loss of the world’s biodiversity on which human survival depends.

Delegates from 193 countries committed to key goals such as curbing pollution, protecting forests and coral reefs, setting aside areas of land and water for conservation, and managing fisheries sustainably.

Workers at oil refineries, where industrial action in recent weeks had threatened to paralyse the country, voted to return to work the day after nationwide demonstrations brought only half previous numbers onto the street.

Thursday’s rallies, the ninth one-day protest in two months, nevertheless saw hundreds of thousands demonstrating against the law raising minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 after parliament on Wednesday passed the measure.

One week after cholera was confirmed in Haiti for the first time in decades, the death rate is slowing but almost 5,000 people have now been infected and officials warn it could be years before it is eradicated.

Clinics were beyond capacity, with patients on the floor of one radiology department in Saint-Marc, the outbreak’s epicenter some 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Port-au-Prince.

Diplomatic sources said leaders were studying a proposal for “limited” or “light” treaty change over a drawn-out late-night dinner.

However, diplomats also warned that British Prime Minister David Cameron was holding out, linking London’s backing to a distinct demand to cap the European Union’s 2011 budget.

Close to 2,000 demonstrators from the Tutti a casa (Everyone Home) group disrupted the festival’s opening celebrations to protest the government’s recent arts budget cuts.

Italian trade unionists, actors and directors including Ettore Scola, Francesca Comencini and Mario Bellocchio marched together against the cuts and the government’s decision not to renew tax breaks for the arts.

AIA shares closed at 23.05 Hong Kong dollars (2.97 US dollars) after hitting an intra-day high of 23.15 Hong Kong dollars, well above their 19.68 dollar initial public offering price.

The strong start follows a monster share sale that has so far raised 17.8 billion US dollars and could top 20 billion US dollars if the company exercises certain options.

The move came a day after a government panel said Halliburton had used flawed material to cement the well.

Halliburton was hired by BP to seal the Gulf of Mexico well, which ruptured on April 20, killing 11 workers who were on the Transocean Ltd rig contracted to drill it. The disaster caused the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

Now, four years later, the California Democrat is likely to lose the House speakership because of Congress’ inability — and that of Bush’s Democratic successor, Barack Obama — to revive the ailing U.S. economy.

Polls show fewer than one in three Americans approve of Pelosi and Republicans are expected to win back control of the House from Democrats in Tuesday’s elections mostly because of anger over the lack of jobs.

Even before some of the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders were forced to suspend foreclosure proceedings because of faulty paperwork, it was becoming clear that the Obama administration’s year-old effort to pump life into the housing market was falling short.

The federal government just reported that 4.2 million homeowners are “seriously delinquent” on their mortgages and some 10.9 million borrowers are underwater, meaning their loans exceed the value of their homes.

U.S. House of Representatives Republican leader John Boehner talks with pride about crafting a bipartisan deal in 2001 to pass a landmark bill, “No Child Left Behind,” to upgrade American education.

But questions remain on whether Boehner, who once ran a small business in America’s heartland, may in fact be a partisan warrior unwilling to work with Obama to shrink the budget deficit, create jobs and compromise on tax cuts.

The repurchase transactions included strict confidentiality agreements barring consumers from disclosing the problem to anyone and from suing the automaker, according to the amended class-action complaint.

The new complaint also cites internal company records documenting instances in which Toyota Motor Corp technicians or service managers replicated speed-control problems like those reported by customers.

Halliburton’s shares tumbled as much as 16 percent after the National Oil Spill Commission released a letter detailing the panel’s findings, before recovering to close down nearly 8 percent at $31.68 per share on the New York Stock Exchange.

BP’s U.S.-listed shares closed up 1.3 percent at $40.60 per share.

Cain held the Rangers to four hits in 7-2/3 shutout innings as he extended his post-season streak to 21-1/3 innings without yielding an earned run in a taut pitchers’ duel that turned into a stroll for San Francisco.

“We’ve put ourselves in a good situation,” Cain said about the Giants moving within two more wins of claiming the team’s first Fall Classic crown in 56 years.

Washington and Beijing have clashed this year over issues including the value of China’s currency, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and U.S. President Barack Obama’s February meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

China’s relations with its neighbors have also been strained by territorial disputes — notably with Japan — but also with Southeast Asian nations that have competing claims over the South China Sea.

Al Qaeda’s leaders in Pakistan have shown “startling resilience” and their affiliates have both the intent and the capability to strike the West, British Minister of Security Pauline Neville-Jones said.

Overall, Britain’s new national security strategy is evolving “against the background of a global context that we do not assess as especially favorable to Western interests,” Neville-Jones said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Brookings Institution, a Washington research group.

Predictions of a Republican blowout dogged the president and his party, as voters looked to take it out on incumbents over joblessness, bailouts and the toxic state of politics. Republicans were looking to recover from recent electoral lashings by claiming the House and making big gains in the Senate, governors’ mansions and state legislatures.

Obama was campaigning for Tom Perriello, a first-term congressman who won by the narrowest of margins two years ago and then loyally backed Obama on signature bills to spur the economy and overhaul health insurance. Obama was addressing a nighttime rally in the college town of Charlottesville, Va.

Meek says he’s not dropping out, and even if he did it would likely be too late to make a difference. Nearly two million people have already voted and his name would still be on the ballot Tuesday.

Several prominent black Democrats said they believe the fuss is backfiring on Crist and energizing black voters to go to the polls to support Meek, who is black.

If a chaplain preaches against homosexuality, he could conceivably be disciplined as a bigot under the military’s nondiscrimination policy, the retired chaplains say. The Pentagon, however, says chaplains’ religious beliefs and their need to express them will be respected.

Clergy would be ineligible to serve as chaplains if their churches withdraw their endorsements, as some have threatened to do if “don’t ask, don’t tell” ends. Critics of allowing openly gay troops fear that clergy will leave the service or be forced to find other jobs in the military that don’t involve their faiths.

Berlusconi, 74, denied that he had done anything inappropriate in securing the release of the Moroccan runaway nicknamed Ruby, and scoffed at press reports that portrayed their interaction as improper.

The disclosure comes at a difficult time for Berlusconi, who is grappling with street protests in Naples over his failure to stop a trash crisis there, a weakened government coalition and his declining popularity in the polls.

The economy expanded at a 2 percent pace from July to September, the Commerce Department said Friday. It marked a slight improvement from the scant 1.7 percent growth rate in the previous quarter.

But to keep up with population growth and actually bring down unemployment, the economy must grow much faster. Economists figure it takes growth at a rate of about 5 percent for a full year to lower the jobless rate by a percentage point.

One research group expects TV political spending to hit a record $3 billion. The windfall may continue well past Election Day because regular advertisers are getting squeezed out of the schedule and could spend their ad budgets later. Coming out of a recession that put some broadcasters in or near bankruptcy protection, political spending is emerging as a critical – but temporary – source of revenue.

Several factors created the upsurge: tea party enthusiasm, self-financed millionaire candidates, an unusually high number of toss-up races and a Supreme Court ruling in January that eased rules on corporate campaign donations.

While the Giants are looking more and more like a baseball juggernaut, they’re only halfway to their first World Series title in 56 years. They hope to wrap it up on the road.

“We’ve just got to take that confidence and some of the good approaches that we’ve had into these last two games and take them down to Texas with us,” Matt Cain said after Thursday night’s 9-0 win over the Texas Rangers gave San Francisco a 2-0 Series lead.

An Associated Press review of local election results found they boosted taxes to help pay for schools, public safety and other services they believe are essential to their communities.

In an election year dominated by angry anti-government and anti-tax rhetoric, the results may seem counterintuitive. Throughout the country, raucous tea party rallies have been blanketed with signs reading “Taxed Enough Already,” “Cut Taxes, Cut Government” and “We Make, They Take–No Socialism.”

Those rules include federal restrictions on tower use during high winds.

Declan Sullivan of Long Grove, Ill., died Wednesday after a scissor lift toppled as he filmed Notre Dame’s football practice. Wind gusts were as high as 51 mph.

University officials told the AP that a faculty member inadvertently uploaded files containing the information to an unprotected server on Nov. 30, 2009, exposing the names, academic performance, disabilities and other sensitive information of 40,101 students who attended the flagship Manoa campus from 1990 to 1998 and in 2001. A handful of students from the West Oahu campus were included in the security breach.

UH-West Oahu spokesman Ryan Mielke said there was no evidence that the faculty member acted maliciously or that any of the information was used improperly. The faculty member, who retired from the West Oahu campus in June, was conducting a study of the success rates of Manoa students, and believed he was uploading the material to a secure server.

In a Sept. 22 speech, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the bailouts “are completely behind us.”

That’s not quite correct. In the final six months in which it could spend money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Treasury set aside $243 million for new contracts for law firms, accountants and money managers to help run what’s left of the bailouts – on top of the $529 million already spent on work by staff, private companies and other agencies. Many of the contracts last until 2019, and there’s nothing to stop the government from hiring even more help if it’s needed to chase down the remaining bailout money.

And, really, try your best to stay out of court.

Now relax. Be yourself – if you dare.

The survey, conducted in December and January, showed improvements in making minority groups feel more accepted and in reducing the number who say they feel pressured by others to participate in religious activities.

But it found that many cadets believe that some religious and racial minorities face discrimination and harassment, and an increasing percentage of the faculty and staff believe that sexual harassment occurs at the school.

Delegate Willie Tracey dipped an eagle feather in water and sprinkled it on the other lawmakers, who patted the drops on themselves in a gesture of absolution. One by one, they lined up and sipped more ceremonial water from a small wooden cup in the council chambers where colorful murals depict the tribe’s history.

“Some will say that behavior of leaders needs to be corrected. People will see things like this have gone too far on our people and it need not be,” said council Delegate Thomas Walker of the broad allegations. But he also held out this caveat, “(Some) people will perceive this as political persecution.”