Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will announce on Monday a six-year infrastructure revamp plan with an initial investment of $50 billion to jump-start job creation, a White House official said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tropical storm Hermine has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and warnings have been issued from Tampico, Mexico to the Baffin Bay on the south Texas coast, the National Hurricane Center said on Monday.

KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban threats, shuttered polling centers and warnings of widespread fraud are clouding hopes for Afghanistan's September 18 parliamentary election, a key test of an already fragile democracy, observers have warned.

LAKKI MARWAT, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide bomber rammed his car into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday killing at least 19 people, police said, in a new wave of attacks by al Qaeda-linked militants.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oracle Corp has offered a job to Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal involving inaccurate expense receipts related to a female contractor, according to a source familiar with the situation.

KABUL (Reuters) - The number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year has reached at least 500, compared with 521 in all of 2009, according to an independent monitoring site Monday and a tally compiled by Reuters.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Aftershocks rocked New Zealand's second-biggest city on Monday causing further damage and forcing authorities to extend a state of emergency after the country's most damaging earthquake in 80 years.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan needs fiscal reform targets to tackle its massive debt but existing goals heavily influenced by bureaucrats should be reviewed, said an aide to the ruling party powerbroker challenging Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

CUMBRE DE ALASKA, Guatemala (Reuters) - A massive landslide buried a crowd trying to dig out a bus from deep mud on Sunday, killing at least 22 people, with dozens more feared dead, as torrential rains battered Guatemala.

LONDON (Reuters) - Increasingly erratic rainfall patterns related to climate change pose a major threat to food security and economic growth, water experts said on Monday, arguing for greater investment in water storage.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A state of emergency after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake is keeping much of New Zealand's second-biggest city shut on Monday but financial markets have mostly shrugged off the quake as the long-term economic impact is seen limited. Many businesses in the South Island city of Christchurch remain closed as a state of emergency was extended until Wednesday after the country's most damaging earthquake in 80 years tore up roads, smashed water and sewer pipes, and severely damaged

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pro-Taliban Pakistani militants are trying to create a sectarian rift, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday, as a new wave of violence piled pressure on a government already struggling with a flood crisis.

MADRID (Reuters) - The Basque rebel group ETA called a halt to armed attacks on Sunday but the government said the declaration was not enough and urged the weakened organization to renounce violence once and for all.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Up to six suicide bombers, some armed with rifles, tried to storm an army base in Baghdad on Sunday, killing 12 people and wounding 36 less than a week after Washington declared U.S. combat operations in Iraq over.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will ask the Congress on Wednesday to increase and permanently extend a tax credit for business research as a way of boosting job growth, an administration officials said on Sunday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oracle Corp has offered a job to Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal involving inaccurate expense receipts related to a female contractor, according to a source familiar with the situation.

NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said.

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' national police chief took the blame for the botched bus hijacking rescue attempt last week that killed eight Hong Kong tourists at a Manila park, announcing his decision to retire early from the service.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc's ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well is secure with no threat of spewing crude again, the top U.S. official overseeing the spill response said

PARIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands protested across France on Saturday against a clampdown on immigrants, launching a week of action over policies on which President Nicolas Sarkozy has staked his political reputation.