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News EADS-BAE merger plan hits political crunch point France won't rule out bigger EADS-BAE stake: source EADS-BAE must take govt views into account: Hollande U.S. jobless rate tumbles to near four-year low Foxconn's iPhone plant "paralyzed" as thousands strike: report Analysis: FTSE U.S. growth plans portend stock index price war Vision Financial to take control of former Peregrine accounts Merkel to visit Greece as money running out Chesapeake to pay $600,000 to settle water violation South Africa's Amplats fires 12,000 strikers, union leader shot Canada gives Malaysian bid for Progress more scrutiny TSX stumbles on weaker commodities S&P 500 dips after four days of gains; earnings eyed France, Italy want single EU bank regulator by January ESM head worried about reform completion -report EADS-BAE merger plan hits political crunch point PARIS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Tensions over a supermerger between EADS and BAE Systems spilled into the open on Friday and cast doubt on a rapidly approaching deadline as France, Britain and Germany jockeyed over the role of the state in the world's largest aerospace and arms group. After rattling investors with a $45 billion merger project last month, the chief executives of Europe's largest aerospace firms headed into the weekend with the fate of their historic tie-up plans hinging on events outside their control. ... Full Story Top France won't rule out bigger EADS-BAE stake: source PARIS (Reuters) - France will not rule out buying shares from Lagardere that would raise its stake in a merger of EADS and BAE , a French government source said on Friday, raising the prospect of a deal-breaking clash with Britain. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, doubted a deal could be reached on the planned mega-merger of the European aerospace group and UK defense firm by an October 10 regulatory deadline and expected that date to be extended by 28 days. ... Full Story Top EADS-BAE must take govt views into account: Hollande VALLETTA (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande said on Friday the companies involved in a proposed deal to merge EADS with British defense group BAE should take into account governments' views about the deal. "We have said what we consider as the conditions," Hollande told reporters at a summit of North African and European countries in Malta. "After that it's up to the companies to continue their talks or negotiations knowing France's position." (Reporting By Julien Ponthus; writing by John Irish) Full Story Top U.S. jobless rate tumbles to near four-year low WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 7.8 percent in September and reached its lowest level since President Barack Obama took office, providing a boost to his re-election bid. The Labor Department said on Friday that employers added 114,000 workers to their payrolls last month, a moderate number, but it said a combined 86,000 more jobs were created in the prior two months than it had previously thought. Other aspects of the report also were strong. In particular, a separate survey of households found a big surge in hiring. ... Full Story Top Foxconn's iPhone plant "paralyzed" as thousands strike: report SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Thousands of workers went on strike Friday at a Foxconn plant in China that makes Apple Inc's iPhone 5, paralyzing production of the smartphone, rights advocate China Labor Watch reported. The reported strike comes at a crucial time for the U.S. corporation, weeks after kicking off its largest-ever global rollout of the smartphone. Apple is already struggling with supply constraints, analysts say. ... Full Story Top Analysis: FTSE U.S. growth plans portend stock index price war NEW YORK (Reuters) - London Stock Exchange Group's FTSE Group is planning a major expansion in the United States that will challenge rivals and could trigger a price war among providers of stock indexes for use by fund groups eager to cut costs. On Tuesday, FTSE lured away Vanguard Group from MSCI Inc for six international stock funds with $170 billion of assets, as the largest U.S. mutual fund manager looked to cut costs. "We clearly have ambition to grow our share of the ETF market further," said Jonathan Horton, president of FTSE North America. ... Full Story Top Vision Financial to take control of former Peregrine accounts NEW YORK (Reuters) - Futures brokerage Vision Financial Markets will take control of all accounts held by former clients of its defunct rival Peregrine Financial Group, Vision's President Howard Rothman said on Friday. The bankruptcy trustee, Ira Bodenstein, requested a transfer of about $123 million of customer funds and a total of nearly 15,000 accounts held by former Peregrine clients to Vision Financial, according to a motion filed with bankruptcy court. ... Full Story Top Merkel to visit Greece as money running out BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will make her first visit to Greece next week since the euro zone debt crisis erupted, in a show of support for Athens after it said it would run out of money at the end of November without fresh international aid. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras hailed the trip as a positive development at a time when his country is locked in negotiations with euro zone and IMF creditors who are holding back some 31.5 billion euros ($41 billion) in urgently needed loans. "The key is liquidity. ... Full Story Top Chesapeake to pay $600,000 to settle water violation HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp said on Friday it has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act. As part of the deal that still requires court approval, the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, company will pay a $600,000 fine. The government said Chesapeake violated a section of the Clean Water Act when in 2008 it ordered the placement of gravel as part of a project to upgrade a road in West Virginia. That road sometimes floods with waters that are under federal control, so Chesapeake needed a permit from the U.S. ... Full Story Top South Africa's Amplats fires 12,000 strikers, union leader shot JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Amplats fired 12,000 wildcat strikers on Friday, a high-stakes attempt by the world's biggest platinum producer to push back at a wave of illegal stoppages sweeping through the country's mining sector and beyond. Later on, a trade union leader was shot dead near a mine run by platinum producer Lonmin in a potentially explosive escalation of the two-month-old violent labor unrest that took the death toll to 49. ... Full Story Top Canada gives Malaysian bid for Progress more scrutiny TORONTO/CALGARY (Reuters) - The Canadian government has extended by two weeks its review of a C$5.2 billion ($5.3 billion) bid by Malaysian state oil company Petronas to take over Progress Energy Resources Corp as the country's focus on foreign moves to buy Canadian resource companies intensifies. The unexpected delay comes as Ottawa also vets a $15.1 billion offer for Nexen Inc by CNOOC Ltd , the Chinese state-controlled company, a deal that has been slammed both by Canada's main opposition party and from some within Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's own government. ... Full Story Top TSX stumbles on weaker commodities TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index backed away from its highest level in nearly three weeks on Friday as concerns about weakness in the global economy hurt commodity prices, countering unexpectedly strong North American jobs data. U.S. crude oil futures settled down nearly $2 a barrel as signs this week of slowing in the manufacturing and services sectors in Europe and China continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Energy stocks followed suit, falling 0.8 percent. The biggest laggards included Suncor Energy , down 0.5 percent to C$33.00, Canadian Natural Resources , down 1. ... Full Story Top S&P 500 dips after four days of gains; earnings eyed NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 broke a four-day string of gains, ending slightly lower on Friday as an unexpected drop in the U.S. unemployment rate was overshadowed by concerns about the coming earnings season, which begins with Alcoa next week. All three major U.S. stock indexes came off session highs by afternoon trade, with the S&P 500 turning negative for the first time this week, as investors braced for weak corporate results. The Nasdaq was pressured by Apple Inc , which fell 2.1 percent to close at $652.59. S&P 500 earnings for the third quarter are forecast to have fallen 2. ... Full Story Top France, Italy want single EU bank regulator by January VALLETTA, Malta (Reuters) - France and Italy led a call by five euro zone member states for the European Union to press ahead toward setting up a single banking regulator by the end of the year to be running in 2013. The leaders of France, Malta, Spain, Italy, and Portugal met in Malta on Friday at a summit with North African countries as part of the 5+5 group of Mediterranean countries. ... Full Story Top ESM head worried about reform completion -report BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of the euro zone's permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), has expressed concern that not all of the bloc's struggling states would be able to complete their reforms, a newspaper report says. "My biggest worry is that some crisis-stricken countries do not have the political power to persevere with their painful but effective reform programs until the end," Klaus Regling was quoted as saying in an advance copy of an article due to appear in Germany's Rheinische Post newspaper on Saturday. "That would be a catastrophe," he added. ... Full Story Top

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