Taxes still a stumbling block in debt talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After months of effort, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans are right back where they started as they try to avert a looming debt default: arguing over taxes. With a "grand bargain" to tame the national debt seemingly off the table, Obama, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and other top leaders will try for a more modest deal when they resume their discussions at the White House on Monday afternoon.

British government lawyers look to block BSkyB bid: report

LONDON (Reuters) - British government lawyers are drawing up plans to block Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy out the broadcaster BSkyB, the Independent newspaper said on Monday -- a move that could spare Prime Minister David Cameron a potentially damaging parliamentary vote. Opposition Labor party leader Ed Miliband said on Sunday that he would force parliament to vote this week if Cameron did not take steps to halt the $14-billion bid by Murdoch's News Corp for the 61 percent of the profitable pay-TV operator BSkyB that it does not already own.

China's Wen says inflation top priority, more tightening seen

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Fighting inflation remains the top priority for the Chinese government and Beijing will maintain its current economic policy, Premier Wen Jiabao said in comments published on Monday, reinforcing the case for further policy tightening. Wen's comments followed official data on Saturday that showed annual inflation in June hit a three-year high of 6.4 percent.

Exclusive: EU calls emergency meeting as crisis stalks Italy

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency meeting of top officials dealing with the euro zone debt crisis for Monday morning, reflecting concern that the crisis could spread to Italy, the region's third largest economy. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet will attend the meeting along with Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the region's finance ministers, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Olli Rehn, the economic and monetary affairs commissioner, three official sources told Reuters.

Analysis: After Fukushima, glacial change seen for U.S. nuclear

WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear industry this week gets its first peek at a roadmap for new regulations that ultimately could cost it billions in the wake of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi disaster. But the bottom-line impact of Fukushima on the U.S. fleet of 104 reactors could take most of the next decade to calculate.

Blast rips through Cyprus base, 8 killed

NICOSIA (Reuters) - A massive explosion ripped through a military base in southern Cyprus, witnesses said on Monday, with the official news agency reporting at least eight people dead. Police and army officials were not in a position to immediately confirm the report, and information was scant from the scene of the blast at the Evangelos Florakis navy base.

Russian rescuers say 110 bodies in sunken riverboat

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The bodies of about 110 people, including 30 children, remain in the wreck of a Russian boat that sank in the Volga river, Interfax news agency quoted rescuers as saying on Monday. (Reporting by Steve Gutterman; writing by Guy Faulconbridge)