Today's Top Stories 10-24-11

BLOOMBERG

Secretary of State Clinton said Pakistan will suffer “dire consequences” if it fails to “contain” terrorists operating from its soil, and it needs the U.S. and Afghanistan to help get the job done.

The U.S. will dismantle this week the last of its Cold War-era B53 nuclear bombs, the most destructive weapon in the country’s arsenal, the National Nuclear Safety Administration said today. The 10,000-pound bomb is the size of a minivan and contains about 300 pounds of high explosive surrounding a uranium core. It was designed to be dropped from a B-52 bomber and produce an explosion 600 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.

European services and manufacturing output contracted at the fastest pace in more than two years in October, adding to recession signs as leaders try to stamp out the sovereign-debt crisis.

Norway is open to approaches from the euro area seeking external investment to help ease the region’s debt crisis, Finance Minister Sigbjoern Johnsen said.

Alexey Mordashov, the Russian steel billionaire who lost more than $2 billion on the sale of U.S. plants, is defying economic forecasts with a spending plan set to boost capacity at Severstal North America by 45 percent. The company plans to start new units at its remaining plants in Columbus, Mississippi, and Dearborn, Michigan, by the end of the year.

Gold rose for a second straight session on concern that Europe’s leaders won’t do enough to stem the region’s debt crisis, boosting demand for the metal as a haven investment.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it will eliminate fees and relieve banks of certain risks as part of a plan to help homeowners refinance their mortgages.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner vowed to maintain policies that reduced poverty while being blamed by investors for fueling inflation of more than 20 percent after winning a landslide re-election.

AP Top Stories

U.S. and North Korean diplomats began talks Monday on Pyongyang's nuclear program, the second direct encounter between the two sides in less than three months.

The speaker of Iraq's parliament accused neighboring nations of meddling in Iraqi affairs and signaled it will only get worse if the country is seen as vulnerable after U.S. troops leave.

Fewer U.S. companies expect to hire new workers in coming months, as business economists grow increasingly pessimistic about the overall economy's growth in the coming year.

The Republican presidential race has become a no-holds-barred contest over character.

Afghan and NATO coalition forces killed or captured about 200 insurgents in eastern Afghanistan during two operations targeting the lethal Haqqani network, which has links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Wal-Mart announced a new strategy that it hopes will pull in procrastinators early by giving them a big incentive: a guarantee that they'll get the lowest price no matter when they buy during the holiday season.

E-commerce will drive record holiday shipments this year for FedEx Corp , the world's No. 2 package delivery company said.

Saudi Arabia will not need to tap into its reserves this year to finance additional budget spending but it is considering whether to issue Islamic or conventional bonds to help fund specific projects.