World News in brief for October 29, 2012 (VIDEO and GALLERY)

Oct 29 2012 By Cheryl Mullin

AMERICA: More than 50 million Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy were today waiting and hoping as the storm bore down on the East Coast’s largest cities.

It forced the closure of financial markets and public transport, sending coastal residents fleeing inland for safety.

AMERICA: Two people from a tall ship caught in Hurricane Sandy are missing after the crew was forced to abandon it amid fierce winds and high seas.

US Coast Guard helicopters rescued 14 others from lifeboats launched after HMS Bounty ran into trouble off North Carolina.

AMERICA: Hurricane Sandy has forced Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to cancel up to two days of campaigning in the last full week of one of the closest presidential contests in recent US history.

While putting a severe limit on campaigning, the storm gave Mr Obama the opportunity to demonstrate leadership in the face of crisis.

SYRIA: A car bomb in a Damascus suburb has killed 10 people.

Syrian officials said the blast in Jaramana also wounded 41 people and caused heavy damage.

UKRAINE: Ukraine’s parliamentary election has been branded unfair by international observers who said the result reversed earlier democratic gains the country made.

With the top opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in jail, president Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions was poised to retain its control of parliament, according to exit polls and preliminary results.

LITHUANIA: Opposition Social Democrats won Lithuania’s parliamentary election after campaigning on promises to reverse unpopular austerity policies and boost social spending in the recession-scarred Baltic state.

Party leaders have agreed to form a coalition government with two other centre-left opposition parties that have also called for a larger government role in the economy after four years of tight budgets aimed at avoiding bankruptcy and paving the way for the euro.

GERMANY: Half of Germany’s electricity will be generated from renewable energy within 10 years, faster than the government’s forecast, an expert says.

The current boom in new installations of wind, solar and other renewable power sources will easily top the official target of 35% by 2022, reaching about 48% by then, said Stephan Kohler, who heads the government-affiliated agency overseeing Germany’s electricity grid.