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The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. _0"> * Iraq's government girded to protect the capital from advancing insurgents, as Iranian security officials said their forces had joined the battle on Baghdad's side and the United States weighed military assistance. ( r.reuters.com/xyw99v ) * Iran has deployed Revolutionary Guard forces to fight militants that have overrun a string of Iraqi cities, and it has helped Iraqi troops win back control of most of Tikrit, Iranian security sources said. ( r.reuters.com/zyw99v ) * Alibaba Group Holding Ltd IPO-ALIB.N, responding to concerns from investors that it has been too tight-lipped, plans to give out more details about its Internet empire as it readies its potential $20 billion initial public offering. The Chinese e-commerce company, which plans to go public in the next few months, is preparing a new regulatory filing that

Asian stocks slid and crude oil scaled nine-month highs on Friday as escalating civil war in Iraq dulled risk appetite which had been buoyant just days before. Spreadbetters expected the sour mood to linger on in Europe, forecasting Britain's FTSE to open as much as 0.4 percent lower, Germany's DAX down 0.25 percent and France's CAC 0.26 percent lower. The yen, however, benefited from its safe-haven status and a decline in U.S. Treasury yields following soft U.S. data that dented economic optimism. Sunni Islamist militants have extended their advance south towards Baghdad and prompted President Barack Obama to warn of possible U.S. military intervention, while Iraqi Kurdish forces took control of the Kirkuk oil hub amid the chaos. Weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales and jobless claims data published on Thursday further tempered economic optimism felt earlier in the week that had propelled Wall Street to record highs. Taking its cue from an overnight slide in U.S.

The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Friday and offered a slightly more upbeat view on overseas growth, signalling confidence the economy is on course to meet its inflation target next year without additional stimulus. _0"> Following are comments from BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda at his post-meeting news conference: ON JAPAN'S ECONOMY: "The economy is moving roughly within our expectations. Household spending remains solid as a trend ... The positive cycle of the economy is firmly in place, accompanied by clear improvements in job conditions and income." "We expect Japan's economy to temporarily contract in the second quarter (due to the sales tax hike impact). But more companies have decided to raise regular pay and summer bonuses are set to rise, so job and income conditions will continue to clearly improve. "As such, we expect household spending to remain firm. The downturn in spending (in reaction to the rise ahead of the tax

The dollar was up around a third of a percent against the yen as markets listened to the Bank of Japan's latest comments on policy on Friday while sterling soared on the back of a surprise hint from the Bank of England that interest rates could rise this year. The big action overnight was all on the pound. BoE Governor Mark Carney sent money market rates spinning higher by telling the annual Mansion House dinner that rates may rise sooner than markets currently expect. That sent sterling to a 19-month high against the euro and close to key resistance around $1.70, up around 1 percent since the close of play in London on Thursday. "For us this was a clear signal that the first hike will come this year," said Lee Hardman, a strategist with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi-UTJ in London. "We think the first month for the bank to move will be November. The move was all the more shocking given how little faith the market has shown in sterling's ability to rise further ag

German bond yields edged up on Friday, tracking UK equivalents higher after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said interest rates could rise sooner than financial markets expect. Bund futures fell as much as 43 ticks when markets opened, before recovering by the time cash markets opened. German 10-year bond yields rose 1 basis point to 1.4 percent. "The Bund opened very weak but it is starting to come back a bit, showing that this first reaction was maybe somewhat an exaggeration of the European investors," said Piet Lammens, strategist at KBC. "The euro area should be a bit immune to UK rates, given the stance of the European Central Bank." While the BoE is gearing up to raise rates to cool its buoyant housing market and support economic recovery, the ECB has cut rates negative in a desperate attempt to stimulate bank lending and stoke low inflation. While the connectedness of global economies could not prevent the euro zone debt benchmark from following i

German bond yields edged up on Friday, tracking UK equivalents higher after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said interest rates could rise sooner than financial markets expect. Bund futures fell as much as 43 ticks when markets opened, before recovering by the time cash markets opened. German 10-year bond yields rose 1 basis point to 1.4 percent. "The Bund opened very weak but it is starting to come back a bit, showing that this first reaction was maybe somewhat an exaggeration of the European investors," said Piet Lammens, strategist at KBC. "The euro area should be a bit immune to UK rates, given the stance of the European Central Bank." While the BoE is gearing up to raise rates to cool its buoyant housing market and support economic recovery, the ECB has cut rates negative in a desperate attempt to stimulate bank lending and stoke low inflation. While the connectedness of global economies could not prevent the euro zone debt benchmark from following i

The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. _0"> THE GLOBE AND MAIL * A crash of China's shadow banking system would send shock waves through the Canadian economy, depressing commodity prices and triggering a housing market correction, the Bank of Canada warned in a new report. Other major risks to the Canadian system remain largely unchanged, including the threat of a house price collapse at home, sharply higher interest rates or the euro crisis. ( r.reuters.com/daz99v ) * More than a million encoded BlackBerry messages have been viewed by police as part of a crackdown against Quebec organized crime. In arresting more than 30 people on Thursday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police took the rare step of publicly highlighting its interception of BlackBerry Inc's supposedly secure "PIN-to-PIN" communications. ( r.reuters.com/haz99v ) Reports in the busi