immunity

from prosecution. The charges he may face have not been specified. The decision to investigate comes two weeks before the Party congress to select China’s new leaders.

There have been multiple violations of a temporary ceasefire in Syria between the government and rebel groups. In Damascus, a car-bomb killed at least five people and wounded more than 30 others. Activists’ sources say more than 40 people have been killed. Both sides have blamed each other. But government forces appeared not to have carried out air attacks, which have been increasingly become a key tactic.

The American economy picked up in the third quarter of the year, the new data showing growth at an annual rate of 2% in the three months to September. The figure (is) slightly better than forecast. It’s the last to be released before the US presidential election where the economy is the key factor. Paul Adams reports from Washington.

On the face of it, the latest report represents a modest bit of good news for President Barack Obama. Coming on top of a recent drop in the unemployment rate, the figures for consumers spending and home-building are positive, but the report does nothing to alter a well-established impression over a painfully slow recovery. The two main presidential campaigns will do what they can with the numbers, but the figures are unlikely to shift public opinion one way or the other so close to election day. Most people have reached their own conclusions about the state of the economy based on personal experience. They don’t need the commerce department to tell them what to think. Paul Adams.