SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian mining magnate who plans to build a replica of the Titanic said on Friday he is delaying a New York gala to unveil details of the project out of respect to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer had planned to hold a dinner aboard the former aircraft carrier USS Intrepid on December 4, serving guests a menu based on the 11-course meal that was provided to first class passengers on the Titanic the night it sank in 1912. …
Palestinian farmers turn to organic farming
The Palestinian olive harvest, an ancient autumn ritual in the West Bank, is going upscale.
Child rapes, killings terrify parents in Iraq
The brutal crimes struck a nerve, even in a country that has seen a horrific amount of bloodshed in the past decade: Young Iraqi girls kidnapped, repeatedly raped and then bludgeoned to death in two separate incidents near the southern city of Basra.
Argentine anti-government protesters jam streets
Angry over inflation, crime and corruption, people of all ages jammed the capital's streets for nearly four hours to protest against President Cristina Fernandez in Argentina's biggest anti-government demonstration in years. Storm that brought more misery to US East after Sandy pulls away from New York, New Jersey
The nor’easter that stymied recovery efforts after Superstorm Sandy pulled away from New York and New Jersey, leaving hundreds of thousands of new people in darkness after a blanket of thick, wet snow snapped storm-weakened trees and downed power lines. Meanwhile, New York imposed a gas rationing plan Friday that allows motorists to fill up every other day.
Malaysian charged with Facebook insult of sultan; sister says he'll file police complaint
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The sister of a Malaysian man who has been charged with insulting a state sultan on Facebook says he is innocent and plans to lodge a complaint over his detention.
MLS Playoff Capsules
HARRISON, N.J. – Nick DeLeon scored in the 88th minute and D.C. United advanced to the Eastern Conference final with a 1-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Thursday night.
Australia abandons 5-year-old pledge to mandate Internet filter to block child pornography
CANBERRA, Australia – The Australian government has abandoned its 5-year-old pledge to mandate a filter blocking child pornography and other objectionable Internet content.
Contrasting politics of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan
all societies rooted in Chinese culture -- have developed very different ways of selecting their leaders and taking part in public affairs. The distinctions are highlighted as China undergoes its once-a-decade transition to a new slate of Communist Party leaders in Beijing this month. Despite China's dramatic transformation into an economic superpower, the authoritarian legacy of communist founder Mao Zedong continues to weigh heavily on the country's politics, leaving the vast majority of the population with little voice or knowledge of how their leaders are chosen. The process remains steeped in secrecy and backroom dealings. China's territory of Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy, freedom of the press and limited democracy, but its politics remains highly constrained by Beijing's wariness over threats to its authority. The former British colony now directly elects half of its 60 legislators, but the head of the regional government is still elected by a special body limited to just 1,200 members. Taiwan, in stark contrast to China, shrugged off authoritarian rule and underwent a transition over the past two decades to complete democracy, with sometimes-rowdy elections and a thriving civil society. 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – An eventual bid for Best Buy Co Inc by founder Richard Schulze could come below his initial proposal of around $8 billion and is now no t expected to be made before December, sources familiar with the matter said, in a new twist to the months-long saga at the struggling electronics retailer. Schulze has done most of his due diligence on Best Buy and has formed a business plan to turn around the world's largest consumer electronics chain, with his efforts now focused on securing financing commitments, the sources said. … 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iranian warplanes fired at an unarmed U.S. drone in international airspace last week but did not hit the aircraft, the Pentagon said on Thursday, disclosing details of an unprecedented incident that triggered a formal warning to Tehran through diplomatic channels. The November 1 intercept was the first time Tehran had fired at an unmanned American aircraft, in a stark reminder of how tensions between the United States and Iran could escalate quickly into violence. … 
WASHINGTON/YANGON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama later this month will become the first U.S. leader to visit Myanmar, marking the strongest international endorsement so far of the fragile democratic transi tion in the once-isolated Southeast Asian country after decades of military rule. Obama will travel to Myanmar as part of a November 17-20 tour of Southeast Asia that will include stops in Thailand and Cambodia, the White House said on Thursday as it confirmed his first international trip since he won a second term in Tuesday's election. … 
Iranian President Ma hmoud Ahmadinejad ridiculed the expense of the U.S. election, mocking it as a "battleground for capitalists" while speaking at a democracy forum. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Britons called on the government on Friday to nominate Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advoca ting girls' education, for the Nobel Peace Prize. The 15-year-old is receiving specialist treatment in the English city of Birmingham after gunmen shot her on October 9 for standing up against the Taliban and openly advocating education for women. The attack has drawn widespread international condemnation and Yousufzai has become a powerful symbol of resistance to the Taliban's attempts to suppress women's rights. … 
Thousands of people flooded the streets of Argentina's capital Thursday night in one of the country's biggest anti-government protests in more than a decade. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Britons called on the government on Friday to nominate Malala Yousufzai , a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education, for the Nobel Peace Prize. The 15-year-old is receiving specialist treatment in the English city of Birmingham after gunmen shot her on October 9 for standing up against the Taliban and openly advocating education for women. The attack has drawn widespread international condemnation and Yousufzai has become a powerful symbol of resistance to the Taliban's attempts to suppress women's rights. … 
MONTREAL – Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says the so-called fiscal cliff l ooming over U.S. lawmakers is the most imminent threat facing the Canadian economy. 
Syrian opposition leaders say they have made progress toward forging a broad-based leadership group sought by the international community. 
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico's incoming government will send a wide-reaching energy reform bill to Congress in the first half of 2013, but it is braced for the prospect of accepting a watered-down version that would likely deter investment by oil majors. President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto wants to shake up the sector by opening up state oil monopoly Pemex to more private investment, hoping it will help boost production. … 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone with Barak Obama on Thursday and congratulated him on his re-election, after critics accused the Israeli prime minister of backing Mitt Ro mney and jeopardizing ties with Washington. After Obama's re-election on Tuesday, some of Netanyahu's opponents – who hope to defeat him in an election on January 22 – accused the right-wing leader of backing the wrong man. Netanyahu, who denies having shown any preference during the U.S. … 
WASHINGTON/YANGON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will visit Myanmar this month and meet both its president and its iconic opposition leader, marking a new milestone in U.S. efforts to promote democratic reforms in the once-isolated Southeast Asian country. Obama will travel to Myanmar as part of a November 17-20 tour of Southeast Asia that will include stops in Thailand and Cambodia, the White House said on Thursday as it confirmed details of his first international trip since voters gave him a second term in an election on Tuesday. The visit to Myanmar, the first by a sitting U.S. … 
HAVANA (Reuters) – Brazilian builder Odebrecht SA will begin administrating a Cuban sugar mill next week in the first sign the industry is ready to accept foreign participation since the 1959 revolution, two company sources said on Wednesday. Odebrecht subsidiary, CompañÃa de Obras en Infraestructura (COI), is expected to sign the agreement with state-run sugar monopoly AZCUBA on Friday, according to the company sources and two diplomatic sources. COI has been working in Cuba for a number of years building new port facilities at Mariel Bay, just west of Havana. … 
SHAN GHAI (Reuters) – For the next few days, 26-year-old Joy Zhang will be watching her favorite American shows like "Prison Break" on a computer, since China's TV channels will be devoted to state-approved fare for the duration of the Communist Party's once-in-five-years congress. Shanghai-based Zhang, who works for a manufacturing company, is part of a growing number of young people unimpressed by patriotic period pieces known as "red" dramas that swamp the airwaves at times of major political events. … 
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Palestinian Authority circulated a dra ft resolution to U.N. member states on Wednesday that calls for upgrading its U.N. status to that of an "observer state" despite U.S. and Israeli suggestions that the Palestinians could face retaliatory moves. The draft resolution, which could be put to a vote in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly later this month, also reiterates the Palestinian Authority's commitment to the "two-state solution" in which Israel and an independent Palestinian state would co-exist in peace. … 
Iran's sanctions-fighting "resistance economy" suddenly got a lot leaner, less flashy and perhaps a bit more uncomfortable. 
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The fate of detainees held since the end of Libya's civil war is of "considerable gravity," the Uni ted Nations said on Thursday, and the government is facing growing public pressure to rebuild and reform the country's security authorities. U.N. special envoy for Libya, Tarek Mitri, told the U.N. Security Council that after an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on September 11 that killed the U.S. ambassador, about 30,000 Libyans took to the streets to demonstrate on September 21. … 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Benjamin Netanyahu phoned Barack Obama to congratulate him on his re-election on Thursday, after critics accused the Israeli prime minister of backing Mitt Romney and jeopardizing ties w ith Washington. Relations between Netanyahu and Obama have long been testy, mainly over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program. After Obama's re-election on Tuesday, some of Netanyahu's opponents – who hope to defeat him in an election on January 22 – accused the right-wing leader of backing the wrong man. … 
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU negotiators remain hopeful of a deal later this month on t he bloc's next long-term budget, despite differences of opinion between Germany, Britain and other major financial contributors. Talks on Wednesday between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister David Cameron failed to produce a compromise on the budget plan, worth a proposed 1 trillion euros (801.2 billion pounds) between 2014-2020. … 
HAREM, Syria (Reuters) – Crouching in a tent among the pine trees, two rain-soaked men trace a map in the dirt. A cigarette stub, a rock and a tuna can mark targets amid a scatter of X-marks and arrows. They might almost be football coaches making a gameplan, but in Syria these men are making war. Fighters run in from the deluge, yelling for ammunition and transport for the wounded. Thunder rumbles in the distance and blends into bursts of mortar fire. Shouting over the din, the two commanders debate tactics for taking the town of Harem, which their rebel forces have under siege. … 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Newly re-elected President Barack Obama will travel to Myanmar later this mont h, the first such trip by a U.S. president, as part of a Southeast Asia tour that will also include stops in Thailand and Cambodia, the White House confirmed on Thursday. Obama plans to meet Myanmar's President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, on his visit to Myanmar, the White House said, in the latest sign of Washington's support for democratic reforms in the once-isolated country. U.S. … 
BERLIN (Reuters) – Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives is at its highest level in five years, a poll showed on Thursday, but the weak state of her junior coalition partner may complicate the formation of the next government. The ARD-Deutschlandtrend survey showed Merkel's conservatives on 40 percent, their best showing since late 2007, and well ahead of the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD), with 30 percent. Germany holds federal elections next September. Merkel's personal popularity also shows no signs of waning. … 
SAN MARCOS, Guatemala (Reuters) – Rescue workers on Thursday carted out dead bodies found under rubble in the aftermath of Guatemala's most po werful earthquake in decades, while others cleared wrecked cars and collapsed buildings as they searched for survivors. Most of those killed by Wednesday's 7.4 magnitude quake were crushed under debris in San Marcos state, a mountainous region near the Mexican border. Nearly two dozen people were still missing and President Otto Perez forecast the death toll would climb from 52. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Most Libor interest rates should be scrap ped by April to restore trust in what remains of the tarnished benchmark that was rigged by Barclays and other banks, a trade body said on Thursday. The British Bankers Association (BBA) said only 30 of 150 variations of the London Interbank Offered Rate should remain under a proposal it published for consultation. … 
If an unprecedented debt crisis has been battering the European Union for over three years, isn't it time that EU employees take a sizeable pay cut too? 
Phrases to describe some of the looming foreign policy challenges for President Barack Obama didn't even exist when he took the oath of office the first time: the Arab Spring, the Fordo Facility housing Iran's underground uranium enrichment labs, the stealth power of new viruses bearing names such as Stuxnet and Flame in the shadow world of cyber-sabotage. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Defending champion Roger Federer guaranteed his place in the last four of the ATP World Tour Finals with a straight-sets win over Spain's David Ferrer on Thursday. The Swiss world number two, bidding for a record-extending seventh title at the end-of-season finale, dished out yet more punishment to Ferrer in a 6-4 7-6 victory at the O2, taking his career record over the tenacious Spaniard to 14-0. … 
VIENNA (Reuters) – A new political party founded by an Austrian billionaire gained its first seats in parliament on Thursday after five right-wing lawmakers defected to his Eurosceptic group. The move gives Frank Stro nach, founder of one of the world's biggest car parts makers, a platform for his anti-euro views ahead of elections next year, where he could become a kingmaker in deciding the shape of a future government coalition. …