YANGON, Myanmar – A strong earthquake struck northern Myanmar on Sunday, collapsing a bridge, damaging several old Buddhist pagodas and leaving at least six people dead, according to local media reports.
Mayor: Explosion destroys 2 homes, sets others ablaze in Indianapolis neighbourhood; injuries
INDIANAPOLIS – A thunderous, late-night explosion destroyed at least two homes in Indianapolis and set surrounding homes ablaze, causing injuries, authorities said Sunday.
Israel kills Gaza rocket crewman in second day of clashes
GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian militant in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip on Sunday as a surge in cross-border violence entered its second day, local officials said. Islamic Jihad, a smaller faction than Hamas which often operates independently, identified the dead man as one of its own, saying he was a member of a rocket crew hit by an Israeli missile in Jabalya, northern Gaza. The Israeli military confirmed carrying out an air strike in the area. …
Strong quake strikes Myanmar; at least 6 killed
A strong earthquake struck northern Myanmar on Sunday, collapsing a bridge, damaging several old Buddhist pagodas and leaving at least six people dead, according to local media reports.
Arab Spring economies to recover slowly in 2013: IMF
DUBAI (Reuters) – Most economies hit by the Arab Spring uprisings will recover slowly next year, grappling with high inflation and rising unemployment due to poor global con ditions, the International Monetary Fund predicted in a report on Sunday. In its twice-yearly outlook for the Middle East and North Africa, the global lender said a partial return of political stability could permit somewhat faster growth in the combined output of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen during 2013. But weak demand in Europe and other regions will weigh on the Arab Spring states, it said. … 
Palestinians say a Gaza man has been killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike. 
BEIJING (Reuters) 211; China announced on Saturday that it is effectively turning the corner on the economy and likely to meet its growth target for the year, more good news for Communist Party policy makers meeting in Beijing to anoint new leaders for the next decade. The world's second-biggest economy had halted a slowing trend, the chief of the economic planning agency said, adding that he was confident GDP growth would exceed 7.5 percent in 2012 though at the same time warning against complacency. … 
(Reuters) – Apple Inc and HTC Corp announced on Saturday a global patent settlement and 10-year license agreement that includes current and future patents held by the companies. Apple sued HTC in 2010, accusing the Taiwanese handset company of infringing the iPhone maker's patented technology. It was Apple's first major legal salvo against a manufacturer that used Google's Android operating system. Apple and HTC did not disclose specific terms of the settlement. (Reporting By Dan Levine; Editing by Peter Cooney) 
Three days of searching has found no trace of three European tourists who went missing while hiking at one of this South American nation's most active volcanos, authorities said Saturday. 
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the troi ka of international lenders to Athens was unlikely to deliver a full report in time for Monday's euro zone finance ministers meeting and that talks over Greek budget controls continued. Schaeuble echoed his recent comments about Greece in an interview with German paper Welt am Sonntag, published on the eve of the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels where the main topic will be unfreezing lending to Athens. … 
China's leadership transition has formally edged ahead, with the executive body of the Communist Party Congress forwarding a list of names to congress delegates for review. 
LONDON (Reuters) – BBC Director General George Entwistle resig ned on Saturday, just two months into the job, after the state-funded broadcaster put out a programme denounced by its chairman as shoddy journalism. The BBC, reeling from revelations that a former star presenter was a paedophile, brought further problems on its head when a flagship news programme, Newsnight, aired a mistaken allegation that a former top politician sexually abused children. … 
George Entwistle, the director general of the BBC, has resigned over a TV program it aired that wrongly implicated a British politician in a child sex-abuse scandal. 
LONDON (Reuters) – BBC Director General George Entwistle resigned on Saturday, just two months into the job, after failing to get to grips with a child sex abuse scandal that has thrown the 90-year-old state-fu nded broadcaster into turmoil. Entwistle has faced widespread criticism since a rival broadcaster carried charges last month that a former BBC star, the late Jimmy Savile, was one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders. … 
TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – An Afghan villager and two of his sons, who survived a night-time shooting rampage in March, testified on Saturday that they saw only one U.S. soldier attacking their compound, backing the U.S. government's account. Military prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accusing him of killing 16 villagers, mostly women and children, when he ventured out of his remote camp on two revenge-fueled forays over a five-hour period in March. … 
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia's No.2 mobile phone company, MegaFon , is likely to go ahead with its planned stock market float in London this year after receiving an unofficial green light from the UK regulator, sources famili ar with the matter said.? MegaFon had aimed to raise around $2 billion from its initial public offering this year, but several sources have said it would have to delay the share sale until 2013 if it did not get the nod from the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) in time. … 
(Reuters) – IBM, which is being sued by chemicals manufacturer Avantor Performance Materials for fraud and breach of contract in connection with a software project, s aid the accusations were blown out of proportion and that it was surprised by the move. "We believe the allegations in the complaint are exaggerated and misguided and are surprised that Avantor chose to file suit," the company said late on Friday in an emailed statement. IBM said it had "met its contractual obligations and delivered a solution that Avantor continued to use in its operations. … 
The newly elected leader of Syria's main opposition group slammed the international community for what he called inaction, saying Saturday that fighters are in desperate need of weapons to break the stalemate with President Bashar Assad's forces. 
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Saturday started a new Vatican department to promote the study an d use of Latin in the Roman Catholic Church and beyond. The old-style Latin Mass was phased out more than 40 years ago in favor of local languages, but the pope is giving it another try. Latin remains the official language of the universal church. The Vatican said the pope had instituted the Pontifical Academy for Latin Studies, placing it under the auspices of the Vatican's ministry for culture. … 
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – President Barack Obama was declared the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes Saturday, ending a four-day count with a razor-thin margin that narrowly avoided an automatic recount that would have brought back memories of 2000. 
British police say a 16-year-old boy who used prosthetics and dreadlocks to cond uct armed robberies in disguise has been jailed for five years. 
Bahrain's paramilitary National Guard deployed into new areas around the violence-wracked Gulf nation Saturday in an apparent sign that authorities are stepping up efforts to quell politic al unrest. 
F.B.I. agents investigating a complaint discovered e-mail exchanges between Paula Broadwell and David H. Petraeus that revealed their affair, a government official said.By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC SCHMITT 
After President Obama won 71 percent of the Latino vote on Tuesday, Republicans began rethinking their attitudes toward immigration reform, saying they could support a fix.By JULIA PRESTON 
A compromise in the constituent assembly accepted that “the principles of Islamic law” should guide law, but leaves it up to Parliament and the courts to determine how and what.By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK 
Domingo Martinez, nominated for a National Book Award for “The Boy Kings of Texas,” which recalls his difficult childhood in Brownsville, visits his hometown for the first time in almost 10 years.By LAURA TILLMAN 
As a reproductive health bill advances in the Philippines, it is peak baby-delivery season, with women and their newborns are sleeping two to a bed at one Manila hospital.By FLOYD WHALEY 
The head writer and vice president for creative at Rockstar Games speaks about what they are trying to achieve with Grand Theft Auto V, due out next spring.By CHRIS SUELLENTROP 
Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, complained about being strip-searched, isolated and being issued a pen that made his hand cramp.By SCOTT SAYARE 
QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador's President Rafael Correa confirmed on Saturday that he will run for re-election in a vote scheduled for February 2013, which he is expected to win comfortably. The 49-year-old, U.S.-e ducated leftist leader has high popularity levels thanks to heavy state spending of oil and tax revenues on infrastructure and social welfare projects. Ecuador's opposition is divided and without a strong leader. (Reporting By Eduardo Garcia) 
TORONTO (Reuters) – Interest rate hikes have become less imminent than the Bank of Canada once expected, although rates are still likely to rise, central ban k Governor Mark Carney said in an interview published on Saturday. "Over time, rates are likely to increase somewhat, but over time, so a less imminent timing relative to our expectation," Carney said in an interview with the National Post newspaper. … 
CEYLANPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) – Gun and mortar fire could be heard on Saturday from the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain two days after it fell to rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, and refugees who had fled to Turkey said they feared retribution from the air. Laden with what possessions they could carry, Syrians continued to cross the border into Turkey, some saying they were scared the fighting was not over and Assad's fighter planes and helicopters would be back. … 
JEDDAH/LONDON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia's market regulator said it was not aware of any investigation into a license it granted British bank Barclays three years ago, after a report that U.S. authorities are probing whether improper payments were made. The Department of Justice (DoJ) is investigating whether Barclays made any improper payment to win a banking license in Saudi Arabia to operate a wealth-management arm and investment bank, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the investigation. … 
DOHA (Reuters) – Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were struggling to form a new leadership in Qatar on Saturday despite objections from the Islamist-flavored Syrian National Council (SNC), which fears it will be sidelined. The United States and Qatar have pressed the foreign-based SNC to join an assembly proposed by noted Syrian dissident Riad Seif that would include armed rebel groups fighting in Syria. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's public broadcaster, reeling from revelations that one of its former stars was a paedophile, was struggling to conta in damage on Saturday after a flagship news programme aired a mistaken allegation that an ex-politician sexually abused children. The BBC had already issued a full apology on Friday, but on Saturday its director general had to admit under questioning from his own journalists that he had not known in advance about the Newsnight report, weeks after being accused of being too hands-off over the previous scandal on the same programme. … 
TORONTO/VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Bombardier Inc's decision this week to delay the maiden flight of its new C-Series jetliner raised questions about the company's ability to de liver the jet on time – and the amount it may have to discount the price to boost sales. Tripped up by supplier delays, Bombardier pushed back the inaugural flight by six months, a blow that adds to a host of challenges the world's No. 3 planemaker faces in cracking the narrow body jetliner market dominated by Boeing Co and Airbus . … 
(Reuters) – The United States has refused a request from Russia that convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout be returned to his home country to spend the remainder of his 25-year prison term, a Russian Foreign Mini stry official said on Saturday. Bout, 54, was sentenced in April after a Manhattan federal court trial jury convicted him on charges that he agreed to sell arms to people he thought were militants intent on attacking American soldiers in Colombia. He was the subject of a book called "Merchant of Death" and inspiration for a film "Lord of War" starring Nicolas Cage. … 
ABUJA (Reuters) – Exxon has shut a pipeline off the coast of Nigeria's Akwa Ibom state after an oil leak started by an unknown cause, the company's local unit said on Saturday. "(Exxon Nigeria) confirms that on Novemb er 9 an oil release occurred offshore Akwa Ibom State," Mobil Producing Nigeria, Exxon's local unit, said in an emailed statement. "The source of the leak was identified and the pipeline was isolated and shutdown." (Reporting by Joe Brock; Editing by Toby Chopra) 
(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc is in settlement talks with the U.S. government over an $8.3 billion position that one of the investment bank's traders had concealed five years ago, according to a published report. The Financial T imes said a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates U.S. futures and options markets, is expected in the coming weeks, citing two sources familiar with the plans. Goldman declined to comment and the CFTC could not be reached for comment. … 
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – More than 30,000 striking workers at Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg mines in South Africa rejected the firm's new return-to-work offer on Saturday, a labor leader said. Amplats said on Friday it offered a 4,500 rand ($520) one-off payment and agreed to start wage talks ahead of the expiry of current agreements next year. The offer would lapse if workers do not show up for work on Monday, Amplats said. "Nobody is going back to work on Monday. The strike continues," labor leader Evans Ramokga said. … 
On a cloudy autumn morning a flock of chocolate-brown sandpipers slipped across the horizon toward a stretch of mangrove trees and mud flats outside Panama City, hunting for food and a resting spot on the long trip down from North America. 
PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech government must change tack to help the economy out of a recession and "stop scaring" the public with further budget tightening, Prime Minister Petr Necas was quoted as saying on Saturday. Pressure has been building on his centre-right cabinet to ease its austerity zeal after the economy slid into a recession and Necas's Civic Democrats suffered a drubbing in regional and Senate election last month as voters punished them for spending cuts and sleaze scandals. … 
The newly elected leader of Syria's main opposition bloc in exile struck a co mbative tone Saturday, saying international inaction rather than divisions among anti-regime groups are to blame for the inability to end the bloodshed in Syria. 
Spain's prime minister says his government aims to fast track reforms to halt evictions related to mortgage non-payments after a woman committed suicide as bailiffs arrived to repossess her flat. 
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A Vatican court on Saturday found Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer expert, guilty of obstruction of justice in the investigation of leaks of sensitive papal documents to the media by Pope Benedict's former butler. The same court which last month convicted Paolo Gabriele, the Pope's former butler, gave Sciarpelletti a two-month suspended sentence. Sciarpelletti had been charged with aiding and abetting Gabriele in leaking the document. …