CARSON, Calif. – When Robbie Keane firmly tapped the Los Angeles Galaxy’s third goal into the net, their roaring fans could be excused for thinking ahead to another MLS Cup celebration.
Rocket hits Israeli yard after overnight lull
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip has struck the yard of a house in southern Israel following an overnight lull in cross-border exchanges of fire. Japan PM eyes snap election after backing U.S.-led trade pact
TOKYO (Reuters) – Under growing opposition pressure to keep a promise to call an election “soon”, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda looks to be leaning toward calling a vote as early as next month, after pledging backing for a controversial U.S.-led free trade pact. The unpopular Noda may be hoping to emulate charismatic leader Junichiro Koizumi’s bold election gamble in 2005 and use a call for a major economic reform to ease the bashing his Democratic Party is expected to suffer at the hands of disappointed voters. …
BRISBANE (Reuters) – Ed Cowan scored his first test century and Michael Clarke his 20th in a fourth-wicket partnership of 259 to steer Au stralia to safety at 306 for four at tea on the fourth day of the first test on Monday. Cowan departed for 136 in heartbreaking fashion just before the break, run out at the non-striker's end when Dale Steyn got a finger to a Clarke drive and the opener was caught out of his crease backing up. … 
The soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians watched as child after child described the bloodbath that left their parents and other loved ones dead. Whatever reaction Staff Sgt. Robert Bales might have had, he kept hidden behind a calm face. 
(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc's U.S. employees will pay between 8 and 36 percent more in premiums for its medical coverage in 2013, prompting some of the 1.4 million workers at the nation's largest private employer to say they will forego coverage altogether . In mailings sent to employees for its recently completed open-enrollment period, Wal-Mart noted that its rates would increase because healthcare costs continue to rise. For its most popular plan, which covers individuals, the payment per bi-weekly paycheck is going up by $2, or 13 percent. … 
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil said it faces a $3.3 billion spike in costs at its LNG project in Papua New Guinea, the latest Asia-Pacific project to be hit by cost overruns as competition is set to grow from new gas supplies coming on tap in North America and Africa. The more than 20 percent jump in costs to $19 billion was blamed on unfavorable foreign exchange rates and delays caused by disgruntled workers and landowners, and comes after costs to develop liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in neighboring Australia to supply the Asian market have also shot up. … 
SRIPERUMBUDUR, India/SEOUL (Reuters) – Running around the clock and selling everything it can build, Hyundai Motor's Indian factory is bursting at the seams. But as demand grows and rivals scale up, the car maker has chosen to take its foot off the pedal. Hyundai's strategic decision to focus on quality over quantity, even as its production lines are stretched in India and elsewhere, risks losing hard-won market share and is forcing it to divert output from its plant outside Chennai away from exports to other high-growth markets to meet domestic demand. … 
Lei Shujie, a designer in Shanghai, piled up a wish list for the quirky holiday dubbed "Singles Day" that has grown into China's -- and possibly the world's -- busiest online shopping day. 
LISBON (Reuters) – Angela Merkel flies to Lisbon on Monday, bringing her personal endorsement for a government battling to cut deficits under the terms of a German-backed bailout as Portugal suffers its deepest slump since the 1970s. "Portugal is meeting the commitments it has assumed very well," the chancellor told Portuguese broadcaster RTP on Sunday – a vote of confidence fellow conservative Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will welcome, as he presses compatriots to take more pain and tries to distance Portugal from troubled Greece. … 
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares were capped on Monday as investor sentiment was weighed down by concerns over U.S. fiscal woes as well as Greece's bailout, despite improving economic data from the world's two largest economies, the United States an d China. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent after ending last week down 0.7 percent at one-week low. Australian shares fell 0.3 percent while South Korean shares opened down 0.3 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average opened down 0.6 percent to a four-week low. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's BBC could be doomed unless it makes radical changes, the head of its governing trust said, after its director general quit to take the blame for the airing of false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician. BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten said on Sunday confidence had to be restored if the publicly funded corporation was to withstand pressure from rivals, especially Rupert Murdoch's media empire, which would try to take advantage of the turmoil. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – UK lawmakers will quiz executives of Starbucks , Google and Amazon on Monday about how they have managed to pay only small amounts of tax in Britain while racking up billions of dollars worth of sales here. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is charged with monitoring government financial affairs, has invited the companies to give evidence amid mounting public and political concern about tax avoidance by big international companies. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – UK lawmakers will quiz executives of Starbucks, Google and Amazon on Monday about how they have managed to pay only small amounts of tax in Britain while rackin g up billions of dollars worth of sales here. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is charged with monitoring government financial affairs, has invited the companies to give evidence amid mounting public and political concern about tax avoidance by big international companies. … 
Greek lawmakers have approved the country's 2013 austerity budget, an essential step in Greece's efforts to persuade its international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan installment without which the country will go bankrupt. 
LISBON (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday Portugal has fully met all the goals it set in its 78-billion-euro bailout, adding the Iberian country does not need new financial h elp. "Portugal is meeting the commitments it has taken on very well," Merkel told Portuguese broadcaster RTP, a day before making a trip to Lisbon. When asked if Portugal needs a new bailout, as some economists have argued, Merkel said: "I don't have this view. … 
DOHA (Reuters) – Syria's fractious opposition finally put aside fierce arguments on Sunday to rally behind a new leader within a new coalition that its Western and Arab backers hope can topple Bashar al-Assad and take over the cou ntry. After days of wrangling in Qatar under constant cajoling by exasperated Arab, U.S. and other officials, representatives of groups including rebel fighters, veteran dissidents and ethnic and religious minorities agreed to join a new assembly that can form a government-in-exile. … 
KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Apart from a small bust of Chairman Mao beside his armchair, Nepali Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai flaunts no trappings of his revolutionary past: these days he talks of foreign investment, infrastructure projects and double-digit growth. The trouble is that, since they handed over their guns at the end of a decade-long insurrection in 2006, Nepal's Maoists have done no better at running the Himalayan republic than the corrupt and incompetent political mainstream they joined. … 
No candidate appeared to win an outright majority in Sunday's presidential election in Slovenia, and a runoff is expected next month between the incumbent and a former prime minister. 
OMIYA, Japan (Reuters) – The road to China's breakdown in relations with Japan began here – a sleepy Tokyo suburb that is home to the reclusive real-estate investor at the centre of the explosive pro perty deal that enraged Beijing. Surrounded by concrete walls, security cameras and warnings of guard dogs, Kunioki Kurihara has shunned the spotlight in his compound since closing a deal to sell three uninhabited islands in the East China Sea to Japan's government in September. … 
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Indian centr al bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao's standoff with a finance ministry that wants interest rates reduced sooner rather than later may prove the defining moment of his tenure. But while he wins plaudits for asserting the Reserve Bank of India's autonomy, Subbarao's policy draws mixed reviews. Indian interest rates are among the highest of all the major world economies at a time when the country is set to register its worst growth rate in a decade, yet inflation has remained uncomfortably high for nearly three years. … 
The BBC, one of the largest and most respected broadcasters in the world, is mired in crisis, with the latest blow being the resignation of its chief in the wake of a scandal over how it has handled and reported upon child sex abuse cases. 
Valerie Eliot, the widow of T.S. Eliot and zealous guardian of the poet's literary legacy for almost half a century, has died. She was 86. 
After a gap of more than two years, a total eclipse of the sun will be visible this week from northeastern Australia. Residents and visitors in Cairns in Queensland will see the moon completely cover the sun for two minutes in the eastern sky shortly after local sunrise. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Robbie Williams was the king of the British pop charts on Sunday after he secured both the UK single and album number ones, the Official Charts Company said, Williams&# 039;s album "Take The Crown" beat a swathe of other new releases for the top spot, giving him his 10th number one album in 15 years as a solo artist. Violinist Andre Rieu debuted in second place with "Magic Of The Movies", with boy band JLS another new entry in third with "Evolution". … 
Shooting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim gunmen in southern Lebanon killed three people and wounded at least five Sunday, officials said, in the latest sign Syria's civil war may be spilling over to Lebanon. 
Speaker John A. Boehner is trying to assert control over a chastened House G.O.P. ahead of negotiations to avert sudden tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts in January.By JONATHAN WEISMAN and JENNIFER STEINHAUER 
BERLIN (Reuters) – Austria's Deputy Chancellor has threatene d that the country will veto a deal on the European Union's long-term budget if it does not get its rebate or if subsidies for agricultural development are cut. Austria is the latest EU member to threaten to veto the deal ahead of a November 22-23 EU summit to discuss the bloc's 1 trillion euro spending plan for 2014-2020. Hopes for a swift deal at the meeting have already been dented after talks on the 2013 budget collapsed in acrimony on Friday. … 
Police have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at a right-wing march that took place in Warsaw as Poland marked its independence day. 
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine's rulin g party has emerged from the fractious October 28 election well short of a simple majority, but support from communists and independents should ensure its grip on the new parliament, analysts said. Opposition parties, who made a strong showing in an election criticized as flawed by international observers, said they would continue to regard voting in some electoral districts where they had lost as crooked. … 
Politicians and royalty observed a moment of silence at tombs across Europe on Sunday to commemorate the end of fighting in World War I and remember the millions of soldiers who died in that conflict.