JOHANNESBURG – An airport official says a chartered aircraft flying from South Africa to Malawi aborted its flight after one of its wheels caught fire. No injuries were reported.
Calgary Stampeder quarterback Drew Tate clarifies concussion comments
CALGARY – Calgary Stampeders quarterback Drew Tate says he didn’t remember the first half of the CFL West Division semifinal because he wanted to erase it from his memory, not because of a concussion.
Afghan Haqqani faction would consider talks under Taliban
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – The Haqqani network, considered the most lethal insurgent faction in Afghanistan, would take part in peace talks with the United States but only under the direction of their Afghan Taliban leaders, a top faction commander said on Tuesday. The commander, speaking to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, also said the group would keep up pressure on Western forces with high-profile attacks. …
Despite rebel deal, Syria can keep up the fight
Nearly 20 months into the Syrian uprising, President Bashar Assad’s message to the world has been nothing if not consistent: His military is strong, his enemies are mere terrorists and he will prevail in the end.
Australia's INXS calls it quits as touring band after 35 years
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian rock group INXS has called it quits as a live touring band after 35 years, thanking fans and honoring late frontman Michael Hutchence in a statement on Tuesday. INXS, which sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, including more than 10 million alone of their 1987 breakthrough "Kick", issued the statement after comments by band member Jon Farriss during a weekend performance sparked a frenzy on Twitter. … Pentagon investigating top US commander in Afghanistan for emails to woman in Petraeus scandal
The Pentagon says the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, is under investigation for alleged “inappropriate communications” with Jill Kelley, the woman who is said to have received threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom former CIA Director David Petraeus had an extramarital affair.
Israel considers resumption of Gaza assassinations
Israel is considering resuming its contentious practice of assassinating militant leaders in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in an effort to halt intensified rocket attacks on Israel’s south, according to defense officials.
Gen. Petraeus sex scandal engrosses Americans as more details emerge
WASHINGTON – A CIA sex scandal seemingly lifted from the script of a teenaged soap opera is enthralling the United States despite the aftermath of a presidential election that has spurred a substantive debate about the changing face of America.
Three rockets hit Kabul-police
KABUL (Reuters) – A rocket landed near the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul on Tuesday, a police official said. Mohammad Zahir, head of the criminal investigation department, told Reuters two other rockets also struck near the airport highway and a private television station. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties. (Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Michael Georgy; editing by Miral Fahmy)
Clouds may ruin trip for eclipse fans in Australia
Tens of thousands of tourists, scientists and amateur astronomers who traveled from around the world to see a total solar eclipse in northern Australia may be getting shortchanged by the weather.
Police: 4 rockets fired on Afghan capital; 1 dead
At least four rockets were fired into the Afghan capital Tuesday morning, killing one man and injuring three other people, police said.
China's local delegates revel in their moment close to power during pivotal party congress
BEIJING, China – Tears welled in Li Jian’s eyes whenever President Hu Jintao mentioned the environment in his speech to Communist Party delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People during China’s most important political event of the decade.
NY governor plans to seek $30 billion in federal aid to rebuild after superstorm
ALBANY, N.Y. – New York’s governor plans to request $30 billion in U.S. aid to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy, which heavily damaged parts of New York City and Long Island.
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 B ritain 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. … 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli aircraft struck three times in Gaza in the early hours of Tuesday morning, hitting a weapons storage facility and two rocket launching sites used by militants, the military said in a statement. As a growing crisis in the Gaza Strip moved into a fifth day, the Israeli army said it had scored direct hits on the targets. No casualties were reported in the strikes which caused loud explosions. Israel warned that it would hit hard at Palestinian militants who launch rockets into the Jewish state. … 
China accused the Dalai Lama of allying with Japanese right-wingers in an island dispute as a way of attacking China and blamed him for glorifying a wave of self-immolations among Tibetans. The comments came as state media reported two more Tibetans died after setting themselves on fire. 
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A New Zealand court ordered an anti-monarchist on Tuesday to stay away from Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla after he was charged with planning to throw horse manure at the visiting royal couple. Sam Bracanov, a 76-year-old with a history of protest against the British royal family, pleaded not guilty to preparing to commit a crime, a day after he was arrested in Auckland. The royal couple had not yet arrived in New Zealand's largest city. Bracanov was ordered to stay at least 500 meters (550 yards) away from the royal couple as part of his bail conditions. … 
Greece's international creditors failed to agree Monday on how to get the country's bailout program back on track and put off again the release of the next batch loans that Athens is using to pay its day-to-day bills. 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With the U.S. election over and Syria's civil war growing bloodier and spreading, the Obama administration is quietly re-examining its options for involvement in the conflict. Whether that will lead to a change in strategy remains unclear. President Barack Obama and his advisers are extremely cautious, current and former officials involved in discussions say. But those who favor greater U.S. involvement – not least Syrian opposition leaders – clearly believe their time has come. … 
Police say they caught a New Zealand man before he had a chance to throw a bucket of horse manure over Prince Charles and his wife Camilla during a royal visit to the Pacific nation. 
LONDON (Reuters) – British house prices fell at their slowest pace in more than two years last month as demand from prospective buyers grew, suggesting property prices may be bottoming out, a survey sho wed on Tuesday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) seasonally adjusted house price balance rose to -7 in October from an upwardly revised -14 the month before. It was the highest reading since December 2009 and easily beat economists' consensus forecast of -15. … 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With the U.S. election over and Syria's civil war growing bloodier and spreading, the Obama administration is quietly re-examining its options fo r involvement in the conflict. Whether that will lead to a change in strategy remains unclear. President Barack Obama and his advisers are extremely cautious, current and former officials involved in discussions say. But those who favor greater U.S. involvement – not least Syrian opposition leaders – clearly believe their time has come. … 
FREETOWN (Reuters) – Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma denied on Monday accusations he is soft on corruption in a last-minute defen se before November 17 elections in which he is seeking a second term. Koroma will face top opposition rival and former junta leader Julius Maada Bio in polls widely seen as a test of the resource-rich West African state's recovery a decade after a civil war. Koroma, a former insurance broker in power since 2007, is favored to win but has drawn fire from rivals claiming he has done little to root out graft. … 
PARIS (Reuters) – In a cafe near the former site of Paris's Bastille prison, activists held a meeting last month to decide whether to join unions in protesting the French government's belt-tightening. Only five people turned up at Cafe Maldoror, a favored haunt of the radical left. Even in the city whose revolutionary credentials date back to the 1789 uprising that began at the gates of its famous prison, calls to build a European-wide popular front against the toughest budget cuts in a generation are falling on deaf ears. "In France people… … 
The U.S. military has been criticized for its spotty record on convicting troops of killing civilians, but a hearing against Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales involving a massacre in Afghanistan has shown that it isn't like most cases. 
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the Obama administration is nearing a decision in the next few weeks on how many U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan -- and for what purposes -- after the U.S.-led combat mission ends in 2014. 
ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Nov 12 – The United States will determine in the next several weeks how many troops it will keep in Afghanistan as part of a residual force following the drawdown of most combat forces at the end of 2014, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday. Panetta said the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, had submitted several recommendations for an enduring presence which were being reviewed by the Pentagon and White House. … 
PARIS (Reuters) – France said on Monday it was ready to start releasing almost $2 billion in frozen assets belonging to Libya's sovereign wealth fund, as it looks to secure investment from the oil-producing nation. France's For eign Minister Laurent Fabius made the announcement during a visit to Tripoli, the latest in a series of high-level French political and business delegations to the OPEC member. France spearheaded efforts to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi last year and, as part of wide-ranging international sanctions, froze about $8-9 billion in assets held in France. … 
BEIJING (Reuters) – In 2007, a year before Beijing hosted the Olympics, Chin a's Communist rulers made a special effort at a five-yearly congress to show the world transparency and grant rare open access to foreign media. This year's conclave is however overshadowed by China's biggest political scandal in three decades enveloping former high-flyer Bo Xilai and a tricky leadership transition, and that effort has gone into reverse, at least as far as political policy is concerned. … 
Israeli tanks struck a Syrian artillery launcher Monday after a stray mortar shell flew into Israel-held territory, the first direct clash between the neighbors since the Syrian uprising began nearly two years ago. 
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Pu tin said on Monday he was ready to review or move more slowly on a clutch of recent laws that rights campaigners say are aimed at silencing his critics. Since Putin's re-election in March, preceded by the largest protests in his 12 years in power, parliament has rushed through laws tightening controls on the Internet, increasing the penalties for defamation and expanding the definition of high treason, among others. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Police arrested a 24-year-old man at Heathrow airport on Monday as part of an investigation into people travelling to Syria for "alleged terrorist activity". The man, who had arrived in the UK on a plane from Ba hrain, was held "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", said the force. He was taken to a police station in south London for questioning by officers from Counter Terrorism Command, the police added in a statement. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – British energy regulators on Monday said they are investigating claims made by a whistleblower that UK traders have manipulated wholesale prices on Europe's biggest gas market. The allegation was made by a whistleblower to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on November 9, who claimed to show that gas traders were seeking to rig the price of wholesale gas prices, according to an article in the Guardian newspaper. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – MPs criticised executives of Starbucks, Google and Amazon on Monday for not paying more tax in Britain and Amazon said it had received a $252 million (158.7 million pounds) demand for bac k taxes from France. Britain's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is charged with monitoring government financial affairs, invited the companies to give evidence amid mounting public and political concern about tax avoidance by big international companies. … 
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine's re-energized opposition on Monday threatened President Viktor Yanukovich with impeachment and vowed to work to free ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko from jail as they set out an action program for the new parliament. The three parties, which include Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), far-right nationalists and a liberal party headed by boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, made their call in a joint statement in which they grudgingly accepted the results of the disputed October 28 election. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain could save electricity equal to the generation of 22 power stations by improving efficiency, the Department of Energy and Climate Changes (DECC) said on Monday as it unveiled the UK's first energy efficiency drive. Cutting electricity con sumption in British homes, businesses and factories would help the country meet greenhouse gas reduction targets and ease the need to replace ageing power stations in the coming decades. … 
Syria's neighbors are increasingly being drawn into the country's civil war in a variety of ways, whether militarily or due to an exodus of Syrians fleeing the fighting at home. The spillover has raised concerns that the nearly 20-month-long conflict between Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and rebels trying to topple him could endanger the entire Middle East. 
Gaza militants pummeled southern Israel with rockets for a third day in a row on Monday, increasing internal pressure on the Israeli government to retaliate. 
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Ukraine's October 28 parliamentary election was marred by a delayed vote count and other irregularities, the European Union said o n Monday. The criticism by the bloc – which has frozen a trade deal with Ukraine because of concerns over the country's political and justice systems – came a day after final election results showed the ruling party would likely keep its grip on parliament. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain could force banks to fully separate their retail o perations from riskier areas if lenders fail to implement a "ring-fence" that sufficiently safeguards taxpayers or improves behaviour, the architect of the plan said on Monday. John Vickers headed up the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), which recommended UK banks shielded or "ring-fenced" their retail operations from riskier investment banking activities but stopped short of advocating a total separation. … 
Few seem to be enjoying the management meltdown at the venerable BBC more than Rupert Murdoch, the News Corp. chief whose rival British newspapers have been caught up in their own lengthy, embarrassing and expensive phone hacking scandal. 
BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Barcelona may be Spain's second city, but some tourists to this top Mediterranean travel spot m ight get a surprise when they find that traffic signs, advertisements and menus are not in Spanish but another romance language: Catalan. The language, which is similar to Spanish and French, was banned for almost 40 years during the right-wing dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and only used secretly, in the home. … 
In a capital so dangerous that only the "walking dead" are said to venture out after dark, nothing could draw an obedient son from the safety of his parents' suburban home into the deserted night. 
BERLIN (Reuters) – The Greens, Germany's third biggest political force, aim to poach votes from Angela Merke l's conservatives in next year's federal election, they said on Monday, after selecting new leaders with broad middle-class appeal. The Greens rejected suggestions they had chosen their twin candidates with an eye on a coalition with Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their CSU Bavarian allies in 2013 instead of with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). … 
Spain's major banks agreed on Monday to suspend some evictions of homeowners unable to pay their mortgages after hundreds of thousands of Spaniards lost their homes during the crushing economic crisis and two recently committed suicide. 
A radical Islamist cleric described by prosecutors as a key al-Qaida operative in Europe cannot be deported from Britain to Jordan to face terrorism charges, judges ruled Monday in the latest twist in a protracted legal saga. 
A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu. 
(Reuters) – Research In Motion Ltd plans to introduce its new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones on January 30, the company said on Monday, giving investors a measure of confidenc e that the long-awaited devices are nearing completion. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, is betting its future on the new products, which will be powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system. Its shares rose 5.5 percent to $9.01 in trading before the U.S. stock markets opened. … 
(Reuters) – Canada's main stock index looked set to open higher on Monday, after data showed that China's export growth climbed to a five-month high above 11 percent, beating expectations and adding to recent data suggesting an economic growth recovery. TOP ST ORIES Comments by China's two top banking officials playing down the risks of bad debt in the banking system provided the latest upbeat signal from Beijing suggesting seven straight quarters of slowing growth have ended. …