Israel’s military says it has struck more than 800 targets in the Gaza Strip, as it expands a fierce air assault responding to rocket launches from the Palestinian territory.
China says does not want South China Sea overshadowing summit
BEIJING (Reuters) – A regional summit opening in Cambodia this weekend should not be overshadowed by a dispute over the South China Sea as the situation is under control and cou ntries involved can resolve differences themselves, a top Chinese diplomat said on Saturday. China's assertion of sovereignty over the stretch of water off its south coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia has set it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to parts, making it Asia's biggest potential military trouble spot. … Myanmar welcomes Obama with graffiti
When Arker Kyaw heard President Barack Obama was coming to Myanmar, he gathered 15 cans of spray paint and headed for a blank brick wall under cover of darkness. Kyaw, whose passion is graffiti, labored from 3 a.m. until the sun came up. Passing taxi drivers and the occasional pedestrian gave him signs of encouragement as Obama's grinning, uplifted face took shape against a background of the American and Myanmar flags. Woods visits did nothing for Aussie golf, says Thomson
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Tiger Woods’s taxpayer-funded visits Down Under did nothing to help Australia’s ailing golf tour, which is stuck in a losing battle for relevance unless it does more to embrace Asia, according to five-times British Open champion Peter Thomson. Woods’s tournament appearances in Sydney and Melbourne over the last three years brought crowds and media attention to Australian golf courses not seen since former world number one Greg Norman was in his prime. Any hopes that Woods had put Australia back on the golfing map, however, were specious, Thomson told Reuters. …
Golf-Woods visits did nothing for Aussie golf, says Thomson
MELBOURNE, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Tiger Woods’s taxpayer-funded visits Down Under did nothing to help Australia’s ailing golf tour, which is stuck in a losing battle for relevance unless it does more to embrace Asia, according to five-times British Open champion Peter Thomson. Woods’s tournament appearances in Sydney and Melbourne over the last three years brought crowds and media attention to Australian golf courses not seen since former world number one Greg Norman was in his prime. Any hopes that Woods had put Australia back on the golfing map, however, were specious, Thomson told Reuters. …
Myanmar president says will address sectarian violence
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar's president blamed nationalist and religious extremists for the violence between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine State in October that killed at least 89 people, and the United Nations said he had promised to address the underlying problems. Thein Sein's remarks, in a meeting with Buddhists and Muslims carried by state television late on Friday and in a letter to the United Nations, came three days before U.S. President Barack Obama is due to visit the country, also known as Burma. … 
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's Cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists late on Friday, preparing the ground for a possible Gaza invasion after Palestinians fired a rocket toward Jerusalem for the first time in decades. Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial centre, also came under rocket attack for the second straight day, in defiance of an Israeli air offensive that began on Wednesday with the declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching cross-border attacks that have plagued southern Israel for years. … 
Israel expanded its fierce air assault on rocket operations in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, striking Hamas government and security compounds, smuggling tunnels and electricity sources after an unprecedented rocket attack aimed at the holy city of Jerusalem raised the stakes in its violent confrontation with Palestinian militants. 
Greed is good for penguins that huddle together to avoid Antarctica's icy weather. 
(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union that it says is behind such actions. Wal-Mart filed an unfair labor practice charge against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt what the retailer says are unlawful attempts to disrupt its business. … 
AMMAN (Reuters) – Thousands of d emonstrators chanted the Arab Spring slogan "the people want the downfall of the regime" in Jordan on Friday, although a day billed as the culmination of three days of protests passed off largely in peace. Jordan has so far largely avoided the unrest that has swept across the Middle East over the past two years, but a decision this week to raise fuel prices led to the demonstrations. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Major banks have announced some 160,000 job cuts since early last year and with more layoffs to come as the industry restructures, many will leave the shrinking sector for good as redundancies outpace new hires by roughly two-to-one. A Reuters analysis of job cuts announced by 29 major banks showed the layoffs were much bigger in Europe than in Asia or the United States. That is a particular blow to Britain where the finance industry makes up roughly 10 percent of the economy. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gravity has taken hold of Apple, and a lot of investors have been smacked on the head. Apple Inc, the largest U.S. stock by market value, was headed toward its eigh th straight week of declines on Friday, as the rush to secure profits before a potential hike in capital gains taxes next year has investors dumping the market favorite. Since hitting a record high of $705.07 a share in September, Apple has lost about a quarter of its value. The stock's descent has vastly outpaced those of the S&P 500, which is down just under 7 percent in the same time frame. … 
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co and Credit Suisse Group AG will pay a combined $416.9 million to settle U.S. civil charges that the y misled investors in the sale of risky mortgage bonds prior to the 2008 financial crisis, regulators said on Friday. JPMorgan will pay $296.9 million, while Credit Suisse will pay $120 million in a separate case, with the money going to harmed investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. … 
The image of a dead preschooler cradled by the prime ministers of Egypt and Gaza in a hospital hallway has drawn attention to the dangers Gaza's children face in this crowded urban battle zone. 
Leehee Gold enberg was having lunch at an outdoor cafe in Tel Aviv, Israel's largest metropolis, when an air-raid siren wailed. She and other diners knew the drill: They dashed inside the coffee shop and kept away from the windows. Then, from a distance, came the boom. Minutes later, everyone was back outdoors, chatting loudly. 
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin provoked angry criticism from bloggers and activists on Friday when he suggested to German Chancellor Angela Merkel that one of the jailed women from the Pussy Riot punk band was anti-Semitic. Putin made his comments after Merkel made clear she saw the two-year sentences the women were serving for a raucous protest against him in a church as excessive. … 
CAIRO (Reuters) – President Mohamed Mursi will not attend the installation ceremony of the new Coptic pope, the church said on Friday, to the dismay of Christians who fear being sidelined in the new Islamist-led Egypt. Pope Tawadros II, will be installed at Cairo's Abbasiya Cathedral on Sunday in a ceremony attended by Christian leaders from several countries as well as Egyptian public figures. A church source told Reuters: "We don't know why Mursi will not attend but it is a major event and nothing should stand in the way of him attending … … 
Hamas rocket squads aimed at Jerusalem for the first time Friday, along with commercial hub Tel Aviv, showing off their expanded reach as Israeli airstrikes pounded the Palestinian territory for a third day. Israel called up 16,000 reservists, moving a step closer to a possible ground offensive in the Palestinian territory. 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Friday to "name and shame" Russian human rights violators as part of a broader bill to drop Cold War-era trade restrictions, brushing off warnings from Moscow that the move would damage relations. The House voted 365-43 to approve the legislation, which takes a jab at the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin while ensuring U.S. companies get the full benefits of Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization on August 22. … 
BEIJING (Reuters) – Where other top Chinese leaders can only stand around and look awkward in the presence of English-speaking dignitaries, premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang stands out for his casual and disarming command of the language. Li's English skills say more about the man who will run the world's second-largest economy than just an ability to schmooze U.S. CEOs and European prime ministers – they were learned as a part of a surprisingly liberal university education. … 
RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) – In the last three months, it has become a common scene in So uth Africa: wildcat strikers facing off with police in the shanty towns that ring its platinum mines, leaving the dusty streets strewn with rocks, burning tires and shot-gun cartridges. Besides latent and predictable anger at the bosses of the giant mining companies, much of the aggression is aimed at the government and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), a worrying portent for labor relations in Africa's biggest economy. … 
Egypt's Islamist president delivered his fiercest condemnation yet of Israel's offensive in Gaza on Friday, warning that the blood Israel sheds will be a "curse upon it" and presenting post-revolution Egypt as the new Arab champion for the Palestinians. 
HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) – Germany's Greens do not want to form a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives after ele ctions next year, but hope to poach their voters, the party's co-chairman said on Friday. There has been growing speculation that the party, which began as a peacenik ecological movement on the far left, may be heading for the unthinkable – a partnership with Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) that would keep her in power. … 
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's ruling Is lamists are working for a truce in Gaza to show off their regional clout and reassure major donor the United States, but stern rhetoric against Israel to appease an angry support base is unlikely to translate into serious action. Formulating a response to Israeli strikes on Gaza presents a dilemma for the Muslim Brotherhood, the group which propelled President Mohamed Mursi to office and spent years criticizing ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak for cozying up to Israel. … 
Russia's President Vladimir Putin says his sacked former defense minister isn't facing charges and may get a new official job. 
Calls for the ouster of Jordan's King Abdullah II grew Friday, as thousands of protesters packed the streets of the capital and demonstrations resumed elsewhere. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain would like to formally recognise the Syrian opposition's fledgling coalition but needs to know more about its plans first, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Friday. The group was formed in Doha at the weekend in an attempt to unify the fractious movement trying to topple Bashar al-Assad and secure international recognition and arms. Members of the coalition, including its leader Mouaz Alkhatib, are due to meet Hague and other Western officials in London on Friday before heading to Paris on Saturday. … 
Chanting "Victory! Victory!," waving red-and-white checkered flags and dancing in the streets, tens of thousands of jubilant supporters gave two Croa tian generals a hero's welcome Friday after a U.N. war crimes tribunal overturned their convictions of murdering and expelling Serb civilians during a 1995 military blitz. 
LISBON (Reuters) – Support for Portugal's ruling Social Democrats fell further behind the opposition Socialists after the center-right government unveiled t he largest tax increase in living memory, an opinion poll showed on Friday. The survey by Eurosondagem pollsters showed the Social Democrats of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho down 3 percentage points from a month earlier at 26.9 percent. Its ruling coalition partner, the rightist CDS-PP, was little changed at 10.1 percent. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – With protesters baying for his overthrow, Jordan's King Abdullah might be wondering why his fellow-dynasts in Gulf Arab states are not providing the cash that could calm the trouble. After days of demonstrations against fuel price rises in provincial towns, Muslim Brotherhood supporters joined crowds in Amman on Friday in a rare focus of anger on the king. "The people want the downfall of the regime", about 3,000 people chanted, in an ominous signal to a U.S. … 
Palestinian militants fired a rocket aimed at Jerusalem on Friday, setting off air raid sirens throughout the city and opening a new front in three days of fierce fighting between Israel and armed groups in the Gaza Strip. 
ROME (Reuters) – Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi called on Friday for a change in economic policy after what he called a "disastrous" year of austerity under the technocratic government of Ma rio Monti. The 76 year-old billionaire's latest attack adds to a series of often contradictory comments he has made in recent weeks that have deepened the political uncertainty before the next election, which is expected to be held in April next year. … 
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland's government pledged on Thursday to clarify its abortion laws after an Indian woman who was refused a termination died from blood poisoning in an Irish hospital. Thousands took to the streets to protest on Wednesday after news broke of the death of Savita Halappanavar of septicemia following a miscarriage 17 weeks into her pregnancy. Activists in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country, which has some of the world's most restrictive laws on abortion, say the refusal by doctors to terminate the pregnancy earlier may have contributed to her death. …