Gas Leak Blast Levels Massachusetts Strip Club

An explosion triggered by a gas leak flattened a strip club in Springfield, Massachusetts, injuring at least 18 people.

The Scores Gentlemen's Club, exploded at about 5.25pm local time as a gas company was looking for a leak under the road, said Springfield Police Captain William Collins.

The blast blew out all windows in a three-block radius, leaving three more buildings damaged beyond repair and prompting emergency workers to evacuate an apartment building that buckled.

Nine firefighters were among the injured

Witnesses described to local media a massive explosion that shook the ground and sent up a huge cloud of smoke.

Police said it looked as though there was a missile strike where the explosion occurred.

Massachusetts Lt Gov Tim Murray said it was "a miracle" no one died.

Four buildings were damaged beyond repair

A representative of the Columbia Gas company said that four employees had been injured in the incident but were expected to survive. Nine firefighters and two police officers were also among those hurt.

The city established an emergency shelter to accommodate residents displaced by the blast.

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Dallas Star Larry Hagman Dies

Larry Hagman, who starred in the hit TV series Dallas as the scheming oil baron J R Ewing, has died.

His family said in a statement that the 81-year-old died in a Dallas hospital following complications from his battle with cancer.

He had suffered from liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver in the 1990s after decades of drinking.

Dallas, which made its premiere on the CBS network in 1978, made Hagman a superstar.

The show quickly became one of the network's top-rated programmes, built an international following and inspired a spin-off, imitators and a revival in 2012.

"Larry was back in his beloved hometown of Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved the most," his family said in a statement. "Larry's family and closest friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday."

Hagman with his co-stars Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray

The popularity of Dallas made Hagman one of the best-paid actors in television and earned him a fortune. He lost some of it, however, in bad oil investments before turning to real estate.

Fans and celebrities took to Twitter to pay tribute to him.

Linda Gray, who played J R's wife, Sue Ellen, and was at his bedside when he died, said: "Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years. He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously."

Larry King said: "Larry Hagman was a dear man who had an incredible career. He helped me to stop smoking. He was a very special person."

Actor William Shatner said: "My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Larry Hagman. My best, Bill".

Hagman with Barbara Eden at the I Dream Of Jeannie DVD launch

In July 1995, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which led him to quit smoking, and a month later he underwent a liver transplant.

Hagman said he quit drinking the moment doctors told him he had cirrhosis of the liver and could die within six months.

Hagman was born in Weatherford, Texas, and his father was a lawyer who dealt with the Texas oil barons Hagman would later come to portray.

His mother was stage and movie star Mary Martin and he became a star himself in 1965 on I Dream of Jeannie, a popular television sitcom.

Barbara Eden, who starred alongside him in I Dream of Jeannie, tweeted: "Larry Hagman not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure Americana. I'll miss him."

Hagman and his wife Maj

Hagman started his acting career in theatre in New York where he married Maj Axelsson in 1954 while they were in a production of South Pacific. They have two children, Heidi and Preston.

He served in the Air Force, spending five years in Europe as the director of USO shows.

In his later years, Hagman became an advocate for organ transplants and an anti-smoking campaigner.

He also was devoted to solar energy, telling the New York Times he had a $750,000 solar panel system at his Ojai estate, and made a commercial in which he portrayed a J R Ewing who had forsaken oil for solar power.

He was also a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, a minor leftist organisation in California.

Hagman had a eccentric streak. When he first met actress Lauren Bacall, he licked her arm because he had been told she did not like to be touched and he was known for leading parades on the Malibu beach and showing up at a grocery store in a gorilla suit.

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Yasser Arafat's Body To Be Exhumed Next Week

The body of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be exhumed next week to try to establish whether he was poisoned.

Experts will take samples from Mr Arafat's remains as part of a fresh inquiry into his death in November 2004 after a sudden deterioration in his health.

A murder inquiry was launched in France earlier this year when tests carried out by a Swiss institute detected traces of the lethal radioactive substance polonium-210 on his clothing.

Polonium-210 is the substance that was used to assassinate the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London six years ago. It is usually only found in medical or military environments.

Mr Arafat's tomb in the West Bank city of Ramallah will be opened for a few hours on Tuesday for tests to be carried out by Swiss, French and Russian experts.

Sheets cover Yasser Arafat's mausoleum in preparation for his exhumation

A reburial ceremony with full military honours will be held later the same day.

Tawfik Tirawi, the former Palestinian intelligence chief who is leading the investigation, said: "November 27 will be one of the most painful days of my life for personal reasons as well as patriotic, political and religious ones.

"But it is necessary in order to get to the painful truth behind Yasser Arafat's death."

Palestinian officials have remained convinced Mr Arafat was poisoned by Israel. Israel denies the allegations.

Mr Tirawi said: "As patriotic Palestinians, we remain convinced that the Israelis assassinated president Arafat, and at the inquiry level, we have evidence leading in this direction."

There has been continued speculation about Mr Arafat's death. 

Yasser Arafat with his daughter Zahwa in Gaza City in the 1990s

He died aged 75 at a military hospital just outside Paris after being moved there from his West Bank compound.

French doctors said that he suffered a brain haemorrhage but, at his widow's request, no post-mortem was conducted.

The French authorities launched an official murder inquiry in August but some medical experts in France have cast doubt on the polonium-210 theory.

Marcel Francis-Kahn, the former chief of rheumatology at Paris's Bichat hospital, said: "The hypothesis of polonium does not stand up to scrutiny."

He explained that Mr Arafat suffered no traditional symptoms of radiation poisoning such as hair loss and a notable drop in white blood cells.

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Doomsday Cults Banned From French Village

The mayor of a sleepy village in southwest France is stepping up security because of fears of an invasion of people who think the end of the world is nigh.

An ancient prophecy based on the Mayan calendar has led to internet speculation that Bugarach, which is near the Pyrenees, will be the only place left after the apocalypse, which some are predicting will happen on December 21 this year.

Followers believe a nearby mountain has magic powers and are convinced UFOs will rescue them and take them to safety.

French authorities have insisted the scenario is ridiculous, but they are taking the situation seriously.

Most villagers seem unconcerned about the claims of impending doom

Mayor Jean-Pierre Lord says over a hundred gendarmes are to seal off the village from December 19-23 to keep out any Doomsday groups.

"My message is very simple. I am telling people don't come here to Bugarach for a simple reason there will be nothing to see here. So I insist don't come here, especially as there will mainly be the police here," he said.

In the nearby ancient town of Carcassone, officials say they are planning for every eventuality.

"Taking into account the huge media interest this affair has created we have to take into account all security concerns and be prepared for all outcomes whether there are 300 people or 3,000," said security chief Eric Freysselinard.

Villagers appear not to be too concerned about claims of impending doom.

Many said they were doubtful that extra-terrestrials would be coming to pluck survivors to safety.

"I think it's a big load of nonsense. I don't think there are UFOs within the Bugarach mountain," said local rubbish collector Jean-Luc Billard.

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Egypt's President Faces 'New Pharaoh' Jibe

Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has assumed sweeping new powers, drawing criticism that he is seeking to become a "new pharaoh".

The new powers are a blow to the pro-democracy movement that formed before long-term president Hosni Mubarak was ousted and they raise questions about the gains made in last year's uprising.

Opposition forces denounced the declaration as a "coup" and called for nationwide protests on Friday.

"The president can issue any decision or measure to protect the revolution," according to a decree read out on television by presidential spokesman Yasser Ali.

"The constitutional declarations, decisions and laws issued by the president are final and not subject to appeal."

"This is a coup against legitimacy ... We are calling on all Egyptians to protest in all of Egypt's squares on Friday," said Sameh Ashour, head of the lawyers syndicate.

Mohamed ElBaradei (centre) says the powers are a blow to the revolution

They accused Mr Morsi, an Islamist, of "monopolising all three branches of government" and of overseeing "the total execution of the independence of the judiciary".

Nobel laureate and former UN atomic energy agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei had earlier lashed out at the declaration, which would effectively put the president above judicial oversight.

"Morsi today usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh. A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences," Mr ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.

The head of the influential Judge's Club, Ahmed al-Zind, told a press conference that the judges would hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to decide on their next step, promising "actions, not words".

Mr Morsi also sacked prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmud, whom he failed to oust last month amid strong misgivings among the president's supporters about the failure to secure convictions of more members of the old regime.

He appointed Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah to replace Mr Mahmud and, within minutes of the announcement, the new prosecutor was shown on television being sworn in.

Mr Abdullah later issued a brief statement on state television, pledging to "work day and night to achieve the goals of the revolution".

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DR Congo Rebels Defy Calls To Quit Goma

Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have dismissed international calls for them to leave the city of Goma, as the army launched an offensive against the M23 group.

A leader of M23 insisted the rebels would not withdraw from the strategically important eastern city, which the fighters captured easily despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, unless President Joseph Kabila agrees to peace talks.

"There must first be a dialogue with President Kabila," Bishop Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero said, before heading to Uganda for urgent talks with President Yoweri Museveni.

Thousands of residents fled as the latest fighting erupted around the town of Sake, about 15 miles away. Rebel fighters reportedly rushed from Goma to face the offensive by government troops.

Explosions and automatic gunfire could be heard across Sake, but in Goma shops reopened in the relative calm.

A UN armoured vehicle guards the entrance to Goma's closed airport

Meanwhile, Mr Kabila has suspended Major General Gabriel Amisi as head of the land forces over UN accusations that he runs a huge arms smuggling network supplying Congolese rebels and other groups, a spokesman said.

A UN report has accused both Uganda and Rwanda of backing the M23, claims both countries strongly deny.

Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to the presidents of Rwanda and the DR Congo in a telephone call on Thursday night.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "He used the calls to welcome the joint communique signed by Presidents Kagame, Kabila and Museveni condemning the M23 rebel group and calling on them to pull out of Goma.

"He made clear that the international community could not ignore evidence of Rwandan involvement with the M23, and that President Kagame needed to show that the government of Rwanda had no links to the M23."

A watchman guards shops in Goma, closed by the fighting

International alarm about the unrest in the war-blighted central African nation has mounted since the mainly ethnic Tutsi rebels overran Goma, the main city in the mineral-rich North Kivu region on the shores of Lake Kivu.

The rebels, who first launched their uprising in April, have threatened to march all the way to the capital Kinshasa, about 950 miles (1,500km) away.

M23 takes its name from a peace deal, signed on March 23, 2009, that was meant to bring former rebels into the national army, but which the group says the government has violated.

The former Belgian colony is one of the world's least developed countries despite a wealth of cobalt, copper, diamonds, gold and coltan, a key component of mobile phones.

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Seven Gunned Down In Guatemalan Clinic 'Hit'

Gunmen dressed as policemen shot dead seven people in a medical clinic in Guatemala City in an apparent attack on an alleged drug dealer.

The hit-squad killed bodyguards and people guarding the clinic, in an upper class area of the city, but missed their intended target.

The country's interior minister, Mauriciao Lopez, said the group of men entered the clinic looking for the alleged Guatemalan drugs baron, Jairo Orellana, who was a regular client there.

When they were turned away by guards they opened fire with AK47 rifles, shooting four people on the ground floor, one on the stairs and two more on the second floor.

Police officers stand next to the body of a man outside the clinic.

Six men died at the scene and a seventh, who has been named as Trinidad Mendez Chacon, an employee of a private bodyguard company, died later in hospital.

After the attack, the men fled in five vehicles.

Mr Lopez told reporters: "The attack in the capital could be the product of a power struggle between drug traffickers. It was directed at Jairo Orellana."

Officials said one of the victims was from a rural province where the government has suspended constitutional rights in an attempt to remove it from the stranglehold of Los Zetas, the Mexican drug cartel.

The Mexican cartels are reaching further into Central America in an expansion of their cocaine-smuggling empires.

In May last year, Los Zetas beheaded 27 innocent farm workers in the northern border region of Peten in a dispute with the farm's owner over drug trafficking routes.

General Otto Perez, the Guatemalan president, has vowed to crack down on violent drug gangs.

Guatemala is one of the most violent countries on Earth, with 39 people out of every 100,000 murdered.

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Black Friday Ushers In US Shopping Frenzy

The traditional Thanksgiving shopping frenzy ate into the day itself this year with stores throwing open their doors on Thursday evening.

Black Friday - a key date in the two-month holiday season retail splurge - is the chance for stores across the US to turn a profit for the whole year.

Americans have grown more comfortable shopping online, putting pressure on traditional retailers who can make up to 40% of their annual revenue in November and December.

In what has been dubbed "Gray Thursday", Target opened its doors at 9pm, three hours earlier than last year. Sears, which did not open on Thanksgiving last year, opened at 8pm.

When Macy's opened its doors in New York at midnight, 11,000 shoppers showed up.

For some the lure of the potential bargains was enough to make them miss out on Thanksgiving dinner altogether.

Michael Prothero, 19, and his friend Kenny Fullenlove, 20 started camping out on Monday night outside a Best Buy store in Ohio, which was scheduled to open at midnight.

"Better safe than sorry," Mr Prothero said.

However not everyone was happy with the extended Thanksgiving hours.

"It shows that the companies are not valuing their workers. They're looking to their workers to squeeze out more profits," complained Carrie Gleason, director of the union-backed pressure group Retail Action Project.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer which owns Asda in the UK, has been one of the biggest targets of protests against holiday hours.

Many of the its stores open 24 hours, but the company was offering early bird specials, once were reserved for Black Friday, at 8pm on Thanksgiving instead.

OUR Walmart, which includes disgruntled former and current workers, planned demonstrations and walkouts at hundreds of stores on Black Friday.

But retailers say they are giving shoppers what they want.

Kathee Tesija from Target said its 9pm opening struck "a perfect balance" for its customers.

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Gaza: Israel And Hamas Ceasefire Holding

Egypt Holds Key For Peace Process

Updated: 11:31pm UK, Wednesday 21 November 2012

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

The cycle of violence that has gripped the Israelis and the Palestinians for more than 60 years is often bloody, horrific and for many in the outside world, interminably boring.

A common reaction is to say "a plague on both their houses".

That would be fine, but people - living, loving, breathing, laughing people with children - live in those houses.

If a basic humanity was not enough to prompt interest and efforts to end the violent illness caused by occupation, terror and religious hatred, a more compelling case can be made for seeing peace on the Gaza Strip.

If Israel's ground invasion had gone ahead, as many in Benyamin Netanyahu's Cabinet and the Israeli Knesset had argued it should, the foundations of regional peace risked being shaken loose.

This is a new danger.

It follows the uprisings in the Islamic world that swept Mohammed Morsi to power in Egypt and have threatened the throne in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Both countries have peace treaties with Israel.

Both are heavily influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, which in Egypt controls the presidency and which in Jordan has called for the abdication of Abdullah II and fomented street protests against his rule.

Hamas to a great extent is a "child" of the Brotherhood.

This gave Egypt's new president, a member of the Brotherhood, enormous influence over Hamas.

His predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, was seen as little more than an American puppet.

America is seen on the Arab street as part of a Zionist conspiracy in which Israel's interests come above all others – especially when it comes to the Palestinians.

Mubarak treated the Palestinians with something approaching contempt.

Hamas' links to the Muslim Brotherhood lumped them into an opposition movement he wanted to jail not empathise with.

The influence that Morsi has over Hamas has meant that he had to be taken seriously as the chief negotiating partner in ending the latest bout of violence - especially by Israel.

That he was sympathetic to the Hamas cause, and will hold Israel to its commitments, helped Hamas to climb down from a defiant militarism which, if the Israeli invasion had gone ahead, could have been suicidal.

Egypt's new leadership has emerged as a maturing force in the region.

There may now be great hopes that Egypt will be able to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

After all, if it doesn't then the cycle of violence will return.

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Man Charged Over New York Shopkeeper Slayings

Police in New York have charged a discount clothing dealer they suspect of being involved in the murder of three city shopkeepers of Middle Eastern descent.

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said 63-year-old Staten Island resident Salvatore Perrone was arrested on Wednesday on murder charges in the Brooklyn shooting deaths.

Police said Perrone had tried to sell clothing to the shopkeepers.

A bag containing a sawn-off rifle believed to have been used in the killings was recovered by officers looking to question a person they called 'John Doe Duffel Bag'.

Officers said balding Perrone appeared on surveillance footage carrying the bag moments after the most recent shooting last Friday.

The other killings happened in July and August. All three shopkeepers were alone in stores that had no video cameras.

"It's reasonable to assume he was going to continue doing this," Commissioner Kelly said in a news conference on Wednesday.

"He went to other locations and asked questions that indicated he may have been planning to come back."

The most recent killing claimed Rahmatollah Vahidipour, a Jewish man from Iran.

He was shot three times in the head and chest at his She She Boutique.

Detectives matched the spent .22 calibre cases to the fatal shootings of two other shopkeepers.

On July 6, Mohamed Gebeli, 65, a Muslim Egyptian immigrant was found shot in the back of his shop, Valentino Fashion Inc.

On August 6, Isaac Kadare, 59, also Egyptian but Jewish, was shot in the head in his store, Amazing 99 Cent Deal.

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Bin Laden Burial Details Revealed In Emails

Secret internal military emails have revealed that Osama bin Laden's body was referred to as "the package" before its burial at sea.

No sailors watched as the al Qaeda leader's body was dropped into the North Arabian Sea from the USS Carl Vinson.

The operation was shrouded in secrecy, which included the corpse being referred to as "the package" delivered by "Fedex".

The emails, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, are heavily blacked out but are the first public disclosure of government information about the terrorist's death.

Bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, by a Navy SEAL team that swooped on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

One email stamped secret and sent on May 2 by a senior Navy officer briefly describes how his body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag.

According to another message from the Vinson's public affairs officer, only a small group of the ship's leadership was informed of the burial.

"Traditional procedure for Islamic burial was followed," the May 2 email from Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette reads.

"The deceased's body was washed (ablution) then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker.

"After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body slid into the sea."

Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan

The email also included the cryptic reference to the intense secrecy surrounding the mission.

Gaouette, then the deputy commander of the Navy's Fifth Fleet, used code words to discuss whether the helicopters carrying the SEALs and bin Laden's body had arrived on the Vinson.              

"Any news on the package for us?" he asked Rear Adm. Samuel Perez, commander of the carrier strike group that included the Vinson.

"Fedex delivered the package," Perez responded. "Both trucks are safely en route home base."

Although the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the raid.

In a response to separate requests for information about the mission, the Defence Department said in March that it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing his body.

It also said it could not find any images of the corpse on the Vinson.

The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of the body if he were killed.

The Defence Department also refused to confirm or deny the existence of helicopter maintenance logs and reports about the performance of military gear used in the raid.

One of the stealth helicopters that carried the SEALs to Abbottabad crashed during the mission and its wreckage was left behind.

People who lived near bin Laden's compound took photos of the disabled chopper.

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Tottenham Hotspur Fans Attacked In Rome

A group of English football fans have been injured in a late-night clash in Rome ahead of a Europa League match.

One fan was in serious condition after being stabbed, and at least four other Britons, one American and one Bangladeshi were hurt when masked assailants attacked a pub in the Italian capital, according to police.

The Britons were in the country to support Tottenham Hotspur, who are due to play Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday night.

They were set upon by knife-wielding "Ultras" - fanatical fans - as they were enjoying a drink at The Drunken Ship pub, according to reports.

Nine Britons and an American were hurt in the fight

Blood stained the cobblestones outside the bar, chairs and bits of wood were strewn across the floor, and windows were broken.

Police named the critically injured as Ashley Mills, and said the American had also been stabbed.

Some of the other hurt Britons were identified as Dave Lesley, Stephen Tierney and Christopher Allen.

Earlier reports said nine fans had been hurt, and a statement by a club spokesman said: "We understand from local police that nine of our supporters suffered injuries last night following an incident in the city centre. Three of these supporters were taken to hospital for further treatment."

Police said around 50 Italians were involved in the assault, and that some had been arrested.

Tottenham Hotspur are due to play Lazio

A spokesman for the mayor's office said the attack had been "obviously organised".

The aggressors, who were believed to be Lazio fans, had their faces covered by motorcycle helmets or scarves when they launched their assault shortly after 1am.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica described the clashes as "urban warfare" and reported that up to 100 "Ultras" armed with knives, baseball bats and belts had taken part in the attack.

Witness Giuseppe Tamborra said: "I saw four people lying on the ground, one with his forehead cut open from here to here, probably with a stool taken from the bar.

"The Italians were very organised, with helmet, bats, even balaclavas," he said.

The Drunken Ship, a popular drinking spot for tourists and foreign students, is located in the Campo de Fiori -- one of the most visited squares in the Italian capital's historic centre.

The square features a colourful food market and a vibrant nightlife, and the American-owned bar is renowned for its lively atmosphere.

There was no response from the pub on Thursday morning.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed they are investigating the clash.

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Mumbai Terrorist Mohammed Kasab Is Executed

The sole survivor of a militant squad that killed dozens of people during a massacre in Mumbai has been executed.

Some 166 people died in the three-day attack in India's financial capital in 2008.

Pakistan national Mohammad Ajmal Kasab was hanged at Yerwada prison in Pune, after India's President Pranab Mukherjee turned down a last-ditch mercy plea.

Pictures of Kasab wearing a black T-shirt and toting an AK-47 rifle as he strode through Mumbai's train station during the massacre were published around the world.

"This is a tribute to all innocent people and police officers who lost their lives in this heinous attack on our nation," said RR Patil, the home minister for the state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located.

The execution was the first time a capital sentence had been carried out in India since 2004.

The Taj Mahal Hotel during the attacks

There was relief on the streets of Mumbai as news of the gunman's death spread.

"When I heard the news of Kasab's execution today, I remembered those horrifying moments of the attack," said Vishnu Zende, who was working at the train station on the day of the attack. "My eyes were filled with tears."

A senior commander of Pakistan's Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) militant group, which India blames for the assault on Mumbai, called Kasab a hero and said he would inspire more attacks.

"To die like Kasab is the dream of every fighter," the commander told reporters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

A Pakistan Taliban spokesman said: "There is no doubt that it's very shocking news and a big loss that a Muslim has been hanged on Indian soil."

The killing spree started on November 26, 2008, after 10 militants arrived on the Mumbai coast in a dinghy.

Nearly 60 people were gunned down in the train station alone.

The militants, who had originally split up into four groups, held off elite commandos for up to 60 hours in two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre in the city.

India says Islamabad is failing to act against those behind the raids, including LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10m US bounty on his head.

Pakistan admits the attacks were planned on its soil, but denies official involvement. It says seven suspected militants are being prosecuted for their role.

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Gaza: Ceasefire Delayed As Shelling Continues

A ceasefire between the Israelis and the Palestinians in Gaza has been delayed – but a diplomatic push is under way to try to stop the fighting.

On Tuesday night, Hamas official Ayman Taha said an Egyptian-brokered truce had been finalised and would take effect from 10pm.

But a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the announcement was premature.

The remains of government building in Gaza City

The United States has now stepped in, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arriving in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

During her flight, a bomb ripped through a bus in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv injuring at least 10 people - clouding the prospects of a durable ceasefire.

Mrs Clinton has vowed to work on a truce between the two sides.

Smoke rises after an apparent Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip

She said: "In the days ahead, the United States will work with our partners here in Israel and across the region toward an outcome that bolsters security for the people of Israel, improves conditions for the people of Gaza and moves toward a comprehensive peace for all people of the region."

She arrived from Israel where she earlier met with Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem, while also travelling to the West Bank city of Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who told her "Egypt was the key to everything".

Pope Benedict XVI also spoke of his concern of the escalating violence on Wednesday.

"Hatred and violence are not the solution," he said, adding that he encouraged "the initiatives and efforts of those who are trying to reach a ceasefire and promote negotiations".

A rocket fired from Gaza hit an apartment building near Tel Aviv

Meanwhile, Iran announced it was providing military and financial assistance to the Palestinians.

"We are proud to defend the people of Palestine and Hamas ... and that our assistance to them has been both financial and military," said Iran's parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani.

Israel intensified its bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday night, with airstrikes just 10 minutes apart.

Artillery shells and missiles were also fired from gunboats.

One Israeli airstrike hit the seventh floor of a media building in Gaza City.

The Israel Defence Forces tweeted a warning to all foreign journalists operating in Gaza to stay away from Hamas militants just minutes later.

Parachute flares illuminate the Gaza Strip for an artillery barrage

Some 138 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. The Iron Dome system intercepted 53 rockets which were headed for built-up areas, but 14 got through.

One hit an apartment building in the town of Rishon Letsion, near Tel Aviv. Six people were injured in the attack.

Rockets were also aimed at Jerusalem, where residents took to underground bomb shelters. However, none fell on the city.

Israel launched the offensive one week ago in an attempt to end months of rocket attacks out of the Hamas-run territory, which lies on Israel's southern flank.

After assassinating Hamas' military chief, it has carried out a campaign of airstrikes, targeting rocket launchers, storage sites and wanted militants.

The campaign has killed more than 130 Palestinians, including 20 on Tuesday, and wounded hundreds of others.

Five Israelis have been killed by rocket fire, including a soldier and a civilian contractor.

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Ex-Boxing Champ Hector Camacho Shot In Face

Three-times boxing world champion Hector "Macho" Camacho could be left paralysed after he was shot in the face while sitting in a car.

Another man died in the attack after at least one gunman opened fire on the vehicle in the city of Bayamon, according to a statement from police.

Camacho, 50, was taken to San Juan's Centro Medico trauma centre, where he was in critical but stable condition and expected to survive, said Dr Ernesto Torres.

The bullet apparently struck him in the jaw, but exited his head and lodged in his right shoulder, fracturing two vertebrae.

Dr Torres said Camacho, who was plagued by drug and alcohol problems during his career, could be paralysed after the shooting.

He said: "Camacho's condition is extremely delicate. His physical condition will help him, but we will see."

No arrests have been made in the shooting.

Camacho (L) with son Hector Jr, who is also a professional boxer

Camacho's spokesman Steve Tannenbaum said he was told by friends at the hospital that the boxer would make it.

He said: "This guy is a cat with nine lives. He's been through so much - if anybody can pull through, it will be him."

The fighter's last title bout came against then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997, when he lost on a unanimous decision.

Mr Tannenbaum said Camacho was going to fight two years ago in Denmark until his opponent pulled out - but they were looking at a possible bout in 2013.

"We were talking comeback even though he is 50 - I felt he was capable of it."

Camacho was born in Bayamon, one of the cities that make up the San Juan metropolitan area. He won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s.

Camacho's last title fight ended with defeat by Oscar de la Hoya in 1997

He fought high-profile bouts in his career against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard, whose career he ended with a 1997 knockout.

Camacho had a career record of 79-5-3, with his most recent fight coming in 2009.

He has battled drug, alcohol and other problems since the prime of his boxing career and was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison for the burglary of a computer store in Mississippi.

While arresting him on the burglary charge in January 2005, police also found the drug ecstasy.

A judge eventually suspended all but one year of the sentence and gave Camacho probation. He served two weeks in jail after violating his probation conditions.

His wife filed domestic abuse complaints against him twice and filed for divorce several years ago.

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Israel: Explosion On Tel Aviv Bus Hurts 10

At least 10 people are thought to have been injured in a bomb blast on a bus in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

The explosion took place across from the military headquarters - on the eighth day of an Israeli offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, immediately condemned the explosion as a "terrorist attack".

Authorities cordoned-off the area and were investigating whether an explosive was planted on the vehicle or whether the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.

Emergency services tend to the injured as crowds gather after the blast

Israeli Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Sky News: "We have heightened security all around the Tel Aviv area in order to also see if there are any suspects that fled the area."

Unconfirmed reports from Israel said police were holding a man caught running away from the scene moments before the bombing, and were looking for a woman who was on the bus earlier.

The blast happened at around noon in one of the coastal city's busiest areas, near the Tel Aviv Museum, business hub, diamond district and an entrance to the Kirya, Israel's national defence headquarters.

Television footage showed pictures of a smoke-filled bus, charred inside with its windows blown out.

Leor Sinai, a resident who visited the scene after the explosion, said there was "chaos, mayhem".

Israeli medics wheel a wounded man away from the scene

He told Sky News: "Thankfully, there's a hospital around the corner so the people were brought right to the hospital. They were, from what I hear, hit with nails, that the bomb was filled with nails and little sort of marbles that kind of flew in all different directions."

Israel's ambulance service said three of the wounded were in a moderate-to-serious condition. Some reports suggested up to 17 or 21 people had been injured in the blast.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri praised the bombing, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

"Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres ... in Gaza," he said.

"Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression," he added.

Israeli police officers comb the bus and its surroundings for evidence

Israel has been locked in a deadly week-long confrontation with Palestinian militants in Gaza after an Egypt-brokered truce fell through.

The attack comes as diplomats, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are in the region for talks to try to broker a ceasefire.

More than 130 Palestinians and five Israelis have been killed in the latest conflict.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the bus explosion was of "deep concern".

"Terrorists must not be allowed to set the agenda," he said.

"This shocking violence further underlines the urgent need for an immediate de-escalation of violence and a full ceasefire."

Hamas militants have fired at least four rockets at Tel Aviv in the past week, but none have resulted in direct hits or any casualties.

The last time the city was hit by a serious bomb blast was in April 2006, when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 people at a sandwich stand near the city's old central bus station.

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Oz Collar Bomb Attacker Paul Peters Jailed

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

An investment banker who attached a fake bomb around the neck of a schoolgirl in an attempt to extort money from her wealthy family has been jailed for at least 10 years.

Paul Peters, 52, had already pleaded guilty to breaking into the home of the Pulver family in August 2011 and putting the device around the neck of teenager Madeleine Pulver, telling her that if she moved it would detonate.

It took a bomb squad 10 hours to remove the device, which contained no explosives.

Peters, who had been wearing a ski mask and carrying a baseball bat when he entered the multimillion-dollar mansion, was eventually tracked down to the US and extradited back to Australia.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated breaking and entering, and detaining the teenager for advantage.

"The offender intended to place the very young victim in fear that she would be killed," Judge Peter Zahra said in court.

"The terror instilled can only be described as unimaginable."

Miss Pulver hugged relatives after the sentence was read. Her father, Bill Pulver, wiped away tears. Peters remained stone-faced and said nothing.

"I'm pleased at today's outcome and that I can now look to a future without Paul Peters' name being linked to mine," she said outside court.

"For me, it was never about the sentencing, but to know that he will not reoffend. And it was good to hear the judge acknowledge the trauma he has put my family and me through."

"I realise it is going to take quite some time to come to terms with what happened, but today was important because now the legal process is over," the teenager added.

The court heard Peters was suffering psychiatric problems after his marriage broke down and he lost custody of his children, with Mr Zahra saying he appeared to think he was an "avenging character" in a novel he was writing.

The judge, who said Peters would be eligible for parole in 10 years, described his bizarre crime as "heinous" and a "deliberate act of extortion" which had terrified Miss Pulver, now aged 19, who was home alone studying for exams.

"The offender entered a house armed and disguised. He found the young girl on her own and vulnerable," Mr Zahra said.

"At the time of placing the device he had prepared around the neck of the victim he would have appreciated the enormity of what he was doing and the terrible effect and consequence of his conduct upon the victim," he added.

Madeleine Pulver now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder

Mr Zahra said Peters "would have been aware that after he left the victim she would have experienced considerable trauma before it was determined that the device did not contain explosives".

"He would have understood, at the time, in the many hours that followed she was in fear she would be killed," he added.

"The terror instilled can only be described as unimaginable."

Mr Zahra said Miss Pulver had been in fear of her life for a "substantial period" and now struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

"She presently experiences severe nightmares and suffers debilitating intrusive images while awake," the judge said.

Mr Zahra noted that Peters' expressions of remorse had been "qualified and guarded" and gave him "minimal" discount for his mental health problems, which included bipolar disorder, alcohol abuse and major depression.

Prosecutors had described the case as an act of "urban terrorism" fuelled by financial greed.

Defence lawyers argued that Peters was depressed, drinking heavily and exhibiting wild mood swings before committing the crime and had no memory of the attack.

He had recently split from his wife, was separated from his children and had become obsessed with a book he was writing about a villain out for revenge.

During an earlier hearing, prosecutor Margaret Cunneen said Miss Pulver was never the intended target of Peters' crime.

The investment banker was having financial problems and originally travelled to Mosman - the wealthy Sydney suburb where the Pulvers live - to hunt down the beneficiary of a multimillion-dollar trust fund he had learned about, she said. 

When he arrived there, he bumped into a neighbour of the Pulvers whom he had met while doing business in Hong Kong.

That man, who lived next door to the Pulvers, then became Peters' new target, Cunneen said.

But on the day of the attack, Peters walked into the wrong house. Miss Pulver was, in the end, just the unwitting victim of Peters' incompetence, the prosecutor said.

Miss Pulver now intends to put the experience behind her and begin studying at Sydney University in the new year.

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India: Deadly Stampede On River Ganges Bridge

At least 18 people have been killed and several others injured during a stampede on a bridge over the Ganges River in India.

The bridge collapsed under people returning home from a Hindu religious ceremony in Patna, in the eastern state of Bihar, Indian police said.

Worshippers had been offering a sunset prayer in celebration of the Chhath festival, dedicated to the Sun God Surya.

The temporary bridge, made from bamboo, collapsed due to the heavy rush of people - mainly devotees and their family members.

An injured victim is covered by a blanket before being rushed to hospital

The bodies of those killed - which included women and children - were transported to the Patna Medical College Hospital for post-mortems. Injured people were admitted for treatment in nearby hospitals.

A senior police official said the stampede had been triggered by the collapse of the bridge. He added that several people were still missing after falling into the river.

More than 400,000 people were present during the ceremony.

Stampedes occur occasionally in India, especially during religious ceremonies which tend to attract huge crowds.

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David Beckham To Play Last Game For LA Galaxy

David Beckham's Career Timeline

Updated: 8:06am UK, Tuesday 20 November 2012

David Beckham was born in Leytonstone in east London on May 2, 1975. Sixteen years later he joined Manchester United as a trainee.

1992: Makes debut against Brighton in the League Cup on September 23. Wins FA Youth Cup.

1993: Signs professional contract at Old Trafford.

1996: Helps United to Premier League and FA Cup double.

Scores goal of the season on opening day at Wimbledon, lobbing Neil Sullivan from the halfway line.
Makes his England debut in the 3-0 win in Moldova.

1997: Collects another championship winners' medal, voted PFA Young Player of the Year.

1998: Scores first England goal, a free-kick against Colombia in Lens on June26. Sent off in second-round penalty shoot-out defeat against Argentina.

1999: Helps United win the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup after comingfrom behind to beat Bayern Munich with two late goals.Runner-up in World Player of the Year awards, behind Rivaldo.

2000: May - Collects fourth championship winner's medal as United win title by a record 18 points.

November - Named England captain for the November friendly with Italy in Turin by stand-in boss Peter Taylor.

2001: May - Collects another Premier League title with United.

October - Curls in a 25-yard last-minute free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford to earn England a 2-2 draw and send them into World Cup finals.

2002: May 11 - Signs new three-year contract reported to be worth between £90,000 and £100,000 a week.

2003: February - Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson accidentally kicks a boot into Beckham's face in frustration at United's FA Cup defeat to Arsenal.

June 14 - Awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to football.
June 17 - United announce they have accepted a £25m bid from Real Madrid for Beckham, who agrees personal terms.

2004: June 24 - Misses a penalty as England lose to Portugal in a shoot-out in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals in Lisbon.

2005: November: Captains England for 50th time in friendly against Argentina in Geneva.

July 2 - Stands down as England captain.
August 11 - Dropped from squad for friendly against Greece, Steve McClaren's first match as manager.

2007: January 11 - Beckham announces he will leave Real Madrid and join Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy on a five-year contract in August.

January 13 - Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello says Beckham will never play for the club again.
May 26 - McClaren hands Beckham a shock England recall for matches against Brazil and Estonia.
June - Wins the La Liga title with Madrid, having won back his place in the team.
August 16 - Beckham scores his first goal for Galaxy on his full debut in the SuperLiga semi-final meeting with DC United with a trademark free-kick.

2008: March 26 - Wins 100th cap in the friendly against France.

October 30 - Milan announce Beckham will join them on loan on January 7, 2009.

2009: January 11 - Makes shock first start for Milan in 2-2 Serie A draw at Roma.

March 9 - AC Milan announce that under a unique "timeshare" agreement,Beckham will stay with them in Italy until the end of the season, return to the Galaxy from July to October and then rejoin the Serie A club for the rest of the 2009-10 campaign.
March 28 - Comes on as a half-time substitute against Slovakia at Wembley towin his 109th cap and break Bobby Moore's record for an outfield player.
July 20, 27 - Twice confronts fans who gave him a hostile reception in his first home games after returning to the Galaxy.

2010: March 14 - Tears his Achilles tendon in AC Milan's 1-0 win over Chievo - an injury that rules him out of the World Cup.

August 11 - England career appears to be at an end when Capello tells ITV: "Probably he is a little bit old."

2011: November 20  - Wins the MLS Cup as the Galaxy beat Houston Dynamo 1-0 in the final.

December 31 - Five-year deal at the Galaxy expires.

2012: January 19 - Re-signs with the Galaxy.

June 28 - Announces he has not been included in Team GB's squad for the Olympic Games.
November 20 - Confirms he is to leave the Galaxy after MLS Cup on December 1.

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Gaza: UN Boss Warns Of 'Dangerous Escalation'

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has called for an immediate ceasefire to end the Gaza-Israel conflict.

Speaking in Cairo after talks with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby, he said a ground invasion of Gaza would be a "dangerous escalation" that must be avoided.

"Immediate steps are needed by all to avoid a further escalation, including a ground operation which will only result in further tragedy," Mr Ban, who is to meet Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, said.

Israeli homeowners inspect damage after a rocket attack in Beersheba

"My message is clear - all sides must halt fire immediately - further escalating the situation will put the entire region at risk."

Mr Ban, who next visits Israel, added: "We all must recognise that Israel has legitimate security concerns that must be respected in accordance with international law, but a ground operation would be a dangerous escalation."

His comments came just hours before a man identified as the most elusive top Hamas commander. and a founder of its military wing, urged the group's fighters to keep up attacks on Israel.

Gaza residents flee their homes on November 20

Mohammed Deif, seriously wounded in an Israeli airstrike in 2003, reportedly said on Hamas-run radio that fighters "must invest all resources to uproot this aggressor from our land".

Palestinian militants also fired a rocket toward Jerusalem on Tuesday, causing an explosion moments after air raid sirens sounded across the city.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told The Commons on Tuesday that three Israelis, including one woman and a child, and at least 109 Palestinians, including 11 women and 26 children, have so far died.

A bus in southern Israel damaged by a rocket attack from Gaza

"We have made clear that Hamas must bear primary responsibility for the start of the current crisis but also that all side have responsibilities," Mr Hague said.

"We quickly called on Israel to seek every opportunity to deescalate their military response and to observe international humanitarian law and avoid civilian casualties."

The US has confirmed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will fly from Asia to meet key officials in Jerusalem, Ramallah and then Cairo.

It also emerged that Barack Obama has not asked Israel to hold off on a ground invasion, as a White House source confirmed the US president believes Israel has a right to make its own security decisions.

Gaza residents inspect bomb damage from an attack overnight

Egyptian officials have already held talks with an Israeli envoy and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, but both sides continued to trade blows as Hamas insisted on the lifting of a six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Militants earlier said they fired 16 missiles at the southern Israeli city of Beersheba after Israel's military targeted roughly 100 sites in Gaza overnight, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the Hamas-backed National Islamic Bank.

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DR Congo Rebel Advance Poses 'Real Threat'

Rebel fighters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have advanced to the outskirts of the city of Goma after pushing back UN peacekeepers and government troops.

Foreign Secretary William Hague urged British nationals to flee the eastern city after four days of fierce fighting.

The rebels have advanced closer than at any time in their eight-month uprising to Goma - the provincial capital of North Kivu, which is a centre for aid operations in the region.

The 23 March Movement (M23) rebels are said to be within 2km of the city and have closed in on Goma's airport.

An M23 spokesman reportedly said his forces were ready to seize the city, which has a population of one million, if they came under attack from government troops.

According to unconfirmed sources, members of the Congolese army and local officials have already started to flee the city. However, a spokesman for the Congolese army denied the claims.

In New York, United Nations peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer said UN forces were supporting the Congolese army by firing artillery and rockets at the rebels.

UN peacekeeping troops have a mandate to protect Congolese civilians

"The situation in Goma is extremely tense," he said. "There is a real threat that the city could fall into the M23's hands."

The UN has about 6,700 troops in Nord Kivu province. About 1,500 of them are in Goma, where some 625 UN staff have been moved into special protection centres.

The UN Security Council called for an immediate end to hostilities and UN leader Ban Ki-moon said UN troops would remain in Goma and "continue all efforts to robustly implement its mandate to the fullest of its capabilities with regard to the protection of civilians".

More than 150 rebels and two soldiers have been killed since fighting intensified on Thursday - the most serious clashes since July, when UN helicopters last went into action against the M23.

Mr Hague expressed "deep concern" at the worsening violence in the country and called on rebel forces to engage in talks to avoid further killings.

The fighting has left thousands of people displaced

"I call for a cessation of hostilities and for all parties to engage to resolve this crisis without further bloodshed," he said in a statement, adding: "Any British nationals in Goma should leave."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement: "I call on the M23 to immediately stop the military offensive against the city of Goma. Any support to the M23 in violation of the sanctions regime and the arms embargo must stop."

She also expressed the EU's concern for civilians caught up in the fighting, calling on all sides to give unrestricted access to aid workers.

The M23 rebels are ethnic Tutsi former soldiers who mutinied in April after the failure of a 2009 peace deal that integrated them into the regular army.

UN experts have said Rwanda and Uganda back the rebel group - a charge fiercely denied by both countries.

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President Obama In Landmark Visit To Burma

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

Barack Obama has made history in becoming the first sitting US president to visit Burma.

In a landmark trip aimed at encouraging a string of political reforms in the former pariah state, the US president flew into Rangoon on Monday morning.

It is the second stop of his three-country tour of Asia.

Mr Obama said his historic visit marked the next step in a new chapter between America and Burma, also known as Myanmar.

He said he was "extending the hand of friendship" to the country, where he met both reformist President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Tens of thousands of people, many of them waving US flags, packed the streets of Rangoon to see Mr Obama's motorcade speed through the city.

He shared words and an affectionate hug with Ms Suu Kyi, the democracy activist who endured years of house arrest to gain freedom and become a lawmaker.

People line the streets in Rangoon to greet Mr Obama

Speaking after a private meeting with the opposition leader, Mr Obama said he had seen encouraging signs of progress in the country in the past year - including her release from house arrest and election to parliament.

He said ties between the US and Burma will grow stronger if moves toward democracy continue.

"Our goal is to sustain the momentum," he declared. 

He told Ms Suu Kyi that if the nation's leaders keep making true reforms, "we will do everything we can to ensure success".

With Mr Obama at her side, Ms Suu Kyi said: "We are confident that this support will continue through the difficult years that lie ahead."

After his meeting with Mr Sein, who has orchestrated much of his country's transition to democracy, Mr Obama said the reforms "in Myanmar" could unleash "the incredible potential of this beautiful country".

He also made a speech at the University of Rangoon, acknowledging the country's shortcomings but saying: "The United States of America is with you."

Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton on their historic visit to Burma

The US would be friends with any nation that respects its people's rights and international law, he said.

The president used the speech to urge an end to sectarian unrest in the western state of Rakhine, saying there was "no excuse for violence against innocent people".

But with human rights groups claiming his visit was too soon in the reform process - risking rewarding a half-baked democracy - Mr Obama made clear that he was not endorsing the Burmese government.  

The president's first stop on his Asia tour was Thailand, where he stressed the "critical" importance of the Asia-Pacific region to the future of the US over the coming century, during his first foreign trip since his re-election.

Speaking at a news conference with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Mr Obama said: "Asia is my first foreign trip since our election in the United States, and Thailand is my first stop.

"This is no accident. As I've said many times, the United States is and always will be a Pacific nation.

"As the fastest growing region in the world, the Asia-Pacific will shape so much of our security and prosperity in the century ahead, and it is critical to creating jobs and opportunity for the American people.

"That's why I've made restoring American engagement in this region a top priority as president."

Mr Obama also met the Thai King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is in hospital where he has been recovering from an illness since September 2009.

Mr Obama met Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Sunday

Mr Obama calls himself the "Pacific President" and has pledged to focus significant attention on the Asia-Pacific region.

It is therefore no surprise that his first foreign trip is here.

The US is seeking to counter China's increasing clout in the region. The US government has said that 60% of the US naval forces will be based in the region by 2020.

As if to underline America's commitment to the region, the US defence secretary is currently on his fourth trip to Asia this year.

Thailand is the US' longest standing ally in the region. The US sees it as vital in helping it pivot attention towards Asia and boost ties with the fastest growing region on the planet.

During the news conference, Mr Obama defended his decision to go to Burma.

"This is not an endorsement of the Burmese government," he said.

"This is an acknowledgement that there is a process under way inside that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobody foresaw."

The president's visit follows a trip by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the country in December 2011 and a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron in April 2011.

The US president's Asian tour will end in Cambodia, where he will attend a meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

The leaders of 16 southeast Asian countries will attend, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin, outgoing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In Burma, despite the recent reforms, sectarian clashes between Muslims and Buddhists have killed more than 180 people and destroyed the homes of more than 100,000.

The government has been criticised for not having done enough to stop the violence in the coastal Rakhine State.

On Friday, Washington announced it had lifted a ban on the import of goods from the country.

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Bungling LA Burglar Leaves Trail Of Evidence

A bungling burglar was forced to flee, leaving behind his car, iPad and photographs - after waking up the homeowner who then hit him over the head with a hoe.

Los Angeles police have released images of 25-year-old Miguel Luna, who they say was behind the botched raid.  

"It's often said in forensics that we always leave a little bit of ourselves behind anywhere we've been," said Lieutenant Paul Vernon.

"But this guy must have set some record on the variety and amount of evidence he left."

Detectives claim Luna kicked in the door despite visible CCTV cameras and warning signs, and woke the sleeping homeowner who then confronted him. 

The doomed raider tried to escape but his car would not start so he tried begging the homeowner not to call the police.

The whole botched attempt was caught on CCTV

But the man chased him outside instead and managed to temporarily knock him unconscious with the hoe. 

Detectives say Luna recovered enough to make off on foot.

Police found photos on an iPad, abandoned along with other suspected stolen electronic equipment, in a 1989 Honda left in the home's driveway.

Also inside was a signed traffic ticket issued to one Miguel Luna the previous day.

"This crime scene was really a study in how to get caught," Lt Vernon said.

"Every manner of evidence was present: video surveillance, blood DNA from the hoe, pictures on the iPad, a footprint on the door, a traffic citation with signature, a car, fingerprints and eyewitness identification."

Unfortunately, police arrived too late to pick their suspect up on the day of the burglary.

They are appealing for information on Luna's current whereabouts.

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Gaza Conflict: Rockets 'Hit Israeli Town'

Gaza: The Moment Media Buildings Were Hit

Updated: 11:11am UK, Monday 19 November 2012

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, in Gaza City

An orange flash lingered, windows bulged pregnant, and burst - the bang came last. It's odd the things you notice in the blink of an eye.

We had chosen to sleep on the floor in a small room in the Sky studios in central Gaza City for our own safety.

The previous two nights had been interrupted every few minutes with the cataclysmic detonations of airstrikes near the hotel we had picked in the north of the city.

Hamas has rocket firing points not far from the hotel, a training ground, and the home of Ismail Haniye, the Hamas Prime Minister, were about 500 yards away.

One can only take a few nights of the "waterbed effect" - when the shock waves of nearby blasts seem to liquefy the mattress and its occupant flows on to the floor.

More fools us.

Mick Deane, Sky's veteran cameraman, News Editor Tom Rayner, and I convinced ourselves the Sky Arabia studios that we were borrowing were well known to the Israeli Air Force, and would never be targeted.

At around midnight on Saturday, we might have taken a hint. A building about 100 yards away was hit twice.

Our local colleagues reacted with horror. Eight journalists were injured, one losing a leg - they were from two Arab TV Channels.

Ambulances screeched up and down the streets while we considered out options.

We had none.

It was too dangerous to leave in the middle of the night, we risked being picked off as militants by an Israeli drone.

Surely they would not hit us here, we reasoned, they have good intelligence?

We wrapped ourselves in the miraculous, dream coat-coloured polyester blankets that are ubiquitous in the Third World, and tried to catch up on missed sleep.

An hour after dawn, the first flash, the bubbling windows.

We struggled into our dirt-stiffened clothes to figure out how badly hit we were and look for any injured.

As I approached the stairwell leading to the floor above and the roof, another blast drove a wall of choking dust down at me and I spun away.

Water poured out of burst mains on the roof and cascaded down the outside of the building.

Later, Israeli military officials said a Hamas communications facility had been "surgically targeted" on the roof above us and especially small munitions used to destroy it.

Air strikes have become an everyday experience for Gazans. Except we were luckier than many.

Gaza's trapped population has endured raids against 1,000 targets across this tiny coastal enclave. After a house was hit, the death toll shot up to around 60, with some 300 wounded.

The majority, medical officials say, are civilians.

Just like the Sky News team, Gazans don't know where they can be safe.

Hamas or other militants use rocket launching sites that are tucked into residential neighbourhoods to fire at Israel.

Gaza is so densely populated it's difficult to see how the militants could find anywhere to use their weapons that did not endanger civilians. Equally, however hard Israel tries to avoid hitting the innocent, it surely has and surely will.

The only advice Israel's military give to Gazans is to try to stay away from Hamas installations and personnel.

But, as we spent several hours trying to figure out how to do that, we drew a blank.

Hamas is the government here. It runs the schools and other ministries. Its security officers are on every street corner, and its guerrilla fighters experts at concealment.

Nowhere is safe.

So we are back at our hotel in the north of the city enduring the orange flashes, the bulging windows, the nauseating process of actually counting luck.

Just like everybody else.

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Israel Readies Forces For Gaza Border Assault

By David Bowden, Senior News Correspondent, in southern Israel

Israel is massing troops and military equipment close to the border with Gaza after hundreds of airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave failed to stop militants launching scores of rockets into the South and central areas of the country.

The government has given the go-ahead for 75,000 reservists to be put on stand by for call-up for any ground incursion into Gaza.

Israel knows that the eyes of the world are on it and that a ground war brings not only military dangers, but international and diplomatic ones too.

But the politicians are all too aware that with an election now just two months away they have to be seen to be doing something to clampdown on the missile strikes coming out of Gaza and forcing Israeli citizens to have to run to their shelters.

"We are under attack," Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman Josh Hantsman said.

"Three million Israeli citizens are now within the range of the Hamas fire, we have a responsibility and a duty to make sure the other side knows we are serious. We will consider all the options."

For now the option appears to be a show of strength and a hope that Hamas will back down and stop targeting Israel before a ground war becomes inevitable.

That means more airstrikes and more attempts to degrade Hamas's ability to hit back from Gaza.

In the mean time the diplomatic pressure carries on apace with the Tunisian foreign minister visiting political leaders in Gaza, 24 hours after the Egyptian Prime Minister did the same thing.

US President Barack Obama has been in touch with both the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and President Morsi of Egypt - whose Muslim Brotherhood is sympathetic to Hamas - to try and mediate.

As yet there has been no breakthrough, so the very public military build-up from Israel carries on as do the airstrikes which the Israeli government hopes will mean the soldiers and their kit can be stood down as quickly as they were called up.

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Oil Rig Fire Search Called Off As Body Found

Divers hired by the owner of an oil platform that caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico have recovered a body in the waters near the site.

US Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Vega said the remains of the unidentified person were found by divers working for Houston-based Black Elk Energy, who were inspecting the platform.

Mr Vega said the Coast Guard would be turning over the remains to local authorities.

John Hoffman, the president and CEO of Black Elk Energy, wrote in an email late on Saturday that the body is apparently that of one of two crew members missing since an explosion and fire on the oil platform on Friday morning.

"Divers will continue to search for the second missing worker. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families," Mr Hoffman said.

Rescue crews work at the oil platform on Friday

He said the body was found close to the leg of the platform, near where the explosion occurred, in about 30ft of water.

The missing men were employees of oilfield contractor Grand Isle Shipyard, he added.

The news came shortly after the Coast Guard suspended a 32-hour-long search for the two missing workers that covered 1,400 square miles near the oil platform, located about 20 miles southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.

"We have saturated the search area several times - the 1,400-square-foot area," Mr Vega said.

"We saw no signs of life. We have suspended the search ... pending further development. If we receive any credible information that there are signs of life, we can resume the search at any time."

Four other workers who were severely burned remained at Baton Rouge General Medical Centre on Saturday night.

Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash said the guard's search was ended early on Saturday evening.

Helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft had been searching by air, while cutters and boat crews searched the sea.

The blaze erupted on Friday morning while workers were using a torch to cut an oil line on the platform, authorities said.

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Gaza: Israel Prepares To Widen Offensive

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country is ready to "significantly expand" its Gaza offensive.

"We are extracting a heavy price from Hamas and the terror organisations," Mr Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on the fifth day of the conflict.

"The soldiers are ready for any activity that could take place."

On Friday, ministers doubled the current reserve troop quota set for the offensive to 75,000 in preparation for a possible ground invasion.

Some 30,000 soldiers have already been called up.

Israeli President Shimon Peres told Sky's Murnaghan programme that he does not see a ground invasion as an escalation of the conflict.

Some 30,000 Israeli soldiers have already been called up

"What we are doing is self defence," he said.

"What would you do in London if you would have 900 missiles aimed at your schools, at your homes, at your houses? Would you call it an escalation if you tried to stop it?

"We don't have any purpose to control Gaza or to go into Gaza.

"Basically our purpose is peace, their purpose is to destroy Israel. It is not an easy situation."

Foreign Secretary William Hague tells Sky News Murnaghan that Britain has warned Israel against a ground invasion.

"The Prime Minister and I have both stressed to our Israeli counterparts that a ground invasion of Gaza would lose Israel a lot of the international support  and sympathy they have in this situation," he said.

"A ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community to sympathise with or support, including the United Kingdom."

But Mr Hague blamed Hamas for sparking the current conflict in Gaza.

"We call on Hamas again to stop the rocket attacks on Israel, it is Hamas that bears principal responsibility for starting all of this and we would like to see an agreed ceasefire - an essential component of which is an end to those rocket attacks."

Israel pounded Gaza from the air and sea overnight

Israel's bombardment of Gaza entered a new phase overnight, with the military shelling the Palestinian territory from the sea, as well as continuing its airstrikes.

On Sunday, five Palestinian civilians were killed in airstrikes, including four children ranging in age from one to seven, according to Ashraf al-Kidra, a Gaza health official. 

The deaths bring to 51 the number of Palestinians killed since the operation began on Wednesday. More than 400 people have been wounded in the strikes.

On the Israeli side, three civilians have been killed and more than 50 wounded by rocket fire.

Palestinians in Gaza this morning fired rockets at Tel Aviv for the fourth straight day. Police said two rockets were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome air shield.

Earlier Sunday, at least one rocket fired by Gaza militants landed in Ashkelon in southern Israel.

But a Palestinian official told AFP news agency that a truce was possible "today or tomorrow", after Egypt's President suggested that there could be a ceasefire soon.

Mohamed Morsi said: "There are now intensive efforts through communication channels with the Palestinian side and with the Israeli side and there are now some indications that there is possibility of a ceasefire soon between the two sides."

 Israel has said it is not prepared to enter into a truce without guarantees the rocket fire will stop.

Palestinian girls in the northern Gaza Strip

The latest Israeli strikes also hit two Gaza media centres housing the offices of Al Quds TV and Al Aqsa, both seen as sympathetic to Hamas. 

A Gaza press association said six Palestinian journalists were wounded, including an Al Quds employee who lost a leg. 

The media buildings hit were also being used by foreign journalists, including Sky News and ITN.

Tom Rayner, Sky News Middle East editor, said on Twitter: "There don't appear to have been any injuries following Israeli strike on international media building being used by Sky News, ITN and others."

Sky's Sam Kiley: "I think that this demonstrates just how dangerous and complex with aerial bombardment is."

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the strike had targeted a rooftop "transmission antenna used by Hamas to carry out terror activity". 

The attacks followed a defiant statement by Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubaida.

"This round of confrontation will not be the last against the Zionist enemy and it is only the beginning."

The masked gunman dressed in military fatigues insisted that despite Israel's blows Hamas "is still strong enough to destroy the enemy".

Israel military spokesman Yoav Mordechai warned that Israel would go after Hamas commanders Sunday, in addition to rocket squads, in "more targeted, more surgical and more deadly" attacks.

Israel unleashed its massive air campaign on Wednesday, killing a leading militant of the Hamas Islamist group that controls Gaza and rejects Israel's existence.

Israel says it is trying to stop militants in the coastal enclave from launching rockets that have plagued its southern communities for years.

More than 500 rockets fired from Gaza have hit Israel since the recent violence flared on Wednesday.

The Jewish state has launched more than 950 air strikes since then.

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Obama Kicks Off Asia Tour With Thailand Visit

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

Barack Obama is in Thailand for his first foreign trip since his re-election.

The US President flew into Bangkok for the first stop of a three-country tour which will include Cambodia and Burma.

He will hold top-level meetings and a news conference with the Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, as well as meeting the Thai King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is in hospital where he has been recovering from an illness since September 2009.

Mr Obama calls himself the "Pacific President" and has pledged to focus significant attention on the Asia-Pacific region.

It is therefore no surprise that his first foreign trip is here.

The United States is seeking to counter China's increasing clout in the region. The US government has said that 60 per cent of the US naval forces will be based in the region by 2020.

As if to underline America's commitment to the region, the US Defence Secretary is currently on his fourth trip to Asia this year.

Thailand is the United States' longest standing ally in the region. The US sees it as vital in helping it pivot attention towards Asia and boost ties with the fastest growing region on the planet.

The main focus of the trip will be to Burma on Monday.

Mr Obama will become the first US president ever to visit the country. The visit is a key indicator that Washington believes Burmese government reforms are genuine and continuing.

He will meet both President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. On Friday, Washington announced it had lifted a ban on the import of goods from the country.

The president's visit follows a trip by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the country in December 2011 and a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron in April 2011.

The US President's Asian tour will end in Cambodia where he will attend a meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

The leaders of 16 southeast Asian countries will attend, as well as the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the outgoing Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In Burma, despite the recent reforms, sectarian clashes between Muslims and Buddhists have killed more than 180 people and destroyed the homes of more than 100,000.

The government has been criticised for not having done enough to stop the violence in the coastal Rakhine State.

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