By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA | Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:58pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv on Thursday in the first attack on Israel's commercial capital in 20 years, raising the stakes in a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians that is moving towards a...

By Chris Baltimore and David Ingram HOUSTON/WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:45pm EST HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - BP Plc will pay $4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to felony misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 workers and caused the worst U.S. offshore oil spill ever. The settlement includes a $1.256 billion c...

By Euan Rocha WATERLOO, Ontario | Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:43pm EST WATERLOO, Ontario (Reuters) - Research In Motion is pushing for app quality, not quantity, with its make-or-break BlackBerry 10 devices set for launch on January 30, and targeting applications to customers in various regions. RIM's projected 100,000 apps - a record for any new platform...

By Brad Dorfman Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:42pm EST (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) posted disappointing quarterly sales on Thursday as shoppers in key markets like the United States battled high gasoline prices and unemployment, while store traffic continued to decline in China. Lower prices for some food and electronics reduced Walmart's U.S. sales, and...

By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:37pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mapping software company TomTom has made its vast mapping data available to apps developers, providing an alternative to companies that now use maps from Google Inc and Apple Inc. Dutch-based TomTom, best-known for its car navigation systems, launched its loca...

By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:36pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Postal Service posted a record net loss of $15.9 billion in fiscal 2012, much of it due to massive payments the mail agency could not make but still must account for in financial statements. That is more than triple its $5.1 billion loss last year.The USPS, wh...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK | Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:21pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 was on track to fall for a third day on Thursday as Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported disappointing results and investors feared the "fiscal cliff" will harm the economy. Stocks have struggled recently to hold onto even slight gains, dropping more than 1 percent...

By Deepa Seetharaman DETROIT | Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:14pm EST DETROIT (Reuters) - Chrysler Group LLC will invest $238 million in two plants in Michigan to boost engine production to meet U.S. demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient engines, the U.S. automaker majority owned by Fiat SpA said on Thursday. Chrysler is spending $198 million to make by e...

Thu Nov 15, 2012 2:06pm EST (Reuters) - Former France and Arsenal striker Thierry Henry is one of three players nominated for Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Player award, the league said on Thursday. New York Red Bulls forward Henry finished in the top three of a poll of current MLS players, coaches, club officials and the media.The 35-year-old Henry struck ...

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:21pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Superstorm Sandy drove a surge in new claims for jobless benefits last week and hurt factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region in November, signs it could deal a substantial blow to economic growth in the fourth quarter. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits...

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO | Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:14pm EST CHICAGO (Reuters) - A breakdown of U.S. diabetes cases shows dramatic increases in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes overall between 1995 and 2010, with especially sharp increases among people in the South and in Appalachian states. According to a study released on Thursday by ...

FRANKFURT | Thu Nov 15, 2012 1:00pm EST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N) will not sell its loss-making European unit Opel or "simply close up shop and leave" it, the U.S. carmaker's Chief Executive told more than 5,000 staff in Germany. Former private equity manager Dan Akerson has come under pressure from investors to divest or unwind Opel, w...

By Corrie MacLaggan AUSTIN, Texas | Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:52pm EST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - As the Texas capital prepares to host the first Grand Prix in the United States in five years, some in laid-back Austin say this weekend's glamorous race clashes with the city's soul. In this environmentally-conscious college town of 800,000, where the bump...

PARIS | Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:49pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - Australia has reported its first case of a highly pathogenic bird flu virus in 15 years at an egg farm in the New South Wales region, the World animal health body OIE said on Thursday. So far 5,000 poultry have died in the infected farm in Maitland, 160 km (100 miles) north of Sydney, but 50,000 are ...

IBARAKI, Japan | Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:48am EST IBARAKI, Japan (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp's panel display business should return to profit in the three months to March 31, as it decouples from Japan's struggling TV industry with stronger sales of LCD panels to makers of tablets and PCs, the head of the division said in an interview on Thursday. "We are now...

By Zeba Siddiqui Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:38am EST (Reuters) - AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said its drug-device combination for post-operative pain was at least as effective as the standard of care, suggesting it has the potential to replace the current treatment. AcelRx plans to file for marketing approval for the device in the third quarter of 2013, Pamela Pa...

By David Morgan WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:37am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic chairman of a congressional panel investigating a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak linked to compounded steroids predicted on Thursday that U.S. lawmakers would take actions to prevent a similar public health disaster. The lawmaker, Senator Tom Harkin...

By Susan Cornwell and Tabassum Zakaria WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:29am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence and State Department officials testified behind closed doors on Capitol Hill on Thursday about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that has turned into a contentious issue between Republicans and the ...

By Noel Randewich SANTA CLARA, California | Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:22am EST SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's chief executive said his company would look at more opportunities to build its own devices, after the launch of its Surface tablet last month, potentially bringing the software giant into competition with its hardware part...

NEW YORK | Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:19am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said it likely would increase its production rate on 737 jets beyond its current forecast, which calls for 42 a month starting in the second quarter of 2014. The company is currently building a third production line at its factory in Renton, Washington, to accommodate the 737 M...

By Phil Stewart BANGKOK | Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:59am EST BANGKOK (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has ordered the U.S. military's top brass to look for any gaps in ethics training as he lamented lapses in judgment by officers that could "erode public confidence in our leadership," a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday. Questions over the ...

By Vrinda Manocha Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:47am EST (Reuters) - Tranzyme Inc said a preliminary analysis showed that its experimental drug to treat a type of paralysis of the stomach did not meet the main goal of a mid-stage trial, sending the company's shares to a life low. The shares, which started trading on the Nasdaq at $4.00 in April last year, fell to $...

KAMPALA | Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:29am EST KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda said on Thursday three people had died from an outbreak of the Ebola virus in its central region, near the capital Kampala, the latest bout of deadly haemorrhagic fevers to strike the east African nation in recent months. Health Minister Christine Ondoa said two of the dead were from one f...

By Jason Hovet PRAGUE | Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:22am EST PRAGUE (Reuters) - World number five David Ferrer will start Spain's bid for a fourth Davis Cup title in five years on Friday against the Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek. The Czech team's top player, sixth-ranked Tomas Berdych, will then take on Nicolas Almagro in the second of the opening day'...

By Deena Beasley Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:11am EST (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co Inc and Eli Lilly & Co, plan to launch a one-stop database of global clinical trial sites aimed at streamlining paperwork and speeding the process for testing new drugs. The partners have begun securing approval from as many as 100,000 clinical investigator...

By Elena Berton PARIS | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:32am EST PARIS (Reuters) - When Sanofi boss Chris Viehbacher first met staff at Genzyme, the U.S. biotech he had just acquired after a long takeover battle, he told them he did not want "planeloads of people coming from Paris over here to kind of Sanofize Genzyme". More than one year later, the German-Ca...

By Sonya Dowsett MADRID | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:17am EST MADRID (Reuters) - Spain passed a decree on Thursday to help the most needy families facing eviction during the nation's economic crisis, responding to an outcry over a homeowner who killed herself when bailiffs arrived to throw her out. The government said it would suspend evictions for two y...

By Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee BEIJING | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:22am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - China's ruling Communist Party unveiled an older, conservative leadership line-up on Thursday that appears unlikely to take the drastic action needed to tackle pressing issues like social unrest, environmental degradation and corruption. New party chief Xi ...

NEW YORK | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:36am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed at the open on Thursday as weak results from Wal-Mart and a rise in initial jobless claims gave investors little reason to buy after declines in the prior two sessions. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 13.22 points, or 0.11 percent, to 12,557.73. The Stand...

CINCINNATI | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:15am EST CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) now plans to cut another 2 percent to 4 percent of its non-manufacturing staff, on top of a continuing 10 percent reduction, and said it may increase stock repurchases to $6 billion from $4 billion. The world's largest maker of household products laid out its l...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:11am EST GAZA (Reuters) - A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 15 in a military showdown lurching closer to all-out war and an invasion of the enclave. On the second day of an assault Israel...

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:10am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Superstorm Sandy drove new claims for jobless benefits to a 1-1/2 year high last week, a sign the deadly storm could hold back economic growth by leaving tens of thousands of people temporarily out of work. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 78,000 to ...

By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW | Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:01am EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned the United States on Thursday to expect a tough response if Congress passes "unfriendly and provocative" legislation designed to punish Russian officials for human rights violations. The Foreign Ministry said U.S.-Russian ties were sure to suffer if lawmakers...

By Brad Dorfman Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:58am EST (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported quarterly sales below analysts' expectations on Thursday, while sales at established U.S. discount stores trailed Wall Street estimates and traffic fell in China. The company also saw sales in Japan sag as the economy weakened."Across all of our markets, we are seeing the...

Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:53am EST (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) said on Thursday it is replacing Jan Fields, president of its U.S. business. The move comes a week after the world's largest hamburger chain reported its first monthly decline in global restaurant sales in nine years.Fields, 57, will be succeeded by Jeff Stratton, currently the company's global chief...

By Karolina Tagaris ATHENS | Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:40am EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Public sector workers stormed a building where Greek and German officials were meeting in the northern city of Thessaloniki on Thursday and pelted a German diplomat with water bottles in a protest over austerity measures. Riot police used teargas and truncheons to break u...

Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:40am EST (Reuters) - Target Corp's quarterly profit beat Wall Street forecasts as the discount chain lured shoppers with a wider variety of food products and 5 percent discounts for its cardholders. Target said it had earned $637 million, or 96 cents per share, in the third quarter ended on October 27, up from $555 million, or 82 cents a share,...

Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:28am EST (Reuters) - Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) reported a rise in quarterly profit, defying weak box-office sales and a challenging advertising environment. The company said on Thursday that fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 12 percent to $643 million even though revenue fell 17 percent."At the end of the day, I think they are really focused on o...

KADUNA, Nigeria | Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:25am EST KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed six people in a village in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state, a government official said on Thursday, in a region with a history of inter-ethnic violence. The attack late on Wednesday was in a village in the Zango Katak region in Kaduna state, witnesses said, an ar...

By Sarah Young LONDON | Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:11am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Commodity trader Glencore's $32 billion takeover of Swiss miner Xstrata looked set to go ahead after winning the backing of Qatar Holdings, the bid target's second-largest shareholder. Qatar, an unexpected kingmaker in Glencore's bid for Xstrata, said on Thursday it would vote...