By Tony Jimenez DUBAI | Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:34am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Luke Donald has urged the European Tour to consider recalibrating the money-list to avoid the sense of anti-climax that will be apparent at this week's season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Nine days ago, world number one Rory McIlroy guaranteed he would end the year...

TOKYO | Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:08am EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Taiwan's HTC Corp is happy with its patent settlement with Apple Inc, but regards media reports on details of the licensing agreement as "outrageous", chief executive Peter Chou told reporters on Tuesday. HTC and Apple announced a global patent settlement and a 10-year licensing agreement this month a...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:00am EST (Reuters) - The Hong Kong Golf Association (HKGA) will receive a much needed $200,000 sanctioning fee for hosting the national open last week, an official said on Tuesday, averting fears concerning the organization's future. The HKGA had said last week they were waiting to hear if they would receive the HK$1.6 million ($206,400) fee af...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:40am EST (Reuters) - The NFL has suspended Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed for one game without pay for an illegal hit in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the league said on Monday. Reed was penalized for unnecessary roughness in the third quarter of the game following a hit to the head and neck area of defenseless receiver Emmanu...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:25am EST (Reuters) - San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick tamed the fierce Chicago defense and dominated the battle of back-up quarterbacks as the 49ers scored a commanding 32-7 win over the Bears on Monday. With both Alex Smith (49ers) and Jay Cutler (Bears) sitting out due to concussions, the second-year Kaepernick rose to the occasion in his fir...

BEIJING | Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:12am EST BEIJING (Reuters) - Kung Fu superstar Jackie Chan said that while the upcoming film "Chinese Zodiac 2012" will be his last major action movie, citing his increasing age, he will still be packing punches in the world of philanthropy. Chan wrote, directed and produced his latest film, set to premiere in cinemas in Chin...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:53am EST (Reuters) - Denver snapped the Memphis Grizzles' eight-game winning streak with a 97-92 victory over the NBA's hottest team on Monday. In a battle that raged from start to finish, home team Memphis led 92-88 with about two minutes remaining but failed to close the game out, going scoreless and making critical mistakes in the final mom...

By Chris Michaud NEW YORK | Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:12am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Television legend Norman Lear and veteran actor Alan Alda received special honors at the International Emmy Awards on Monday, while programming from South America dominated the competition, with Argentina and Brazil each winning two Emmys. Lear, best known as creator of...

Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:27pm EST (Reuters) - The National Hockey League (NHL) and players' association returned to the bargaining table in New York on Monday but a 90-minute meeting failed to produce a breakthrough in their bitter, two-month-old labor dispute. Discussions involving NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, four owners, NHLPA Execu...

By Simon Evans MIAMI | Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:25pm EST MIAMI (Reuters) - Former England captain David Beckham, hailed as a success for soccer in the United States, will say his farewell to LA Galaxy in next month's MLS Cup final with one more mission yet to accomplish. It was only in January that Beckham signed a new deal with the Galaxy but his dep...

By Steve Olafson OKLAHOMA CITY | Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:09pm EST OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday denied a legal challenge to President Barack Obama's signature health reforms, ruling that the owners of a $3 billion arts and crafts chain must provide emergency contraceptives in their group health care plan. The owners of Hobby Lob...

Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:50pm EST (Reuters) - The Toronto Blue Jays put the gloss on a blockbuster day of acquisitions by signing free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera to a two-year $16 million deal, the Major League Baseball team said on Monday. Hours after gaining official approval on a massive 12-player trade with Miami, Toronto added another key piece with the former...

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:14pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - With 34 deaths and 474 cases of fungal meningitis linked to tainted steroids from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy, blame has fallen on everyone from the pharmacy to state and federal regulators. Now a new potential culprit has emerged: Medicare, which reimburses for...

Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:06pm EST (Reuters) - Amid snarky comments and links to cat videos, some Twitter users turn to the social network to find and post information on health issues like cardiac arrest and CPR, according to a U.S. study. Over a month, researchers found 15,234 messages on Twitter that included specific information about resuscitation and cardiac arres...

By Chris Wickham LONDON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:04pm EST LONDON (Reuters) - Researchers have come up with a way of protecting telecoms networks using quantum cryptography without the need for expensive dedicated optical fiber links. The technique, developed by Toshiba's European research laboratory in Britain and Cambridge University engineers, is a...

By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:13pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission will review a judge's decision which found that Apple did not violate patents owned by Samsung Electronics in making the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. An administrative law judge at the ITC had said in a preliminary ruling in Sept...

By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO | Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:19pm EST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc shares reached their highest level in a year and a half, as investor confidence grows that new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer can pull off a comeback that eluded three of her predecessors. The Internet pioneer has yet to actually provide Wall Street...

By Nicola Leske Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:17pm EST (Reuters) - What do a former U.S. Army special operations officer, a computer scientist and an experimental psychologist have in common? Data. James Reese first came across data analytics company Saffron Technology when he was an officer with the U.S. army's Delta Force."I was first turned on to Saffron Technolo...

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:10pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Using a testosterone gel in addition to Viagra doesn't make the little blue pill work any better, according to a new study. The report's lead researcher said testosterone is typically prescribed to men who have both low testosterone levels and symptoms such as l...

WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 4:40pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two lawmakers urged the Federal Trade Commission on Monday to steer clear of expanding its authority as it investigates allegations search engine company Google violated antitrust law. The two California Democrats in the House of Representatives, who count Google as a major campaign contribu...

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:26pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children whose mothers took antibiotics while they were pregnant were slightly more likely than other kids to develop asthma in a new Danish study. The results don't prove that antibiotics caused the higher asthma ri...

By Nick Brown WHITE PLAINS, New York | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:40pm EST WHITE PLAINS, New York (Reuters) - Hostess Brands Inc agreed in court on Monday to enter private mediation with its lenders and leaders of a striking union to try to avert the liquidation of the maker of Twinkies snack cakes and Wonder Bread. Hostess, its lenders and the Bakery, C...

By Jonny Hogg GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:25pm EST GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rwanda accused U.N.-backed Congolese forces of shelling its territory during a battle with rebels near the border on Monday but said it had no plans to respond militarily to what it called Kinshasa's "provocation". Tension...

By Tiemoko Diallo BAMAKO | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:33pm EST BAMAKO (Reuters) - Islamist gunmen fought Tuareg separatist rebels on Monday in a battle for control of the town of Menaka in Mali's northern desert, close to the border with Niger, both sides said. The renewed fighting came as African leaders...

By Jessica Toonkel NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:32pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments has hired a TD Ameritrade (AMTD.N) executive to head its brokerage division. Ram Subramaniam, formerly managing director, head of products at TD Ameritrade, is joining the Boston-based fund company as executive vice president and head of brokerage ...

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:21pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York won the dismissal of former American International Group Inc Chief Executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg's $25 billion lawsuit accusing it of unlawfully bailing out the insurer during the 2008 financial crisis. The decision issued Mon...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:18pm EST GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel bombed dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday and said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that would end Palestinian rocket fire. Mediator Egypt sai...

By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:29pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington needs to rediscover its ability to compromise and commit to a long-term plan to reduce the nation's debt, the head of the country's second-largest stock exchange said on Monday, warning that lawmakers are flirting with disaster. Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ.O) CEO Ro...

By Steve Ginsburg WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:00pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman refuses to use injuries to his two best players, John Wall and Nene, as the reason for his team's feeble start to the NBA season. The second-year coach of the once-proud franchise also does not want to hear about a young roster...

By John Irish PARIS | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:35pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande's decision to recognize Syria's new opposition bloc aims to secure long-term French interests in the region and boost his foreign policy image but, with few allies following suit, Paris may risk isolation. With his economic policies under harsh scrutin...

By Rick Rothacker Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:57pm EST (Reuters) - Five U.S. banks have provided about $22 billion in mortgage relief to customers under a deal to settle borrowers' accusations over foreclosures, a report by the settlement's monitor said on Monday. The report said that Bank of America Corp, which owes the most, improved in delivering first-lien mor...

By Jeff Franks and Helen Murphy and Jack Kimball HAVANA/BOGOTA | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:47pm EST HAVANA/BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's Marxist rebels called a two-month unilateral ceasefire on Monday, the first truce in more than a decade, as delicate peace talks began in Cuba to try and end a half century of war. President Juan Manuel Santos' governm...

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:46pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Monday, putting the S&P 500 on track for its second straight advance as investors were encouraged by the early tone in talks to tackle the fiscal crunch and data that showed continued improvement in the housing recovery. The S&P 500 is ...

By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:43pm EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ten European countries agreed on Monday to work together to boost their military air-to-air refueling capacity, to plug a gap in their defenses that was exposed by last year's Libyan war. Europe's air forces have had a shortage of tanker aircraft for years. During the Lib...

By Matt Spetalnick YANGON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:37pm EST YANGON (Reuters) - It won't be mistaken for a Nixon-goes-to-China kind of moment. But President Barack Obama's visit to Myanmar on Monday sometimes felt like a return to an earlier era of presidential diplomacy - and his aides were determined to make sure that no one missed its historic sign...

LOS ANGELES | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:32pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The American Music Awards pulled in its lowest ever TV audience on Sunday, despite the presence of teen heart-throb Justin Bieber and Korean "Gangnam Style" sensation Psy. According to ratings data issued on Monday, Sunday's ceremony and performance show broadcast live on Walt Disney Co's ...

By Gabriel Debenedetti NEW YORK | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:29pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The "fiscal cliff" could trigger a recession and push the unemployment rate above 10 percent, ratings agency Fitch said on Monday. Fitch said it did not expect Congress to allow the tax hikes and spending cuts, which have been dubbed the fiscal cliff, to take place...

By Catherine Bremer and Sophie Louet PARIS | Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:05pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - The race to lead France's conservative opposition descended into chaos on Monday, with both contenders alleging fraud in a vote that highlighted a deep split between rightists and centrists since the party lost power in May. The bickering wrecked a contest ...

By John O'Donnell and Douwe Miedema BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:56pm EST BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The shadow banking system - blamed for aggravating the financial crisis - grew to a new high of $67 trillion globally last year, a top regulatory group said, calling for tighter control of the sector. A report by the Financial Sta...

By Dina Kyriakidou ATHENS | Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:51pm EST ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will reshuffle his cabinet to give a bigger role to junior coalition party members once he has secured a vital loan tranche in the next few weeks, government officials said on Monday. Samaras will meet the leaders of junior coalition pa...