Fri Nov 16, 2012 10:13pm EST (Reuters) - Super Bowl winning player and coach Mike Ditka was taken to hospital after a minor stroke on Friday and will be rested from his usual weekend television commitments. Ditka, 73, was playing cards at a suburban country club when he noticed his hands "weren't working quite right" and then he had a problem speaking, the Chicag...

SYDNEY | Fri Nov 16, 2012 9:27pm EST SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia soccer chief David Gallop was not surprised David Beckham's management denied he had any interest in playing in the A-League but said that did not mean there was no possibility of it happening. Football Federation Australia (FFA) said on Friday they had been approached by the former Englan...

LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 16, 2012 9:08pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Life of Pi" is yet to hit movie theaters, but fans can already buy the film's trusty lifeboat that becomes home to a young Indian boy shipwrecked with a tiger. U.S. online retailer Gilt Groupe said on Friday that the lifeboat, replicated from real rafts used between the 1920s and 1950s, i...

By Steve Keating AUSTIN, Texas | Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:20pm EST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Once a Formula One wasteland, the United States is suddenly being viewed as a land of promise for the world's glamour circuit with F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone calling for up to three races in the U.S. After a five-year hiatus, F1 makes its long-awai...

By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:50pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hope that politicians would find common ground to steer clear of the "fiscal cliff" boosted stocks on Friday, though the gains were not enough to offset the week's losses. Stocks recovered from early declines after leaders of the Senate and House emerged from a meeting at...

By Larry Fine NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:40pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawsuit brought by thousands of former NFL players against the league for allegedly denying any link of gridiron play to long-term brain damage may benefit from information in an investigative report on Friday. The National Football League's retirement board awarded disab...

By Jason Hovet PRAGUE | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:29pm EST PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych brought the hosts level at 1-1 with holders Spain in the Davis Cup final with a battling five-set victory over Nicolas Almagro on Friday. The top Czech player, ranked sixth in the world, used his booming serve to good effect and drew inspirat...

By Lisa Lambert and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:27pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic congressional leaders emerged from a meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday pledging to find common ground on taxes and spending that would allow them to avert a looming "fiscal cliff" that could send the economy ...

By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:25pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday said it had reached a draft agreement with the Russian government to revise a 13-year-old deal governing imports of hot-rolled steel. The pact raises the minimum price at which Russian hot-rolled steel can be sold in the United St...

By Rodrigo Campos and Jonathan Spicer NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:23pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The 1987 crash. The Y2K bug. The debt ceiling debacle of 2011. All these events, in the end, turned out to be buying opportunities for stocks. So will the "fiscal cliff," some investors say as they watch favorite stocks tumble during the political gi...

By Lindsay Claiborn LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:20pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Al Gore won an Oscar with a documentary that used bar graphs and pie charts to illustrate climate change and the fate of the Earth. Six years after Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," a new film, "Chasing Ice," goes beyond the data and the diagrams to document the d...

Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:17pm EST (Reuters) - Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Terrance Knighton has been fined $25,000 by the National Football League for a severe hit on Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, the league said on Friday. Knighton was penalized for unnecessary roughness after making helmet-to-helmet contact with Luck, who was defenseless on th...

By Steve Keating AUSTIN, Texas | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:14pm EST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel dominated free practice at the U.S. Grand Prix on Friday as drivers got their first taste of Formula One's newest venue and gave it rave reviews up and down the paddock. Vettel, who can clinch his third straight drivers' title on Sun...

By Jessica Wohl Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:14pm EST (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union that it says is behind such actions. Wal-Mart filed an unfair labor practice charge against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, asking...

By Walker Simon NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:07pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rare, life-size, anonymous portrait of Aztec emperor Moctezuma II and a ground-breaking surrealist painting by Chilean artist Roberto Matta are among the top lots in Latin American art auctions next week in New York. Art experts hope that record sales of post-war and co...

By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:56pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fans of fictional super spy James Bond rely on the durable film franchise for must-have elements, such as jaw-dropping stunts, great clothes, sultry women - and villains who are drop-dead evil. An exhibition that opened on Friday makes clear that the nasty types that 0...

By David Ingram WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:41pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department and the state of California sued online retailer eBay Inc on Friday over what they called an illegal agreement with Intuit Inc not to recruit Intuit's employees. The agreement eliminated competition for workers, depriving them of access to ...

NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:35pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The bitter labor dispute between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the players' union shows no sign of thawing. Now, with Thanksgiving just days away and the North American winter rapidly approaching, time could be running out for the feuding sides to reach an agreement and save the season.No...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM | Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:31pm EST GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists late on Friday, preparing the ground for a possible Gaza invasion after Palestinians fired a rocket toward Jerusalem for the first time in decades. Tel Aviv, Israel...

Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:27pm EST (Reuters) - The pilot union at AMR Corp (AAMRQ.PK), parent of American Airlines, said it will vote on a tentative contract with the bankrupt airline by early December. The board of Allied Pilots Association on Friday approved the agreement-in-principle reached last week as a tentative agreement, which will now be subject to votes by it...

By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:27pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Friday to "name and shame" Russian human rights violators as part of a broader bill to drop Cold War-era trade restrictions, brushing off warnings from Moscow that the move would damage relations. The House vote...

By Zoran Milosavljevic BELGRADE | Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:19pm EST BELGRADE (Reuters) - Former Euroleague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zalgiris Kaunas saw their perfect starts end in a pulsating sixth round of the preliminary group stage while Fenerbahce were undone by a last-gasp shot at unfancied Khimki Moscow. Barcelona, the 2010 winners, remaine...

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:43pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Robert Pattinson has set young hearts aflutter as the teen vampire Edward Cullen in the "Twilight Saga" films, but as the sun sets on the franchise that launched his career, the actor is looking for more grown-up and "dangerous" roles. "Breaking Dawn - Part 2," re...

By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA | Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:40pm EST VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is set to sharply expand its uranium enrichment in an underground plant after installing all the centrifuges it was built for, a U.N. report said, a move likely to increase Western alarm about Tehran's nuclear course. It also showed that Iran's stockpile of its most sens...

LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:34pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan so wanted to play Elizabeth Taylor in the upcoming film "Liz & Dick" that she cut out the middle man and went straight to the producer herself, the tabloid-favorite star said in an interview on Friday. Lohan, 26, plays Taylor in an upcoming television movie that dramatize...

By Mark Lamport-Stokes LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:09pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Lakers will not have their new coach on the sidelines for Friday's home game against the Phoenix Suns but Mike D'Antoni's players have enthusiastically embraced the up-tempo style he has promised. Renowned for the offense-minded approach he ad...

Fri Nov 16, 2012 4:02pm EST (Reuters) - The Toronto Blue Jays, awaiting official approval on a massive 12-player deal with Miami, may have added another key piece by coming to terms with free-agent outfielder Melky Cabrera, according to multiple reports on Friday. Cabrera would earn $16 million in the two-year deal for the former San Francisco Giants slugger, who...

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:59pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A growing and aging population, along with increased access to health insurance, will create the need for 52,000 more primary care doctors within the U.S. by the year 2025, according to a new study. The researchers wanted to estimate how many such doctors the U...

By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES | Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:43pm EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bella and Edward's big-screen farewell lit up box offices with $30.4 million in late-night ticket sales for the finale of the blockbuster "Twilight" vampire series, production studio Summit Entertainment said on Friday. The U.S. and Canadian box office receipts for...

Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:30pm EST (Reuters) - The Oakland A's sent pitcher Tyson Ross and minor league slugger A.J. Kirby-Jones to the San Diego Padres for infielder Andy Parrino and left-hander Andrew Werner, the Major League Baseball website (mlb.com) said on Friday. The hard-throwing Ross, who was in the process of transitioning from starter to reliever with the A's...

DUBLIN | Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:09pm EST DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's prime minister said on Friday he would not be rushed into making a decision on the issue of abortion, after an Indian woman who was refused a termination died from blood poisoning in an Irish hospital. "This is a matter that has divided Irish society now for a great number of years, and I ...

Fri Nov 16, 2012 2:54pm EST (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked Visa Inc to provide information on a debit card service that may have violated regulations related to the Dodd-Frank Act, the company said. The FTC's Bureau of Competition requested the company to provide information regarding violations of the Durbin amendment, Visa said in its ...

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:52pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A dozen large investors have sued Pfizer Inc for securities fraud, distancing themselves from a long-running shareholder class action over allegations the company misled them about the safety of the pain relievers Celebrex...

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:52pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of senators on Friday urged President Barack Obama to quickly issue a permit for the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project environmental groups have vowed to keep fighting. The senators - nine Democrats and nine Republicans - asked ...

By Caroline Humer Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:48pm EST (Reuters) - Health insurer Cigna Corp said on Friday that it expects 2013 earnings growth of 4 to 9 percent, below its average long-term forecasts as it confronts U.S. unemployment in the high-single digits, limited wage growth and a gradual rise in the use of medical services. Cigna's outlook followed up on c...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:47pm EST GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants nearly hit Jerusalem with a rocket for the first time in decades on Friday and fired at Tel Aviv for a second day, in a stinging challenge to Israel's Gaza offensive after an Egyptian bid to broker a truce. The attacks came just hours after Egypt's prim...

By Leah Schnurr and Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:41pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gravity has taken hold of Apple, and a lot of investors have been smacked on the head. Apple Inc, the largest U.S. stock by market value, was headed toward its eighth straight week of declines on Frid...

By Richard Cowan and Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:41pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional leaders emerged from a meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday vowing to find common ground on taxes and spending that would allow them to head off a looming "fiscal cliff" that could push the economy back into recession. Democra...

PRAGUE | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:36pm EST PRAGUE (Reuters) - David Ferrer gave Spain a 1-0 lead over the Czech Republic in the Davis Cup final by beating Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-4 6-4 after a hard-fought match on Friday. "It wasn't a stroll by any means, it cost me a lot of effort. Above all it was hard for me to finish off the points," Ferrer, Spain's top playe...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:59pm EST WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Credit Suisse Group (CSGN.VX) will pay a combined $416.9 million to settle U.S. civil charges that they fraudulently misled investors in residential mortgage-backed securities offerings. The U....