Brazil launches measures to tackle Sao Paulo violence
A new plan has been unveiled to combat rising violence in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo.
More than 90 police officers have been killed in the city since the beginning of the year, many by a criminal gang calling itself First Command of the Capital.
Among the measures introduced are a new police agency, and the transfer of prisoners to more secure jails.
Police say jailed gang members plan many attacks from inside their cells.
Behind bars
Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo announced the creation of a joint intelligence centre which will co-ordinate the work of state and federal security forces.
Despite the sharp rise in violence in the greater Sao Paulo area, the government ruled out deploying the military to the most violent neighbourhoods.
Mr Cardozo said Sao Paulo's 160,000 police officers would be enough to combat organised crime.
Under the new plan, security and surveillance will be stepped up at ports, airports and major highways, which are used to smuggle drugs into Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin said inmates who were suspected of ordering attacks on police officers would be moved to maximum security prisons under federal control, from where they would be unable to communicate with their hit men.
It is not the first time the federal authorities have tried to break up the prison gangs by moving them to different jails.
In 2006, members of the First Command of the Capital gang unleashed a wave of violence and riots in almost all of Sao Paulo's penitentiaries to prevent being transferred.
Sandy: UN to send emergency food aid to storm-hit Cuba
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is to deliver emergency aid to the south-east of Cuba, where Hurricane Sandy wrought widespread damage.
It was "the worst catastrophe in 50 years in Santiago de Cuba," WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.
The WFP is also appealing for $20m (£12.5) to help some 425,000 Haitians affected by the storm.
Sandy caused widespread damage to infrastructure, crops and livestock in both Haiti and Cuba.
The WFP is planning to work with the Cuban government to distribute emergency one-month aid in Santiago de Cuba, which is home to 500,000 residents.
The hurricane, which hit Cuba on 25 October and left 11 people dead, brought down many buildings and knocked out the electricity.
Cuban President Raul Castro is in Santiago to oversee recovery efforts and has promised to remain until the power is back on.
In the city, much of the debris has been cleared from the streets and pupils have returned to classes, although not all are being held in actual school buildings.
Scarce food
According to initial government reports, Sandy damaged some 200,000 homes and affected more than a million people.
"We are especially concerned about the damage in the agricultural sector where tens of thousands of hectares of staple crops have been affected," said WFP emergency co-ordinator William Vigil in a statement.
Help would continue until production capacities were restored, he said.
The WFP is also seeking funds to help Haiti, where more than 50 people died in the storm.
Sandy's winds and rains destroyed many of the crops in the south of the country.
The WFP calculates that nearly two million people are facing food insecurity in Haiti.
The situation was already precarious in the wake of the 2010 earthquake and a drought.
Chile cabinet changes signal start of presidential race
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has reshuffled his cabinet, as two prominent ministers leave to launch their bids for the presidency in 2013.
Defence Minister Andres Allamand and Public Works Minister Laurence Golborne, who oversaw the spectacular rescue of trapped miners in 2010, both hope to be Chile's next leader.
Mr Pinera is constitutionally barred from a consecutive second term.
Former President Michelle Bachelet has yet to say if she will run.
Ms Bachelet, who was in office from 2006 to 2010, is seen as the left's best hope to regain the presidency.
She is the current head of the UN's women's agency.
Mr Allamand, an experienced politician, and Mr Golborne, a businessman who shot to international prominence during the operation to rescue 33 miners trapped underground two years ago, are hoping to be the conservative coalition's candidate.
President Pinera became Chile's first right-wing leader in 20 years when he was elected in 2010.
However, he has seen his popularity drop sharply since then, and in last month's local elections, his centre-right alliance lost some key races, including Santiago.
After Monday's changes, Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter moves to defence and is replaced by government spokesman Andres Chadwick.
He in turn is succeeded by the former Governor of Santiago, Cecilia Perez.
Deputy Public Works Minister Loreto Silva takes over from Mr Golborne.
Bolivia returns stolen mummy to Peru
Bolivia has returned a 700-year-old mummy to Peru, from where it was stolen by antiquities traffickers.
The mummy of a child of about two years of age is only 30cm (12in) tall and sits wrapped in blankets.
Bolivian police seized it two years ago from a woman who was going to ship it to France.
Experts determined it was an original but found that one of its legs had been added later presumably by the smugglers who wanted to raise its value.
Experts have not been able to determine the sex of the mummy but archaeologists think it came from a pre-Inca culture of coastal Peru.
Bolivian Culture Minister Pablo Groux handed the mummy to his Peruvian counterpart Luis Peirano at a ceremony at the Peruvian Foreign Ministry in Lima.
The two ministers also signed an agreement to improve their co-operation in the fight against the smuggling of cultural artefacts.
Referring to an increase in the illegal trade in antiquities, Mr Peirano said the mummy was "just a sample of the sacking, of the violation of our patrimony and all our inheritance."
Peru, at the centre the Inca culture and other civilisations predating the Incas, has had thousands of its relics plundered and stolen over the centuries.
Peruvian officials say trafficking in mummies has been less common, though "lately, there has been an increase in the trafficking of human remains".
Asian markets flat as Barack Obama wins second term
Asian markets were little changed as President Barack Obama was re-elected to a second term.
There are concerns whether Mr Obama and a Republican-dominated Congress will be able to negotiate a way to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.
The cliff will see nearly $600bn (£375bn) of tax increases and spending cuts hit the US economy in January.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index and South Korea's Kospi were trading flat, while Australia's ASX 200 rose 0.5%.
The fear is that the tax increases and spending cuts that could be enacted if there is no agreement over deficit reduction may derail a fragile US economic recovery, and in a worst case scenario even push the economy into a recession.
"We head into the fiscal cliff, trying to find compromise where it wasn't possible before," said Rob Ryan, director of markets strategy, Asia-Pacific for Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore.
Broader concerns
The spending cuts and increased taxes are not the only concern among investors.
The US economy has been battling various other issues, not least the high levels of unemployment in the country, which have dented consumer sentiment and impacted growth.
Despite encouraging jobless numbers last week, unemployment continues to hover close to 8%.
There are concerns amongst some analysts that the jobs market may not improve anytime soon and that the recovery in the US will remain weak.
That does does not bode well for Asian economies as they rely heavily on US demand for exports and overall growth.
Greece braces for key vote on fresh austerity measures
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has pleaded with politicians to vote through a fresh round of austerity measures crucial to securing the country's next round of financial aid.
Parliament will vote later on 13.5bn euros ($17.3bn; £10.5bn) of spending cuts, which include tax increases and cuts to pensions.
"We have to save the country from catastrophe," Mr Samaras said.
Without the aid, Mr Samaras says Greece will run out of money by 15 November.
The fresh package of spending cuts - Greece's fourth in three years - includes a two-year increase in the retirement age from the current average of 65; salary and pension cuts and another round of tax increases.
Strikes
The vote on these cuts will be followed by a second vote this Sunday on Greece's revised budget for 2013.
A positive vote on both the austerity measures and the budget is required for Greece to secure 31.5bn euros in fresh loans from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Mr Samaras has said without this money, which will be used largely to recapitalise the country's banks, the country will be bankrupt by the middle of the month.
The prospect of further cuts has enraged Greece's two biggest labour unions, representing half the four million-strong workforce, which started what they described as the "mother of all strikes".
The 48-hour strike, the third major walkout in just two months, has bought public transport across Greece to a halt.
Despite the opposition, analysts are optimistic the fresh cuts will be approved.
"There is some uncertainty, but the likelihood is that the measures will be passed by a narrow majority," said IHS Global Insight economist Diego Iscaro.
AOL shares jump on advertising revenue
Shares in AOL have jumped 22% after the US internet firm reported a sharp rise in advertising revenues.
Advertising sales jumped 7% to $340m (£212m), boosting net profit for the third quarter to $20.8m, compared with a loss of $2.6m a year ago.
Overall revenue was flat at $531.7m, the first time year-on-year revenue has not fallen in seven years.
The firm has struggled to reinvent itself as a media and news group since its spin off from Time Warner in 2009.
'Right direction'
"We just reported the best relative revenue performance in seven years and the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year profit growth, exceeding our expectations," said group chief executive Tim Armstrong.
Analysts said the results showed the company was finding its feet again after a difficult three years.
"Things look great," said Andre Sequin from RBC Capital Markets.
"This company is continuing to make steps in the right direction."
The company is still losing subscribers, however, albeit at a slower pace.
Subscriptions during the quarter fell by 10% against a year earlier, an improvement on the 22% fall recorded in the third quarter of 2011.
President Barack Obama wins re-election
President Barack Obama has been re-elected to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
With results in from most states, America's first black president has secured the 270 votes in the electoral college needed to win the race.
Mr Obama prevailed despite lingering dissatisfaction with the economy and a well-funded challenge by Mr Romney.
Mr Obama's margin of victory is not yet certain because three states have yet to report results.
With swing states Virginia and Florida still too close to call, Mr Obama has won 290 electoral votes to Mr Romney's 203.
The state of Alaska, where polls have yet to close, is expected to vote for the Republican.
Under the US constitution, each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes - by prevailing in the mostly winner-takes-all state contests - becomes president.
The popular vote, which is symbolically and politically important but not decisive in the race, remains too close to call.
On Tuesday, the president held the White House by assembling solid Democratic states and a number of important swing states such as Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. His narrow victory in Ohio, a critical Mid-Western swing state, sealed the victory.
Mr Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, won North Carolina and Indiana, as well as the solid Republican states.
But he was unable to win in Ohio or other states needed to breach the 270 threshold.
Also on Tuesday's ballot were 11 state governorships, a third of the seats in the 100-member US Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
Republicans are projected to keep control of the House, while Democrats are tipped to remain in control in the Senate.
Mr Obama's re-election victory came despite lingering high employment - 7.9% on election day - and tepid economic growth.
But voters gave him credit for his 2009 rescue of the US auto industry, among other policy accomplishments, and rewarded him for ordering the commando mission that killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan last year.
He and Mr Romney, as well as their respective allies, have spent more than $2bn (£1.25bn) - largely on adverts in swing states.
Source-BBC
David Cameron attacks 'ludicrous' EU budget increase
David Cameron has attacked a 'ludicrous' proposed rise in the EU budget in advance of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The leaders are due to discuss the issue at Downing Street later.
Mr Cameron has indicated he wants a freeze and he is under pressure from some in his party to campaign for a reduction in real terms.
Germany has indicated it is sympathetic to the UK's arguments but says some rise is necessary.
The talks between the two leaders come less than three weeks before a summit of EU member states at which they will try to work out the next set of long-term spending plans for Brussels.
Tough outcome
Speaking in Abu Dhabi, during his three-day visit to the Middle East, Mr Cameron said he would make a "very robust and strong argument" for an arrangement that forced the European Commission to limit its budget.
He said: "They are proposing a completely ludicrous 100 billion euro increase in the European budget.
"I'll be arguing for a very tough outcome. I never had very high hopes for a November agreement because you have got 27 different people round the table with 27 different opinions."
Last week the government was defeated in a Commons vote on the EU budget after 53 Conservative MPs defied their party over the issue.
Tory rebels joined with Labour to pass an amendment calling for a real-terms cut in spending between 2014 and 2020.
The amendment was not binding on ministers, but was seen as a blow to David Cameron's authority on Europe ahead of the EU budget summit.
Signs of exasperation
Mr Cameron said: "I feel I am in there fighting for Europe's taxpayers, particularly British taxpayers.
"We have a rebate, we are keeping that rebate. But over and above that rebate I also want to see a good budget outcome for the UK."
The BBC's correspondent in Berlin, Stephen Evans, says many in Angela Merkel's parliamentary party show signs of exasperation at what they see as the British hard-line.
Any deal agreed by EU leaders later this month would have to be put to the Commons for approval.
Mr Cameron has said he would be prepared to veto any unacceptable proposal - which would mean that a deal would not go ahead.
If no agreement is reached by the end of next year the 2013 budget will be rolled into 2014 with a 2% rise to account for inflation.
French gays' 'marry and adopt children' bill considered
Plans to legalise same-sex marriage and allow gay couples to adopt are to be discussed at a meeting of the French Socialist government.
France already allows civil unions between same-sex couples, but it was a campaign pledge of President Francois Hollande to extend their rights.
He is now facing tough opposition to the idea.
This is one the most divisive issues he has encountered since he was elected in May, correspondents say.
Once the draft law has been presented to Mr Hollande's cabinet, it will be debated by the French parliament in January.
More than 1,000 mayors have signed a petition against the proposed changes, there have been protests in 75 towns and cities, and one opposition politician has even suggested that legalising gay marriage could lead to polygamy, says the BBC's Maddy Savage in Paris.
Over the weekend, the head of the French Council of Bishops described gay marriage as "the ultimate deceit".
And there are also divisions within the government, with some arguing that the law should go even further by offering state funding for artificial insemination for gay couples.
At present only married couples - not civil union partners - can adopt in France.
A number of European nations, including Germany, Sweden and the UK, already allow gay adoption.