From NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
In a bid to more quickly restore calm in Gaza, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the Middle East, meeting with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders but not Hamas which the U.S. considers a terrorist group. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports Clinton's first meeting is with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland says all of the parties involved in the latest flare-up between Israel and Hamas want to see this resolved peacefully and that's what Secretary Clinton is trying to.
She has been actively engaged on the phone, but sometimes, there's no substitution for showing up, as the secretary herself likes to say, for talking face to face.
Clinton will also make a point of meeting the President of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas before traveling to Egypt, a key player in the diplomacy. The U.S. has been calling on Egypt, Turkey and others to use their influence with Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
The possibility of a truce apparently is not slowing down Israeli air strikes or Hamas rocket attacks. The death toll continues to climb. Israeli media reporting that a soldier and a civilian were killed today in mortar attacks, bring the death toll among Israelis to five. And in Gaza, officials say air strikes have killed at least 130 Palestinians since the conflict began a week ago.
Britain is joining France in recognizing the new Syrian National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. Foreign Secretary William Hague told Parliament today, the British government will watch the opposition group's progress closely.
As the president of the National Coalition said to me on Friday, recognition imposes responsibilities on the Coalition, and we will continue to press them to uphold their commitments.
The FBI has arrested four Californian men for allegedly plotting attacks against the U.S. military in Afghanistan. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports the case involved among others two young Muslim converts and a former Air Force veteran.
According to a nearly 80-page criminal complaint, the four southern Californian men planned to join al-Qaeda and the Taliban. A 34-year-old former Air Force man, named, Sohiel Kabir, allegedly traveled to Afghanistan in the summer and encouraged 23-year-old Ralph Deleon and 21-year-old Miguel Santana to join him there to wage violent jihad. A fourth man, 21-year-old Arifeen Gojali, was also allegedly recruited to be part of the group. Deleon, Santana and Gojali were arrested on Friday after the FBI tracked their web postings and movements for months. Kabir was arrested in Afghanistan. All are accused of providing material support to a terrorist organization and each faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.
Dow was down 34 points.
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An ex-hedge fund trader is charged in an insider trading scheme that Federal authorities say, might have been the most lucrative inside tip of all time, $276 million. That's how much the FBI says Mathew Martoma may have reaped in benefits stemming from confidential information he used or allegedly used about an Alzheimer's disease drug trial, started in 2006.
Two weeks after votes were cast. Florida Republican Congressman Allen West conceded today that he lost his congressional race to Democrat, Patrick Murphy. NPR's Greg Allen reports, West leaves Congress after serving one term and becoming known nationally as a Tea Party spokesman.
Allen West retired Army Lieutenant Colonel won his seat in 2010 elected in a Republican wave that brought many Tea Party activists to Congress. He quickly became well-known nationally for his provocative statements, comparing Democrats to Nazi propaganda's Joseph Goebbels, and identifying more than 80 Democrats in the House as members of the Communist Party. In the two weeks since the vote, Florida election officials held a partial recount but determined that Democrat Patrick Murphy had nearly a 2000-point lead and was the clear winner. This morning, on FOX News, West conceded.
We are going to move ahead and we wish Congressman Murphy elect very well, but I think that now is not the time to try to draw the process out.
West said his legal team did an analysis of the vote and determined that a full recount, if they could get one, was not likely to change the outcome of the race. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
Running a car over the Thanksgiving Holiday could prove nearly impossible if you traveling in the northeastern U.S.. Thanks to Superstorm Sandy, a lot of vehicles were damaged in the storm, supplies are now low and demand is rising.
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