Clinton Heading to Middle East to Meet With Leaders

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is headed to the Middle East with the hope that she can help bring an end to the escalating violence that has gripped the region for the last week.

Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem later tonight to meet with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. Clinton will also meet with Palestinian officials in Ramallah before heading to Cairo to meet with leaders in Egypt.

A senior Israeli government official told ABC News that Netanyahu has decided to hold off on a ground invasion for a "limited time" in favor of a diplomatic solution.

Overnight, Israeli jets hit more than 100 targets, killing five people. Gaza militants blasted more than 60 rockets in retaliation, with one of them hitting a bus in southern Israel.

Click HERE for Photos from Airstrikes and Rocket Attacks in the Middle East

An Israeli man armed with an axe and knife stabbed a guard at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. The guard was wounded in the attack, but expected to live. Police apprehended the man at the scene, police said.

The man, in his early 40s, attacked the guard outside the embassy gates, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Associated Press. He said the man's motive was unknown, but political motives were not suspected and the incident had nothing to do with Israel's battle with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

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Gaza Violence: More Missiles Fired, Death Toll Rises Watch Video

"It's in nobody's interest to see this escalate," Rhodes said at a press conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where President Obama is attending the East Asia Summit.

Clinton, who was with Obama on his trip to Southeast Asia, hastily departed from Cambodia for the Middle East following the announcement.

A State Department official tells ABC News that Clinton's visit "will build on American engagement with regional leaders over the past days."

A White House official said they believe face-to-face diplomacy could help, but no concrete details were offered.

President Obama was on the phone until 2:30 a.m. local time with leaders in the region trying to de-escalate the violence, Rhodes told reporters. The president spoke with Netanyahu and Egyptian President Morsi on Monday as well.

"To date, we're encouraged by the cooperation and the consultation we've had with the Egyptian leadership. We want to see that, again, support a process that can de-escalate the situation," Rhodes said. "But again, the bottom line still remains that Hamas has to stop this rocket fire."

Rhodes insisted that Palestinian officials need to be a part of the discussions to end the violence and rocket fire coming out of the Hamas-ruled territory.

"The Palestinian Authority, as the elected leaders of the Palestinian people, need to be a part of this discussion," Rhodes said. "And they're clearly going to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people—a leading role."

With the death toll rising, Egypt accelerated efforts to broker a cease-fire Monday. Anger boiled over in Gaza as the death toll passed 100 and the civilian casualties mounted. Volleys of Palestinian militant rockets flew into Israel as Israeli drones buzzed endlessly overhead and warplanes streaked through the air to unleash missile strikes.

An Israeli strike on a Gaza City high-rise Monday killed Ramez Harb, one of the top militant leaders of Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group said.

It is also the second high profile commander taken out in the Israeli offensive, which began seven days ago with a missile strike that killed Ahmed Jibari, Hamas' top military commander.

ABC News' Reena Ninan, Dana Hughes, Mary Bruce and Matt Gutman contributed to this report.

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Israel says prefers diplomacy over Gaza invasion option

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel bombed dozens of targets in Gaza 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 from the enclave.

As international pressure mounted for a truce, mediator Egypt said a deal to end the fighting could be close.

Twelve Palestinian civilians and four fighters were killed in the air strikes, bringing the Gaza death toll since fighting began on Wednesday to 90, more than half of them non-combatants, local officials said. Three Israeli civilians have been killed.

After an overnight lull, militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip fired 45 rockets at southern Israel, causing no casualties, police said. One damaged a school, but it was closed at the time.

The deaths of 11 Palestinian civilians - nine from one family - in an air strike on Sunday - drew more international calls for an end to six days of hostilities and could test Western support for an offensive Israel billed as self-defense after years of cross-border rocket attacks.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on a report in the liberal Haaretz newspaper that it had mistakenly fired on the Dalu family home, where the dead spanned four generations, while trying to kill a Hamas rocketry chief.

Echoes of explosions in Gaza mixed with cries of grief and defiant chants of "God is greatest" at the funeral of the four children and five women killed in the attack that flattened the three-storey house. Their bodies were wrapped in Palestinian and Hamas flags and thousands turned out to mourn them.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was due to arrive in Cairo to weigh in on ceasefire efforts led by Egypt, which borders both Israel and Gaza and whose Muslim Brotherhood-rooted government has been hosting leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed faction in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli media said a delegation from Israel had also been to Cairo for the truce talks. A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government declined comment on the matter.

"Israel is prepared and has taken steps, and is ready for a ground incursion which will deal severely with the Hamas military machine," a senior official close to Netanyahu told Reuters.

But he added: "We would prefer to see a diplomatic solution that would guarantee the peace for Israel's population in the south. If that is possible, then a ground operation would no longer be required. If diplomacy fails, we may well have no alternative but to send in ground forces."

The official's language echoed that of U.S. President Barack Obama, who said on Sunday it would be "preferable" to avoid a move into Gaza. Obama also said Israel had a right to self-defense and no country would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens.

Egyptian negotiators could be close to achieving a deal between Israel and the Palestinians to stop the fighting could be close, the Egyptian prime minister said.

"I think we are close, but the nature of this kind of negotiation, (means) it is very difficult to predict," Hisham Kandil said in an interview in Cairo for the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit.

Egypt's foreign minister is expected to visit Gaza on Tuesday with a delegation of Arab ministers to express solidarity with the Palestinians.

In scenes recalling Israel's 2008-2009 winter invasion of Gaza, tanks, artillery and infantry have massed in field encampments along the sandy, fenced-off Gaza border and military convoys moved on roads in the area.

Israel has also authorized the call-up of 75,000 military reservists, so far mobilizing around half that number.

WORLD CONCERN

The Gaza fighting has stoked the worries of world powers watching an already combustible region.

In the absence of any prospect of permanent peace between Israel and Hamas and other Islamist factions, mediated deals for each to hold fire unilaterally have been the only formula for stemming bloodshed in the past. But both sides now placed the onus on the other.

Izzat Risheq, aide to Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, wrote on Facebook that Hamas would enter a truce only after Israel "stops its aggression, ends its policy of targeted assassinations and lifts the blockade of Gaza".

Listing Israel's terms, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon wrote on Twitter: "If there is quiet in the south and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel's citizens, nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack."

Yaalon also said Israel wanted an end to Gaza guerrilla activity in the neighboring Egyptian Sinai, a desert peninsula where lawlessness has spread during Cairo's political crises.

Israel bombed some 80 sites in Gaza overnight, the military said, adding in a statement that targets included "underground rocket launching sites, terror tunnels and training bases" as well as "buildings owned by senior terrorist operatives".

Netanyahu has said he had assured world leaders that Israel was doing its utmost to avoid causing civilian casualties in Gaza. At least 22 of the Gaza fatalities have been children, medical officials said.

Before leaving for Cairo, Ban urged Israel and the Palestinians to cooperate with all Egyptian-led efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire.

But a big rocket strike might be enough for Netanyahu to give a green light for a Gaza invasion, despite the political risks of heavy casualties before a January election he is favored to win.

Although 84 percent of Israelis supported the current Gaza assault, according to a Haaretz poll, only 30 percent wanted an invasion. Nineteen percent wanted their government to work on securing a truce soon.

Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and force Hamas to stop rocket fire that has bedevilled Israeli border towns for years.

The rockets now have greater range, becoming a strategic weapon for Gaza's otherwise massively outgunned militants. Several projectiles have targeted Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. None hit the two cities and some of the rockets were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome interceptor system.

As a precaution against the rocket interceptions endangering nearby Ben-Gurion International Airport, civil aviation authorities said on Monday new flight paths were being used.

There was no indication takeoffs and landings at Ben-Gurion had been affected.

Hamas and other groups in Gaza are sworn enemies of the Jewish state which they refuse to recognize and seek to eradicate, claiming all Israeli territory as rightfully theirs.

Hamas won legislative elections in the Palestinian Territories in 2006 but a year later, after the collapse of a unity government under President Mahmoud Abbas the Islamist group seized control of Gaza in a brief and bloody civil war with forces loyal to Abbas.

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Australia imposes two-year ban on supertrawlers

SYDNEY: Australia banned supertrawlers fishing in its southern waters for two years on Monday, saying there was uncertainty about the impact of such large vessels on species such as dolphins and seals.

Environment Minister Tony Burke in September blocked the 9,500-tonne, 143-metre (469-foot) Abel Tasman from operating for 60 days until more scientific research was completed.

The Dutch-owned vessel, previously known as the Margiris, planned to trawl off Tasmania, but environmental campaign group Greenpeace voiced fears its haul could include threatened species in its by-catch and deplete fish stocks.

On Monday Burke extended the ban - which covers the Small Pelagic Fishery running along the country's southern coast from near Perth in the west almost to the Queensland border in the east - for the maximum 24 months allowed.

"I've signed off on there being a two-year ban... for supertrawlers to be operating in our waters," he told reporters in Canberra.

So-called "supertrawlers" are designed to store a much larger amount of fish on board than ordinary trawlers, so that they can remain at sea for much longer periods before having to return to port.

Burke said while scientists believed the Abel Tasman would not impact on all species adversely, there were question marks over some, including seals and dolphins. An expert panel will carry out an assessment.

"The challenge here has always been, a vessel of this nature had never been used in Australian waters," he said.

"It did carry additional environmental challenges where on a number of occasions the information that I sought was not available. There was significant uncertainty about what the environmental consequence will be."

Fisheries authorities have dismissed concerns about over-fishing, saying the trawler would only be allowed to catch 10 percent of available fish and would have little, if any, impact on the broader ecosystem.

- AFP/de

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Yeddyurappa apologizes to LK Advani

DAVANAGERE: A day after BJP went offensive against him, former chief minister BS Yeddyrappa went a step backward by apologizing to BJP patriarch LK Advani.

Yeddyurappa, who is all set to quit the party, apologized to Advani after participating 'kalasarohana' of Sri Ranganatha swamy temple at Kunkova village, Honnali taluk in Davanagere district on Monday.

Yeddyurappa on Saturday made anti-Advani slogans by stating "down down Advani", today he retracted and maintained that it was it was "slip of the tongue" and accidently spelt Advani name while making anti-Ananth Kumar slogans.

"Both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani are like my two eyes. I should not have made remarks against Advani. It's a big mistake and I regret for it. I was upset on Ananth Kumar as he was responsible for my down fall by bad mouthing against me with Advani. Accidently Advani's name was spelt along while making anti-Kumar statement. I apologize for it," Yeddyurappa told reporters.

Yeddyurappa in the same district had said that when he was in jail for 24-days last year, Advani said that the BJP government led by him was number one in corruption in the country, which hurt him badly. "Advani, who had visited Bangalore when I was in power, had leveled corruption charges against me. When I was in jail, Advani let me down," the former CM said.

He also leveled charges against Kumar alleging that he had sold the government-owned hotel Ashok in Bangalore for just Rs 1,000 crore and also was involved in Rs 18,000 crore HUDCO scam.

Yeddyurappa's statement was taken seriously by the BJP. Although the party remained silent against Lingayat leader, despite his series of BJP bashing, it officially for the first time launched attack on him on Sunday by stating the party came to power on ideology, not by efforts of any individual.

Directed against Yeddyurappa, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said that people everywhere always support ideology, not individuals. "Even in Karnataka people will stand with," he said. Maintaining that BJP has given all the support to Yeddyurappa, Naidu said if Yeddyurappa wants to form his party it is his choice. Upset with BJP, the former CM is all set to launch Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) on December 9 at Haveri, about 350km from Bangalore.

Meanwhile state BJP president K S Eshwarappa in Bellary said the question of dissolving assembly would not arise at all as the BJP would complete its full term. "I don't see great number of BJP legislators or MPs joining KJP. Only handful of them might go. This any way won't affect functioning of the government. BJP government will complete its full term," he said. Attacking Yeddyurappa, Eshwarappa in Chitradurga said that the former CM should know that he is just a MLA, not chief minister anymore and should follow protocol.

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.

There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Meningitis mainly affects infants and children. It kills about 8 percent of patients and leaves others with lifelong consequences such as brain damage.

In a statement on Friday, Andrin Oswald of Novartis said he is "proud of the major advance" the company has made in developing its vaccine Bexsero. It is aimed at children over two months of age, and Novartis is hoping countries will include the shot among the routine ones for childhood diseases such as measles.

Novartis said the immunization has had side effects such as fever and redness at the injection site.

Recommendations from the European Medicines Agency are usually adopted by the European Commission. Novartis also is seeking to test the vaccine in the U.S.

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Gaza Deaths Spur Calls for Cease-Fire

Mourners today buried the 11 victims of an Israeli air strike Sunday, the single deadliest incident since the escalation between Hamas and Israel began Wednesday. Among the dead were nine members of the Daloo family, killed when an Israeli warplane targeted their home in Gaza City while trying to kill a Hamas rocket maker, whose fate is unknown.

Palestinian deaths climbed to more than 90 Monday when four more, including two children, were killed in a strike on a sports stadium the Israel Defense Forces said was being used to launch rockets. Gaza health officials said half of those killed were children, women or elderly men.

Israel carried out 80 air strikes this morning, down from previous morning totals. There were just 16 militant rocket launches, the Israeli military said, also a relatively low tally. The Israel Defense Forces said that since Wednesday, when Hamas' top military commander was assassinated by Israel, around 1,100 strikes had been carried out in Gaza while militants have launched about 1,000 rockets.

Sunday proved to be one the deadliest days of what Israel has called "Operation Pillar of Defense" with at least 23 people reported killed. Of those, at least 14 were women and children, according to a Gaza health official. The Israel Defense Forces told ABC News it was targeting Hamas rocket maker Yehiya Bia, who lives near the Daloo family in a densely populated Gaza neighborhood and has not been accounted for.

Rescue workers worked frantically this morning looking for any survivors in the rubble of the attack.

Israel shifted its tactics this weekend from striking rocket arsenals and firing positions to targeting the homes of senior Hamas commanders and the offices of Hamas politicians in Gaza. Doing so brought the violence into Gaza's most densely populated areas.

Israel also hit two high-rise buildings Sunday that house the offices of Hamas and international media outlets, injuring at least six journalists.

Meanwhile, militant rockets continued to rain down on Israel Sunday. More than 100 rockets were fired Sunday with 76 landing in Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The military said that more than 500 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. More than 300 have been intercepted by Israel's "Iron Dome" defense system.

Three Israeli civilians died from militant rocket fire in one attack Thursday and dozens have been wounded.

The pace of diplomacy has stepped up as civilian casualties in Gaza continue to rise. An Israeli envoy is in Cairo to talk with Egyptian officials but Hamas sources say no progress has been made.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to arrive later today, and has called for an immediate cease-fire. Leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Hamas, as well as an Israeli envoy, are working toward a cease-fire proposal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss the crisis with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday on the sidelines of the Asean meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Gilad Sharon, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, took to the Jerusalem Post op-ed page today to call for Israel to "flatten all of Gaza."

"There is no middle path here, either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip," he wrote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened cabinet meetings in Jerusalem Sunday, saying, Israel is "prepared to significantly expand the operation."

While speaking in Bangkok, President Obama Sunday said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting. While defending Israel's right to defend itself against the rocket fire, he also warned of the risks the Jewish state would take if it were to expand its air assault into a ground war.

"If we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future," Obama said.

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Man arrested for alleged involvement in fatal hit-and-run

SINGAPORE: Police have arrested a 36-year-old truck driver for his alleged involvement in a fatal hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of a 46-year-old cyclist.

The truck driver also had his licence suspended with immediate effect.

In a statement, police said on 17 November 2012, at about 6.45 pm, a man was cycling along the roundabout at Fort Road when he was hit by a vehicle. He died soon after.

Police said through extensive interviews and enquiries, the officers learned that a tipper truck was near the scene of the accident at that time.

They found the tipper truck at Sungei Kadut within four hours after the accident and arrested the driver.

- CNA/xq

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Gaza violence: India calls for direct Israel-Palestine talks

Israeli soldiers take cover as an Israeli missile is launched from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod in response to a rocket launched from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip on November 18, 2012. (AFP photo)

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.

There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Meningitis mainly affects infants and children. It kills about 8 percent of patients and leaves others with lifelong consequences such as brain damage.

In a statement on Friday, Andrin Oswald of Novartis said he is "proud of the major advance" the company has made in developing its vaccine Bexsero. It is aimed at children over two months of age, and Novartis is hoping countries will include the shot among the routine ones for childhood diseases such as measles.

Novartis said the immunization has had side effects such as fever and redness at the injection site.

Recommendations from the European Medicines Agency are usually adopted by the European Commission. Novartis also is seeking to test the vaccine in the U.S.

Read More..

Rocket Fired at Tel Aviv, More Strikes in Gaza

Egyptian security officials say a senior Israeli official has arrived in Cairo for talks on reaching a cease-fire to end an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The officials said the official arrived at Cairo's airport and was immediately rushed away from the tarmac into talks. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity under security guidelines, did not identify the Israeli.

Israeli officials declined comment.

Egypt has been leading international efforts to broker a truce to end five days of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.

Nabil Shaath, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who was in Cairo, confirmed the Israeli's arrival.

He says there are "serious attempts to reach a cease-fire."

Shaath was headed to Gaza later Sunday to work on cease-fire efforts.

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