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Starting today, November 9, 2012, all Breaking news will be move to The Beat blog at http://hawaii.news.blogs.civilbeat.com/.

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Petraeus Steps Down as C.I.A. Chief, Saying He Had Affair

David H. Petraeus, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, resigned on Friday after issuing a statement saying that he had engaged in an extramarital affair.

The sudden development came just days after President Obama won re-election to a second term. Mr. Petraeus, a highly decorated general who had led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had been expected to remain in the president’s administration.

— The New York Times

Cracks found in South Korean nuclear reactor

South Korean nuclear regulators have found microscopic cracks in tunnels that guide control rods at a nuclear plant under maintenance, government officials said, raising new concerns over the country's nuclear power sector.

The discovery, revealed on Friday, of the cracks at the reactor comes just days after two reactors at the same plant in Yeonggwang county, in the southwest of the country, were shut down to replace parts that had been provided with forged certificates.

— al-Jazeera

Obama calls on House to pass tax hikes for wealthy

Flush with re-election vigor, President Barack Obama called Friday for House Republicans to immediately pass a bill already approved by the Senate to extend current tax rates for middle class Americans while allowing a tax hike for wealthier citizens.

In his first public comments since winning Tuesday's vote, Obama expressed openness to negotiate with Congress on how to deal with pending tax hikes and spending cuts that create the so-called fiscal cliff facing the economy at the end of the year.

— CNN

NASA Successfully Uses 'Interplanetary Internet' To Control Robot

NASA along with the European Space Agency successfully used an experimental "interplanetary Internet" to control a small LEGO robot on Earth. The commands came from space and "demonstrate technology that one day may enable Internet-like communications with space vehicles and support habitats or infrastructure on another planet," NASA said in a press release.

So what's the big deal, you ask? Well, this is a first step in building an infrastructure that would allow us to communicate through the astronomical distances in space.

— NPR

New York City, Long Island will ration gas

With long gas lines persisting more than a week after Superstorm Sandy, New York imposed a gasoline rationing plan Thursday that lets motorists fill up every other day.

Police will be at gas stations Friday morning to enforce the new system in New York City and on Long Island.Gas will be available to drivers with license-plate numbers ending in an odd number or a letter on Friday. On Saturday, drivers with license plates that end in even numbers or zero can fuel up.

— Christian Science Monitor

Australia to join second Kyoto Protocol phase

Australia's government says it is "ready to join" a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Climate Minister Greg Combet said Australia was making the move because more action was being taken internationally to tackle climate change and replace the Kyoto deal.

— BBC

Florida still uncertain whether Obama or Romney won the state

On Wednesday morning, after another election meltdown in Miami, the result of the presidential race in Florida was still uncertain. By dawn, all precincts in the state had finished reporting, and the totals gave an edge of more than 46,000 votes forPresident Obama -- about a half-percent.

— Los Angeles Times

Libya: Jalil faces Abdel Fattah Younes questions

A Libyan court has ordered ex-interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil to be questioned over the 2011 killing of top rebel commander Abdel Fattah Younes.

Mr Jalil, who chaired the now-dissolved National Transitional Council (NTC) when Gen Younes was shot, gave varying accounts of how the commander had died.

— BBC

Obama photo a social-media sensation

It may already be social media's most-shared image ever.

President Barack Obama's campaign posted a photograph of him embracing his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, to Facebook and Twitter late Tuesday, moments after CNN and other news outlets projected he had won re-election over GOP challenger Mitt Romney. The accompanying message read simply, "Four more years."

— CNN

Hard-Hit Long Island Awaits Power As Temps Drop

A week after Hurricane Sandy hit the region, roughly 1 million people are still without power in the New York area, and more than one-third of those live on Long Island.

In the hierarchy of hurricanes that have hit Mastic Beach, N.Y., over the years, this one ranks near the top, says Mayor Bill Biondi.

— NPR

Foreign Office raises Egypt terror threat

The Foreign Office has raised its terrorism warning for visitors to Egyptfrom medium to high, particularly urging Britons against travel to the Sinai region, after a recent spate of militant attacks.

The change comes on the same day that a report revealed that police in Egypt had foiled a plot by al-Qaida-linked militants to attack tourists in the popular Red Sea coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Mirror saidthe attack, involving firearms and rocket-propelled grenades, had been planned for Christmas.

— The Guardian

British woman returns to Pakistani jail with newborn

A British woman who was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking in Pakistan remains in jail with her child, despite concerns about the baby's welfare.

Khadija Shah, 25, of Birmingham gave birth to her daughter, Malaika, a few weeks ago at a hospital in the city of Rawalpindi, an hour's drive from the capital, and was escorted back to jail with the infant only three days later, to the shock and dismay of her lawyer.

— CNN

Bloomberg Backs Obama, Citing Climate Change

In a surprise announcement, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Thursday that Hurricane Sandy had reshaped his thinking about the presidential campaign and that as a result he was endorsing President Obama.

Mr. Bloomberg, a political independent in his third term leading New York City, has been sharply critical of both Mr. Obama, a Democrat, and Mitt Romney, the president’s Republican rival, saying that both men have failed to candidly confront the problems afflicting the nation. But he said he had decided over the past several days that Mr. Obama was the best candidate to tackle the global climate change that the mayor believes contributed to the violent storm, which took the lives of at least 38 New Yorkers and caused billions of dollars in damage.

— The New York Times

UN hands full police powers to East Timor

United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor have handed full responsibility for policing to Asia's youngest nation, according to the prime minister.

The National Police of East Timor "are assuming full responsibility for maintaining law and order", Xanana Gusmao said in a statement on Wednesday.

— al-Jazeera

Libya's parliament finally approves first cabinet

Libya's parliament finally approved its first cabinet on Wednesday, nearly four months after MPs were elected in July.

The cabinet of the prime minister, Ali Zeidan, was approved by 105 members of the 200-member parliament, with nine objections and 18 abstentions among the 132 MPs who attended the session.

— The Guardian

Taiwanese will no longer need visas to visit U.S.

Yi-Shen Chou has spent more than 30 years in the U.S., first as a motel operator and now as a Monterey Park retiree who enjoys line dancing and computer games.

His family — a half-dozen brothers and sisters and numerous nieces and nephews — remains in Taiwan. Occasionally, Chou reunites with them on one side of the Pacific or the other, but for the most part, he is alone here.

— The Washington Post

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