Dancing with the Stars: Couples Perform Crazy Combinations in Semi-Finals

TV Watch

Dancing With the Stars

By Aaron Parsley

11/19/2012 at 11:05 PM EST

Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough

Craig Sjodin/ABC

It's the semi-finals!

The remaining five couples on Dancing with the Stars faced two rounds of competition on Monday. First, the pairs performed mixed-up routines, blending uncommon styles with unusual themes. Then, they celebrated the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's hit album Bad with more traditional ballroom numbers.

Keep reading for all the details and scores ...

Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani
Last week's top scorers kicked off the night with a caveman hustle. "Fred and Wilma have never danced so well," Len Goodman said, while Bruno Tonioli said they lost footing during the turns. They scored a 27.5. But their red-hot Argentine tango to "Dirty Diana" was a perfect 30. "That was beyond anything I could have imagined for you," a thrilled Carrie Ann Inaba said. "I would be really disappointed if you're not here next week," Len added.

Shawn Johnson & Derek Hough
Hough said he would rather put mustard on ice cream than combine their Knight Rider theme with the Bhangra style. But the judges ate up the routine – and awarded the pair a perfect 30. In round two, their Argentine tango sparked disagreement on the panel. Bruno and Len held up 10s but Carrie Ann knocked off a point. "Every line was perfect, but dance is sometimes more than just movement and I thought that you lacked the real passion of the Argentine tango," she said.

Apolo Ohno & Karina Smirnoff
Their big top jazz routine was another sticking point for Carrie Ann and Bruno. She found the mime-themed dance "very disjointed," "out of sync" and "quite sloppy." He found it "edgy, surreal" and a "great mixture of jazz movement." They earned 27 points. But there was no arguing over their rumba to "Man in the Mirror," which earned a perfect 30. "It was like the sea," Len said. "There was wave after wave of effortless motion. There was a subtlety to it, there was a calmness. It captivated. It was fabulous."

Emmitt Smith & Cheryl Burke
The goal of their espionage lindy hop was to be cartoonish. Though that was tough for the former Dallas Cowboy, the judges were pleased and awarded the pair 27 points. "It was like a Looney Tunes version of James Bond," Bruno said. "It was the most fun performance I've seen you do." Their tango to "Leave Me Alone" was more of a challenge, but Len still gave Smith credit: "You've coped marvelously well with two dances that didn't really suit you," he said.

Kelly Monaco & Val Chmerkovskiy
Their surfer flamenco was super sexy – Val ended up in nothing but Speedo! – but the judges had issues with their technique, and handed out only 25.5 points. "It had a lot of aggression and a lot of fire. But the flamenco has very, very exact placement and it wasn't there," Bruno said. Carrie Ann called it "robotic." But they added 28.5 points with a romantic rumba to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." "That was smoldering, driven by desire, consumed by lust," Bruno said. "The chemistry between you two is literally singeing."

Two couples are heading home Tuesday night, leaving just three to compete in next week's finale. Who deserves a chance at the mirror-ball trophy? Discuss in the comments below.

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.

Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.

The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV screening.

Yet not nearly enough people have heeded that call: Of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, nearly 1 in 5 — almost 240,000 people — don't know it. Not only is their own health at risk without treatment, they could unwittingly be spreading the virus to others.

The updated guidelines will bring this long-simmering issue before doctors and their patients again — emphasizing that public health experts agree on how important it is to test even people who don't think they're at risk, because they could be.

"It allows you to say, 'This is a recommended test that we believe everybody should have. We're not singling you out in any way,'" said task force member Dr. Douglas Owens, of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

And if finalized, the task force guidelines could extend the number of people eligible for an HIV screening without a copay in their doctor's office, as part of free preventive care under the Obama administration's health care law. Under the task force's previous guidelines, only people at increased risk for HIV — which includes gay and bisexual men and injecting drug users — were eligible for that no-copay screening.

There are a number of ways to get tested. If you're having blood drawn for other exams, the doctor can merely add HIV to the list, no extra pokes or swabs needed. Today's rapid tests can cost less than $20 and require just rubbing a swab over the gums, with results ready in as little as 20 minutes. Last summer, the government approved a do-it-yourself at-home version that's selling for about $40.

Free testing is available through various community programs around the country, including a CDC pilot program in drugstores in 24 cities and rural sites.

Monday's proposal also recommends:

—Testing people older and younger than 15-64 if they are at increased risk of HIV infection,

—People at very high risk for HIV infection should be tested at least annually.

—It's not clear how often to retest people at somewhat increased risk, but perhaps every three to five years.

—Women should be tested during each pregnancy, something the task force has long recommended.

The draft guidelines are open for public comment through Dec. 17.

Most of the 50,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year are among gay and bisexual men, followed by heterosexual black women.

"We are not doing as well in America with HIV testing as we would like," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC's HIV prevention chief, said Monday.

The CDC recommends at least one routine test for everyone ages 13 to 64, starting two years younger than the task force recommended. That small difference aside, CDC data suggests fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.

"It can sometimes be awkward to ask your doctor for an HIV test," Mermin said — the reason making it routine during any health care encounter could help.

But even though nearly three-fourths of gay and bisexual men with undiagnosed HIV had visited some sort of health provider in the previous year, 48 percent weren't tested for HIV, a recent CDC survey found. Emergency rooms are considered a good spot to catch the undiagnosed, after their illnesses and injuries have been treated, but Mermin said only about 2 percent of ER patients known to be at increased risk were tested while there.

Mermin calls that "a tragedy. It's a missed opportunity."

___

Online:

Task force recommendation: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org

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Asian shares rise on hopes for U.S. fiscal deal

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Tuesday on hopes of a compromise in the U.S. fiscal crisis, while the euro fell after Moody's Investors Service scrapped France's top-notch credit rating, reminding investors of the downside risk from the euro zone debt woes.

With risk assets from stocks to commodities rallying over the past two sessions, recovering some of last week's sharp losses, markets were prone to profit taking as trading will likely slow ahead of Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

The dollar steadied against a basket of key currencies <.dxy> after Monday's 0.5 percent drop, capping commodities and gold. Oil also retreated from a near 3 percent jump on Monday.

U.S. stock futures eased 0.1 percent to hint at a weak Wall Street open. Financial spreadbetters predict London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> will open down as much as 0.3 percent. <.l><.eu><.n/>

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> added 0.7 percent, led by the materials and technology sectors <.miapjmt00pus><.miappjit00pus>.

Wall street climbed nearly 2 percent on Monday thanks to expectations that U.S. Congress reach a compromise to avoid $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts due to start in January - the "fiscal cliff" that threatens to derail the U.S. economy.

"There's some optimism at the moment about the Americans doing something constructive about their fiscal cliff problem," said Damien Boey, equity strategist at Credit Suisse.

Tech stocks lifted Korean shares <.ks11> up 0.6 percent and Hong Kong <.hsi> stocks added 0.8 percent to a one-week high.

Shanghai shares <.ssec> fell 0.5 percent, nearing their lowest since early 2009 hit on Monday, after data showed China's foreign direct investment inflows fell 3.45 percent in the first 10 months of 2012 from a year ago.

Japan's Nikkei average <.n225> inched down 0.1 percent, after reaching a fresh two-month high earlier in the day. <.t/>

As expected, the Bank of Japan took no fresh steps after a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, reiterating that it would pursue powerful monetary easing as Japan's economy is weakening.

The dollar fell 0.2 percent to 81.23 yen, but held near its highest since April 25 of 81.59 yen touched on Monday.

David Baran, co-founder of Tokyo-based hedge fund Symphony Financial Partners, said Japanese equities and the yen were attractive in comparison to other Asian assets. Nikkei has stayed at the lower end of ranges through 2012 and there are expectations that next month's election will result in a government that wants the BOJ to take stronger stimulus steps.

"Just from a risk-reward standpoint, you are seeing investors looking at Japan, looking at the yen and natural extrapolation of maybe we've seen the end of the bottom range of the dollar/yen," he said. "If you are trying to trade big moves, turning points, then you are getting into low risk, high reward possibility in yen and subsequently Japanese equities."

TAIL RISKS REMAIN

Euro zone finance ministers are expected to give a tentative go-ahead for the disbursement of 44 billion euros in emergency loans to Greece at a meeting later on Tuesday and discuss how to reduce Greek debt and provide two extra years of external financing to help Athens meet its fiscal target.

Ratings agency Fitch on Monday warned that failure to reach a deal on the "fiscal cliff" could trigger a recession and push the U.S. jobless rate above 10 percent. Given such "far-reaching effects," Fitch said it did not expect Congress to allow it to happen, echoing recent market optimism.

But Richard Franulovich, senior currency strategist at Westpac Securities in New York, said in a note that the positive conciliatory rhetoric over the "fiscal cliff" could easily come unstuck, while anything that is produced at the euro zone finance ministers' meeting is likely to be piecemeal.

"Given our read of the fiscal cliff and Greek risks we remain comfortable fading strength in risk assets," he said.

The euro zone's debt crisis saw Moody's cut France's government bond rating to Aa1 and keep its negative outlook, citing the country's uncertain fiscal outlook and deteriorating economic prospects.

France's downgrade sent the euro down 0.3 percent to $1.2777 from $1.2810, before it steadied to $1.2797, and also weighed on the euro against the yen.

Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan for UBS in Tokyo, said the reaction to the downgrade was limited, as trading was getting lighter ahead of Thanksgiving weekend.

"Given the recent market rally, the rest of the week is likely to be spent on adjusting positions before the long weekend, with any uptick giving way to profit taking," he said.

Brent crude held steady above $111 a barrel on Tuesday, less than a dollar away from a one-month top hit in the previous session, on hopes over the U.S. budget crisis and supply worries triggered by tensions in the Middle East.

U.S. crude futures eased 0.3 percent to $89.06.

Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,732.05 an ounce.

With risk appetite recovering, credit market spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index tightened by 4 basis points.

(Additional reporting by Clement Tan in Hong Kong and Thuy On in Sydney; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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Israel pounds Gaza as rocket fire wanes; talks in Egypt

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel bombed dozens of suspected guerrilla sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday and Palestinian rocket fire from the enclave dropped off as international efforts to broker a truce intensified.

Ten civilians and two field commanders from the Islamic Jihad faction were killed and at least 30 other Palestinians were hurt in the new air strikes, hospital officials said, bringing the death toll from six days of clashes in Gaza to 85.

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 Islamist-rooted government has been hosting leaders of Hamas.

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

The Gaza flare-up, and Israel's signaling that it could soon escalate from the aerial bombings to a ground sweep of the cramped and impoverished enclave, have stoked the worries of world powers watching an already combustible region.

As Hamas and other Islamist factions spurn permanent peace with the Jewish state, mediated deals for each to hold fire unilaterally have been the only formula for stemming bloodshed in the past. But each side 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.

WESTERN SUPPORT

Israel's operation has so far drawn Western support for what U.S. and European leaders have called its right to self-defense in the face of years of cross-border attacks, but there have also been growing appeals for an end to the hostilities.

Sympathy for Israel may wear thin as the Gaza toll mounts. On Sunday, 11 Palestinian civilians were apparently killed during an Israeli attack on a militant which brought a three-storey family home crashing down on them.

"I am deeply saddened by the reported deaths of more than ten members of the Dalu family... (and) by the continuing firing of rockets against Israeli towns, which have killed several Israeli civilians. I strongly urge the parties to cooperate with all efforts led by Egypt to reach an immediate ceasefire," Ban said before leaving for Egypt. He visits Israel on Tuesday.

At least 22 of the Gaza fatalities have been children.

Netanyahu said he had assured world leaders that Israel was doing its utmost to avoid causing civilian casualties in Gaza.

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 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.

A big, bloody rocket strike on Israelis might be enough for Netanyahu to give a green light for a ground offensive.

Three Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded in hundreds of salvoes since Wednesday. Some rockets reached as far as Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial capital, but were shot down by the country's air defense 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.

OVERNIGHT LULL

There was no rocket fire from Gaza between midnight and daybreak on Monday, the Israeli military said. It said a few cross-border launches followed in the early morning but there was no immediate word on casualties in southern Israel, where such salvoes usually set off sirens so residents can shelter.

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

Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and force Hamas to stop rocket fire that has bedeviled Israeli border towns for years. The rockets now have greater range, putting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem within their reach - a strategic weapon for Gaza's otherwise massively outgunned guerrillas.

The southern resort city of Eilat was apparently added to the list of targets when residents said they heard explosions on Sunday and Monday thought to be rockets, though there was no word on casualties or damage.

Eilat is thought to be well out of the range of any rocket in possession of Hamas or any other Gaza group. But militants have in the recent past fired rockets at Eilat and its surroundings, using Egypt's Sinai desert as a launch site.

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.

Abbas then dismissed the Hamas government led by the group's leader Ismail Haniyeh but he refuses to recognize Abbas' authority and runs Gazan affairs.

While it is denounced as a terrorist organization in the West, Hamas enjoys widespread support in the Arab world, where Islamist parties are on the rise.

U.S.-backed Abbas and Fatah hold sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank from their seat of government in the town of Ramallah. The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

(Writing by Ori Lewis and Dan Williams; Editing by Catherine Evans) 䴀ˆ

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Cisco to buy cloud-networking start-up Meraki for $1.2 billion

(Reuters) – Networking equipment company Cisco Systems Inc said it will buy privately held cloud networking company Meraki for $ 1.2 billion in cash as part of its cloud and networking strategy.

Cisco said the acquisition of Meraki, which was founded in 2006 by members of MIT’s Laboratory for Computer Science, is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco’s 2013 fiscal year and is subject to regulatory approval.

Cisco’s second quarter runs until the end of January.

Meraki – funded by Sequoia Capital and Google Inc – offers Wi-Fi technology, switching, security and mobile device management from the cloud with a focus on mid-sized businesses.

“This is a very logical move for Cisco,” said ZK research analyst Zeus Kerravala.

He said the deal will allow Cisco to offer alternative solutions to traditional Wi-Fi deployment models like smaller competitors, such as Aruba Networks and Ruckus Wireless, which debuted on Friday.

“Cisco didn’t really have anything to counter that before,” Kerravala noted.

Meraki’s Chief Executive Sanjit Biswas said in a letter to employees posted on the company website that Cisco had approached the company several weeks ago.

The company’s founders had at first rejected the offer in favor of continuing Meraki’s strategy aimed at an initial public listing.

“After several weeks of consideration, we decided late last week that joining Cisco was the right path for Meraki,” Biswas said.

He also said that Meraki had achieved a $ 100 million bookings run rate, grown to 330 employees and had a positive cash flow.

(Reporting by Nicola Leske, editing by Gary Crosse)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Justin Bieber Brings His Mom to the American Music Awards

By Maggie Coughlan

11/18/2012 at 09:35 PM EST

Pattie Mallette and Justin Bieber

Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters/Landov

Mother knows best!

Despite his recent split from Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber still had a date for the 40th American Music Awards on Sunday: his mother, Pattie Mallette.

Malette – who recently penned Nowhere But Up: The Story of Justin Bieber's Mom – looked thrilled to pose for photographs with her son.

When Bieber won the first award of the night, for favorite pop/rock male artist, his proud mother, 38, beamed.

"I want to say this is for all the haters who thought I was just here for one or two years. I feel like I'm going to be here for a very long time," the singer said as he accepted the award.

The award was a highlight during a rocky week for Bieber, who on Friday reunited with Gomez, 20, for dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles. But just five minutes after entering the restaurant, the couple emerged with Gomez looking visibly "mad," says a source.

Later that night, Bieber Tweeted "Things aren't always easy. there is a lot of pressure. im figuring it all out. im trying. but i care, i notice, i still hear u. #Beliebers."

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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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Asian shares rise on US fiscal hopes

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Monday, supported by hopes U.S. politicians can overcome an imminent fiscal crunch while the yen fell to a near seven-month low against the dollar on expectations a new government chosen in next month's election could pump large amounts of stimulus cash into the economy.

A 0.2 percent gain in U.S. stock futures point to a firm Wall Street open, and financial spreadbetters predict London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> will open as much as 0.9 percent higher. <.l><.eu><.n/>

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> rose 0.5 percent, recovering from Friday's nine-week low.

Its energy sector <.miapjen00pus> outperformed as mounting supply concerns on escalating tension from Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip and Hamas rocket attacks on Israel underpinned oil prices.

The materials sector <.miapjmt00pus> was among top gainers as London copper rallied 1 percent to $7,684 a tonne on a renewed growth outlook for China and hopes for a solution to the U.S. fiscal cliff.

Australian shares <.axjo> climbed 0.6 percent but Shanghai shares <.ssec> underperformed with a 0.5 percent drop, having earlier touched levels not seen since early 2009.

"We had some positive leads from the U.S. on Friday. Our market had been underperforming last week," Peter Esho, chief market analyst at City Index, said of Australian equities. "There's some hope that the negotiations in the U.S. around the fiscal situation may somewhat improve - the prospects around that may improve this week."

Japan's Nikkei average <.n225>, which bucked the broad Asian downtrend on Friday and surged 2.2 percent, extended gains with a 1.4 percent climb to close at a two-month high. <.t/>

Speculation that the leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which is expected to win the December 16 elections, will call for more stimulus including further aggressive easing by the Bank of Japan also undermined the yen.

The BOJ begins a two-day policy meeting on Monday, and is expected to refrain from taking fresh policy steps.

The dollar hit a near seven-month high against the yen at 81.59 yen on Monday. A weaker yen helps support the economy and boosts sentiment for Japanese equities investors.

A senior trader at a foreign bank said investors had been underweight Japanese equities and the rally could have further to go as they start to put their money into Japan, advising investors to cover their positions in very heavily short-sold sectors such as electronics.

FISCAL CLIFF, GREECE EYED

Aside from Japanese politics, market players closely watched negotiations among U.S. Congressional leaders to avoid a budget crisis, and prepared for European officials' meeting on Tuesday to discuss aid for debt-stricken Greece.

Hope that U.S. politicians would find a way to steer clear of the "fiscal cliff" boosted U.S. stocks on Friday. European shares sank to a 3-1/2-month closing low, for their worst week since the end of May, on persistent concerns over U.S. fiscal policy and the euro zone debt crisis.

Top lawmakers from both major U.S. political parties on Friday hinted at the possibility of a budget compromise that involves spending cuts and additional revenue, although they were short on details.

"The good news is the tone of Friday's White House meeting but the prospect of no agreement until at least mid-December fits our view that the two sides are starting negotiations from rather distant points," Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac bank in Sydney, said in a note.

"As such, there will be plenty of negative headlines in coming weeks that weigh on Treasury yields and boost USD, which is yet again trading like a safe haven even when the bad news is generated by the US."

The dollar fell 0.2 percent, retreating from the two-month high of 81.455 hit on Friday against a basket of key currencies <.dxy>. The drop in the dollar supported gold, which added 0.5 percent to $1,721.60 an ounce.

The euro rose 0.1 percent to $1.2760, with traders waiting to know whether euro zone finance ministers and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde would agree a way to make Greece's debt manageable.

"As the EU prepares a bundled aid package to avert a Greek default, headlines coming out of the meeting may fuel a relief rally in the euro, but we will maintain our bearish forecast for the single currency as the region faces a deepening recession," said David Song, currency analyst at DailyFX.

U.S. crude futures jumped 1 percent to 87.81 a barrel and Brent rose 0.7 percent to $109.70.

Asian credit market spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index were little changed.

(Additional reporting by Thuy Ong and; Ian Chua in Sydney, Dominic Lau in Tokyo; Editing by Eric Meijer)

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Israel, Gaza fighting rages on as Egypt seeks truce

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel bombed Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip from air and sea for a fifth straight day on Sunday, preparing for a possible ground invasion though Egypt saw "some indications" of a truce ahead.

Militant rocket fire into Israel subsided during the night but resumed in the morning with three rockets fired at the nearby coastal city of Ashkelon, the Israeli army said.

"As of now we have struck more than 1,000 targets, so Hamas should do the math over whether it is or isn't worth it to cease fire," Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon, over 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."

Forty-eight Palestinians, about half of them civilians, including 13 children, have been killed in Israel's raids, Palestinian officials said. More than 500 rockets fired from Gaza have hit Israel, killing three people and injuring dozens.

Israel unleashed intensive air strikes on Wednesday, killing the commander of the Hamas Islamist group that governs Gaza and spurns peace with the Jewish state. Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and press Hamas into stopping cross-border rocket fire that has plagued Israeli border towns for years.

Air raids continued past midnight into Sunday, with warships shelling from the sea. A Gaza City media building was hit, witnesses said, wounding 6 journalists and damaging facilities belonging to Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV as well as Britain's Sky News.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the strike had targeted a rooftop "transmission antenna used by Hamas to carry out terror activity".

Two other predawn attacks on houses in the Jabalya refugee camp killed two children and wounded 13 other people, medical officials said.

These attacks followed a defiant statement by Hamas military spokesman Abu Ubaida, who told a news conference: "This round of confrontation will not be the last against the Zionist enemy and it is only the beginning."

The masked gunman dressed in military fatigues insisted that despite Israel's blows Hamas "is still strong enough to destroy the enemy".

An Israeli attack on Saturday destroyed the house of a Hamas commander near the Egyptian border.

Casualties there were averted however, because Israel had fired non-exploding missiles at the building beforehand from a drone, which the militant's family understood as a warning to flee, and thus their lives were spared, witnesses said.

Israeli aircraft also bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza on Saturday, including the offices of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and a police headquarters.

Among those killed in air strikes on Gaza on Saturday were at least four suspected militants riding motorcycles, and several civilians including a 30-year-old woman.

ISRAELI SCHOOLS SHUT

Israel said it would keep schools in its south shut on Sunday as a precaution to avoid casualties from rocket strikes reaching as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the past few days.

Israel's "Iron Dome" missile interceptor system destroyed in mid-air a rocket fired by Gaza militants at Tel Aviv on Saturday, where volleyball games on the beach front came to an abrupt halt as air-raid sirens sounded.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack on Tel Aviv, the third against the city since Wednesday. It said it had fired an Iranian-designed Fajr-5 at the coastal metropolis, some 70 km (43 miles) north of Gaza.

In the Israeli Mediterranean port of Ashdod, a rocket ripped into several balconies. Police said five people were hurt.

Israel's operation has drawn Western support for what U.S. and European leaders have called Israel's right to self-defense, but there was also a growing number of calls from world leaders to seek an end to the violence.

British Prime Minister David Cameron "expressed concern over the risk of the conflict escalating further and the danger of further civilian casualties on both sides," in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a spokesperson for Cameron said.

London was "putting pressure on both sides to de-escalate," the spokesman said, adding that Cameron had urged Netanyahu "to do everything possible to bring the conflict to an end."

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, said the United States would like to see the conflict resolved through "de-escalation" and diplomacy, but also believes Israel has a right to self-defense.

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said in Cairo as his security deputies sought to broker a truce with Hamas leaders, that "there are some indications that there is a possibility of a ceasefire soon, but we do not yet have firm guarantees."

Egypt has mediated previous ceasefire deals between Israel and Hamas, the latest of which unraveled with recent violence.

A Palestinian official told Reuters the truce discussions would continue in Cairo on Sunday, saying "there is hope," but it was too early to say whether the efforts would succeed.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli official declined to comment on the negotiations. Military commanders said Israel was prepared to fight on to achieve a goal of halting rocket fire from Gaza, which has plagued Israeli towns since late 2000, when failed peace talks led to the outbreak of a Palestinian uprising.

Diplomats at the United Nations said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Israel and Egypt in the coming week to push for an end to the fighting.

POSSIBLE GROUND OFFENSIVE

Israel, with tanks and artillery positioned along the frontier, said it was still weighing a ground offensive.

Israeli cabinet ministers decided on Friday to more than double the current reserve troop quota set for the Gaza offensive to 75,000 and around 16,000 reservists have already been called up.

Asked by reporters whether a ground operation was possible, Major-General Tal Russo, commander of the Israeli forces on the Gaza frontier, said: "Definitely."

"We have a plan. ... It will take time. We need to have patience. It won't be a day or two," he added.

A possible move into the densely populated Gaza Strip and the risk of major casualties it brings would be a significant gamble for Netanyahu, favored to win a January election.

The last Gaza war, a three-week Israeli blitz and invasion over the New Year of 2008-09, killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Thirteen Israelis died in the conflict.

But the Gaza conflagration has stirred the pot of a Middle East already boiling from two years of Arab revolution and a civil war in Syria that threatens to spread beyond its borders.

One major change has been the election of an Islamist government in Cairo that is allied with Hamas, potentially narrowing Israel's maneuvering room in confronting the Palestinian group. Israel and Egypt made peace in 1979.

(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Douglas Hamilton)

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Taylor Swift and One Direction's Harry Styles: Are They Dating?

By Patrick Gomez

11/17/2012 at 10:40 PM EST

Taylor Swift and Harry Styles

Janet Mayer/Splash News Online; Don Arnold/Wireimage

Taylor Swift appears to be taking her love life in a new direction.

The "Never Ever Getting Back Together" singer is seemingly taking her lyrics to heart as she moves on from recent ex, Conor Kennedy, and enjoys the company of One Direction hottie Harry Styles.

"I had to literally do a double-take," an onlooker tells PEOPLE of finding Styles, 18, with Swift, 22, on the set of The X Factor Thursday morning.

Styles was on hand to watch Swift rehearse the debut of "State of Grace," which she performed later that night on the Fox reality show.

"He was smiling at her while she rehearsed. When she was done he jumped up on stage, picked her up, put her over his shoulder and carried her off stage," the onlooker says. "The whole crew was really surprised."

The young singers were also spotted by X Factor host Mario Lopez, who says he was slapped on the back by Styles during Swift's rehearsal.

"I said, 'What are you doing here,' " Lopez said on his 104.3 MY FM radio show Friday. "And he sort of [pointed] toward Taylor."

Lopez went on to say he later saw the two "hand-in-hand."

A telling sign of the budding relationship may have been a look Styles shared with his bandmate Niall Horan a week earlier after Horan told PEOPLE his favorite song of 2012 was Swift's "Never Ever Getting Back Together."

When asked if he would ever date Swift, Horan gave a small laugh, looked at Styles and answered with a succinct, "no."

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