Nov 2 (Reuters) - TOP STORIES
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NEW YORK - Four days after superstorm Sandy smashed into the U.S. Northeast, rescuers on Friday were still discovering the extent of the death and devastation in New York and the New Jersey shore, and anger mounted over gasoline shortages, power outages and waits for relief supplies.
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WASHINGTON - U.S. employers stepped up hiring in October and the jobless rate ticked higher as more workers restarted job hunts, a hopeful sign for a lackluster economy that has been a drag on President Barack Obama's re-election chances.
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BEIRUT - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have withdrawn from their last base near the northern town of Saraqeb, further weakening his ability to fight rebels in the country's largest city Aleppo, a violence monitoring group said on Friday.
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BEIJING - Potentially sinister threats to China's ruling Communist Party sit unnoticed in cages perched on a rooftop above a small alleyway in southwestern Beijing. Not dissidents. Pigeons.
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GENEVA - The United Nations' most senior human rights official urged China on Friday to address deep-rooted frustrations that have led to desperate forms of protest by Tibetans, including some 60 self-immolations since March 2011.
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FRANKFURT/PARIS - The western European auto market maintained its sharp descent towards levels last seen nearly 20 years ago as consumers worried about unemployment and euro zone austerity shunned car dealerships in October.
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MOSCOW - When Vladimir Putin celebrated his 60th birthday last month, a group of patriotic mountaineers unfurled a portrait of the Russian leader on a 4,150-metre mountain peak. But as Putin nears the end of his 13th year ruling this vast country, Russians feel increasingly unhappy and worries over long-term political and economic stability are growing.
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DUBLIN - Ireland sentenced former billionaire Sean Quinn to jail on Friday for failing to disclose assets he was hiding abroad, completing the fall from grace of the richest man in Ireland's ``Celtic Tiger'' boom.
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JERUSALEM - Israel's once dominant Kadima party faces eclipse at a January election, with polls suggesting the movement created by former prime minister Ariel Sharon could be replaced by new and revived forces at the helm of centre-left opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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JOHANNESBURG - Striking miners at AngloGold Ashanti will return to work on Sunday at two mines where operations were suspended this week in a dispute over bonus payments, the world's third largest bullion producer said.
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BEIJING/SHANGHAI - Honda Motor Co Ltd's China car sales plunged 54 percent in October from a year earlier, with the pace of decline accelerating from the previous month as Japanese automakers suffer the backlash from a territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.