NPR Blogs

Two positive economic indicators:

-- "Sales of existing homes increased in October, even with some regional impact from Hurricane Sandy, while home prices continued to rise due to lower levels of inventory supply," the National Association of Realtors reports.

There was no violence, as had been feared, when hundreds of thousands of people gathered Sunday in Mumbai, India, to express their grief over the death of Bal Thackeray, "a Hindu extremist leader linked to waves of mob violence against Muslims and migrant workers in India."

Given my constitutional opposition to women being told to smile and look happy, it takes a lot for me to pick on scowling.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Pressure For Truce Grows, But Israel And Hamas Continue Firing.

-- U.S. Policy Is To Say 'Burma;' Obama Also Uses 'Myanmar'.

Other stories in the news:

We've noted before that whether you call the Southeast Asian nation Burma or Myanmar has mattered to many for many years.

It's official U.S. policy, out of support for the opposition that has pressed for democratic reform in that country, to call it Burma. That's the name the nation was known by before a military regime took power in 1989 and started using Myanmar.

(We rewrote the top of this post at 7:45 p.m. ET to sum up the day's news.)

The sixth day of Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip saw Israel striking a media center and other Palestinian targets, raising the Palestinian death toll to more than 100. Palestinian militants fired 95 rockets at Israel; a third of them were intercepted by Iron Dome, the Israeli missile shield. Also Monday, a flurry of diplomacy that attempted to mediate a cease-fire between the two sides.

As we've reported, there's a backlash brewing to sedentary office life as more people realize how sitting all day can do a body wrong.

I work at home and often sit in front of my computer doing research and writing. So I thought I'd give a treadmill desk a try.

Lawmakers want to know who made changes to the intelligence assessment of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Congress had asked the White House to explain the Obama administration's talking points in the aftermath of the attack.

At least three people were killed as Egyptian troops clashed with protesters Sunday in Cairo in a dispute over a plot of land on an island in the Nile River.

Kimberly Adams reported on the clash for NPR's Newscast Unit. Here's what she said:

"Egyptian state media reported several army troops and protesters were injured in the four-hour gunfight in southern Cairo. Army troops arrested more than a dozen of the protesters.

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza continued Sunday — with one missile strike flattening a two-story building in Gaza City, killing at least 11 people, including women and children; another hit a media building and injured six journalists. Israel says its actions have been prompted by a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, targeting Israeli cities. Meanwhile, diplomatic negotiations are under way, but Israel is continuing preparations for a ground invasion.

Update at 7:42 p.m. ET: State Department Comments

The conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip continues to escalate after Israeli airstrikes flattened key targets in Gaza, and Palestinian rockets threatened deeper into Israel than ever before.

The death toll in Gaza doubled overnight to at least 39 people, NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Gaza City. Around 300 airstrikes overnight hit the Hamas prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels, among other targets.