2 Iraq vote in doubt after VP vetoes election law
by Ammar Karim, AFP
46 mins ago
| BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's general election was thrown into doubt on Wednesday after a law governing the planned January vote was vetoed, creating what the prime minister termed a "dangerous threat" to stability.
The war-torn nation's electoral commission said it was stopping work at least for the time being, meaning that the ballot, the second national poll since the 2003 fall of dictator Saddam Hussein, is likely to be delayed.
The latest vote setback will worry Washington whose ambassador to Baghdad has already warned that further hold-ups could derail a scheduled withdrawal of combat troops by August next year, ahead of a complete military exit in 2011. |
3 EU-Russia summit sees climate progress but human rights row
by Pia Ohlin, AFP
42 mins ago
| STOCKHOLM (AFP) - EU criticism of Russia's human rights record and fears Moscow will delay its WTO entry clouded EU-Russia talks Wednesday, but the two sides aligned on the climate ahead of the Copenhagen conference in December.
Russia agreed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 to 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, raising its target from 15 percent and bringing itself in line with the European Union's objectives, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said.
"With the Copenhagen conference starting in just over two weeks, we have made very important progress today," he said. |
4 Experts warn antibiotic-proof bacteria threaten global health
by Marc Preel, AFP
1 hr 19 mins ago
| STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Resistance to antibiotics is increasing in Europe and throughout the world because of their excessive use, a deadly and costly curse according to health experts meeting in Stockholm Wednesday.
Experts at the 2nd annual European antibiotics awareness day held by the Stockholm-based European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) said new, hyper-resistant bacteria were emerging, threatening the pillars of global health.
"Some bacteria are becoming resistant to all treatments, forcing us to use older, toxic antibiotics or combinations of drugs that we are only familiar with on paper," Dominique Monnet, a ECDC specialist on the issue told AFP. |
5 Chocolate war looms as Hershey, Ferrero mull Cadbury bid
by Roland Jackson, AFP
2 hrs 21 mins ago
| LONDON (AFP) - US chocolate maker Hershey and Italian peer Ferrero said Wednesday they are considering a bid for British confectioner Cadbury, in a move which would whip up a takeover war with Kraft Foods.
The news could remould the chocolate sector with a takeover costing more than 10.0 billion pounds (11.2 billion euros, 16.8 billion dollars).
Shares in Cadbury, already facing a hostile takeover offer from Kraft, rallied 1.21 percent to close at 797.50 pence, driven by the prospect of a bid battle. The London FTSE closed 0.07 percent lower at 5,372.1 points. |
6 Slower population growth to help environment: UN study
by Richard Ingham
Wed Nov 18, 11:35 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - Braking the rise in Earth's population would be a major help in the fight against global warming, according to an unprecedented UN report published on Wednesday that draws a link between demographic pressure and climate change.
"Slower population growth... would help build social resilience to climate change's impacts and would contribute to a reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in the future," the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says.
Its 104-page document emphasises that population policies be driven by support for women, access to family planning, reproductive health and other voluntary measures. |
7 EU-Russia summit tackles thorny gas issue
by Pia Ohlin, AFP
Wed Nov 18, 8:02 am ET
| STOCKHOLM (AFP) - EU and Russian leaders met in Stockholm on Wednesday for a summit dominated by energy issues, as Europe hopes to avoid an interruption of Russian natural gas supplies via Ukraine this winter.
Sweden, current holder of the rotating European Union presidency, is also expected to press Moscow on human rights issues in the north Caucasus -- a sensitive subject -- as well as climate change, the global economy and a follow-up of the G20 summit.
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hosted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for the meeting. |
8 Obama wraps up China trip with PM talks, Great Wall
by Stephen Collinson, AFP
Wed Nov 18, 7:56 am ET
| BEIJING (AFP) - US President Barack Obama wrapped up his first trip to China on Wednesday by meeting Premier Wen Jiabao, who said the two nations were better off as partners not rivals, and visiting the Great Wall.
The US president left Beijing for South Korea, where he was due to meet President Lee Myung-Bak on Thursday for talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and a stalled bilateral free trade pact.
Obama and Wen hailed their countries' willingness to build a new, in-depth partnership as they sat down for discussions and a working lunch in Beijing, echoing comments made Tuesday by the US leader and Chinese President Hu Jintao. |
9 Housing starts fall sharply, inflation edges up
By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters
1 hr 40 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Construction of new homes in the United States hit a six month low in October, providing more evidence of the economy's sluggish recovery, while a surge in the cost of new and used vehicles lifted consumer prices.
The data came a day after a report showed U.S. industrial output barely budged last month, suggesting the recovery stalled somewhat after a growth spurt in the third quarter.
Analysts said slow healing in the housing market, relatively benign inflation and excess slack in the economy meant the Federal Reserve would be able to honor its commitment to keep interest rates near zero for an extended period. |
10 Obama vows Afghan exit; battered Karzai to take oath
By Peter Graff, Reuters
Wed Nov 18, 7:34 am ET
| KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama aims to bring the Afghan war to an end before he leaves office, he said on Wednesday, the eve of a swearing-in ceremony Western officials hope can help salvage Hamid Karzai's tattered reputation.
Hillary Clinton arrived in Kabul to attend the re-elected Afghan president's inauguration, her first visit as U.S. secretary of state and the most senior visit by a member of Obama's administration, which has kept Karzai at arm's length.
Karzai takes his oath on Thursday, three months after a vote marred by widespread fraud. The election, intended to bolster the government's legitimacy, had the opposite effect, driving a wedge between Karzai and Western countries whose troops defend him. |
11 U.S. wants Karzai to use speech for concrete steps
By Sue Pleming, Reuters
Wed Nov 18, 1:01 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies want Afghan President Hamid Karzai to use Thursday's inauguration speech to announce concrete steps to fight corruption and govern better, U.S. and Western officials said.
Karzai will be sworn in for a second term at a ceremony attended by international dignitaries looking for signs of Karzai's commitment. His disputed election victory last August was tarnished by widespread vote rigging.
"The international community will be paying very close attention to that speech but what is more important is what Karzai does afterward," said a senior U.S. official. |
12 Obama creates task force to fight financial crime
By James Vicini and Jeremy Pelofsky, Reuters
Tue Nov 17, 2:20 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration created a new task force on Tuesday to crack down on financial fraud, an increasingly important political issue after a spike in mortgage scams and big Wall Street trading scandals.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing the task force, led by the Justice Department, to investigate and prosecute financial crimes connected to the past year's financial crisis and to try to deter future fraud.
The stakes are high for the administration, particularly with a weak economy, anger about huge Wall Street bonuses and outrage that securities regulators missed one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history involving Bernard Madoff, who bilked investors of as much as $65 billion in a decades-long scheme. |
13 Weak home building a drag on economic recovery
By ALAN ZIBEL and MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Business Writers
1 hr 59 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - The budding economic recovery is getting little help from the home building industry, which normally creates jobs and boosts growth as a recession ends.
Construction of homes unexpectedly plunged last month to its lowest point since April, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The weak figures show that builders fear there aren't enough buyers to soak up the glut of unsold homes already on the market - a supply magnified by record-high foreclosures.
They also illustrate how much the fledgling recovery depends on government aid. Builders held back in part because of uncertainty in October about whether Congress would extend a tax credit for homebuyers. Earlier this month, lawmakers renewed the credit and extended it to more buyers. |
14 Small firms scrapping, scaling back health plans
By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 18, 6:25 am ET
| JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Faced with high health insurance costs, a North Carolina brokerage passed the buck on to its employees, a Texas public relations firm switched from group insurance to stipends, and a Missouri travel agency let its workers walk away instead paying for insurance.
Across the country, businesses already strapped by the economy to turn a profit are sacrificing or scaling back employee health insurance plans because of their escalating costs. The crunch has particularly socked smaller employers, who have become a centerpiece in the debate over how to overhaul the nation's health care system.
In recent weeks, small business owners have pleaded their case to the White House and Congress. Top Democrats in both the House and Senate have announced probes into how health insurers price their policies for small businesses. And lawmakers have proposed a variety of insurance rating changes, mandates and tax breaks to try to control costs. |
15 Afghans on hold, awaiting Karzai, Obama decisions
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 18, 6:17 am ET
| KABUL - Its protracted presidential election has finally been decided, but Afghanistan is on hold.
President Barack Obama hasn't said how many troops he'll send. Speculation abounds about whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai will assemble a Cabinet of reformers or political friends. It's unclear whether humanitarian work will be curtailed by the U.N.'s decision to relocate several hundred workers out of the country after five staffers were killed in an attack.
And overhanging the uncertainty is the question on everyone's mind: Will security in this impoverished nation worsen or improve as fall turns to winter? |
16 AP Poll: Public favors gov't health plan
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 49 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - More Americans support creation of a new government-run health insurance plan to compete with the private insurance market, a new Associated Press poll finds, but the level of enthusiasm depends on how the question is asked.
Tell people that letting the government sell insurance would be cheaper for them, and a majority is in favor.
Tell them the government would be making decisions about what medical care they could get, and support sinks. |
17 Ex-Kiss drummer: Breast cancer not just for women
By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 18, 10:32 am ET
| SPRING LAKE, N.J. - Lying in bed one night in 2007, Peter Criss felt something strange: a small lump on his left breast.
"I thought, `It's a nodule, I'm a guy, I don't think it's anything more than that,'" he said. "The more I messed with it, the bigger it got and the more it hurt, and that started really scaring me."
The former Kiss drummer went to the doctor, underwent some tests and a surgical procedure to remove the lump. A week later, the doctor called. It was breast cancer. |
18 Ford, Subaru, VW win insurance industry picks
By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 18, 8:07 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen lead the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms.
The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded its "top safety pick" on Wednesday to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength.
Ford Motor Co. and its Volvo unit received the most awards with six, followed by five awards apiece for Japanese automaker Subaru and German automaker Volkswagen AG and its Audi unit. |
19 Afghan capital tightens security for inauguration
By HEIDI VOGT and AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writers
Wed Nov 18, 11:52 am ET
| KABUL - Security forces increased patrols on some streets in the Afghan capital and blocked others entirely Wednesday, bracing for possible militant attacks during the inauguration ceremony that will cement President Hamid Karzai's tumultuous re-election victory.
Karzai will be sworn in Thursday for his second five-year term, with many in the international community hoping he will introduce solid reforms and pave the way for a Cabinet house-cleaning to rid the administration of corrupt officials.
The inauguration comes amid repeated calls and threats from the international community that he reform his government following an election so spoiled by fraud that it took two and half months to resolve. |
20 Obama: Rally the world for climate deal next month
By JENNIFER LOVEN and ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writers
Wed Nov 18, 12:30 am ET
| BEIJING - President Barack Obama, with China's leader at his side, lifted his sights Tuesday for a broad interim accord at next month's climate conference that he said will lead to immediate action and "rally the world" toward a solution on global warming.
Obama and President Hu Jintao talked of a joint desire to tackle climate change, but failed to move off differing positions on an root issue that could block a deal at the 192-nation conference in Copenhagen: how much each country can contribute to curb greenhouse gases and how the world will pay the billions of dollars needed to fight rising temperatures.
Hu said nations would do their part "consistent with our respective capabilities," a reference to the firmly held view among developing nations - even energy guzzlers like China, India and Brazil - that they should be required only to set goals for reining in greenhouse-gas emissions, not accept absolute targets for reducing emissions like the industrialized countries. |
21 NYC political anchor takes bizarre fall from grace
By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 17, 10:17 pm ET
| POMONA, N.Y. - Big political names abound in New York: Mario Cuomo. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Rudy Giuliani. And for political climbers seeking a stage in the media, a platform to join or displace the powerhouses, the man to go through for years was Dominic Carter - until last month.
Carter, a longtime political anchor for New York City's cable news channel with influence that spread well beyond the nation's largest city, recently took a far, fast fall in a bizarre cascade of events that began last month when charges that he beat his wife became public.
That led to his being pulled off the air by managers at NY1; revelations of contentious workplace behavior; his wife's recantation of the abuse allegation and a new story that a day laborer beat her; and dubious reports that he was considering suicide. A judge could rule this week on the domestic assault case after papers are filed Thursday. |
22 FACT CHECK: Guantanamo detainees and US prisons
By DEANNA BELLANDI, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 17, 6:31 pm ET
| CHICAGO - As the Obama administration considers a plan to move Guantanamo Bay detainees to prisons on U.S. soil, including possible sites in Illinois and Michigan, proponents and critics are spinning the facts.
The nearly vacant Thomson Correctional Center in the western Illinois farming town of Thomson is the latest potential candidate being evaluated to hold detainees after President Barack Obama promised to close the military-run detention center in Cuba.
Federal officials inspected Thomson on Monday after visiting another proposed site, a shuttered prison in the northeast Michigan town of Standish, in August. |
23 Germany arrests Congo rebel leaders
By Max Delany and Scott Baldauf, The Christian Science Monitor
Tue Nov 17, 4:00 am ET
| Kampala, Uganda - Some 4,000 miles away from the spiral of violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the simultaneous arrests of two key Rwandan Hutu rebel leaders in Germany could help bring the troubled region a step closer to peace.
The arrests are a major shift in German policy towards the Rwandan rebel group, represent an expansion of international war-crimes law, and put pressure on the US and France to arrest FDLR leaders residing there, say analysts.
Acting on an arrest warrant issued yesterday by German prosecutors, early Tuesday morning police in the sleepy southern German town of Karlsruhe arrested Ignace Murwanashyaka, president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Eastern Congo, German prosecutors said in a statement. Mr. Murwanashyaka's deputy, Straton Musoni, was arrested simultaneously in the Stuttgart area on the same charges. |
24 Antiracists and far-right youths battle in Moscow
By MANSUR MIROVALEV and STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer
18 mins ago
| MOSCOW - A simmering confrontation between far-right youths and ant-racist activists has erupted into Moscow's streets after the fatal shooting of an anti-racist activist known as the Bonebreaker.
The violence stems from deep animus between two aggressive camps with starkly different visions of Russia's future - neo-Nazi skinheads who rank in the tens of thousands and militant anti-racist groups that call themselves Antifa, short for anti-fascist.
Former punk rocker Ivan Khutorskoi, 26, provided security for meetings of antifascists. He also was known for organizing underground bare-knuckle boxing matches among them, and taking part in violent attacks on ultranationalists. |
25 Iraq vote faces likely delay
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 14 mins ago
| BAGHDAD - Iraq's path toward political stability after years of war threatened to veer off course Wednesday when a vice president vetoed part of a key election law, a move likely to delay a national vote slated for January.
The United States has linked the pace of its military drawdown to the vote, but the top U.S. commander in Iraq told reporters the schedule was on track for now. All American troops are supposed to leave by the end of 2011, and the prospect of a delay could burden the White House as it ponders a bigger military deployment in Afghanistan.
The veto by Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president also exposed sectarian divisions that reached heights of fury in 2006 and 2007, when Shiite and Sunni Arab militants turned much of Iraq into a slaughterhouse. A return to such levels of violence is unlikely, but deep mistrust has slowed political reconciliation. |
26 China govt pleased but ordinary folk cool on Obama
By ALEXA OLESEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 50 mins ago
| BEIJING - State media heralded President Barack Obama's maiden trip to China as a triumph, but ordinary Chinese were largely shielded by their government from his most critical remarks and activists were disappointed by the measured tone of those they did hear.
One blogger even pined for the tough line taken by former President George W. Bush.
"Like a star rushing from one show to another, Obama has come and gone, without stirring the slightest ripples," blogger Zhao Dezhu wrote in an online post. |
27 Death of an Iran prison doctor raises suspicion
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 18, 9:57 am ET
| BEIRUT - An Iranian doctor who went public with reports of tortured protesters he treated at Tehran's most feared detention facility dies, amid conflicting reports of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide - raising opposition accusations that the 26-year-old was killed.
Revelations that protesters detained in Iran's postelection crackdown were tortured, some to death, were a deep embarrassment to the country's clerical rulers. Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani was pressured to change the death certificate of one of the most well known victims and later spoke to a parliament commission investigating the abuse, opposition Web sites reported.
Much of the abuse took place at a facility known as Kahrizak on Tehran's outskirts, where Pourandarjani - a general practitioner - was the only doctor, serving there once a week as part of his mandatory military service. |
28 Honduran Congress will rule on Zelaya after vote
By FREDDY CUEVAS, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 18, 12:29 am ET
| TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Honduran lawmakers will not decide whether to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya until after upcoming presidential elections, the congressional leader said Tuesday, a decision that could undermine international support for the vote.
Congress will meet Dec. 2 - three days after the Nov. 29 election - to decide whether Zelaya should be returned the presidency to finish his constitutional term, which ends in January, congressional president Jose Alfredo Saavedra told local HRN radio station.
Several Latin American countries have warned they will not recognize the outcome of the election unless Zelaya is restored beforehand. But the United States has not ruled out restoring diplomatic ties with a newly elected Honduran government even if Zelaya remains out of power through the vote. |
29 For victims, lengthy Khmer Rouge trial painful
By Martin Petty, Reuters
Wed Nov 18, 9:59 am ET
| PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - After six months of testimony in the first U.N.-backed trial of a high-ranking member of the former Khmer Rouge, many Cambodians who suffered from the tyrannical regime have one question: Why is it taking so long?
Closing arguments begin next Monday in the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, former chief of the notorious S-21 prison, where more than 14,000 "enemies" of the ultra-Maoist revolution died.
Any sentencing will not take place until next year. Four other senior Khmer Rouge cadres are in custody awaiting trial. |
30 Russia wants quick WTO entry as separate entity
By Oleg Shchedrov and Timothy Heritage, Reuters
Wed Nov 18, 6:50 am ET
| STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Russia wants to join the World Trade Organization on its own but will synchronize its entry with Kazakhstan and Belarus, its partners in a customs union, a Russian official said on Wednesday.
His comments after trade talks with the European Union removed some of the confusion caused by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in June when he said Russia would join only as part of the customs union -- an unprecedented move for the WTO.
"We want the WTO talks to go quickly and be concluded soon," Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's ambassador to the EU, told reporters at a Russia-EU summit in Stockholm attended by President Dmitry Medvedev. |
31 EU leaders split over president ahead of summit
by Lorne Cook, AFP
1 hr 16 mins ago
| BRUSSELS (AFP) - Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt appealed Wednesday for a new effort by EU leaders to agree the name of the first president of the revamped European Union.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, the 27 heads of state and government want to name, unanimously if possible, the president and a foreign policy supremo to represent Europe on the world stage.
"I need of course the collaboration of my colleagues to try to get this through tomorrow night," Reinfeldt said in Stockholm ahead of the political horse-trading. |
32 Taliban declare guerrilla campaign in Pakistan
by Hasbanullah Khan, AFP
Wed Nov 18, 12:04 pm ET
| MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) - The Taliban hit back on Wednesday at claims that towns in their mountain bastion have fallen to Pakistan army control, vowing their guerrilla war would defeat troops waging a major assault.
The United States has welcomed Pakistan's offensive, which threw 30,000 troops into battle on October 17 on a mission to crush the network blamed for some of the country's deadliest recent bomb attacks.
"We have not been defeated. We have voluntarily withdrawn into the mountains under a strategy that will trap the Pakistan army in the area," Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told journalists taken blindfold to a mountain top. |
33 Karzai about to start new term, but will he finish it?
By Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 17, 4:43 pm ET
| KABUL, Afghanistan - On the eve of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's swearing-in for a second term , speculation is growing that he could be forced to step aside before he finishes his next five years in office.
The challenge before him is monumental: Regain the trust of voters disenchanted by the fraud-tainted election that returned him to power, assure frustrated world leaders that the billions of dollars spent trying to stabilize Afghanistan haven't been wasted or stolen and, with the help of U.S. and NATO forces, recover control of large parts of the country from Taliban fighters.
The 51-year-old president has to please contradictory forces to survive: the discredited Afghan political allies who helped him win re-election, and the international community, which is demanding an end to cronyism and to pervasive government corruption. |
34 Obama won no concessions from China on points at issue
By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 17, 4:44 pm ET
| BEIJING - President Barack Obama on Wednesday wraps up a three-day visit to China that's left him keenly aware of the limits of his administration's leverage over this economic powerhouse on issues from currency exchange rates to human rights.
Obama has little leverage over China , in part because the U.S. depends on the Chinese to finance the U.S. government's growing debt, and because of the perception in China , which for years was an economic nonentity, that the U.S. is troubled and China is ascendant.
Administration officials said that the China stop, part of a four-nation Asia tour that will conclude Thursday in South Korea , was a success because it laid the groundwork for a more focused U.S.- China alliance to tackle everything from global warming to nuclear weapons containment. |
35 New president, same result on China currency flap
By Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 17, 7:08 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - China's rebuff this week of President Barack Obama's call to stop controlling the price of its currency sparked renewed calls for legislation to allow U.S. retaliation against Chinese-made goods.
During Obama's bridge-building trip this week to Shanghai and Beijing , Chinese and American leaders diplomatically disagreed over China's policy of fixing the value of its currency against the dollar. The practice results in low prices for Chinese-made exports, and U.S. critics say it penalizes U.S. exports and feeds America's giant trade deficit.
President Hu Jintao made no reference to the dispute Tuesday in a joint appearance with Obama. Obama simply reminded China of its repeated promises to loosen government control of China's currency value so that market dynamics gradually would push it higher. |
36 A day in the life of an Army chopper, a lifeline for U.S. troops
By Chuck Liddy, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Nov 17, 6:54 pm ET
| KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - The morning air at Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan was crisp and clear, with a chill to it, and Sgt. Jeffrey Sherwood was excited.
Sherwood, the crew chief of the Army's workhorse CH-47F Chinook helicopter, wasn't excited about the day's mission. He was excited about his new thermos.
"Look at this thing," he said to anyone standing around who'd listen. "It's guaranteed to keep stuff hot or cold for 24 hours." |
37 Obama says Afghan decision weeks away, visits S. Korea
By Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers
Wed Nov 18, 11:35 am ET
| SEOUL, South Korea - President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he was still weeks away from deciding how many more U.S. troops to send to Afghanistan and that he'd like to fire officials who'd leaked details of his deliberations to the news media.
"We have deliberations in the situation room for a reason; we're making life and death decisions that affect how our troops are able to operate in a theater of war. For people to be releasing info in the course of deliberations is not appropriate," Obama told CBS in an interview from China , one of several he did before he headed to Seoul as the last stop in a weeklong trip to Asia .
Obama said the leaks were "absolutely" a firing offense, but he didn't say whether he'd try to find out who leaked, and didn't differentiate among those who may have leaked from the White House , from the Pentagon or from other agencies. The most recent battle of leaks erupted Nov. 7 , after McClatchy reported that Obama was leaning toward sending more than 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan . |
Hopey Changiness. Don't expect to see the backside of Emmanuel or McChrystal.
38 Egypt-Algeria Soccer Game: Sudan Braces for Violence
By ABIGAIL HAUSLOHNER / CAIRO, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 18, 5:20 am ET
| "Everyone is obsessed with soccer, and everyone loves it even if they don't play - like me, for example," says Sheikh Ali Abdel Ba'i, one of Egypt's state-appointed Muslim clerics, of the national pastime. "Football captures people's hearts. It's a game for the people." |
39 Why China Won't Get Tough on Iran or North Korea
By BILL POWELL / BEIJING, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 18, 10:40 am ET
| China's government, as President Barack Obama by now no doubt knows, loves to talk about climate change. But it's an issue that exists for Beijing at 30,000 ft., far from earthly, everyday concerns. So President Hu Jintao can play the responsible global citizen by making vague commitments, as he did at the U.N. this fall, to reduce his country's carbon gas emissions by a "notable amount" at some point in the future without actually doing anything that might disrupt China's economy. But he doesn't have the same luxury of deferring action on the increasingly urgent global concerns over nuclear developments in Iran and North Korea. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
40 Calif. requires TVs to be more energy efficient
By SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:15PM EST
| SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Power-hungry TVs will be banned from store shelves in California after state regulators Wednesday adopted a first-in-the-nation mandate to reduce electricity demand.
On a unanimous vote, the California Energy Commission required all new televisions up to 58 inches to be more energy efficient, beginning in 2011. The requirement will be tougher in 2013, with only a quarter of all TVs currently on the market meeting that standard.
The commission estimates that TVs account for about 10 percent of a home's electricity use. The concern is that the energy draw will rise by as much as 8 percent a year as consumers buy larger televisions, add more to their homes and watch them longer. |
41 Upscale McDonald's brings European style to NYC
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
32 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Danish Modern furniture. Flat-screen TVs. Free Wi-Fi.
You want fries with that?
A McDonald's in midtown Manhattan became the first in the U.S. this fall to undergo a sleek, European-style makeover similar to what McDonald's has done at thousands of outlets around in France and the United Kingdom. |
42 Ark. police officer uses Taser on 10-year-old girl
By JILL ZEMAN BLEED, Associated Press Writer
4 mins ago
| LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A police officer in a small Arkansas town used a stun gun on an unruly 10-year-old girl after he said her mother gave him permission to do so. Now the town's mayor is calling for an investigation into whether the Taser use was appropriate.
According to a report by Officer Dustin Bradshaw, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, police were called to the Ozark home Nov. 11 because of a domestic disturbance. When he arrived, the girl was curled up on the floor, screaming, the report said.
Bradshaw's report said the girl screamed, kicked and resisted any time her mother tried to get her in the shower before bed. |
43 New Lutheran body to form after gay pastor vote
By PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer
12 mins ago
| NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. - The split over gay clergy within the country's largest Lutheran denomination has prompted a conservative faction to begin forming a new Lutheran church body separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the denomination, with hopes to have it off the ground by next August.
"There are many people within the ELCA who are very unhappy with what has happened," said the Rev. Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran CORE and a retired ELCA bishop from State College, Pa. |
44 Study: CT scans rule out heart attacks faster
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
Wed Nov 18, 1:51 pm ET
| ORLANDO, Fla. - A CT scan - a kind of super X-ray - provides a faster, cheaper way to diagnose a heart attack when someone goes to the emergency room with chest pains, a new study suggests.
About 6 million people each year go to hospitals with chest pain, but only a small fraction are truly having a heart attack. CT scans are increasingly used to diagnose problems because they give a deep, detailed view inside the body. But they put out a lot of radiation, which may raise a person's chances of developing cancer.
Whether these scans are worth that risk is unknown. The new study suggests that for ruling out heart attacks in the emergency room, they just might be. |
45 AP IMPACT: NFL players hide, fear concussions
By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Sports Writer
9 mins ago
| Washington Redskins kick returner Rock Cartwright remembers his brain "shaking like a bell" when he was walloped in a game against the New York Giants a few years ago.
"You know how a bell vibrates? That's how my brain was going at that time," he said. "I think five minutes later, I came back to myself. I went back out there and played football."
What Cartwright never did when the hit happened? He never told Washington's medical staff his head ached. |
46 Man eyed in prostitute deaths still feels targeted
By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 52 mins ago
| EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. - "We know you did it."
That's what investigators told Terry Oleson, convinced he was the person who killed four prostitutes and left them face-down in a drainage ditch just outside Atlantic City.
Three years and three DNA samples later, Oleson hasn't been charged. Neither has anyone else in the case, which illuminated the seedy side of the nation's second-largest gambling market. |
47 Health official says mammograms policy unchanged
By Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
3 mins ago
| CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. health officials on Wednesday distanced themselves from controversial new breast cancer screening guidelines that recommend against routine mammograms for healthy women in their 40s and said federal policy on screening mammograms has not changed.
In a move likely to reassure American women, U.S. House and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that issued the guidelines on Monday does not set federal policy and does not affect what services the government will pay for.
Critics of the new guidelines said they would lead to more cancer deaths and expressed fear insurance companies would use them to justify denying coverage for mammograms to women in their 40s. |
48 U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry
By Jon Hurdle, Reuters
Wed Nov 18, 11:32 am ET
| PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.
Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about. |
49 Army suicides set to hit new high in 2009
By Phil Stewart, Reuters
Wed Nov 18, 8:52 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Suicides in the U.S. Army will hit a new high this year, a top general said on Tuesday in a disclosure likely to increase concerns about stress on U.S. forces ahead of an expected buildup in Afghanistan.
The findings, released as President Barack Obama inches toward a decision to send up to 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, show the number of active-duty suicides so far in 2009 has already matched last year's record of 140 deaths.
"We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year," General Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, told a Pentagon briefing. |
50 Tax credit to steady, not rescue, shaky U.S. housing
By Lynn Adler, Reuters
Tue Nov 17, 4:26 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - Don't expect the expanded home buyer tax credit to be a permanent cure for the U.S. housing market. It won't.
Take the spike in mortgage demand created by the tax credit this summer. It was followed by a plunge as the incentive was set to expire, showing how housing's recovery is tethered to government aid.
As the economy emerges from a recession triggered by the housing market crisis, increasing home sales is viewed as essential. Housing and related business account for about 20 percent of the economy, and more sales means more spending on everything from dishwashers to energy-efficient windows. |
51 Canada money launderer shows holes in Vegas casinos
By Dan Whitcomb and Deena Beasley, Reuters
Tue Nov 17, 4:58 pm ET
| LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Las Vegas has cleaned up since its days as a magnet for ill-gotten mobster gains, but a Canadian insider trading scam has exposed the smaller-scale money laundering still going on in the desert city's casinos.
Canadian Stanko Grmovsek admitted in a Toronto court earlier this year to making $9 million with a law school buddy in a 14-year illegal scheme. Court documents show he said he laundered some of it by gambling wads of cash on games like blackjack in Vegas's world-famous casino strip.
His confession was a flashback to an era when Las Vegas's "Sin City" image made it a playground for gangsters offloading their loot in glittering gambling parlors. |
52 Anger at new age rules for breast cancer tests
by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP
Wed Nov 18, 7:41 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Doctors and experts are in uproar over new recommendations to raise the age of breast cancer screening, warning more women will die from the disease which already claims some 40,000 lives each year.
The high-level United States Preventative Services Task Force of scientists and researchers Monday recommended that breast cancer screening in women should now start at the age of 50 as opposed to 40.
And it further said that women between the ages of 50 to 74 should be screened every two years instead of annually. |
53 Companies throw workers a bone with pet insurance
by Virginie Montet, AFP
Wed Nov 18, 7:39 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - A growing number of US businesses, eager to hang on to top talent, are throwing their most valued employees a bone by offering them a new kind of benefit: health care for their pets.
Large companies like Google, Disney, AOL, HSBC, home improvement chain Home Depot and eBay are now offering health insurance for their employees' cats and dogs, a niche market that has sprung up in the wake of a spike in costs for veterinary treatment.
"We do offer voluntary pet insurance as one of our benefits. Google is committed to helping our employees lead healthier lives, and we try to support personal well-being in a number of ways," Google spokesman Jordan Newman told AFP. |
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Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
