2 EU leaders face flak as new president keeps low profile
by Paul Harrington, AFP
1 hr 17 mins ago
| BRUSSELS (AFP) - Incoming EU president Herman Van Rompuy kept a low profile Friday as the 27-nation bloc's leaders faced flak for picking him and a little-known British peer to lead a revamped Europe on the world stage.
Van Rompuy, the outgoing Belgian premier chosen to become the first European Union president at a summit Thursday, met with his cabinet and King Albert II to start the process of finding a successor, without talking to the press.
However the world's press were talking about him and the second member of the EU's new dream team, incoming foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. |
3 35 Egyptian police hurt as football violence simmers
by Samer al-Atrush, AFP
42 mins ago
| CAIRO (AFP) - Violent protestors injured dozens of police near the Algerian embassy in Cairo on Friday, fanning the flames of a diplomatic row that erupted over a football World Cup qualifier won by bitter rivals Algeria.
Thirty-five police were hurt and 15 cars damaged in the violence, as demonstrators hurled stones and firebombs, a police official said.
Authorities gave no details on any protestors hurt, but said 20 had been arrested. |
4 Henry offers replay after FIFA rules it out
by Guy Jackson, AFP
2 hrs 24 mins ago
| LONDON (AFP) - France captain Thierry Henry said Friday "the fairest solution" to the row over his handball in the World Cup playoff against Ireland would be a replay, but FIFA rejected an Irish call for a re-match.
Henry repeated his admission that he had controlled the ball with his hand before the decisive goal in Wednesday's match in Paris, but insisted it had been an "instinctive" reaction.
The incident led to an angry request from the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) for a replay. |
5 Europe match-fixing probe targets 200 games
AFP
2 hrs 12 mins ago
| BOCHUM, Germany (AFP) - In what one UEFA official called European football's worst ever match-fixing scandal, investigators said Friday criminals may have netted 10 million euros rigging 200 games in nine countries.
A 200-strong band operating across Europe is suspected of swaying matches in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Austria, prosecutors in Germany said.
They include three Champions League ties, 12 matches in the Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup, one qualifying game for the under-21 European championship and four from the German second division. |
6 Tearful Oprah announces end to iconic talk show
by Mira Oberman, AFP
50 mins ago
| CHICAGO (AFP) - A tearful Oprah Winfrey on Friday announced that she will take her iconic talk show off the air in 2011 at the end of its 25th season.
"I love this show. This show has been my life and I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye," Winfrey told viewers at the end of her live broadcast.
"Twenty five years feels right in my bones and it feels right in my spirit. It's the perfect number, the exact right time." |
7 China demands more accurate swine flu reporting
by Dan Martin, AFP
Fri Nov 20, 5:03 am ET
| BEIJING (AFP) - China has ordered more accurate reporting of swine flu fatalities after a doctor renowned for helping expose the scale of the 2003 SARS outbreak said deaths were being deliberately underplayed.
The order issued late Thursday on the health ministry website appeared to acknowledge suspicions of under-reporting in the nationwide tally, which the government has put at 53 deaths out of nearly 70,000 confirmed A(H1N1) cases.
Those suspicions were fuelled Thursday when medical expert Zhong Nanshan was quoted by a newspaper in southern China's Guangdong province as questioning the official numbers. |
8 Copenhagen summit will be 'success': UN climate chief
AFP
Fri Nov 20, 8:32 am ET
| UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Efforts to craft a comprehensive climate treaty in Copenhagen next month will certainly "yield a success," the UN's top climate official has pledged.
"There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that it will yield a success," said Yvo de Boer, executive director of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"I've seen some recent reports that said that Copenhagen has failed even before it starts and I must say that those reports are simply wrong," he insisted ahead of the December 7-18 meeting in the Danish capital of negotiators from 192 countries. |
9 Google-powered netbooks to debut next year
by Glenn Chapman, AFP
Thu Nov 19, 5:47 pm ET
| MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AFP) - Google on Thursday provided a peek beneath the hood of its new Chrome operating system, making the software public and promising it will run netbooks by the end of next year.
Google-crafted Chrome OS will be tailored exclusively for applications hosted as services in the Internet "cloud" and debut on low-cost bare-bones netbooks that have been a booming segment of the laptop computer market.
"We believe there is a better model of computing we can give users," vice president of Chrome OS Sundar Pichai said while demonstrating the in-progress software at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. |
10 US lawmakers may penalise China over rigid yuan
by P. Parameswaran, AFP
Fri Nov 20, 5:19 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers criticized US President Barack Obama's administration on Thursday for not pressuring China enough over its rigid currency as they set the stage for slapping import duties on Chinese goods.
As Obama returned home without any pledge from China to make its yuan flexible, Republican and Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the Commerce Department calling for an investigation into "China?s currency manipulation."
It is "a potential first step in a process that could lead to significant, US-imposed tariffs on imports from China," said Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, who jointly wrote the letter with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. |
11 New guidelines push back age for Pap smears
By Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
Fri Nov 20, 8:46 am ET
| CHICAGO (Reuters) - Women in the United States should start cervical cancer screening at age 21 and most do not need an annual Pap smear, according to new guidelines issued on Friday that aim to reduce the risk of unnecessary treatment.
The guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or ACOG now say women younger than 30 should undergo cervical cancer screening once every two years instead of an annual exam. And those age 30 and older can be screened once every three years.
The recommendations are based on scientific evidence that suggests more frequent testing leads to overtreatment, which can harm a young woman's chances of carrying a child full term. |
12 India PM heads to U.S. in test of ties with Obama
By Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters
Fri Nov 20, 8:07 am ET
| NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama meet next week to strengthen ties, with the emerging Asian power increasingly playing a bigger role on global issues such as climate change and trade.
Manmohan Singh's three-day state visit starting on November 23 is seen by New Delhi as a touchstone of Obama's intention of sustaining a relationship that deepened under his predecessor George W. Bush.
India is also widely seen as a key geopolitical player in helping bring stability to a South Asian region overshadowed by violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as militant attacks like last year's raids on Mumbai. |
13 Did U.S. make mistake in skipping vaccine additive?
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters
1 hr 56 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. health officials struggle to vaccinate tens of millions of Americans against the pandemic of swine flu, some are looking regretfully at one easy way to instantly double or triple the number of doses available -- by using an immune booster called an adjuvant.
These additives, often as simple as an oil and water mixture, broaden the body's response to a vaccine, reducing the amount of active ingredient called antigen needed.
They are widely used in European flu vaccines as well as in Canada. But not in the United States -- even though the federal government has spent nearly $700 million buying them. |
14 Senate nears first healthcare vote
By John Whitesides, Reuters
Thu Nov 19, 6:15 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Senate geared up for a fierce battle over a new healthcare reform plan on Thursday as Republicans condemned the bill's price tag and tax hikes before the first crucial test vote on Saturday.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's 2,074-page blueprint for overhauling the $2.5 trillion healthcare system sparked what promises to be a long and bitter debate over President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
The Senate will vote on Saturday night on whether to move to debate on the legislation -- the first key procedural hurdle for the Senate plan and one that requires 60 votes from the 100-member body. |
15 Bank bill delayed in House, Senate divided
By Kevin Drawbaugh, Reuters
Thu Nov 19, 9:06 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Progress toward tighter U.S. financial regulation faltered in the U.S. Congress on Thursday as a House committee postponed a pivotal vote and Republicans on a Senate committee aired stubborn opposition.
The setbacks came as lawmakers streamed out of town for a Thanksgiving holiday break, leaving further decisions on the regulatory reform agenda -- a key initiative of the Obama administration -- until December 1 at the earliest.
The delay flew in the face of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's call for swift action earlier in the day before another panel, the Joint Economic Committee, where he came under heavy fire, including a call for his resignation. |
16 Senate Dems moving ahead on crucial health vote
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
21 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - With no margin for rebellion, Senate Democrats pushed toward a crucial weekend test vote on their sweeping health care bill Friday, and wavering moderates appeared to be falling in line on President Barack Obama's signature issue.
One of three uncommitted centrists, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, announced he'd vote with his party's leaders on Saturday's must-pass procedural measure allowing debate to go forward.
Nelson said in a statement that it didn't mean he'd back the final bill, but that Nebraskans wanted changes to the health care system. "The Senate owes them a full and open debate," he said. |
17 Military experiment seeks to predict PTSD
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
Fri Nov 20, 10:22 am ET
| TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images.
Smiling kids embracing a soldier. A dog sniffing blood oozing from a corpse. Movie star Cameron Diaz posing sideways in a midriff top. Troops cowering for safety during an ambush.
A doctor tracked his stress levels and counted the number of times he blinked. Electrode wires dangled from his left eye and right pinky finger. |
18 Report: 20-somethings can go 2 years between Paps
By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
1 hr 15 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - First mammograms. Now - in an apparent coincidence - Pap smears.
New guidelines by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually to catch slow-growing cervical cancer.
The change comes amid a separate debate over when regular mammograms to detect breast cancer should begin, in the 40s or the 50s. The timing of the Pap guidelines is coincidence, said ACOG, which began reviewing its recommendations in late 2007 and published the update Friday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. |
19 AP IMPACT: Some lawmakers send few to academies
By BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 20, 10:28 am ET
| ANNAPOLIS, Md. - As the nation's military academies try to recruit more minorities, they aren't getting much help from members of Congress from big-city districts with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and Asians.
From New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, lawmakers from heavily minority areas rank at or near the bottom in the number of students they have nominated for appointment to West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy or the U.S. Air Force Academy, according to an Associated Press review of records from the past five years.
High school students applying to the academies must be nominated by a member of Congress or another high-ranking federal official. Congressional nominations account for about 75 percent of all students at the academies. |
20 Researcher says text proves Shroud of Turin real
By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 10 mins ago
| ROME - A Vatican researcher claims a nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin proves the authenticity of the artifact revered as Jesus' burial cloth.
The claim made in a new book by historian Barbara Frale drew immediate skepticism from some scientists, who maintain the shroud is a medieval forgery.
Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin and Aramaic scattered across the shroud. |
21 Suicide bomber kills 16 in western Afghanistan
By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 20, 8:41 am ET
| KABUL - A suicide bomber killed 16 people and wounded at least 23 others Friday in a busy city square in western Afghanistan, while near Kabul a powerful former warlord narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, officials said.
The attacks came a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai took the oath of office for a second term amid escalating violence across the country. Karzai said he has put national reconciliation with Taliban insurgents at the top of his agenda.
Lawmaker Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a former Northern Alliance leader who has been accused by Human Rights Watch of war crimes, was in a convoy with his bodyguards when a remote-controlled bomb hidden in an irrigation canal beside the road exploded in the Paghman district north of the Afghan capital, said district chief of police Abdul Razaq. |
22 AP sources: Giuliani leaning toward Senate run
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 31 mins ago
| ALBANY, N.Y. - Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, encouraged by many Republicans to run for governor in 2010, is instead leaning toward a run for U.S. Senate, according to two party advisers.
"From staff, we have been hearing that he has been indicating quietly and privately recently that governor might not be the best fit for him now," one adviser said Thursday. "But the U.S. Senate could be a perfect fit for him."
The adviser noted that nobody is saying Giuliani has decided, but it "certainly sounds" like he is less interested in running for governor. Another adviser echoed that. |
23 White House at odds with bishops over abortion
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 3 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
A top Obama administration official is praising the new Senate health bill's attempt to find a compromise on abortion coverage - even as an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says Sen. Harry Reid's bill is the worst he's seen so far on the divisive issue.
The bishops were instrumental in getting tough anti-abortion language adopted by the House, forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to accept restrictions that outraged liberals as the price for passing the Democratic health care bill. |
24 Gates says Afghan surge could happen swiftly
By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer
Fri Nov 20, 12:53 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said any new U.S. forces President Barack Obama sends to Afghanistan could move into the country swiftly, despite logistical hassles that force almost all major deliveries of troops and supplies to go by air.
His wording suggested that, as expected, Obama will soon approve an increase in the already record U.S. force of 68,000 in Afghanistan. Months of deliberations over the flagging war are ending, with an announcement of a substantial troop increase expected in the next two weeks.
"I anticipate that as soon as the president makes his decision, we can probably begin flowing some forces pretty quickly after that," Gates said. |
25 Militia movement resurfaces across nation
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer
42 mins ago
| NIKISKI, Alaska - Norm Olson's genial tone belies his reputation as a radical militiaman, yet here he is, at 63, an affable grandfather explaining why Americans should arm themselves against their government.
Walking stick in hand, clad in military fatigues, he strolls a trail in the woods near his home, located on 22 acres near Nikiski, a small, unincorporated community with isolated roads and no local government. The nearest state trooper post is two towns away.
A fellow militiaman, armed with an assault rifle, walks along as Olson - a man whose conspiracy theories were so extreme that he was kicked out of the group he founded, the Michigan Militia, 15 years ago - discourses on the need for a paramilitary Alaska Citizens Militia. |
26 Tiny Iowa town has the chargers, awaiting drivers
By MELANIE S. WELTE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 20, 5:14 am ET
| ELK HORN, Iowa - Hoping to see the USA in your Chevrolet Volt or Nissan Leaf? The tiny Iowa town of Elk Horn will have plenty of electric charging stations and no wait - if you can get there.
The town, more than 1,500 miles from the electric car mecca of California and hundreds of miles from the nearest charging station, has four of the devices ready to power up any electric vehicles that venture through western Iowa.
Mike Howard, the businessman financing a project that reflects his lifetime fascination with the possibilities of alternative energy, compares the plan to the Pony Express. |
27 Volunteers strive to save Santa letter service
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 20, 5:10 am ET
| ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Santa's "elves" at the North Pole have been given their walking papers - but they're not going quietly.
The volunteer "elves" are trying to counter a decision by the U.S. Postal Service to discontinue a program begun in 1954 in the small Alaskan town of North Pole, where they open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to "Santa Claus, North Pole" each year.
"The city was founded on the Christmas theme," Gabby Gaborik, chief elf among several dozen volunteers, said Thursday. "This is our identity. This is North Pole, Alaska." |
28 San Francisco's health care a model during debate
By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 20, 4:45 am ET
| SAN FRANCISCO - This city did not wait for Washington's health care overhaul. Most uninsured adults here are already reaping the benefits of a government-run health care program - seeing doctors, filling prescriptions, and getting surgeries they could not otherwise afford.
Healthy San Francisco is the nation's first city-run universal health care plan. While not insurance and not valid outside the city, it does illustrate how some hotly debated elements of plans being considered on Capitol Hill might play out.
In just over two years, the $126 million program has won over its target population, and now covers about 48,000 people - more than two-thirds of San Franciscans who previously had no insurance. |
29 Katrina ruling could bring new deluge of lawsuits
By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 19, 6:01 pm ET
| NEW ORLEANS - A landmark court ruling blaming the Army Corps of Engineers' "monumental negligence" for some of the worst flooding from Hurricane Katrina could lead to a new deluge: billions of dollars in legal action from thousands of storm victims.
The federal judge's harshly worded decision also served as vindication for residents of St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans who have long argued that Katrina was largely a man-made disaster, caused by the federal government's failure to maintain the levees protecting the city.
"Finally, somebody has said the truth," said Catherine Serpas, 67, whose family runs a bicycle and lawnmower store in Chalmette, La. She said the Army Corps' work on a 76-mile channel called the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet "destroyed the family life we knew. St. Bernard will never be what it used to be." |
30 Woman awarded $3M in assault claim against KBR
By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 19, 5:16 pm ET
| HOUSTON - A woman who claimed she was raped in 2005 while working in Iraq for a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been awarded nearly $3 million by an arbitrator to settle her case.
Tracy Barker had sued U.S. contractor KBR Inc., its former parent company Halliburton and several affiliates in May 2007, claiming she was sexually attacked by a State Department employee while working as a civilian contractor in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
A federal judge in Houston had dismissed Barker's lawsuit in January 2008, ruling she had to abide by an employment agreement she signed that said any claims she made against the companies would have to be settled through arbitration and not the courts. |
31 Study abroad? College students drop, rethink plans
By MICHELLE R. SMITH, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 19, 3:53 pm ET
| PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Economic reality and money problems may be cooling the enthusiasm of U.S. college students to study abroad, just two years after students' interest in foreign study was at an all-time high.
Four times as many students went abroad in the 2007-2008 academic year as 20 years ago, according to a survey of 985 schools released this week by the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit advocacy group.
But nearly 60 percent of the schools and study-abroad groups surveyed in early September by The Forum on Education Abroad report decreased enrollment from a year ago, since the global economic crisis. |
32 NY court: Married gay couples entitled to benefits
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 19, 3:14 pm ET
| ALBANY, N.Y. - New York's top court ruled Thursday that gay couples legally married elsewhere are entitled to some government benefits, boosting stalled legislative efforts to legalize same-sex marriage.
The Court of Appeals rejected a Christian legal group's argument that same-sex marriage was akin to incest and polygamy, although the court avoided declaring that gay couples are entitled to all the rights of other married couples.
The 4-3 decision was on the narrow question of benefits; the court did not address whether the state must recognize same-sex marriage but encouraged the Legislature to settle the issue. |
33 9/11 trial a death penalty test for NYC juries
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 19, 3:42 pm ET
| NEW YORK - New York juries are often loath to impose the death penalty, even for terrorists.
In fact, a jury spared the lives of two Osama bin Laden followers a month after Sept. 11, while the World Trade Center's ruins were still smoldering.
Now comes a case unlike any other: the trial of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the nation's deadliest terrorist attack. |
34 Holder: 'Failure not an option' in New York 9/11 terror trial
By Warren Richey, The Christian Science Monitor
Wed Nov 18, 4:00 am ET
| Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that "failure is not an option" in the prosecution of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a New York City courtroom.
But he also acknowledged that the Obama administration may shift an acquitted terrorist back into open-ended military detention rather than allow him to walk free.
Mr. Holder made the comments in response to questions about whether he had considered the possibility of an acquittal. |
So, Stalin/Hitler Show Trials.
35 New York divided over 9/11 terror trials
By Ron Scherer, The Christian Science Monitor
Wed Nov 18, 4:00 am ET
| New York - With the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed 9/11 mastermind and his four alleged co-conspirators in New York, the city gets the dubious title of Terror Trial Capital of America.
There are already three terror-related trials currently going through the courts in either Manhattan or Brooklyn. In the past, the city has seen seven major terror-trials, including such high-profile cases as Ramzi Yousef convicted in 1996 of the first World Trade Center bombing, and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind cleric convicted in 1995 of plotting to bomb buildings.
Still, the decision to hold 9/11 trials in New York has been controversial here, with some arguing it will reopen psychological wounds and keep the city in the crosshairs of terrorists. |
36 Chicago schools get new tool in fight against youth violence
By Amanda Paulson, The Christian Science Monitor
Wed Nov 18, 4:00 am ET
| Chicago - Two Chicago nonprofits, together with the University of Chicago, unveiled a counseling and sports program Wednesday aimed at stemming chronic youth violence in Chicago's public schools.
The problem is long-standing, but it received international attention in September when Derrion Albert, a Chicago Public School (CPS) junior, was killed when he was caught in a brawl as he walked home from school. The incident was captured on videotape. Since September of 1997, more than 500 CPS students have been shot.
Chicago is employing a growing array of efforts against youth violence - including a new $30 million CPS program that tries to target the 1,200 kids most at-risk for violence. The counseling and sports program announced Wednesday will be rigorously evaluated by University of Chicago researchers. |
37 Afghan police are weak link in security force
By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer
33 mins ago
| KABUL - Underpaid, under-equipped and under-trained, Afghanistan's 93,000-member police force is the weak link in an ambitious security strategy to hand over defense of the country to Afghans so American and other foreign troops can go home.
A strong, unified national police force has long eluded Afghanistan, a country torn by occupation and warfare for hundreds of years. But with the West now attempting to help turn the country from a failed state into at least a functioning one, the police will play a crucial role in making cities safe places to live.
That's needed to win the loyalty of ordinary Afghans, many of whom note that under the repressive rule of the Taliban, at least crime was low. |
38 Gates: US to do its part to slow Afghan corruption
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
32 mins ago
| HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - The United States will do its part to reduce corruption in Afghanistan by examining its own contracts and projects, even as it is demanding the same from the Afghan government, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.
He said the U.S. can exert the most leverage when it is signing the checks.
"The place for us to start is to deal with corruption that may be associated with contracts we're letting or work that we're having done and development projects that we are undertaking in partnership with others including with the Afghans," Gates said. |
39 Pakistan demands US share Afghan blueprint
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 52 mins ago
| ISLAMABAD - Pakistan expressed fear Friday that a large increase in foreign troops in Afghanistan could push militants across the border into its territory and called on the U.S. to factor in that concern as part of its new war strategy.
Meanwhile, a suspected U.S. missile strike killed eight militants in northwestern Pakistan, officials said, the second attack this week in an area believed to hold many insurgents who fled from an army offensive elsewhere in the Afghan border region. American officials generally do not acknowledge the unpopular attacks.
The Pakistani concerns, raised by the prime minister during a meeting with visiting CIA director Leon Panetta, could pose another headache for President Barack Obama as he weighs military proposals to send 10,000 to 40,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year. |
40 Downbeat Dell weighs on world markets
By PAN PYLAS, AP Business Writer
Fri Nov 20, 11:45 am ET
| LONDON - World stock markets fell Friday amid mounting concerns about the pace of the U.S. economic recovery following a disappointing earnings update from computer maker Dell Inc.
After being higher earlier in the day, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 16.29 points, or 0.3 percent, at 5,251.41, while Germany's DAX fell 39.03 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,663.15. The CAC-40 in France was 30.12 points, or 0.8 percent, lower at 3,730.10.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 57.81 points, or 0.6 percent, at 10,274.63 around midday New York time while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7.58 points, or 0.7 percent, lower at 1,087.32. |
41 Peruvian police: Gang killed people for their fat
By ANDREW WHALEN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 20, 3:10 am ET
| LIMA, Peru - Police say a gang in the Peruvian jungle has been killing people and draining fat from the corpses to sell on the black market for use in cosmetics, although medical experts say they doubt a major market for fat exists.
Three suspects confessed to killing five people, but the gang may have been involved in dozens more, said Col. Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police. He said one suspect claimed the gang wasn't the only one doing such killings.
Mejia said two of the suspects were arrested carrying bottles of liquid human fat and told police it was worth $60,000 a gallon ($15,000 a liter). The fat was sold to intermediaries in Peru's capital, Lima, and police suspect it was then sold to cosmetic companies in Europe, Mejia said Thursday, but he could not confirm any sales. |
42 U.N. panel condemns Iran for post-election crackdown
By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters
1 hr 30 mins ago
| UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee condemned Iran on Friday for a violent crackdown on protesters after presidential elections this year that the Iranian opposition says were rigged.
Tehran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee sharply criticized the Canadian-drafted resolution, saying assembly decisions of this kind have "created an atmosphere of confrontation and polarization."
The 192-nation assembly's Third Committee, which focuses on human rights, approved the nonbinding resolution 74-48, with 59 abstentions. The committee adopted similar resolutions condemning North Korea and Myanmar by much wider margins on Thursday. |
43 New EU president raises fears in aspirant Turkey
By Ibon Villelabeitia, Reuters
2 hrs 48 mins ago
| ANKARA (Reuters) - Herman Van Rompuy's appointment as the first European Union president provoked fears in Turkey that he might hinder Ankara's hopes of joining the bloc, with some media declaring outright that he is anti-Turkish.
Turkish newspapers were quick to dig out past comments attributed to Van Rompuy that the EU's Christian values would lose vigor if Muslim Turkey were let in.
Turkish politicians and academics reacted more cautiously to the Belgian Prime Minister's elevation to the new EU job on Thursday, but few drew much comfort from it. |
44 Iraq election impasse continues, veto contested
By Waleed Ibrahim and Suadad al-Salhy, Reuters
Thu Nov 19, 6:00 pm ET
| BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers failed on Thursday to resolve differences over an election law, dampening hopes of holding a vote on time in January and throwing into doubt a partial U.S. troop withdrawal later next year.
Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, vetoed the election law Wednesday and sent it back to parliament, sparking fears of an election delay that could affect U.S. plans to end combat operations in Iraq in August.
Instead of addressing Hashemi's demand that the law give more seats to Iraqi refugees and minorities, lawmakers squabbled over whether the veto was legal. |
45 'Too early' for Afghan handover deadline: Gates
by Dan De Luce, AFP
Thu Nov 19, 9:35 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said it is too soon to set a timeline for shifting security duties from NATO-led troops to Afghan forces, as proposed by Britain.
"I think I would rather have those on the ground in Afghanistan make the judgment call about when a province or a district was ready to be turned over, rather than specific dates," Gates told a news conference.
Asked about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's proposal for a timetable for a gradual security handover from 2010, Gates said: "I think it's too early to say." |
46 Clinton, warlord Dostum are honored guests at Karzai fete
By Dion Nissenbaum and Hashim Shukoor, McClatchy Newspapers
Thu Nov 19, 6:15 pm ET
| KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai began his second term Thursday under international pressure to select a Cabinet that can regain the trust of disillusioned Afghans, quash widespread government corruption and build a reliable military that can take charge of his country's defense.
However, the competition between foreign demands and domestic political IOUs was on display in the palace hall, where 800 invited guests attended Karzai's inauguration ceremony.
On one side of the cavernous room sat Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , who's warned that the international community is losing patience with Karzai. |
47 The E.U.'s New Top Leaders: Bland Leading the Bland
By LEO CENDROWICZ / BRUSSELS, Time Magazine
Fri Nov 20, 10:00 am ET
| Until Herman Van Rompuy became Belgium's Prime Minister 11 months ago, he was barely known even in his home country. But on Thursday night, the self-effacing former economist, whose hobbies include caravanning and writing haiku, was named the European Union's first permanent President. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
48 Pa. university students upset about fitness class
By KATHY MATHESON, Associated Press Writer
59 mins ago
| PHILADELPHIA - A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness course to receive their degrees has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts.
Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community.
"We know we're in the midst of an obesity epidemic," said James L. DeBoy, chairman of Lincoln's department of health, physical education and recreation. "We have an obligation to address this head on, knowing full well there's going to be some fallout." |
49 Giuliani back in spotlight - but what's the show?
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 37 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Whether he's planning another run for the White House or a bid for senator or governor, or he just misses the spotlight, Rudy Giuliani is suddenly back and talking about the topic that made him a national star - Sept. 11.
Over five days this week, the former New York mayor gave several national TV interviews and a news conference - the kind of blitz usually associated with a book tour or a campaign launch. And he definitely does not have a new book to sell.
He has demurred when asked about his future - saying at one point he hasn't "really focused on it yet" - while establishing himself as the leading critic of the Obama administration's plan to bring several 9/11 defendants to New York City for a civilian trial. |
Because 9-11 is the only song he sings.
50 Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in NC
By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer
36 mins ago
| ATLANTA - Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday.
The cases reported at Duke University Medical Center over six weeks make up the biggest cluster seen so far in the U.S.
Tamiflu - made by Switzerland's Roche Group - is one of two flu medicines that help against swine flu, and health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective. |
51 Planes ready to leave Brunswick, Maine Navy base
By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 7 mins ago
| BRUNSWICK, Maine - The rumble of Navy patrol aircraft flying overhead will soon be a thing of the past as the remaining P-3 Orions depart from Brunswick Naval Air Station.
While much of the nation prepares for Thanksgiving, air crews from VP-26 are prepping to ship out for a six-month deployment to El Salvador, Italy and the Horn of Africa. After that, they'll rejoin the rest of Brunswick aircraft that have relocated to Florida's Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
Cmdr. Mike Parker, commanding officer of VP-26, begins the final wave of departures on Sunday, marking a milestone in the closing of the last active-duty military air base in New England. |
52 Wis. mulls Harley-Davidson, cheese microbe honors
By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 12 mins ago
| MADISON, Wis. - Choppers and cheese may soon become official Wisconsin symbols.
Bills to honor Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Lactococcus lactis - a bacterium used in the making of cheese - with the state symbol designation were introduced in the Legislature last week.
Supporters say that naming two of the state's most well-known exports as the official motorcycle and microbe will help promote the dairy and motorcycle industries in lean times. |
53 Swine flu may have hit one peak; more to come
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters
19 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.
Officials also said they were investigating several troubling outbreaks of drug-resistant H1N1 but noted they were limited so far and that there were no indications yet the virus was mutating in a sustained way.
The World Health Organization said H1N1 flu was moving eastward across Europe and Asia after appearing to peak in parts of Western Europe and the United States. |
54 "Yard sale" brings U.S. empire to bargain-bin ending
By Tom Hals, Reuters
Fri Nov 20, 2:11 pm ET
| PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Three years after a billionaire divorce gone terribly wrong, this is what is left: unfinished plans for America's largest home, several bankruptcies and an auction featuring a talking moose head.
Bargain hunters will get the chance to bid on Saturday on the leftovers from the home furnishings firm of Edra Blixseth, ex-wife of timber baron Tim Blixseth, a former billionaire.
The design business served the wealthy in general and Edra Blixseth, its owner and biggest client, in particular. Foreclosed on by her bank, the last 500 or so items of the business will go on the block in a rapid-fire finish to her decorating enterprise. |
55 Los Angeles gets tough on medical marijuana shops
By Catherine Bremer, Reuters
1 hr 21 mins ago
| LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Past the security man and his pit bull and through a haze of eye-watering smoke, two youths load up a pipe next to a row of shiny glass jars with two dozen varieties of marijuana bud displayed like candy.
Hundreds of pot shops have sprung up in the last couple of years across Los Angeles, taking advantage of California's medical marijuana laws to do a brisk trade in cannabis offerings branded with names like "Big Buds" and "Super Trainwreck".
Roughly 1,000 marijuana dispensaries now cater to cancer patients and recreational dope smokers alike -- but city prosecutors declared war on many of them this month with threats to take action against those selling pot for profit. |
56 Pennsylvania residents sue over gas drilling
By Jon Hurdle, Reuters
Fri Nov 20, 2:56 pm ET
| DIMOCK, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Residents of a small rural Pennsylvania town sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corp on Friday, claiming the company's natural-gas drilling has contaminated their water wells with toxic chemicals, caused sickness and reduced their property values.
The lawsuit accuses the company of violating state environmental laws by allowing drilling chemicals to escape from gas wells, where they are used in a technique called hydraulic fracturing.
A Cabot spokesman said the company had not had time to study the lawsuit in detail but said Cabot was in full compliance with Pennsylvania's environmental laws and "disappointed" by the lawsuit. |
57 U.S. civilian experts train for the real Afghanistan
By Sue Pleming, Reuters
Fri Nov 20, 1:38 am ET
| BUTLERVILLE, Indiana (Reuters) - They arrive at the meeting by U.S. military helicopter, politely accept a cup of tea and haggle over a U.S.-funded water project gone awry.
This is Afghanistan -- or at least a simulation at a tatty complex in the Indiana woods to prepare hundreds of agriculture specialists, lawyers, economists and other civilian experts for the real thing.
Sending more American civilians to Afghanistan is part of President Barack Obama's strategy review as he seeks to turn around the eight-year war and improve the performance of the Karzai government while reining in a culture of corruption. |
58 Wall Street tax must be international: Pelosi
By Andy Sullivan, Reuters
Thu Nov 19, 6:02 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Any tax imposed on financial transactions would have to take effect internationally to keep Wall Street jobs and related business from moving overseas, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.
"It would have to be an international rule, not just a U.S. rule," Pelosi said at a news conference. "We couldn't do it alone, we'd have to do it as an international initiative."
Several House Democrats have proposed a Wall Street tax to pay for job-creating legislation they plan to pass in December. The tax, which could raise $150 billion per year, would tap into widespread public outrage at Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis. |
59 State, local budget cuts a "time bomb" for jobs
Reuters
Thu Nov 19, 4:09 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - Budget shortfalls pose a direct threat to millions of U.S. jobs, many in the private sector, as state and local governments lay off workers and cut spending on contracts and other business services, a think tank said on Thursday.
State and local governments will have to raise taxes and cut spending in the current and next two fiscal years to cover shortfalls totaling $469 billion, according to an Economic Policy Institute report.
The think tank -- where White House adviser Jared Bernstein spent years developing ideas found in the $787 billion economic stimulus plan he oversees -- said the U.S. government must give states and cities $150 billion in direct budget relief to save between 1.1 million and 1.4 million jobs. |
60 AOL to shed 2,500 jobs as spinoff from Time Warner looms
AFP
Thu Nov 19, 5:45 pm ET
| NEW YORK (AFP) - Former Internet star AOL said Thursday it is to slash 2,500 jobs, one-third of its workforce, as it prepares to break free from Time Warner after one of the most disastrous mergers in corporate history.
The cuts are part of a plan to save 300 million dollars at AOL, which is to regain its independence on December 9, the company said.
"Over the next several months we will be looking to reduce approximately one-third of our overall workforce," AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said. |
61 Google books hearing set for February 18
by Chris Lefkow, AFP
Fri Nov 20, 1:30 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US judge set February 18 for a hearing on the revised legal settlement between Google and US authors and publishers that would allow the Internet giant to scan and sell millions of books online.
Judge Denny Chin also granted preliminary approval to the agreement in a move welcomed by Google but which opponents said was procedural and had no bearing on whether he will give a green light to the settlement in February.
Chin on Thursday also set January 28 as the date for groups to lodge objections to the class action settlement with his Southern District of New York court. |
62 Health Care: Do the Democrats Have Enough Votes?
By KAREN TUMULTY / WASHINGTON, Time Magazine
Fri Nov 20, 10:00 am ET
| With health reform's first test vote on the Senate floor less than 72 hours away, a platoon of top strategists - including pollsters Mark Mellman and Geoff Garin, incoming White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer and deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina - met with Democratic Senators Thursday afternoon to impress upon those who might be wavering that everyone's political fate is now joined with the success or failure of President Obama's top domestic priority. |
63 Army Corps of Engineers Faulted in Katrina Destruction
By MICHAEL GRUNWALD, Time Magazine
Fri Nov 20, 10:05 am ET
| There can be something thrilling about accountability, so it was nice to see a federal judge declare the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers directly responsible for the destruction of most of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The blistering ruling validates the rage felt by so many survivors - and may put them in line for some much needed cash. It also provides an always welcome opportunity for those of us who have banged our spoons on our high chairs about the culpability of the Corps again and again and again to say we told you so. And it could help spread a message to millions of Americans who still think the tragedy of Katrina was the government's response to the disaster rather than the government's creation of the disaster. |
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Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
