Car Bombs Hit Two Iraqi Police Stations

Also Saturday, a DHL commercial cargo plane with its wing on fire landed safely at Baghdad International Airport (search) with no reported injuries. Reuters news service reported that the plane had been struck with a surface-to-air missile, but the U.S. military said it was unclear if it had been struck by ground fire or suffered a technical problem.

The first blast rocked the station in Baqouba, a city about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Minutes later, the second bomb detonated in Khan Bani Saad, a crowded market town about 12 miles south of Baqouba on the road to Baghdad.

Capt. Ryan McCormick of the 4th Infantry Division (search) said the explosion in Khan Bani Saad killed 10 people, including six policemen, three civilians and the bomber. Iraqi police said one of the dead was a 5-year-old girl. Ten people were wounded, McCormick said.


posted by Frodgie at 1:34 PM

 

GOP wins House battle over Medicare bill

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a dramatic vote that took almost three hours to complete, the House narrowly passed a Medicare and prescription drug bill and sent it to the Senate for final consideration.

Democrats held a slight lead in the vote count for most of the session. But the Republicans, who control the chamber, refused to close the vote. That allowed GOP leaders and President Bush -- who made several middle-of-the-night phone calls to wavering members -- to scour the floor for votes.

In the end, at about 6 a.m., they persuaded two junior members, Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, R-Idaho, and Rep. Trent Franks, R-Arizona, to vote yes, tipping the scale in favor of the GOP-written bill.


posted by Frodgie at 1:32 PM

 

Jacksons' Getaway

posted by Frodgie at 9:12 AM

 

Iraq Oil Ministry, Hotels Hit by Rockets

KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) - Rockets apparently fired from donkey carts Friday morning slammed into Iraq's Oil Ministry and two hotels used by U.S. workers and foreign journalists in downtown Baghdad. At least one man was injured.

The violence came a day after a truck bomb exploded near a Kurdish party office in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing five people and wounding 30 in an attack local officials blamed on Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaida. It was the second bombing this week against Iraqis who cooperate with the U.S. occupation.

In two nearly simulataneous attacks just after 7 a.m. Friday, attackers led donkey carts carrying rocket launchers up to a street near the hotels and another outside the oil ministry, said Col. Peter Mansoor of the U.S. 1st Armored Division.


posted by Frodgie at 6:58 AM

 

Bleak Outlook for U.S. in Iraq Says Blix

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - "There's a hatred against the United States and you have 130,000 American troops sitting there as a big target," said Hans Blix as he leaned forward to make his point about the future of Iraq and its military occupation.

"The borders, although guarded, are not watertight. Weapons of mass destruction may not be there but conventional weapons are and the U.S. does not have the capacity to guard it all," Blix added. "The outlook is bad."

His time over as chief U.N. weapons inspector, he has a bone to pick with those who took the United States and Britain to war with Iraq on claims that Baghdad could wage quick and terrible destruction.

"This was the basis upon which the war was sold and justified and today I think no one would say Iraq constituted a danger in the Spring of 2003," said the 75-year-old Swede.


Sitting in the Stockholm flat where he has lived for more than 30 years between assignments, Blix now watches Iraq and the Middle East from the sidelines. But he gives notice that far from disappearing into history as a footnote, his voice will continue to be heard.


posted by Frodgie at 6:58 AM

 

Poll: Bush, Iraq and the Economy

As President George W. Bush faces war protesters and defends the Iraq war during his state visit to Great Britain, a majority of Americans continues to support the military action taken to disarm Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein (search). And despite the president's lowest job rating to date on his handling of Iraq, over half of Americans today think the United States has a responsibility to stay there until a democratic government has been established, according to the latest FOX News poll.

Opinion Dynamics Corporation (search) conducted the national poll of registered voters for FOX News, November 18-19, the first two days of President Bush's official state visit to Britain.

Currently two-thirds of Americans support the military action taken in Iraq, up two points since September but down from a high of 81 percent in early April when major combat was still underway. Just under half of the public knows someone who was or is in the Middle East for the action in Iraq, and not surprisingly these Americans are even more supportive (71 percent) of the U.S. having taken action.

President Bush has said in many recent speeches and interviews that the United States will stay in Iraq until "the job is done." A majority of Americans supports this notion, as 58 percent think the United States must stay in Iraq until a democracy is in place, even if it takes years.


posted by Frodgie at 6:53 AM

 

Plane Diverted After Threatening Note Found

Virgin Atlantic Flight 10 departed from Kennedy Airport shortly after midnight Friday but returned at about 1:30 a.m., said Darrin Kayser, a spokesman for the federal Transportation Security Administration (search).

Kayser said he did not have information about the contents of the note or whether any arrests were made. He said the FBI was investigating; a message left for the FBI was not immediately returned.

More than 250 passengers aboard the plane were evacuated and rescreened, Kayser said. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey conducted a search of the aircraft using canine units, according to Port Authority spokesman Tony Ciavolella.

posted by Frodgie at 6:51 AM

 

Jackson booked on suspicion of molestation

SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson was booked on suspicion of child molestation Thursday, posted a $3 million bond and released in less than an hour. The pop star flashed the peace sign, waved and blew kisses to cameras as he left the Santa Barbara County jail.

The 45-year-old singer will be arraigned January 9 in Santa Barbara Superior Court.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon's office said formal charges of lewd or lascivious contact with a child younger than 14 would be filed against Jackson after next Thursday's Thanksgiving public holiday.


posted by Frodgie at 6:45 AM

 

Al Qaeda, Turkish Militants Claim Terror Attacks
Explosions Rock Downtown Istanbul

ISTANBUL, Turkey — At least two explosions rocked downtown Istanbul (search) on Thursday, as suspected car bombs hit targets including the headquarters of London-based HSBC bank and also the British consulate, television stations reported.

At least 15 people were killed, and more than 300 were wounded in the blasts, media reports and officials say.

In a phone call to semi-official Anatolia news agency, Al Qaeda (search) and a Turkish militant group have claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Reuters news service reported that White House spokesman Sean McCormack -- traveling with George Bush in London -- promtly issued a White House statement, saying "we're monitoring the situation in the wake of these apparent terrorist attacks."


posted by Frodgie at 6:52 AM

 

Singles Seek 'Equality' With Marrieds

The fetching images on HBO's "Sex and the City," the scores of urban playgrounds for swinging singles and the "alternative lifestyles" that just decades ago were labeled spinsterish — or worse, criminal — may all convey that singledom's time has arrived, but Tom Coleman (search) says unmarried America has a long way to go.

An avowed single and civil rights attorney, Coleman says pensions, taxes, health care benefits (search) and other economic privileges all skew in favor of married Americans and against a growing majority of untethered individuals.

"Part of the problem we have is, not only married people and people in power don’t understand these issues and inequities, but single people themselves take it for granted that that's the way it is," said Coleman, who has made it his crusade since the 1970s to defend the rights of the unmarried and unattached.


posted by Frodgie at 6:51 AM

 

Source: Limbaugh Probed for Money Laundering

In his third day back on the air after rehab, Limbaugh responded with a blanket denial of the allegations first reported Tuesday by ABC News.

"I was not laundering money. I was withdrawing money for crying out loud," Limbaugh said in his three-hour broadcast.

Limbaugh was absent from his show for five weeks after announcing he was entering a drug rehabilitation program because of his addiction to prescription painkillers. But he told listeners he could tell them little about the allegations.

"I know where the story comes from, I know who's behind it, and I know what the purpose of the story is, and I'll be able to tell you at some point," he said.


posted by Frodgie at 6:49 AM

 

Clues may lead to best cancer treatments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Doctors may soon begin looking for compounds that will tell them which cancer patients will be best helped by certain treatments such as drugs or radiotherapy, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Molecular markers that characterize in detail a patient's own particular form of cancer are working to predict how each patient will respond to specific therapies, several teams told a conference.

The markers -- proteins produced by the patients' tumors -- illustrate how cancer is not a single disease, said Dr. Charles Sawyer, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher at the University of California Los Angeles Cancer Center.

posted by Frodgie at 6:48 AM

 

Authorities await Jackson's surrender
Singer faces multiple counts of child molestation

SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) -- Authorities are awaiting the surrender of pop star Michael Jackson and say they plan to charge him with multiple counts of child molestation.

Jackson is expected to meet his attorney, Mark Geragos, at the Santa Barbara County sheriff's office and turn himself in to authorities late Thursday morning, a source told CNN. Jackson's huge estate, Neverland Ranch, is in Santa Barbara County.

District Attorney Tom Sneddon said Jackson faces multiple counts of lewd or lascivious contact with a child younger than 14.

When authorities announced the arrest warrant for Jackson on Wednesday, they indicated he had a limited amount of time to surrender and turn in his

posted by Frodgie at 6:47 AM

 

Bush defends Iraq war to Britons

LONDON, England (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush is marking the first full day of his state visit to Britain with a key speech aimed at defending the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Bush, who arrived in London late Tuesday amid heavy security, is making the case that war is sometimes necessary to defend a nation's values.

"In some cases, the measured use of force is all that protects us from a chaotic world ruled by force," Bush said Wednesday during his address at Whitehall building, Banqueting House, near Buckingham Palace.

"We can't turn a blind eye to oppression just because that oppression is not in our own backyard," he said. "Who will say that Iraq was better off when Saddam Hussein was strutting and killing or that the world was safer when he held power?"

Ahead of the speech, Bush and his wife Laura -- who are staying at Buckingham Palace -- were officially welcomed by their hosts, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.


posted by Frodgie at 9:12 AM

 

China: Use of force may be 'unavoidable' against Taiwan

BEIJING (AP) — Raising the stakes in an already tense situation, China threatened Taiwan in remarks published Wednesday that "the use of force may become unavoidable" if the island pursues independence — the mainland's strongest statement in years against its archrival.
But Wang Zaixi, a top mainland official who deals with the Taiwan issue, also said China felt close to the Taiwanese people and was "not willing to meet at the battleground."

Wang, vice-minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said curbing Taiwan's efforts toward independence is the main goal of the mainland, which will go to war if necessary.

"If the Taiwan authorities collude with all 'splittist' forces to openly engage in pro-independence activities and challenge the mainland and the one-China principle, the use of force may become unavoidable," Wang was quoted as saying in the China Daily.


posted by Frodgie at 9:07 AM

 

Union Doc
Howard Dean gets a labor nod.

Howard Dean is thought to have hit the jackpot last week with the dual endorsements of the giant government unions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). With the promise of resources and manpower from the two largest unions within the AFL-CIO, Dean's presidential campaign is sure to have an effective ground operation and coffers flush with cash. But more significant is what the endorsements say about Dean's candidacy and indeed, the direction of Democratic-party politics.

Dean portrays himself as an outsider, a wily moderate governor who will take on the Washington establishment. But the SEIU and AFSCME union brass comprise a narrow special interest — government unionism — and are among the most entrenched and powerful political insiders in the nation's capital.


posted by Frodgie at 9:05 AM

 

Iraqi Government Official Assassinated

A spokesman for the Education Ministry in the capital said Hmud Kadhim (search), the ministry's director general in Diwaniyah province, 100 miles south of Baghdad, was shot to death by unknown assailants on Tuesday. An investigation was under way, the spokesman said.

Guerrillas have warned that they will assassinate Iraqis who collaborate with occupation authorities, including officials such as Kadhim whose job made him one of the top officials in Diwaniyah province.

On Tuesday night, U.S. forces again targeted an abandoned dye factory in southern Baghdad that was hit twice last week by artillery and air strikes. Aerial attacks were also reported on orchards and empty farmland surrounding the military base on Baghdad's western outskirts.


posted by Frodgie at 9:04 AM

 

U.S. levels houses of Iraqi insurgents

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military has begun leveling houses and buildings used by suspected Iraqi guerrilla fighters in a new tactic which is part of a more aggressive strategy aimed at crushing the anti-American insurgency, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

Pentagon officials rejected any comparison to the tactics employed by the Israeli military in the West bank and Gaza, saying the U.S. actions are not aimed at punishing sympathizers, but rather are aimed at eliminating legitimate military targets.

Israel Defense Forces characterized its tactics in a September 30 statement: "The demolition of the houses of terrorists sends a message that anyone who participates in terrorist activity will pay a price for their actions."


posted by Frodgie at 9:01 AM

 

Deputies search Michael Jackson's ranch

LOS OLIVOS, California (CNN) -- Law enforcement officers responding to allegations of child molestation, according to one source with knowledge of the investigation, searched pop star Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch for several hours Tuesday.

There was no official confirmation of what prompted what one official called an "ongoing criminal investigation" or what as many as 70 officials from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's office were searching for or may have found.

"We cannot comment on law enforcement's investigation because we do not yet know what it is about," a spokesman for the entertainer said.

But a source with knowledge of the investigation said it involved allegations of child molestation -- nearly a decade after Jackson, now 45, settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who had done sleepovers at Neverland Ranch while he was 13 and accused Jackson of molesting him. No criminal charges were filed in that case.


posted by Frodgie at 8:59 AM

 

Poll finds Bush's job approval at 50%

As the war in Iraq drags on, the country is nearly split over the president's leadership: 50% approve of the job he is doing, and 47% disapprove.

That equals the lowest approval and highest disapproval of his presidency, which occurred in late September, when the post-combat phase of the Iraq operation took a turn for the worse.

"In the coming election, Bush will be challenged on his Iraq polices and have to defend the effectiveness of the actions he's taken," says Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. "Right now, it's very dicey."

A drop in approval by women was a key factor. A month ago, 53% of women approved of the overall job Bush was doing. Now, 44% approve. Support by men fell from 60% to 56%.


posted by Frodgie at 7:01 AM

 

Good Riddance

James Hein of the California Teachers Association resigned from Arnold Schwarzenegger's transition team when the governor appointed Richard Riordan as education secretary. The resignation should not trouble the governor because the CTA is at odds with both his education reform and fiscal policy.

As he made clear during the campaign, the governor wants no new taxes. But the CTA is pushing a $4.5 billion annual tax increase for education, which already gobbles up about 40 percent of California's general fund. The new tax would raise business property taxes by 55 percent to pay for universal preschool, class-size reduction, and increased teacher pay. But the union's tax push lays bare its real agenda, which is less about education than it is about empire building.


posted by Frodgie at 6:59 AM

 

Hopes for Gay Marriage Endure Despite Opposition

Editor's note: This is part one of a three-part series investigating the issues currently surrounding marriage in America.

Cathy Renna is getting married next week. Like other brides, she's taking off time from work for an extended honeymoon away from cell phones, e-mail and any contact with the outside world.

But unlike other brides, Renna's marriage won't be licensed by city hall or sanctioned in church — she is taking vows with her longtime girlfriend.

"We're obviously not getting married in the sacramental sense," said Renna, spokeswoman for Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (search), one of the largest gay and lesbian rights organizations in the country.

GLAAD is among a handful of organizations seeking to secure the right of all gay and lesbian couples to marry. Renna said the fight is not about getting a religious blessing, but civil recognition of the union, including all the legal benefits and protections afforded to heterosexual married couples by local, state and federal governments.

posted by Frodgie at 6:56 AM

 

Muhammad attorneys, prosecutors argue over sniper's life...Just shoot him when he ain't a lookin'

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- Virginia prosecutors on Monday began making their case for the death penalty, while defense attorneys sought to save the life of their client, convicted killer John Allen Muhammad.

Muhammad was found guilty Monday of capital murder and three other charges related to a slaying during last year's sniper shooting spree.

The seven-woman, five-man jury also found the Army veteran guilty of committing a murder in an act of terrorism, conspiracy and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The capital murder and terrorism charges carry the death penalty as a possible sentence.

Jurors found Muhammad guilty of killing Dean Harold Meyers, a Vietnam veteran cut down by a single bullet that hit him in the head October 9, 2002, as he filled his tank at a Manassas, Virginia, service station.


posted by Frodgie at 6:55 AM

 

Security ramped up for Bush visit

LONDON, England (CNN) -- An unprecedented level of security is in place for U.S. President George W. Bush's four-day state visit to Britain.

Bush arrives Tuesday in London with the British capital on alert over purported threats from the al Qaeda terror network and bracing for thousands of anti-Bush protesters.

Concrete barriers have been erected outside Buckingham Palace, where Bush will be staying, while almost 15,000 police officers will be on duty throughout the visit in a massive security operation estimated to cost the British taxpayer Έ5 million ($8.5 million).


posted by Frodgie at 6:53 AM

 

U.S. launches new offensive in Iraq

TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military on Sunday night unleashed what was described as a "massive" offensive against insurgents based around Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, as part of the 4th Infantry Division's Operation Ivy Cyclone, U.S. military sources said.

"The 4th Infantry Division and Task Force Ironhorse has launched a series of combined arms operations to include air and ground strikes against identified targets," a statement from U.S. Central Command said, "along with precision raids against non-compliant groups and individuals focused on neutralizing paramilitary, former regime loyalists, foreign fighters and other extremist and subversive elements with task force area of responsibility."


posted by Frodgie at 6:26 AM

 

Hepatitis outbreak spreads fear

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The nation's biggest known outbreak of hepatitis A is causing such a panic that people are lining up by the thousands for antibody shots and no longer eating out.

A third person died Friday and nearly 500 others who ate at a Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant have fallen ill in the outbreak that has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to send assistance.

Health investigators are focusing on whether contaminated produce -- perhaps scallions -- caused the outbreak at the restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.


posted by Frodgie at 6:25 AM

 

The Next Terror Attack
Coming Soon?

I was walking in New York City recently and overheard a very earnest and exasperated young man saying to his companion, "Somebody has to stand up and say it — there is no terrorist threat!" I don't know how he had come to this conclusion, though it probably has something to do with the fact that there have not been any recent successful domestic terror attacks, at least not on the scale of 9/11. I supposed that this was someone who feels that the terrorism issue is being cynically used by the Bush administration to justify policies that otherwise would not be justifiable, that 9/11 was a one-shot deal to which we have adequately responded and that the United States is back to being as safe as it was on September 10 (which come to think of it was not very safe). I might have tried to educate this unfortunate person, being an educator and all, but I already write extensively on threat issues — and anyway: There is only so much one can do to save people from NPR addiction. I do not write about every threat I hear about, because most of it is probably noise. But between new al Qaeda statements, the increased tempo of the war generally, and the level of detail I have been picking up in descriptions of potential attacks, it seemed prudent to pass some of this information along.

posted by Frodgie at 6:21 AM

 

Two Extradited Al Qaeda Suspects Head to U.S.

The two men, Sheikh Ali Hassan al-Moayad (search) and his alleged assistant, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed (search), were picked up Sunday by American officials and flown out of the Rhine-Main Air Base near Frankfurt by the U.S. Air Force, said Hildegard Becker-Toussaint, a spokeswoman for Frankfurt prosecutors.

The move came after the Federal Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the two could expect a fair trial in the United States, rejecting the complaints they filed against lower-court decisions backing extradition.


posted by Frodgie at 6:17 AM

 

Report: Al Qaeda Behind Synagogue Bombings

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Two Arabic-language newspapers received separate statements Sunday claiming the Al Qaeda terrorist network carried out the car bombings outside two Istanbul (search) synagogues -- attacks that killed 23 people.

A statement received by the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi (search), a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, said a unit of Al Qaeda executed the attack on Saturday because it learned that agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad were in the synagogues.


posted by Frodgie at 6:16 AM

 

Hillary Clinton Emcees Iowa Democratic Fund-Raiser

DES MOINES, Iowa — Rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination highlighted their differences and raised money, with the high-flying Howard Dean (search) getting much of the fire and complaining of "gang tackling." New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (search), moderating the event, asserted she'll stand behind the party's choice in 2004.

Six of the nine candidates attended the Iowa Democratic Party's biggest annual fund-raising dinner Saturday, making their case to more than 7,500 activists in a state where precinct caucuses begin the nominating season. Clinton rejected arguments that Democrats had a second-rate field, saying they reminded her of what was said in 1992, the year her husband won the White House.

"Never forget, pundits and polls don't pick presidents, people pick presidents and that's what's going to happen," she said.


posted by Frodgie at 9:58 PM

 

Purported Saddam Tape Marks Ramadan

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqis should increase their resistance to coalition forces in Iraq, a voice purporting to be that of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (search) said on an audiotape aired Sunday.

The speaker, who sounded like a huskier version of the ousted Iraqi leader, told Iraqis that the "road of jihad [holy war] and resistance" is the only one to make the "armies of the unjust occupation leave our country."

The voice on the tape, aired on Arabic-language television station Al-Arabiya (search), began by greeting the Iraqi people on the occasion of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan (search) and said the "evil ones will not be able to occupy and colonize Iraq."

posted by Frodgie at 9:56 PM