National
Prices tumble 1% in October in record drop
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
Consumer prices tumbled by a record amount in October, carried lower by skidding energy and transportation prices. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
In the news
Eileen Wilbur, a 74-yearold blind woman who received a letter from Attleboro, Mass., threatening a lien on her home if she didn’t pay a 1-cent balance owed on an overdue water and sewer bill, doesn’t have to worry after Antonio Viveiros wrote a check for one penny to cover her debt. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Obama to nominate Daschle for health, human services job
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — Presidentelect Barack Obama has decided to nominate former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota as secretary of health and human services, people close to the transition said Wednesday. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Carmaker-aid scramble on
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
nal allies of the auto industry were rushing late Wednesday to put together a bipartisan aid package for faltering Detroit car companies, but lawmakers said they may leave town today without taking action. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Iraqis clash over treaty on security
BY HAMZA HENDAWI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD — A heated parliamentary debate on the U.S.-Iraq security treaty was called to an early close Wednesday as lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr scuffled with security guards for the foreign minister and with the speaker of the legislature and his two deputies. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
U.S. kills 6 in a deeper Pakistan hit
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The U.S. military apparently struck at Islamic militants outside Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt for the first time Wednesday, firing a missile that killed six suspected insurgents taking refuge away from the conflict zone along the Afghan border. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Anglicans draft charter for new unit
BY JULIA DUIN THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Leaders of 100,000 disaffected former Episcopalians will unveil a constitution for a proposed new 39th province of the Anglican Communion at a Dec. 3 ceremony at the evangelical Wheaton College in west Chicago. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Insurers to pitch for required coverage
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions — but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Food, water, seeds, utilities scarce in Mugabe stronghold
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
MHANGURA, Zimbabwe — Katy Phiri, who is in her 70s, picks up single corn kernels spilled from trucks that ferry the harvest to market. She says she hasn’t eaten for three days. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Stevens concedes defeat in Alaska
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Republican Sen. Ted Stevens conceded defeat Wednesday in a re-election bid shadowed by his federal felony conviction. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Arraignment set for Cheney, Gonzales
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RAYMONDVILLE, Texas — A Texas judge has set an arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other officials accused of involvement in prisoner abuse. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Fired on, Indian navy sinks Somali pirate ship
BY EMILY WAX THE WASHINGTON POST
NEW DELHI, India — An Indian navy frigate Tuesday battled with and sank a suspected Somali pirate “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest and most lawless shipping lanes. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
U.N.: Bombed Syrian facility contaminated with uranium
BY JOBY WARRICK THE WASHINGTON POST
The Syrian facility bombed by Israeli planes last year bore hallmarks of a nuclear reactor, and the ruined site was contaminated with uranium, U.N. inspectors confirmed Wednesday in a report that largely backed Bush administration accounts of a secret atomic program in the Syrian desert. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Russia, Georgia talk at mediators’ urging
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA — Mediators got direct talks going Wednesday between Russia and Georgia. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Al-Qaida No. 2 dubs Obama ‘house negro’
BY CRAIG WHITLOCK THE WASHINGTON POST
BERLIN — Al-Qaida’s second in command insulted President-elect Barack Obama in a videotape released Wednesday and said Obama’s election represented “the American people’s admission of defeat in Iraq.” In the 11-minute video, posted on the Internet, al-Qaida’s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, repeatedly and unfavorably compared the first black U.S. president-elect to Malcolm X, the black Muslim leader and activist who was assassinated 43 years ago. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
McCain barely defeats Obama in Missouri
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Republican John McCain has defeated Democratic Presidentelect Barack Obama in Missouri — the last state to be decided in the 2008 presidential election. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Man gets five years in bar-fight death
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TIMES
A former Springdale resident received a five-year prison term in the death of a man who tried to break up a fight at a Springdale bar. - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Shift in bailout right decision, Paulson insists
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Tuesday defended his handling of the $700 billion financial bailout program and repeated his reservations about tapping the pool to prevent home foreclosures. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
In the news
Paul Nawrocki, 59, who was laid off from his job at a toy company last February, said that with his unemployment benefits about to run out and no job prospects, he was getting “a little panicked,” so he put on a sandwich board that reads “Almost homeless” and took to the streets of Manhattan to pass out his resume, a ploy that has landed him interviews with recruiters. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Season for Medicare shopping: Right now
BY CAROLYNE PARK
Forty-three million Americans on Medicare, including 450,000 in Arkansas, have through Dec. 31 if they want to change their health and prescription drug plans for next year. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Waltons lavish $218 million as their wealth grows
BY MATTHEW S.L. CATE
With a boost from its late matriarch, America’s richest family gave away more than $218 million last year, with the biggest gift going to an art museum rising not far from Wal-Mart headquarters. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Rescue for carmakers stalls
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — Detroit’s Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress on Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save their companies, warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
In Alamo case state removes 20 more kids
BY ANDY DAVIS
TEXARKANA — An additional 20 children whose parents are members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries were taken into custody Tuesday as state child-protective-services caseworkers, accompanied by police, returned to Alamo’s religious compound in southwest Arkansas and visited more than a dozen homes and businesses controlled by Alamo in the Fort Smith area. The children, 11 boys and nine girls, ranged in age from 1 to 17, said Julie Munsell, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. Seventeen of them were found in two vans that Arkansas State Police troopers, accompanied by Human Services Department caseworkers, stopped on Arkansas 245 in Texarkana. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Military ordered to share Thanksgiving airspace
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Tuesday ordered that the nation’s military airspace be temporarily opened to commercial airliners, creating so-called Thanksgiving express lanes to cut down on delays for travelers. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
NATO: Pakistan OK’d artillery fire
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan fired 20 artillery rounds at insurgents Sunday inside Pakistan in an attack the alliance said was coordinated with the government in Islamabad. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Alaska’s Stevens loses U.S. Senate seat
BY TONY HOPFINGER BLOOMBERG NEWS
Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska lost his re-election bid Tuesday, as absentee ballots tallied two weeks after Election Day showed he trailed Democrat Mark Begich by an insurmountable margin. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ex-Clinton official reportedly top choice for attorney general
BY CARRIE JOHNSON THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — Former Justice Department official Eric Holder is the leading candidate to serve as the next U.S. attorney general, according to Democratic sources familiar with the choice. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Lieberman maintains top post on Homeland panel
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON — Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman was allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday despite his support for Republican Sen. John McCain in the presidential campaign. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Al-Maliki urges Iraqis to back security pact
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister delivered a nationally televised address Tuesday to rally domestic support for a U.S.-Iraqi security pact, calling it a step toward full sovereignty and assuring neighbors it will prevent cross-border attacks. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Seized oil ship anchors; Iranian vessel grabbed
BY MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR AND BARBARA SURK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Pirates who seized a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million in crude oil anchored the ship within sight of impoverished Somali fishing villages Tuesday, and other bandits took control of an Iranian cargo ship — the seventh vessel hijacked in 12 days. - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
