World Briefly

By The Associated Press | Clanton Advertiser

Published Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Pelosi supports 'limited' emergency aid for struggling US automakers in lame-duck session

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for "emergency and limited financial assistance" for the battered auto industry on Tuesday and urged the outgoing Bush administration to join lawmakers in reaching a quick compromise.

Four days after dismal financial reports from General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., Pelosi backed legislation to make the automakers eligible for help under the $700 billion bailout measure that cleared Congress in October.

In a written statement, the California Democrat said the aid was needed "in order to prevent the failure of one or more of the major American automobile manufacturers, which would have a devastating impact on our economy, particularly on the men and women who work in that industry."

"Congress and the Bush administration must take immediate action," she added. Administration officials have concluded that the bailout bill that passed earlier does not permit loans to the auto industry, but lawmakers are expected to return to the Capitol for a brief postelection session beginning next week.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also supports help for the industry, and he issued a statement saying Democrats were "determined to pass legislation that will save the jobs of millions" as part of a postelection session.

___

Wistful President Bush salutes veterans, rededicates WW II aircraft carrier Intrepid in NY

NEW YORK (AP) — President Bush wistfully saluted the nation's veterans Tuesday as he prepares to hand two ongoing wars over to his successor, saying he'll "miss being the commander in chief of such a fabulous group."

Bush marked his last Veterans Day as president at a New York pier, speaking to a crowd of thousands bundled against the windy November chill for the rededication ceremony of the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

The president praised veterans in the crowd, including those who served aboard the Intrepid in its long history of military action.

"Today we send a clear message to all who have worn the uniform: Thank you for your courage, thank you for your sacrifice, and thank you for standing up when your nation needed you most," said Bush, who will soon turn over to President-elect Barack Obama the responsibility for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama has pledged to remove troops from Iraq and increase troops in Afghanistan.

With a little more than two months until he leaves office, the president teased lawmakers in attendance about the upcoming lame-duck legislative session, and joked that one thing he won't miss as president is New York City traffic jams.

___

Palin looks ahead to 2012 with series of national interviews, high-profile governors' meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has put the "brutal" 2008 campaign behind her and has the next presidential race in her sights, with a flurry of national television interviews and a high-profile appearance at the Republican Governors Association meeting this week.

Palin's stepping-out has been a marked departure for a vice presidential candidate who was held to tightly controlled appearances for much of the fall campaign. She's indirectly but unmistakably put her name in play as a potential presidential candidate, saying she'll "plow through that door" if it's God's will and conditions are right.

While Republican presidential nominee John McCain has kept a low profile since last Tuesday's election, Palin has spoken forcefully to deny any responsibility for her ticket's loss. She has blamed the policies of President Bush, the handicap of representing the incumbent party and the nation's financial crisis for the GOP defeat.

"I think the economic collapse had a heckuva lot more to do with the campaign's collapse than me personally," the governor said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

Palin said she resents rumors she said were spread about her and her family during the race. "I did not know that it would be as brutal a ride as it turned out to be," she said.

___

Obama doesn't want Senate Democrats to expel Joe Lieberman from their ranks, holds no grudge

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Obama has told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he's not interested in seeing the Democrats oust Connecticut's Joe Lieberman from their ranks over his endorsement of Republican John McCain.

Obama told Reid in a phone conversation last week that expelling Lieberman from the Democratic caucus would hurt the message of bipartisanship and unity that he wants for his new administration, a Senate Democratic aide said Tuesday. This aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were confidential.

The caucus is the meeting of all Senate Democrats and at the beginning of each Congress it chooses the body's leaders. Lieberman, a longtime Democrat mostly recently re-elected as an independent, has continued to join the Democratic caucus.

In the last Congress his presence was essential to the Democrats' control of the Senate because he gave them a 51-49 edge over Republicans. But Democrats expanded their majority last Tuesday and no longer need Lieberman to control the chamber, though his vote still could be crucial in votes to end filibusters.

Obama says he won't get involved in the fight on Capitol Hill over whether Democrats should take away Lieberman's chairmanship of a key committee to punish him for backing his close friend McCain for president.

"We aren't going to referee decisions about who should or should not be a committee chair," Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in a statement Tuesday. "President-elect Obama looks forward to working with anyone to move the country forward. We'd be happy to have Sen. Lieberman caucus with the Democrats. We don't hold any grudges."

___

Government, mortgage industry announce assistance effort for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac loans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government and the mortgage industry are launching the most sweeping effort yet to help troubled homeowners by speeding up the process for renegotiating hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which seized control of the two mortgage finance companies in September, announced the plan Tuesday along with other government and industry officials, including Hope Now, an alliance of mortgage companies organized by the Bush administration last year.

"Foreclosures hurt families, their neighbors, whole communities and the overall housing market," said James Lockhart, the housing finance agency's director. "We need to stop this downward spiral."

The plan could have tremendous importance because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee nearly 31 million U.S. mortgages, or nearly six of every 10 outstanding. Still, government officials did not have an estimate of how many people would qualify for the new program.

Officials hope the new approach, which goes into effect Dec. 15., will become a model for loan servicing companies, which collect mortgage companies and distribute them to investors. These companies have been roundly criticized for being slow to respond to a surge in defaults.

___

Fat 10-year-olds have arteries of 45-year-olds, other heart problems, ultrasound studies find

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Obese children as young as 10 had the arteries of 45-year-olds and other heart abnormalities that greatly raise their risk of heart disease, say doctors who used ultrasound tests to take a peek inside.

"As the old saying goes, you're as old as your arteries are," said Dr. Geetha Raghuveer of Children's Hospital in Kansas City, who led one of the studies. "This is a wake-up call."

The studies were reported Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference.

About a third of American children are overweight and one-fifth are obese. Many parents think that "baby fat" will melt away as kids get older. But research increasingly shows that fat kids become fat adults, with higher risks for many health problems.

"Obesity is not benign in children and adolescents," said Dr. Robert Eckel, a former heart association president and cardiologist at the University of Colorado-Denver. It is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended cholesterol-lowering drugs for some kids, he noted.

Raghuveer wanted to see if early signs of damage could be documented. She and colleagues used painless ultrasound tests to measure the thickness of the wall of a major neck artery in 70 children, ages 10 to 16. Almost all had abnormal cholesterol and many were obese.

___

Egypt's antiquities chief unveils discovery of new pyramid believed to belong to ancient queen

SAQQARA, Egypt (AP) — Archaeologists have discovered a new pyramid under the sands of Saqqara, an ancient burial site that has yielded a string of unearthed pyramids in recent years but remains largely unexplored.

The 4,300-year-old monument most likely belonged to the queen mother of the founder of Egypt's 6th Dynasty, and was built several hundred years after the famed Great Pyramids of Giza, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told reporters in announcing the find Tuesday.

The discovery is part of the sprawling necropolis and burial site of the rulers of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt's Old Kingdom, about 12 miles south of Giza.

All that remains of the pyramid is a 16-foot-tall structure that had been buried under 65 feet of sand.

"There was so much sand dumped here that no one had any idea there was something buried underneath," said Hawass.

Hawass' team had been excavating at the location for two years, but only determined two months ago that the structure, with sides about 72 feet long, was the base of a pyramid. The pyramid is the 118th discovered so far in Egypt, and the 12th to be found in Saqqara. Most are in ruins; only about a dozen pyramids remain intact across the country.

___

Aniston says Jolie's comments about her romance with Pitt on movie set 'really uncool'

NEW YORK (AP) — Jennifer Aniston says Angelina Jolie was out of line when she spilled details about her relationship with Brad Pitt while they were filming "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

In an interview in the December issue of Vogue, Aniston talks about the magazine's 2007 profile of Jolie, who talked about growing chummy with Pitt — then married to Aniston — while shooting the action film in 2004.

"There was stuff printed there that was definitely from a time when I was unaware that it was happening," Aniston says. "I felt those details were a little inappropriate to discuss. That stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool."

Jolie recently told The New York Times that she and Pitt fell in love on the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" set.

Pitt and Aniston, who were married in July 2000, announced their separation in January 2005. In the months that followed, Pitt was seen in public with Jolie. Pitt and Aniston divorced in October.

In May 2006, Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. The couple now have six children, including 4-month-old twins who were born in July.

___

Oversized purse, contents stop bullet from hitting Tenn. college student in robbery attempt

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Don't knock those trendy, oversized purses — they could save your life, as one college student found out.

Police say the contents in an oversized purse saved Elizabeth Pittenger, a 22-year-old Middle Tennessee State University student, by stopping a bullet during an attempted robbery.

Pittenger was walking to her car on campus Thursday evening when a man confronted her and demanded her purse, cell phone and laptop, university Police Chief Buddy Peaster said. She fought the man off, but he fired a gunshot before fleeing.

The bullet was found inside the purse, along with a calculator, umbrella and small case that had been punctured. Pittenger was not injured.

Police nearby heard the gunshot and arrested Orlando Edmiston, 20. Officers found a .38 caliber handgun beneath a parked van.

___

Tim Lincecum wins NL Cy Young Award, becomes second Giants pitcher to earn honor

NEW YORK (AP) — Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young Award by a comfortable margin Tuesday, taking home pitching's highest honor in his second major league season.

The slender kid with the whirling windup joined Mike McCormick (1967) as the only San Francisco Giants pitchers to win a Cy Young.

Lincecum received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks got four first-place votes and finished second with 73 points."I was definitely surprised. I thought it was going to be a lot closer," Lincecum said on a conference call.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, tiny by today's standards for a big league pitcher, Lincecum defied detractors — and the laws of physics — by firing 97 mph fastballs past one hulking slugger after another.

The 24-year-old right-hander was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place team that finished 72-90.