AP News in Brief

By The Associated Press | Clanton Advertiser

Published Thursday, November 13, 2008

Congress examines whether more changes are needed in $700 billion bailout program

WASHINGTON (AP) — While the Bush administration shifts course on its $700 billion rescue plan, Congress is examining whether even bigger changes should be made in the program in light of the deteriorating economy and soaring mortgage foreclosures.

The debate may not be resolved until President-elect Barack Obama takes office on Jan. 20 and pursues policies for administering the rescue program that are likely to be more closely aligned with his Democratic allies in Congress.

In anticipation of the change of administrations, Democrats were holding hearings in both the House and Senate on Thursday examining various aspects of the most serious financial crisis to hit the country in 70 years.

The House Oversight Committee was examining the role that hedge funds may have played in recent market turbulence. Among those scheduled to testify was billionaire investor George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management.

Meanwhile, the Senate Banking Committee will hear from executives of a number of financial institutions including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo on the issue of how the government's $700 billion rescue effort is operating and particularly whether the government should be requiring more commitments on the use of the money to address rising mortgage foreclosure problems.

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Bush to set a tone for economic summit as expectations and public frustrations grow

WASHINGTON (AP) — Setting a tone for an economic summit on his turf, President George W. Bush plans to tell world leaders that reforming financial markets alone won't help if they abandon the free market and restrict trade.

The president plans to sell that message Thursday from the heart of Wall Street. At the venerable Federal Hall, home of the first Congress and within shouting distance of New York Stock Exchange, Bush was to frame expectations for the high-level gathering he's hosting in Washington this weekend.

Bush is also going to New York to address a United Nations conference on religious tolerance and to meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

But the broader focus is on the deteriorating economy, which has millions of people grappling to keep their jobs, their homes and their hopes. The most severe economic downturn in decades threatens to end Bush's tenure on the most sour of notes before President-elect Barack Obama takes over.

To rally a more coordinated world response, Bush is convening representatives of some of the world's biggest industrial democracies, emerging nations and international bodies in Washington. He will host the leaders at a White House dinner Friday and review causes and solutions for the financial mess Saturday.

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20 Afghan civilians, American soldier killed in suicide attack on US convoy

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber targeting a passing U.S. military convoy blew up his car near a crowded market in eastern Afghanistan Thursday, killing at least 21 people, including an American soldier, officials said.

The explosion also wounded 74 people near the livestock market where people were trading sheep cows, goats and other animals in the Bati Kot district outside Jalalabad, Afghan police and health officials said.

Charred and twisted remain of cars that were destroyed in the blast smoldered for hours after the attack on Afghanistan's main road to the nearby Pakistani. A U.S. military vehicle was among the wreckage.

Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews, a U.S. military spokesman, said at least 20 civilians and a U.S. soldier were killed. The soldier's death brings the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan to at least 148, the highest number of troop deaths per year since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

There were 111 U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan in the whole of 2007.

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Palin, already hinting at 2012 run, to tell GOP governors her views on the party's future

MIAMI (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is sending signals that she is open to running for president in 2012, but another potential candidate is sending a different message: Republicans can't get ahead of themselves.

Palin, this year's Republican vice presidential nominee, is going to talk to Republican governors Thursday in a panel discussion called "Looking Towards the Future: The GOP in Transition." She's already making it clear that she wants to be a big part of that transition.

She was asked Wednesday, after arriving at the Republican Governors Association conference, about speculation that she is the party's future.

"I don't think it's me personally, I think it's what I represent," Palin told reporters. "Everyday hardworking American families — a woman on the ticket perhaps represents that. It would be good for the ticket. It would be good for the party. I would be happy to get to do whatever is asked of me to help progress this nation."

Later, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told his peers that now isn't the time to think about the next presidential election.

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Almost ready to pass the baton: Dick Cheney set to meet with successor, Joe Biden

WASHINGTON (AP) — The high-profile White House meeting this week between outgoing and incoming presidents is being followed Thursday night by a much lower-key get-together hosted by Vice President Dick Cheney for his successor, Democrat Joe Biden.

Cheney, preparing to hand off his job as the nation's second-in-command and following President George W. Bush's orders for a smooth transition to the Obama administration, invited Biden to the vice president's residence on the sprawling Naval Observatory grounds in northwest Washington.

The meeting will be more of a social call between Cheney and Biden, though both are steeped with long histories in foreign policy and national security issues, giving them much to discuss beyond the role one is soon passing off to the other.

Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said Cheney and his wife, Lynne, have invited Biden and his wife, Jill, for a tour of their soon-to-be official residence and for dinner afterward.

Biden, a Delaware senator who has been chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has a grounding in both foreign and domestic affairs honed over more than three decades in politics. Cheney is known as a chief architect of the war in Iraq and a hard-liner when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. He also presides over the Senate for tie votes.

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Missile defense chief: US interests would be hurt if Obama drops missile defense in Europe

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force general who runs the Pentagon's missile defense projects said that American interests would be "severely hurt" if President-elect Obama decided to halt plans developed by the Bush administration to install missile interceptors in Eastern Europe.

Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told a group of reporters Wednesday that he is awaiting word from Obama's transition team on their interest in receiving briefings.

During the campaign, Obama was not explicit about his intentions with regard to missile defense. The program has tended to draw less support from Democrats over the years, particularly during the Reagan presidency when it was seen as a "Star Wars" effort to erect an impenetrable shield against nuclear missile attack from the Soviet Union. More recently the project has been scaled back, although it has again created an East-West divide by stirring Russian opposition to the proposed European link.

Obama has said it would be prudent to "explore the possibility of deploying missile defense systems in Europe," in light of what he called active efforts by Iran to develop ballistic missiles as well as nuclear weapons.

But Obama expressed some skepticism about the technical capability of U.S. missile defenses. He said that if elected his administration would work with NATO allies to develop anti-missile technologies.

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Study says dirty air in Southern Calif, San Joaquin Valley kills more people than car crashes

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Lowering air pollution in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley would save more lives annually than ending all motor vehicle fatalities in the two regions, according to a new study.

The study, which examined the costs of air pollution in two areas with the worst levels in the country, also said meeting federal ozone and fine particulate standards could save $28 billion annually in health care costs, school absences, missed work and lost income potential from premature deaths.

The price tag amounts to $1,600 annually per person in the San Joaquin Valley and $1,250 in the South Coast Air Basin.

Researchers at California State University-Fullerton sought to assess the potential economic benefits that could be achieved by reducing air pollution to levels within federal standards.

"For decades there has been a tug of war over what to do about air pollution," said Jane Hall, lead author of the study at Cal State Fullerton. "We are paying now for not having done enough."

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German doctors say marrow transplant may have cured patient's AIDS; method still questionable

BERLIN (AP) — An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.

While researchers — and the doctors themselves — caution that the case might be no more than a fluke, others say it may inspire a greater interest in gene therapy to fight the disease that claims 2 million lives each year. The virus has infected 33 million people worldwide.

Dr. Gero Huetter said Wedneday his 42-year-old patient, an American living in Berlin who was not identified, had been infected with the AIDS virus for more than a decade. But 20 months after undergoing a transplant of genetically selected bone marrow, he no longer shows signs of carrying the virus.

"We waited every day for a bad reading," Huetter said.

It has not come. Researchers at Berlin's Charite hospital and medical school say tests on his bone marrow, blood and other organ tissues have all been clean.

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Kenny Chesney wins his 4th CMA's Entertainer of the Year trophy in the past 5 years

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kenny Chesney won only one of the seven awards he was nominated for at the CMA Awards, but he sure made it count.

Chesney took home his fourth entertainer of the year trophy Wednesday, tying Garth Brooks for the most wins in the category, considered the night's top honor. He's now won the award the last three years in a row.

"Winning entertainer of year for the fourth time in five years is more than this kid ever dreamed of," Chesney said backstage.

While Chesney knows his reign will eventually end, he said, "I'm not going to lay down. I love the heart, commitment and sacrifice it takes to do this."

And to his competitors, he issued a challenge: "Come and get me."

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Paul Pierce scores 34 points including game winning shot to lead Celtics past Hawks 103-102

BOSTON (AP) — Paul Pierce hit a fallaway jumper with 0.5 seconds left, scoring 34 points in all on Wednesday night as the Boston Celtics overcame a 16-point, second-quarter deficit to beat Atlanta 103-102 and send the Hawks to their first loss of the season.

Kevin Garnett had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Rajon Rondo had 10 assists for the Celtics.

Joe Johnson scored 28 for Atlanta (6-1), finding an open Marvin Williams for the go-ahead 3-pointer with seven seconds left. But Pierce answered at the other end and the Celtics beat Atlanta in Boston for the eighth straight time, including all four in their first-round playoff series last spring when they took advantage of the home-court advantage to oust the Hawks in seven games.

Ray Allen scored 17, eight during an 18-2 run in the second quarter that turned a 44-28 deficit into a tie game at halftime. There were 12 lead changes in the third quarter as the game went back-and-forth, and the Celtics never led by as many as two baskets until Garnett hit a jumper from the top of the key, then grabbed a pair of rebounds before laying in an alley-oop that made it 92-88 with 3:33 to play.

Boston still led by four when Johnson hit a pair of free throws and then made a fallaway jumper from just outside the lane to tie it 99-all with 35 seconds left.

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