Tuesday, 9 December 2008

fresh news Tue Dec 09 23:09:44 PST 2008

Ill. governor charged in Obama successor probe (AP)

In this June 20, 2005 file photo, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., speaks as Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., listens during a news conference in St. Louis. Federal authorities arrested Blagojevich Tuesday Dec. 9, 2008 on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder. (AP Photo/James A. Finley, File)AP - Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was roused from bed and arrested Tuesday after prosecutors said he was caught on wiretaps audaciously scheming to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat for cash or a plum job for himself in the new administration.


Obama works to distance himself from Ill. governor (AP)

President-elect Barack Obama is pictured after speaking about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich during his meeting with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore, both not pictured, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)AP - Though Barack Obama isn't accused of anything, the charges against his home-state governor — concerning Obama's own Senate seat no less — are an unwelcome distraction. And the ultimate fallout is unclear.


Deal seems near, but talks on auto bailout drag on (AP)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., talk about a possible bailout of American automakers during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)AP - Weary Democratic congressional leaders pushed to clear the final obstacles to a $15 billion bailout of U.S. automakers Tuesday night, but the rescue plan faced new snags as Republicans raised deep concerns.


Workers win a big round in Chicago factory sit-in (AP)

United Electrical Union Workers Local President Armando Robles, left, and U.E. Western Regional President Carl Rosen address the media about negotiations with Bank of America and Republic Windows and Doors on the fourth day of a sit-in at the companies factory Monday, Dec. 8, 2008 in Chicago. The band of 200 workers demanding severance and vacation pay have become a national symbol for the millions of laid off workers across the country after the company abruptly fired them last week when the Bank of America cut off the companies line of credit prompting them to occupy their former workplace. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)AP - The creditor of a Chicago plant where laid-off employees are conducting a sit-in to demand severance pay said Tuesday it would extend limited loans to the factory so it could resolve the dispute, but the workers declared their protest unfinished.


Clashes, looting rock Greek cities for 4th night (AP)

A demonstrator throws a stone at riot police in central Athens Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. Athens and other Greek cities were ravaged by three successive nights of rioting after police shot teenager Alexandros Grigoropoulos dead. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)AP - Masked youths and looters marauded through Greek cities for a fourth night Tuesday, in an explosion of rage triggered by the police shooting of a teenager that has unleashed the most violent riots in a quarter century.


Congressional aide says crashed jet lost power (AP)

A Marine Corps investigator covers her mouth and nose as she looks over the crash scene Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008 next to the engine of an  F/A-18D that crashed into a San Diego neighborhood. The F/A-18D Hornet crashed into the street Monday about two miles from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as the pilot was returning from a training flight.  (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)AP - Both engines of a military jet fighter failed before the aircraft crashed and burned in a residential area, killing four people on the ground as it destroyed two houses, a congressional aide said Tuesday.


Cancer to be world's top killer by 2010, WHO says (AP)

Vasiliki Kostoula, a Greek breast cancer patient, listens to her doctor after a radiological medical examination in an Athens hospital October 29, 2008. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)AP - Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010, part of a trend that should more than double global cancer cases and deaths by 2030, international health experts said in a report released Tuesday. Rising tobacco use in developing countries is believed to be a huge reason for the shift, particularly in China and India, where 40 percent of the world's smokers now live.


'Nanny' state? Drescher eyes Clinton's Senate seat (AP)

In this Aug. 21, 2008 file photo, Fran Drescher arrives at 'A Black and White Gala for Barack Obama...America's Next President,' in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)AP - The star of "The Nanny" wants to go from playing nasally New Yawkers to succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton in the U.S. Senate.


Vets fix feline's face after 'cat'-astrophe (AP)

Edgar, a 4-year-old long-haired female cat, is seen with stitches running the length of her face while resting with an Elizabethan collar around her neck following surgery at the Angell Animal Medical Center, in Boston, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. Veterinarians completed an unusual surgery to reattach the face of the cat that was slashed by a car's fan belt while she apparently tried to stay warm under the hood. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)AP - Me-ouch! Veterinarians in Boston on Tuesday performed an unusual surgery to reattach the face of a cat they believe was injured by a car's fan belt, probably because she tried to stay warm under the hood.


AP sources: K-Rod, Mets agree on $37M, 3-year deal (AP)

Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Francisco Rodriguez throws in the tenth inning against the Boston Red Sox during Game 3 of baseball's American League division series in Boston, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)AP - Record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez and the New York Mets reached a preliminary agreement Tuesday on a $37 million, three-year contract. The sides still have to work out a written agreement and the pitcher must pass a physical, two people familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contract had not yet been completed.


Illinois governor tried to sell Senate seat: prosecutors (Reuters)

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's Chief of Staff John Harris leaves federal court after his arraignment in Chicago December 9, 2008. (John Gress/Reuters)Reuters - The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, was arrested on Tuesday on "staggering" corruption charges that alleged he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by fellow Democrat, President-elect Barack Obama.


White House and Democrats push for auto bailout deal (Reuters)

General Motors Chairman and CEO Richard Wagoner (L-R), Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli, Ford Motor Company President and CEO Alan Mulally and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger testify about a proposed government bailout plan for the US auto industry at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 5, 2008. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)Reuters - White House and Democratic negotiators pushed to clinch a deal on Tuesday that would provide $15 billion in loans to U.S. automakers, force the wounded giants to answer to a "car czar" and make the government their biggest shareholder.


Sony to cut 16,000 jobs, slash costs (Reuters)

People look at Sony TV sets at an electronic shop in Tokyo December 9, 2008. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)Reuters - Japan's Sony Corp said it will cut 16,000 jobs, curb investment and pull out of businesses to save $1.1 billion a year as the financial crisis ravages demand for its electronics products.


Riots rock Greece (Reuters)

Policemen protect themselves from a Molotov cocktail during riots in Athens, December 8, 2008. (Oleg Popov/Reuters)Reuters - Riot police battled protesters outside Greece's parliament and in Athens suburbs on Tuesday while opposition socialists called for the conservative government to quit to end the worst civil unrest in decades.


Climate talks to fail without tough CO2 goals: U.N. (Reuters)

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer gives a speech during the opening session of the UN climate change conference in Poznan December 1, 2008. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)Reuters - The United States and other rich nations must pledge by the end of next year specific targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to win agreement on a U.N. climate pact, the U.N.'s top climate official said on Tuesday.


Cancer to pass heart disease as No. 1 killer (Reuters)

An empty operating theatre is seen at the University hospital in western German city of Bonn March 16, 2006. (Ina Fassbender/Reuters)Reuters - Cancer is on pace to supplant heart disease as the No. 1 cause of death worldwide in 2010, with a growing burden in poor countries thanks to more cigarette smoking and other factors, global health experts said on Tuesday.


NFL cuts jobs as economy woes touch down (Reuters)

The NFL logo appears on an entrance door to the football stadium at Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Arizona February 2, 2008. (Mike Blake/Reuters)Reuters - The National Football League said on Tuesday it will lay off almost 14 percent of the league's staff as part of a cost-cutting plan in response to the recession.


Iraq violence at 5-1/2 year low, Petraeus says (Reuters)

U.S. General David Petraeus, the commander overseeing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, arrives to attend a conference in Rome December 9, 2008. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)Reuters - Violence in Iraq has in the past few weeks fallen to its lowest level since summer 2003 and security gains, while still at risk of reversal, are less fragile than before, General David Petraeus said on Tuesday.


Violence mars funeral of Athens schoolboy (AFP)

Greek police and protesters continue to clash as the opposition party calls on the government to resign over nationwide riots sparked by the police killing of a 15-year-old boy. Duration: 01:03(AFPTV/ERT)AFP - Riot police clashed with protesters Tuesday near the funeral of the Athens schoolboy whose killing by police set off a wave of violence, which Greece's prime minister blamed on the "enemies of democracy."


Pakistan won't hand suspects to India (AFP)

Indian people light candles as they pay tribute to the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks outside the Raghunath Hindu Temple in Amritsar. Pakistan said Tuesday it would not hand over suspects in the Mumbai terror strikes to India and warned that while it wanted peace with its neighbour, it was ready for war if New Delhi decided to attack.(AFP/Narinder Nanu)AFP - Pakistan said Tuesday it would not hand over suspects in the Mumbai terror strikes to India and warned that while it wanted peace with its neighbour, it was ready for war if New Delhi decided to attack.


No comments: