November 21, 2009
National & World News
Saudi: 4 die of swine flu on Mecca pilgrimage
Saudi health officials announced the first deaths from swine flu of this year's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, as four pilgrims succumbed to the disease soon after arriving in Saudi Arabia.
A bad month in Afghanistan rippled across the U.S.
A record number of deaths in October forced the nation to take new notice of Afghanistan as debate raged over whether President Barack Obama should send tens of thousands more troops there.
More Americans traveling by car for Thanksgiving
The number of Americans traveling away from home for Thanksgiving will be up only slightly this year from 2008, according to a report from the AAA auto club. And there will be a 6.7 percent drop in the number of air travelers.
Man gets life in prison for scaring woman to death
A man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty in what prosecutors said was a case of scaring a 79-year-old North Carolina grandmother to death.
Health care reform bill clears first Senate hurdle
Invoking the name of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare.
Atlantis astronauts take 2nd spacewalk of mission
A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and concentrated instead on his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station on Saturday.
Levin: May be more troubling emails from Hasan
There may be additional e-mails that could have tipped off law enforcement or military officials to the Fort Hood shooter before he went on his deadly rampage, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday.
China says 31 dead, 82 trapped in mine explosion
A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China on Saturday, killing 31 people and trapping 82 others nearly a third of a mile under ground, government authorities said.
Crucial health care test vote to come soon
The nearly $1 trillion, 10-year Senate bill would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, bar insurance company practices like denying coverage to people with medical conditions, and require nearly all individuals to purchase insurance.
Couple pleads guilty in Cuban spying case
A retired State Department worker and his wife accused of a decades-long plot to spy for Cuba pleaded guilty Friday in a deal that will leave him behind bars for the rest of his life but gives her a chance at freedom in six years.