AP News in Brief

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AP News in Brief

Roadside bombs kill 8 US soldiers, October becomes deadliest month for US forces in Afghan war

KABUL (AP) — Roadside bombs — the biggest killer of U.S. soldiers — claimed eight more American lives Tuesday, driving the U.S. death toll to a record level for the third time in four months as President Barack Obama nears a decision on a new strategy for the troubled war.

The homemade bombs, also called improvised explosive devices or IEDs, are responsible for between 70 percent and 80 percent of the casualties among U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and have become a weapon of “strategic influence,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz in Washington.

The attacks Tuesday followed one of the deadliest days for the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan — grim milestones likely to fuel the debate in the United States over whether the conflict is worth the sacrifice.

Obama has nearly finished gathering information on whether to send tens of thousands more American forces to quell the deepening insurgency, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. A meeting Friday with the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be among the last events in the decision-making process, Gibbs said.

Both attacks Tuesday took place in the southern province of Kandahar, said Capt. Adam Weece, a spokesman for American forces in the south. The region bordering the Pakistan frontier has long been an insurgent stronghold and was the birthplace of the Taliban in the 1990s.

Challenging Reid, Democratic moderates show wariness of government-run insurance option

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic moderates who control the balance of power on health care legislation balked Tuesday at a government-run insurance option for millions of Americans, underscoring the enormity of the challenge confronting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid one day after he unveiled the plan as a consensus product.

Republican opposition stiffened, and party leaders announced they would attempt to strangle the bill before formal debate begins.

Despite the obvious obstacles, senior Democrats cast Reid’s draft legislation as a turning point in the yearlong campaign to enact President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said there is now a “sense of inevitability, the sense that, yes, we’re going to pass health care reform, and it’s going to lower costs, provide better health insurance coverage and cover — and reform the health insurance market.”

The proposed government insurance option long ago emerged as the biggest flashpoint in both the House and Senate as Democrats struggle to pass legislation that extends coverage to millions who lack it, ban insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions and slow the growth of health care spending nationally.

But before that issue can be joined on the Senate floor, Reid’s first challenge is to gain 60 votes — the number needed to overcome a filibuster by Republicans — just to bring the bill up, a parliamentary maneuver so routine that a vote is rarely required.

AP IMPACT: Troops outnumber Taliban by 12-1 in Afghanistan; focus now on wisdom of adding more

BRUSSELS (AP) — There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn’t led to anything close to victory.

Now, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for tens of thousands more troops to stem the escalating insurgency, raising the question of how many more troops it would take to succeed.

The commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the extra forces are needed to implement a new strategy that focuses on protecting civilians and depriving the militants of popular support in a country where tribal militias may be Taliban today and farmers tomorrow.

The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has nearly finished gathering information and advice on how to proceed in Afghanistan, where bombings killed eight more American troops. With October now the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the war, many experts question the need for more troops.

“The U.S. and its allies already have ample numbers and firepower to annihilate the Taliban, if only the Taliban would cooperate by standing still and allowing us to bomb them to smithereens,” said Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations and history at Boston University, and one-time platoon leader in Vietnam.

FAA revokes licenses of Northwest Airlines pilots who overflew Minneapolis by 150 miles

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday revoked the licenses of the two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew past their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles.

The pilots — Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Wash., the captain, and Richard Cole of Salem, Ore., the first officer — told safety investigators they were working on their personal laptop computers and lost track of time and place.

The pilots, who were out of communications with air traffic controllers for over an hour, violated numerous federal safety regulations in the incident last Wednesday night, the FAA said in a statement. The violations included failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly, the agency said.

The pilots said they were brought back to awareness when a flight attendant contacted them on the aircraft’s intercom. By then, they were over Wisconsin at 37,000 feet. They turned the Airbus A320 with its 144 passengers around and landed safely in Minneapolis.

The revocations are effective immediately, FAA said. The pilots have 10 days to appeal the emergency revocations to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Obama and team cite US leadership in push for climate bill as Senators tussle over cost

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration warned on Tuesday that the U.S. could slip further behind China and other countries in clean energy development if Congress fails to pass climate legislation, as early signs of a rift emerged among Democrats over the bill’s costs.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate panel that the U.S. has stumbled in the clean energy race and to catch up Congress must enact comprehensive energy legislation that puts the first-ever limits on the gases blamed for global warming.

“The United States … has fallen behind,” said Chu. “But I remain confident that we can make up the ground.”

While the legislation is likely to clear the environment panel, more than a dozen Democrats have voice serious concerns about the potential economic fallout from shifting away from fossil fuels to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

On Tuesday, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, told the hearing Tuesday that he had “serious reservations” with the aggressive effort to cut emissions over the next decade. The bill calls for greenhouse gases to be cut by 20 percent by 2020, a target that was scaled back to 17 percent in the House after opposition from coal-state Democrats.

Financial disclosure says Palin received $1.25M for book by the time she left office

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin reported that she has received at least $1.25 million for her hugely anticipated upcoming memoir “Going Rogue.”

A disclosure statement released Tuesday discusses Palin’s finances from Jan. 1 to July 27, when she resigned as Alaska governor. Palin says she received the money from publisher HarperCollins for the book.

The document only provides a partial picture of the book deal because it doesn’t cover the three months she has been out of office. Palin doesn’t elaborate on her book compensation, describing the $1.25 million figure only as a “retainer,” a word rarely used in publishing.

Her personal spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, declined to provide more details of the book deal.

“The Governor has complied with Alaska disclosure law by her filing,” she said in an e-mail Tuesday. “Now, as a private citizen, her business dealings, including her publishing agreement, are confidential.”

22 million doses of swine flu vaccine available; CDC chief says shortage spurs demand

ATLANTA (AP) — More than 22 million doses of swine flu vaccine are available now, and most Americans should soon find it easier to get their dose, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.

“We’re beginning to get to significant increases in the availability,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a briefing.

Last week there were just 14 million doses on hand, despite initial predictions that as many as 120 million would be ready by mid-October. The government later slashed that estimate to 45 million. The slow supply trickle has frustrated Americans, who have stood in line for hours in some parts of the country.

The shortage has probably increased demand, Frieden said.

“It’s quite likely that that too little vaccine is one of the things that’s making people more interested in getting vaccinated, frankly. When we have shortages, we see an increase in demand,” he said.

Americans shrug off signs of recovery as nagging job worries sap consumer confidence

CHICAGO (AP) — The housing market and stocks may be looking up, but Americans just can’t shake their job worries.

In a sign that talk of an economic recovery has yet to soothe a recession-battered nation, consumer confidence fell in October and came in well below what analysts were expecting.

For stores, the reading is reason to worry that holiday sales might be even worse than they feared.

In a separate reading, the Conference Board reported shoppers’ sentiments about the state of the economy are the gloomiest in nearly three decades. Americans reported they plan to cut back on spending, in large part because they don’t trust the job market.

The unemployment rate is just under 10 percent, and economists say it could hit 10.5 percent next year.

Michael Jackson’s last work, the documentary ‘This Is It,’ to open worldwide

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson fans around the world readied for the singer’s last bow Tuesday in a film that captures rehearsals for his aborted concert stand last summer.

From early evening in Los Angeles to late night in New York City, from the pre-dawn hours in Europe to business hours in Asia and elsewhere, “Michael Jackson: This Is It” arrives simultaneously in the biggest cinematic blowout ever for a music film.

Opening in 99 countries Tuesday and Wednesday, the film expands to 110 territories by this weekend, with distributor Sony putting 15,000 prints of “This Is It” into circulation.

The simultaneous showings around the globe will be anchored by a star-studded premiere at the Nokia Theatre, a concert venue across the street from Staples Center, where many of Jackson’s rehearsals — and his high-profile public memorial — were held.

Longtime Jackson collaborator Kenny Ortega, who directed and produced “This Is It,” is expected to attend, as are members of Jackson’s band and the executors of his will. Entertainers including Snoop Dogg, Smokey Robinson and Zac Efron are also on the 5,500-member guest list.

AP-KN Poll: Fans say Yankees will win the World Series over the Phillies, A-Rod will be MVP

NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball fans say it’s the Yankees year.

An Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll released Tuesday shows that fans think New York will beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series and that Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez will be the Series MVP.

Asked to pick the winner of the Series, 64 percent of fans chose New York, with 36 percent predicting the Phillies would win their second title in a row.

The majority of fans also said they would prefer either having a designated hitter in both the American League and National League parks or no DH at all as opposed to the current system, under which there is a DH in AL stadiums but not in NL parks.

How much would fans pay to see a World Series game? Fifty-eight percent say they wouldn’t go above $100.