WASHINGTON (AP) - A crucial first Senate vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in a rare Saturday night session looms as a test of Democratic unity and the president's prestige. Democratic leaders are optimistic of success, but they need every Democrat and both independents to vote "yes," and two moderates remained uncommitted ahead of the roll call, which is expected around 8 p.m. The vote will determine whether debate can go forward on Majority Leader Harry Reid's 2,074-page bill to dramatically remake the U.S. health care system over the next decade.
WASHINGTON - The government intercepted at least 18 e-mails between the alleged Fort Hood gunman and a radical Muslim cleric, and a key senator says there could be more communications that might have tipped off law enforcement or military officials. Federal investigators say they intercepted the messages between the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, and Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric. They were passed along to two Joint Terrorism Task Force cells led by the FBI, but a senior defense official said no one at the Defense Department knew about the messages until after the shootings. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence procedures.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department intends to drop manslaughter and weapons charges against one of the Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a deadly 2007 Baghdad shooting, prosecutors said in court documents Friday. The shooting in busy Nisoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad. It touched off a string of investigations that ultimately led the State Department to cancel the company's lucrative contract to guard diplomats in Iraq.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans are seizing on this week's recommendations for fewer Pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care - and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul. "This is how rationing starts," declared Jon Kyl of Arizona, the party's second-in-command in the Senate, during a news conference. "This is what we're going to expect in the future."
MANIK FARM, Sri Lanka (AP) - Sri Lanka will release next month the remaining 136,000 Tamil refugees still in the squalid and overrun government camps where they've been detained since the country's civil war ended six months ago, a top official said Saturday. Some 300,000 war refugees were forced into thetype:bold,italic; camps after fleeing the final months of the government's decades-long war with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in May.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Wide-eyed children around the world will be hearing from Santa's "elves" at the North Pole after all. During Christmas seasons for decades, these dedicated elves responded to thousands of letters addressed to "Santa Claus, North Pole."
Italian police arrest 2 linked to Mumbai attacks ROME (AP) - Italian police on Saturday arrested a Pakistani father and son accused of helping fund and providing logistical support for last year's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, authorities said. The two were arrested in an early morning raid in Brescia, where they managed a money transfer agency, police in the northern Italian city said. The day before the attacks began on Nov. 26 they sent money using a stolen identity to a U.S. company to activate an Internet phone account used by the attackers and their accomplices, said Stefano Fonzi, the head of anti-terror police in Brescia.
NEW YORK (AP) - A collection of Michael Jackson memorabilia, including the now iconic rhinestone-studded glove he wore when he performed his first moonwalk dance in 1983, is being sold at auction. The glove and other Jackson items are part of a music memorabilia auction being held by Julien's Auctions at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York's Times Square on Saturday.
GENEVA (AP) - Scientists switched on the world's largest atom smasher for the first time since the $10 billion machine suffered a spectacular failure more than a year ago, circulating beams of protons in a significant leap forward for the Large Hadron Collider. The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments - probably starting in January - regarding the makeup of matter and the universe.
NEW YORK (AP) - Jim Boeheim has always made a point of telling the media not to get too caught up in runs because basketball, especially on the college level, is a game of runs. He could only smile as he was asked about Syracuse's 22-1 run to open the second half of an 87-71 victory over No. 6 North Carolina on Friday night in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic.
