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Pakistani soldiers launch much-awaited offensive in al-Qaida, Taliban stronghold
ISLAMABAD (AP) - More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a major ground offensive in the main al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border early Saturday, officials told The Associated Press - the nuclear-armed U.S. ally's toughest test yet against militants aiming to topple the state.
The offensive in South Waziristan follows months of airstrikes intended to soften up militant defenses that have also forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee. The full-scale operation also comes after two weeks of militant attacks that have killed more than 175 people across Pakistan and ramped up the pressure on the army to take on the insurgents.
It is the army's fourth attempt since 2001 to dislodge Taliban fighters from lawless tribal region of South Waziristan, and an intelligence official said the latest effort could take up to two months. The three previous attempts ended in negotiated truces that left the Taliban in control.
The offensive is expected to focus on ridding the region of the Pakistani Taliban, a network opposed to the U.S.-backed Pakistani government. The group's influential leader, Baitullah Mehsud, died in a U.S. missile strike in August. But South Waziristan also is home to foreign and local jihadis suspected of planning attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan and targets throughout the West.
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White House changing policy on Sudan; new incentives to be unveiled Monday by Clinton
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a new effort to engage the government of Sudan, U.S. officials say the White House will shift its policy toward Khartoum, but they warn that the violence and humanitarian abuses in Darfur must stop.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, and the administration's special Sudan envoy, Scott Gration, are to unveil the policy Monday at a news conference at the State Department, the officials said.
The officials spoke late Friday on condition of anonymity because Congress has not yet been briefed on the matter.
The announcement is planned to show unity within the Obama administration. Rice and Gration have notoriously clashed over engaging with the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged by the International CriminalCourt with crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding deadly attacks throughout Darfur.
Gration has argued in public for a less strict line toward Bashir, who he has told officials is the key to resolving the situation in Darfur as well as in southern Sudan, which in 2005 signed a provisional peace deal with the government in Khartoum, ending Africa's longest-runnning civil war.
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Colorado family of boy feared lost in balloon falls under scrutiny amid hoax questions
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - A couple who frantically told a 911 dispatcher their 6-year-old son had floated off in an inflatable balloon remain in the spotlight, but now it's for a series of bizarre TV interviews about the escapade, a previous 911 call and efforts to land a reality TV show gig.
Sheriff's investigators hoped to talk to Richard and Mayumi Heene again Saturday to resolve lingering questions over whether the drama - with military helicopters scrambling to catch up to the helium balloon and rescue the boy supposedly inside - could have been a hoax.
It turns out, little Falcon Heene was hiding in the rafters of the family garage, apparently without his parents or two brothers knowing.
Richard Heene dismisses allegations of a hoax as "extremely pathetic."
Yet doubts surfaced after a CNN interview in which Falcon Heene told his parents "you said we did this for a show" after his father asked why he did not come down from the rafters during the search Thursday.
The family made the rounds on morning talk shows Friday, and Falcon threw up during two separate interviews when asked why he hid.
Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden acknowledged that Falcon's comments on CNN had clearly "raised everybody's level of skepticism." But, he said, investigators had no reason to believe the whole thing was a hoax.
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For now, flu vaccine scarcer than expected; kids at higher risk as disease strikes US early
WASHINGTON (AP) - As the swine flu outbreak strikes the U.S. early and hard, health officials note a worrisome number of child deaths and warn that supplies of vaccine will remain scarce for at least the next couple of weeks.
Delays in producing the vaccine mean 28 million to 30 million doses, at most, will be divided around the country by the end of the month, not the 40 million-plus states had been expecting. The new count from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention means anxiously awaited flu-shot clinics in some parts of the U.S. may have to be postponed.
It also delays efforts to blunt increasing infections. Overall, what CDC calls the 2009 H1N1 flu is causing widespread disease in 41 states, and about 6 percent of all doctor visits are for flu-like illness - levels not normally seen until much later in the fall.
Federal health officials said Friday 11 more children have died in the past week because of the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about half of the child deaths since September have been among teenagers.
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$1.42 trillion federal deficit, with more to come, sows seeds of another economic crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) - What is $1.42 trillion? It's more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada's, and more than $4,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
It's the federal budget deficit for 2009, more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year.
And, some economists warn, unless the government makes hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes, it could be the seeds of another economiccrisis.
Treasury figures released Friday showed that the government spent $46.6 billion more in September than it took in, a month that normally records a surplus. That boosted the shortfall for the full fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to $1.42type:bold,italic; trillion. The previous year's deficit was $459 billion.
As a percentage of U.S. economic output, it's the biggest deficit since World War II.
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After salmonella scare, peanut butter sales hit the roof as consumers seek cost friendly meals
WASHINGTON (AP) - Go figure: Food makers processed more peanuts over the past year than nearly any other time on record despite a national salmonella outbreak blamed for killing nine people and scaring consumers away from peanut products for months.
Peanut farmers who once feared $1 billion in losses are chalking up their good fortune to a bad economy that has more people reaching for peanut butter as a cheap lunch.
Agriculture Department numbers back up the theory. Peanuts processed for snacks - items such as sandwich crackers that were heavily recalled during the outbreak - were slightly down for the accounting year ending July 31. But peanuts used for peanut butter set an all-time record at 1.1 billion pounds, topping the previous year's total by 100 million pounds.
That was enough to make the year's overall peanut production the third-highest in history, missing the top mark set in 2005 by just a fraction of 1 percent, with nearly 2 billion pounds being processed.
"This is very unusual," said Sanford Miller, senior fellow at the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the University of Maryland. He said the rebound from a national food scare typically takes far longer, sometimes years.
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Los Angeles-based street artist admits using other AP photo as basis for Obama 'Hope' poster
NEW YORK (AP) - The artist who designed the famous Barack Obama "HOPE" poster has admitted he didn't use the Associated Press photo he originally said his work was based on but instead used a picture the news organization has claimed was his source.
Shepard Fairey, a Los Angeles-based street artist with a long, often proud history of breaking rules, said in a statement Friday that he was wrong about which photo he used and that he tried to hide his error. It was not immediately clear whether he would drop his lawsuit against the AP over the use of the photo.
"In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images," said Fairey, who has been involved in countersuits with the AP, which has alleged copyright infringement. "I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone."
He said he was taking steps to correct the information and regretted that he didn't come forward sooner.
Fairey, 39, had claimed he based his "HOPE" drawing on a photo of then-Sen. Obama seated next to actor George Clooney. The photo was taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia, on assignment for the AP, at the National Press Club in Washington.
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Newark, NJ, Mayor Cory Booker, Conan O'Brien turn facetious feud into comedy on 'Tonight Show'
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Conan O'Brien and Newark Mayor Cory Booker turned their frivolous feud about the gritty city into comedy on NBC's "Tonight Show" on Friday.
The chatty 40-somethings worked off one another like a comic duo. But the jokes eventually gave way to a plug for Booker's efforts to fashion a national blueprint for urban transformation in Newark, long an icon for urban decay, and a $100,000 donation to his Newark Now charity from O'Brien and NBC.
Booker's appearance on O'Brien's show culminated a facetious feud that began Sept. 23 with O'Brien joking that Booker's new health care program consisted of a bus ticket out of Newark, which is just west of New York City and is often scarred by violence. The mayor responded with a humorous video on YouTube in which he banned O'Brien from Newark Liberty International Airport.
"Many jokes are made about Newark by comedians," O'Brien said on Friday's show. "You honed in on me like a cruise missile. Why me, Mayor Booker?"
"When there's a herd going after you, you have to sort of look at the weakest gazelle," Booker joked.
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CC Sabathia pitches 8 strong innings, Yankees stop Angels cold in ALCS opener with 4-1 win
NEW YORK (AP) - CC Sabathia ignored the cold, pounding the strike zone. Inside. Outside. Fastballs. Changeups. Whatever he threw Friday, the Los Angeles Angels hardly touched him.
On a blustery night more suited to bobsleds than baseballs, Sabathia pitched eight superb innings of four-hit ball to win his second straight postseason start, and the New York Yankees took advantage of a rare sloppy game by the Angels to win the AL championship series opener 4-1.
"CC was not cold at all," the Angels' Torii Hunter said. "Man, I faced him a lot in Cleveland, when I was in Minnesota, it was a division rivalry. The guy always pitched good in the cold. He's got a lot of meat, now. He's a big boy."
The Angels looked like chilled Californians withering in the unseasonable wintry weather, making three errors that led to two unearned runs and allowing Hideki Matsui's infield popup to drop untouched for an RBI single. But the way Sabathia pitched, the Yankees didn't need much offense.
"That's why we got CC," Johnny Damon said. "To be a workhorse during the season, of course, but to shut down teams in the postseason."
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J.A. Happ walks in go-ahead run in 8th and Dodgers rally past Phillies 2-1 to tie NLCS 1-1
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Keeping the Dodgers down through seven innings is no guarantee of a victory. Philadelphia found that out the hard way. Pedro Martinez allowed just two hits over seven shutout innings for the Phillies, but once he left, the Dodgers staged their latest postseason rally in the weirdest, wackiest way.
A grounder off a fielder's glove. A bunt that slipped by two players. Another throwing error by Chase Utley, along with a pinch-hit single and two walks in the eighth inning added up to a 2-1 victory over the Phillies on Friday, tying the NL championship series at one game apiece.
"It does so much for your confidence," Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake said. "We're starting over."
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Philadelphia.
"We only need three more games to do something special," said Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez, who went 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
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