Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/19196
10A – Daily News – Saturday, November 6, 2010 Pelosi seeks to remain the House leader for Dems WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite widespread complaints about massive losses that will put Democrats in the minori- ty, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she will try to stay on as leader of her party in the House. The decision exposed a rift between Pelosi’s lib- eral allies and the dwin- dling number of moderate Democrats, who feel besieged and eager for substantive and symbolic changes in direction after Tuesday’s Republican rout. It also is likely to trigger leadership battles farther down the ladder. Pelosi, the nation’s first female speaker, said many colleagues urged her to seek the post of minority leader in the new Congress that convenes in January. That will be the Democrats’ top post, because Republicans, who grabbed more than 60 Democratic-held seats Tuesday, will elect the next speaker. It will be John Boehner of Ohio, who will swap titles with Pelosi if she succeeds in her bid. ‘‘We have no intention of allowing our great achievements to be rolled back,’’ Pelosi, 70, said in a letter to her colleagues. Allies said Pelosi would not make the bid unless she felt certain she had the votes. House members elect their respective party leaders at the start of each new Con- gress. Her caucus is more heavily liberal now that many moderate Democ- rats lost on Tuesday. Hurricane Tomas floods western Haiti LEOGANE, Haiti (AP) — Hurricane Tomas flooded the earthquake- shattered remains of a Haitian town on Friday, forcing families who had already lost their homes in one disaster to flee another. In the country’s capital, quake refugees resisted calls to abandon flimsy tarp and tent camps. Driving winds and storm surge battered Leogane, a seaside town west of Port-au-Prince that was near the epicen- ter of the Jan. 12 earth- quake and was 90 percent destroyed. Dozens of families in one earth- quake-refuge camp car- ried their belongings through thigh-high water to a taxi post on high ground, waiting out the rest of the storm under blankets and a sign that read ‘‘Welcome to Leogane.’’ ‘‘We got flooded out and we’re just waiting for the storm to pass. There’s nothing we can do,’’ said Johnny Joseph, a 20-year- old resident. The growing hurricane with 75 mph (120 kph) winds battered the west- ern tip of Haiti’s southern peninsula and the cities of Jeremie and Les Cayes. At least three people died trying to cross swollen rivers, Haiti civil protection officials said. The hurricane had earlier killed at least 14 people in the eastern Caribbean. Indonesian volcano burns whole villages MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia (AP) — A surge of searing gas raced down the sides of Mount Merapi on Friday, smoth- ering houses, cattle and villagers in its path. The death toll after the vol- cano’s largest eruption in a century soared to 122. The worst hit village of Bronggang lay nine miles (15 kilometers) from the fiery crater, just on the perimeter of the govern- ment-delineated ‘‘danger zone.’’ Crumpled roofs, charred carcasses of cattle and broken chairs — all layered in white ash and soot — dotted the smol- dering landscape. The zone has since been expanded to a ring 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the peak, bringing it to the edge of the ancient royal capital of Yogyakar- WORLD BRIEFING Sri Sucirathasri said ta, which has been put on its highest alert. her family had stayed in their Bronggang home Thursday night because they hadn’t been told to leave. They awoke in the dark as the mountain let out thunderous claps and tried desperately to outrun the flows, which reached speeds of 60 mph (100 kph), on a motorbike. Her mother, father and 12- year-old sister, Prisca, left first, but with gray ash blocking out any light, they mistakenly drove into — rather than away from — the volcano’s dangerous discharge. Al-Qaida group claims responsibility for bombs WASHINGTON (AP) — A Yemen-based al- Qaida group is claiming responsibility for the international mail bomb plot uncovered late last week as well as the crash of a United Parcel Ser- vice cargo plane in Sep- tember. A week after authori- ties intercepted packages in Dubai and England that were bound for the U.S., Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula issued a message Friday saying it will continue to strike American and Western interests. They specifical- ly said they would target civilian and cargo air- craft. U.S. officials have said all week that there were strong indications the plot originated with AQAP, a terror group that has been gathering strength and increasingly triggering attacks on Western targets. Authorities have said the September UPS crash was caused by an onboard fire, but investi- gators are taking another look at the incident. U.S. intelligence experts will be examining the message from AQAP to try to verify its authen- ticity, said a U.S. intelli- gence official, adding that they are not surprised to see this claim now. The Red Bluff Daily News is pleased to offer Geographic Targeting on America’s Leading Online Network… Taliban threaten to kill followers KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Scribbled notes from Taliban leader Mul- lah Mohammad Omar have surfaced in mosques all over Afghanistan’s ethnic Pashtun heartland, threatening death to any- one who takes up a gov- ernment offer to negotiate for peace, according to a longtime Taliban member. Trying to quash rumors of a break in their ranks, the Taliban also have vehemently denied reports — including one by The Associated Press — that representatives of the militant group were involved in negotiations with the Afghan govern- ment. The leadership could be worried that comman- ders might strike separate deals that would threaten to undermine the insur- gency and cripple the morale of their rank-and- file fighters. President Hamid Karzai has made reconcil- iation a top priority and recently formed a 70- member High Peace Council to find a political solution to the insurgency. At the same time, the U.S.-led coalition has ramped up its military campaign in an effort to pound Taliban comman- ders to the negotiating table. There are no signs that either strategy is having much effect on the senior Taliban leadership. Cuban plane Do you… •Offer services in a specific geographic area • Sell products online and ship only within a specific geographic area • Have an offline storefront where customers purchase products •Want to drive targeted visitors to different local sites of your national company • Need to test a specific location for market potential • Are legally restricted to advertising within a specific geographic region ...Then industry-leading Geographic Targeting solution is the right fit for you. Advertising packages starting as low as $135 per month. More than a third of shoppers have already begun their Christmas shopping. Get your Christmas advertising message out early. Contact your Advertising Sale Representative Today! (530) 527-2151 D NEWSAILY 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY Don’t be caught behind the curve. crash kills 68 GUASIMAL, Cuba (AP) — Rescue workers on Friday pulled bodies from the charred wreck- age of a state airliner that went down in rugged cen- tral Cuba, as desperate relatives gathered at the capital’s airport and called foreign embassies seeking information on their loved ones. All 68 people aboard AeroCaribbean Flight 883 were killed when the tur- boprop plane went down Thursday afternoon in a remote area near the vil- lage of Guasimal in Sanc- ti Spiritus province. Twenty-eight foreign- ers were among the dead, including nine Argen- tines, seven Mexicans, and citizens of Germany, facts & FICTIONS Book Store STORE CLOSING SALE After 28 Years In Business Look at what’s available for the Holidays EVERYTHING M-F 11-4, SAT. 10-2 409 Walnut St. 527-1449 20% OFF CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES ARRIVING DAILY! TEA AND BOUTIQUE Fri., Dec. 3rd 10AM to 3PM 25076 Sycamore Avenue, behind La Corona, Los Molinos 9AM to 8PM Sat., Dec. 4th , 2010 , 2010 Holland, Spain, Italy and other European countries. One Japanese national was also on board. It was Cuba’s worst air disaster in more than 20 years. The plane, carrying 61 passengers and an all- Cuban crew of seven, was en route to the capital from the main eastern city of Santiago de Cuba when it reported an emergency at 5:42 p.m. and later crashed in flames. Cuban state media showed footage of rescue workers and military per- sonnel poring over the crash site in the evening hours while firefighters sprayed the smoldering wreckage. Bodies of the victims were being brought to the medical examiner’s office in Havana for identification, and a commission was formed to determine the cause of the crash. Angle to stay in politics after loss LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sharron Angle’s tea party revolution came up short in her bid to oust Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but her political career appears far from over. The Nevada Repub- lican who became a national symbol of grass- roots conservatism during the midterm elections did- n’t act like a politician ready to retire after her loss. Angle urged her fol- lowers to keep up the fight and alluded to a return to politics. ‘‘We the people have been awakened over the last 20 months,’’ she told hundreds of supporters. ‘‘We did not awaken to go back to sleep.’’ Angle will have plenty of opportunities for a political encore. Nevada will hold another U.S. Senate race in 2012 when a wounded John Ensign will be up for re-election. The Republi- can is under federal inves- tigation following an extramarital affair with the wife of his employee and longtime friend. Congress could be another option. Or Angle could seek a return to the state Legislature. White officer given 2 years for killing unarmed black man LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge sentenced a white former transit offi- cer to two years in prison Friday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on a California train platform, angering friends and family mem- bers of the victim who wanted a much harsher punishment. The case against defendant Johannes Mehserle has provoked racial unrest at every turn, and police in Oakland were on alert for more problems following a sen- tence that many thought was too light. Some of the dozens of people who gathered out- side Oakland City Hall for a tribute to victim Oscar Grant broke into tears when they learned of the judge’s decision. Out- side the Los Angeles courthouse, a small crowd that had earlier shouted ‘‘No justice, no peace’’ reacted relatively calmly to the sentence. Grant’s uncle, Bobby Cephus Johnson, said out- side the courthouse that the family was reacting calmly but could not com- ment for others. ‘‘I have no power over what people feel their matter of expression should be,’’ he said. Polish town competes for biggest Jesus statue SWIEBODZIN, Poland (AP) — Step aside, Rio de Janeiro. This town is build- ing a Jesus bigger than yours. A Polish priest is on the verge of realizing his dream of erecting what he says will be the world’s largest statue of Jesus Christ in a small town in western Poland. Attempts were made Fri- day to complete the statue — which will rise a couple yards higher than the iconic Christ the Redeemer monu- ment in Rio de Janeiro. But heavy winds prevented cranes from lifting the torso, arms and head onto the lower half of the robed white figure. Workers plan to try again just after sunrise Saturday. Polish media say the project cost 4 million zlotys ($1.45 million). Donations came from across the spectrum — from business people to poor people wanting to make a contribution to the church. Work on the statue began in 2008. Many Poles are embar- rassed by the project and accuse the priest, Rev. Syl- wester Zawadzki, of mega- lomania. But town residents are thrilled by the new busi- ness they hope it will bring once believers in this deeply Roman Catholic country add it to their pilgrimage routes. They also hope that many Germans — who tend to be much more secu- lar than Poles — will visit simply out of curiosity since the border with Germany is only 45 miles (70 kilome- ters) away. Olbermann suspended indefinitely by MSNBC NEW YORK (AP) — MSNBC has suspended prime-time host Keith Olbermann indefinitely without pay for contribut- ing to the campaigns of three Democratic candi- dates this election season. Olbermann acknowl- edged to NBC that he donated $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Ken- tucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grivalva and Gabrielle Giffords. NBC News prohibits its employees from work- ing on, or donating to, political campaigns unless a special exception is granted by the news division president — effectively a ban. Olber- mann’s bosses did not find out about the dona- tions until after they were made. The website Politi- co first reported the dona- tions. ‘‘I became aware of Keith’s political contribu- tions late last night,’’ Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s chief executive, said Friday. ‘‘Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.’’ Olbermann was not immediately available for comment. 35th Annual www.redbluffdailynews.com