Archive for September, 2009
LA Times, Washington Post breaking up news service
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post are breaking up their news service after 47 years, making it the latest casualty of the media upheaval driven by the array of alternative information and entertainment sources on the Internet. The divorce announced Wednesday takes effect Jan. 1
Study finds more gay characters on network TV
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The number of gay and bisexual characters on prime-time network TV is up slightly this season to 18 out of a total of 600 roles, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The increase over 2008 fell well short of the more than twofold percentage jump in the ’08 season compared to 2007, according to the group. And on mainstream cable channels the number of such characters continued to drop, slipping from a total of 32 in 2008 to 25 this year.
Tigers beat Twins; move closer to AL Central title
DETROIT (AP) — Magglio Ordonez hit a three-run double and the Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins 7-2 on Wednesday night to move closer to the AL Central title. Eddie Bonine pitched five effective innings after getting off to a rough start for Detroit, which increased its lead to three games over the Twins.
Obama’s war council divided on Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama summoned his war council to the White House Situation Room on Wednesday for an intense, three-hour discussion that exposed emerging fault lines over Afghanistan – with military commanders pressing for more troops and other advisers expressing skepticism. There was no discussion of specific troop levels during the meeting in the West Wing basement, according to a senior administration official. But the talks underscored the divisions throughout Obama’s inner circle that must be navigated in the coming weeks, the official said.
Ketsana leaves more than 360 dead across SE Asia
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A new typhoon gathered strength Thursday off the Philippines while nearly 700,000 people still sought help in badly stretched relief centers from massive flooding caused by Ketsana, one of the region’s most destructive storms in years. Ketsana prompted the worst flooding in the northern Philippines in 40 years when it struck Saturday, and then continued its deadly path across Southeast Asia, blowing down wooden villages in Cambodia and crushing Vietnamese houses under mudslides on Tuesday.
Aid flows to tsunami-hit Samoas; death toll at 120
APIA, Samoa (AP) — Police searched a ghastly landscape of mud-strewn streets, pulverized homes and bodies scattered in a swamp Wednesday as dazed survivors emerged from the muck and mire of an earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 120 in the South Pacific. Military transports flew medical personnel, food, water and medicine to Samoa and American Samoa, both devastated by a tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake. A cargo plane from New Zealand brought in a temporary morgue and a body identification team.
