SOMALIA
NEW: 3 Somali Cabinet ministers die in bomb blast
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A police spokesman says three Somali Cabinet ministers are among nine people killed in a bombing that ripped through a university graduation ceremony.
The spokesman, Col. Abdilahi Hassan Barise, says the ministers for education, higher education and health were among those killed in the blast.
The officials were attending a graduation ceremony for medical, computer science and engineering students at a hotel in Mogadishu.
African troops protecting the fragile Somali government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who control much of central and southern Somalia. The Horn of African nation hasn't had a stable government for almost two decades.
SYRIA-EXPLOSION
NEW: Syrian official: blast in Damascus
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's interior minister says there has been a blast in Damascus and witnesses say it has targeted Iranian pilgrims causing an unconfirmed number of casualties.
Interior Minister Said Mohammad Sammour told Lebanon's Al-Manar Hezbollah television station that the cause of Thursday's blast has not yet been determined.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene of the blast in the Sayyida Zainab suburb in southern Damascus saw a damaged bus.
Iranian diplomats said two Iranians and four Syrians were wounded by the blast. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The suburb is popular with Iranian and other Shiite pilgrims and is the location of a shrine dedicated to the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL
Health care overhaul votes scheduled
WASHINGTON (AP) — Votes are scheduled today in the Senate on elements of the health care overhaul.
Lawmakers will decide whether to back $460 billion in Medicare cuts to help pay for the landmark revamp of the health care system. The AARP supports the measure, saying the cuts Democrats are recommending would merely eliminate waste and inefficiency.
Republicans are pressing to restore the cuts with Sen. John McCain saying "Above all, we must not use Medicare as a piggy bank."
Senators will also vote on a women's health care amendment. Both parties are backing a promise to provide new no-cost preventive procedures such as mammograms.
Overall, the legislation is designed to extend health care to millions who now lack it. The House passed its version last month and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is promising his chamber will follow suit by Christmas.
US-AFGHANISTAN
Hearings continue today as skeptical Dems resign themselves to Obama plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress may be skeptical about President Barack Obama's new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, but it appears resigned to allow his plans to move forward.
During hearings in the House and Senate, Obama's advisers have been trying to persuade lawmakers that the stakes are high.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said losing the war "would have severe consequences for the United States and the world."
Leading Democrats say they have serious misgivings about plans to deploy 30,000 more troops, but they won't try to block it.
On the other side of the aisle, Republicans say they'll support the troop increase, although they remain skeptical of Obama's July 2011 deadline to bring troops home.
Military leaders and the Obama administration say the 18-month timeline won't constrain the military or encourage the Taliban.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said he expects troops will make "significant headway in the next 18-24 months."
Today's hearings are before the Senate Foreign Relations Committtee and the House Foreign Affairs panel.
SEVERE WEATHER
Tornado watch in NC, SC, as Gulf low soaks East
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Parts of North and South Carolina are under a tornado watch as heavy weather hits the Eastern Seaboard.
In North Carolina, the National Weather Service has issued the watch for the eastern third of the state until this morning. A flash flood watch has been posted for the Piedmont and southern mountains.
Meteorologists say nearly three inches of rain have fallen in areas of western North Carolina, and more could hit before the storm moves out.
In South Carolina, a tornado watch is up for the state's eight eastern counties. Rains swamped the coastline at high tide, snarling Charleston traffic and flooding intersections.
A high surf advisory is in effect on the south coast of South Carolina through this morning. Forecasters say waves as high has six feet could break on the beaches.
Authorities say one tornado has been spotted in South Carolina, but none in North Carolina.
UNINVITED GUESTS
Gatecrashers decline invitation to testify
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House party crashers do have an invitation to an event today, but this time they're turning it down.
The House Homeland Security Committee has asked Tareq (TAH'-rehk) and Michaele Salahi (mih-KEL' sah-LAH'-hee) to testify at a hearing into the incident.
The Virginia couple is declining the request. A spokeswoman says the Salahis have already given information to Congress and the Secret Service.
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson now says his panel may move to subpoena the couple.
Meanwhile, the White House is also rejecting the committee's request to have social secretary Desiree Rogers testify. Republican Congressman Peter King is "strongly urging" the White House to reconsider.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS
Settlers resist Israeli building freeze order
JERUSALEM (AP) — Settlers leaders say they will continue to defy an Israeli government order to freeze West Bank settlement construction.
Settlers have been resisting the order since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced it a week ago.
Settler leaders are to meet with Netanyahu on Thursday to try and calm tensions. The meeting comes a day after a settlement mayor was arrested.
One of top settler leaders, Pinhas Wallerstein, told Israel's Army Radio they have no intention to halt all construction.
Netanyahu said the order is meant as a confidence-building gesture to get peace efforts with the Palestinians back on track. Palestinians have said the move is insufficient because is does not include east Jerusalem.
INDIA-BHOPAL ANNIVERSARY
Victims of 1984 accident demand cleanup
BHOPAL, India (AP) — Hundreds of people have been marching with torches through Bhopal, India to mark the 25th anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster.
About 4,000 people died soon after a Union Carbine pesticide plant spewed about 40 tons of deadly gas into the city's air on Dec. 3, 1984. The lingering effects of the poison raised the estimated death toll to about 15,000 over the next few years.
Local activists insist the real numbers are almost twice that. They say Union Carbide and the Indian government have failed to clean up the toxins at the plant, which has since closed.
India's government says at least 500,000 people were affected by the toxic leak. Activists say thousands of children born to parents exposed to the gas or poisoned by tainted water suffer from brain damage, missing palates, twisted limbs and other conditions.
Skin, vision and breathing disorders also are common.
Union Carbide was bought by Dow Chemical in 2001. Dow says the legal case was resolved in 1989 when Union Carbide settled with the Indian government for $470 million.
WAR CRIMES-KARADZIC
Karadzic to challenge court apppointed lawyer
AMSTERDAM (AP) — Radovan Karadzic will challenge the appointment of a lawyer to represent him at his war crimes trial, his spokesman says.
The former Bosnian Serb political leader plans to conduct his own courtroom defense against genocide and other war crimes charges stemming from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
But judges ordered a court-appointed lawyer after Karadzic boycotted the opening day of the trial in October, forcing a postponement to March.
Karadzic spokesman Peter Robinson said Thursday Karadzic will file a complaint rejecting his court-appointed British lawyer, Richard Harvey.
Karadzic has not entered a formal plea to 11 charges for alleged atrocities in Bosnia including killing civilians at Sarajevo and massacring Muslims at Srebrenica.
POE'S FIRST BOOK
NEW: Rare 1st Poe book could fetch record at NY auction
BOSTON (AP) — A rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe's first book is expected to sell for a record price for American literature when it hits the auction block.
Experts at Christie's in New York say "Tamerlane and Other Poems" could fetch between $500,000 and $700,000 when it's auctioned tomorrow.
The 40-page collection of poems was published in 1827. Poe had recently moved to Boston to launch his literary career, re-establish his roots in the city of his birth and distance himself from his foster father in Richmond, Va.
Poe's name wasn't even on the cover of the book, which was credited to "a Bostonian."
Only 12 copies are known to remain. The copy being sold belongs to a Hollywood television executive.
Christie's book expert Francis Wahlgren calls the sale a "once-in-a-lifetime chance."
