Biden and Ryan clash sharply on foreign policy, economy in debate

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• Biden and Ryan clash sharply on foreign policy, economy in debate
• Meningitis outbreak widens amid demands for criminal probe
• U.S. border agent who died likely mistook colleague for smuggler
• Hunt for 10-year-old Colorado girl turns up dismembered body
• Preliminary hearing in Colorado rampage case may be delayed
• Ad blitz drains support for California GMO-labeling plan
• California gasoline stocks rose even as prices surged
• Mother says long-missing daughter may be victim of "Speed Freak" killers
• Oakland sues U.S. to halt closure of marijuana dispensary
• Space shuttle Endeavour set for road trip to final Los Angeles home
• Do you feel lucky on 10-11-12, a rare sequential date?
• Texas putting cameras on private land to stem border incursions
• Armstrong unfazed by doping maelstrom
• Drugs, gun found on rapper Nelly's bus at Texas checkpoint
• Connecticut home invasion murderer volunteers for execution
• Postal Service says stamp prices to go up 1 cent next year
• Analysis: Lame hopes for a lame-duck Congress
• Do you feel lucky on 10-11-12, a rare sequential date?
• National Arts Club within rights in booting president, court rules
• Space shuttle Endeavour set for road trip to final Los Angeles home
• Man pleads not guilty to trying to bomb downtown Chicago bar
• Koran-burning U.S. pastor barred from entering Canada for debate
• Father of Yankees manager dies
• Chicago mayor demands Illinois teacher pension reform
• American Air pares flight schedule through November first half
• U.S. targets violent Latin American street gang MS-13
• NY church clerk who stole $1 million gets up to 9 years prison
• Wal-Mart to pay for heart and spine surgery for U.S. employees
• Suspect in New York slashing murder left apology before fleeing
• Meningitis outbreak widens amid demands for criminal probe
• Woman sues company at center of deadly meningitis outbreak
• California gasoline stocks rose even as prices surged
• Biden and Ryan clash sharply on foreign policy, economy in debate
• Ad blitz drains support for California GMO-labeling plan
• U.S. border agent who died likely mistook colleague for smuggler
• Mother says long-missing daughter may be victim of "Speed Freak" killers
• Factbox: Key quotes from vice presidential debate
• Texas putting cameras on private land to stem border incursions
• Factbox: Romney versus Obama on taxes ahead of VP debate

Biden and Ryan clash sharply on foreign policy, economy in debate Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:05 PM PDT DANVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden and rival Republican Paul Ryan clashed sharply over foreign policy in a high-stakes debate on Thursday, with Biden aggressively defending the Obama administration's policies and dismissing Ryan's criticism as "malarkey." Biden took the offensive early, providing the emotion and passion that President Barack Obama was criticized for lacking in last week's debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Ryan accused the Obama administration of projecting an image of American weakness to the world. ...

Meningitis outbreak widens amid demands for criminal probe Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:15 PM PDT WASHINGTON/BOSTON (Reuters) - The pharmacy at the center of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak possibly linked to tainted steroid injections faced mounting federal and state scrutiny on Thursday, including a potential criminal investigation, as the national death toll climbed to 14. As many as 14,000 people - 1,000 more than previously thought - received injections from suspect shipments of steroid treatments produced by the Framingham, Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center (NECC). ...

U.S. border agent who died likely mistook colleague for smuggler Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:55 PM PDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in an apparent friendly fire incident in Arizona may have shot and wounded a colleague after mistaking him for a drug smuggler in the dark, sparking return fire, a lawyer for the wounded agent said on Thursday. Nicholas Ivie, 30, was killed last week while responding to a tripped ground sensor in a well-known smuggling corridor near the U.S. border with Mexico. A second agent was wounded in the incident and a third was unharmed. ...

Hunt for 10-year-old Colorado girl turns up dismembered body Posted: 11 Oct 2012 03:08 PM PDT WESTMINSTER, Colo. (Reuters) - The search for a 10-year-old Colorado girl who authorities believe was abducted on her way to school has led to the discovery of a dismembered body at a park several miles from where the fifth-grader vanished, police said on Thursday. But Westminster Police Inspector Trevor Materasso said authorities have not confirmed if the body is that of Jessica Ridgeway, who went missing on her way to school six days ago. "The process is complicated because the body is not intact," Materasso said, declining to elaborate. ...

Preliminary hearing in Colorado rampage case may be delayed Posted: 11 Oct 2012 03:07 PM PDT CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - Attorneys for accused Colorado gunman James Holmes on Thursday proposed postponing a preliminary hearing on the merits of the case against him, likely until next year, while complaining that media meddling was delaying their work. Arapahoe County District Court Judge William Sylvester, responding to defense plans to file a motion seeking a delay in the sensational case, said the hearing could occur in January or February. ...

Ad blitz drains support for California GMO-labeling plan Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:58 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An intense advertising blitz, funded by Monsanto Co and others, has eroded support for a California ballot proposal that would require U.S. food makers to disclose when their products contain genetically modified organisms. If California voters approve the measure on November 6, it would be the first time U.S. food makers have to label products that contain GMOs, or ingredients whose DNA has been manipulated by scientists. The United States does not require safety testing for GM ingredients before they go to market. ...

California gasoline stocks rose even as prices surged Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:15 PM PDT (Reuters) - California's refiners increased their stockpiles of gasoline by more than 5 percent last week, despite a drop in production that fuelled an unprecedented spike in prices, state data showed on Thursday. Total inventories of specially made ultra-clean CARBOB fuel rose to more than 5 million barrels for the first time in four weeks, although supplies were still 8 percent lower than a year ago, according to data from the California Energy Commission for the week to October 5, which was one day after prices peaked. It said refiners produced 6.3 million barrels of the fuel, 5. ...

Mother says long-missing daughter may be victim of "Speed Freak" killers Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:56 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The mother of a 9-year-old girl snatched from a Northern California street 24 years ago said on Thursday she believed DNA tests would show her daughter was buried in a well where a pair of serial killers dumped their victims. A 3-inch bone fragment possibly belonging to Michaela Garecht was found in a bag of skeletal remains largely belonging to another victim of the "Speed Freak" killers, so named for the methamphetamine-fueled violence police say the two perpetrators unleashed during the 1980s and 1990s. ...

Oakland sues U.S. to halt closure of marijuana dispensary Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:44 PM PDT OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - The city of Oakland has sued to block U.S. authorities from closing down a medical marijuana dispensary that bills itself as the world's largest, marking the latest clash with federal authorities over California's cannabis industry. The lawsuit, which was filed by Oakland's city attorney in U.S. District Court, seeks an injunction to halt efforts by federal prosecutors to shut down Harborside Health Center through civil forfeiture actions they filed in July against two properties where the clinic operates. ...

Space shuttle Endeavour set for road trip to final Los Angeles home Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:29 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The retired space shuttle Endeavour was getting set on Thursday for a road trip unlike any of its previous journeys, one that will see it crawl through the streets of Los Angeles instead of hurtling through the solitary reaches of space. Endeavour will nose out of Los Angeles International Airport at about 2 a.m. on Friday as it begins a two-day ground journey atop a massive wheeled transporter to its final resting place at the California Science Center on the edge of downtown. "It's a working piece of American history. It's a fantastic technical innovation. ...

Do you feel lucky on 10-11-12, a rare sequential date? Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:52 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dale Frost met his boyfriend Mark Massey on a numerically significant date - August 9, 2010, or, 8-9-10. So when the couple got engaged in December, it felt natural to them to hold their wedding on another rare date, October 11, 2012 - 10-11-12. Across New York City, couples eager for good luck on their wedding day flocked to request marriages licenses on Thursday. "It doesn't happen very often. It was just something cool," said Frost, 23. ...

Texas putting cameras on private land to stem border incursions Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:25 PM PDT SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Linda Vickers thought the 1,000-acre cattle and horse ranch she operates in rural South Texas was about the most out-of-the-way place in the world, but that was before drug gang members were regularly arrested in her yard. Texas officials on Thursday announced a plan to place hundreds of small, motion-activated cameras on private property across the border region to help Border Patrol and local law enforcement officers track down the people who have turned Vickers' life upside down. ...

Armstrong unfazed by doping maelstrom Posted: 11 Oct 2012 03:47 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unrepentant and seemingly unconcerned, Lance Armstrong was going about his business as usual on Thursday as the cycling world was left reeling by the revelations about his alleged role as a doping ringleader. Five of his former team mates who confessed to using performance enhancing drugs were formally banned by USA Cycling on Thursday while Spanish authorities were reviewing the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) documentation after three of their nationals were implicated. ...

Drugs, gun found on rapper Nelly's bus at Texas checkpoint Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:09 PM PDT SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Authorities discovered marijuana, heroin and a loaded gun on Grammy-winning rapper Nelly's tour bus during a routine stop at a Border Patrol checkpoint in West Texas, law enforcement officials said on Thursday. A member of the singer's entourage took responsibility for the items and was arrested after the search on Wednesday evening, while others on the bus including Nelly were released, officials said. ...

Connecticut home invasion murderer volunteers for execution Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:07 PM PDT NAUGATUCK, Connecticut (Reuters) - One of two men sentenced to die for the Connecticut home invasion killings of a mother and her daughters wants to abandon his appeals and seek execution, the Hartford Courant reported on Thursday. In a one-page handwritten letter received by the newspaper, Steven Hayes said he wants to be put to death for killing Jennifer Hawke-Petit, who he raped and strangled, and her daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, who died of smoke inhalation after the family home was set on fire. ...

Postal Service says stamp prices to go up 1 cent next year Posted: 11 Oct 2012 03:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The cost of sending a letter in the United States will go up by a penny next year, the cash-strapped Postal Service said on Thursday. "Forever" stamps will cost 46 cents starting on January 27, the agency said. Consumers can use those stamps to mail 1-ounce letters anywhere in the country. As the name implies, they are always valid, even after stamp prices rise. The Postal Service will also offer a new, global Forever stamp starting next year, which customers can use to send letters anywhere in the world for a set price of $1.10. ...

Analysis: Lame hopes for a lame-duck Congress Posted: 11 Oct 2012 01:15 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Capitol is nearly empty, President Barack Obama is spending most of his time away from the White House in a final push for re-election and top American CEOs are getting nervous. Unlike the typical election year, however, Congress faces a December 31 deadline for coming up with some sort of substitute for the dreaded "fiscal cliff" - about $500 billion worth of tax increases and $109 billion in government spending cuts due to start on January 2. ...

Do you feel lucky on 10-11-12, a rare sequential date? Posted: 11 Oct 2012 04:49 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dale Frost met his boyfriend Mark Massey on a numerically significant date - August 9, 2010, or, 8-9-10. So when the couple got engaged in December, it felt natural to them to hold their wedding on another rare date, October 11, 2012 - 10-11-12. Across New York City, couples eager for good luck on their wedding day flocked to request marriages licenses on Thursday. "It doesn't happen very often. It was just something cool," said Frost, 23. ...

National Arts Club within rights in booting president, court rules Posted: 11 Oct 2012 04:14 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The National Arts Club was within its rights when it expelled its longtime president Aldon James after allegations that he cost the club more than $1.7 million by misusing its funds and assets, a New York appeals court ruled Thursday. The board of directors for the exclusive club, which overlooks New York's tony Gramercy Park and has counted luminaries from Theodore Roosevelt to Martin Scorsese as members, voted out Aldon James in February, along with his twin brother, John, and another member, Steven Leitner. ...

Space shuttle Endeavour set for road trip to final Los Angeles home Posted: 11 Oct 2012 04:08 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The retired space shuttle Endeavour was getting set on Thursday for a road trip unlike any of its previous journeys, one that will see it crawl through the streets of Los Angeles instead of hurtling through the solitary reaches of space. Endeavour will nose out of Los Angeles International Airport at about 2 a.m. on Friday as it begins a two-day ground journey atop a massive wheeled transporter to its final resting place at the California Science Center on the edge of downtown. "It's a working piece of American history. It's a fantastic technical innovation. ...

Man pleads not guilty to trying to bomb downtown Chicago bar Posted: 11 Oct 2012 03:52 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - A 19-year-old man described by his attorney as "incredibly naive" pleaded not guilty Thursday to attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb outside a Chicago bar. Adel Daoud appeared in federal court dressed in orange prison clothing with shackled legs, smiling and waving to his distraught-looking parents, who were seated in the front row of the courtroom. Daoud, a U.S. ...

Koran-burning U.S. pastor barred from entering Canada for debate Posted: 11 Oct 2012 02:46 PM PDT TORONTO (Reuters) - The U.S. pastor known for burning Korans and inciting unrest in the Middle East was barred on Thursday from entering Canada, where he was set to attend a potentially divisive debate with a imam, Canadian media reports said. Terry Jones was blocked at the U.S.-Canada border in Windsor, Ontario, because of a previous legal infraction in the United States and because the German government has issued a complaint against him, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said. ...

Father of Yankees manager dies Posted: 11 Oct 2012 04:52 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The father of New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi died on Saturday and Girardi kept the news from the team until Thursday to avoid distracting them from their playoff series with the Baltimore Orioles. Jerry Girardi, 81, died at a healthcare residence in Metamora, Illinois, the Yankees said in a statement. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease, his son said. Jerry Girardi served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War and later worked in construction sales for National Gypsum Company, the Yankees said. He also worked as a bricklayer. ...

Chicago mayor demands Illinois teacher pension reform Posted: 11 Oct 2012 01:57 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, fresh from a bruising 7-day strike by Chicago teachers, said on Thursday the state-wide retirement system for teachers in Illinois must be reformed to be fair and sustainable. With Chicago and its public school system facing ballooning pension payments, the Democratic mayor said it was unfair that the state was picking up most of the retirement costs for teachers outside Chicago, which funds teacher pensions largely on its own. ...

American Air pares flight schedule through November first half Posted: 11 Oct 2012 02:54 PM PDT (Reuters) - American Airlines said it will cut back on passenger capacity through the first half of November, extending reductions from September and October as it canceled hundreds of flights, citing aircraft maintenance issues and pilots reporting in sick. The carrier, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year, said in a memo to American managers that it was cutting its flight schedule through the first part of November by 1 percent to give it more flexibility to organize crews and planes to return to a more normal pattern. ...

U.S. targets violent Latin American street gang MS-13 Posted: 11 Oct 2012 02:45 PM PDT WASHINGTON/SENSUNTEPEQUE, El Salvador (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed financial penalties on violent Latin American street gang MS-13, which has thousands of members operating in the United States and has been accused of human trafficking, kidnapping, murder, rape and other criminal activities. MS-13, whose U.S. members are mostly first-generation Salvadorean-Americans or Salvadorean nationals, was added to the Obama administration's list of transnational criminal organizations - a label designed to cripple a criminal group's finances. ...

NY church clerk who stole $1 million gets up to 9 years prison Posted: 11 Oct 2012 02:29 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 67-year-old woman was sentenced to up to nine years in prison for embezzling more than $1 million from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, much of it spent on expensive dolls, prosecutors said on Thursday. In the years she worked as the church accounts payable clerk, Anita Collins stole $1,073,000 by writing 450 checks to herself and making them look like payments to vendors, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said. ...

Wal-Mart to pay for heart and spine surgery for U.S. employees Posted: 11 Oct 2012 12:50 PM PDT CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is offering its U.S. employees and their families free heart and spine surgeries at six major health centers at no cost to the retailer's workers, as it tries to find better ways to cover costly, complicated procedures. Starting in January, workers and dependents enrolled in Wal-Mart's medical plans will receive free consultations and care for certain heart and spinal procedures along with travel, lodging and food for the patient and a caregiver. ...

Suspect in New York slashing murder left apology before fleeing Posted: 11 Oct 2012 01:31 PM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man suspected of cutting off a youth soccer coach's ear and slashing him to death on a New York City street wrote a note saying he was sorry before fleeing to Mexico, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said on Thursday. The note was discovered at the Queens home where suspect Orlando Orea, 32, lived with a brother. Orea fled Tuesday as police closed in on him. The note "basically makes a statement that he's sorry," Kelly, New York's top police official, said. ...

Meningitis outbreak widens amid demands for criminal probe Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:15 PM PDT WASHINGTON/BOSTON (Reuters) - The pharmacy at the center of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak possibly linked to tainted steroid injections faced mounting federal and state scrutiny on Thursday, including a potential criminal investigation, as the national death toll climbed to 14. As many as 14,000 people - 1,000 more than previously thought - received injections from suspect shipments of steroid treatments produced by the Framingham, Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center (NECC). ...

Woman sues company at center of deadly meningitis outbreak Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:17 PM PDT MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A Minnesota woman who says she received injections of the steroid at the center of a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis in the United States on Thursday sued the company that made the suspect medication. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, said that Barbe Puro of Savage, Minnesota, suffered "bodily harm, emotional distress, and other personal injuries" after being injected on September 17 with doses of the steroid medication. ...

California gasoline stocks rose even as prices surged Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:15 PM PDT (Reuters) - California's refiners increased their stockpiles of gasoline by more than 5 percent last week, despite a drop in production that fuelled an unprecedented spike in prices, state data showed on Thursday. Total inventories of specially made ultra-clean CARBOB fuel rose to more than 5 million barrels for the first time in four weeks, although supplies were still 8 percent lower than a year ago, according to data from the California Energy Commission for the week to October 5, which was one day after prices peaked. It said refiners produced 6.3 million barrels of the fuel, 5. ...

Biden and Ryan clash sharply on foreign policy, economy in debate Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:05 PM PDT DANVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden and rival Republican Paul Ryan clashed sharply over foreign policy in a high-stakes debate on Thursday, with Biden aggressively defending the Obama administration's policies and dismissing Ryan's criticism as "malarkey." Biden took the offensive early, providing the emotion and passion that President Barack Obama was criticized for lacking in last week's debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Ryan accused the Obama administration of projecting an image of American weakness to the world. ...

Ad blitz drains support for California GMO-labeling plan Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:58 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An intense advertising blitz, funded by Monsanto Co and others, has eroded support for a California ballot proposal that would require U.S. food makers to disclose when their products contain genetically modified organisms. If California voters approve the measure on November 6, it would be the first time U.S. food makers have to label products that contain GMOs, or ingredients whose DNA has been manipulated by scientists. The United States does not require safety testing for GM ingredients before they go to market. ...

U.S. border agent who died likely mistook colleague for smuggler Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:55 PM PDT PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in an apparent friendly fire incident in Arizona may have shot and wounded a colleague after mistaking him for a drug smuggler in the dark, sparking return fire, a lawyer for the wounded agent said on Thursday. Nicholas Ivie, 30, was killed last week while responding to a tripped ground sensor in a well-known smuggling corridor near the U.S. border with Mexico. A second agent was wounded in the incident and a third was unharmed. ...

Mother says long-missing daughter may be victim of "Speed Freak" killers Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:56 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The mother of a 9-year-old girl snatched from a Northern California street 24 years ago said on Thursday she believed DNA tests would show her daughter was buried in a well where a pair of serial killers dumped their victims. A 3-inch bone fragment possibly belonging to Michaela Garecht was found in a bag of skeletal remains largely belonging to another victim of the "Speed Freak" killers, so named for the methamphetamine-fueled violence police say the two perpetrators unleashed during the 1980s and 1990s. ...

Factbox: Key quotes from vice presidential debate Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:47 PM PDT DANVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - Key quotes from Thursday's debate between Democratic Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee for vice president: * On the fatal assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens: BIDEN: "I can make absolutely two commitments to you and all the American people tonight. One, we will find and bring to justice the men who did this. ...

Texas putting cameras on private land to stem border incursions Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:25 PM PDT SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Linda Vickers thought the 1,000-acre cattle and horse ranch she operates in rural South Texas was about the most out-of-the-way place in the world, but that was before drug gang members were regularly arrested in her yard. Texas officials on Thursday announced a plan to place hundreds of small, motion-activated cameras on private property across the border region to help Border Patrol and local law enforcement officers track down the people who have turned Vickers' life upside down. ...

Factbox: Romney versus Obama on taxes ahead of VP debate Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:17 PM PDT (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden will debate Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Thursday in a match-up where taxes will likely return to the spotlight after last week's first presidential debate. Ryan, chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, has a string of earlier budget and tax proposals that could come under fire by Biden. The Democratic vice president is known more for his foreign policy experience, but he has played a major role in negotiating fiscal deals in the Obama administration. ...

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