Nation and World

ATLANTA (AP) — At the height of the nationwide salmonella outbreak nearly a year ago, FBI agents raided two peanut plants and carried away boxes of evidence. FDA inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaky roof. Then, Congress revealed e-mails from the peanut company's top executive that seemed to suggest the pursuit of profits over ensuring public safety.

PARIS (AP) — Despite signs of an economic revival gathering pace around the globe, the millions of people laid off during the worst recession in 70 years are unlikely to see relief any time soon as joblessness is still climbing in many of the world's largest economies.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire, the base commander said Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers, looking to outfit themselves for cooler weather and enticed by an improving economy, spent a little more in October, handing the retail industry its second consecutive monthly sales gain after more than a year of declines.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billed as a way for the government to put more fuel-efficient vehicles on highways, the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program mostly involved swaps of old Ford or Chevrolet pickups for new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.

BERLIN (AP) — General Motors Co.'s decision to scrap the sale of European subsidiary Opel raised new uncertainty Wednesday over the unit's future, astonishing politicians in Germany and Russia and prompting workers to plan walkouts in protest.

WASHINGTON (AP) — JPMorgan Chase&Co. is paying more than $700 million to settle federal regulators' charges it made unlawful payments to friends of public officials to win municipal bond business in Jefferson County, Ala.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Cecelia Burnett and Ann Swanson had already set their wedding date. When they joined about 1,000 other gay marriage supporters for an election night party in a Holiday Inn ballroom, they hoped to celebrate the vote that would make it possible.

CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama's top health chief is urging states and communities to help enroll more uninsured children in government health insurance programs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An ebullient Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele asserted Wednesday that GOP victories in governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia demonstrate "a transcendent party" on the move again. The White House said the elections were not a repudiation of President Barack Obama.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bernard Madoff's longtime auditor pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges Tuesday, saying he failed to do his job to verify the disgraced money manager's financial records but did not know Madoff was running history's biggest Ponzi scheme.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months spent criticizing Democrats' health overhaul plans, House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate Tuesday on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, protesting that the bill's costs have not been fully examined. The action put a spotlight on the difficulties Democratic leaders face in moving climate legislation this year.

CHICAGO (AP) — As Democratic leaders in Washington try to round up votes to pass health care reform legislation, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris on Monday stuck by his demand for a public option, calling any provision that would let states opt out not as strong.

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of people on any given day will die, develop the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome or have spontaneous abortions, and that doesn't necessarily mean that their swine flu vaccination shot was to blame, a new study says.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in two years, fueled by government-supported spending on cars and homes. It's the strongest signal yet that the economy has entered a new, though fragile, phase of recovery and that the worst recession since the 1930s has ended.

WASHINGTON – House Democrats reached agreement Wednesday on key elements of a health care bill that would vastly alter America's medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and establishing a new government-run insurance option for millions.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The parents who set off a worldwide drama by reporting their 6-year-old son was inside a flying saucer-like helium balloon hurtling over Colorado concocted the stunt to market themselves for a television show, a sheriff said Sunday.

CHICAGO (AP) — Rapidly worsening breathing problems in the sickest swine flu patients in Mexico and Canada present a scary worst-case scenario and could foreshadow what U.S. doctors face as winter flu season sets in, new reports suggest.