Far and Wide

"CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern"

To be clear, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the government's premier disease monitoring agency.

Its director, Dr. Julie Gerberding,  testified before a Senate hearing yesterday on the impact of climate change on health.

What she'd planned on saying was this:

" ... scientific evidence supports the view that the earth's climate is changing" and that many groups are working to address climate change. "Despite this extensive activity, the public health effects of climate change remain largely unaddressed. CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern."

But after she submitted her draft for White House review, the paragraph was axed.  In all, six pages of details about specific disease and other health problems that might flourish if the Earth warms, were never delivered at the hearing, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

The White House on Wednesday denied that it had "watered down" her congressional testimony.

For more, check out this AP story by H. Josef Hebert.

-- Jaime Holguin

China steps up its space game

(AP Photo/Greg Baker)

One down, two to go.

China launched its first lunar probe Wednesday, marking the first step of a three-stage moon mission.

The Associated Press reports the Chang'e 1, named after a legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, is expected to transmit its first photo back to China in late November, and to conduct explorations of the moon for a year.

In the second phase of China's moon mission there will be a moon landing with a moon rover in 2012. About five years later, another rover will land on the moon and return to Earth with soil and rock samples.

For more, check out this AP story by Audra Ang.

-- Jaime Holguin

Soyuz craft lands short of destination

(AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev,Pool)

Did they have to hitch a ride home?

A Russian spacecraft landed more than 200 miles off course. The Soyuz craft did arrive safely, bringing two Russian cosmonauts and Malaysia's first space traveler back to Earth. AP correspondent Vladimir Isachenkov reports a computer glitch caused the craft to miss its mark west of its designated site near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. The crew returned a minute ahead of schedule.

Russian astronauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov were returning home after a six-month stay at the international space station. Malaysian Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was there since Oct. 12.

-- Howie Rumberg

The tide is high

(AP Photo/Somnuk Attipanyo)

There are 33 cities around the world that are expected to have more than 8 million residents by the year 2015. At least 21 are vulnerable to rising sea levels and other disasters due to climate change.

Keep reading for a list of some of the more prominent cities cited by the Worldwatch Institute.

Women in space

(AP Photo/John Raoux, file)
The space program is about to get a feminine touch.

A first: Two spacecraft are going to be commanded by women at the same time. The space shuttle Discovery, launching Tuesday, will be commander Pamela Melroy and the international space station is being run by commander Peggy Whitson, who arrived at the orbital outpost on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Oct. 12.

AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn reports this is just a coincidence, not a public relations gimmick thought up by NASA.

• "This is a really special event for us," Melroy said. "... There are enough women in the program that coincidentally this can happen, and that is a wonderful thing. It says a lot about the first 50 years of spaceflight that this is where we're at."

Melroy and Whitson will meet in space: The shuttle's mission is a construction project at the space station. They will be together in orbit for 1 1/2 weeks.

-- Howie Rumberg

In the news Saturday

Straight from the AP wires:

Iran's top nuclear negotiator resigns 
Panel: Kids shouldn't use cold medicines 
Courts-martial for two in Haditha deaths 
Pakistan says It tried to protect Bhutto
J.K. Rowling outs Hogwarts character

Bush veto sustained

(AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

Even with bipartisan support, House Democrats couldn't push the efforts to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program past Bush's veto.

Right now, the government program subsidizes health care insurance coverage for about 6 million children. The bill would've added 4 million more children.

Read more about it in this story by the AP's Kevin Freking.

In the photo: Singer Paul Simon, left, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the Children's Health Care Compromise Bill.

-- Hillary Rhodes

Working blues

Who are the most depressed workers in the United States?

According to a new government report, folks who tend to the elderly, change diapers and serve up food and drinks have the highest rates of depression.

The lowest rate of depression occurred in the job category that covers engineers, architects and surveyors.

You can find the government report here.

And the complete AP story by Kevin Freking here.

-- Jaime Holguin

INSIDER INSIGHT: The buzz at NowPublic

Al's Nobel, the commute in Delhi and the sad end of a red cedar tree are all getting a lot of attention among contributors to NowPublic, the "crowd-powered media" site The Associated Press is working with to selectively incorporate citizen journalism -– especially photos and video -– into its news report.

Listen to this audio clip to learn more from NowPublic's Brian Kennedy.

-- Eric Carvin

Listen to this audio clip to learn more from NowPublic's Brian Kennedy.

-- Eric Carvin

Listen to this audio clip to learn more from NowPublic's Brian Kennedy.

-- Eric Carvin

A Nobel laureate's influence over '08

(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
He won the Nobel Prize for peace, and the talk began anew: Maybe Al Gore will run for president again after all.

Indeed, the will-he-or-won't-he mystery remains an interesting one. But taking it a step further: What sort of influence might Gore and his peace prize have over the race for '08 if, say, he doesn't run for president? And how much thought is he putting into his impact on the race as a non-candidate?

We put those questions to AP Online Political Editor Ron Fournier, a veteran of inside-the-beltway political reporting who wrote the AP's latest news analysis looking at whether Gore is likely to run.

  Listen to this audio clip to hear Fournier's answer.

-- Eric Carvin