Far and Wide

News on the war front

(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

News on the war front ...

A government review panel says there needs to be some type of unified control over private security guards in Iraq. The recommendation to the State Department would add at least one layer of oversight of contractors like Blackwater USA. AP reporter Anne Gearan has the full write-up here.

That Bush photo above is from the president's announcement today that he wants another $46 billion from Congress to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Details are in Andrew Taylor's AP story. 

Finally, there was a new bin Laden message today. It's an audio tape where he scolds al-Qaida in Iraq followers -- saying they've "been lax" for failing to unite. AP reporter Kim Gamel covers the story from Baghdad.

--Ryan Pearson

INSIDER INSIGHT: The world in focus

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
This dramatic image from a wildfire near Irvine, Calif., was one of a handful of images highlighted by AP International Photo Editor Michael Feldman at this morning's AP global news meeting.

Feldman also showed this photo, one of several shot by the AP at a protest in Washington by anti-war, justice and environmental groups.
(AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
See below for more of Feldman's top-photo picks of the moment.

-- Eric Carvin

In the news Monday

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Straight from the AP wires:

Wildfires rage in Southern California
Turkey: Troops missing after Kurdish rebel ambush
NASA won't disclose air safety survey
GOP rivals argue who's most conservative
Lawyer: Spears regains child visitation rights

-- Jaime Holguin

Indian immigrants' son new La. governor

(AP Photo/Tim Mueller)

Louisiana has a new governor -- and for the first time since reconstruction the governor is not white.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, whose parents moved to the state from India, becomes the nation's youngest governor at 36. AP Writer Melinda Deslatte reports Jindal won 53 percent of the vote -- about 625,000 votes with 92 percent reporting -- to avoid a runoff. The Oxford-educated Jindal had lost the governor's race four years ago to Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

• "My mom and dad came to this country in pursuit of the American dream. And guess what happened. They found the American dream to be alive and well right here in Louisiana," he said.

Jindal, who takes office in January, pledged to fight corruption and rid the state of those "feeding at the public trough," revisiting a campaign theme. In this audio clip, Deslatte offers a theory for why Jindal won so handily.

-- Howie Rumberg

The Morning Paper: Friday's early headlines

  (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

A rough start to the weekend in Pakistan and the Philippines. Here's some headlines we're watching today:

• Al-Qaida linked to bomb blast in Pakistan
• Eight killed in Manila mall bombing
• Child-sex suspect tracked down in Thailand

-- Otis Hart

N.H. considering December primary option

The New Hampshire secretary of state who has set the Granite State's first-in-the-nation presidential primary for 31 years said today that December remains an option.

"If we have to go in December, we would have to go in December," said William M. Gardner, who alone has the power to set the date of the primary.

WHY IS NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRST?: New Hampshire law requires that its primary be at least a week before a similar contest in another state.

Gardner has refused to make a scheduling decision until other dates are set and said an announcement won't be made before Nov. 2, the filing deadline for presidential candidates to get on state ballots.

For more details, read this report filed today from Durham, N.H., and for a different perspective, check out this asap story by yours truly about late-voting Montana.

--Paul Chavez

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

INSIDER INSIGHT: The world in focus

(AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

The following photos were highlighted at this morning's AP global news meeting.

Above: Parisians ride bicycles in the streets of Paris during a public transport strike billed as France's biggest in years.

And this, former  Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto disembarking the airplane that brought her from Dubai, to Karachi, Pakistan.

(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Finally, there's this photo from Iraq (follow the jump).

Bye, Bye, Brownback

(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Is he dropping out of the race?

According to this AP story, people close to presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., say that his days of trying to get the Republican nomination might be over.

From the story: "Brownback had raised a little more than $800,000 from July through September and around $4 million overall."

-- Hillary Rhodes

The Morning Paper: Thursday's early headlines

(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

MRSA isn't the only thing in the news these days. Here's a short list of what we're keeping an eye on today:

• Exiled Pakistani prime minister returns home
• Bush wants to keep pressure on Israel for peace pact
• Sarkozy living the single life again

-- Otis Hart