WASHINGTON (AP) - Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama. There was not a vote to spare. The 60-39 vote cleared the way for a bruising, full-scale debate beginning after Thanksgiving on the legislation, which is designed to extend coverage to roughly 31 million who lack it, crack down on insurance company practices that deny or dilute benefits and curtail the growth of spending on medical care nationally.
Report: Indonesian passenger ferry sinks with 228 JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian television says a passenger ferry with more than 200 people onboard sank in rough waters near Sumatra island. Yasin Kosasih, a police chief in Riau province, says the Dumai Express 10 left on an inter-island voyage Sunday morning and reportedly sank in poor weather 90 minutes into the trip.
3 bomb blasts leave 5 dead, 25 wounded in India GAUHATI, India (AP) - Police say three bombs have exploded in India's restive northeast killing five people and wounding more than 25 others. A local police official says five people died after two blasts went off within minutes of each other outside a police station in Nalbari town near the Assam state capital Gauhati.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans traveling away from home for Thanksgiving will be up only slightly this year from 2008, according to a report from the AAA auto club. The group, which surveyed 1,350 households, said there will be about 33.2 million people traveling by car this year - a 2.1 percent increase from last year.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood will be confined until his military trial, initially staying in a hospital where he is recovering from gunshot wounds, his attorney said Saturday. During a hearing at Maj. Nidal Hasan's hospital room in San Antonio on Saturday, a magistrate ruled that there was probable cause that Hasan committed the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, said his civilian attorney, John Galligan. Hasan has been at Brooke Army Medical Center since the shooting, and his attorney said Hasan has been told he has permanent paralysis.
DETROIT (AP) - Black ties and gowns filled a ballroom Saturday in a big-bucks salute to Detroit-style royalty - the King of Motown, the Queen of Soul and the Kid of Rock. Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, along with Aretha Franklin, Kid Rock and Motown's original kid, Stevie Wonder, came to Motown's original hometown for the Motown 50 Golden Gala. The 50th-anniversary event, which fetched $350 and up for a ticket, was a fundraiser for the Motown Historical Museum. The museum was the original home of Motown Records Corp., which Gordy started with an $800 loan.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A spacewalking astronaut put aside the impending birth of his daughter and blazed through his first-ever venture outside the International Space Station on Saturday. Expectant father Randolph Bresnik and Michael Foreman were so far ahead despite their late start and interrupted sleep the night before - false fire and decompression alarms jolted them awake - that their commander handed them extra work.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A court-martial acquitted a former military nurse of murder Saturday after he was accused of giving lethal doses of painkillers to hasten the deaths of three terminally ill patients at the Air Force's largest hospital. Capt. Michael Fontana, wearing his Air Force uniform, showed no emotion as a military judge cleared him of three counts of murder, then collapsed into the arms of weeping family members inside a Lackland Air Force Base courtroom.
NEW YORK (AP) - The shimmering, white glove Michael Jackson wore when he premiered his trademark moonwalk dance in 1983 was auctioned off for $350,000 - plus tax - on Saturday. Winning bidder Hoffman Ma of Hong Kong will pay $420,000, including taxes and fees, for the rhinestone-studded, modified golf glove Jackson wore on his left hand for his moonwalk on Motown's 25th anniversary TV special.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli watched as red-clad Arizona students ringed the sidelines as time ticked down, ready to rush the field. "I saw it and I actually smirked," Masoli said. "It was kind of funny. I wasn't really worried about it."
