Senior issues make way into presidential race
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - President Bush and Sen. John Kerry vied for the senior vote Tuesday, swapping charges over Social Security and a looming shortage of flu vaccine two weeks before Election Day.
The two rivals for the White House focused on domestic issues as Vice President Dick Cheney raised the terrifying specter of terrorists attacking U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.
"You've got to get your mind around that concept," he said, suggesting Kerry couldn't cope with the threat.
2.6 million doses of flu vaccine to arrive in January
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal health officials said Tuesday that 2.6 million additional doses of flu vaccine will be available in January, far fewer than the 48 million lost to contamination at a British manufacturing plant. The shipment also arrives after the date the government recommends for vulnerable Americans to have had their shots.
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At least one dead after heavy rains drown South
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - Strong storms continuing to surge across the South dumped more than 5 inches of rain in Tennessee on Tuesday, causing flash floods and at least one death.
A day after tornados destroyed homes in Arkansas and Alabama and left three dead in Missouri, heavy rain caused a Tennessee driver's vehicle to hydroplane, jump a guardrail and overturn. Police said the woman died instantly.
Social Security to increase; Medicare premiums rise
WASHINGTON (AP) - More than 47 million Americans will get a 2.7 percent increase in their Social Security checks starting in January, meaning an additional $25 per month for the typical retiree. But almost half of that gain will be gobbled up by a record increase in Medicare premiums.
The cost of living adjustment, or COLA, announced Tuesday by the Social Security Administration will be the largest percentage gain since a 3.5 percent increase in 2001. The increase last January was 2.1 percent.
Rabbis tell Israeli soldiers to stay in Gaza Strip
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's army chief of staff Tuesday condemned a call from scores of rabbis who urged observant soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate Jewish settlements under next year's planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip.
The statement by Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, broadcast on local media, reflected army officials' growing concern that a significant number of soldiers would heed the rabbis' call, causing a crisis in the army.
4 dead, 80 wounded in Baghdad mortar attack
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Gunmen seized the head of CARE International's operations in Iraq - a woman who has worked on behalf of Iraqis for three decades - as the British government on Tuesday weighed a politically volatile American request to transfer soldiers to dangerous areas near the capital.
Elsewhere Tuesday, a mortar attack killed at least four Iraqi National Guard soldiers and wounded 80 at a base north of Baghdad.
An American contractor also died when mortar shells crashed onto a U.S. base in the Iraqi capital. And three car bombs exploded in the northern city of Mosul, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding three.
Mormons issue statement condemning gay marriage
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Tuesday issued what appeared to be its most specific statement against gay marriage.
The nearly 150-word statement from the First Presidency says only men and women should be married, and "any other sexual relations, including between persons of the same gender, undermine the divinely created institution of family."
The Mormon church said in July it supported the idea of a constitutional amendment against gay marriage, but wouldn't speak specifically to Utah's.
The new statement could be a late push to sway Utah voters who will consider an amendment banning gay marriage on Nov. 2, though the church declined to elaborate on its motives.
