ST. PAUL, Minn. — Democrat Al Franken edged ahead of Republican incumbent Norm Coleman on Friday for the first time in Minnesota’s long-running U.S. Senate recount. Franken opened up a slight lead by the end of the fourth day of a state Canvassing Board meeting to decide the fate of hundreds of disputed ballots. The change was notable because Coleman led Franken in election night returns and also held a 188-vote lead before the board took up challenged ballots. But its significance was limited, with the possibility the lead could change again before the long recount ends.
D.C.: More troops for Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has approved the deployment of a combat aviation brigade to Afghanistan early next year, as the military begins a substantial buildup of forces there. The decision will send close to 3,000 additional U.S. forces into the country and will begin to meet an urgent need for combat and transport helicopters, senior defense officials said Friday. They said that further announcements about the deployment of more ground troops — including Army or Marine combat units — are expected early next year.
Millions expected for inauguration
The District of Columbia is preparing for 2.5 million to 3 million people for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration and may close a major freeway that day to make room for tour bus parking, the mayor said Friday. No one knows exactly how many people will come to the city, though officials are expecting “a record crowd,” he said. The city is preparing for the maximum possible number of people who could fill the National Mall and the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route. Officials have said they are expecting about 10,000 tour buses at the inauguration.
Virginia: Drawn porn still illegal
Child pornography is illegal even if the pictures are drawn, a federal appeals panel said in affirming the nation’s first conviction under a 2003 federal law against such cartoons. Dwight Whorley of Richmond is serving 20 years in prison, convicted in 2005 of using a public computer for jobseekers at the Virginia Employment Commission to receive 20 Japanese cartoons, called anime, illustrating young girls being forced to have sex with men.
Florida: Inmates top 100,000
Florida’s prison population has topped 100,000 for the first time, making it only the third state in the nation to break into six digits after California and Texas. The Department of Corrections said Friday the population hit 100,000 Thursday morning and by midnight was at 100,108, according to department computer records. At 100,000, Florida’s prison population roughly equals incarcerating one out of every four residents of Miami or almost all the citizens of Gainesville, home to the University of Florida.
Malaysia: Hijacked crew safe
All 11 Indonesian crew members on board a Malaysian tugboat hijacked by Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden this week are safe and have enough food for a month, Malaysia’s foreign minister said Friday. The pirates got in touch with the tugboat’s owner, Masindra Shipping Pvt. Ltd., by satellite phone to say the vessel was being taken to Somalian waters from near Yemen where it was hijacked Tuesday, he said. He said the pirates told a Masindra representative that “the payment of ransom would be discussed later.”
Egypt: Cable cut disrupts Internet
Egypt suffered a massive Internet outage after cables in the Mediterranean were cut, the Communications Ministry said Friday. Three Internet cables were cut off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily on Friday morning, the ministry said. The cause of the cut was not immediately known. Throughout Egypt, the Internet is almost completely down or working sporadically. The ministry is trying to switch Egypt’s Internet to an alternative route through Asia in the meantime.
Britain: Double-deckers to return
The mayor unveiled plans Friday to bring back the beloved red double-decker Routemaster to London’s streets, but his opponents said the appeal to nostalgia throws pragmatism under the bus. Three years after the buses were all but banished from the city, Mayor Boris Johnson hopes the new versions — whose open back allows passengers to hop on or off — will be up and running by the 2012 Olympics. The last Routemasters were retired from regular service in 2005 in favor of safer and more modern models.
Yemen: German hostages released
Kidnappers on Friday released three Germans abducted in Yemen after the Yemeni government paid a $100,000 ransom and agreed to another demand to release tribesmen from prison, officials and a mediator said. The Germans — an aid worker and her visiting mother and father — arrived in the capital San’a after their release and met with Yemen’s ministers of tourism and interior, Yemeni security officials said. They were kidnapped Monday by tribesmen in a province about 65 miles south of San’a.
From Herald news services
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