Nation and World

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A gunman opened fire Friday in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, killing one person and injuring five others.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The unemployment rate has hit double digits for the first time since 1983 — and is likely to go higher.

ATLANTA (AP) — At the height of the nationwide salmonella outbreak nearly a year ago, FBI agents raided two peanut plants and carried away boxes of evidence. FDA inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaky roof. Then, Congress revealed e-mails from the peanut company's top executive that seemed to suggest the pursuit of profits over ensuring public safety.

PARIS (AP) — Despite signs of an economic revival gathering pace around the globe, the millions of people laid off during the worst recession in 70 years are unlikely to see relief any time soon as joblessness is still climbing in many of the world's largest economies.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A suburban Chicago man is reportedly one of the 13 people killed in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas.

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A soldier opened fire at a U.S. Army base in Texas on Thursday, unleashing a stream of gunfire that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and apprehended two other soldiers suspected in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.

NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers, looking to outfit themselves for cooler weather and enticed by an improving economy, spent a little more in October, handing the retail industry its second consecutive monthly sales gain after more than a year of declines.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billed as a way for the government to put more fuel-efficient vehicles on highways, the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program mostly involved swaps of old Ford or Chevrolet pickups for new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.

CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama's top health chief is urging states and communities to help enroll more uninsured children in government health insurance programs.

BERLIN (AP) — General Motors Co.'s decision to scrap the sale of European subsidiary Opel raised new uncertainty Wednesday over the unit's future, astonishing politicians in Germany and Russia and prompting workers to plan walkouts in protest.

WASHINGTON (AP) — JPMorgan Chase&Co. is paying more than $700 million to settle federal regulators' charges it made unlawful payments to friends of public officials to win municipal bond business in Jefferson County, Ala.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that pigs in a commercial herd in Indiana havetested positive for swine flu, making it the first time the virus has been found in such hogs.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Cecelia Burnett and Ann Swanson had already set their wedding date. When they joined about 1,000 other gay marriage supporters for an election night party in a Holiday Inn ballroom, they hoped to celebrate the vote that would make it possible.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An ebullient Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele asserted Wednesday that GOP victories in governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia demonstrate "a transcendent party" on the move again. Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine said that nothing about the election returns amounted to a repudiation of President Barack Obama.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bernard Madoff's longtime auditor pleaded guilty to securities fraud charges Tuesday, saying he failed to do his job to verify the disgraced money manager's financial records but did not know Madoff was running history's biggest Ponzi scheme.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months spent criticizing Democrats' health overhaul plans, House Republicans have produced a draft proposal of their own. It's much shorter and focuses on bringing down costs rather than extending coverage to nearly all Americans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate Tuesday on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, protesting that the bill's costs have not been fully examined. The action put a spotlight on the difficulties Democratic leaders face in moving climate legislation this year.

CHICAGO (AP) — As Democratic leaders in Washington try to round up votes to pass health care reform legislation, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris on Monday stuck by his demand for a public option, calling any provision that would let states opt out not as strong.

"The War Room" chronicled Bill Clinton's political operation in 1992, adding a phrase to the political lexicon in the process. "Journeys With George" captured the oddities of a national campaign on board George W. Bush's airplane in 2000. The makers of "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama," wouldn't mind the same status.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Republicans, an election win of any size Tuesday would be a blessing. But victories in Virginia, New Jersey or elsewhere won't erase enormous obstacles the party faces heading into a 2010 midterm election year when control of Congress and statehouses from coast to coast will be up for grabs.

A Massachusetts tribe says construction of the nation's first offshore wind farm would destroy its religion.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a "solidly profitable" 2011.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Coming to a store near you: Bob Marley video games, shoes ... snowboards?

CHATHAM, N.J. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest who was stabbed to death in his rectory was remembered Saturday as a "quiet voice of peaceful love" at his burial Mass in northern New Jersey.

WASHINGTON – Leaves swirl. Autumn's chill is in the air. It must be time to set the clock back.

WASHINGTON (AP) — They may not like it, but many House liberals look ready to accept a compromise health care bill, putting Democratic leaders well on the way to delivering on President Barack Obama's call for overhaul.

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of people on any given day will die, develop the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome or have spontaneous abortions, and that doesn't necessarily mean that their swine flu vaccination shot was to blame, a new study says.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came face-to-face Friday with Pakistanis' simmering anger over U.S. aerial drones firing missiles in their country.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks logged their best day in three months as investors rushed into the market on word the economy grew faster than expected during the summer.

PEORIA (AP) — An al-Qaida sleeper agent who admitted having contact with the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Thursday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gunman shot and wounded two men in the parking garage of a North Hollywood synagogue early Thursday and Jewish schools and temples alerted in case the attack wasn't isolated.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in two years, fueled by government-supported spending on cars and homes. It's the strongest signal yet that the economy has entered a new, though fragile, phase of recovery and that the worst recession since the 1930s has ended.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of struggle, House Democrats unveiled sweeping legislation Thursday to extend health care coverage to millions who lack it and create a new option of government-run insurance. A vote is likely next week on the plan patterned closely on President Barack Obama's own.Democrats issued a statement saying their measure "lowers costs for every patient" and would not add to federal deficits. They put the cost of coverage at under $900 billion over 10 years, a total that evidently didn't include additional spending.

DETROIT – Like the rundown houses and shuttered storefronts in his Detroit neighborhood, bleakness abounds in LeRoy Taylor’s future.

WASHINGTON — What is $1.42 trillion?