Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is pinning his hopes for a turnaround at the Veterans Affairs department on a former corporate executive. Obama plans today to nominate former Procter & Gamble executive Robert McDonald to lead the troubled agency which is beset by reports of long waits for care, some deaths and some cover-ups. The nomination will require Senate confirmation.
VERNON, Ariz. (AP) — A wildfire in eastern Arizona's White Mountains grew a little it but crews battling the blaze are also beginning to win some victories, including successful burnout operations. The fire is up to 9 square miles from 8 a day earlier, but it's also 5 percent contained, up from zero.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The ground phase has begun of a long-awaited offensive against Taliban strongholds near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Nearly half a million residents were evacuated from the tribal region first. The army says it's begun house-to-house searches in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, which has long been a sanctuary for militant groups operating on both sides of the border.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Rescuers are still listening for sounds of survivors in the rubble left by the collapse of an 11-story apartment building that killed at least 19 people in southern India. Two survivors were pulled from the wreckage today. So far, 39 people have been rescued, and police have arrested six construction company officials for alleged criminal negligence and violation of building codes.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASA hopes tomorrow's scheduled launch of a carbon satellite is not a carbon copy of the first attempt in 2009 that crashed into Antarctic water minutes after liftoff. The satellite itself is almost a carbon copy of its predecessor, designed to track carbon dioxide emitted from smokestacks and tailpipes. NASA is using a different booster rocket, the workhorse Delta 2.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
