Dems scrub auto help...Wall Street dips...Pirates confronted

Washington (AP) Senate Democrats have scrubbed what was expected to be a showdown vote Thursday on a plan to get U.S.

automakers out of the ditch. Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Treasury secretary already has the power to help but "just doesn't want to."


NEW YORK (AP) Wall Street has continued its dizzy ride down.

Battered by auto industry concerns, the Dow Jones industrial average dipped below 8,000 Wednesday, its worst finish in five and a-half years.

GLENSHAW, Pa. (AP) A suburban Pittsburgh housewife is under arrest, accused of killing an FBI agent who was trying to arrest her husband during a drug-ring roundup. The woman's lawyer says she had called 911 and may have feared for the safety of her children.

LOS ANGELES (AP) A Missouri woman has gone on trial in Los Angeles in what's believed to be the first trial for cyber-bullying. Lori Drew is accused of using L.A.-based MySpace to harass a 13-year-old neighbor, who eventually killed herself.

WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon is defending international efforts to prevent pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia. A spokesman says shippers should step up their own defenses. India's Navy, meantime, says one of its frigates has sunk a pirate "mother ship" that was ferrying raiders to deeper water.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 11-19-08 2149CST | save this article / add to your favorites list