JoltNews.com Bringing daily world events to your desktop. Today is December 16 2006.
News
N'west Storm Kills 6, Cuts Power to 1.5M

©  The Associated Press
Residents of the Pacific Northwest struggled to stay warm Saturday after the worst windstorm in more than a decade knocked out power to more than 1.5 million homes and businesses and killed at least six people.  more
Police: Man Kills 5, Self in Kansas City
A man killed five people, including three of his children, before fatally shooting himself Saturday morning, and a fourth child was in the hospital with life-threatening wounds, police said.  more
Spacewalkers to Look at Solar Array

©  The Associated Press
NASA started powering down parts of the international space station Saturday, hours before spacewalking astronauts were to resume rewiring the orbiting outpost and trying to get a stubborn solar array folded up.  more
Police: Tank Johnson Present at Shooting
Troubled Chicago Bears nose tackle Tank Johnson was at a nightclub early Saturday morning when a man who called himself the player's bodyguard was shot to death, authorities said.  more
Sen. Johnson Resting, Remains Critical

©  The Associated Press
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., was in critical condition Saturday and resting from brain surgery. In South Dakota, the governor said people were standing behind the stricken lawmaker and he urged patience during Johnson's recovery.  more
Market Reports
Judge Approves 2 Comair Contract Deals
A federal judge has approved agreements between Comair and its flight attendants and mechanics on union concessions the airline says it must have to emerge from bankruptcy.  more
Spain Suspends Air Madrid's License
Spain's Civil Aviation authority suspended the flying license of Air Madrid airline early Saturday, hours after the troubled airline announced it was halting its operation, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in Spain and abroad.  more
U.S. Firm to Build China Nuke Reactors

©  The Associated Press
China and the United States on Saturday signed an agreement that paves the way for Westinghouse Electric Co. to build four civilian nuclear reactors in China, a multibillion dollar coup for U.S. business over French and Russian competitors.  more
Phone, Cable Companies to Battle in 2007

©  The Associated Press
Vonage tanked after its IPO. It's not entirely clear anymore why eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype. And the long-awaited rollout of advanced TV services based on Internet technologies has resembled the drip of a faucet.  more
Chrysler CEO Tackles Sales, Marketing
The head of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group is assuming personal responsibility for the automaker's sales and marketing division.  more
Entertainment
Publisher Behind O.J. Simpson Book Fired

©  The Associated Press
Extra! Extra! The press release arrived with a headline worthy of Rupert Murdoch: HARPERCOLLINS TERMINATES JUDITH REGAN. So ended, at least for now, one of the book world's most profitable and provocative careers.  more
ABC Pulls `Day Break' and Shatner Show
ABC has turned off the lights for "Day Break" and "Show Me the Money." The low-rated series airing back-to-back on Wednesday have been pulled by the network.  more
Winfrey, ABC Working on 2 Reality Shows

©  The Associated Press
Oprah Winfrey is expanding her media reach into reality television. Her production company is working on two prime-time series for ABC, tentatively titled "Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give" and "Your Money or Your Life," ABC and Harpo Productions announced Friday.  more
Friends Present Bail for Ono's Driver

©  The Associated Press
Friends presented a $250,000 bail package Friday for Yoko Ono's driver, jailed after he was accused of threatening to have John Lennon's widow killed unless she gave him $2 million.  more
Anastasio Charged With Drugged Driving

©  The Associated Press
Guitarist Trey Anastasio was accused of driving under the influence of drugs in an upstate New York town near the Vermont border early Friday.  more
Health & Medical
State Pandemic Preparations Vary Widely

©  The Associated Press
Trailers packed with cots and medical supplies are parked in secret locations around Colorado, ready for doctors to open makeshift hospitals in school gyms if a flu pandemic strikes.  more
Survivors Recall Horror of Flu Pandemic

©  The Associated Press
At the height of the flu pandemic in 1918, William H. Sardo Jr. remembers the pine caskets stacked in the living room of his family's house, a funeral home in Washington, D.C.  more
Germ Outbreak Reported at L.A. Hospital
A hospital has closed its neonatal and pediatrics intensive care units to new admissions after a potentially fatal bacterium sickened seven children, including an infant who may have died from the infection, officials said.  more
300 Say They Got Ill at Olive Garden

©  The Associated Press
More than 300 people say they became ill, and at least three have been hospitalized, after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant last weekend, health officials said Friday.  more
FDA OKs Celebrex As Treatment for Kids
Pfizer Inc. won federal approval Friday to market the painkiller Celebrex as a treatment for the tens of thousands of children with a devastating form of arthritis.  more
Current Weather
12/16/2006
New York46 °F
High Tech
Computer Worm Attacks Business PCs
A computer worm is attacking some business PCs through a flaw in antivirus software by Symantec Corp., a security company warned Friday.  more
New NYC Taxis to Have TV and Tracking
New York's next generation of cabs is coming _ complete with TV. The new features _ designed to help riders pass the time, pay the fare and even find their lost umbrellas _ are expected to start hitting the streets within two weeks.  more
Amazon Countersues IBM Over Patents
Amazon.com Inc. denies it violated IBM Corp. patents in building its massive retail Web site, and alleges instead that IBM infringed on Amazon's technology to beef up its own offerings.  more
Phone, Cable Companies to Battle in 2007

©  The Associated Press
Vonage tanked after its IPO. It's not entirely clear anymore why eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype. And the long-awaited rollout of advanced TV services based on Internet technologies has resembled the drip of a faucet.  more
Senior AOL Executives Said to Be Leaving
Three senior executives are leaving AOL following a recent shake-up that brought in a veteran NBC executive as the online company's new chief executive, two people familiar with the matter said Friday.  more
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