Arafat's doctors rule out cancer after new tests

Arafat's doctors rule outcancer after new tests
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Yasser Arafat's doctors have ruled out cancer in the Palestinian leader after receiving the results of a new blood test, a member of his medical team said today.
The diagnosis came a day after a hospital official said Arafat was suffering from a large gallstone. The gallstone, while extremely painful, is not life threatening and can be easily treated, the official told The Associated Press.
Arafat continued to rest today and broke his Ramadan fast for a second straight day, aides said.
After doctors diagnosed the gallstone Tuesday, Arafat underwent more medical tests at the urging of his doctors.
A member of the medical team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a blood test showed no signs of cancer.
Teen sniper admits killing,gets life without parole
SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. -- Teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo avoided the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole under a plea deal for one of 10 slayings that terrorized the Washington area in October 2002.
Malvo, 19, could still face a death penalty prosecution for other slayings.
He was sentenced Tuesday for the Oct. 11, 2002, killing of businessman Kenneth Bridges. He also received a life sentence for the shooting of Caroline Seawell on Oct. 4, 2002. She recovered from her wounds.
Malvo already is serving a life sentence for another one of the killings, and dropped his appeals of that conviction in connection with Tuesday's plea bargain.
Record snowfall in Calif.
SAN FRANCISCO -- A powerful Alaskan storm descended on California, flooding homes, cutting power to thousands and dumping record-setting snow in the Sierra Nevada.
A weather station in the central Sierra run by the University of California-Berkeley reported Tuesday that 48 inches of snow had fallen there this month, the most for October since record-keeping began at the site in 1945. The previous record was 36 inches in October 2000.
Many Sierra ski resorts were reporting their earliest openings in years.
"It's snowing like a son of a gun," said Norm Sayler, owner of Donner Ski Ranch at 7,200-foot Donner Summit.
Mentally ill can't vote
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A federal judge declined Tuesday to allow a mentally ill man to vote in next week's election but agreed to hear his challenge later to a Missouri law that denies voting rights to some who are mentally ill.
U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith said presuming the man is competent to vote is risky and "any outcome that permits a potentially invalid ballot to be cast should be avoided."
Steven Prye said he moved to St. Louis from Illinois earlier this year and tried to register to vote, but wasn't allowed because he has a court-appointed guardian in Illinois. A court is considering whether to appoint one for him in Missouri.
Under the Missouri Constitution and state law, those who have a guardian because of "mental incapacity" cannot vote and can face criminal charges if they do.
Trapped toddler rescued
NAGAOKA, Japan -- A 2-year-old boy was rescued today after surviving for four days buried in a landslide from the powerful quake that ravaged northern Japan over the weekend.
Rescuers also pulled Yuta Minagawa's mother, Takako Minagawa, 39, from the wreckage, but doctors later announced she had died. A daughter, 3-year-old Mayu, was still buried and her condition was uncertain.
The family's white van was swept away in a wave of boulders and earth that pulverized the hillside road they were on when a 6.8-magnitude quake ripped across rural Niigata prefecture on Saturday, killing at least 31 people.
Just the right weight
ESSEXVILLE, Mich. -- Oh, thank heaven: 7-Eleven employee Erin Kappen got a bonus for having a baby that weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces.
Kappen cashed in on her son, Parker John VanWormer, who was born Oct. 4. She got a check for $711 from Garb-Ko Inc., which operates the 7-Eleven store where she has worked part time for 18 months.
Saginaw-based Garb-Ko pays the $711 bonus to any employee giving birth to a 7-pound, 11-ounce baby. It operates 90 stores in Michigan, nine in Indiana and eight in Ohio.
Kappen, 22, of Bay City, said she hoped to use the gift money to open a bank account for Parker and pay some bills.
Associated Press