Yemen’s president agrees to resign

Yemen’s president agrees to resign

SAN’A, Yemen

Yemen’s autocratic leader agreed Wednesday to step down after months of demonstrations against his 33-year rule, pleasing the U.S. and its Gulf allies who feared that collapsing security in the impoverished nation was allowing an active al-Qaida franchise to step up operations. President Ali Abdullah Saleh is the fourth leader to lose power in the wave of Arab Spring uprisings this year, following longtime dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Obama reprieves 2 turkeys for holiday

WASHINGTON

With a wave of his hand, President Barack Obama on Wednesday gave two plump turkeys a Thanksgiving reprieve, noting that without his intervention, “they’d end up next to the mashed potatoes and stuffing.”

The official national Thanksgiving turkey is a 19-week-old, 45-pound bird named Liberty. Its alternate, also spared, is a turkey of the same age and size named Peace.

Medicare chief stepping down

WASHINGTON

The point man for carrying out President Barack Obama’s health-care law will be stepping down after Republicans succeeded in blocking his confirmation by the Senate, the White House announced Wednesday. Medicare chief Don Berwick, a Harvard professor widely respected for his ideas on how to improve the health-care system, became the most prominent casualty of the political wars over a health- care overhaul whose constitutionality will be decided by the Supreme Court.

Death toll from NC shooting reaches 5

GREENSBORO, N.C.

A 15-year old girl shot by her boyfriend’s mother died Wednesday, raising the death toll from the woman’s weekend shooting spree outside Greensboro to five. One other wounded child is on life support.

Makayla Leigh Woods died Wednesday afternoon, Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes said, three days after being shot by 36-year-old Mary Ann Holder, who also shot her two sons, nephew, niece and married ex-lover before killing herself.

Pakistan appoints new envoy to US

ISLAMABAD

The government appointed a liberal lawmaker and rights activist as its U.S. ambassador Wednesday, swiftly replacing an envoy who was forced out amid allegations he sought Washington’s help in trying to rein in Pakistan’s powerful military.

Sherry Rehman, who has faced militant death threats for speaking out against Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws often used to persecute Christians, appeared to be a candidate acceptable both to the army and the weak civilian government.

Judge tosses city’s bankruptcy filing

HARRISBURG

A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday threw out a petition by the city council of Pennsylvania’s debt-choked capital of Harrisburg, saying it had been legally barred by state law from seeking bankruptcy protection and, in any case, had no authority to file it.

Judge Mary D. France issued the ruling after hearing more than two hours of arguments by lawyers as to whether the bankruptcy petition, filed last month by a divided city council, satisfied various legal issues and could move forward despite the objections of the city’s mayor, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, Dauphin County, bond insurers and others.

City council members, who have framed their fight as a battle between Main Street and Wall Street, said the group will decide whether or not to appeal.

Associated Press