USA
Although American incomes rose by a brisk 0.5 percent in September, consumer spending climbed just 0.1 percent, according to Commerce Department figures released Monday. Spending dipped somewhat for nondurable goods such as food and clothes.
About 14,000 US weapons provided to Iraqi security forces since the end of 2003 cannot be accounted for, according to a report released Sunday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The missing weapons, which constitute about 4 percent of those sent to Iraq, include machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles, and others.
Firefighters battling a massive wildfire northwest of Palm Springs, Calif., had it 85 percent contained by Sunday night, according to officials, who suspect arsonists of starting the four-day, 40,000-acre inferno.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Monday it is closing a plant in Tyler, Texas, three weeks after workers went on strike to protest 1,100 anticipated job cuts. Goodyear, which is based in Akron, Ohio, wants to exit the private-label tire business as part of plans to reduce costs by more than $1 billion by 2008.
US trade officials said Monday they're nearing a bilateral deal with Russia that would remove one of the biggest remaining hurdles to the latter's 13-year quest to join the World Trade Organization.
After a month of student and faculty protests, the board of trustees at Gallaudet University for the deaf in Washington voted Sunday to revoke its decision to hire Jane Fernandes as the school's new president. Protesters argued that she was ineffective while serving as Gallaudet's provost.
Paid newspaper circulation continued its slide, falling in the six-month period ending in September by 2.8 percent for US dailies and 3.4 percent for Sunday editions, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
At a press conference in San Diego Monday afternoon, US Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) of California was expected to announce plans to explore a presidential run, the Associated Press reported before the Monitor went to press. Hunteris a 13-term incumbent and the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
