AP Network News. I’m John Belmont.
|
|
The grief is almost too much to bear as bulldozers dig mass graves and thousands of tsunami victims are buried in them today in South Asia, here in India, there and in 11 other nations. The official death toll is now standing at nearly 77,000 from Sunday’s quakes and tidal waves. Besides cash, the US is sending troops and ships to help in the devastated region. The ships to deliver fresh water. Andrew Natsios runs the US Agency for International Development. He says clean water is crucial to preventing further death from disease.
|
--- The water and sewage systems are now combined because of the water surges that took place, and the destruction that followed. And as a result, people are drinking sewage water.
|
Being closest to the quake, Indonesia is hurting more than any other nation, and its ambassador to the US is asking for even more aid. Sager Megani reports.
|
--- Soemadi Brotodiningrat says while pledges of help so far from the US and other countries have been heartening, he notes they were based on initial damage estimates. (Perhaps they will do more after assessing the dimension of the disaster.) The ambassador tells AP radio ordinary people have been bringing supplies to the embassy in Washington. They’re all appreciated, including the eggs one person brought. But he says the easiest thing to send to Indonesia right now is money. Sager Megani, Washington.
|
|
The second of two large explosions today in Saudi Arabia’s capital has damaged an emergency troop recruitment center. It reportedly was part of a failed attempt to storm the center.
|
|
Heavy rain in the valleys, heavy snow in the mountains, California getting clobbered for the third straight day.
|
--- Most of the really deep moisture that gave California the heavy rains has been kind of squeezed out by the mountain ranges, so we’re only looking for some light-to-moderate rainfall amounts. But the mountains should see some heavy snow.
|
Mike Eckert of the National Weather Service.
|
|
This is AP Network News.
|
|
Real estate market is still red hot. The National Association of Realtors says low mortgage rates helped sell a record number of previously owned homes last month, nearly seven million, up 2.7%. The group expects strong sales to continue into the new year, and with long-term rates still near all-time lows, chief economist Bob Walters of Quicken Loans agrees.
|
--- Until we see any kind of inflation, it’s likely that that’s going to continue. So I think, you know, our models show that we are going to be between 6.0% and 6.5% on a 30-year fixed throughout 2005.
|
The typical American home is now going for more than $188,000.
|
|
Have an extra $30 million lying around after Christmas? Why not buy Eddie Murphy’s house? The seven-bedroom mansion in New Jersey includes a bowling alley, theater, and a recording studio. The actor has owned the gated estate known as Bubble Hill in Englewood for 18 years but put it on the market just this month.
|
|
-----------------
|
ap20041231
|
| Unknown |
