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AP Top News at 6:42 a.m. EST - November 23

Gaps for consumers in Democrat health care bills

WASHINGTON (AP) - For consumers, the health care bills taking final shape in Congress don't rate close to a perfect 10. The Democratic measures would leave 12 million or more eligible Americans uninsured. Many middle-class families who'd now be required to buy coverage would still find the premiums a stretch, even with government aid. A new federal fund to provide temporary coverage for people with health problems would quickly run out of cash.

Miners' families want answers in China mine blast

HEGANG, China (AP) - Grieving family members demanded answers Monday from mining officials about the underground gas explosion that left at least 104 men dead in northeastern China. The massive blast Saturday in Hegang city in frigid Heilongjiang province erupted at night when some 500 miners were working below ground. Most escaped, but 104 were confirmed dead and an additional four were missing and feared dead, the official Xinhua news agency reported Monday.

Kennedy dispute reveals divide among Catholics

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A bitter dispute over abortion that prompted Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop to ask Rep. Patrick Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties. Bishop Thomas Tobin on Sunday said he made the request because of the Democratic lawmaker's support for abortion rights. The news prompted debate among Catholics around the country and within the bishop's flock in the nation's most Catholic state about whether it was right for Tobin to publicly shame Kennedy for breaking with the church on what its leaders consider a paramount moral issue.

21 Filipinos killed on way to file election papers

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Philippine troops found 21 bodies in the country's restive south after dozens of gunmen on Monday hijacked a convoy of politicians and supporters filing their nominations for next year's elections, officials said. The victims, 13 women and eight men, were found in southern Ampatuan township, five kilometers (3 miles) from where they were taken hostage as they traveled in three vans earlier Monday, regional military commander Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said.

FBI wants public's help in civil rights killings

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Over the last three years, the FBI scoured faded documents, interviewed aging lawmen and tracked down witnesses from killings that occurred decades ago, many of them involving white police officers who shot black men or teenagers. Now, the agency is at a dead end in the search for relatives in at least 33 civil rights-era cases, and the FBI needs the public's help. Agents are appealing for relatives of the victims to come forward, the latest challenge in a three-year-old effort to right historical wrongs.

Indian PM to be feted by Obama at state visit

WASHINGTON (AP) - India has watched with wariness as President Barack Obama'stype:bold,italic; administration has lavished attention on rivals Pakistan and China. Now, Obama is trying to ease Indian worries by honoring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the first state visit of his presidency. India will receive Tuesday's elaborate welcome because the relationship quietly has become one of the most important the United States has. It is seen as crucial to the U.S.-led fight against extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as a counterweight to China and as key to efforts to settle world trade and climate change deals.

Program to help truckers attracts drug smugglers

LAREDO, Texas (AP) - A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begunattracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers. Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the United States. And nine out of 10 of them do so without anyone looking at their cargo.

Study: kids watching hours of TV at home daycare

SEATTLE (AP) - Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday. When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of the electronic baby sitter, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington.

Michael Jackson wins 4 at AMAs; Swift top artist

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The King of Pop is still winning awards and setting records doing it. But while Michael Jackson won a record four posthumous awards, he couldn't beat Taylor Swift for top honors at Sunday night's American Music Awards.

Johnson wins 4th straight NASCAR championship

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) - The nickname "Four-Time" was claimed long ago by Jeff Gordon, leaving Jimmie Johnson in search of a fresh moniker to cap his record-setting fourth consecutive NASCAR championship. His Hendrick Motorsports team had it covered.

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