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AP Top News at 5:25 a.m. EST - November 27

Rush starts as holiday shopping season revs up

The nation's retailers are ushering in the traditional start of the holiday shopping season with expanded hours and deep discounts on everything from toys to TVs to lure crowds of shoppers. A number of stores, including Walmart and many Old Navy locations, opened on Thanksgiving, hoping to make the most of the extra hours. Toys R Us opened most of its stores at midnight Friday.

Dubai woes hit world stocks again; Asia down most

LONDON (AP) — World stock markets tumbled further Friday amid fears about the fallout from Dubai's debt problems. Sentiment among investors has been hit hard by Wednesday's news that Dubai World, a government investment company with debts totaling around $60 billion, has asked creditors if it can postpone its forthcoming payments until May. That has stoked fears of a potential default and contagion around the global financial system, particularly in emerging markets.

Was president in danger from dinner crashers?

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Secret Service maintains that President Barack Obama was never in danger at a state dinner after an uninvited Virginia couple got through security, but it wouldn't comment on whether anyone is screened for radiological or biological weapons. Edwin Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman, said Thursday the agency doesn't discuss the levels of security screening at the White House.

Food banks go high-tech to feed the hungry

SEATTLE (AP) - Food banks across the country are undergoing a high-tech revolution, adopting sophisticated databases, bar coding, GPS tracking, automated warehouses and other technologies used in the food industry that increasingly supplies their goods. It's a long way from handing out macaroni and canned soup from a church basement.

Pirates pitcher digs spikes into farming policy

WASHINGTON (AP) — An e-mail requesting an internship arrived at the Agriculture Department this summer with an impressive resume: Princeton University degree in operations research and financial engineering, 3.8 college GPA, 1520 SATs. Ross Ohlendorf didn't mention his 95 mph sinking fastball, but it probably wouldn't have hurt his chances. Department officials were impressed that the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher wanted to work for them in the offseason.

Pinetop Perkins' 80-year career still going

CLARKSDALE, Miss. (AP) - Noisy crowds in smoky bars don't bother 96-year-old bluesman Pinetop Perkins. It's all part of his job. Most nights, after he snuffs out his menthol cigarette, Perkins slides onto the piano bench in some club and eases into a wail about hard times and treacherous women.

In tobacco-loving Va., bars to quit cold-turkey

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The bluish haze that has hung over the Third Street Diner's bar and booths for decades finally lifts next month as a new anti-smoking law takes hold in Virginia, a huge shift for a state whose tobacco habit dates to the Jamestown settlement some 400 years ago. Starting Dec. 1, Virginia will join dozens of other states that ban smoking in restaurants. Restaurants in Virginia will be allowed to have a smoking area only if they segregate smokers into rooms with ventilation systems separate from those that heat and cool nonsmoking patrons.

2 rescued earlier at site of Utah cave tragedy

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The medical student who died in a Utah cave was the third spelunker in recent years to get stuck in the same tiny crevice but the only one die — an outcome that devastated the dozens of rescuers who worked for more than a day to save him. John Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park, died early Thursday morning nearly 28 hours after he got stuck in Nutty Putty Cave, a popular spelunking site south of Salt Lake City. It was the first known fatality since cavers began exploring the 1,500-foot cave's narrow passageways in the 1960s, cave access manager Michael Leavitt said.

Broncos end 4-game skid with 26-6 win over Giants

DENVER (AP) - Four weeks after getting ripped for taunting opponents during warmups, Denver coach Josh McDaniels was caught on TV cursing at his bumbling Broncos. This time, he was the object of an apology from the NFL Network instead of league-wide criticism for jawing with San Diego's linebackers. Oh, and the Broncos finally won a game again, beating the New York Giants 26-6 on Thursday night.

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