ARIZONA
Power cut for U.S. Southwest, MexicoAn employee at a power substation in southwest Arizona likely caused an outage that left more than 2 million people without electricity across the Southwest and northern Mexico. Power officials said the employee was carrying out an unspecified procedure at a substation in North Gila.
MAINE
'Squaw' erased from all public place namesThe word "squaw" has finally disappeared from the names of all public places in Maine 11 years after state law aimed to wipe the word deemed offensive by Indians off maps. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names this summer approved name changes for a half-dozen locations in northern Maine's Aroostook County that still contained a variation of the word "squaw."
CALIFORNIA
Breach at Stanford exposed patients' dataA medical privacy breach at Stanford University's hospital in Palo Alto led to the public posting of medical records for 20,000 emergency room patients on a commercial website for nearly a year, the hospital confirmed.
FLORIDA
NASA delays launch of moon missionHigh winds at Cape Canaveral forced NASA to postpone the launch of its GRAIL mission to the moon. NASA said the next two launch opportunities will be on Friday morning. The two spacecraft that comprise the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission are scheduled to arrive at the moon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and then begin mapping the moon's gravitational field, allowing scientists to better calculate the composition of its crust, mantle and core.
GERMANY
Two men arrested in bomb plotTwo men were arrested in Berlin on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. The men, a 24-year-old German of Lebanese descent and a 28-year-old from Gaza, had obtained chemicals that could be used to build explosives, according to a police spokesman. The impending anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has heightened concerns about terrorism in recent days. German officials are also preparing for the arrival of Pope Benedict later in the month. But the police did not link the arrests to those events.
SOMALIA
Soldier kills six at food center in capitalSix Somalis were shot dead by a soldier as families scrambled for food aid in the capital of Mogadishu, witnesses said. Families had stood in line for hours before finally rushing guards and carrying off food aid, said witness Sharif Haji Hassan. He said the guards tried to beat them back with rifle butts but then opened fire. Some shot into the air, but one soldier fired into the crowd, he said. NEWS SERVICES
