USA
President Bush Monday signed a new nuclear pact with India that the administration expects to deepen its ties with the democratic Asian power. The White House believes that opening the door to sending civilian nuclear fuel and know-how to India will strengthen international nonproliferation efforts, not undermine the spread of weapons, as critics suggest.
A day after the body of a Dallas man was found near the summit of Oregon's Mount Hood, rescue crews were to continue searching Monday for two other seasoned climbers who've been missing for more than a week. Kelly James, the dead climber, was found in a snow cave near where he'd placed an emergency cellphone call to a family member Dec. 10. Blizzard conditions have hindered efforts to find the men.
The US military transferred 18 prisoners held at the Navy's Guantánamo Bay prison, including 13 to Afghanistan and Yemen, to their homelands over the weekend, the Pentagon announced. That reduces the inmate population to about 395, or roughly half what it was when suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives were first detained at the the detention camp in Cuba in 2002.
During the July-September quarter, the US current account deficit, which tracks the flow of goods, services, and investments across borders, shot up 3.9 percent to a record $225.6 billion, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
Family members who lost loved ones in New York on 9/11 signed a 53.5-ton steel beam Sunday that will be used to rebuild the World Trade Center site. The girder will be placed at ground zero this week at the base of the Freedom Tower, the 1,776-foot skyscraper that is scheduled to be completed in 2011.
Apollo Management, a New York-based private equity firm, said it will acquire Realogy Corp., the parent company of the Century 21 and Coldwell Banker real estate businesses, for $6.6 billion.
US robberies soared 9.7 percent in the first half of the year and violent crimes (including murders and robberies) rose 3.7 percent, the FBI said Monday in releasing its semiannual crime statistics. Violent crime was up 2.5 percent in 2005, the largest percentage gain in 15 years.
Texas Tech's Bob Knight has moved to within one victory of tying the record for the most career wins by a Division I men's basketball coach. His teams at Army, Indiana, and Texas Tech have won a combined 878 games during his 41 years on the bench. If the Red Raiders win their next two games, on Dec. 23 and 28, Knight would surpass the mark set by Dean Smith, the retired North Carolina coach.
