China: Nine attackers were killed in western China as they tried to storm a police station in the province of Xinjiang. Two police officers also were killed. The assailants were reported to be armed only with knives and axes. Just two weeks ago Chinese police arrested five people from Xinjiang believed to have been involved with a suicide attack that left five dead in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The Beijing suspects are Uighur separatists.

Philippines: US Navy helicopters are being mobbed by thirsty and hungry villagers as aid is delivered to remote areas hit by Typhoon Haiyan. A British aircraft carrier arrived offshore today to join the effort. Philippine President Benigno Aquino said, “Our main problem now is feeding 1.4 million people every day.” At least 3,974 people are dead and and1,186 reported missing.

Syria: Bashar al-Assad’s army has been beating back the rebels in recent weeks, putting the government in a better position for proposed peace talks. The army is reclaiming territory that has been reduced to rubble. The government and opposition forces both have said they are willing to talk peace, but the rebels are divided among themselves, making them weaker in battle and potentially at the bargaining table.

Pakistan: The government plans to put former President Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason for declaring a state of emergency and suspending the constitution in 2007.  Musharraf could face the death penalty if convicted. The interior minister said, “Gen. Musharraf is accountable to the nation and the constitution.”

National: Seattle’s Boeing aircraft company announced record deals worth $95 billion at the Dubai air show today. Dubai’s Emirates airline bought 150 planes for $76 billion. Boeing is going head to head with the European Airbus, which sold $10 billion worth of passenger jets to Japan last month.

• ØPrinceton University has been given clearance to import a European vaccine not approved in the US to fight a meningitis outbreak. The New Jersey University with 7,900 students has reported 7 cases this year. Six of those who got sick have been students and one was a visitor.
• ØThe CIA and Pentagon are trying to block the State Department from approving the construction in the US of nine GPS monitoring stations for the Russian global satellite positioning system. The CIA and Defense believe that in addition to aiding with global positioning, the domed structures will also serve as Russian spy stations.

The Obit Page: Britain’s Nobel Prize winning novelist Doris Lessing has died at age 94. Lessing’s best-known works are The Golden Notebook, Memoirs of a Survivor and The Summer Before the Dark. Born in Iran, she grew up in Rhodesia and later moved to England. She won the Nobel in 2007 when she was 88.

What’s the Beef?: Rocker Joan Jett was bounced from her spot on the South Dakota float in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York. Some of the state’s cattle ranchers were unhappy because Jett is a vegetarian and active with PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Jett will be assigned to another float and PETA is glad to have the publicity.

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