Stormy Weather: A major winter storm already credited with 8 deaths in the West is moving east just in time to foul Thanksgiving travel. There’s a foot of snow in New Mexico and it’s snowing in Colorado. More than 300 flights were cancelled yesterday at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. Heavy snow is expected in New England with rain further south. The East has already been hit by a cold snap with temperatures in the teens and 20s.

Derailed: Several cars of the New York-bound Amtrak Crescent with 218 people aboard went off the tracks in South Carolina just after midnight. Passengers said they held on as baggage went flying. No serious injuries were reported among the 207 passengers and 11 crew.

World: Anti-government protesters jammed the streets of Bangkok for a second day in a row today, storming the finance and foreign ministries. People are angry over a political amnesty law that would allow the ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return to the country without being tried for corruption. The current prime minister is his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.

• Afghan President Hamid Karzai rejected the advice of his council of elders and said he’s going to wait until after April 5 elections to sign a security agreement with the US. The US says the deal must be signed by the end of December to allow the Pentagon to plan for a continued military presence in Afghanistan. The US and its allies have said that without a signed deal they will pull out just as they did from Iraq.
• World oil prices dropped after the announcement of the deal that limits Iran’s nuclear development. As part of eased sanctions, Iran will be allowed to sell oil.

Cold War: North Korea is mysteriously holding an 85-year-old US Korean War veteran who had taken a tour of the country. Merrill Newman of Palo Alto, Calif. was pulled from the plane Oct. 26 just before departing after his 10-day visit. Newman’s family says they don’t know why he was detained and they’ve heard nothing about his status.

National: Crystal Mangum, the woman who falsely accused Duke lacrosse players of rape,  was found guilty of second-degree murder last week and sentenced to up to 18 years in prison. Mangum, 34 was accused of stabbing Reginald Daye, 46, in early April 2011. He died 10 days later.

Weekend Box: “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” raked in a November record of $161.1 million over the weekend. The movie attracted a balanced demographic of young and old, male and female viewers which convinces Lionsgate they have a killer franchise on their hands.

Bones of Contention: The Vatican for the first time yesterday publicly displayed a handful of bones some church leaders believe to be the remains of St. Peter. The relics were supposedly discovered during 1939 excavations of grottoes where dozens of popes are buried. Diggers found a monument with a casket bearing a Greek legend that said “Petros eni,” or “Peter is here.” One of the workers is said to have stored the bones in a shoebox. But no pope has ever officially declared the bones to be those of St. Peter and some archeologists find it doubtful.

-30-