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Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:02:09 -0500
TOP STORIES as of 0900 HKT -- 14 December, 2008

OFFICIAL: MUMBAI SUSPECT ASKS PAKISTAN FOR HELP
The only surviving suspect in last month's bombings in Mumbai
has written a letter to the Pakistan High Commission, or
embassy, seeking legal aid, CNN's sister network in India
reported Saturday, quoting a Mumbai police official.
Investigators there say all 10 attackers were from Pakistan.
Pakistani officials, however, have blamed "stateless actors."

23 PIRATES CAPTURED OFF SOMALIA, INDIA SAYS
The Indian navy captured 23 piracy suspects who tried to take
over a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia, Indian
officials said. Included in the seized items were seven AK-47
automatic rifles, three other automatic weapons and 13 loaded
magazines; a rocket-propelled grenade launcher along with
rockets, cartridges and grenades.

BRITAIN TO HELP FUND AFGHAN VOTER REGISTRATION
Britain will help Afghanistan with upcoming elections and has
offered to set up a task force to fight corruption, British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday in Afghanistan.

GATES: AFGHANISTAN WON'T NEED IRAQ TROOP LEVEL
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who arrived in Iraq in a
surprise visit on Saturday, said he doubts U.S. troop presence
in Afghanistan will reach the levels attained in Iraq.

BROWN CONDEMNS TALIBAN 'CHILD BOMBER'
Gordon Brown flew into Afghanistan's violent Helmand province
Saturday as four Royal Marines were killed in a series of
Taliban attacks one of which the British prime minister said was
carried out by a 13-year old suicide bomber. He added that
Britain's 8,100 troops in Afghanistan were preventing a "chain
of terror" sweeping across Europe.

OBAMA NAMES MAN TO TACKLE MORTGAGE CRISIS
President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Shaun Donovan, New York
City's former housing commissioner, to be his secretary of
Housing and Urban Development. Obama used his weekly radio
address to announce the selection. He said HUD is essential in
the effort to address the mortgage crisis, which he said "not
only shakes the foundation of our economy, but the foundation of
the American Dream."

170 ARRESTED IN GLOBAL CHILD PORN PROBE
More than 170 people around the globe have been arrested in a
major operation targeting international child pornographers,
U.S. officials said. The probe and arrests stretched from North
America and Europe to Australia.

U.S. COURTHOUSE KILLER JAILED FOR LIFE
A Georgia judge threw the book at Brian Nichols on Saturday,
giving him four consecutive sentences of life without parole for
a 2005 shooting rampage that started in an Atlanta courthouse.

BUSINESS:

WHITE HOUSE MAY BAIL OUT BIG 3
The Bush administration says it will consider using the money
set aside to help banks and Wall Street to rescue the auto
industry.

STOCKS SLIDE ON U.S. AUTO BAILOUT NEWS
World markets endured fresh punishment Friday as U.S. lawmakers'
rejection of a $14 billion bailout for the ailing Detroit auto
industry, weakening currencies in the U.S. and the UK and the
bleak economic outlook weighed on investors' minds.

EU APPROVES $267B BAILOUT PLAN
European Union leaders meeting in Brussels have approved a
€200 billion ($267 billion) stimulus plan for the 27-nation
bloc's battered economy.