itsjohntime

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:02:08 -0500
TOP STORIES as of 1000 GMT -- 23 December, 2008

CHINA PREPPING TO SEND WARSHIPS AFTER PIRATES
Two Chinese destroyers and a supply ship will set sail for the
Gulf of Aden on Friday to protect Chinese merchant ships from
increasing pirate attacks in the waters off the coast of
Somalia, navy officials said Tuesday.

CHILD PORN STING SNAGS EX-CLINTON AIDE
A lawyer who served in the Clinton administration and more
recently was an advisor to California's lieutenant governor
pleaded guilty to a child porn charge in a San Diego federal
court Monday.

JACKSON 'IN FINE HEALTH,' SPOKESMAN SAYS
Michael Jackson's publicist wants you to know that, despite a
tabloid report to the contrary, the 50-year-old singer "is in
fine health."

REPORT: DUBAI 'SEX-ON-BEACH' MAN RE-ARRESTED
A British man convicted of having sex on a Dubai beach was
re-arrested as he prepared to board a flight back to the UK,
according to media reports.

CHINA SENDS GOODWILL PANDAS TO TAIWAN
Two giant pandas left China's Sichuan province on Tuesday for
their new home in Taiwan in a sign of ongoing improving ties
between the cross-strait neighbors.

GUINEA PRESIDENT LANSANA CONTE DIES
Lansana Conte, the president of Guinea, died Monday evening
after a long illness, reported Le Jour, a national newspaper. He
was 74.

OFFICIAL: PLOT TO KILL BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT FOILED
A top Bolivian government official said Monday that the
country's intelligence services had uncovered a plot to
assassinate President Evo Morales. The official said the plan
was to be carried out by an indigenous person while Morales was
in a crowd.

TALIBAN 'NARCO-TERRORIST' GETS LIFE SENTENCE
A distraught, sobbing Afghan Taliban member begged the court for
mercy, but got none as an unmoved federal judge here Monday
handed down maximum life sentences for convictions on drug
trafficking and narco-terrorism charges.

BUSINESS

ASIAN MARKETS FOLLOW WALL STREET DOWN
Asian markets were universally lower Tuesday after a down day on
Wall Street amid concerns about fourth-quarter corporate
earnings, falling oil prices and ongoing woes in the auto
industry.

SLUMPING SALES, SURGING YEN HIT TOYOTA
Japanese automaker Toyota warned it will post its first
operating loss in almost 60 years. The world's second biggest
car maker blamed a slump in sales and a surge in the value of
the yen.