Gordon Brown Says, 'I'm Sorry My Writing's So Bad': 'Mortified'

A 'mortified' Gordon Brown has been forced to apologise to the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan for 'any unintended mistake' after he spelt her son's name wrong in a letter of condolence. The Prime Minister telephoned Jacqui Janes yesterday after learning of her distress over the handwritten letter, sent after her son Jamie, 20, of the 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards, was killed by an explosion on October 5. In their conversation, Mr Brown said he had assured Mrs Janes that he meant no offence by his gaffe.

Personal apology: Gordon Brown telephoned Jacqui Janes - pictured holding a photo of her son Jamie, who was killed in Afghanistan - after misspelling the soldier name in a letter of condolence

Lindsey Graham On Health Care: 'House Bill Dead On Arrival!'

A government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate. They're locked in a battle with liberals, with the fate of President Barack Obama's signature issue at stake. If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.

"The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said.

BERLIN WALL: Pictures, Videos Of 20th Anniversary

BERLIN WALL: With prayers, music and pomp, Germany on Monday remembered the 20th anniversary of the day the Berlin Wall fell, sending East Germans flooding west and setting in motion events that soon led to the country's reunification.

Berlin Wall

Chancellor Angela Merkel — reunited Germany's first leader to grow up in the communist east — started the day with President Horst Koehler and other leaders at a prayer service at a former East Berlin church that was a rallying point for opposition activists in 1989.

"We remember the tears of joy, the faces of delight, the liberation," Lutheran Bishop Wolfgang Huber told the congregation at the Gethsemane Church.

10 Ways U.S. House Legislation Would Change Health Care

Now that the US House passed the Health Care legislation, many Americans will be wondering how the bill would change US Health Care. Well, not to worry, the following are some of the changes in the way health insurance would work in the United States if the House bill were to finally become law:

U.S. High Court To Resolve Life In Prison For Juvenile Criminals

Joe Sullivan was sent away for life for raping an elderly woman and judged incorrigible though he was only 13 at the time of the attack. Terrance Graham, implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17, was given a life sentence by a judge who told the teenager he threw his life away. They didn't kill anyone, but they effectively were sentenced to die in prison.

Life sentences with no chance of parole are rare and harsh for juveniles tried as adults and convicted of crimes less serious than killing. Just over 100 prison inmates in the United States are serving those terms, according to data compiled by opponents of the sentences.

Now the Supreme Court is being asked to say that locking up juveniles and throwing away the key is cruel and unusual — and thus, unconstitutional. Other than in death penalty cases, the justices never before have found that a penalty crossed the cruel-and-unusual line. They will hear arguments Monday.

DEAL DONE! Landmark U.S. Health Care Reform Bill Passed

The Democratic-controlled House has narrowly passed landmark health care reform legislation, handing President Barack Obama a hard won victory on his signature domestic priority. Republicans were nearly unanimous in opposing the plan that would expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.

The 220-215 vote late Saturday cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress. A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi compared the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later.

Saudi Won't Bar Hajj Pilgrims Over Swine Flu: Abdullah al-Rabeeah

The Saudi health minister said that the kingdom will not bar anyone considered high-risk for swine flu from performing the hajj pilgrimage this year, though he urged countries where pilgrims set out from to take precautions. The hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime, has become a concern for world health officials because the density of pilgrims — with shoulder-to-shoulder contact as they pray — has raised fears of a massive spread of swine flu.

Saudi Arabian Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah is administered a swine flu vaccine during the launch of a swine flu vaccine campaign in Riyadh

The pilgrimage attracts about 3 million people from 160 countries annually and begins this year on Nov. 25, as the winter flu season approaches in the Northern Hemisphere. The H1N1 flu has killed 66 people in Saudi Arabia, and the government invited international experts, including from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, in June to a conference to examine Saudi measures to prevent the spread of the disease during the Muslim pilgrimage.

Obama's New Headache: 10 Percent U.S. Jobless Rate!

For months he had warned it was coming but that didn't ease the political shockwaves for President Barack Obama when unemployment topped 10 percent. A year after his election Obama finds it increasingly difficult to blame the sour economy on George W. Bush or offer reassurances that jobless Americans will soon find work. Never mind that the economy itself grew in the last quarter, that the recession, as measured by the precise formulas used by economists, is over and that the number of jobs lost in October was less than one-third the number of job losses at the start of his presidency.

Now Or Never! Obama Appeals For Health Care Votes

Obama made a last-minute personal appeal to Democrats to pass landmark health care legislation Saturday as the House opened debate on a bill to expand coverage to millions of the uninsured. Emerging from a closed-door meeting with the president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted passage of the bill later in the day, adding, "We will pass health care reform."

"He came here to say, `This is what we said we would do in the campaign. Let's do it,'" Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said after the meeting.

Obama made his trip to the Capitol complex as abortion rights lawmakers voiced anger at a last-minute concession granted to foes of the procedure, who were given a vote on their proposal for stronger restrictions on abortion coverage.

Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo's Book 'Nairobi To Shenzhen'

He is younger and sports close-cropped hair and a gold stud in his left earlobe, but the slim build, the loping gait and the high-set cheekbones give him a striking resemblance to his more famous half brother, President Obama. The half brother of US President Barack Obama, who has kept out of the limelight until now, launched a semi-autobiographical book and announced plans for a full autobiography. His partly fictional novel is entitled Nairobi To Shenzhen .

Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, a resident of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, for the past seven years, said at a press conference in Guangzhou that his book is not about his famous sibling but his own life. Barack Obama and Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo had the same father, Barack Obama Sr., who is described in the book as an abusive man who beat his wife and son.

"President Obama has helped inspire me to come to terms with my past," Ndesandjo said.

Obama's Health Care Bill In U.S. House For A Vote

Obama's landmark health care overhaul moved toward a vote in the House Saturday after anti-abortion lawmakers won a chance to knock out language that would let people who get federal subsidies buy insurance plans that include abortion coverage. Democratic leaders were hopeful they could pass the bill, giving Obama his biggest victory since last November's historic election, no matter how the abortion issue is decided. Obama made a rare Saturday visit to Capitol Hill in an effort to cement a majority to pass the legislation that is certain to be seen as a test of his presidency.

Biography: Malcolm X

Original name Malcolm Little , Muslim name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz.. Born May 19, 1925, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.—died February 21, 1965, New York, New York. African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, who articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the early 1960s. After his assassination, the widespread distribution of his life story—The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)—made him an ideological hero, especially among black youth.