DOHA, Qatar An investment company owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has signed a $26 billion (euro17 billion) joint venture with Germany's national railway operator to build a railroad network in the natural gas-rich Gulf sheikdom.

BAGHDAD An Iraqi official says insurgent attacks caused a 4 percent drop in the country's oil exports in October compared to the previous month, but that revenues were up due to higher prices.

COPENHAGEN A Danish official says 65 world leaders so far will attend the Copenhagen climate summit in December and several more have responded positively to invitations.

WASHINGTON A bruising debate on health care awaits the Senate after Thanksgiving now that the historic legislation has cleared a key hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON The number of Americans traveling away from home for Thanksgiving will be up only slightly this year from 2008, according to a report from the AAA auto club.

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama's eight-day trip to Asia produced no tangible wins for the United States, though he is citing talks with Asian allies that he says could help create thousands of job and open new markets for American goods in the future.

WASHINGTON The Senate has begun voting on whether to move ahead on a sweeping health care bill.

YERINGTON, Nev. Peggy Pauly lives in a robin-egg blue, two-story house not far from acres of onion fields that make the northern Nevada air smell sweet at harvest time.

WASHINGTON In a show of unity, Senate Democrats sealed a 60-vote majority needed to advance health care legislation Saturday ahead of an evening showdown with Republicans eager to doom the bill and inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.

A comparison of the health care bills before Congress:

HOUSTON LyondellBasell Industries said Saturday Reliance Industries offered to acquire a controlling interest in the beleaguered chemical company, which is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

HONOLULU On New Year's Eve each year, thousands line up at fish counters across Hawaii to buy blocks of raw tuna, hoping that eating it will bring good luck and prosperity in the new year. This year, the long tradition may get a little more difficult to observe.

WASHINGTON Republicans are seizing on this week's recommendations for fewer Pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care - and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday sharply criticized officials in the ruling Kremlin-backed party for manipulating recent regional votes, saying it must learn to win fairly.

LOS ANGELES California is investigating several companies suspected of bilking churches nationwide of hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraudulent computer leasing schemes, authorities said Friday.

PHILADELPHIA A labor agreement for Philadelphia transit workers has been ratified overwhelmingly by union members.

DALLAS The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said it will again hear arguments in the nearly 15-year legal battle over accusations that Exxon Mobil Corp. loaded abandoned wells with junk, sludge and even explosives to keep other companies from drilling there.

PORTLAND, Ore. The collapse of a Bend real estate development company has resulted in charges against 13 people in what prosecutors say is the largest Oregon fraud case to emerge from the national real estate boom and bust.

DIMOCK, Pa. Pat Farnelli says there's something in the water at her house. The last time she drank it, she says she vomited four times. It's made her children sick, too.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. The state of Wyoming filed a federal lawsuit Friday seeking to block the National Park Service from further restricting snowmobile numbers in Yellowstone National Park.

MESA, Ariz. The publisher of the East Valley Tribune in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa said Friday that a buyer has made an offer that would keep the paper and its Web site in business.

RALEIGH, N.C. State Treasurer Janet Cowell unveiled new rules Friday banning employees from taking gifts from companies that do substantial business with the agency and setting a limit on charitable solicitations.

NEW YORK Former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier told a jury Friday he made mistakes in his troubled bid to turn the French water company into a global media giant, but he never misled shareholders about the risks.

FARMINGTON, Conn. University of Connecticut officials say a plan to merge the UConn Health Center in Farmington with Hartford Hospital is unlikely to win official approval.

BOISE, Idaho Monsanto Co. is installing a water management system at an Idaho phosphate mine the company depends on to make its Roundup weedkiller to stop the leakage of selenium and heavy metals into a tributary of the Blackfoot River.

NEW YORK Moody's Investors Service downgraded ratings for Liberty Media Corp. subsidiary Liberty Media LLC on Friday. The changes come shortly after shareholders approved the formation of a new company out of DirecTV Group Inc. and some of Liberty's entertainment businesses.

NEW YORK "Going Rogue" is going big.

RALEIGH, N.C. North Carolina's state treasurer has unveiled rules banning employees from taking gifts from companies that do substantial business with the agency.

DALLAS Southwest Airlines Co. said Friday it will require uncontested candidates for its board of directors to win a majority among shareholder votes cast to be elected, instead of just a plurality.

CHICAGO Sun-Times Media Group, which was recently sold out of bankruptcy to an investor group, said Friday it named John Barron to the newly created group publisher position and as senior vice president of news and editorial operations.

NEW ORLEANS A Louisiana businessman was charged Friday with engaging in a Ponzi scheme to defraud about 160 investors - mostly elderly people - out of roughly $19.5 million and using some of the money to pay for cars, cruises, sports tickets and a house.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. West Virginia's Public Service Commission has approved a 5 percent rate increase for Hope Gas Inc.

SALT LAKE CITY Overstock.com Inc. said Friday that it received a listing rule violation letter Thursday from the Nasdaq Stock Market related to the recent filing of its third-quarter report.

IOWA CITY, Iowa A former kosher slaughterhouse manager convicted of financial fraud has asked for an acquittal or new trial, saying prosecutors unfairly brought in evidence of immigration violations.

NEW YORK Hershey Co. may make a $17 billion bid for UK candy company Cadbury PLC, topping the recent $16.5 billion hostile offer by Kraft Foods Inc., the Wall Street Journal reports Friday.

CHICAGO For more than two decades, Oprah Winfrey has been the inspirational, change-your-life champion who reigned over daytime television much like Johnny Carson once ruled late night.

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. A billboard showing President Barack Obama wearing a turban has sparked a lot of attention at the suburban Denver used car dealership that put it up.

NEW YORK Investors can't shake their fears that the economy isn't keeping up with the stock market.

WASHINGTON Florida banking regulators on Friday shut down Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida, marking the 124th U.S. bank to succumb this year to the struggling economy and rising loan defaults.

LINCOLN, Neb. The University of Nebraska's governing board on Friday voted not to place tighter restrictions on embryonic stem cell research than those outlined under federal guidelines, which were expanded after President Barack Obama took office.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. More than 15,000 mobile home owners insured by state-backed Citizens Property insurance Corp. will see an 11 percent increase on their insurance policies in 2010.

Stocks fell for a third straight day Friday as a disappointing outlook from computer maker Dell Inc. suggested that an economic recovery could be uneven. The market, which has been shuttling between concerns about the economy and traders' need to find high-yielding investments, is back to worrying about the economy. Demand for safe haven investments like Treasurys and the dollar rose for a second day in response to Dell's outlook and comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who said the ECB plans to start reining in some of its stimulus programs. A rising dollar also hit commodities producers and exporters.

NEW YORK The U.S. is finally becoming a nation of savers. Now if only we could get something for our money.

NEW YORK Online retail brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Friday that it will sell $1.25 billion in senior unsecured notes in a public offering and use proceeds to retire debt and stagger the maturity of its long-term bonds.

Among the stock activity stories for Friday, Nov. 20, from AP Financial News:

CONCORD, N.H. The New Hampshire attorney general's office wants to force a mortgage company that closed suddenly into bankruptcy.

COLUMBUS, Ohio Huntington Bancshares Inc., parent company of Huntington National Bank, said Friday that it will pay $338.9 million for subordinated bank notes tendered for an offer that expired Thursday.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Tennessee's new law allowing people with handgun permits to be armed in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol is unconstitutionally vague, a judge ruled on Friday.

The following recalls have been announced:

OMAHA, Neb. The owners of a Lexington ethanol plant and their insurer are suing a subsidiary of a Houston-based natural gas provider they say is responsible for an explosion and fire that shut down the plant for weeks.