National News: AP-9thNewsMinute

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r h AP-9thNewsMinute     03-27 0250
^AP-9th NewsMinute<
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^Feeble growth...Oil prices rise...Shiites protest
crackdown...American flights canceled<
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     WASHINGTON (AP) _ The latest assessment of the economy is once
again bleak. The government finds that the gross domestic product
increased at a feeble six-tenths-of-one-percent annual rate in the
final quarter of last year. And economists believe the current
quarter will turn out to be even worse. Some believe the economy
may actually be shrinking now.
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     VIENNA, Austria (AP) _ Oil prices have spiked following the
bombing of a key Iraqi oil pipeline. The bombing is the second one
in a week in the oil port of Basra, where Iraqi forces are fighting
Shiite militias.
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     BAGHDAD (AP) _ Tens of thousands of Shiites have taken to the
streets of Iraq to protest a crackdown on Shiite militias by the
Iraqi government. Iraqi officials report 17 more people have been
killed in overnight fighting between militiamen and Iraqi forces.
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     WHITE HOUSE (AP) _ President Bush is planning on praising the
Iraqi government‘s militia crackdown during a speech in Dayton,
Ohio, today. The White House calling the military action a ``bold‘‘
stand needed by the Iraqi government to establish credibility.
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     DALLAS (AP) _ More travel problems are on the way for American
Airlines passengers. An airline spokesman says more than 130 flight
cancellations are set across the country today as inspections of
its MD-80 aircraft continue. The checks come after an FAA audit.
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     (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

     AP-NY-03-27-08 0853EDT<