Pursuing U.S. Aid, G.M. Accepts Need for Drastic Cuts

WASHINGTON — General Motors, increasingly desperate for a federal bailout to stave off financial collapse, told Congress on Tuesday that it was willing to drastically shrink every aspect of its operations to ensure its long-term survival.
On the same day that the industry reported its worst sales month in 26 years, the three Detroit automakers delivered new business plans to lawmakers in the hope of winning support for $34 billion in federal loans.

While the timing was coincidental, the dismal November sales report underscored the perilous financial condition of G.M., the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler.

Their combined loan request was substantially higher than the $25 billion that the three companies had initially hoped to get from Congress two weeks ago.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said on Tuesday that she had spoken with President Bush by phone on Monday about the need to help the auto industry and that she believed some sort of rescue would be provided, either legislatively or by the Bush administration.

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Obama victory prompts US gun rush

In a quiet side street not far from where the Texas freeway system knits the sprawling suburbs of Houston into something like a city centre, business is booming at the Top Gun shooting range.

Recession is not biting here in the oil-rich Energy Capital of the World as it is in the rest of the United States - but that is not the only reason why it is difficult to find a parking space outside Top Gun towards the end of the working day.

America's gun owners are worried that the incoming Obama administration, which is coming to power offering hope and change, is going to mean something rather different for them - restriction and regulation.

So they are rushing to buy certain types of weapons in the dying weeks of the Bush years.

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