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Obama job focus on infrastructure

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama says infrastructure needs and green energy technologies will be at the heart of his job creation program.

Speaking Saturday during the weekly Democratic Party radio address, Obama said he will task his economic team with developing new jobs by rebuilding the nation's crumbling roads and schools and by investing in alternative energy technologies, like solar and wind power, to wean the United States off imported oil, the Washington publication The Hill reported.

Noting that 1.2 million U.S. jobs had been lost this year, Obama warned "we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions," and said "it's likely to get worse before it gets better.

"We'll be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy," Obama said.

"We'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels; fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead."

U.S. Muslims denounce al-Qaida insult

NEW YORK, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. Muslim leaders say racially charged statements issued by al-Qaida against U.S. President-elect Barack Obama are "an insult."

Spiritual leaders of New York City's black Muslim community have denounced an anti-Obama diatribe issued by al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which he said Obama fit the late Malcolm X's definition of a "house Negro," CNN reported Saturday.

"We find it insulting when anyone speaks for our community instead of giving us the dignity and the honor of speaking for ourselves," the Muslim leaders said in a statement read during a news conference at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center in New York Friday.

Zawahiri's 11-minute audio message denounced Obama and other African-American U.S. leaders such as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and former secretary Colin Powell for not being enough like 1960s Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, who used the term "house Negro" to insult blacks who catered to white people.

Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 after leaving the Nation of Islam movement two years earlier, although he remained a devout Muslim.

"As Muslims and as Americans, we will never let terrorist groups or terror leaders falsely claim to represent us or our faith," the Council on American-Islamic Relations told CNN.

Board may determine Minn. Senate winner

ST. PAUL, Minn., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- It appears likely the winner of Minnesota's U.S. Senate race recount will be determined by the State Canvassing Board, analysts say.

Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman Saturday held a slim 120-vote lead over Democratic challenger Al Franken with 61 percent of the race's 2.9 million votes recounted by hand. But 1,525 ballots have been challenged by the candidates, making it likely that Minnesota's five-member elections canvassing board -- which will rule on the disputed ballots -- could hold the key to the election, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

The Canvassing Board includes Democratic Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and four state judges, including chief Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Eric Magnuson, a former law partner of GOP Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Ritchie told the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis that 75 percent of the recount was to have been completed by Friday night. He said the Canvassing Board would meet Wednesday to discuss what to do about a request by Franken to consider rejected absentee ballots and count them if it turns out they were improperly rejected.

Ramsey County (St. Paul) Election Manager Joe Mansky told the Star Tribune there was a spike in contested ballots during Friday's recount.

Mother of three loses hands and feet

NEW YORK, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A New York woman says she is suing Brooklyn Hospital Center for allegedly failing to treat an infection that led to the amputation of her feet and hands.

Tabitha Mullings, 32, a mother of three, was released from the hospital Friday to begin physical therapy at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation In Manhattan, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

"People told me it was cold outside, but I just wanted to feel the air and the sun on my face," Mullings told the Daily News.

Mullings' ordeal began in mid-September when she went to the center's emergency room and doctors diagnosed her pain as caused by kidney stones, gave her painkillers and sent her home, said her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.

When her pain intensified the next day, Mullings' fiance rushed her back to the hospital, where she allegedly then was treated for a blood infection choking circulation to her hands and feet, Rubenstein said.

When the infection worsened, doctors amputated both of Mullings' feet and hands, Rubenstein said, adding Mullings, who also was left blind in one eye, now will undergo a long regimen of rehabilitation and counseling.