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Senate moves healthcare bill to floor

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate voted Saturday to begin floor debate on an $848 billion healthcare bill backers say would extend coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans.

The procedural move got the minimum 60 votes -- 58 Democrats and two independents -- needed to advance the bill to floor debate, while 39 voted against the move.

The White House praised the vote and thanked senators on behalf of President Barack Obama, who has made healthcare reform his top priority.

"Tonight's historic vote brings us one step closer to ending insurance company abuses, reining in spiraling healthcare costs, providing stability and security to those with health insurance and extending quality health coverage to those who lack it," the White House said in a statement. "The president looks forward to a thorough and productive debate."

The two senators who had been holding out, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, joined fellow Democrats in voting for the move.

But the two senators said the votes should not be taken to mean they agree with the entire bill or would vote for it in its current form.

"Let me be perfectly clear: I am opposed to a new government-administered healthcare plan as a part of comprehensive health insurance reform and I will not vote for the proposal that has been introduced," Lincoln said.

"I have concluded that I believe it is more important that we begin this debate to improve our nation's healthcare system for all Americans, rather than simply drop the issue and walk. That's not what people sent us here to do."

Landrieu said she "decided there are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward but much more work needs to be done."

"My vote today to move forward on this important debate should in no way be construed on how I might vote" on the final bill, she said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada needed at least 60 votes to block a promised Republican filibuster and open debate on the bill, the first step in what is expected to be a long and rocky road for approval of the Democratic Party-backed overhaul of the nation's healthcare system.

A parade of Democratic senators made the case for Reid's bill ahead of the crucial procedural vote, The New York Times reported.

Backers say the plan, which includes a government-run public option, would cost $848 billion over the next decade without increasing the deficit.

The bill would forbid insurance companies to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, tax high-premium policies, increase Medicare payroll taxes and expand Medicaid for low-income people.

"Last year 750,000 Americans filed bankruptcy," Reid said before the procedural vote.

"Over half of those bankruptcies were because of medical expenses. Over half of the people who filed bankruptcy because of medical expenses had health insurance. Don't we need to do something on health insurance reform? Of course we do."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said it is time for "the historic debate to improve and reform our nation's health insurance system."

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky countered that Americans oppose the bill and said it would not live up to its promises.

"Every senator who goes on record saying that we need to proceed to this monstrosity of a bill will, in effect, be voting for higher taxes, higher premiums and cuts in Medicare," McConnell said minutes before the vote.

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China mine blast death kills 87

HARBIN, China, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A gas explosion in an underground coal mine in northeastern China killed at least 87 miners and left 21 trapped in a shaft, officials said.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang rushed to the scene as 156 rescue workers gathered at the Xinxing Coal Mine in Hegang City in Heilongjiang province, about 250 miles east of the provincial capital of Harbin, where they worked on repairing the mine's damaged ventilation system, the state-run Chinese news service Xinhua reported.

The blast happened about 2:30 a.m. Saturday when 528 miners were working underground. Company staff said 420 escaped.

Hegang Mining Bureau Hospital Deputy Director Pan Xiaowen told Xinhua the hospital had received 29 injured miners from the accident. The injured reportedly had burns, fractures and carbon monoxide poisoning.

The destroyed ventilation system, as well as a damaged communication infrastructure, were hampering efforts to reach the miners, who are trapped 1,650 feet underground, China News Agency reported.

Officials said Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group is the owner of the Xinxing Coal Mine.

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Prosecutor: Jail U.S. student for life

PERUGIA, Italy, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Amanda Knox , the U.S. college student charged with killing her housemate, deserves a life sentence, an Italian prosecutor said Saturday.

Giuliano Mignini called Knox "narcissistic, aggressive, manipulative and theatrical" in his closing argument to the court in Perugia, The Guardian reported. He said Knox dealt the fatal blow to Meredith Kercher, 21, and "plunged the knife" into her throat.

Raffaele Sollecito, 25, Knox's former boyfriend, is on trial with her. Another defendant, Rudy Guede, 25, was convicted last year and given 30 years.

Both Knox and Sollecito deny killing Kercher. Knox cried as the prosecutor asked the court to convict her and impose a life sentence.

Knox, 22, of Seattle, and Kercher, from the London suburb of Coulsdon, Surrey, shared a house while studying in Perugia two years ago. Knox was a student at the University of Washington.

Mignini said Knox's reaction to Kercher's death was cold-blooded.

"In particular, we should remember her doing the splits and cartwheels in the police station just after her friend had been murdered," he said.

Knox wept through much of the summation, at one point saying in Italian that Kercher was her friend.

The defense lawyers give their closing arguments Dec. 1.

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Israeli jets strike West Bank

GAZA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Israeli military aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Saturday after a rocket was fired from Palestinian territory into Israel, officials said.

Israeli military officials said two Hamas weapons plants and an arms smuggling tunnel were bombed, The Jerusalem Post reported. Unnamed Palestinian sources said five people were wounded, the newspaper said.

A Kassam rocket had been fired from Gaza into the Shaar Hanege region Saturday morning, causing no casualties or damage. An Israeli military spokesperson said the subsequent air attack was in retaliation.

The back-and-forth attacks came as Hamas said it had reached a deal with other terrorist groups in Gaza to cease firing rockets at the western Negev, the Post said.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad said the decision had been made to avoid Israeli retaliatory attacks but that if Israeli soldiers entered the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants would be given "free rein to respond."

The Israeli prime minister's office responded that Hamas would "be judged by its actions, not its words."

Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres was to head to Cairo Sunday to confer with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, Iran and kidnapped soldier Staff Sgt. Gilad Schalit.

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Hasan, in hospital hearing, ordered detained

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood became a pretrial detainee Saturday after a hospital bedside hearing, his lawyer said.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is in intensive care at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. John P. Galligan, the retired Army lieutenant colonel representing him, said Hasan is paralyzed from the chest down, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

The news media were barred from the hearing, but Galligan talked to reporters outside Fort Sam Houston. Military officials have kept a tight lid on information, refusing even to name the officers prosecuting the case.

The ruling changing Hasan's status from restricted patient to pretrial detainee could allow the Army to move him out of the hospital, Galligan said.

"All I'm saying is he's been in the hospital and ICU and I saw no immediate reason to change his status," Galligan said. "We think the government asked for pretrial confinement prematurely. He's paralyzed. He's not going to go on leave."

Hasan was shot by Fort Hood police officers after he allegedly opened fire in a troop processing center on the Texas base, killing 13 people and wounding many more.