House votes to force Iraq withdrawal; poll finds 64% of US says Bush abused powers; MRSA spreading dangerously among US population...

15 November :: US House of Representatives has passed $50 billion in Iraq war spending, conditioned on starting withdrawal in coming weeks, ending combat role for US by December 2008, before Bush leaves office; president has already begun troop-level reductions, in part under pressure from Republicans seeking reelection to Congress, but opposes Congressional mandate or fixed date for withdrawal... A poll from the American Research Group finds that 64% of all American voters believe Pres. Bush abused his powers, with 34% saying he should be removed from office for impeachable offenses, while a total of 55% —including those who don't want him impeached— say he has committed impeachable offenses under the Constitution; 64% of Republicans disagree; 70% of voters polled agreed that the vice president had abused his office, including 39% of Republicans... Drug-resistant staph bacterium MRSA has spread beyond hospital wards, now threatens healthy people in wider community, effective treatments still elusive; 60 Minutes reports "New government data estimate that about 2,000 people are dying of community-based MRSA every year. But with the deaths of five school children this year, parents are understandably frantic and want to know what causes it, and how to protect against it"... A small opposition group has filed suit against Russian pres. Vladimir Putin to prevent him from running for prime minister on grounds of "repeated violations of the law", saying his office will be used to manipulate the vote, undermine the democratic process; though Kremlin denies charges, observers inside Russia and abroad often cite Putin's authoritarian style as contrary to democracy taking root in Russia... Man killed by Royal Canadian Mounted Police in tasering incident; Polish tourist confused by lack of information about whereabouts of mother, who was told he had not arrived, became disturbed after 10 hours wait; video shows incident, observers say Taser far too dangerous to be of routine police use...