Washington, D.C.

Bush pays tribute to troops abroad

Christmas trees decorated with red bows, gold ornaments and white lights lined the hall at the National Building Museum for a holiday pageant attended Sunday by President Bush and his wife, Laura.

The president spoke of the many service members who are far from home during the holiday season. “These families and the troops they love can be certain that they have the support and gratitude of our nation.”

Bush made his brief remarks at a taping of the 23rd annual “Christmas in Washington” concert, which benefits the Children’s National Medical Center in the nation’s capital.

“We continue to seek the promise of peace on earth and goodwill toward men,” Bush said.

Alaska

Coast Guard trying to board freighter wreck

With the weather improving Sunday, the Coast Guard planned for a helicopter to lower a salvage team to a soybean freighter that broke in two off Alaska’s coast — a key step toward cleaning up a destructive, oily mess stretching for miles from the vessel.

Since the 738-foot Selendang Ayu wrecked Wednesday, rough seas and heavy wind have kept authorities from boarding either half of the ship. They must get on board to determine how much of the 440,000 gallons of bunker oil and 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel have leaked.

The Coast Guard was proceeding cautiously, Coast Guard Petty Officer Darrel Wilson said, to avoid more casualties. Six crew members from the ship were lost when a helicopter crashed after lifting them off the vessel before it wrecked; four other people were rescued.

Miami

80-year-old survives 18 hours in Atlantic

An 80-year-old diver spent 18 hours holding on to a buoy in the cold, rough waters of the Atlantic Ocean before a relative found him Sunday, ending an exhaustive search off the Florida Keys.

Ignacio Siberio said he survived with the help of a wetsuit and instincts developed from more than 60 years of free diving and spear fishing. He did not require hospitalization but was recovering at his weekend home in Tavernier on Sunday night.

Siberio, a lawyer who immigrated to the United States from Cuba, went in his boat to one of his favorite spear fishing spots off Tavernier around 11 a.m. Saturday. By about 2:30 p.m. he realized the boat was no longer anchored.

Siberio said he furiously swam after the boat for about three miles before giving up and grabbing a buoy to a lobster trap.

Washington, D.C.

Poll: Other nations upset Bush re-elected

President Bush’s re-election was viewed negatively by a majority of people in several European countries — including those in Britain, America’s strongest ally in the war in Iraq, Associated Press polling found.

The president was not the only one viewed unfavorably. Americans generally were seen in an unfavorable light by many in France, Germany and Spain, countries not supportive of U.S. Iraq policies.

Polling in the United States as well as Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Spain was done for the AP by Ipsos.

At least seven in 10 in France, Germany and Spain said they had an unfavorable view of President Bush.

A majority of people in Britain, America’s strongest ally in the Iraq war, have an unfavorable view of Bush. Six in 10 Britons said they were disappointed he was re-elected.

Ohio

Army reservists court-martialed

At a time when some U.S. troops in Iraq are complaining they have to scrounge for equipment, six Ohio-based reservists were court-martialed for taking Army vehicles abandoned in Kuwait by other units so they could carry out their own unit’s mission to Iraq.

The soldiers say they needed the vehicles, and parts stripped from one, to deliver fuel to Iraq, but their former battalion commander said Sunday the troops should at least have returned the vehicles to their original units.

Members of the 656th Transportation Company based in Springfield, west of Columbus, said they needed the equipment to deliver fuel that was needed by U.S. forces in Iraq for everything from helicopters to tanks.