Home Depot Reports 3Q Profit Drop

ATLANTA - The Home Depot Inc., the nation's largest home improvement store chain, blamed a slowing housing market as it reported a 3.1 percent drop in third-quarter profit on a marked decline in sales at stores open at least a year. The company also lowered its earnings per share and sales growth guidance for the year.

The results, announced before the stock market opened Tuesday, missed Wall Street expectations.

The Atlanta-based company said it earned $1.49 billion, or 73 cents a share, for the three months ending Oct. 29, compared with a profit of $1.54 billion, or 72 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were …

Key demographics of Muslim-Americans

Gallup Organization interviews with a random sample of 946 Muslim Americans in 2008 shed light on the demographics of this rarely studied group:

RACE: Muslims are the nation's most racially diverse religious group. At least a third of Muslim-Americans are black _ mostly converts or children of converts to Islam. "The significant proportion of native-born converts to Islam is a characteristic unique to the United States," Gallup said. More than a quarter call themselves white, while nearly one in five identified as Asian and about as many classified themselves as "other."

RELIGIOSITY: Muslim-Americans are more religious than other …

Hospital birth too risky, says health aide

JERUSALEM An international health official has warned doctorsthat hospital births endanger mothers and babies.

Hospital births risked lives because of impersonal proceduresand overuse of technology and drugs, said Dr. Marsden Wagner,European regional director of the World Health Organization.

"I am convinced the procedure of placing all newborn babies inone room was the biggest mistake of modern medicine," he told aninternational medical conference on the psychology and medicine ofbirth.

Wagner said a hospital nursery was a cradle of germs, separatingbabies from their mothers at the most sensitive point of theirrelationship. He said studies linked …

5 dead, including baby, in rural Ohio house fire

PEDRO, Ohio (AP) — Kyle Whitmer jumped from a second-story balcony as flames swallowed his mother's 12-bedroom home, then ran to the door to try to save some of the 11 relatives and friends who were living there.

Four women — including Whitmer's 21-year-old sister — and an 8-month-old boy died. Whitmer's mother and five others made it out with burns and smoke inhalation as the fire turned the home into ash.

The fire started early Monday morning near a space heater on the first floor where Whitmer's mother, 52-year-old Kathy Whitmer, kept her plants — some aloe, a cactus. The state fire marshal said the blaze was accidental, and authorities hadn't officially identified the …

Golovin withdraws from Olympic tennis

Tatiana Golovin of France withdrew from singles and doubles Sunday shortly before the scheduled start of the Olympic tennis tournament.

Golovin has been hampered …

Ex-Kremlin aide elected Norilsk Nickel chairman

A former Kremlin chief of staff was elected Friday to chair the board of mining giant Norilsk Nickel as the state appeared to tighten its grip on the strategic company.

Alexander Voloshin, who was chosen unanimously at an extraordinary board meeting at a Moscow hotel, denied being a de facto Kremlin envoy.

"There are no representatives of the state on the board," Voloshin said after his appointment, but added that "the successful development of Norilsk Nickel will benefit my dear country."

Voloshin brings to the post a wealth of government experience and connections. He served as former President Boris Yeltsin's chief of staff, a job he retained for several years under Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin. One of his deputies under Putin was Dmitry Medvedev, the current president.

After leaving the presidential administration, Voloshin chaired the board at the state-run electricity giant Unified Energy Systems.

His election is part of a compromise to settle a feud between Norilsk Nickel's two main shareholders, Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska.

Potanin, who owns 30 percent of Norilsk, and Deripaska, the owner of aluminum giant UC Rusal, surprised the market last month when they brought an end to a bitter seven-month dispute over strategy and control, which had hurt the company's share value and contributed to a management crisis.

The two metals tycoons agreed that the Norilsk board would be headed by an independent chairman, replacing Potanin, with both billionaires agreeing not to stand for election.

Potanin's Interros investment vehicle and Deripaska's Rusal each received four seats on the board. The other five seats went to independents.

The global financial crisis, which has hit Russian stocks particularly hard, forced the shareholders to set aside their differences, Potanin said. Norilsk's shares have plummeted more than 65 percent since the beginning of the year, and investors have criticized the company for failing to overcome the management crisis.

Norilsk general director Vladimir Strzhalkovsky warned on Friday that things could get worse.

"A further decline in metal prices will take a great toll on the company's performance," he said.

Voloshin had been expected to compete for the post against Sergei Chemezov, the director of the state holding Russian Technologies, but Chemezov pulled out of the running earlier Friday.

Levante's top scorer Juanlu out with broken leg

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Spanish club Levante will be without top scorer Juan Luis "Juanlu" Gomez for a lengthy spell after the Spanish player fractured his shin in Wednesday's 4-1 Copa del Rey victory over Deportivo La Coruna.

Juanlu rolled in agony after a hasty challenge, and medical scans revealed a fractured right fibula.

Levante says Juanlu will undergo surgery on Friday on an injury similar to Barcelona striker David Villa's, who is expected to be out for up to five months.

Juanlu has scored six goals in 14 appearances for the Valencia-based club.

Levante, which is fourth in the league, advanced to the last 16 of the domestic cup with a 5-4 aggregate victory.