In the news

Ukraine’s Supreme Court ordered a second presidential run-off to be held by December 26 after it ruled last month’s fraud-plagued election invalid. [New York Times]

A report filed with the Federal Election Commission last week revealed that Kerry did not spend $14 million of his campaign funds, money he kept in reserve in case legal challenges or recounts became necessary. [New York Times]

The number of jobs created in November was half of what analysts expected, the [AP] dollar continued to fall, and [BBC] retail sales during the Thanksgiving weekend disappointed. [Reuters] President Bush, on his first official visit to Canada, ate local beef and announced that he was “still standing,” but he [New York Times] did not say when he would lift a U.S. ban on Canadian beef or end tariffs on the country’s timber. [New York Times] Canada announced that it would no longer grant temporary work permits to foreign strippers. [New York Times]

Tommy Thompson became the eighth member of Bush’s fifteen-member cabinet to resign since Election Day. At a press conference, Thompson expressed concern about the FDA’s flawed drug approval process, a possible global flu pandemic, and the vulnerability of the nation’s food supply. “For the life of me,” Thompson said, “I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply, because it’s so easy to do.” [New York Times]

The U.S. ordered more than 10,000 troops to extend their tours, raising the number of soldiers in Iraq to its highest levels since last year’s invasion. “It’s mainly to provide security for the election,” a military spokesman said. [New York Times] Representatives from forty Iraqi political parties called for the January 30 elections to be delayed. [New York Times]

A British artist publicly ate a fox to protest all the attention being paid to a ban on fox hunting. “Everyone gets really worked up about a furry animal,” the performance artist said after his meal, “but no one cares about each other.” [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Thailand was planning to drop origami birds on three restive provinces, and the prime minister called on each of the sixty-three million Thais to make at least one paper bird.