Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 25

INSIDE Find a bargain In the JGT-C Classifieds. PAGES D4-D8 LEE PUBLICATIONS, INC. WWW.JG-TC.COM SECTION Huge crowds cheer Thanksgiving Day parades 1. vyrz 4) W( (fmfij A NEW YORK (AP) Val Bonner planned for a decade to attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on her 50th birthday, and this year she got her wish Thursday, joining throngs of holiday revelers in Manhattan cheering the giant balloons and thousands of marchers. 'It's just fabulous I cried when I saw it," said Bonner, of Steilacoom, Wash.

"This is my gift to myself. I've been saving for years for it. It's a dream come true." Bonner, her husband Frank, and son Jack stood with shrieking, delighted children throwing confetti as the 82nd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade wound its way through Manhattan streets under sunny skies. Quincy Kersbergen of Wyckoff, N.J., found a prime viewing spot perched on a police barricade near the beginning of the parade and proclaimed herself a big fan of a giant dog balloon. "This is just fantastic!" the 11-year-old Kersbergen said.

"So amazing to be here in person! I'm just so excited about today!" New to the revelry this year were Buzz Lightyear, the square-jawed, action-figure astronaut from the 1995 film "Toy Story;" Horton, the compassionate elephant of Dr. Seuss books; and a five-story Smurf, a blue, gnome-like creature popularized by a TV show that began in 1981. Old favorites like Kermit and the Energizer Bunny also were back. Organizers said more than a million spectators viewed the 82nd annual parade in person, with another 50 million watching on television. The 2.5-mile route winds from Central Park West and West 77th Street to Herald Square, in front of Macy's flagship store.

Crews on Wednesday inflated the 13 giant balloons and 31 smaller ones. Each giant balloon requires more than 5,000 cubic feet of helium, much of which supplier Linde North America intended to recover and recycle, said Nick Haines, the company's helium director for the Americas. Associated Press Santa Ciaus rides down Broadway on a float during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade In New Vbrk, Thursday. The parade also featured 28 The parade, which began in maid," "South Pacific" and floats, 10 marching bands and 1924 and was canceled for two "Irving Berlin's White Christ-performances by Miley Cyrus, years during World War II, mas" were featured. Trace Adkins, James Taylor also provided a coveted year- "I'm so excited! The and the Radio City Rockettes.

ly spotlight for Broadway pro- crowds, just seeing it in per- "She's just the coolest!" 6- ductions. This year, cast son!" said parade-goer Phyllis year-old Isabella Muccio said members of "Hair," "In the Grodnicki of Plainsboro, N.J. of Cyrus. Heights," "The Little Mer- The atmosphere along the Iraqi lawmakers approve U.S. security plan Asian markets advance while China cuts interest rates to spark economy Alexis Halght, 5, looks like she Is at the Salvation Army In Orlando, route was upbeat and jovial despite the nation's economic downturn.

"It's something you can do with your kids for free," said Martha Muccio of Manalapan, N.J. "And it makes them happy, takes our minds off everything." In Detroit, thousands braved near-freezing temperatures in hats, mittens and scarves to stake prime spots to view the city's parade, which has been held for more than 80 years. Harry Vanuden, a 45-year-old Chrysler LLC worker, said he was grateful to still have his job this Thanksgiving. He's among 200 remaining employees at Chrysler's Mack engine plant in Detroit. Two years ago, Vanuden said they numbered 1,500.

"I've been a toolmaker for 26 years," said Vanuden, who lives in the Detroit suburb of Warren. "You hope for the best. I'm just thankful I'm still there." His 13-year-old daughter Kelsey was excited at the prospect of seeing the Warren Cousino High School marching band, which she hopes to join when she starts at the school next fall. Kelly Smith, 44, and her husband Tom, 46, brought Under the pact, Iraq will have strict oversight over the nearly 150,000 American troops now on the ground, representing a step toward full sovereignty for Iraq and a shift from the sense of frustration and humiliation that many Iraqis feel at the presence of American troops on their soil for so many years. President George W.

Bush applauded the approval of the pact, which is divided into two agreements governing security, economics, culture and other areas of cooperation. He said it "affirms the growth" of democracy in Iraq and noted the impact of last year's "surge," or U.S. troop buildup. "Two years ago, this day seemed unlikely," Bush said Associated Press enjoying a Thanksgiving Day meal on Thursday. their 4-year-old daughter Annalise to her first Thanksgiving Day parade "We're just happy with what we have, and we're hopeful the economy will rebound," Smith said.

For many Americans, the day promised football games and family dinners with too much food on the table The seven Endeavour astronauts and three space station crew members also planned a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but unlike families on Earth, they were poised to float not sit down for their feast at the joined space shuttle-international space station complex. On the menu were smoked turkey that's ready to be heated and freeze-dried green beans and cornbread dressing in need of water injections before they're served. Some 220 miles below, President George W. Bush was spending Thanksgiving at his Camp David retreat, thankful for his almost-expired "privilege of serving as the president." President-elect Barack Obama was staying in Chicago to "have a whole bunch of people over to the house" and squeeze in some Christmas shopping. in a statement from his mountain top retreat at Camp David, Md.

"But the success of the surge and the courage of the Iraqi people set the conditions for these two agreements to be negotiated and approved by the Iraqi parliament." The pact was backed by the ruling coalition's Shiite and Kurdish blocs and the largest Sunni Arab bloc, which wanted concessions for supporting the deal. The Sunni bloc received assurances that the government would work to incorporate into the security forces the mostly Sunni fighters who had turned against al-Qaida in Iraq. The government also agreed to stop pursuing fighters with alleged past links to the Sunni-led insurgency. BAGHDAD (AP) The long, costly story of American military involvement in Iraq moved closer to an end Thursday when Iraq's parliament approved a pact that requires all troops to be out in three years, marking the first clear timetable for a U.S. exit since the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

The vote for the security deal followed months of tough talks between U.S. and Iraqi negotiators that at times seemed on the point of collapse, and then days of hard-scrabble dealmaking between ethnic and sectarian groups whose centuries-old rifts had hardened during the first four years of the war. The war has claimed more than 4,200 American lives and killed a far greater, untold number of Iraqis, consumed huge reserves of money and resources and eroded the global stature of the United States, even among its closest allies. Now an end is in sight. Some troops are likely to redeploy to face an insurgency that has expanded in Afghanistan even as attacks have diminished in Iraq, where the U.S.

believes Iraqi forces are better able to fend for themselves. The terms of the security pact reflect that confidence: U.S. forces will withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities by June 30 and the entire country by Jan. 1, 2012. "This is a historic day for the great Iraqi people," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a 10-minute address on national television.

"We have achieved one of its most important achievements in approving the agreement on the withdrawal of foreign -forces from Iraq and restoring the sovereignty it lost two Associated Press U.S. Army Sgt. Jason Gerber from Berlin, a cook with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, Sth Infantry Regiment, carries cooked turkeys for carving in preparation for Thanksgiving at a combat outpost In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday. Shanghai Composite index rose 1.1 percent to 1,917.86, after gaining as much as 3.7 percent. Markets in South Korea, Singapore and Australia also traded higher.

In India, markets were closed after coordinated attacks by teams of gunmen across Mumbai, the country's financial capital, killed at least 101 people It was unclear when trading would resume. Thai shares traded lower after authorities shut down Bangkok's second airport Thursday after it was overrun by anti-government protesters, completely cutting off the capital from air traffic as the country's political crisis deepened. The benchmark Stock Exchange of Thailand Index fell about 0.7 percent. Across the region, commodity stocks soared on hopes that China's rate cut the fourth in three months would underpin demand for metal, oil and other resources. Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd.

gained 5.7 percent. Overnight in New York, the Dow industrials rose 247.14, or 2.91 percent, 8,726.61. The Dow has not had four straight gains since April 15-18. U.S. markets were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.

Oil prices weakened as U.S. economic data and rising crude inventories outweighed the possibility of production cuts by OPEC and Russia. The January contract was down $1.18 to $53.26 a barrel. HONG KONG (AP) -Asian stocks rose Thursday after Wall Street posted another gain and China slashed interest rates by the most in a decade to boost economic growth. Indian markets were closed after deadly attacks in the country's financial capital.

Investors cheered China's 1.08 percentage-point rate cut to spur private borrowing and support a multibillion-dollar stimulus package to keep the country's economy a key engine of growth across Asia from slowing too fast. In the U.S., there were signs the markets were stabilizing and investor confidence was returning as the Dow Jones industrials and Standard Poor's 500 index posted their first four-day advance since last spring. The upswing came after President-elect Barack Obama pledged to have an economic plan to deal with the crisis on his first day in office. "Overall investors are still cautious and waiting to see how things turn out, but there is definitely relief that the financial system is going to be supported by governments around the world," said D. Gorton, research analyst at Louis Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average added almost 2 percent to 8,373.39 points, while Hong Kong Kong's Hang Seng benchmark rose 1.6 percent to 13,583.72. In mainland China, the decades ago." Al-Maliki was referring to Iraq's transformation into an international pariah following Saddam's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which led to U.N. sanctions and other penalties. The security deal must now be ratified by a three-member Presidential Council, which is expected to approve it. In the dealmaking that preceded the vote, Iraq's ruling Shiite bloc agreed to a Sunni demand that the pact be put to a referendum by July 30, meaning the deal could be rejected next year if for example, anger builds and demands for an immediate withdrawal grow.

By that time, however, U.S. troops will likely have left -urban areas and will be a less intrusive presence..