BLITZER: Syria's fragile ceasefire is not holding up. Lisa Sylvester's monitoring that and some of the other top stories in THE SITUATION ROOM right now. Very few people thought it would.</s>LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Opposition leaders say more than 70 people have been killed across Syria despite efforts to impose a temporary ceasefire for the Muslim holiday. The deadliest attack was this car bomb that exploded in Damascus. The Syrian military had promised no operations during the four-day holiday. The government says the rebels broke cease-fire first and it was only responding to the attacks. And federal safety regulators are investigating some older model Ford Taurus and Mercury Sables. The throttle can get stuck causing the engine to keep running. The probe affects the models from 2000 to 2003. For now there is no recall while investigators determine the extent of the problem. The U.S. economy got a small boost thanks to consumer spending. The Gross Domestic Product increased 2 percent in the third quarter that is up from 1.3 percent in the second quarter. The number is better than economists expected, but not enough to create a strong economy and lower the unemployment rate. And Apple's smaller iPad is a big seller. Pre-orders for the iPad mini began this morning and sold out in about 20 minutes. Some models are already showing a later delivery date. Apple will have the iPad mini available in stores in a week. But if you buy it online, you may have to wait a few more weeks after that. So you can see this was going to be the big I think holiday seller. I think a lot of people are going to be snatching that up for a gift for the holidays.</s>BLITZER: Big demand for all those Apple products. Thank you. The presidential campaigns giving late-night comedians plenty to joke about, we have lots more of where this came from.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president. The news surprised many elderly Americans who thought they were the same person.
Clashes, Bombing Mar Syria Truce; Feds Investigate Taurus, Sable for Stuck Throttles