LA UNE DES JOURNAUX.info

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to play down a serious diplomatic dispute with the United States on Sunday, urging calm after another stern rebuke from Washington over plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in contested east Jerusalem. Reflecting the high tension, Israel deployed hundreds of security forces around Jerusalem's Old City, the scene of clashes with Palestinian protesters in recent days. The Israeli military also extended an order barring most Palestinians from entering Israel from the West Bank. Israel's already strained relationship with the United States hit a new low last week when it announced ...

Email

SAN DIEGO -- Investigators with Toyota Motor Corp. and the federal government could not replicate the runaway speeding reported by a Prius owner who said his car's accelerator stuck as he drove on a California freeway, according to a memo drafted for a congressional panel. The memo, obtained Saturday by the Associated Press, said the experts who examined and test-drove the car could not replicate the sudden, unintended acceleration James Sikes said he encountered. A backup mechanism that shuts off the engine when the brake and gas pedals are floored also worked properly during tests. Mr. Sikes, 61, called 911 ...

Email

The White House isn't backing down from its criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court over a campaign finance ruling. White House officials said Sunday that President Obama still believes the court made a poor ruling when it allowed corporations and unions to spend money freely on ads for or against specific candidates. Obama adviser David Axelrod said the decision is a threat to democracy. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said interests groups will increase their influence because of the ruling. Last week, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said he was troubled by Mr. Obama's criticism during the State ...

Email

The White House isn't relenting in its strong criticism of Israel for plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians are seeking as their future capital. Israel announced the construction plans this past week just as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was visiting the region. David Axelrod, President Obama's chief political adviser, said Sunday the Israelis' action was both an "affront" and an "insult." He also told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the move undermines the fragile effort to bring peace to the troubled region and that the timing of the announcement was "very ...

Email

Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn. Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters. The use of guns that once were in police custody and later were involved in attacks on police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the United States: ...

Email

UPDATED: The House's chief Democratic head-counter said Sunday he hadn't rounded up enough votes to pass President Obama's health care overhaul as negotiations head into a make-or-break week, even as the White House's top political adviser said he was "absolutely confident" in its prospects. The administration gave signs of retreating on demands that senators jettison special home-state deals sought by individual lawmakers that have angered the public. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs predicted House passage this week, before Mr. Obama travels to Asia, a trip he postponed to push for the bill. "This is the week where we will have ...

Email

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Utility crews pushed through fallen trees and windblown debris to reach downed power lines Sunday, working to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses as strong winds and heavy rain that wreaked havoc in parts of the Northeast pushed on into New England. The storm, which battered parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut on Saturday with gusts of up to 70 mph, struck about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than a million customers in the Northeast in the dark. More than a half-million customers in ...

Email

An Air Force sergeant who kept her sexual orientation private and the ACLU claim South Dakota police officers violated her privacy by "outing" her to the military. The 28-year-old's honorable discharge under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy came only after police officers in Rapid City, S.D., saw an Iowa marriage certificate in her home and told the nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base. Newsome and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint against the western South Dakota police department, claiming the officers violated her privacy when they informed the military about her sexual orientation. The case also highlights concerns ...

Email

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Investigators are confronted with a series of nagging questions as they try to unravel the case of a California real estate agent who said his Toyota Prius turned into a runaway death trap after the gas pedal became stuck. Why didn't the driver simply throw the transmission into neutral as officers urged him to do? Why didn't a safety mechanism activate that was supposed to cut power to the engine in such situations? And could he have made the story up in pursuit of fame and money? Each question is getting scrutiny from the Internet-consuming public ...

Email

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The Texas State Board of Education agreed to new social studies standards on Friday after the far-right faction wielded its power to shape the lessons that will be taught to millions of students on American history, the U.S. free enterprise system, religion and other topics. In a vote of 10-5, the board preliminarily adopted the new curriculum after days of charged debate marked by race and politics. In dozens of smaller votes passed over the three days, the ultra-conservatives who dominate the board nixed all but a few efforts to recognize the diversity of race and ...

Email

ORLANDO, Fla. | The ambulance crew that responded after golfer Tiger Woods crashed his SUV would not allow his wife to ride with him to the hospital because they thought it was a case of domestic violence, documents released Friday by the Florida Highway Patrol show. But a police officer who responded said he didn't know where the crew got that information because he never heard it from anyone at the scene. The reports also show that Woods' wife, Elin, turned over two bottles of pain pills to troopers after the Nov. 27 crash outside the couple's suburban Orlando home. ...

Email

House Democrats plan to tack a major reform of the nation's student loan system onto the health care overhaul bill, a move that could help corral votes in the House but might make the bill's passage more complicated in the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that the reconciliation bill will also remove federal assistance to banks and lenders such as Sallie Mae for providing student loans. The reconciliation bill is the package of changes to the health care bill already passed by the Senate in December. The companion bill will be presented to the Senate under special rules ...

Email

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Twitter can now let the world automatically know your whereabouts as well as your thoughts and activities. A new feature unveiled Thursday gives Twitter users the option of including their location with the assorted musings posted on the Internet messaging service. Locations won't be included unless users turn on the tracking tool. The technology, which shadows people through Web browsers, can be turned off at any time. Twitter is responding to the growing popularity of other Internet services, such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, that broadcast people's locations. Facebook is expected to join the trend soon, ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales posted a surprising increase in February as consumers did not let major snowstorms stop them from storming the malls. The advance, the biggest since November, provided hope that the recovery from the Great Recession is gaining momentum. The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales rose 0.3 percent in February, surpassing expectations that sales would decline by 0.2 percent. The overall gain was held back by a 2 percent decline in auto sales, reflecting in part the recall problems at Toyota. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.8 percent, far better than the 0.1 percent rise outside ...

Email

DORAL, Fla. | Tiger Woods intends to remain out of golf at least until the Masters, two people with knowledge of his plans told The Associated Press. Woods has been practicing at Isleworth near his Orlando home the last two weeks, and swing coach Hank Haney flew there during the weekend to work with him. That led to speculation Thursday he was close to playing again. The two people, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because only Woods is supposed to release such information, say he is likely to play first at Augusta National in April. Woods twice has ...

Email

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A lesbian student who wanted to take her girlfriend to her senior prom is asking a federal judge to force her Mississippi school district to reinstate the dance it canceled. The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi on Thursday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Oxford on behalf of 18-year-old Constance McMillen, who said she faced some unhappy classmates after the Itawamba County School District said it wouldn't host the April 2 prom. "Somebody said, 'Thanks for ruining my senior year.'" McMillen said of her reluctant return Thursday to Itawamba Agricultural High School in ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife remained hospitalized Friday with serious injuries suffered when a tractor-trailer rear-ended the minivan she and their daughter were riding in on a suburban Virginia interstate, officials said. Landra Reid, 69, suffered a broken back and neck in Thursday's crash, but her injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. Mrs. Reid and their daughter, Lana Barringer, 49, were taken by ambulance to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. The daughter was released Thursday night, hospital spokesman Tony Raker said. Mrs. Reid was in serious condition, but Reid aides said she was ...

Email

NEW YORK (AP) -- A settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center goes before a judge Friday, and he has said he favored a settlement but planned to analyze it carefully to make sure it was fair. Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the proposal "fair and reasonable," a sentiment echoed by one of the negotiators of the deal that was announced Thursday night after years of fighting in court. The settlement agreed upon by lawyers representing the city, construction companies and ...

Email

President Obama is stepping up pressure on China to stop fueling the world's biggest trade imbalance by artificially depressing the value of its currency, and Beijing is signaling it may soon heed those pleas. Under political pressure to address burgeoning job losses that many blame in part on China and its aggressive exports policy, Mr. Obama on Thursday reminded the Asian giant that it pledged last year at the Group of 20 economic summit to pare its lopsided trade surplus with the U.S. Allowing the Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi, to rise against the dollar in response to ...

Email

The former D.C. fire chief tasked with merging his firefighting and emergency medical services divisions to improve a beleaguered ambulance service now says the department should be divided, in large part because the "culture" of the historically white fire service makes employees indifferent to treating needy city residents. Adrian H. Thompson, who led the department from July 2002 through December 2006 and took the initial steps to merge the responsibilities of the department's civilian EMS work force with its uniformed firefighters, said he no longer thinks the plan can work. "It's not working," Mr. Thompson said in an interview with ...

Email

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to play down a serious diplomatic dispute with the United States on Sunday, urging calm after another stern rebuke from Washington over plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in contested east Jerusalem. Reflecting the high tension, Israel deployed hundreds of security forces around Jerusalem's Old City, the scene of clashes with Palestinian protesters in recent days. The Israeli military also extended an order barring most Palestinians from entering Israel from the West Bank. Israel's already strained relationship with the United States hit a new low last week when it announced ...

Email

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican on Sunday denied that its celibacy requirement for priests was the root cause of the clerical sex abuse scandal convulsing the church in Europe as it again defended the pope's handling of the crisis. Suggestions that the celibacy rule was in part responsible for the "deviant behavior" of sexually abusive priests have swirled in recent days, with opinion pieces in German newspapers blaming it for fueling abuse and even Italian commentators questioning the rule. Much of the furor was spurred by comments from one of the pope's closest advisers, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of ...

Email

BAGHDAD -- Partial counts from all of Iraq's 18 provinces show the prime minister's bloc leading in the country's key parliamentary elections. Iraq's electoral commission said Sunday that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition is leading in eight provinces. The secular Iraqiya bloc, headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, leads in four, while the religious Shiite Iraqi National Alliance and the main Kurdish coalition lead in three provinces each. The results are based on partial vote counts released over the past three days, with the percentage of polling stations counted in each province spanning from 10 percent ...

Email

TOKYO -- A magnitude-6.6 earthquake hit off the eastern coast of Japan on Sunday, rattling buildings across a broad swath of the country, including the crowded capital. There were no reports of casualties, with only light damage to structures near the epicenter, according to local officials. The quake hit at 5:08 p.m. and was felt most strongly in central Fukushima prefecture about 130 miles northeast of Tokyo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. "It was fairly strong, but didn't knock over anything in the office," said Ken Yoshida, a town official in Naraha, one of the hardest-hit areas. He said ...

Email

UPDATED: REVELSTOKE, British Columbia -- An avalanche struck an informal snowmobile rally in Canada's Rocky Mountains, killing at least two people and leaving an unknown number missing at an annual gathering best known for its party atmosphere and stunt riding. Rescuers sent helicopters over remote Boulder Mountain at daybreak Sunday to determine if conditions were safe for a full-scale ground search after operations were halted overnight when darkness fell. Police also conducted a door-to-door search of hotel rooms Sunday to piece together how many people were missing from the Big Iron Shoot Out rally, which drew about 200 people to ...

Email

BANGKOK -- Tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters rallied in Thailand's capital Sunday to press their demand that the government dissolve Parliament or face massive demonstrations at key sites in the city. The protesters -- many from the impoverished northeast and north -- want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call new elections, which they believe will allow their political allies to regain power. The crowd estimated by police at more than 100,000 rallied peacefully under a blazing sun. Loud pop music and rural delicacies such as spicy papaya salad competed with fiery rhetoric for their attention. Bangkok's notorious traffic was ...

Email

PARACHINAR, Pakistan -- Pakistani fighter jets pounded a series of Taliban hide-outs near the Afghan border Sunday, killing nine insurgents, a local official said. The hide-outs were in the village of Mero Bak in the Taliban stronghold of the Lower Orakzai tribal region, said Rasheed Khan, an Orakzai official. One of the bombed houses belonged to a local Taliban commander, Aslam Farooqi, but it was not clear if he was among those killed. Orakzai is the base of Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who officials believe was killed in a U.S. missile strike early this year. The group insists he ...

Email

The White House isn't relenting in its strong criticism of Israel for plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians are seeking as their future capital. Israel announced the construction plans this past week just as Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was visiting the region. David Axelrod, President Obama's chief political adviser, said Sunday the Israelis' action was both an "affront" and an "insult." He also told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the move undermines the fragile effort to bring peace to the troubled region and that the timing of the announcement was "very ...

Email

UPDATED: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The Taliban on Sunday called their deadly bomb attacks on the southern city of Kandahar a warning to NATO's top general that the insurgents were ready for the war's next major offensive in their heartland. The series of bombings that demolished buildings and killed dozens -- including 10 people at a wedding -- prompted the provincial governor to plead for more security in the area. Fearful residents said they had no confidence that either government or foreign troops can protect them. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the Saturday-night attacks proved the insurgents were still able ...

Email

President Obama on Saturday had what the White House described as an "encouraging" phone conversation with Russian President Dmitrty Medvedev as the two countries sought to work out the remaining issues on a treaty to significantly reduce nuclear arsenals. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said the two presidents reviewed progress toward an arms control accord that would succeed the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December. "The results of their talks are encouraging, and both leaders are committed to concluding an agreement soon," Hammer said in a statement sent to The Associated Press Saturday night. The Kremlin, ...

Email

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican on Saturday denounced what it called aggressive attempts to drag Pope Benedict XVI into the spreading scandals of pedophile priests in his German homeland. It also insisted that church confidentiality doesn't prevent bishops from reporting abuse to police. The Vatican's campaign to defend the pope's reputation and resolve in combatting clergy abuse of minors followed acknowledgment by the Munich archdiocese that it had transferred a suspected pedophile priest to community work while Benedict was archbishop there. Benedict is also under fire for a 2001 church directive he wrote while a Vatican cardinal, instructing bishops ...

Email

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide squad detonated bombs at a newly fortified prison, police headquarters and two other locations, killing at least 30 people in the largest city of the southern Taliban heartland. The prison was the main target of Saturday's attacks, but no prisoners escaped, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's half-brother said. Ahmed Wali Karzai, a member of the Kandahar provincial council, said two of the explosions occurred near his home, which was not damaged. Wali Karzai told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Canadian troops had reinforced the prison with cement blocks after a suicide attack ...

Email

SEOUL -- A hospital official says former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is recovering after being hospitalized in the South Korean capital with stomach pains. Severance Hospital spokesman Lee Sung-man said Saturday that Kissinger would be released on Sunday. He did not give any further details. The 86-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate arrived in Seoul earlier in the week to attend a security forum. He also met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Kissinger served as secretary of state for presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Email

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's political coalition took an early vote lead Saturday in the election's all-important battleground of Baghdad, pulling away from its two closest rivals in the latest indication that Iraqis want a moderate government instead of Shiite religious hard-liners leading the postwar nation. Partial results released by the Independent High Electoral Commission showed the State of Law coalition with about a 60,000-vote edge nationwide over its main moderate challenger, the secular Iraqiya coalition. The Shiite fundamentalist Iraqi National Alliance was in third place. The partial Baghdad vote was released amid utter disarray in the election ...

Email

UPDATED: SAIDU SHARIF, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber driving a motorized rickshaw blew himself up at a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, officials said, killing at least 13 people, injuring 52 and underscoring the nation's relentless security threat. The blast in the small town of Saidu Sharif in Pakistan's violence-battered Swat Valley was the second major attack in the country in less than 24 hours, raising fears of a new wave of violence by anti-government militants. Suicide bombers killed 55 people in near-simultaneous blasts Friday in the eastern city of Lahore. No one claimed has responsibility for ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday delivered a stinging rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his government's announcement this week of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem, calling it "a deeply negative signal" for the Mideast peace process and ties with the U.S. The State Department said Clinton spoke to Netanyahu by phone for 43 minutes to vent U.S. frustration with Tuesday's announcement that cast a pall over a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden and endangered indirect peace talks with the Palestinians that the Obama administration had announced just a ...

Email

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Germany's sex abuse scandal has now reached Pope Benedict XVI: His former archdiocese disclosed that while he was archbishop a suspected pedophile priest was transferred to a job where he later abused children. The pontiff is also under increasing fire for a 2001 Vatican document he later penned instructing bishops to keep such cases secret. The revelations have put the spotlight on Benedict's handling of abuse claims both when he was archbishop of Munich from 1977-1982 and then the prefect of the Vatican office that deals with such crimes -- a position he held until his ...

Email

The Obama administration's first global report on human rights differed little from the reports issued during President George W. Bush's second term, with the most notable exception being stepped-up criticism of the Iraqi government. In the latest example of similarities between President Obama and Mr. Bush on foreign policy, Iran and China topped a list of 25 countries chided in the State Department's annual human rights report for imposing "draconian" new restrictions on free expression and political rights in 2009. "In a significant number of countries, governments have imposed new and often draconian restrictions on" nongovernmental organizations, the department said ...

Email

BAGHDAD | Partial vote results in Iraq's election released Thursday showed a tight contest between the nation's prime minister and a secular challenger during a chaotic count that was marred by accusations of fraud. The preliminary tallies from five of Iraq's 18 provinces were considered setbacks to hard-line religious Shi'ite political leaders who hailed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's early victories in two southern provinces deep on their turf. Mr. al-Maliki's top secular rival, former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, meanwhile, appeared to be drawing on Sunni support north of Baghdad. But results for the big prize - Baghdad - have yet ...

Email

PAKISTAN Karzai welcomes role in peace talks ISLAMABAD | Pakistan will play a major role in peace talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday, apparently trying to dismiss speculation that Kabul was trying to sideline Islamabad, once a close ally of the militants. Mr. Karzai recently made a renewed push to jump-start peace talks with the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan until late 2001 and since then has led a bloody insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Pakistan has offered to help negotiate with the militants. But many observers believe Afghanistan wants to keep Pakistan out of ...

Email

SAN DIEGO -- Investigators with Toyota Motor Corp. and the federal government could not replicate the runaway speeding reported by a Prius owner who said his car's accelerator stuck as he drove on a California freeway, according to a memo drafted for a congressional panel. The memo, obtained Saturday by the Associated Press, said the experts who examined and test-drove the car could not replicate the sudden, unintended acceleration James Sikes said he encountered. A backup mechanism that shuts off the engine when the brake and gas pedals are floored also worked properly during tests. Mr. Sikes, 61, called 911 ...

Email

UPDATED: WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he wants projects helping specific states yanked from the health care bill Congress is writing. Democratic senators, being senators, beg to differ. The Senate-approved health measure lawmakers hope to send to Obama soon would steer $600 million over the next decade to Vermont in added federal payments for Medicaid and nearly as much to Massachusetts. Connecticut would get $100 million to build a hospital. About 800,000 Florida seniors could keep certain Medicare benefits. Asbestos-disease victims in tiny Libby, Mont., and some coal miners with black lung disease or their widows would get ...

Email

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Investigators are confronted with a series of nagging questions as they try to unravel the case of a California real estate agent who said his Toyota Prius turned into a runaway death trap after the gas pedal became stuck. Why didn't the driver simply throw the transmission into neutral as officers urged him to do? Why didn't a safety mechanism activate that was supposed to cut power to the engine in such situations? And could he have made the story up in pursuit of fame and money? Each question is getting scrutiny from the Internet-consuming public ...

Email

Congressional Republicans named six conservative opponents of tax increases to President Obama's debt commission Friday, and the panel now only awaits House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's picks before it can get started. The panel's recommendations, which are not binding on Congress, are due by Dec. 1. Republicans named Sens. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Mike Crapo of Idaho and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Reps. Dave Camp of Michigan, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Jeb Hensarling of Texas to serve on the 18-member commission, and several of them said they would push for spending cuts rather than tax increases to try ...

Email

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Twitter can now let the world automatically know your whereabouts as well as your thoughts and activities. A new feature unveiled Thursday gives Twitter users the option of including their location with the assorted musings posted on the Internet messaging service. Locations won't be included unless users turn on the tracking tool. The technology, which shadows people through Web browsers, can be turned off at any time. Twitter is responding to the growing popularity of other Internet services, such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, that broadcast people's locations. Facebook is expected to join the trend soon, ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales posted a surprising increase in February as consumers did not let major snowstorms stop them from storming the malls. The advance, the biggest since November, provided hope that the recovery from the Great Recession is gaining momentum. The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales rose 0.3 percent in February, surpassing expectations that sales would decline by 0.2 percent. The overall gain was held back by a 2 percent decline in auto sales, reflecting in part the recall problems at Toyota. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.8 percent, far better than the 0.1 percent rise outside ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is delaying his trip to Asia next week to focus on his big push on health care. A senior administration official tells The Associated Press that Obama now plans to leave Washington on March 21 and return March 26. The original dates were March 18 to March 24. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House hasn't announced the delay. The president will visit the same countries as planned -- Indonesia, Guam and Australia. The trip was scheduled to coincide with his daughters' spring vacation from school, but now his family ...

Email

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly declined in January as both exports and imports fell, while the volume of imported crude oil dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade. U.S. exports dipped for the first time in nine months, but imports fell more steeply, leading to a $2.6 billion drop in the trade deficit, which totaled $37.3 billion in January, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. "One month's decline in trade volumes does not mean that the trade recovery is over," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight. "But it indicates that future gains will be ...

Email

Unable to muster bipartisan agreement on key banking provisions, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, said Thursday he will offer his own version of a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations without Republican support. "Clearly, we need to move along," he said. A month of talks between the Connecticut Democrat and Sen. Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican, had found common ground, but details on key provisions, including consumer protections and other sticking points, remained unsettled. "As time moves on, you just limit the possibilities of getting something done, particularly a bill of this magnitude and this complexity," Mr. ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. government vehicle safety regulators may seek greater authority to investigate defects in cars and trucks following Toyota's recall of more than 8 million vehicles for safety problems. David Strickland, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said Thursday his agency will take a "hard look" at the power it has to set safety standards for automakers. Current authority, acquired in the 1960s and 1970s, may not be enough to oversee the technology used in modern vehicles, he said. Strickland told a House panel that it is unclear whether the agency can regulate "in a way ...

Email

President Obama on Thursday ordered an all-out effort by the U.S. government to increase exports to create more jobs amid record-high unemployment. "This morning, I signed an executive order instructing the federal government to use every available federal resource in support of that mission," the president told the roughly 1,200 people attending the Export-Import Bank's annual conference in Washington. As part of the president's initiative, he also has created the Export Promotion Cabinet, which will include officials from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Labor and State to execute his plan to double U.S. exports in five years. Mr. Obama said ...

Email

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly declined in January as both exports and imports fell, while the volume of imported crude oil dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade. U.S. exports dipped for the first time in nine months, but imports fell more steeply, leading to a $2.6 billion drop in the trade deficit, which totaled $37.3 billion in January, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. "One month's decline in trade volumes does not mean that the trade recovery is over," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight. "But it indicates that future gains will be ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unable to muster bipartisan agreement on key banking provisions, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Thursday he will offer his own version of a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations without Republican support. A month of talks between Dodd and Republican Sen. Bob Corker found some common ground but failed to yield agreement on consumer protections and other sticking points. "Together we have made significant progress and resolved many of the items, but a few outstanding issues remain," Dodd said in a statement. Dodd said he still aimed to get a consensus bill, but said time was ...

Email

ATHENS -- Serious street clashes erupted between rioting youths and police in central Athens on Thursday as tens of thousands demonstrated during a nationwide strike against the cash-strapped government's austerity measures. Hundreds of masked and hooded youths punched and kicked motorcycle police, knocking several off their bikes, as riot police responded with volleys of tear gas and stun grenades. The violence spread after the end of the march to a nearby square, where police faced off with stone-throwing anarchists and suffocating clouds of tear gas sent patrons scurrying from open-air cafes. Police say 16 suspected rioters were detained and two ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits slipped last week, the latest sign the employment picture is slowly brightening. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 462,000. That's close to Wall Street analysts' estimates of 460,000, according to Thomson Reuters, and the second straight drop. Still, the four-week average of claims, which smooths volatility, rose to 475,500, reflecting a sharp increase in claims last month. The four-week average has risen by about 25,000 since the beginning of the year, after falling for most of last year. The increase ...

Email

The foreclosure crisis isn't over, but the pace of growth finally may be slowing down. RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. households facing foreclosure in February grew 6 percent from the year-ago level, the smallest annual increase in four years. More than 308,000 households, or one in every 418 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice, the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listings company reported. That was down more than 2 percent from January Still, fears remain about the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are still being evaluated for help under loan modification programs. Many analysts say most of those ...

Email

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Toyota's massive recalls are prompting Congress to reconsider whether the nation's auto safety agency has lived up to its mission of protecting motorists. A House panel on Thursday planned to examine the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's oversight of the auto industry in the latest congressional hearing linked to Toyota's recall of more than 8 million vehicles worldwide. Safety groups have accused NHTSA of being too cozy with the Japanese automaker while lacking the resources to test for vehicle problems that could be electronic, not mechanical. "NHTSA has been viewed by the motor vehicle industry for years ...

Email

The recession and the ongoing jobless recovery devastated much of the private-sector work force last year, sending unemployment soaring, but government workers emerged essentially unscathed, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. Meanwhile, the compensation for state and local government employees continued to easily outdistance the wages and benefits for workers in private business, a separate Labor Department report showed. Private-industry employers spent an average of $27.42 per hour worked for total employee compensation in December, while total compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $39.60 per hour. The average government wage and salary per hour ...

Email

ASSOCIATED PRESS Cable, satellite TV and other video providers have asked the government to intervene in ongoing fee disputes with TV networks - big-money fights that are expected to escalate this year as more contracts expire. The most recent showdown between the two sides left millions of Cablevision customers around New York with a black screen at the start of the Academy Awards. About 15 minutes into the show, a scrolling announcement told viewers that a tentative agreement had been reached. As advertising revenue has weakened, TV networks have begun to demand cash for their programs rather than some of ...

Email

The Senate voted Wednesday to extend a host of soon-to-expire elements of last year's economic stimulus measure, including help for the jobless and money to help financially strapped states pay for health care for the poor. The 62-36 vote came over protests from conservatives who say the bill adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt. Six Republicans joined all but one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, in voting for the bill. The plight of the jobless and the political power of an annual package of tax breaks powered the measure through the Senate, even though it would add ...

Email

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Jets have signed running back LaDainian Tomlinson to a two-year contract, adding an aging star to an offense that ranked No. 1 in rushing last season. Tomlinson's agent, Tom Condon, confirmed the deal Sunday night. "He wanted to go a team that he thought had a chance to compete for the championship," Condon told the AP. "He wanted to go somehwere where he had a chance to have a significant role, and so with the Jets he also was going to be very familiar with the offensive system." The Jets reached the AFC championship game ...

Email

Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse earned top billing and the No. 1 seeds for the NCAA tournament Sunday, with the Jayhawks named the top seed overall for the 2010 version of March Madness. With all the conference tournaments complete, the NCAA selection committee rolled out its 65-team bracket, setting it up for millions of fans to start making their picks for what is annually America's largest, three-week office pool. Play starts Tuesday with an opening-round game, and the tournament goes into full swing Thursday. Syracuse was ranked fourth of the top seeds and sent to the West Region. That was ...

Email

CHICAGO (AP) -- Nicklas Backstrom raced up the ice and scored with 1:50 left in overtime Sunday and the Washington Capitals completed a remarkable comeback without star Alex Ovechkin to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3. Backstrom skated up the side, went around Chicago's Brent Seabrook in the left circle and beat Antti Niemi for his second goal of the game. Ovechkin, the two-time MVP and the league's leading scorer this season, got a game misconduct in the first period for knocking Chicago's Brian Campbell into the boards. Washington fell behind 3-0 after two periods but rallied with a quick three-goal ...

Email

NEW YORK | Georgetown guard Chris Wright had a Big East tournament to remember, even if the memories might not always be so kind. The junior scored 27 points in the No. 22 Hoyas' quarterfinal victory over Syracuse, riddled overmatched Marquette in the semifinals, then had 20 points and seven assists in a 60-58 loss to seventh-ranked West Virginia in Saturday night's championship game. Overshadowed all season by Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman, it was Wright who was in the spotlight in the final minutes. He scored on a spinning layup following a pair of free throws by Da'Sean Butler ...

Email

NEW YORK | Da'Sean Butler's latest game-winner wasn't as dramatic as his first. This one did give West Virginia its first Big East championship. The senior guard had a net draped around his neck, a brand new championship hat on his head and a special place forever in the hearts of Mountaineer fans. "We wanted to win this for our state first because the people there love us so much and support us so much," Butler said. "I definitely know it means the world to them. ... That was our main concern, not letting the state down." Not even close. ...

Email

WASHINGTON | After the game, J.J. Redick was dishing out geography trivia and talking about Duke's run in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Too bad his conversational versatility doesn't also include hockey -- because it was a stat usually associated with the sport on ice that stood out in the Orlando Magic's eighth straight win. Redick led the Magic in plus-minus, his team outscoring the opponent by 21 points while he was on the floor, part of another solid bench effort in Orlando's 109-95 victory Saturday over the worn-down, back-to-back-to-back Washington Wizards. Dwight Howard had 28 points and 15 rebounds, but ...

Email

ASHBURN, Va. | Offensive lineman Will Montgomery has re-signed with the Washington Redskins. Montgomery, a restricted free agent, started three games at right guard last season as the Redskins frequently shuffled their lineup due to injuries. The 27-year-old lineman has played in 29 career games with nine starts over four seasons with the Carolina Panthers, New York Jets and Redskins. He first signed with Washington in December 2008.

Email

KISSIMMEE, Fla. |After two consecutive cancellations, the rain finally stopped in Central Florida on Saturday. The Nationals couldn't say the same for their losing streak. Starter Scott Olsen pitched three solid innings and Ryan Zimmerman homered before the Nationals bullpen faltered and minor leaguer Jack Shuck delivered a walk-off, RBI single to give the Houston Astros split-squad an 8-7 win over Washington at a windy Osceola County Stadium on Saturday. The Nationals are the only winless team in the major leagues this spring at 0-9. Bud Norris made his second start of the spring for the Astros, allowing two runs ...

Email

For a preview of this year's Stanley Cup Finals, some experts think fans need only watch the Capitals' nationally-televised contest in Chicago on Sunday. Washington, opening their four-game road trip Sunday afternoon, has a sizable lead in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, while Chicago is battling San Jose for top spot out West. While the Capitals have already clinched their third straight Southeast Division title, the Blackhawks are well on their way to their first divisional crown since 1992-93 with 16-point lead over Nashville heading into the weekend. Both teams have had similar rises towards ...

Email

NEW YORK | Now that West Virginia is in the Big East tournament final, coach Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers have a large problem on their hands. His name is Greg Monroe. The 6-foot-11 center with the uncommon all-around game has dominated at Madison Square Garden, leading No. 22 Georgetown to three impressive wins and a matchup with No. 7 West Virginia for the championship Saturday night. "He passes the ball, he finds open people, he can lay it down, he can score in the post," Huggins said. "Quite frankly, people with size bother us, because we're not that big." ...

Email

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. | Will Bynum knew early on that Friday could be a big night for him. The Detroit Pistons point guard, playing in place of Rodney Stuckey, had eight assists in the first quarter against Washington and decided he was going for the record book. "At the end of the first quarter, I thought I had a chance to get Kevin Porter's (team) record of 25, but I don't think the coach and I had the same mindset," Bynum said after Detroit's 101-87 victory. Thanks to Ben Gordon's long jumper with 3.2 seconds left, Bynum finished with a ...

Email

Only a night after the Caps clinched the Southeast Division, Semyon Varlamov was victimized by a couple of long Tampa Bay drives, and Washington dropped the final game of its five-game homestand with a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a performance coach Bruce Boudreau said was "outworked." After the Lightning withstood a Capitals flurry to open the second period, the Bolts scored two goals of their own in the frame thanks to traffic in front of netminder Varlamov to hand Washington just its fourth home regulation loss at home this season, and also just the second regulation ...

Email

GREENSBORO, N.C. | With the game on the line and in need of a 3-pointer, Maryland put the ball in the hands of the Atlantic Coast Conference's player of the year. Somehow -- and against the instructions from his coach -- Iman Shumpert took it away from him. Shumpert scored 14 points and made the key defensive play on Greivis Vasquez that lifted Georgia Tech past the 19th-ranked Terrapins 69-64 on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. "We actually wanted to foul there," coach Paul Hewitt said. "He just stepped up and made a big-time defensive play." ...

Email

NEW YORK | John Thompson III might be the only person left who is reluctant to add Greg Monroe's name to the list of great Georgetown centers. "I think it's too early to give him that label," the coach said Friday night, after his 6-foot-11 sophomore dazzled with 23 points and 13 rebounds in an 80-57 rout of Marquette in the Big East tournament semifinals. "I think that's something that once your time here is over, you can sit back and make all those analyzations and comparisons," Thompson said. "Right now, I think he's just focused on playing as hard ...

Email

WASHINGTON | Not content with just one aging, opinionated running back, the Washington Redskins added a second one Friday night when they signed Larry Johnson to a three-year, incentive-laden contract. Johnson agreed to a deal with a base value of $3.5 million, but he could make as much as $12 million if he meets certain incentives. Johnson joins Clinton Portis in what should make for an intriguing backfield dynamic under new coach Mike Shanahan. Johnson is 30, Portis is 28 -- although Portis' body has been battered by 50 percent more carries. Both have been to two Pro Bowls. Both ...

Email

ORLANDO, Fla. | The ambulance crew that responded after golfer Tiger Woods crashed his SUV would not allow his wife to ride with him to the hospital because they thought it was a case of domestic violence, documents released Friday by the Florida Highway Patrol show. But a police officer who responded said he didn't know where the crew got that information because he never heard it from anyone at the scene. The reports also show that Woods' wife, Elin, turned over two bottles of pain pills to troopers after the Nov. 27 crash outside the couple's suburban Orlando home. ...

Email

GREENSBORO, N.C. | Jon Scheyer's jumpers were coming up just short, and those trademark 3-pointers from the corner were a smidge off. No matter. With the game on the line, he couldn't seem to miss -- and No. 4 Duke was well on its way back to the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals. Scheyer scored seven of his 15 points during the decisive run that helped the top-seeded Blue Devils pull away to beat pesky Virginia 57-46 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. Kyle Singler had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Nolan Smith also had 15 points ...

Email

The NBA has signed off on Michael Jordan's bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats, and commissioner David Stern expects the league's board of governors to approve the $275 million purchase by the end of next week. In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Stern said he expects the vote to pass "very easily." Jordan will become the first ex-player to own an NBA team and the second black majority owner. He'll replace the first, Bob Johnson, who has lost tens of millions of dollars annually. "He considers himself a North Carolina native and he's quite anxious to make ...

Email

VIERA, Fla. | Heavy rains washed out Friday's scheduled exhibition game between the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals. A sellout crowd was expected at Space Coast Stadium for the defending World Series champions' only visit of the spring. The Yankees were already en route from Tampa when informed of the cancellation early Friday. Water had collected in some areas of the outfield before the decision to call the game. It's the second consecutive rainout for the Nationals, who were planning to start right-hander Jason Marquis against Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte. Nationals manager Jim Riggleman wasn't sure about the plan ...

Email

DORAL, Fla. | Tiger Woods intends to remain out of golf at least until the Masters, two people with knowledge of his plans told The Associated Press. Woods has been practicing at Isleworth near his Orlando home the last two weeks, and swing coach Hank Haney flew there during the weekend to work with him. That led to speculation Thursday he was close to playing again. The two people, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because only Woods is supposed to release such information, say he is likely to play first at Augusta National in April. Woods twice has ...

Email