• 
  Obama would OK health bill minus items he pursued

  Signaling he'd meet critics part way on health care, President Barack Obama said Tuesday he's willing to sign a bill even if it doesn't deliver everything he pursued through a year of grinding effort at risk of going down as a dismal failure.

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  Snow shuts down federal government, life goes on

  If snow keeps 230,000 government employees home for the better part of a week, will anyone notice? With at least another foot of snow headed for Washington, Philadelphia and New York, we're about to find out. The federal government in the nation's capital has largely been shut down since Friday aftrnoon, when a storm began dumping up to 3 feet of snow in some parts of the region.

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  Haiti parents testify they gave kids to Americans

  Parents of some of the children who 10 U.S. missionaries tried to take out of Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake told a judge Tuesday that they freely handed over their kids, the Americans' lawyer said.

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  NY governor says he'll step aside only 'in a box'

  New York Gov. David Paterson, defying calls from even fellow Democrats to drop out of the race for a full term, said Tuesday that he would leave only if the voters turned him out through the ballot box, or he's carried out "in a box."

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  Space shuttle Endeavour pulls in at space station

  Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles above Earth.

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  Iran boosts nuclear enrichment, drawing warnings

  Iranian nuclear technicians set dozens of centrifuges spinning Tuesday to begin enriching uranium stocks to a significantly higher level, prompting President Barack Obama to warn of a "significant regime of sanctions."

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  LA-area foothills under mudslide threat

  A new winter storm washed over the wildfire-scarred foothills north of Los Angeles Tuesday, leaving some residents to flee their homes in baggage-laden cars while others used shovels and buckets to try to hold back the muddy deluge.

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  Fans delighted by DeGeneres' 'American Idol' debut

  Ellen DeGeneres (dih-JEN'-ur-us) hit the right notes with "American Idol" viewers.

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  Relatives in eastern Cuba say woman has turned 125

  Relatives in eastern Cuba claim to have held a 125th birthday party for a woman named Juana Bautista de la Candelaria Rodriguez, but it is not clear if she is really that old.

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  Good times roll at Saints victory parade

  Only a Super Bowl victory parade could upstage Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Carnival floats carrying Saints players, coaches and team owner Tom Benson rolled past tens of thousands of jubilant fans in downtown New Orleans on Tuesday, two days after the 43-year-old franchise won its first NFL championhip.

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• 
  Honda expands airbag recall as more Toyotas probed

  Honda Motor Co said it would recall another 440,000 cars around the world for faulty airbags as rival Toyota Motor Corp faced further probes over its largest-ever safety crisis.

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  Obama says world moving quickly on Iran sanctions

  President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the international community was moving "fairly quickly" toward imposing broader sanctions on Iran, as the Islamic Republic defiantly expanded its nuclear program.

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  Second big snowstorm slams East Coast

  The second major snowstorm in less than a week slammed the East Coast from Washington to New York on Tuesday, forcing the United Nations to close and Congress to curtail legislative action.

• Inside Toyota's epic breakdown

  Toyota Motor Corp, the world's most dominant and profitable automaker, was not accustomed to outsiders telling it what to do, let alone some obscure bureaucrat from the United States, whose own car industry was on taxpayer-funded life support.

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  Google Gmail tweak challenges Facebook, Twitter

  Google Inc is tapping its huge network of Gmail users and Web surfers to create a Buzz that it hopes will help it catch up with online social networking leaders Facebook and Twitter.

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  U.S. missionary in Haiti says trusts God to free her

  A Haitian judge made no decision at a hearing on Monday whether to free or prosecute 10 U.S. missionaries accused of kidnapping children, and their leader said she trusted in God they would be cleared and released.

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  Obama's healthcare summit sets stage for end-game

  President Barack Obama's call for a healthcare summit including both his fellow Democrats and Republicans sets the stage for a final push to get stalled legislation through Congress, but skeptical Republicans said on Monday the only solution is to start over.

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  Taiwan drops request for U.S. military subs: source

  Taiwan has effectively dropped a request for U.S. submarines to help shore up the balance of power with political rival China, a military source said on Tuesday, dissolving what could be a new rift in tense Sino-U.S. ties.

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  Ukraine's Tymoshenko girds to contest result

  Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched action on Tuesday to call rival Viktor Yanukovich's election into question, ignoring international endorsement of the poll and threatening a lengthy legal battle.

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  John Murtha, defense appropriations chair, dies

  Democratic Representative John Murtha, chairman of the House of Representatives defense appropriations subcommittee who exercised enormous influence on defense issues, died on Monday.

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  Snow shuts down federal government, life goes on

  If snow keeps 230,000 government employees home for the better part of a week, will anyone notice? With at least another foot of snow headed for Washington, Philadelphia and New York, we're about to find out. The federal government in the nation's capital has largely been shut down since Friday aftrnoon, when a storm began dumping up to 3 feet of snow in some parts of the region.

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  NY governor says he'll step aside only 'in a box'

  New York Gov. David Paterson, defying calls from even fellow Democrats to drop out of the race for a full term, said Tuesday that he would leave only if the voters turned him out through the ballot box, or he's carried out "in a box."

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  Space shuttle Endeavour pulls in at space station

  Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles above Earth.

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  LA-area foothills under mudslide threat

  A new winter storm washed over the wildfire-scarred foothills north of Los Angeles Tuesday, leaving some residents to flee their homes in baggage-laden cars while others used shovels and buckets to try to hold back the muddy deluge.

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  Anthem asked to justify rate hike in California

  In his push to move stalled health care reform, President Barack Obama is appealing to American pocketbooks by calling one health insurer's major rate hike in California a harbinger of rising premiums.

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  Teen arrested in killing of LA anti-gang counselor

  When Ronald "Loony" Barron urged a young graffiti tagger to put away his paint cans, he was doing what he viewed as his mission — steering kids away from crime — but he paid for it with his life.

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  Target pulls Valentine's toys over lead concerns

  Target Corp. said Tuesday it was pulling its Valentine's Day "Message Bears" from store shelves after California's attorney general raised concerns that the toys have illegal levels of lead.

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  Kerrigan family disputes autopsy report on father

  The family of Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan insisted Tuesday that they do "not blame anyone" for her father's death and criticized a medical examiner's finding that Daniel Kerrigan died of a heart rhythm problem after a fight with his son.

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  NY Senate votes to expel convicted lawmaker

  The New York Senate voted Tuesday night to expel a senator convicted of a misdemeanor charge of assaulting his girlfriend, a resolution the lawmaker assailed as an injustice to the people who elected him.

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  ATF blames Texas church fires on serial arsonist

  A spate of recent fires that destroyed or damaged several churches in eastern Texas were intentionally set, likely by the same person or group, federal authorities said Tuesday.

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  Health crisis in Haiti enters a deadly new phase

  Fourteen-month-old Abigail Charlot survived Haiti's cataclysmic earthquake but not its miserable aftermath. Brought into the capital's General Hospital with fever and diarrhea, little Abigail literally dried up.

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  Doctor says vendor may have been in rubble 27 days

  A rice vendor may have lived under the rubble of a flea market for 27 days with little more than water and possibly fruit, a doctor said Tuesday, in what would be a dramatic tale of survival four weeks after Haiti's devastating earthquake.

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  US poised to seize Afghan town as Taliban dig in

  U.S. and Afghan forces pushed Tuesday to the edge of the southern Afghan town of Marjah, poised to seize the major Taliban supply and drug-smuggling stronghold in hopes of building public support by providing aid and services once the insurgents are gone.

• Myanmar court sentences US man to 3 years prison

  A Myanmar court ordered a U.S. citizen on Wednesday to serve three years in prison for entering the military-ruled country with forged documents and undeclared foreign currency.

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  UN envoy in North Korea to spur nuke talks

  A senior U.N. envoy pressed ahead Wednesday with international efforts to get North Korea back into nuclear disarmament talks, during the world body's first high-level visit to the reclusive state in nearly six years.

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  Obama says world moving quickly on Iran sanctions

  President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the international community was moving "fairly quickly" toward imposing broader sanctions on Iran, as the Islamic Republic defiantly expanded its nuclear program.

• China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.

  Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

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  Ukraine's Tymoshenko girds to contest result

  Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched action on Tuesday to call rival Viktor Yanukovich's election into question, ignoring international endorsement of the poll and threatening a lengthy legal battle.

• Haiti secure after quake, but escapees a concern: U.N.

  The top U.N. official in Haiti urged Haitians on Tuesday to turn in thousands of escaped criminals before they start trouble, but said the security situation in the quake-struck Caribbean nation is stable.

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  Nigerian VP assumes office as acting president

  Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office as acting president on Tuesday to fill a power vacuum more than two months after President Umaru Yar'Adua left for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia.

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• 
  Obama would OK health bill minus items he pursued

  Signaling he'd meet critics part way on health care, President Barack Obama said Tuesday he's willing to sign a bill even if it doesn't deliver everything he pursued through a year of grinding effort at risk of going down as a dismal failure.

• 
  Despite all the nice talk, partisanship reigns

  Partisanship is reaching new heights in Washington, even as President Barack Obama makes almost daily pleas to get along. He's scheduled a bipartisan health care summit, and just Tuesday he hosted GOP leaders at the White House for the first time in two months.

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  Lawmaker's death a reminder of surgery risks

  Gallbladder surgery is usually a very safe operation, but a powerful congressman's death is a reminder of the known risks.

• 
  Obama says music fueled civil rights movement

  Crediting civil rights-era protest songs and their spiritual predecessors for his election, President Barack Obama on Tuesday sat in the East Room of his White House and listened to an all-star lineup of performers pay tribute to the music that he said fueled freedom marches and civil disobedience.

• Former Va. governor urges DNC chairman's firing

  Democratic former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is urging President Barack Obama to fire Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor.

• 
  Tax credits, Medicare fix in Senate jobs bill

  Highway funding and tax breaks for hiring workers figure prominently in a jobs-creation bill that Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Senate hope will attract rare joint support in an election year, lawmakers said on Tuesday.

• Jobs package may cost about $80 billion

  A possible jobs-creation package being crafted by Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate may end up costing about $80 billion, a key Republican said on Tuesday.

• Republicans flex new power, block Obama nominee

  Senate Republicans flexed their new political muscle on Tuesday and blocked President Barack Obama's nomination of a union lawyer to help referee labor disputes.

• Stimulus transportation under scrutiny

  by Lisa Lambert

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  Obamas take on problem of obese children

  Alarmed that nearly a third of U.S. children are obese or overweight -- and likely to stay that way all their lives -- President Barack Obama launched an initiative on Tuesday to roll back the numbers and put his wife in charge of promoting it.

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• Changes proposed in how psychiatrists diagnose

  Don't say "mental retardation" — the new term is "intellectual disability." No more diagnoses of Asperger's syndrome — call it a mild version of autism instead. And while "behavioral addictions" will be new to doctors' dictionaries, "Internet addiction" didn't make the cut.

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  Lawmaker's death a reminder of surgery risks

  Gallbladder surgery is usually a very safe operation, but a powerful congressman's death is a reminder of the known risks.

• Autism risks detailed in children of older mothers

  A woman's chance of having a child with autism increase substantially as she ages, but the risk may be less for older dads than previously suggested, a new study analyzing more than 5 million births found.

• Bad malaria pills in Africa raise resistance fears

  High rates of the most effective type of malaria-fighting drugs sold in three African countries are poor quality — including nearly half the pills sampled in Senegal — raising fears of increased drug resistance that could wipe out the last weapon left to battle a disease that kills 1 million peopleeach year, according to a U.

• 
  Even if you're careful, drugs can end up in water

  The federal government advises throwing most unused or expired medications into the trash instead of down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a study from Maine suggests.

• 
  China finds 170 more tons of tainted milk powder

  The discovery has punched a 170-ton hole in China's promises to overhaul its food safety system. Officials say they've found yet another case where large amounts of tainted milk powder from the country's 2008 scandal that should have been destroyed were instead repackaged.

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  Is the US swine flu epidemic over?

  If the U.S. swine flu epidemic isn't over, it certainly looks as if it's on its last legs. While federal health officials are not ready to declare the threat has passed and the outbreak has run its course, they did report Friday that for the fourth week in a row, no states had widespread flu activiy.

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  FDA concerned dissolvable tobacco appeals to kids

  The death of the father of Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan was ruled a homicide Tuesday when an autopsy showed he died of a heart rhythm problem after a fight with his son in which he suffered a neck injury so severe it damaged his windpipe.

• Firm to pay $200K after importing lead-laden toys

  A Massachusetts company has agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty to settle allegations it violated U.S. law when it imported Thomas and Friends, Curious George and Winnie the Pooh toys with high levels of lead.

• Healthy baby campaign uses texts to reach mothers

  Expectant mothers are getting a new tool to help keep themselves and their babies healthy: pregnancy tips sent directly to their cell phones.

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  Space shuttle Endeavour pulls in at space station

  Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles above Earth.

• New federal climate change agency forming

  The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.

• India successfully tests nuclear-capable missile

  India again successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable missile Sunday that can hit targets across much of Asia and the Middle East, a defense ministry press release said.

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  Even if you're careful, drugs can end up in water

  The federal government advises throwing most unused or expired medications into the trash instead of down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a study from Maine suggests.

• 
  Anti-whalers, Japanese fleet fire water cannons

  Activists vowing to stop the killing of whales exchanged water-cannon fire with a Japanese whaling fleet they are tailing in the Antarctic Ocean, as sea confrontations that have led to collisions and a sunken vessel continue.

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  Shuttle Endeavour docks with space station

  The space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, carrying the station's last two main components.

• Researchers find sex-specific lung cancer genes

  Lung cancer is often dramatically different in women than it is in men, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday in another study that suggests ways to tailor treatment for cancer patients.

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  Study shows why it is so scary to lose money

  People are afraid to lose money and an unusual study released on Monday explains why -- the brain's fear center controls the response to a gamble.

• Scientists find gene variant link to aging cells

  Scientists have found specific genetic variants which may explain why some people age earlier than others and say their findings have important implications for understanding cancer and age-related diseases.

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• Man shoots himself in leg outside Fla. gun store

  A man accidentally shot himself in the leg shortly after leaving a Jupiter gun store. Police said the unidentified man went to Chuck's Guns and Ammo Monday afternoon, looking for batteries for the laser sight on a small handgun. When the man was back in his car, the gun accidentally fired, hitting im in the leg.

• Man claims Va. deputies beat him for burping

  A Roanoke man claims sheriff's deputies beat him in the city jail because of his burping. Thomas Scott Vandegrift made the allegations in a federal lawsuit filed last week against several deputies, the city, the sheriff's office and the sheriff. According to the lawsuit, the deputies were annoyed b Vandegrift's burping, which was caused by acid reflux.

• NY boy, 11, faces charges over pencil attack

  An 11-year-old boy faces assault and weapon charges for trying to stab a classmate with a pencil over a math problem. Police in New Hartford, 80 miles west of Albany, said the boy was mad because a classmate kept trying to help him in math class on Monday. When the would-be helper wouldn't back off, police said the boy lashed out with a sharp pencil and inflicted a scratch treated by the school n...

• Complaint claims mayor uses mute button on speakers

  Los Angeles County prosecutors are looking into a complaint that the mayor of Carson cuts off public speakers at City Council meetings if he doesn't like what they're saying. David Demerjian of the district attorney's office said the complaint claims that Mayor Jim Dear hits the mute button on speaers before the three-minute time limit is up.

• Man allegedly steals ambulance with patient inside

  Authorities say a drunken man stole an ambulance from a Wisconsin ski area with the patient and paramedics still inside. The Dane County Sheriff's Department says emergency responders were treating a patient in the back of the ambulance at the Tyrol Basin Ski and Snowboard Area in Mount Horeb on Moday night.

• Makeup bandit returns after 6 month absence

  A bandit who likes to steal makeup from a well known drug store chain has returned after a six month absence. Chandler police said the "Blue Basket Bandit" attempted a theft Monday at a Walgreens store. Over the past two years, police said the thief has stolen approximately $10,000 worth of cosmeti merchandise from Walgreens stores around Chandler and neighboring cities.

• Dog waste piling up at Wyoming forest trails

  A smelly problem is piling at trails around Jackson where people go hiking and cross-country skiing with their dogs. How big is this problem? Bridger-Teton National Forest officials say they recently counted 173 piles of dog waste around just one trailhead.

• Man rescued after 3 days in snow-covered SUV in CO

  A 31-year-old Indiana man says he had not food but kept himself hydrated with Mountain Dew and snow while he was stuck in his snow-covered SUV in southwestern Colorado for three days.

• Cattle battle: NZealand has more cows than kiwis

  New Zealanders who for decades have endured jokes about being outnumbered 20-to-1 by sheep have a new farm animal majority to worry about: cows.

• Man points gun at neighbor over snow shoveling

  New Castle County Police said a man pointed a gun at a neighbor who was shoveling snow on Saturday at the Hampton Walk Apartments. A man told police a neighbor came outside while he was shoveling, pointed a gun and threatened to shoot him if he didn't stop shoveling snow onto his car.

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• Micron to buy Numonyx in $1.3 billion stock deal

  Micron Technology says it plans to buy fellow memory chip maker Numonyx in an all-stock transaction the companies value at $1.27 billion.

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  Google's e-mail gets social in Facebook face-off

  Google Inc. opened a new social hub in its e-mail service on Tuesday, leaving little doubt that the Internet search leader is girding for a face-off with Facebook.

• RealNetworks, MTV to spin off Rhapsody

  RealNetworks Inc. and MTV Networks said Tuesday that they plan to spin off Rhapsody America LLC, their digital music service joint venture, into an independent company.

• AOL integrates Facebook chat with AIM

  As part of an ongoing effort to improve its user experience, Internet company AOL Inc. is letting users of its AIM instant-messaging service chat with friends on Facebook.

• PayPal's India transaction block could last months

  Online payments service PayPal says its suspension of certain transactions in India could last months.

• Warner CEO sees e-book `fracas' as helping music

  The head of Warner Music Group expressed hope on Tuesday that the recent "fracas" over the price of e-books would help give content creators such as his company more pricing power over device makers.

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  Online ad improvement seen in IAC's 4Q loss

  Internet company IAC/InterActiveCorp lost $1 billion in the fourth quarter because it wrote down the value of its search business, but the results beat expectations and offered the latest indication that the online advertising market is improving.

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  Electronic Arts shares dive on weak outlook

  A disappointing outlook from Electronic Arts Inc. sent shares of the video game publisher sharply lower Monday, a sign that significant cost-cuts and layoffs have not ended the company's slump.

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  Security chip that does encryption in PCs hacked

  Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.

• MySpace Music experiments with audio ads

  Hoping to boost revenue, MySpace Music has begun experimenting with audio advertisements that users must hear if they want to listen to music for free online.

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  James leads Cavaliers to 12th straight win

  LeBron James scored 32 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to their 12th straight win Tuesday night, a 104-97 victory over the New Jersey Nets.

• Rutgers suspends Stringer for a game

  Rutgers suspended Hall of Fame women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer on Tuesday for one game for misusing practice players.

• Ducks' Getzlaf optimistic for Olympic return

  Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf says he is optimistic he'll return from his sprained left ankle in time to play for Canada in the Olympics.

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  Anthony returns from injury to help Denver win

  Carmelo Anthony got an unexpected breather in his return from an ankle injury.

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  Helicopters and trucks bring snow to Cypress

  A clattering helicopter and a rumbling truck dumped more snow on Cypress Mountain, the warm weather-plagued venue where the first Winter Olympic event is just four days away.

• Snow forces changes to Alpine training at Whistler

  With a series of storm fronts rolling in off the Pacific, Vancouver Games men's Alpine race officials pushed up the start of the first downhill training session on Wednesday in a bid to ensure this weekend's opening race starts on schedule.

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  Strained relationship with father for top US skier

  The Vancouver Olympics are shaping up to be Lindsey Vonn's shining moment, the apex of a career that began years ago when her father introduced her to skiing. He saw enough talent in his daughter to move the whole family to Colorado.

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  Money woes ease in NASCAR, sponsors seek bargains

  With the NASCAR season revving up at Daytona International Speedway this week, companies still have a chance to associate themselves with the sport's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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  6 NHL teams to open 2010-11 season in Europe

  The NHL is sending more teams across the pond.

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  Gaborik's knee cut by skate in Rangers practice

  Marian Gaborik limped off the ice during practice Tuesday after the New York Rangers' leading scorer was cut on the right knee by the skate of goalie Henrik Lundqvist in a collision.

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