Barbara Walters: I had affair with U.S. senator

After three decades of keeping mum, Barbara Walters is disclosing a past affair with married U.S. Senator Edward Brooke, whom she remembers as "exciting" and "brilliant."
Appearing on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" scheduled to air Tuesday, Walters shares details of her relationship with Brooke that lasted several years in the 1970s, according to a transcript of the show provided to The Associated Press.
A moderate Republican from Massachusetts who took office in 1967, Brooke was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the Senate. Both he and Walters knew that public knowledge of their affair could have ruined his career as well as hers, Walters says.
At the time, the twice-divorced Walters was a rising star in TV news and co-host of NBC's "Today" show, but would soon jump to ABC News, where she has enjoyed unrivaled success. Her affair with Brooke, which never before came to light, had ended before he lost his bid for a third term in 1978.
Brooke later divorced, and has since remarried. Calls to a listing for Brooke in Miami by The Associated Press were not immediately returned Thursday.
Walters is the guest of Oprah Winfrey to discuss her new memoir, "Audition," which covers her long career in television, as well as her off-camera life. On "Oprah," Walters recounts a phone call from a friend who urged her to stop seeing Brooke.
"He said, 'This is going to come out. This is going to ruin your career,' " then reminded her that Brooke was up for re-election a year later. " 'This is going to ruin him. You've got to break this off.' "
Winfrey asks Walters if she was in love.
"I was certainly I don't know I was certainly infatuated."
"Infatuated."
"I was certainly involved," Walters says. "He was exciting. He was brilliant. It was exciting times in Washington."
Also during the program, Walters chokes up while describing the struggles of her older sister Jackie, who was mentally retarded. Walters confesses that, as a child, she sometimes felt embarrassed by Jackie.
"She stuttered terribly. People made fun of her. People made fun of me," Walters says. "I didn't bring friends home. I felt terribly guilty because she was very loving and I didn't always feel that way."
Jackie Walters died in 1985 of ovarian cancer.
"When I think of her, because she was beautiful and loving and all of that, it makes me cry."

Michelle Obama: Let's move past Wright, get back to issues

Michelle Obama said Wednesday that her husband's move to distance himself from his controversial former minister has been "painful," but that she's pleased with the way he's handled the situation.

"I was proud of the statement he made yesterday," she said in an interview with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. "It was a tough thing for him to do -- it's a painful situation to be in."
On Tuesday, Obama said he was "outraged" by comments the Rev. Jeremiah Wright made to the National Press Club in Washington on Monday. The candidate said he was "saddened by the spectacle" of what Wright said.
He said Wright, who officiated his wedding and baptized his children, seemed "not the person I met 20 years ago."

Things your body can do after you die

Death is no obstacle when it comes to love in China. That's because ghost marriage -- the practice of setting up deceased relatives with suitable spouses, dead or alive -- is still an option.
Ghost marriage first appeared in Chinese legends 2,000 years ago, and it's been a staple of the culture ever since. At times, it was a way for spinsters to gain social acceptance after death. At other times, the ceremony honored dead sons by giving them living brides. In both cases, the marriages served a religious function by making the deceased happier in the afterlife.
While the practice of matchmaking for the dead waned during China's Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s, officials report that ghost marriages are back on the rise. Today, the goal is often to give a deceased bachelor a wife -- preferably one who has recently been laid to rest. But in a nation where men outnumber women in death as well as in life, the shortage of corpse brides has led to murder.
In 2007, there were two widely reported cases of rural men killing prostitutes, housekeepers, and mentally ill women in order to sell their bodies as ghost wives. Worse, these crimes pay. According to The Washington Post and The London Times, one undertaker buys women's bodies for more than $2,000 and sells them to prospective "in-laws" for nearly $5,000.

Obama 'outraged' by Wright's remarks

Sen. Barack Obama said he is "outraged" by comments his former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made Monday at the National Press Club and "saddened by the spectacle."
"I have been a member of Trinity Church since 1992. I have known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years," he said at a news conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "The person I saw yesterday is not the person I met 20 years ago."
Obama said he is outraged by Wright's remarks that seemed to suggest the U.S. government might be responsible for the spread of AIDS in the black community, and his equation of some American wartime efforts with terrorism.
"What particularly angered me was his suggestion somehow that my previous denunciation of his remarks were somehow political posturing," said Obama, who added that Wright had shown "little regard for me" and seemed more concerned with "taking center stage."
Obama said Wright's comments were not only "divisive and destructive," but they also "end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate."

Obama's ex-pastor delivers spirited speech to NAACP

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor told an audience of thousands at an NAACP dinner Sunday that he was "descriptive" but "not divisive" when he talks about race relations in America.

I describe the conditions in this country," the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said during his lively keynote address at the 53rd NAACP's Freedom Fund dinner in Detroit, Michigan.
"Conditions divide, not my descriptions," he said.
"I am sorry your local political analysts and your neighboring county executives think my being here is polarizing and my sermons are divisive, but I'm not here to address an analyst's opinion," he said. "I am here to address your 2008 theme (of) change is going to come."
Wright is a retired pastor from the the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, where Obama worships.
Earlier this year, some of Wright's outspoken sermons, circulated and widely discussed on the Internet and on television, became an issue in the Democratic presidential race because of the former pastor's ties to Obama.

Police not guilty in groom's death

A judge acquitted three New York Police Department detectives of all charges Friday morning in the shooting death of an unarmed man in a 50-bullet barrage, hours before he was to be married.
Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora were found not guilty of charges of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell, 23, and the wounding of two of his friends.
Detective Marc Cooper was acquitted of reckless endangerment.
Justice Arthur Cooperman said he found problems with the prosecution's case. He said some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, and he cited prior convictions and incarcerations of witnesses.
He also cited the demeanor of some witnesses on the stand.
As the judge read his decision, Nicole Paultre Bell -- Sean Bell's fiancee before his death -- ran from the courtroom, saying, "I've got to get out of here."
The announcement immediately sparked anger among some in the crowd outside the courthouse, but the protests were generally orderly.
One woman shouted at a black police officer, "How can you be proud to wear that uniform? Stand down! Stop working for the masters!" Sean Bell was black.
Patrick Lynch, president of the New York Police Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said "there's no winners, there's no losers" in the case.
"We still have a death that occurred. We still have police officers that have to live with the fact that there was a death involved in their case," Lynch said.
But, he added, the verdict assured police officers that they will be treated fairly in New York's courts.
"This case was not about justice," said Leroy Gadsden, chair of the police/community relations committee of the Jamaica Branch NAACP. "This case was about the police having a right to be above the law. If the law was in effect here, if the judge had followed the law truly, these officers would have been found guilty. ...
"This court, unfortunately, is bankrupt when it comes to justice for people of color."
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been advising Bell's fiancee and family, left the courthouse about an hour after the verdict without making a public statement. He had called for calm Wednesday.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement saying, "An innocent man lost his life, a bride lost her groom, two daughters lost their father, and a mother and a father lost their son. No verdict could ever end the grief that those who knew and loved Sean Bell suffer."
However, he said, the legal system must be respected.
"America is a nation of laws, and though not everyone will agree with the verdicts and opinions issued by the courts, we accept their authority."
Bloomberg also said he had spoken briefly with Paultre Bell on Wednesday and agreed with her on the need to ensure similar incidents would not occur in the future.
Bell, 23, was killed just before dawn on his wedding day, November 25, 2006. He and several friends were winding up an all-night bachelor party at the Kalua Club in Queens, a strip club that was under investigation by a NYPD undercover unit looking into complaints of guns, drugs and prostitution.
Undercover detectives were inside the club, and plainclothes officers were stationed outside.
Witnesses said that about 4 a.m., closing time, as Bell and his friends left the club, an argument broke out. Believing that one of Bell's friends, Joseph Guzman, was going to get a gun from Bell's car, one of the undercover detectives followed the men and called for backup.
What happened next was at the heart of the trial, prosecuted by the assistant district attorney in Queens.

Snipes to be sentenced on tax evasion charges

Actor Wesley Snipes faces up to three years in prison and a fine of $5 million when he is sentenced Thursday on federal tax evasion charges. Federal prosecutors last week urged U.S. District Judge William Hodges in Ocala, Florida, to sentence Snipes to the maximum penalty to demonstrate to taxpayers that refusal to pay income taxes carries severe penalties.
Snipes was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failure to file federal income tax returns.
"This case presents the court with a singular opportunity to deter tax fraud nationwide," the government said in its sentencing recommendation.
Snipes, who has starred in movies such as "Blade," "Major League" and "Murder at 1600," had been charged with felony conspiracy counts for participating in a scheme that rejects the legal foundation of the tax system. However, a jury accepted his argument that he was innocently duped by errant tax advisers and acquitted him on the most serious charges.
"The fact that Snipes was acquitted on two felony charges and convicted 'only' on three misdemeanor counts has been portrayed in the mainstream media as a 'victory' for Snipes," the government document says.
"The troubling implication of such coverage for the millions of average citizens who are aware of this case is that the rich and famous Wesley Snipes has 'gotten away with it.' In the end the criminal conduct of Snipes must not be seen in such a light."

Clinton wins Pennsylvania

Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed victory in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, beating out Sen. Barack Obama after a bruising six-week campaign.
"It's a long road to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and it runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania," she told supporters in Philadelphia.
"I'm in this race to fight for you ... You know you can count on me to stand up strong for you every single day in the White House."
Clinton commended Obama and his campaign, saying the two are in many ways "on this journey together."
Clinton's big-state victory follows her wins in Ohio, New York, Texas and California.
Her campaign said that should raise questions about whether Obama, who leads Clinton in the overall Democratic race, can beat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in November.
"The tide is turning," Clinton told cheering supporters. Chelsea Clinton's eyes welled with tears as she watched her mother speak.
With about 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton was leading Obama by 10 points.

Charities forced to do more with less

Ordinary Americans aren't the only ones being punished by tough economic times. Charities say they need help, too.
Charitable groups that help the poor food banks, thrift stores, shelters say the slumping economy is eroding their ability to help the nation's needy. They report declining donations and a surge in people seeking help.
Bill Bolling, the founder of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, says he's experienced several recessions but never seen so many working people visit food banks. Bolling's charity donates food to 800 nonprofit groups in Georgia.
"This is new for us," Bolling said. "People are giving up buying groceries so that they can pay rent and put gas in the car."
National charities like Goodwill Industries International Inc. and The Salvation Army give the same grim assessment donations are down, needs are up.
At least 1.3 million more people have enrolled in the federal Food Stamp Program compared to last year, says Ross Fraser, a spokesman for America's Second Harvest, one of the nation's largest hunger-relief groups. It donates food to at least 200 food banks.
"People who have been in food banking for years say it's the worst they've ever seen," Fraser said.
People often assume food bank customers are homeless. But several food bank officials across the country say that many of their customers are working-class people and their numbers are increasing.
They are people like Lynette Copeland, who works full-time as a clerk at a rehabilitation center in Atlanta, Georgia. She's buying a Habitat for Humanity house and drives a car. But she says she doesn't make enough money to pay her bills.
Copeland says she depends on the Atlanta food bank to feed the four grandchildren she raises alone. She says the high costs of food, fuel and daycare force her to eat meat sparingly and shop at Goodwill.
"Although everything is going up, your pay rate doesn't go up," she said.
Lately, Copeland says she has noticed a change in the makeup of the customers visiting her food bank. Instead of the homeless and destitute, people come from all walks of life: the elderly, men in security guard uniforms and mothers with children.
Many are first-timers. Some are too ashamed to ask for food in front of others; so they walk to the side of the food bank where fewer people are gathered to receive food, she says.

20 migrants drown off Bahamas

The U.S. Coast Guard says the bodies of 20 migrants have been recovered from the sea near the Bahamas. The bodies include 19 Haitians and one Honduran.
A search-and-rescue mission began Sunday after fishermen heard people screaming in the water.
Coast Guard spokesman Barry Bena said in Miami Monday that three survivors have been found. He said 20 bodies have been recovered.
Authorities are interviewing the survivors to determine what happened and are continuing the search.

Pope arrives in New York for United Nations speech

After a dramatic three days in which he put America's clergy sexual abuse scandal front and center, Pope Benedict XVI turned his attention Friday to the original purpose of his first U.S. visit as leader of the Roman Catholic Church a speech at the United Nations.
Traveling in from Washington on an early morning flight, the pope was greeted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and was to address the General Assembly a few minutes later.
Hundreds of people had gathered at a plaza outside the U.N., some brought banners saying "Wilkomen Pope Benedict XVI." One added the words "You Rock!"
The U.N. setting contrasted dramatically with the intimacy of a meeting Thursday, at which Benedict prayed with weeping victims of childhood sexual abuse by priests.
When Benedict speaks to diplomats from around the world, he'll likely touch on several broad themes, said Jo Renee Formicola, a Seton Hall University political science professor who has studied the papacy and international affairs.
Among them: a call for bedrock ethical and moral principles as a guiding force even in pluralistic societies, a human rights agenda that encompasses religious freedom and the sacredness of human life and the responsibility of first-world nations to aid developing ones.
The pope will encourage the notion that individuals and states can rise above their own self interests and pursue the common good, Formicola said.

N. Korea faces food crisis

North Korea faces a looming food crisis due to floods last year, the U.N. food agency said.
Food prices at North Korean markets have doubled while state rations are dwindling, the World Food Program said Wednesday.
Key donors such as China and South Korea are not expected to send as much direct assistance to the North as they have in the past.
"The food security situation in the (North) is clearly bad and getting worse," Tony Banbury, WFP Asia regional director, said in a statement. "It is increasingly likely that external assistance will be urgently required to avert a serious tragedy."
Jean-Pierre de Margerie, WFP's country director in North Korea, said by telephone from Pyongyang that North Korean officials were admitting for the first time that the state ration system -- already erratic in providing food to the country's 23 million people -- was breaking down.
"It's a bit of a perfect storm shaping up," he said.
Prices of staple foods have doubled in the past year in the capital. A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice now costs about a third of a typical worker's monthly salary of 6,000 won (about US$2), WFP said.
In another blow to the food situation, direct aid from North Korea's two top donors -- China and South Korea -- is also expected to decline this year.
Due to rising food prices, China has restricted its exports and is not expected to send as much to its communist ally as in the past, de Margerie said.
South Korea has a new conservative president who has said he expects North Korea to reciprocate for aid, a change from the previous decade of liberal South Korean governments. The new policy has angered Pyongyang, which has claimed it does not need Seoul's help.
The WFP cut back its operations in 2006 at North Korea's request, going from feeding more than 6 million people to 1.1 million. The move was believed motivated by the reclusive North bristling at the monitoring requirements that required foreign aid workers to travel the country and observe food handouts.
WFP said an estimated 6.5 million people were short of food, and the number could rise if shortages were not addressed.
The agency is in talks with the North Korean government and donors as it deliberates whether to launch a new emergency feeding program, de Margerie said.
Since the 1990s North Korea has suffered regular food shortages caused by natural disasters, mismanagement and the loss of the country's Soviet benefactor. As many as 2 million people are believed to have died from famine.

An 'average' American will never be president

Can we all just stop the silly nonsense over who is an elitist and whether an "average American" will occupy the White House?
Listening to the punditry today, you would think folks who revel in the comedy of Larry the Cable Guy or Katt Williams really would have a shot at the White House.
It's totally absurd.
So, Sen. Barack Obama is all of a sudden an elitist because he went to Columbia and Harvard? And Sen. Hillary Clinton is an elitist because she went to Yale? Do you actually think Sen. John McCain isn't an elitist? He went to an exclusive college the Naval Academy, and that is one of the hardest places to get into.
Karl Rove, who tries to portray himself as the common man but is just another rich Republican, has called both Democratic candidates elitists. Well, his former boss, President George W. Bush, went to Yale. So did Bush's dad, former president George H.W. Bush, and his granddaddy, former Sen. Prescott Bush. All three Bushes also were members of the super elite organization Skull and Bones. The younger Bush later went to Harvard.
He walked into the governor's mansion and the presidency on the strength of his name and his dad's money and connections. Sounds like an elitist to me!
But no, we're supposed to be fooled by the cowboy boots, folksy charm and him removing brush at his Crawford, Texas, ranch.

Air crash in Africa kills more than 80

A plane crashed Tuesday shortly after taking off from the Goma airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing 83 passengers and crew on board, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
The Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 was heading from the city of Goma in the eastern mountains to the central city of Kisangani when it plummeted into a neighborhood near the runway, spokesman Antoine Ghonda said.
The plane went down shortly after 3 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) and was still on fire an hour later, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said in Goma.
The United Nations and Red Cross are helping with the rescue effort, which is hampered by the "basic, if nonexistent" equipment in the impoverished country, Saiki said.
Hewa Bora Airways is a private Congolese airline that aviation authorities in Belgium recently suspended for safety violations, said foreign ministry spokesman Antoine Ghonda. The airline is based in the capital, Kinshasa.
Before its suspension, Hewa Bora had operated a weekly flight to Belgium, Ghonda said.
Congolese authorities had not suspended the airline. "I'm quite sure they're going" to after this week's crash, Ghonda added.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, has a dismal aviation record. There have been 10 plane crashes there since February 2007, resulting in 76 deaths, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
Ghonda said the cause of Tuesday's crash is under investigation but initial indications point to an overloaded cabin. He said weather was not a factor.
Saiki said air travel is one of the few ways to get around the Congo.
"This is the third-largest country in Africa, as big as Western Europe, and yet you don't even have 2,000 miles of roads," Saiki said. "So basically most of the transportation in such a big country is done by air."

Iraqi soldiers free CBS journalist from captors

Richard Butler, the CBS journalist rescued by Iraqi soldiers in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Monday, described a quick escape and "brilliant" military work that ended his two long months of captivity.
"The Iraqi army stormed the house and overcame the guards and burst through the door and I had my hood on, which I had to have on the whole time. And they shouted something at me and I pulled my hood off," Butler told TV cameras. "And they ran me down the road."
Butler, who is British, was freed Monday by chance during Iraqi military operations that have been ongoing for weeks in the city, and later was handed over to the British military. News footage showed him hugging and shaking hands with people after he fled a house in the Basra neighborhood of Jabaliya.
"Thank you and I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends at CBS. And thank you again," he said.
When asked whether the Iraqi army was "good," Butler called the army "brilliant."

Fire destroys Clinton's local campaign office

Terre Haute fire officials are investigating an early Friday morning fire that happened in downtown Terre Haute, destroying Senator Hillary Clinton's Terre Haute Campaign Headquarters.
The fire broke out just after 12:30 a.m. Friday at the Westaff office building on 3rd Street.
"When they arrived on the scene, flames were shooting out the tops of it, and the vehicle in front was also involved in the fire," Terre Haute Fire Department Public Information Officer John Gardner said.
Gardner said two women were inside Clinton's headquarters when the fire started. They got out safely, but one of their cars caught fire.
"It was really burning. The front part hadn't caved in yet. When it caved in, it fell on her car. Her car was on fire inside and out," said witness George Leach.
Despite former President Bill Cinton's visit to the Wabash Valley, investigators said they aren't jumping to any conclusions just yet as to what may have caused the fire at the Clinton Headquarters.
"At this point all we know is that there was a structure fire. We put it out, and we are going to do our investigation," Gardner said.
No word yet on where the fire started or the cause.
We have been told that the secret service has been on the scene investigating.
News 10 will have more on Hillary's Headquarters and information on this story as it develops.

Storms cause damage in Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan

Powerful storms brought hail, heavy rain and possible tornadoes to Texas and Oklahoma, causing power outages for thousands of customers Thursday morning and at least one death.
At least 180,000 homes and businesses lost electricity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and more than 11,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma Thursday morning.
Flooding in Oklahoma forced about a dozen state highways to close, and some schools called off classes for the day.
In Oklahoma, where parts of the state had more than 4 inches of rain, a woman died when her car skidded off the road during a downpour.
Three people were treated for minor injuries in Texas.
The severe weather began Wednesday and kept going into early Thursday. An apparent tornado moved through west Texas, tearing shingles from roofs, shattering glass and flipping vehicles.
Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said no injuries were reported from the high winds and heavy rain in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Two shelters were set up for residents who may need them, she said.

San Francisco braces for Olympic torch protests

San Francisco authorities are getting ready for protests Wednesday when runners carry the Olympic torch through the city, hoping to avoid the chaos that disrupted the relay in London and Paris.
Police officers' vacations have been canceled. Mayor Gavin Newsom has said that the route along the waterfront already cut from eight to six miles could be changed up to and even during the run itself.
"Things are still subject to change based on the information that we receive," San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said. "The goal is to have a safe event for everyone spectators and participants."
A spokesman for the group Students for a Free Tibet said he has heard of many people planning to protest in San Francisco.
"We want it to be peaceful. But it will be large," said spokesman Tenzin Dasang. "I heard from Tibetans that now live all over the U.S. and even abroad who are coming here."

Obama chipping away at Clinton's Pennsylvania lead

Barack Obama continues to chip away at Hillary Clinton's lead in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, a new Quinnipiac poll out Tuesday shows.
The New York senator's lead over Obama now stands at 6 points in the new poll, 50-44 percent. That compares to the 9 point lead Clinton held in a similar survey released 5 days ago, and an 11 point lead in a Quinnipiac survey late last month.
Specifically, Clinton has lost ground among white voters and men: She now holds an 18 point lead among whites, down from a 25 point gap in last week’s poll, and trails Obama by 4 points among males. Last week, the two drew equal support from men.
But Clinton continues to remain strong with her core voting bloc of older voters and white women, and likely Pennsylvania Democratic voters rate her more favorably than Obama — 71 percent for Clinton and 67 percent for Obama.
With the latest Quinnipiac poll, CNN's poll of several recent surveys show Clinton's lead over Obama in Pennsylvania now averages 6 percentage points. That gap is 1 point less than Monday’s poll of polls and 5 points less than a CNN poll of polls on Friday.
What's behind the shift?
"Obama has outspent Hillary Clinton three to one just on television advertising in Pennsylvania. He spent more than $3 million trying to get his name out and his message out to Hillary Clinton's $1 million," said Mark Preston, a CNN political editor.
The Illinois senator has also heavily benefited from the Service Employees International Union, which according to recently filed FEC reports has spent well over $700,000 on get-out-the-vote-efforts there.

Olympic torch extinguished during Paris leg

The Olympic torch relay was disrupted Monday by protesters in Paris demonstrating against the Chinese government, causing authorities to extinguish the flame three times and put the torch on a bus, according to The Associated Press.
The torch was being carried by a wheelchair athlete when it was halted and extinguished for a second time due to demonstrators shouting, according to AP.
The procession was interrupted for a third time when police spotted a crowd of demonstrators waiting for the torch on a bridge as they approached.
Backup flames, also lit from the birthplace of the ancient games in Olympia, Greece, are with the relay at all times to relight the torch.
Earlier protesters close to the River Seine forced authorities to put the torch out and take to a bus so they could continue the relay.
Agencies report that the relay has now resumed but that there have confrontations between the authorities and demonstrators. Police have taken numerous protesters away, AP said, also using tear gas to remove demonstrators who lay in the road and tried to block the relay route.
The incidents came one day after human-rights activist demonstrators made the torch's journey through London more like running the gauntlet than a journey of celebration, as UK police made more than two dozen arrests

Tornado leaves Little Rock like 'war zone'

At least one tornado ripped through central Arkansas Thursday evening, savaging a mobile home park and sending National Weather Service forecasters into a bunker as the storm roared overhead.
"There's pretty extensive damage in the Little Rock area," said John Lewis, a senior forecaster with the weather service at the North Little Rock Airport.
At least four people were hurt, authorities said, but there were no reports of fatalities.
"We went into our shelter," Lewis said. "We could hear it ... go by."
The storm destroyed hangars at the North Little Rock Airport and tossed numerous small planes. The forecasters spent about three minutes in their shelter.
"The scariest moment of my life," said Mike Aubrey, who was at the airport securing his plane ahead of the storm. "Debris was flying across the ramp. Planes were beginning to stack up."
Aubrey said he saw a Douglas DC-3, an early passenger plane, spin around. The aircraft was nowhere to be found after the tornado passed, he said.
The damage extended from southwest of Little Rock to the northeast. "There's some structural damage in the city of Little Rock and several areas north of North Little Rock," said John Rehrauer, spokesman for the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department. "A lot of trees and power lines are down."
The same storm also caused damage in southwestern Little Rock and the town of Benton, Lewis said. It also pummeled the Hurricane Lake Mobile Home Park in Saline County, about 12 miles southwest of Little Rock.

FAA inspectors: Southwest tried to hide safety problems

Southwest Airlines tried to keep serious problems with its maintenance program hidden and pressured the Federal Aviation Administration to keep out an inspector who noticed the problems, according to two FAA inspectors who blew the whistle on the airline.
Bobby Boutris and Douglas Peters told CNN Wednesday they brought information about Southwest's lack of compliance with mandatory inspection protocols to their supervisors, but the FAA did nothing.
Boutris said the airline tried to have him removed from the inspections.
"My supervisor called me into his office ... and told me he had had a meeting with the director of quality assurance and the AD [airworthiness directive] compliance leader from Southwest Airlines, and he had requested my removal from the inspection," Boutris said.
Linda Rutherford, Southwest's public relations vice president, wouldn't comment on the inspectors' allegations, noting that company Chairman Herb Kelleher and CEO Gary Kelly would be testifying Thursday before a House panel convened to look into the issue.
"Out of respect for the congressional hearing process, we will present testimony there, both oral and in writing, that addresses many of the questions being asked," she said. "Out of respect for the committee hearing process, we need to let those questions wait for the committee."

Clinton lead narrows in Pennsylvania

Hillary Clinton holds a 9 point lead over Barack Obama in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, a margin that is slightly narrower than that found in a similar poll released earlier this month.
In the just released Quinnipiac University Poll, Clinton draws 50 percent of support from likely Democratic voters in the state while Obama gets 41 percent. In a similar poll taken two weeks ago, Clinton was at 53 percent and Obama was at 41 percent.
The poll was conducted March 24-31 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It comes days after popular Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey endorsed Obama though most of the poll was conducted before that announcement.
The poll also shows a large split among white and black voters in the state Clinton is winning the votes of nearly 6 in 10 white Democrats while Obama is drawing three quarters of the black vote. The two also remain strong with constituencies that have favored them in past states: Clinton is doing well with women and older voters while Obama is strong with young voters. The two are approximately even among males.
A convincing win in Pennsylvania is seen as crucial for Clinton as she seeks to end the primary season with enough momentum to swing the majority of undecided superdelegates her way.
With an electorate that seems to favor Clinton, the Obama campaign has consistently lowered its expectations there, though it is heavily outspending her on television advertising.

King's final crusade: The radical push for a new America

The Rev. Bernard LaFayette Jr. was resting at his Chicago, Illinois, home one autumn weekend in 1967 when the phone rang. The caller didn't identify himself, but LaFayette immediately recognized the baritone voice.
"Bernard, I need you," the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said. "This may be my last campaign. We're going for broke."
Most Americans think of King as the "I Have a Dream" preacher at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. But the man who made his final trip to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968 had become radical, scholars and activists say. King was gambling his legacy on a final crusade that was so revolutionary, it alarmed many of his closest advisers. Some became concerned about his emotional stability.
King called his crusade the Poor People's Campaign. He planned to march on Washington with a multiracial army of poor people who would build shantytowns at the Lincoln Memorial -- and paralyze the nation's capital if they had to.
The campaign's goal: force the federal government to withdraw funding for the Vietnam War and commit instead to abolishing poverty.
What King was saying by this time was even more provocative than what he planned. In his final presidential address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he said the movement should address "the question of restructuring the whole of American society."
He called for a guaranteed annual wage for all able-bodied people, he urged the nationalization of some industries, and he told people to "question the capitalistic economy."

Paulson offers sweeping rule changes

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday proposed a set of sweeping changes to the nation's financial system, including a broad expansion of the Federal Reserve's powers, in what could herald the biggest regulatory overhaul of Wall Street since the Great Depression.
The plan comes as concerns about the housing crisis and its fallout in the financial system continues to fuel calls for change in Washington. The changes, if enacted, would be largely invisible to consumers but would drastically alter how the financial services industry is regulated.
"Government has a responsibility to make sure our financial system is regulated effectively," Paulson said. "And in this area, we can do a better job."
Among the plan's biggest proposals is to provide additional powers to the Federal Reserve, which, along with the Treasury Department, has attempted to shepherd the nation through the housing crisis. Earlier this month, the Fed orchestrated a marriage between JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Bear Stearns (BSC, Fortune 500), which was on the verge of a collapse that could have caused shockwaves throughout the financial system.
Under the Paulson plan, the Fed would essentially serve as a financial markets moderator, stepping in if the nation's markets were again threatened by an episode like the near collapse of Bear Stearns. Currently the central bank is responsible for setting the country's monetary policy as well as acting as a supervisor of certain banks and all bank holding companies.

Obama: Had Wright not retired, I'd have left church

Sen. Barack Obama says in an interview scheduled to air on TV Friday that he would have left his church if his pastor had not retired and had not acknowledged making comments that "deeply offended people."
Obama talked about the dispute as it continued to brew over some of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons and comments, which many viewed as anti-American and racist toward whites.
Bulletins from Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ in 2007 include comments -- reprinted from other sources -- that maintain South Africa and Israel worked on "an ethnic bomb that kills blacks and Arabs." They also quote a historian who said that "what the Zionist Jews did to the Palestinians is worse than what the Nazis did to the Jews."
The articles appeared in a church bulletin section called the "Pastor's Page," and include one that originally ran in The Los Angeles Times. That article was written by a senior official with Hamas, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization.

T.I. expected to plead guilty to weapons charges

Rapper T.I. was expected to plead guilty Thursday to federal weapons charges and will face prison time, according to two The 27-year-old singer, whose real name is Clifford Harris, was expected to be sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service talking to youth groups around the country, followed by about 12 months in prison, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plea deal had not been finalized yet Thursday morning.
His prison time could be increased or reduced, depending on his fulfillment of the terms of the deal and good behavior, they said. His talks to youth groups are supposed to be about the pitfalls of guns, gangs and drugs.
The U.S. Attorney in Atlanta announced a change-of-plea hearing was scheduled Thursday afternoon at the federal courthouse. Prosecution officials were expected to speak to the media after the hearing.
U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell Jr. must approve the deal.
Harris was arrested October 13, just blocks away and hours before he was to headline the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta.
He was charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, as well as possession of firearms by a convicted felon. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
Harris was allegedly trying to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers. He initially pleaded not guilty, and has been under house arrest since he was released on $3 million bond October 26.
He is co-CEO of Grand Hustle Records and one of Atlantic Records' most successful artists.
Harris grew up in Atlanta. His first taste of success came with his 2003 album, "Trap Muzik." In 2004, warrants were issued for his arrest on probation violations for a drug conviction, and he was sentenced to three years behind bars.
His sixth album, "T.I. vs. T.I.P.," was released July 3 and debuted at No. 1.
He co-starred in the 2007 film "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. people familiar with his case.

Ultimatum in Iraq 'outlaw' showdown

Fighting across Iraq's Shiite heartland erupted for a second day on Wednesday, with troops continuing a major operation against "outlaws" in the key oil city of Basra, conducting forays against militants in flashpoint Baghdad neighborhoods, and clamping down on violence in key provincial capitals.
Iraq's prime minister Wednesday gave Shiite militants battling security forces in Basra a 72-hour deadline to surrender their weapons as the fighting threatened to unravel a delicate cease-fire.
Officials say between 40 and 50 people have died in the southern city of Basra and at least 22 have been killed in Baghdad in fighting that has its roots in intra-Shiite rivalries and Shiite turf wars in southern Iraq and Baghdad.
A few hundred people have been wounded in the fighting, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has announced that it is providing supplies to hospitals in Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City to help treat them.
Fighting also broke out in Diwaniya and Kut, predominantly Shiite provincial capitals south of Baghdad, but there have been no reported casualties in those locations.
Iraqi authorities -- who called Wednesday's violence "sporadic" -- said the fighting is occurring in bastions of support for Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadrand his Mehdi Army militia. And, they say, Iraqi and U.S. forces have squared off with fighters who support the hard-line, anti-American cleric.
The U.S. military emphasizes that troops are taking on "outlaws" or "rogue" militia members and are not targeting members affiliated with al-Sadr.
"This is about criminal activity," said Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "It's about those that are not respecting the rule of law."

Clinton says she 'misspoke' about sniper fire

Sen. Hillary Clinton said she "misspoke" last week when she gave a dramatic description of her arrival in Bosnia 12 years ago, recounting a landing under sniper fire.
Clinton was responding to a question Monday from the Philadelphia Daily News' editorial board about video footage of the event that contradicted her assertion that her group "ran with our heads down" from the plane to avoid sniper fire at the Tuzla Air Base.
Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for rival Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, said the Bosnia claim was part of "a growing list of instances in which Sen. Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policymaking."
Clinton told the paper's editorial board it was a "minor blip."

Detroit mayor faces felony charges

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and an ex-aide were charged Monday with perjury and obstruction of justice after prosecutors said sexually explicit text messages between the two contradicted their sworn court testimony.
Kilpatrick defiantly declared his innocence just an hour after the charges were announced.
"This has been a very flawed process from the beginning," said Kilpatrick at a press conference Monday. "I look forward to complete exoneration."
Kilpatrick, who is married, has been snarled in a well-publicized sex scandal since January after The Detroit Free Press reported he exchanged romantic text messages with his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty.
The paper reported in January that in an analysis of nearly 14,000 text messages on Beatty's city-issued pager, it found some from 2002 and 2003 that indicated the two were having a romantic affair.
The newspaper report contradicted testimony Kilpatrick gave last August in a court case brought by police officers against the mayor and the city of Detroit alleging the mayor retaliated against the officers for their role in investigating his office. Critics alleged that Kilpatrick committed perjury in the case and called for his resignation.
In testimony during that case, Kilpatrick and Beatty both denied having a romantic relationship. Beatty resigned as Kilpatrick's chief of staff on January 28.

Someone snooped in Obama's passport file

On three occasions since January, Sen. Barack Obama's passport file was looked at by three different contract workers, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The contractors accessed information in the file in an unauthorized way, he said.
Two contractors were fired and one was disciplined by the contractor's company, McCormack said.
He said the contractors are not linked.
The State Department hires contractors to design, build and maintain their systems and help employees with searches. McCormack said two of the contractors in the Obama case were "low-level" personnel and the other was in a mid-level position with no management role.
The breach seems like "imprudent curiosity" among the contract workers, said McCormack, adding that senior management at the State Department was not aware of the incidents until Thursday afternoon. Breaches occurred January 9, February 21 and March 14.
A State Department source said passport files contain scanned images of passport applications, birth date and basic biographical information, records of passport renewal, and possibly citizenship information.
Obama's campaign is asking for a complete investigation to find out who looked at Obama's passport file and why.
"This is an outrageous breach of security and privacy, even from an administration that has shown little regard for either over the last eight years," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton in a statement.
"Our government's duty is to protect the private information of the American people, not use it for political purposes."
Doug Hattaway, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, said, "If it's true, it's reprehensible, and the Bush administration has a responsibility to get to the bottom of it."
The White House declined comment Thursday evening, just hours after the State Department upper management learned of the breach.
State Department officials say Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was told Thursday what happened and that she told her staff she wanted a full investigation.
The department would not speculate whether the information had been shared with anyone else.

Midwest eyes rising floodwaters as skies clear

Residents warily watched as rivers continued to rise Thursday from heavy storms that dumped as much as a foot of rain in the Midwest and left behind more than a dozen deaths.
While the first day of spring brought much needed sunshine Thursday to Ohio and other states, authorities warned that many rivers would crest well above flood stage.
Flooding also was reported Wednesday in parts of Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.
The storms moved on toward the Ohio Valley and Northeast, spreading snow over northern New England. A parallel band of heavy rain stretched from Alabama and Georgia to the Mid-Atlantic.
On Thursday morning, high water closed the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 a major east-west highway for about 4 miles in central Ohio's Licking County, the State Highway Patrol said.
Morning commuters trying to reach downtown Columbus from the south were being detoured off heavily-traveled U.S. 23, because its northbound lanes were flooded at Interstate 270.
Cincinnati picked up 4.7 inches of rain and then traces of snow on Wednesday,
The area recovered quickly from two days of heavy rain, said Mike Mantel, director of the Service Department in Miami Township, east of Cincinnati. One township road closed Wednesday because of high water was reopened Thursday, and streams were receding, he said.
"We're in really good shape, considering the rainfall we had," Mantel said.
Days of rain turned the Midwest into a soggy mess, flooding roads, stranding motorists and displacing residents with a cleanup bill likely to run in the millions.

Tornado Caused Downtown Atlanta Hotel To Shift

It felt like the earth moved Friday night for hundreds of guests at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. The tornado that left rubble scattered across downtown Atlanta and other neighborhoods was so powerful it caused the hotel, one of the world's tallest, to shift.
"It's designed to move a couple of feet and I think it did, so we're having structural engineers look at the hotel," Ed Walls, general manager of the hotel told WSB-TV Channel 2 reporter Jodie Fleischer.
About 175 windows shattered and will be covered with plywood until the glass can be repaired. The plywood will be painted black so it blends in with the hotel. Glass in the huge atrium that hovers over the lobby cracked and will have to be replaced. So will at least 100 panes in the panels that enclose the elevators clinging to the outside of the hotel and give guests a stomach-dropping ride.
The front desk started getting calls from guests while the tornado was still swirling through downtown. Staffers moved the guests to lower levels.
"We brought them all down to level 6 and 7 in the ballroom areas which were safest at the time," said Walls.
Winds at the upper level of the hotel were so strong on Tuesday, workers making repairs inside the building were wearing safety harnesses so they wouldn't be sucked out the broken windows.
"Overall we fared very well, no injuries and certainly no fatalities; so we're real blessed," said Walls. "It was a pretty good night from that perspective."

Obama urges Americans to help heal racial divide

Sen. Barack Obama in a speech Tuesday addressed the controversy surrounding his former minister, using it as an opportunity to challenge Americans to take a closer look at race relations.
Speaking at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, the Democratic presidential candidate said he rejected racially charged comments made by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but he tried to explain the root of those remarks.
Wright recently retired as pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where the senator from Illinois worships.
Some of Wright's old sermons came under fire after a news report last week turned some of his most controversial comments into a YouTube phenomenon.
In one, the minister said America had brought the September 11 attacks upon itself. In another, he said Sen. Hillary Clinton had an advantage over Obama because she is white.
Speaking before a relatively small, diverse crowd, Obama emphasized his upbringing as "the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas."

McCartney's ex-wife awarded $48.7M

Former Beatle Paul McCartney was Monday ordered to pay nearly $50M to his estranged wife as their long-running divorce saga came to an end.
Heather Mills told reporters she was "so, so happy" with the outcome of her fight for a share of the pop legend's fortune, as court documents named the final figure as £24.3 million ($48.7M).
Mills had demanded almost $250 million of McCartney's estimated $1.6 billion. The ex-Beatle said she should receive $31.7 million.
Judge Hugh Bennett said that the total value of all of McCartney's assets was actually $800 million, a figure disputed by Mills.
The couple's four-year-old daughter is also to receive about $70,000 per annum, the court ruled. McCartney must also pay for the child's nanny and school fees.
Mills insisted the couple's split in 2006 was not acrimonious regardless of newspaper reports of an acrimonious breakup.

Gas prices sustain record run

The nationwide average price of gasoline set another record Friday, according to the closely watched survey conducted for the motorist group AAA.
The average price of regular rose overnight to $3.28 a gallon, according to AAA's Web site. That's more than a cent higher than Thursday's record and was the fourth all-time high hit in as many days.
Regular was $2.972 on average at this time last month and $2.549 a year ago.
Drivers in states in the western part of the country shelled out the most at the pump, led by California's average of $3.62 for a gallon of gas. Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii all had to pay over $3.40 a gallon.
New Jersey still led the nation with the cheapest gasoline, with drivers paying $3.04 a gallon on average. Wyoming and Missouri residents also pay less than $3.10 a gallon.
But when adjusted for inflation, gas prices are still below their peak. The record on that basis was $3.405 and set in March 1981, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The fuel price survey was conducted for AAA by Oil Price Information Service.

Phobia caused woman's 2-year bathroom stay

A 35-year-old woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for so long that her body was stuck to the seat had a phobia about leaving the bathroom, the boyfriend said.
"She is an adult; she made her own decision," said her boyfriend, Kory McFarren. "I should have gotten help for her sooner; I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it."
The case drew nationwide attention after Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat in the two years she apparently was in the bathroom.
"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."
McFarren, 36, said he can't be certain how long Pam Babcock stayed in the bathroom because "time just went by so quick I can't pinpoint how long." He said beatings she received in her childhood caused her phobia.
"It just kind of happened one day; she went in and had been in there a little while, the next time it was a little longer. Then she got it in her head she was going to stay -- like it was a safe place for her," McFarren said.
But McFarren said she moved around in the bathroom during that time, bathed and changed into the clothes he brought her. He brought food and water to her. They had conversations and had an otherwise normal relationship -- except it all happened in the bathroom.
McFarren said he finally called police February 27 after he became worried because Babcock was acting groggy -- like she didn't know what was going on, except she was awake.
What emergency responders found when they went into bathroom has left residents of this small western Kansas town buzzing, and law enforcement officials incredulous.
Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.
"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."
She initially refused emergency medical services, but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.
"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.
Whipple said the county attorney will determine whether any charges should be filed against McFarren.
McFarren, who works at an antique store, said he has been taking care of Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together. He insisted that he tried to coax her out of the bathroom every day.
"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,"' Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."
She was reported in fair condition Wednesday at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.
Babcock has an infection in her legs that has damaged her nerves, and there is a possibility she may wind up in a wheelchair, McFarren said.
James Ellis, a neighbor, said he had known the woman since she was a child, but that he had not seen her for at least six years.
"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," Ellis said.
Babcock had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up, he said.
"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

My comment wasn't racist, it was a fact

An unapologetic Geraldine Ferraro said Wednesday morning that her comments about the electoral impact of Barack Obama's race have been taken out of context, and that she stands by her words.
Ferraro stirred controversy with her recent remarks that Obama's campaign was successful because he was black.
"It wasn't a racist comment, it was a statement of fact," she said on CBS' Early Show, adding that she would leave Hillary Clinton's national finance committee if she were asked, but would not stop raising money for the New York senator's presidential bid. She also blamed Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, for misinterpreting her remarks.
Ferraro also told ABC's Good Morning America that "every time" someone makes a negative comment about Obama, they are accused of racism.
Late Tuesday, she told interviewer that she felt she was being attacked because she was white.
"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up," she told the (Torrance, California) Daily Breeze. "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"
In another interview Tuesday, she compared Obama's situation to her own 24 years ago, when she was the first female candidate for vice president.
She told a FOX News interviewer: "I got up and the question was asked, 'Why do you think Barack Obama is in the place he is today" as the party's delegate frontrunner.
"I said in large measure, because he is black. I said, Let me also say in 1984 - and if I have said it once, I have said it 20, 60, 100 times - in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been the nominee for vice president," she said.
In her first interview with Daily Breeze, published late last week, Ferraro said "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept," Ferraro told the newspaper. She also said Hillary Clinton had been the victim of a "sexist media."
Obama himself has called the comments "patently absurd," and his chief strategist, David Axelrod, has called for Clinton to cut ties with the former New York congresswoman, who serves on her campaign's finance committee. Clinton has said that she does not agree with Ferraro's remarks.
Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Eleithee told CNN's Sasha Johnson Tuesday evening that "Ms. Ferraro is speaking for herself. We have made clear that we do not agree with her remarks."

Mississippi takes center stage in tight Democratic race

One of the most Republican states in the nation takes center stage Tuesday in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Mississippi, which has not voted for a Democratic candidate in a presidential election in 32 years, holds a Democratic primary Tuesday.
Between 125,000 and 150,000 voters were expected to cast ballots Tuesday, predicted Pamela Weaver of the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office.
While the number would represent a 25 to 50 percent increase in turnout from the 2004 primaries, Weaver still described the voting rate as light to moderate.
Sen. Barack Obama touched on the Mississippi Delta's economic struggles during a final campaign stop in Greenville, according to the Associated Press.
"We just haven't seen as much opportunity come to this area as we'd like," he told those gathered at a restaurant, the AP reported. "And one of the challenges, I think, for the next president is making sure that we're serving all communities and not just some communities."
With the campaigns of Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Obama of Illinois battling for every delegate, the political spotlight is on a state not used to being the center of such attention.
Obama campaigned in Mississippi on Monday and will spend part of Tuesday doing the same, while rival Clinton made a swing through the state on Thursday and Friday.
In addition, former President Bill Clinton made the rounds for his wife in Mississippi over the weekend. Not bad for a state that has only 33 delegates up for grabs.
Obama leads in the fight for delegates, 1,553 to 1,438, but neither candidate is close to the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.
With the stakes so high, every state matters. In fact, both candidates traveled to Wyoming last week, to battle for just 12 delegates.
Obama won the caucuses in Wyoming on Saturday, taking seven of the 12 delegates at stake.

Prescription drugs found in drinking water across U.S.

A vast array of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.
To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.
But the presence of so many prescription drugs -- and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen -- in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.
In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas -- from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit, Michigan, to Louisville, Kentucky.

Leads in Times Square bombing fizzle

Investigators trying to track down the person who set off a small bomb in front of a military recruitment center in Times Square have dismissed one lead and are casting doubt on another.
The person who sent letters to members of Congress that included a photo of the recruitment station "is not the bomber" who attacked the building Thursday, law enforcement sources say.
"The letter's really innocuous," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told CNN's "American Morning" Friday. "It's really advice to the Democratic Party as to how to win the 2008 election."
The letters drew suspicion because they were delivered to members of Congress the day of the bombing and included a picture of the recruitment station with the words, "We did it."
Kelly said the letter writer claims the picture was the writer's 2006 holiday card and the words "We did it" referred to the Democrats' takeover of Congress in that year's elections.

Florida, Michigan seek exit from Democratic penalty box

Will the recount state become the re-primary state? And will voters in Michigan have their say in picking a Democratic candidate for president?
Political leaders from Florida and Michigan were busy Wednesday talking about plans to make sure that voters in their states are heard in picking a Democratic nominee.
The discussions unfolded amid a grueling, delegate-by-delegate fight between Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.
The national Democratic Party stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates to the national convention after the states moved up the dates of their primary elections.
That means votes that were cast in primaries in those states will not translate into delegates awarded to one candidate or the other in the contest for the Democratic nomination for president.

Huckabee bows to 'inevitable,' ends GOP run

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee bowed to "the inevitable" and dropped out of the Republican presidential race Tuesday night after an improbable run for a politician little known beyond his home state a year ago.
Huckabee announced he was giving up his bid for the White House after John McCain swept Tuesday's contests in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island, giving the Arizona senator the delegates needed to claim the party's nomination in September.
"It's been a heckuva run," he said.
Huckabee urged his supporters to back McCain in November and said he has no "Plan B" for his political career.

Clinton faces key tests in Texas, Ohio

Voters in four states are heading to the polls Tuesday on a day that could be decisive in the Democratic race and crown the GOP nominee.
Sen. Hillary Clinton must win the Democratic contests in Texas and Ohio, her supporters say, if she is to continue to compete with Sen. Barack Obama, who has won 11 contests in a row going back nearly a month.
Weather could affect the turnout in Ohio, with the northern part of the state under a winter weather advisory. Freezing rain was predicted for Tuesday afternoon and evening. The rain was expected to change over to snow later on.
Voters in Vermont and Rhode Island are also casting ballots Tuesday. Vermont also was under a winter storm warning.
On the Republican side, Tuesday could be the day Sen. John McCain of Arizona wins enough delegates to mathematically secure his party's nomination, thought he has been the presumed GOP nominee for weeks.

Former Deputy Accidentally Kills Wife

A former Fulton County sheriff's major accidentally shot and killed his wife Friday while unloading his gun, according to Griffin police.
Riley Taylor, 54, was at a family function when the gun discharged and the bullet struck his wife, Denise Taylor, 54.
Griffin police spokesman Cpl. Bryan Clanton said the woman was flown by helicopter to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where she was pronounced dead.
Clanton said no criminal investigation will be done since the shooting was accidental.

Police: Deadly toxin found at Las Vegas hotel

Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, are investigating the discovery of what they said is the deadly poison ricin in a hotel room.
Preliminary tests show the substance is ricin, authorities said, but other tests to confirm it are under way.
Meanwhile, the reason the substance was in the room remains a mystery.
"We don't know who [the ricin] belongs to or why it would be here at this time," said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The FBI, which is assisting in the case, said it saw no link to terrorism, according to spokesman Richard Kolko.
Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel around 3 p.m. PT Thursday after a man brought a bag with a small container to the manager's office. The man said he found it while retrieving items from a hotel room.
The substance is "100 percent ricin," Lombardo said.
Three hotel employees and a fourth person who came to the room to retrieve some items went to the hospital as a precaution, Officer Ramon Dendy said. Three police officers who entered the room also are under watch at the hospital. All have been decontaminated, and none of the seven have shown symptoms of ricin poisoning, which can include anything from difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea and sweating to severe vomiting and dehydration.

McCain, Obama in heated exchange over Iraq

Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama engaged in a pointed exchange over al Qaeda in Iraq on Wednesday. McCain questioned whether Obama was aware of the al Qaeda base. Obama's response was: "There was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq."
McCain was in Tyler, Texas, and Obama was in Columbus, Ohio.
"I understand that Sen. Obama said that if al Qaeda established a base in Iraq that he would send troops back in militarily. Al Qaeda already has a base in Iraq. It's called al Qaeda in Iraq," McCain said.
"It's a remarkable statement to say that you would send troops back to a place where al Qaeda has established a base -- where they have already established a base."
McCain's comments come in response to remarks Obama made Tuesday night in a debate with Sen. Hillary Clinton. He was asked if the president would have the right to go back into Iraq in order to suppress an insurrection after downsizing the U.S. troop presence.

Florida probes how small mishaps caused massive outages

Florida authorities are investigating how a small fire and a switch failure at an electrical substation outside Miami triggered a power failure that affected millions of people.
When a nuclear power plant sensed the disruption, it shut down. In turn, the state's power grid triggered rolling blackouts Tuesday across the state.
More than 2 million people lost power at the peak of the outages, but electricity quickly was restored to most parts of the state.
Authorities said no injuries were reported.
Florida Power & Light President Armando Olivera said a disconnect switch failed at 1:08 p.m. ET Tuesday at an automated substation west of Miami, and a piece of equipment that controls voltage caught fire about the same time. Neither failure by itself would have caused a widespread outage.

Dodd endorses Obama

Former Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president on Tuesday.
The formal endorsement will be announced during an event in Cleveland, Ohio.
A former adviser for Dodd said the timing of the Connecticut senator's endorsement "works pretty well" given that foreign policy has become a key issue of the campaign.

Wheelchair bomber kills 3 in Iraq police station

A man in a wheelchair blew himself up Monday in a northern Iraqi police station, killing three National Police officers, including a commander, police said.
The attack also wounded nine officers on the police force, which the Iraqi Interior Ministry operates.
The bombing in Samarra raises concern about the recent tactics employed by insurgents in Iraq. Bombs have been placed inside dead animals and hidden in carts. And in recent days, vagrants have been involved in bombings.
"As a sign of desperation, some of those terrorists resorted to some new methods and techniques," said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad's security plan.
One of the tactics is the use of remote-controlled "sticky" bombs, small enough to tape under vehicles.
A high-ranking Samarra police official said the disabled man came to meet with Brig. Gen. Abdul Jabbar Rabei Muttar, deputy commander of security, at the security operations building in Samarra. The pair met last week as well.
The man was searched when he entered the building, but police didn't look under his wheelchair seat, where the explosives had been placed. The man, who police say was cogent, detonated the explosives when Muttar approached him.

Obama, Clinton agree to disagree

Sen. Hillary Clinton, needing a win in Texas to derail Sen. Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, sought Thursday to contrast her opponent's rhetorical skills with what she called her superior ability to govern.
"I do think that words are important and words matter," Clinton said at a debate at the University of Texas. "But actions speak louder than words."
Obama responded by laying out issues he's worked on in the Senate and others he'd support as president -- then called it ridiculous to suggest his supporters are "being duped."
"The implication is that the people who have been voting for me or involved in my campaign are somehow delusional," he said.
Obama said his supporters perceive the reality of what's going on in Washington very clearly, and they want to see it change.
"What they see is that if we don't bring the country together, stop the endless bickering, actually focus on solutions and reduce the special interests that have dominated Washington, then we will not get anything done."

McCain denies inappropriate relationship with lobbyist

Sen. John McCain denied assertions published in The New York Times that he once had a close relationship with a female lobbyist whose clients had business before his Senate committee.
"I'm disappointed in The New York Times piece. It's not true," he told reporters in Ohio on Thursday, his wife, Cindy, standing by his side.
He added that he has never "done anything that would betray the public trust or make a decision" that would favor a particular group.
His wife said her husband always puts family and country first.
"He's a man of great character," she said.
The New York Times issued a statement Thursday saying it stands by its reporting and that "the story speaks for itself."
The newspaper reported in its online edition Wednesday that aides to McCain's 2000 presidential campaign were so worried about the relationship that they confronted McCain and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman.
Also, some McCain advisers were concerned in 2000 that his relationship with Iseman had become romantic, The New York Times reported.
"A former campaign adviser described being instructed to keep Ms. Iseman away from the senator at public events, while a Senate aide recalled plans to limit Ms. Iseman's access to his offices," the paper reported.
McCain said in a news conference Thursday that he never had discussions with any staffers about an inappropriate relationship with Iseman. He also denied having a romantic relationship with her. If staffers had such concerns, McCain told reporters, they never conveyed them to him.
McCain further described his relationship with Iseman as a friendship and said he had "seen her on occasion, particularly at receptions and fundraisers and appearances before the committee." Asked if he was closer to Iseman than he was other lobbyists, McCain flatly said no.
McCain's former top political adviser, John Weaver, told the newspaper that he met with Iseman at Washington's Union Station during McCain's first presidential bid. He asked her to stay away from the senator, the paper reported, because McCain was running on a platform of political reform and shunning special interests.
Iseman represented telecommunications companies with business before the Senate Commerce Committee that McCain led, according to the newspaper.

Horrific school bus crash leaves 4 students dead

A school bus and several other vehicles crashed in southwestern Minnesota on Tuesday, killing four students and injuring more than a dozen others, authorities said.

The bus was hit by a van around 3:25 p.m. on a highway south of Cottonwood. The bus then hit a pickup and tipped on its side, State Patrol Lt. Mark Peterson said.
At least 14 people were hurt. Thirteen students were treated at nearby hospitals.
News of the crash swept through Cottonwood, a small town of about 1,000 people about 121 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

About 40 people attended an evening press briefing at Swan Lake Evangelical Free Church.
When Fire Chief Dale Louwagie was asked what the community could do, he said simply, "Pray."
Classes were canceled Wednesday at Lakeview School, which serves about 585 students in Cottonwood and Wood Lake, and plans were made to have grief counselors and clergy available to students, a school official said.
The bus was on its regular route, carrying children from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Initial reports said the bus was carrying 40 people, but it actually carried 28 students and a driver, Minnesota Public Safety spokeswoman Christine Krueger said.
Rescue squads and ambulances from many nearby cities arrived at the crash site. The Marshall Independent reported that the first motorists on the scene were asked to take some children to the hospital.

Castro's resignation won't change U.S. policy, official says

The U.S. embargo on Cuba will remain in place despite Fidel Castro's announcement that he's resigning as Cuba's leader, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Tuesday.
Asked whether Castro's resignation would change U.S. policy, Negroponte said, "I can't imagine that happening any time soon."
President Bush said the move should spark "a democratic transition" for the communist island nation.
"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy and eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections," Bush said at a news conference in Rwanda during his five-nation tour of Africa.
"I believe that the change from Fidel Castro ought to begin ... a democratic transition," he said. "The United States will help the people of Cuba realize the blessings of liberty."

Former President Bush endorses McCain

Former President George H.W. Bush endorsed John McCain on Monday, another sign that the Republican Party is coalescing around the Arizona senator's presumptive nomination.
"At this critical time in history... the United States cannot be allowed to falter," the 41st president said in Houston, Texas. "No one is better to lead our nation in these trying times than Senator John McCain.
"His character was forged in the crucible of war," Bush said, referring to McCain's experience as a Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam.
"Few men walking among us has sacrificed so much for the cause of human freedom," Bush said.
After Bush spoke, McCain said Bush's endorsement would help in "uniting our party and moving forward."
In addition to boosting McCain's fundraising apparatus, the formal announcement in Houston, Texas, by Ronald Reagan's vice president, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Central Time, probably will provide McCain with new political ammunition against critics who question his conservative credentials.
On Sunday, McCain brought memories of Bush's infamous broken promise not to raise taxes after the 2008 candidate was asked whether he would make a similar pledge.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week," McCain said he would not increase taxes under any circumstances and mentioned several alternatives, including lowering interest rates and lowering corporate tax rates "if our economy continues to deteriorate."
"There's a lot of things that I would think we should do to relieve that burden, including, obviously, as we all know, simplification of the tax code," he said.
Despite Bush's strong ties to the party's revered Reagan legacy, those links haven't endeared him to the GOP's conservative wing. The Bush endorsement won't necessarily help McCain with "values voters," who have always suspected that Bush the elder was not wholly committed to the anti-abortion cause.

Suns Shoot Down Mavericks, 109-97

Steve Nash had 24 points and 13 assists and the Phoenix Suns pulled away in the final quarter to beat the weary and short-handed Dallas Mavericks 109-97 on Friday night.
Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa scored 26 apiece and Boris Diaw 19 Leandro Barbosa for the Suns, who shot 57 percent and improved to 3-2 since Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks were sent to Miami for Shaquille O'Neal.
O'Neal, sidelined with a hip injury, is scheduled to make his Phoenix debut next Wednesday against his old team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 36 points and Jason Terry 29 for the Mavericks, who were without Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse and Devin Harris because of injuries.
The Mavericks were playing their fourth game in five nights -- a day after they were close to acquiring All-Star guard Jason Kidd from New Jersey -- but stayed close until the Suns put it away with an 11-2 run late in the final quarter.
Dallas shot 29 percent (7-for-24) in the third quarter while Phoenix took a 77-73 lead, with Barbosa scoring on his own rebound with a second left.
Stoudemire and Barbosa scored to start the fourth quarter to put the Suns ahead 81-73 with 11:21 to go. A four-point play put Phoenix ahead 91-84 7:03 from the finish. Nowitzki was called for goaltending on Boris Diaw's inside shot, and Eddie Jones was whistled for a foul. Jones drew a technical for complaining. Nash made one free throw and Diaw another.
Stoudemire converted a three-point play on a thunderous dunk, then Barbosa scored on a fastbreak and it was 100-91 with 3:22 to play.
After Nowitzki's inside basket, Diaw made a 17-footer and Barbosa got another layup after a Dallas turnover, putting Phoenix ahead 104-93 with 1:51 left.
After going 0-for-11 on Tuesday night while being heckled in Dallas, Devean George was 0-for-2 before making a 3-pointer to end the skid. George exercised his no-trade clause to block a seven-player deal that would have brought Kidd to the Mavs. George declined to talk to reporters before the game and finished with seven points.

Clinton sharpens attacks on Obama

Sen. Hillary Clinton on Thursday sharpened her attacks on Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama as she faces what even her supporters admit are must-win situations in Texas and Ohio in the weeks ahead.
At a campaign stop at a General Motors Corp. plant in Lordstown, Ohio, the senator from New York accused Obama of caving in to special interests.
"My opponent says that he'll take on the special interests," she said. "Well, he told people he stood up to the nuclear industry and passed a bill against them. But he actually let the nuclear industry water down his bill -- the bill never actually passed."
Clinton was referring to a 2006 bill that Obama drafted after an Illinois nuclear power plant was found to have released radiation into surrounding groundwater.
Obama's original bill would have required power plants to notify the public and government officials when any radiation was released, but subsequent versions had less stringent reporting requirements, The New York Times reported. The bill was never voted on by the full Senate.
Clinton also accused Obama of supporting "billions of dollars of breaks for the oil industry" by voting for an energy bill she opposed and said he did not support the workers of a Maytag Corp. plant that closed in his home state of Illinois.
In recent days, Clinton has challenged Obama's ability to deliver on his rhetoric.
"There's a big difference between us speeches versus solutions, talk versus action," she said.
"Speeches don't put food on the table. Speeches don't fill up your tank or fill your prescription or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night."

Huckabee vows to stay in the race

Mike Huckabee vowed to stay in the race despite losing three more primaries Tuesday night, pledging to give voters in the coming primaries "a solid, conservative, absolute pro-life candidate" as an alternative to frontrunner John McCain.
"The nomination is not secured until somebody has 1,191 delegates," Huckabee said. "That has not yet happened. We're still continuing to work and to give voters in these states a choice."
McCain easily won primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia, but Huckabee gave him a run for his money in Virginia. The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister said the results showed that "there's still a real sense in the Republican party of a desire to have a choice."

Strong earthquake shakes Mexico

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook southern Mexico on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
The quake gently swayed buildings in Mexico City, and it was felt hundreds of miles to the east along the Gulf coast, according to local radio stations.
The temblor struck at 6:50 a.m. and was centered in the region of Oaxaca, the USGS said.
In the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, many people fled into the streets and then lingered outside their homes, fearing aftershocks.
"It was horrible," said Cecilia Gomez, standing with her family outside her home. "It really scared me."
Daniel Roque, of southern Chiapas state's civil protection agency, said some residents reported panic attacks, but no damage was registered.

Obama rolls into Potomac primaries after weekend sweep

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama carries momentum from a sweep of weekend contests into this week's primaries in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is coming off a campaign shake-up, while her advisers are seeking to lower expectations for this month's Democratic contests.
Obama came out ahead in Sunday's Democratic caucuses in Maine after wins in Saturday's Louisiana primary and Democratic caucuses in Nebraska, Washington and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting in Maine, Obama was leading Clinton 59 percent to 40 percent. At stake are 24 delegates to August's Democratic national convention in Denver.
Those contests gave him a lead over Clinton in pledged delegates to the convention, but Clinton still held a narrow edge over Obama when "superdelegates" elected officials and party leaders are included in the tally.

'Miracle' baby tossed 300 feet by twister found alive

Armed with nothing but a flashlight and finding no signs of life, firefighter David Harmon made one final search of tornado wreckage and made the discovery of a lifetime.
"I shined the flashlight across it and said 'I've got a baby doll.' And before I got 'I've got a baby doll' out of my mouth, it moved," Harmon said.
In pitch darkness, in the middle of a field, Harmon found a baby boy covered with mud and debris.
"As soon as we rolled the baby over, it took a gasp of air and started crying," he said.
Eleven-month-old Kyson Stowell was thrown a hundred yards when a tornado shattered his home. He was found shivering but with only minor injuries. His mother, Kerri, was killed.

Families die together on terrifying night of twisters

The Stephens relatives tend to stick together. Several of them live on the same road in the south-central Kentucky farming community of Holland, according to Vonda McPeak, who said her husband is a distant Stephens cousin.
That's why the Stephens name showed up so many times on the list of dead and injured from the ferocious storms that struck the region late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
Linda Stephens, 53, and her 2-year-old grandson, Hunter, were killed, and seven other people with that surname -- including an infant and a 1-year-old -- were hurt, according to McPeak and state police.
At another mobile home just a mile or so away, Phyllis "Joy" Dow, 58, and her husband Michael Dow, 50, also were killed, making four deaths in Allen County, state police said.
The county neighbors Macon County and Sumner County, Tennessee, which together saw at least 20 storm deaths that night.
In Muhlenberg County in western Kentucky, Bobby Joe Crick, 71, and his 62-year-old wife, Diane Crick, 62, died with their 40-year-old daughter, Gilda Ann Crick, when the storms hit their mobile home park near Greenville, said Ted Tucker, co-owner of Tucker Funeral Home in Central City.

McCain emerges as GOP leader; Romney reassesses campaign

Sen. John McCain awoke Wednesday with a commanding lead in the race for Republican delegates while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney plans to meet with aides after a disappointing Super Tuesday showing.
"Although I've never minded the role of the underdog and have relished as much as anyone come-from-behind wins, tonight I think we must get used to the idea that we are the Republican Party front-runner," McCain said Tuesday night in his home state of Arizona. "And I don't really mind it one bit."
Despite finishing second to McCain in terms of GOP delegates won in Super Tuesday contests, Romney assured supporters late Tuesday he would "keep on battling ... all the way to the convention."
Although he outspent his rivals, Romney received just 157 delegates on Super Tuesday, compared with at least 497 for McCain and 137 for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee scores first Super Tuesday win

Republican Mike Huckabee scored the first Super Tuesday victory, winning all 18 delegates at stake in West Virginia partially with the help of Sen. John McCain's backers.
The former Arkansas governor won with the support of 52 percent of the state's GOP convention delegates on the second round of balloting. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in second with 47 percent of the vote, and Sen. John McCain of Arizona was backed by 1 percent of the delegates.
Romney was ahead in the first round of voting in Charleston but failed to get the majority needed to win.
It appeared supporters of McCain, who placed a distant third on the first ballot, moved over to Huckabee, helping him carry the day.
Romney's campaign was furious over the "Washington backroom deal."
"Unfortunately, this is what Sen. McCain's inside Washington ways look like: He cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Gov. Romney's campaign of conservative change," read a statement from Romney campaign manager Beth Myers.

Obama makes Super Bowl appearance

Pigskin and politics. It's an audience Barack Obama couldn't ignore.
Obama, neck and neck with Hillary Rodham Clinton heading into Tuesday's nominating contests, aired ads during the Super Bowl in television markets serving 24 states that are in play on Super Tuesday and beyond.
The 30-second ad is a summary of Obama's political message, played against images of crowds of supporters, despair in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina's destruction.
"We want an end to this war and we want diplomacy and peace,' Obama says in a voice over from a speech in Austin, Texas. "Not only can we save the environment, we can create jobs and opportunity. We're tired of fear; we're tired of division. We want something new. We want to turn the page. The world as it is is not the world as it has to be."
With the Super Bowl being played two days before Super Tuesday, speculation had been growing about which campaign, if any, would take the plunge and make a pitch to such a huge television audience. More than 90 million viewers were expected to watch the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants.
No campaign bought a national ad with Fox Sports, which is televising the game. Doing so would have put a political ad in direct competition with slick Madison Avenue productions. Obama aides said the regionalized purchase of ads was far less expensive than the nearly $3 million a national ad on Fox Sports would have cost.

Clinton, Obama debate with less finger-pointing

Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spent their last debate before next week's Super Tuesday contests pointing out differences on Iraq, health care and the economy -- but without all of the finger-pointing that's marked their campaigns.
The exchange was in sharp contrast to previous debates because of the absence of political sniping, yet was one of the most substantive policy discussions yet in the race for the nomination.
On Iraq, Obama said he'd be more able to end the war because he opposed it from the beginning. He said Clinton's vote to authorize the use of force there would undermine her efforts to bring it to an end.
"I think it is much easier for us to have the argument when we have a nominee who says, 'I always thought this was a bad idea -- this was a bad strategy,' " he said.
Clinton defended her vote, saying she was told by the White House that it would be used initially to return weapons inspectors to see whether Saddam Hussein had an active weapons program.

Internet failure hits two continents

High-technology services across large tracts of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were crippled Thursday following a widespread Internet failure which brought many businesses to a standstill and left others struggling to cope.
Industry experts are blaming damage to two undersea cables but it is not known what caused the damage.
Reports say that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain Pakistan and India, are all experiencing severe problems.
Nations that have been spared the chaos include Israel -- whose traffic uses a different route -- and Lebanon and Iraq. Many Middle East governments have backup satellite systems in case of cable failure.
Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, said the damaged cables collectively account for the majority of international communications between Europe and the Middle East.

Internet failure hits two continents

High-technology services across large tracts of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were crippled Thursday following a widespread Internet failure which brought many businesses to a standstill and left others struggling to cope.
Industry experts are blaming damage to two undersea cables but it is not known what caused the damage.
Reports say that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain Pakistan and India, are all experiencing severe problems.
Nations that have been spared the chaos include Israel -- whose traffic uses a different route -- and Lebanon and Iraq. Many Middle East governments have backup satellite systems in case of cable failure.
Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, said the damaged cables collectively account for the majority of international communications between Europe and the Middle East.

Hillary Clinton trumpets win in Florida despite lack of delegates

Sen. Hillary Clinton will win Florida's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, CNN projects, although party sanctions have stripped the state of its convention delegates and no Democrats campaigned there.
Published polls showed the New York senator and former first lady was heavily favored in the state. Her leading rivals, South Carolina primary winner Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John Edwards, did not campaign in Florida. They opted to concentrate on next week's "Super Tuesday" contests in states such as New York, California, Missouri and Georgia.
The sanctions make Tuesday night's results largely meaningless to the Democratic presidential race. Obama described the primary as a "beauty contest" Tuesday, and his campaign issued a statement declaring the race a tie in the delegate count: "Zero for Obama, zero for Clinton."
But Clinton has pledged to fight to have the state's delegates seated at the August convention in Denver, and has increasingly stressed the state's importance since losing Saturday's hotly contested primary in South Carolina to Obama.

Bush opens up on past alcohol use

In a rare public comment on his past problems with alcohol, President Bush told a group at a Baltimore non-profit Tuesday that he had had a drinking problem in the past, and that “addiction is hard to overcome.”
Last month, he told an ABC interviewer that he had never been a "knee-walking drunk," but that "I doubt I'd be standing here if I hadn't quit drinking whiskey, and beer, and wine and all that."
On Tuesday, during his visit to the Jericho Program, he said that “if you remember, I drank too much at one time in my life.
“I understand faith based programs. I understand that sometimes you can find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem,” he added.
Bush has said several times that he often drank too much when he was younger, and that he quit drinking after overindulging on his 40th birthday.
Shortly before the 2000 presidential vote, news reports revealed he had been arrested in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol near his parents' home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
“Alcohol can compete with your affections. It sure did in my case — affections with your family, or affections for exercise,” Bush told the ABC News interviewer last month.
"It was the competition that I decided just wasn't worth it.”
The president also maintained then that he has not had a drink of alcohol since he quit more than two decades ago, and said he's a "better man for it."

Unfinished business for Bush in final State of the Union address

President Bush's last State of the Union address is expected to be heavy on Iraq and the economy, but he also will say he is entering a congressional fray over earmarking taxpayer dollars, administration officials said.
The president plans to sign an executive order Tuesday "directing agencies to ignore any future earmarks included in report language, but not in the legislation," Fratto said. The order will not be retroactive, he added.
"The president will say that if these spending items are worthy, Congress should debate them in the open and hold a public vote," Fratto said. "He will state his commitment to veto any spending bill that does not succeed in cutting earmarks in half from 2008 levels."
The move comes after House Republicans challenged Democrats in a letter Friday to join a bipartisan effort to overhaul earmarks. Republicans are expected to use earmarking as an issue against Democrats in the 2008 elections.

Beirut blast kills anti-terror chief

An explosion in Beirut has killed four people, including Lebanon's top anti-terror investigating officer, sources with the Lebanese Internal Security Forces and a government minister told CNN.
The attack in Hazmiyeh, a Christian neighborhood northeast of the capital, also wounded 38 others, security sources said.
"It was a powerful blast," CNN's Anthony Mills said. "I was less than half a mile away when it occurred and I felt the shock waves in the car I was traveling in.
"I arrived on the scene several minutes later and there was widespread damage -- several vehicles that had been reduced to hulks of burning, twisted metal ... debris scattered over a wide area."
The explosion killed Capt. Wissam Eid and his driver, the sources said.
Attacks of this nature have escalated as Lebanon has been in the midst of a political crisis as pro- and anti-Syrian lawmakers in parliament are locked in a battle to elect a president.