AP News in Brief
Negotiations intensify on final stimulus plan, with $40B in state aid on chopping block
WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiators hoped to seal agreement on President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package Wednesday after making good progress in the first rounds of closed-door talks.
Obama’s negotiating team insisted on restoring some lost funding for school construction projects as talks began Tuesday in hopes of striking a quick agreement, but by late in the day it appeared resigned to losing up to $40 billion in aid to state governments.
Earlier Tuesday, the Senate sailed to approval of its $838 billion economic stimulus bill, but with only three moderate Republicans signing on and then demanding the bill’s cost go down when the final version emerges from negotiations.
Negotiators were working with a target of about $800 billion for the final bill, lawmakers said.
“That’s in the ballpark,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said of the $800 billion figure late Tuesday.
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Bankers to appear before dubious Congress, defend bailout as good for loans
WASHINGTON (AP) — If Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner could get an earful of skepticism over the government’s financial bailout plans, the nation’s top bankers can expect no less when they make their maiden voyage to Congress as recipients of the widely criticized funds.
Eight chief executives will slip behind a witness table in the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday morning to face a battery of questions about how they have used more than $160 billion in taxpayers’ money.
In prepared testimony, the CEOs applauded the program for making more loans available and promised to pay their share of the money back to the Treasury over time. Anticipating confrontations over their own compensation, several asserted that none of the government’s money went to bonuses or dividends.
But members of both political parties have been smarting over the implementation of the $700 billion financial package, which started under President Bush and now is in the hands of the Obama administration. The lingering suspicions present one of President Barack Obama’s biggest obstacles as he attempts the dual challenge of prodding the financial sector to ease credit while aiming to create jobs with an economic stimulus package.
At least one banker sounded almost contrite.
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Taliban militants armed with suicide vests, rifles attack ministry in Kabul, killing 19
KABUL (AP) — Taliban fighters, carrying assault rifles and wearing suicide vests, stormed the Justice Ministry and another government building in Afghanistan’s capital Wednesday, forcing workers to flee from windows, according to government officials and a Taliban spokesman.
Nineteen people were killed in the assault.
The coordinated attacks struck in the heart of Kabul, underscoring the reach of the Taliban beyond their strongholds in the south and east ahead of a planned visit by President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the region.
Eight assailants also died in the attacks, said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, bringing to 27 the total deaths.
Azimi said all eight attackers had suicide vests, but only three assailants set them off.
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Tornado kills 8 people and causes multiple injuries in southern Oklahoma town
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A large, violent tornado ripped through a southern Oklahoma town late Tuesday evening, killing eight people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said. Severe weather also caused damage and power outages in metro Oklahoma City and western Texas.
The death toll rose to eight early Wednesday in the town of Lone Grove and 14 people sustained serious injuries, said Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten.
Structures have been damaged or destroyed throughout the town of about 4,600, some 100 miles south of Oklahoma City, said Chester Agan, assistant emergency manager for Carter County.
Search and rescue crews continued combing through rubble to find victims, Agan said.
“They just got one lady out from under a trailer just a few minutes ago but she was just injured,” Agan said.
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Inconclusive election sends Israel into political limbo, freezing Mideast peace efforts
JERUSALEM (AP) — Inconclusive election results sent Israel into political limbo Wednesday with both Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and hard-line leader Benjamin Netanyahu claiming victory and leaving the kingmaker role to a rising political hawk with an anti-Arab platform.
Livni’s Kadima Party won 28 seats, just one more than Netanyahu’s Likud, in Tuesday’s election for the 120-member parliament, according to nearly complete results. With neither party winning a clear majority, neither can govern alone. Gains by right-wing parties give Netanyahu a better chance of forming a coalition with his natural allies.
The results set the stage for what could be weeks of coalition negotiations. Israeli media reported the first meetings were scheduled for Wednesday.
Such paralysis could dampen prospects for Egyptian-led attempts to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers after Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza last month. Hamas might be reluctant to sign a deal at the risk of having it overturned by the incoming coalition.
Whatever government is forged, it is unlikely to move quickly toward peace talks with the Palestinians and instead could find itself on a collision course with President Barack Obama, who has said he’s making a Mideast peace deal a priority.
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World stock markets fall on skepticism over US bank rescue plan; Hong Kong off 2.5 percent
HONG KONG (AP) — World stock markets dropped Wednesday, following a steep sell-off on Wall Street, as investors reacted with skepticism to the U.S. government’s latest plan to rescue the ailing financial industry with as much as $2 trillion in funding.
Nearly ever major market in Asia retreated, further hurt by new figures showing China’s exports plunged 17.5 percent in January — the sharpest drop in more than a decade. European shares fell in early trade as Credit Suisse reported a massive quarterly loss far worse than expectations.
As in the U.S., investors across Asian and Europe questioned whether the revamped bailout program, unveiled Tuesday by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, would be enough to absorb the bad assets saddling bank balance sheets and free up the credit markets that govern lending to consumers and businesses.
Geithner said the plan to get trillions of dollars in financing flowing through the world’s largest economy was urgently needed as part of the government’s effort to stave off “catastrophic failure” of institutions. A centerpiece involves the government teaming with the private sector to buy up to $1 trillion in souring assets from financial firms. A separate lending program would be expanded to as much as $1 trillion from $200 billion for consumers and businesses.
However, investors complained about they what they viewed as a lack of detail. For example, officials were short on specifics about how exactly the public-private partnership might work, analysts said.
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Australians return to devastated towns for 1st time since fires; 1 blaze result of ‘foul play’
KINGLAKE, Australia (AP) — Residents of towns scorched off the map by the worst wildfires in Australia’s history returned to their homes for the first time Wednesday and found scenes of utter devastation.
Victoria state Premier John Brumby expressed concern about the emotional impact of the sight of the destruction on survivors, especially those who had not seen television footage of the disaster’s scale.
“Where do you start? Where do you start?” said Peter Denson, standing blank-faced amid the ruins of his home in Kinglake, where at least 39 people were killed and the town all but destroyed in Saturday’s inferno.
Denson, a carpenter, has lived in Kinglake since 1977. He said he wants to rebuild, but his house, now a blackened pile of timber, bricks and twisted metal, was not insured because he could not afford it.
“It’s like a big atom bomb has gone off,” said Denson.
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Old dog pulls a new trick: 10-year-old Sussex spaniel becomes America’s top dog at Westminster
NEW YORK (AP) — Imagine Michael Jordan coming back to make one more jumper. Or John Elway returning to toss a final TD pass. Or Nolan Ryan reappearing to throw a farewell fastball. That’s what happened in the dog show world.
Having just turned 10, a Sussex spaniel called Stump became the oldest best in show winner at the Westminster Kennel Club, ending his retirement last week and taking the big prize Tuesday night.
“He hasn’t slowed down a bit,” expert handler Scott Sommer said. “I thought it would be fun.”
With floppy ears and a plodding gait, the golden-red Stump became America’s top dog and an instant fan favorite at Madison Square Garden.
Turns out the old dog taught Westminster a new trick.
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‘American Idol’ hopefuls shine in solos during final Hollywood Week round
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Adam Lambert was among several “American Idol” hopefuls who gave the judges something to believe in during the final round of Hollywood Week.
Lambert, the theater actor who wowed the judges with a stripped down version of Cher’s “Believe,” was one of the contestants put through to the next stage of competition on the Fox singing contest.
During Tuesday’s episode, 72 hopefuls performed with a band, backup singers and — if they chose — instruments.
A few of the contestants, including Joanna Pacitti and Casey Carlson, flubbed the lyrics. Stephen Fowler also forgot the words — twice. That didn’t seem to matter though because they made it, along with such hopefuls as oil rig worker Michael Sarver, mother-of-three Lil Rounds, over-the-top comedian Nick Mitchell and blind pianist Scott MacIntyre.
The oh-so-emotional Tatiana Del Toro received the most screen time during Tuesday’s episode. At one point, the cryin’ crooner was shuffled from one room of anxious hopefuls to another.
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Baseball’s Miguel Tejada due in court on steroids case, expected to admit to lying to Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Houston Astros’ Miguel Tejada is headed to court to answer charges of lying to Congress, the latest athlete to face criminal prosecutors over the scourge of performance-enhancing drugs in pro sports.
Tejada, 34, is expected to plead guilty when he appears in court Wednesday. The charges against the All-Star shortstop were outlined in documents filed Tuesday in Washington federal court.
The documents indicate that a plea agreement has been reached with Tejada, who won the 2002 American League Most Valuable Player award while playing for the Oakland Athletics.
The papers were filed a day after superstar Alex Rodriguez acknowledged past use of performance-enhancing drugs. The New York Yankees third baseman does not face charges.
The FBI also is investigating whether pitcher Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young winner, lied to Congress last year when he denied using steroids or human growth hormone.
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