Evening Edition

“We call upon President Saleh to move immediately on his commitment to transfer power,” US President Barack Obama said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London.

Germany’s foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke echoed Obama’s calls urging Saleh to accept a Gulf-brokered exit plan.

Three tribal dignitaries were among 24 supporters of powerful dissident tribal chief Sadiq al-Ahmar who were killed, and dozens of others were wounded, a hospital source told AFP.

The defence ministry said on its website, citing the interior ministry, that 14 soldiers were killed and two were missing in the fighting.

In the fighting, in which 44 people have been killed, the tribesmen occupied the state news agency Saba, the national airline Yemenia building and tried to storm the interior ministry headquarters, according to the witnesses and a high-ranking Yemen official.

The latest fighting came despite an appeal on Tuesday by President Saleh for supporters of Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, who heads the powerful Hashid tribal federation, to “cease their aggression on security forces.”

If appointed, Lagarde would be the first woman to head the IMF, taking over from her countryman Dominique Strauss-Kahn who resigned to fight charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid.

Lagarde, a respected figure on the world financial stage, has received wide European backing for the post although emerging powers have complained that the job should not automatically go to a European, as IMF tradition dictates.

One day after nominations opened to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF directors from China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa — the so-called BRICS economies — said that the longstanding deal that has allowed only Europeans to lead the IMF “undermines the legitimacy of the Fund.”

They strongly objected to the aggressive push by Europeans in thee past week to have one of their own to replace Strauss-Kahn, who resigned Wednesday after being arrested in New York on sexual assault allegations, which he denies.

The cloud is the second from an Icelandic volcano in barely a year to disrupt European air traffic and air traffic controllers said some 450 flights were cancelled over Germany on Wednesday.

The Brussels-based Eurocontrol had expected more flight cancellations earlier on Wednesday, when it had predicted that 700 flights would be grounded.

In a keynote speech to Britain’s two houses of parliament meant to inject new momentum into the transatlantic alliance which has bolstered global security since World War II, Obama said Western nations must renew themselves.

“Countries like China, India and Brazil are growing by leaps and bounds,” Obama told the assembled lawmakers, arguing that in the end, the emergence of new powers would benefit everyone.

A FIFA statement said Bin Hammam and three other officials including vice-president Jack Warner had been ordered to appear before an ethics committee on Sunday to respond to fresh allegations of graft.

News of the charges — made by fellow executive committee member Chuck Blazer — came exactly one week before Bin Hammam was due to take on FIFA President Sepp Blatter at elections in Zurich.

The world football governing body announced they are investigating allegations against Bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confderation president, and FIFA vice-president Jack Warner. The probe also concerns Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester.

The allegations, including bribery, were made by executive committee member Chuck Blazer.

Exports fell 12.5 percent from a year earlier, data released by the finance ministry showed — the largest fall since October 2009, when trade activity was still weak after the global financial crisis.

Japan logged a deficit of 463.7 billion yen ($5.6 billion), reversing a year-before surplus of 729.2 billion yen, with shipments of cars diving 67.0 percent and those of electronics parts such as microchips dropping 9.0 percent.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development held its 2011 global growth forecast steady at 4.2 percent in its latest semi-annual Economic Outlook report, but warned of negative uncertainty.

“The recovery is gaining strength but takes place at different paces,” the OECD’s chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan told reporters, adding there was “no room for complacency.”

On the second day of a state visit to Britain, Obama also delivered his strongest warning yet to the Palestinians that their evolving plan to seek UN recognition was a “mistake.”

With Obama facing criticism in Europe over his decision to limit US forces to a support role in Libya, as his hosts Britain and France apply the muscle, the president nevertheless said the operation remained on track.

Pressing their advantage after winning an election to fill an open congressional seat in New York, Democrats scheduled a 5 p.m. EDT vote on a budget plan that Republicans say would save trillions of dollars in coming decades by privatizing the Medicare health program for future retirees.

Democrats say the unpopularity of the Republican plan helped them win Tuesday’s election in a conservative district, and they hope to boost their prospects in the 2012 elections by forcing their Republican colleagues to take a stand in Wednesday’s vote.

Pressing their advantage after winning an election to fill an open congressional seat in New York, Democrats scheduled a 5 p.m. EDT vote on a budget plan that Republicans say would save trillions of dollars in coming decades by privatizing the Medicare health program for future retirees.

Democrats say the unpopularity of the Republican plan helped them win Tuesday’s election in a conservative district, and they hope to boost their prospects in the 2012 elections by forcing their Republican colleagues to take a stand in Wednesday’s vote.

Republicans cautioned against reading too much into Democrat Kathy Hochul’s victory in a conservative upstate House of Representatives district, as a self-described Tea Party candidate siphoned off Republican support.

But for the first time since their landslide loss in 2010, Democrats were optimistic on Wednesday about the outlook for 2012 when control of the White House and both chambers of Congress will be up for grabs.

“We can no longer let politicians in Washington deny the danger to Medicare — the danger is all too real, and the health of our nation’s seniors is far too important,” Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, said in an Internet video.

Democrats on Tuesday won a vacant House seat in a district in upstate New York, a traditional Republican stronghold, by turning the special election into a referendum on the plan pushed by Ryan to privatize Medicare.

Durable goods orders declined 3.6 percent last month, worse than economists’ expectations for a 2.2 percent fall. March’s orders were revised up to a 4.4 percent rise from a 4.1 percent increase, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

While durable goods orders are extremely volatile, the report added to a raft of recent data suggesting that the loss of economic growth momentum encountered as the year started persisted into the early part of the second quarter.

Lagarde announced her candidacy on the eve of a G8 summit after securing the unanimous backing of the 27-nation European Union and, diplomats said, support from the United States and China, making her the overwhelming favorite to clinch the top job in global finance next month.

At a news conference in Paris, she promised to serve a full five-year term if chosen, unlike her three predecessors, and to give top priority to completing reform of the International Monetary Fund to give greater weight to emerging economies.

Six loud explosions rocked Tripoli late on Tuesday within 10 minutes, following powerful strikes 24 hours earlier, including one on Gaddafi’s complex in which Libyan officials said 19 died.

Obama told a London news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron he could not predict when Gaddafi, who is fighting a three-month-old insurgency, might be forced to go.

European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said it expected the ash cloud would dissipate overnight and did not see any significant disruption to travel in Europe on Thursday.

The explosion of the Grimsvotn volcano on Saturday caused much less chaos than an eruption last year at another Icelandic volcano thanks to new rules for airlines, but the incident showed problems remain with the regulations. Budget airline Ryanair was vocal in its criticism.

Athens denied reports it was poised to call a referendum on Prime Minister George Papandreou’s new savings plan, which foresees up to 11.5 billion euros in state asset sales by the end of next year, and said it was still seeking a consensus on the deeply unpopular steps.

The showdown in Greece underscored rising political hurdles to an orderly resolution of the debt crisis that has plagued the 17-nation currency zone for the past 18 months and forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and now Portugal.

The deals have been thwarted by a lack of willing buyers for the debt — even at record low prices — and that exposed lenders have been unable to buy protection because of the high costs, with top bankers advising their clients all they can now do is cross their fingers and hope for the best.

“The vast majority of these banks have just been unable to do anything,” said one European banker who has advised dozens of such banks. “Protection is too expensive, and markets for these bonds are illiquid, so many are riding out the problem. Right now, all they can do is shut their eyes and hope.”

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said the U.S. and euro area economies were growing faster than expected in forecasts six months ago, although Japan’s economy was set to contract after the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

As a result, it said the U.S. Federal Reserve should look to raise interest rates this year, while the European Central Bank could afford to pause its tightening cycle for a while and Japan faced no pressure to act.

The shares were sold for $29 apiece, just above the $28.73 average price the Treasury will need to break even on its record bailout of AIG during the financial crisis.

But the sale price was at only a 1.6 percent discount to Tuesday’s closing price, which could prove scant comfort to investors who have watched AIG shares plummet 40 percent since the beginning of the year.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said traders James Dyer of Oklahoma’s Parnon Energy, and Nick Wildgoose of Europe-based Arcadia Energy, amassed large physical positions at a key U.S. trading hub to create the impression of tight supplies that would boost oil prices.

Later they dumped those barrels back onto the market, causing prices to crash and racking up profits from short positions they had accrued in futures markets, the suit said.

The Rafah crossing will be open permanently starting Saturday, Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency announced. That would provide Gaza Palestinians their first open border to the world in four years, since Egypt and Israel slammed their crossings shut after the Islamic militant Hamas overran the Gaza Strip in 2007.

During the closure, Egypt sometimes opened its border to allow Palestinians through for special reasons such as education or medical treatment. But with Israel severely restricting movement of Palestinians through its Erez crossing in northern Gaza, residents there were virtual prisoners.

“Gadhafi and his regime need to understand that there will not be a let-up in the pressure that we are applying,” the U.S. president said, even as Libyan rebels clashed with mercenaries fighting for Gadhafi and less than a day after NATO intensified its bombardment of the Libyan capital. Britain’s leader, hosting a news conference with Obama, said the two agreed on a need to “be turning up the heat in Libya.”

The Libyan crisis and the broader Arab uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East will be major topics as Obama, Cameron and leaders of other wealthy nations head to the Group of Eight gathering in the Normandy resort of Deauville, France, for talks that begin Thursday. The world’s top economies are scrambling to figure out how to help countries with democratic transitions without being seen as heavy-handed.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, an accomplished veteran of the Iraq war, would succeed Navy Adm. Mike Mullen as the president’s top military adviser when Mullen’s term as chairman ends Sept. 30. Dempsey would have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Two people familiar with the choice, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been announced by the White House, said it is scheduled to be made public on Tuesday.

The charismatic Lagarde, who spent much of her career in the United States, emerged as the front-runner for the job even before speaking out publicly.

“If I’m elected I’ll bring all my expertise as a lawyer, a minister, a manager and a woman” to the job, she said Wednesday. The IMF, which provides billions in loans to shore up the world economy, has not had a woman director since its inception in 1945.

FIFA summoned Asian Football Confederation leader bin Hammam and FIFA vice president Jack Warner to an ethics hearing on Sunday to face allegations of corruption during the Qatari official’s campaign visit to Trinidad two weeks ago.

The allegations – leveled by Warner’s longtime ally Chuck Blazer of the United States – could well wreck bin Hammam’s already fading hopes of defeating Blatter in the June 1 vote by FIFA’s 208 national members.

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria, which helps organize the protests against President Bashar Assad, identified the children and the circumstances of their death. Syria has blocked media access in the country, making it impossible to verify the reports independently.

Some of the children died “under severe torture,” the group’s statement said.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal sent the draft text to all other members on the 15-nation Security Council, several diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Council experts were scheduled to meet Thursday morning to discuss the draft, the diplomats said.

The Democrat rode a wave of voter discontent over the national GOP’s plan to change Medicare and overcame decades of GOP dominance here to capture Tuesday’s special election in New York’s 26th Congressional District.

Hochul defeated Republican state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin on Tuesday night, capturing 47 percent of the vote to 43 percent for Corwin, to win the seat vacated by disgraced Republican Chris Lee. A wealthy tea party candidate, Jack Davis, took 9 percent.

The Tea Party Patriots, Georgia-based but claiming 1,000 chapters nationally, are instructing members to remind teachers that a 2004 federal law requires public schools to teach Constitution lessons the week of Sept. 17, commemorating the day the document was signed. And they’d like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.

The center’s founder, W. Cleon Skousen, once called Jamestown’s original settlers communists, wrote end-of-days prophecy and suggested Russians stole Sputnik from the United States. In 1987, one of his books was criticized for suggesting American slave children were freer than white non-slaves.

The newly minted presidential candidate hopes Republican primary voters will see him as an economic pro accustomed to dealing with red ink and capable of confronting the nation’s colossal fiscal problems.

“Minnesota’s big-government legacy presented me with the same type of problems Barack Obama found in the nation’s capital,” Pawlenty said this week of the Democratic president he hopes to unseat. “But my approach – and my results – were very different from his.”

President Barack Obama will begin drawing down some of the 100,000 troops in Afghanistan in July, with all combat forces due out by 2014. But that timetable is unacceptable to a growing number of war-weary lawmakers, who argue that the death of the al-Qaida leader is an opportunity for the United States to recalibrate its strategy.

“The successful mission that located and killed Osama bin Laden has raised many questions about the effectiveness of America’s strategy to combat terrorism through a now 10-year-old nation-building effort in a deeply corrupt Afghanistan, especially in light of the serious fiscal challenges we face at home,” Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Peter Welch, D-Vt., wrote in a letter to colleagues on Wednesday.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the vote was expected to take place Wednesday afternoon. At the same time, Republicans are forcing a vote to put Democrats on record for or against President Barack Obama’s February budget proposal, while conservative Republicans will get votes on even more stringent plans.

Reid is staging the votes to put Republicans on record regarding a plan by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that would transform Medicare into a program in which future beneficiaries – people now 54 years old and younger – would be given a subsidy to purchase health insurance rather than have the government directly pay hospital and doctor bills.

Tine Valencic of Colleyville didn’t miss a single question during the final round of the geography bee, defeating nine other boys and taking home a $25,000 scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands. The answer that made the difference: Ecuador.

“I’m just taking it all in,” he said after winning and being lent tissues to dry his eyes by both the bee moderator, “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, and the bee’s second-place finisher.

The multilingual effort aims to reach roughly 7.9 million immigrants who are eligible to file applications to naturalize but haven’t done so. Many immigrants work, raise a family and go to school while holding green cards and only think about citizenship when they need to travel or abroad or when elections roll around and they can’t vote, immigration officials said.

The campaign in print, radio and digital media that will run primarily in California, New York, Florida and Texas between May 30 and Labor Day aims to put citizenship in the forefront of people’s minds and give them personal stories of immigrants who have naturalized.

Perched on the edge of central California’s delta, about an hour south of the state capital, the city of nearly 300,000 has had some of the highest home foreclosure and unemployment rates in a state that has ranked high in both categories.

The hard times have spread to the local schools. Last year, the district laid off 100 teachers, gutted its summer school program and raised class sizes from 20 students to 30 in kindergarten through third grade.

Marshall & Illsley Corp., a 164-year-old Wisconsin bank, usually meets with shareholders each April in its hometown of Milwaukee. But that was before the bagpipe-playing firefighters and marching teachers descended on its branches by the thousands earlier this year to protest contributions from executives to Gov. Scott Walker. And it was before the board decided to sell the bank to a Canadian company, a deal that includes $65 million in severance for those same executives.

M&I postponed its regular annual meeting and decamped for New York, 900 miles away, for a hasty special meeting last week. It would be the bank’s last shareholders’ meeting – and it only lasted seven minutes. Attendees say executives promised to take questions at the end but never did, and exited quickly through a back door after holding a vote to approve the acquisition by BMO Finance Group, the parent of the Bank of Montreal.

The no-nonsense Tacoma is a recommended buy of Consumer Reports. Two months ago, the Tacoma also was named the top truck in its category in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 Dependability Study measuring issues of owners of 3-year-old vehicles over the last 12 months of ownership.

The Dependability rating comes on top of years of noteworthy praise for the resale value of earlier Tacomas.

May is typically the wettest month in Texas, but parts of the state haven’t seen significant rain since last August. Officials said if the drought continues into June, losses for the nation’s second largest agriculture producer will top $4 billion, making it the costliest season on record.

“We’re well on our way to breaking the record of the past,” said Carl Anderson, an agricultural economist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service, referring to the 2006 season.