Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 46 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Women march for better life on International Women’s Day

AFP

59 mins ago

PARIS (AFP) – Women worldwide took to the streets Tuesday to mark the 100th International Women’s Day, with protests against honour killings, the objectification of women in Italy and the shooting of seven women in Ivory Coast.

Drawing inspiration from the boardrooms of Finland and the toppling of autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, demonstrators staked their claim for equality, education and a better life.

A month before Silvio Berlusconi goes on trial over allegations he paid an underage prostitute for sex, hundreds of Italian women rallied in Rome.

AFP

2 International Women’s Day shines harsh light on ‘femicide’

AFP

1 hr 49 mins ago

PARIS (AFP) – International Women’s Day marked its 100th year Tuesday with protests against “femicide” in its various forms around the world — from honour killings in Turkey to wanton violence in Guatemala to the deadly crushing of a women’s rally in Ivory Coast.

In Turkey, thousands of women marched to denounce honour crimes despite a 2005 law that carries jail terms of up to life imprisonment.

“Don’t Turn Our Wedding Dresses into Shrouds,” they chanted.

3 Libya no-fly zone calls mount as new battles loom

by Danny Kemp, AFP

1 hr 4 mins ago

RAS LANUF, Libya (AFP) – Libya’s air force stepped up strikes on the front line Tuesday and heavy shelling was heard, as the revolt against Moamer Kadhafi entered its third week and calls mounted for a no-fly zone over the country.

As the fighting raged, a rebel spokesman said a Kadhafi intermediary had offered talks with the opposition but was rejected outright.

The claim of an approach was dismissed as “rubbish” by a government official in Tripoli speaking on condition of anonymity.

4 Libya regime blasts West ‘conspiracy’ against Kadhafi

by Antoine Lambroschini, AFP

Mon Mar 7, 7:25 pm ET

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Moamer Kadhafi’s regime accused the United States, Britain and France of “a conspiracy to divide Libya” Monday as pressure built to arm the rebels and the UN named a special envoy to Tripoli.

The worsening conflict sent world oil prices higher, while NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said attacks on civilians by Kadhafi’s troops could amount to crimes against humanity.

Libya’s foreign minister told reporters in the capital Tripoli that the Western allies were trying to split the North African country by secretly building up contacts with rebel leaders.

5 Libya launches new air raids; calls mount for no-fly zone

by Jennie Matthew, AFP

Tue Mar 8, 6:49 am ET

BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) – Libya’s air force carried out new raids Tuesday on a rebel-held town as the revolt against Moamer Kadhafi’s regime entered its third week amid mounting calls for a no-fly zone over the country.

A rebel spokesman meanwhile said that an intermediary of Kadhafi had offered talks with the opposition leadership but was rejected outright.

“I think there was an attempt from Kadhafi’s people with the provisional national council. It has been rejected,” said Mustafa Gheriani, a media organiser at the rebels’ main headquarters at the court house in Benghazi.

6 25 killed, 154 wounded in Pakistan bomb attack

by Khurram Shahzad, AFP

2 hrs 17 mins ago

FAISALABAD, Pakistan (AFP) – A car bomb planted by suspected Islamic militants exploded at a filling station in Pakistan’s Punjab province Tuesday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 154 others, officials said.

Many of those hurt were trapped for hours by debris and shrapnel after the blast reduced the station building to rubble, with rescue workers heaving stones and metal away to rescue survivors.

“A total of 25 people were killed and 154 injured, some of them were in a serious condition,” Adnan Khalil, the official in charge of rescue efforts, told AFP.

7 Gates sees Afghan progress, warns of fight ahead

by Dan De Luce, AFP

2 hrs 23 mins ago

SANGIN, Afghanistan (AFP) – US Defense Secretary Robert Gates touted progress on a visit to southern Afghanistan Tuesday but said NATO forces will soon face an “acid test” as Taliban insurgents move to seize back ground.

In a tour of pivotal battlegrounds, Gates said he came away encouraged that coalition and Afghan forces were rolling back the Taliban from longstanding strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

But he added that the results of the NATO-led campaign would not be clear until later this year, when the Taliban is expected to exploit warmer weather to strike back.

8 More Ivory Coast bloodshed as Gbagbo snubs mediation

by Christophe Koffi, AFP

26 mins ago

ABIDJAN (AFP) – More deadly violence erupted in Ivory Coast Tuesday after a rally by followers of the internationally recognised president, as his defiant rival Laurent Gbagbo snubbed an African Union mediation bid.

At least three men and a woman were the latest victims of an increasingly bloody post-electoral crisis, which the UN fears could become a full-blown civil war, when they were shot dead in Abidjan’s Treichville neighbourhood.

According to medics and AFP correspondents at the scene, the four were killed in violence which flared following a rally by hundreds of supporters of Alassane Ouattara, who was Gbagbo’s challenger in November’s run-off.

9 Bangladesh’s Yunus loses appeal against sacking

by Shafiq Alam, AFP

Tue Mar 8, 8:53 am ET

DHAKA (AFP) – Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi winner of the 2006 Nobel peace prize, on Tuesday lost a high court appeal against being sacked from his own bank in a bitter clash with the country’s authorities.

Yunus, 70, who is celebrated worldwide for tackling poverty through his pioneering “microfinance” cash loans to small farmers and villagers, was fired last week on the orders of Bangladesh’s central bank.

Backed by a high-profile international campaign amid allegations of a political vendetta, he defied the order by returning to work at Grameen Bank’s headquarters in Dhaka and lodged a court appeal contesting his sacking.

10 Obama to lift freeze on new Guantanamo trials

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Tue Mar 8, 5:16 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama has lifted a ban on new military trials for Guantanamo Bay terror suspects, apparently conceding that the camp he has vowed to close will not be emptied any time soon.

Obama also issued new guidelines to ensure humane and lawful treatment of suspects deemed too dangerous to release, but officials insisted he was still determined to shutter the controversial “war on terror” facility in Cuba.

They said the president still maintained that some suspects could be tried in federal courts, despite fierce opposition and blocking tactics from a bi-partisan front in Congress.

Reuters

11 Gaddafi forces strike back in west and east Libya

By Maria Golovnina and Alexander Dziadosz, Reuters

23 mins ago

TRIPOLI/RAS LANUF, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan government forces attacked rebels with rockets, tanks and warplanes on western and eastern fronts, intensifying their offensive to crush the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi.

Rising casualties and the threats of hunger and a refugee crisis increased pressure on foreign governments to act, but they struggled to agree a strategy, many fearful of moving from sanctions alone to military action.

In besieged Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held city to Tripoli, trapped residents cowered from the onslaught on Tuesday.

12 Libyan oil trade paralyzed, deals in dollars blocked

Reuters

2 hrs 51 mins ago

LONDON (Reuters) – Libyan oil trade has virtually been paralyzed as banks decline to clear payments in dollars due to U.S. sanctions, trading sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The move follows a decision by major U.S. oil firms to halt trade with Libya and makes it almost impossible for European firms to buy Libyan oil and supply refineries in countries such as France and Italy.

Around half of Libya’s oil output, or more than 1 percent of global supply, has already been choked off by lethal clashes between rebels and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

13 Libyan tanks, planes bombard rebel town: residents

By Maria Golovnina, Reuters

1 hr 52 mins ago

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libyan forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi are using tanks and aircraft to bombard the town of Zawiyah near the capital but rebels still control the central square, witnesses said on Tuesday.

They said many buildings, including mosques, had been destroyed, and rebel forces had been calling on residents over loud hailers to help defend their positions in the center of Zawiyah, a town about 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli.

“Fighting is still going on now. Gaddafi’s forces are using tanks. There are also sporadic air strikes. The situation here is very bad,” said a resident, called Ibrahim, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from Zawiyah.

14 Libya stages air strikes, bombards east rebels

By Alexander Dziadosz, Reuters

Tue Mar 8, 12:30 pm ET

RAS LANUF, Libya (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi’s forces attacked rebels on the eastern front line with tanks, rockets and warplanes on Tuesday, said rebels who complained they could not match the Libyan leader’s heavy firepower.

“People are dying out there. Gaddafi’s forces have rockets and tanks,” Abdel Salem Mohamed, 21, told Reuters, returning to the oil port of Ras Lanuf from the front as casualties mounted.

“You see this? This is no good,” he said, gesturing to a light machinegun he was carrying.

15 House Republicans draft new stopgap spending bill

By Richard Cowan and Andy Sullivan, Reuters

Tue Mar 8, 12:25 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Yet another U.S. budget stopgap spending bill was being crafted on Tuesday in the House of Representatives as the Senate bickered over when to vote on two longer-term measures that appeared sure to fail.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee was readying a sixth stopgap measure to keep the government running beyond a March 18 deadline, when current funding authority ends, an aide said, adding that details were not yet firm.

This string of temporary spending bills has been necessary because Congress failed to write a budget and pass 12 regular spending bills in time for the start of the 2011 fiscal year that began last October 1.

16 Republican 2012 candidates have doubts to overcome

By Steve Holland, Reuters

2 hrs 34 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican voters looking for their party’s 2012 challenger to President Barack Obama will choose from a field that has as many perceived weaknesses as strengths.

“It’s tough to beat an incumbent, and if you’re going to do it, you’re going to have to do it with someone who is stellar. It’s not clear that Republicans have that,” said Julian Zelizer, a political scientist professor at Princeton University.

The candidates who can best manage their negatives are likely to be the ones who will rise from the pack in the months of campaigning, which is just beginning to heat up.

17 WikiLeaks: EADS execs briefed U.S. on internal feud

By Tim Hepher, Reuters

Tue Mar 8, 11:27 am ET

PARIS (Reuters) – A litany of back-stabbing at Europe’s top aerospace group is exposed in leaked U.S. cables, which show American diplomats avidly collecting details on the cracks in U.S. planemaker Boeing’s main rival.

Dozens of pages of diplomatic reports reveal how feuding executives at Airbus parent EADS gave U.S. diplomats a running commentary on Franco-German rifts between 2005 and 2009.

The period coincided with a sharp rise in public tensions between Airbus and Boeing in a spat over subsidies, market battles for orders and a contest to sell tankers to the U.S.

AP

18 Gadhafi forces barrage rebels in east and west

By MAGGIE MICHAEL and PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press

57 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya – After dramatic successes over the past weeks, Libya’s rebel movement appears to have hit a wall of overwhelming power from loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi. Pro-regime forces halted their drive on Tripoli with a heavy barrage of rockets in the east and threatened Tuesday to recapture the closest rebel-held city to the capital in the west.

If Zawiya, on Tripoli’s doorstep, is ultimately retaken, the contours of a stalemate would emerge – with Libya divided between a largely loyalist west and a rebel east as the world wrestles with the thorny question of how deeply to intervene.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to plan for the “full spectrum of possible responses” on Libya, including imposing a no-fly zone to prevent Gadhafi’s warplanes from striking rebels. According to a White House statement, the two leaders spoke Tuesday and agreed that the objective must be an end to violence and the departure of Gadhafi “as quickly as possible.”

19 Obama and his team mull responses on Libya

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

1 hr 13 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Preparing for the prospect of deeper international intervention, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron conferred Tuesday on the spectrum of military and humanitarian responses to Libya’s worsening civil strife. The British leader bluntly said after the talk that the world cannot stand aside and let Moammar Gadhafi brutalize his people.

In weighing the options, the Obama administration underscored that any authorization of a no-fly zone over Libya must come from the United Nations Security Council.

“We think it’s important that the United Nations make this decision – not the United States,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Britain’s Sky News. The comment reflected Obama’s thinking that any action intended to halt Libya’s violence must carry the legitimacy and strength of an international coalition.

20 Yemeni army storms university, wounding 98

By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press

7 mins ago

SANAA, Yemen – The Yemeni government escalated its efforts to stop mass protests calling for the president’s ouster on Tuesday, with soldiers firing rubber bullets and tear gas at students camped at a university in the capital in a raid that left at least 98 people wounded, officials said.

The army stormed the Sanaa University campus hours after thousands of inmates rioted at the central prison in the capital, taking a dozen guards hostage and calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. At least one prisoner was killed and 80 people were wounded as the guards fought to control the situation, police said.

Yemen has been rocked by weeks of protests against Saleh, inspired by recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that drove out those nations’ leaders. Saleh, a key U.S. ally in the campaign against al-Qaida, has been in power 32 years. In a sign that the protests are gaining traction, graffiti calling for Saleh to step down surfaced Tuesday in his birthplace, village of Sanhan, for the first time since the protests began.

21 Wis. gov. proposes union compromise in e-mails

By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press

8 mins ago

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise aimed at ending a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, according to e-mails released Tuesday by his office.

The e-mails, some dated as recently as Sunday, show a softened stance in Walker’s talks with the 14 Democrats who fled to Illinois to block a vote on his original proposal that would strip nearly all collective bargaining rights for public workers and force concessions amounting to an average 8 percent pay cut.

Under the compromise floated by Walker and detailed in the e-mails, workers would be able to continue bargaining over their salaries with no limit, a change from his original plan that banned negotiated salary increases beyond inflation. He also proposed compromises allowing collective bargaining to stay in place on mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay and classroom size for teachers.

22 Wis. governor’s budget goes far beyond just unions

By SCOTT BAUER and DAVID LIEB, Associated Press

2 hrs 59 mins ago

MADISON, Wis. – The showdown over collective bargaining rights for public employees is just the first step in a contentious debate over how to solve Wisconsin’s budget woes, with newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker also seeking to dismantle an array of social policies enacted under his Democratic predecessor.

On the chopping block in Walker’s two-year budget proposal are early release programs for prisoners, in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, mandatory insurance coverage of contraceptives, college financial aid for high school grads who are good citizens and public financing for Supreme Court campaigns.

All were enacted under former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle – some after the promise to save the state money, others after years of lobbying from interest groups who now find themselves on the wrong side of Wisconsin’s political power.

23 Ohio gov. pledges big changes to come, unions boo

By JULIE CARR SMYTH, Associated Press

1 hr 22 mins ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Amid pro-labor protests Tuesday, Gov. John Kasich said in his first State of the State address that big changes are ahead for Ohio and that lawmakers should not be scared off by the conflict that will arise from shaking things up.

“If you’ve seen a lot of change in these first seven weeks, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Kasich said, as the crowd erupted, some in cheer, others in boos.

Touting the advantages of the state’s many cities, the new Republican governor said he is willing to risk criticism in order to stop Ohio from hemorrhaging any more residents and jobs to other states. Seeing Ohio lose two congressional seats because of population loss was a punishing blow, the former congressman said.

24 Mass fish death fouls California marina

By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press

9 mins ago

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – An estimated one million fish turned up dead Tuesday in a Southern California marina, creating a floating feast for pelicans, gulls and other sea life and a stinky mess for harbor authorities.

The sardines apparently depleted the water of oxygen and suffocated after getting lost in the marina, officials said.

“All indications are it’s a naturally occurring event,” said Andrew Hughan, a California Fish and Game spokesman at the scene.

25 21 Pa. priests named in sex report are suspended

By JOANN LOVIGLIO, Associated Press

10 mins ago

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia archdiocese suspended 21 Roman Catholic priests Tuesday who were named as child molestation suspects in a scathing grand jury report last month, a move that comes more than eight years after U.S. bishops pledged swift action to keep potential abusers away from young people.

The priests have been removed from ministry while their cases are reviewed, Cardinal Justin Rigali said. The names of the priests were not being released, a spokesman for the archdiocese said.

“These have been difficult weeks since the release of the grand jury report,” Rigali said in a statement. “Difficult most of all for victims of sexual abuse but also for all Catholics and for everyone in our community.”

26 Angry residents of CA city vote on council recall

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press

11 mins ago

BELL, Calif. – Voters went to the polls Tuesday with a chance to elect a group of reformers in a blue-collar Southern California community that became the face of municipal corruption in the country when officials were accused of paying themselves six-figure salaries while the city was going broke.

A steady stream of voters lined up at four polling places in Bell to cast ballots for candidates for all five seats on the City Council.

Four council members were targeted for recall, although one has resigned and two others aren’t seeking re-election. All four have pleaded not guilty to dozens of fraud and other charges accusing city officials of looting the city of more than $5.5 million.

27 Freshman Democrat upbraids Obama on spending

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

13 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A freshman Democratic senator accused President Barack Obama on Tuesday of failing to provide leadership on a worsening national deficit as top Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill spent more time pointing fingers than seeking common ground on a must-do measure to fund the government for the next six months.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called on Obama to lead “tough negotiations” on wrapping up last year’s unfinished budget work and said that “right now, that is not happening.”

“When it comes to an issue of significant national importance, the president must lead,” Manchin said. The freshman senator faces re-election next year in a state where voters are generally hostile to Obama.

28 NPR exec blasts tea party in hidden-camera video

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press

15 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A National Public Radio executive was captured on hidden camera calling the tea party movement racist and xenophobic and said NPR would be better off without federal funding, in an embarrassment likely to fuel the latest round of conservative attacks on public broadcasting.

The video was posted Tuesday by James O’Keefe, the same activist whose undercover videos have targeted other groups opposed by conservatives, like the community organizing group ACORN and Planned Parenthood.

It drew swift reaction from Republicans in Congress, who are renewing efforts to cut funding to public broadcasters. NPR and PBS have long been targets of conservatives who claim their programming has a left-wing bias. Similar efforts in the 1990s and 2005 were not successful, although public broadcasters take the threat seriously.

29 Could gene tests tell if kids can be sports stars?

By LINDSEY TANNER, Associated Press

16 mins ago

CHICAGO – Was your kid born to be an elite athlete? Marketers of genetic tests claim the answer is in mail-order kits costing less than $200.

Some customers say the test results help them steer their children to appropriate sports. But skeptical doctors and ethicists say the tests are putting profit before science and have a much greater price tag – potentially robbing perfectly capable youngsters of a chance to enjoy activities of their choice.

“In the `winning is everything’ sports culture, societal pressure to use these tests in children may increasingly present a challenge to unsuspecting physicians,” according to a commentary in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

30 Gates sees war gains – but can Afghans hold them?

By ROBERT BURNS,http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110308/ap_on_re_us/us_broken_budgets_anti_tax_pledge AP National Security Writer

1 hr 9 mins ago

COMBAT OUTPOST SABIT QADAM, Afghanistan – The Taliban are reeling. U.S. and Afghan troops are clicking. The war is going really well. That’s what Pentagon chief Robert Gates heard in two days with troops and commanders. Much less clear: the hoped-for advances in the Afghan government’s ability to provide basic services and extend its authority beyond Kabul, just months before the American troop drawdown begins.

Gates visited some of the most hotly contested parts of the country, where the effects of President Barack Obama’s 30,000-troop surge have been most keenly felt, as the Obama administration considers where to begin withdrawing and thinning out U.S. forces. The defense secretary’s very presence in some far-flung combat bases was meant to show the progress the U.S.-led international military force claims.

“The closer you are to the fight, the better it looks,” he told reporters Tuesday at a U.S. combat outpost to the west of here, in Kandahar province.

31 US ‘heartland’ near historic shift from Midwest

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press

1 hr 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON – America’s population center is edging away from the Midwest, pulled by Hispanic growth in the Southwest, according to census figures. The historic shift is changing the nation’s politics and even the traditional notion of the country’s heartland – long the symbol of mainstream American beliefs and culture.

The West is now home to the four fastest-growing states – Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Idaho – and has surpassed the Midwest in population, according to 2010 figures. California and Texas added to the southwestern population tilt, making up more than one-fourth of the nation’s total gains since 2000.

When the Census Bureau announces a new mean center of population next month, geographers believe it will be placed in or around Texas County, Mo., southwest of the present location in Phelps County, Mo. That would put it on a path to leave the region by midcentury.

32 Taliban car bombing kills 20 in east Pakistan

By MUNIR AHMED, Associated Press

Tue Mar 8, 10:34 am ET

ISLAMABAD – The Taliban detonated a car bomb in Pakistan’s third-largest city on Tuesday, killing 20 and wounding more than 100 people in an attack they said targeted the offices of the country’s main intelligence agency.

The blast in the Punjabi city of Faisalabad underscored the reach of al-Qaida and Taliban in the U.S.-allied nation.

The militants are based in the tribal regions close to Afghanistan, but have been able to tap into extremist networks in the country’s heartland of Punjab and strike there with regularity over the last three years.

33 New Guantanamo trials could include 9/11 suspects

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press

Tue Mar 8, 6:38 am ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s decision to resume military trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will open the door for the prosecution there of several suspected 9/11 conspirators, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Obama’s order, which reverses his move two years ago to halt new trials, has reignited arguments over the legality of the military commissions, despite ongoing U.S. efforts to reform the hotly debated system.

But fierce congressional opposition to trying Mohammed and other Guantanamo detainees in the United States left Obama with few options. And it forced him to reluctantly retreat, at least for now, from his promise to shut he prison down.

34 Anger brews over government workers’ benefits

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

1 hr 44 mins ago

When Erin McFarlane looks at public workers, she sees lucrative pension benefits she doesn’t ever expect to get. And it makes her mad.

“I don’t think that a federal employee or government employee is worth any more than anybody else who does their job and does it well,” said the Slinger, Wis., woman. She’s been working a couple of bartending jobs since January, when she was laid off from her job at a Harley Davidson plant after almost a decade.

She’s not alone in seeing public servants as public enemies in some ways. For some everyday Americans, it’s a case of pension envy.

35 Gas prices are about more than just oil

By JONATHAN FAHEY, AP Energy Writer

Mon Mar 7, 6:17 pm ET

When Jay Ricker, owner of the BP gas station off Interstate 70 in Plainfield, Ind., set the price of unleaded gasoline at $3.44 per gallon on Monday of last week, it was 4 cents higher than the Friday before.

That alone might have been irritating to drivers paying the highest gas prices in more than two years. It was even more so because it happened on a day when the price of crude oil, which is used to make gasoline, fell almost $1 a barrel.

“It’s up 20 cents one day, down 10 cents the next day,” says Oscar Elmore, a courier who was filling up his Ford Taurus at a RaceTrac service station in Dallas recently. “It sounds kinda fishy to me.”

36 Kaspar the friendly robot helps autistic kids

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

Tue Mar 8, 3:32 pm ET

STEVENAGE, England – Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the 4-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact – and now she hugs everyone.

“She’s a lot more affectionate with her friends now and will even initiate the embrace,” said Claire Sawczenko, Eden’s mother.

The girl attends a pre-school for autistic children in Stevenage, north of London, where researchers bring in a human-looking, child-sized robot once a week for a supervised session. The children, whose autism ranges from mild to severe, play with the robot for up to 10 minutes alongside a scientist who controls the robot with a remote control.

37 Christians and Muslims clash in Cairo, 1 dead

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press

2 hrs 14 mins ago

CAIRO – Thousands of Christians and Muslims clashed Tuesday, with one Christian man killed and scores wounded as anger rose over the burning of a church in a Cairo suburb.

It was the second burst of sectarian fighting in as many days and the latest in a string of violent protests over a variety of topics as simmering unrest continues nearly a month after mass protests led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The violence erupted after Coptic Christians held protests in several locations in Cairo against perceived persecution by the country’s Muslim majority.

38 Female GIs struggle with higher rate of divorce

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press

Tue Mar 8, 2:33 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Two failed marriages were the cost of war for Sgt. Jennifer Schobey.

The breaking point in her first marriage came when her husband deployed to Afghanistan, the last in a long line of separations they had endured as they juggled two military careers. Schobey married another combat veteran, but eventually that union failed under the weight of two cases of post-traumatic stress disorder – his and hers. They are now getting divorced.

Separations. Injuries. Mental health issues. All are added weights to the normal strains of marriage.

39 2 years after market low, the little guy is back

By DAVE CARPENTER, AP Personal Finance Writer

Tue Mar 8, 4:25 pm ET

CHICAGO – As a historic bull market reaches its second birthday, everyday investors are piling back into stocks, finally ready for more risk and hoping the rally has further to go.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has almost doubled since March 9, 2009, when it hit a 12-year low after the financial crisis. And the Dow Jones industrials are back above 12,000, about 2,000 points shy of their all-time high.

Little-guy investors appear to be on board. Since the beginning of the year, investors have put $24.2 billion into U.S. stock mutual funds, according to the Investment Company Institute. They withdrew $96.7 billion in 2010.

Greedy morons.

40 Astronauts salute Discovery on eve of last landing

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

Tue Mar 8, 2:23 pm ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – On the eve of Discovery’s final homecoming, the six shuttle astronauts paid tribute Tuesday to the world’s most traveled spaceship, saying it may be some time before there’s another vessel that’s worthy of the name and capable of venturing farther.

Discovery is on the verge of ending its nearly 27-year flying career. Landing is set for Wednesday. NASA will spend several months decommissioning Discovery, then send it to the Smithsonian Institution.

All of NASA’s space shuttles were named after great ships of exploration, the astronauts said as Discovery’s last spaceflight drew to a close. There was Henry Hudson’s Discovery in the 1600s that explored the northeastern United States and James Cook’s in the 1700s that encountered the Hawaiian Islands.

41 Hornet’s nest ahead? Congress examines Islam in US

By CALVIN WOODWARD and EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press

2 hrs 4 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The wreckage of the World Trade Center still smoldered after the 2001 terrorist attacks when a voice rose above the pain and suspicion to demand that American Muslims not be blamed or mistreated. “Islam is peace,” declared George W. Bush, speaking from a mosque and sounding almost like an imam.

As a storm gathers over hearings this week on radical Muslims in the U.S., it seems of another time to recall that it was President Bush – the bullhorn-wielding avenger who wanted Osama bin Laden dead or alive, who warned the world “you’re either with us or against us” – who told Americans their Muslim neighbors were with us. Not just that, he said, but they WERE us.

Nearly 10 years and one president later, suspicions persist. The nation hasn’t figured out how to accommodate a sizable and long-established religious minority while pressing full throttle against growing extremist elements and an increase in allegations of homegrown terrorist plots.

42 Pet pipeline gives hope, worry to crowded shelters

By TOM BREEN, Associated Press

Tue Mar 8, 9:37 am ET

KINSTON, N.C. – Every day, hundreds of animals are taken in trucks, vans and cars from overcrowded Southern shelters where euthanasia rates sometimes reach 70 percent to states in the North, where puppies and kittens are not as plentiful.

It’s a labor of love for those whose main goal is getting the animals off death row, but it can also have a dark side ranging from unscrupulous operators looking to make a quick buck to well-meaning incompetence.

Animal advocates say the transports are here to stay, thanks to a supply and demand imbalance between the South and the North, where spay and neuter programs are far more widespread. These advocates want to create standards to ensure pets aren’t taken from overburdened shelters to an even worse fate.

43 Equality for women a distant goal in the world

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press

26 mins ago

Egyptian women demanding equal rights on the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day were shoved by men who said they should go home where they belong. Congolese women asked their government to protect them from systematic rapes, and women in Croatia who lost their jobs accused the government of corruption.

But the centennial anniversary of the day established by socialist women to promote better working conditions, the right to vote and hold public office, and equality with men, also was marked Tuesday by festivities including dancing in the street in South Korea’s capital and a 10-kilometer run by some 8,000 women in Mexico City.

Super-sleuth James Bond actor Daniel Craig got into the act – trading his signature suit for a flowing blond wig, print dress, pearls and heels for a short film marking the day that highlights the inequalities faced by women around the world.

44 Rowdy Mardi Gras gives maskers a chance to mock BP

By CAIN BURDEAU and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

55 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – Mardi Gras revelers drank and danced the rowdy Carnival season to its peak on Tuesday, defying drizzle to snag beads from the last parades and jamming the French Quarter with colorful, sweaty costumes.

Some bared flesh on Bourbon Street, while others wore outfits lampooning the BP oil spill or other headline-grabbing events. Overall, this Carnival season has been among the most raucous since Hurricane Katrina, partly because it overlaps with college spring break.

Clarinetist Pete Fountain kicked off Tuesday’s parades shortly after dawn with his marching group. The traditionally African-American Krewe of Zulu and the parade of Rex, King of Carnival, followed. Mayor Mitch Landrieu led Zulu on horseback before dismounting at the antebellum-columned Gallier Hall for champagne toasts with Mardi Gras royalty.

45 EPA asks Pa. to boost monitoring of gas well waste

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press

Tue Mar 8, 4:28 pm ET

The Environmental Protection Agency has asked Pennsylvania regulators to begin testing drinking water for radium in some places to make sure it isn’t being contaminated by wastewater from the state’s booming natural gas industry.

In addition to producing gas, the thousands of wells now being drilled into the Marcellus Shale rock formation produce large amounts of ultra-salty water tainted with metals like barium and strontium, trace radioactivity, and small amounts of toxic chemicals injected by energy companies.

Most big gas states require drillers to dump that waste into deep shafts to prevent it from contaminating surface water, but Pennsylvania allows the fluids to be discharged into rivers after partial treatment.

46 Anti-tax pledge directs budget debates nationwide

By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press

Tue Mar 8, 9:43 am ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The governor of Wisconsin has signed it. So have most of the Republicans in California’s Legislature.

As state lawmakers grapple with how to address massive budget deficits, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist is leaving his fingerprints on legislatures across the country. His pledge against taxes is embraced by conservatives and reviled by liberals and some moderates.

In states as varied as Georgia, Arizona and California, Norquist has intervened at critical times to issue a warning or offer his critical stamp of approval to Republican lawmakers.

2 comments

  1. Mets looking at another Spring Training tie against the Nats.

  2. As was pointed out in some of the opinions today, women’s health and the dangers of even being a woman were highlighted. In the Middle East and Africa, the horrific and barbaric practice of genital mutilation is still continued and defended. The one issue that was not mentioned but brought up today in an article at HuffPo the over 2 million women who suffer with obstetric fistulas which is totally preventable if the woman is attended by a skilled mid-wife or physician during child birth. Fewer than 6 in 10 women in impoverished countries are attended while giving birth. The other cause is violent rape.

    She will labor, perhaps at home and completely alone, for one, two, three days. She will move, she will cry and she will fight, desperately, to deliver her baby. Instead, the soft tissue in her baby’s head will compress her pelvis, causing the tissues to die and leaving a hole, called a fistula, between her vagina and bladder, or rectum — or both. And so after the prolonged labor, she will be left childless and incontinent, leaking urine and feces and finding it difficult to do anything — go to the market, attend church. Perhaps, as is often the case, she will smell so bad that her husband kicks her out of the house, forcing her to fend for herself.

    Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has teamed with Worldwide Fistula Fund, The Fistula Foundation and the WHO, setting up facilities in to treat women with fistulas where they perform corrective surgery and give women six months of subsequent outpatient care.  

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