The former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement cited its own estimates for the achievement which must still be officially confirmed by the South Sudan Referendum Commission that organised the week-long vote.

But there were long queues at polling stations again on Wednesday as voters responded to calls from the party for a “100 percent turnout.”

Under pressure after security forces opened fire on demonstrators over the weekend, killing between 20 and 50 people, the government fired the interior minister and said it would investigate alleged use of excessive force.

In a sign of increasing concern at the spreading protests over rising food prices and unemployment, troops rolled into the capital on armoured vehicles and trucks and took up positions at major intersections.

Energy Minister Gebran Bassil told a press conference 10 ministers had resigned because of a long-running dispute with Prime Minister Saad Hariri — son of the slain leader — over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

An 11th minister close to President Michel Sleiman also quit the 30-member cabinet, thus providing the minimum number of resignations needed to topple the government.

“Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them,” she said of the shooting rampage that left six dead and Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life.

On a national day of mourning for the victims, Palin fanned speculation she will run for the White House in 2012 and cast herself as the archconservative movement’s champion with a slickly made, nearly eight-minute video.

The government raised 1.25 billion euros ($1.6 billion), the maximum it sought, attracting strong interest and slightly lower rates for the long-term bonds — proof it said, that Lisbon was a credible, trusted borrower.

“One of the conclusions to draw … is that Portugal is still able to (access) the financial markets, that there is a demand (for its bonds), that it can get (rates) which are acceptable and even favourable, given the context,” Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos said.

“We are setting out to break new ground and to decisively improve the way in which we manage and coordinate our interdependent economies,” said European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

The move to tighten coordination across the 27-nation bloc, including the 17 eurozone states, aims to secure recovery after the global crisis, but more particularly break the manic cycle of debt drama unsettling Europe.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called for an increase in the size of the 440-billion-euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to reassure nervous markets the stability of the eurozone “is not in question.”

“We believe that the financing capacity must be reinforced, the scope of activities of the EFSF should be widened,” Barroso said.

The usually teeming streets of the capital Port-au-Prince were quiet as residents, dressed in their best clothes and often holding Bibles, walked to church.

They were mourning the more than 220,000 people killed almost instantly in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010.

Revising upwards previous death toll estimates from the January 12 quake of around 250,000, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the recovery of additional bodies over the year put the total figure at “over 316,000 people killed.”

He spoke at a news conference with former U.S. President and U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton after thousands of Haitians, many wearing white in mourning, attended poignant memorial services around the battered Caribbean country.

Offering a carrot-and-stick approach ahead of a state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao, Geithner laid out his view of each sides’ priorities and said a failure by Beijing to allow for more currency appreciation could damage China’s economy.

“China still closely manages the level of its exchange rate and restricts the ability of capital to move in and out of the country,” Geithner said. “These policies have the effect of keeping the Chinese currency substantially undervalued.”

Offering a carrot-and-stick approach ahead of a state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao, Geithner laid out his view of each sides’ priorities and said a failure by Beijing to allow for more currency appreciation could damage China’s economy.

“China still closely manages the level of its exchange rate and restricts the ability of capital to move in and out of the country,” Geithner said. “These policies have the effect of keeping the Chinese currency substantially undervalued.”

Lebanese politicians had said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia and Syria failed to reach a deal to contain tensions over the U.N.-backed tribunal, which is expected to issue draft indictments soon over the 2005 assassination of Rafik al-Hariri.

The ministers resigned as Saad al-Hariri was meeting U.S. President Barack Obama, and the White House later released a statement criticizing Hezbollah’s moves and warning against any “threats or action” that could destabilize Lebanon.

Wolfgang Schaeuble’s disclosure came as the European Union’s executive called for greater emergency lending power to underpin the euro zone, and Portugal, widely seen as the next candidate for a bailout, successfully sold its first debt of the year.

Schaeuble said talks on a package of measures were under way with France, Italy and the head of the International Monetary Fund. He did not say whether the package would include expanding the euro zone rescue fund.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said North Korea and other issues that need the two global giants to work together would also come up during Hu’s January 18-21 trip. Hu will hold talks with President Barack Obama on January 19.

While Obama is certain to press Hu on currency controls, which many in Washington say keeps the yuan unfairly cheap and contributes to the U.S. trade deficit, Cui said Beijing had its own concerns about safety its big holdings of U.S. treasury debt.

China confirmed on Tuesday it held its first test-flight of the J-20 stealth fighter jet, a show of muscle during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that sought to defuse military tensions between the two powers.

The flight came against a backdrop of a massive Chinese military modernization program. China’s plans to develop aircraft carriers, anti-satellite missiles and other advanced systems have alarmed neighboring countries and Washington.

AIG has been trying to sell the unit for some 15 months as part of its plans to help pay back the U.S. government for its $180 billion bailout, but regulatory issues have dogged the sale process and might yet delay it further.

The buyer group, called Ruen Chen Investment and comprising Ruentex Industries Ltd and shoe maker Pou Chen Corp, signed a deal on Wednesday for the 97.57 percent of Nan Shan that is for sale, Ruentex said in a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange.

The top U.S. wireless operator ended months of speculation and anticipation from impatient consumers on Tuesday by announcing that it would begin selling a version of the iPhone on February 10 at the same prices as AT&T Inc.

“I’m going to switch right away. I’m going to go back to Verizon,” said Raheem Noble, 24, a New York City rapper, who was on his way to buy the device before being told that preorders would not begin until February 3.

The move generated little buzz among fund managers and investment banks eager to see more aggressive changes from China, but most were hopeful it could lead to more flexibility in the currency.

The Bank of China’s news, reported by newspapers and news wires on Tuesday, is significant because it is the first Chinese bank to widely offer non-corporate deposit services in the renminbi, also known as the yuan, outside Hong Kong and mainland China.

The U.S. Education Department has proposed a rule that would strip programs of financial aid if more than 65 percent of their students fail to pay back their loans and if graduates get buried in debt. Losing the aid would cripple many schools.

The “gainful employment” rule is supposed to make sure that these schools provide an education that will prepare students for “gainful employment,” which in turn could help them pay back their loans. The schools want the rule scrapped, or at least weakened before a final version comes out.

In the European Commission document seen by Reuters, which outlines its vision for the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the EU executive recommends ways of paying for the new fund that will tackle debt crises from 2013.

They also say the fund should be allowed to buy government bonds, which could enable the European Central Bank to step back from the bond-purchase program it began last May.

This could be bad news for foreign private equity firms such as Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group, which are bullish on China but already have to navigate past a phalanx of regulators.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, the question is no longer whether China’s private equity industry needs a single regulator and national legislation to fill a legal void.

The change at Bank of China announced in a posting dated December 2010 means that customers can trade yuan in the United States for the first time rather than having to do so in Hong Kong.

However, like elswhere, China is keeping a tight rein on the yuan allowed to circulate beyond its borders, so individual accounts can only convert around $3,000 a day into yuan.

Goldman revealed for the first time how much it made from trading and investing on its own behalf, which many investors have suspected is a key source of the bank’s profits, during the first three quarters of the year.

The bank also made structural changes to its divisions, but there was no major management shake-up, leaving in place Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein.

The White House oil spill commission said in its final major report that the U.S. government needs to expand its drilling regulations, as well as set up an independent drilling safety agency.

“None of the major aspects of offshore drilling safety — not the regulatory oversight, not the industry safety standards, not the spill response practices — kept pace with the push into deepwater,” said commission co-chair Bill Reilly.

The army deployed armored vehicles around Tunis, and the government imposed a virtually unprecedented curfew to try to quell protests over unemployment and political repression that began more than three weeks ago in a central Tunisian town. Outside the capital, at least two deaths were reported from police fire Wednesday.

The demonstrations have set off clashes with police as they spread around the country, leaving at least 23 dead and shattering Tunisia’s image as an island of calm in a region beset by Islamist extremism.

The term “blood libel” is not well known, but it is highly charged – a direct reference to a time when many European Christians blamed Jews for kidnapping and murdering Christian children to obtain their blood. Jews were tortured and executed for crimes they did not commit, emblematic of anti-Semitism so virulent that some scholars recoiled Wednesday at Palin’s use of the term.

In a video posted to her Facebook page early Wednesday, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate accused the U.S. media of inciting hatred and violence after the shooting that gravely wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Palin has been criticized for marking Giffords’ district with the cross hairs of a gun sight during last fall’s campaign.

Lawmakers worked overnight to pass the increase to raise the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent for four years – a 66 percent increase. Corporate income taxes also will rise, but Quinn rejected the notion that it would decimate businesses.

The rate increase might be the biggest any state has adopted in percentage terms while grappling with recent economic woes. Nevertheless, Illinois’ tax rate would remain lower than in several other states in the region.

Since the first photos were published in December, the marsupial from Leipzig Zoo has attracted more Facebook fans than Chancellor Angela Merkel. By Wednesday more than 111,000 fans from as far away as Bangkok and Montreal and clear across Europe were exclaiming “so cute!!” and “so sweet.”

Experts say that like Knut, Berlin’s famous fluffy white polar cub who was abandoned by his mother, and Paul, the late octopus who correctly predicted the outcome of all of Germany’s 2010 World Cup games and Spain’s victory in the final, the hype surrounding Heidi is fed by a human weakness for cuddly looking critters and the ability of modern mass media to spread images around the globe instantly.

Many people wore white, a color associated with mourning in Haiti, and sang hymns as they navigated collapsed buildings and rubble from the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that left much of Port-au-Prince in ruins. The government increased the estimated death toll to more than 316,000 people, but it did not explain how it arrived at that number.

Evens Lormil joined mourners in a crowd at the Roman Catholic cathedral, its towering spires and vaulted roof now collapsed, waiting for a memorial Mass next to what was once a prominent landmark in a ragged downtown. The 35-year-old driver of the collective taxis known as tap-taps said his wife and two children were in the countryside north of the capital, still too traumatized by the quake to attend the service, or even live in the city.

A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others is widely expected to name members of the Shiite militant group, which many fear could re-ignite sectarian violence that has erupted repeatedly in the tiny nation.

Hezbollah’s walkout ushers in the country’s worst political crisis since 2008 in one of the most volatile corners of the Middle East.

The theory is that the metal bands – either aluminum or stainless steel – increase drag on the penguins when they swim, making them work harder, the study’s authors said.

Author Yvon Le Maho of the University of Strasbourg in France, said the banded penguins looked haggard, appearing older than their actual age.

The Dutch government has warned prostitutes who advertise their wares in the famed windows of Amsterdam’s red light district to expect a business-only visit from the taxman.

Prostitution has flourished in Amsterdam since the 1600s, when the Netherlands was a major naval power and sailors swaggered into the port looking for a good time. The country legalized the practice a decade ago, but authorities are only now getting around to looking to sex workers for taxes.

Hours after Biden spoke, a suicide car bomber devastated a police station and adjoining mosque in a northwestern region, killing 18 people and providing a fresh reminder of America’s challenges in the unstable, nuclear-armed Islamic country.

Reflecting the delicacy of U.S.-Pakistan ties, Biden did not mention any frustrations in Washington over the Pakistani army’s reluctance to move into a key militant sanctuary along the northwest border with Afghanistan, instead concentrating on Washington’s efforts to boost the alliance between the two countries.

But Pat Quinn’s approval is hardly assured. While he says he supports capital punishment when properly applied, he has not yet indicated whether he will sign the proposal, despite intense pressure from fellow Democrats.

“I think it’s important, given the importance of this measure, that people from all over Illinois express their opinions,” Quinn said Wednesday, a day after lawmakers sent the historic bill to his desk. “I’m happy to listen and reflect, and I’ll follow my conscience.”

Perry didn’t get into details on how Texas should correct a “number of cities” he said are in conflict with state and federal immigration laws. He said writing a bill on the second day of a new session was premature, and didn’t give an answer when asked whether he wants local police officers to question people about their immigration status during traffic stops.

“I don’t know yet,” Perry said. “We’ll write the legislation over the next 140 days.”

A brief written exchange between Senate questioners and the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for special operations, Michael Vickers, underscores unresolved questions about how and when the Pentagon conducts cyber warfare, and about the guidelines for military action in the event of a computer-based attack on the U.S.

The U.S. military’s use of offensive cyber warfare has only rarely been disclosed, the most well-known instance being the electronic jamming of Iraqi military and communications networks just before the lightning strike against Saddam Hussein’s army in 2003. But Pentagon officials have been clear that cyber espionage and attacks from well-funded nations or terror groups are the biggest threats to military networks, including critical battlefield communications.

Quigley, who helped save a beloved oak with a similar sit-in eight years ago, was joined by a handful of other sitters who took up positions in branches overlooking 11 acres of picturesque foothills.

“They’re destroying trees all around us,” Quigley said by cell phone as the sound of bulldozers below him could be heard. “It’s a sad scene and definitely something that didn’t need to happen.”

The presidential palace and hillside homes of Haiti’s capital stand firm and uncracked, but the images are from the past. The mural’s artists painted tears running down the solemn faces of Haiti’s revolutionary heros, a presidential-appearing hip hop star Wyclef Jean and a young girl stitching together the red and blue fields of Haiti’s flag.

“Even the sky is very sad today,” said Dr. Suzie Armas, emerging from a morning Mass at nearby Notre Dame d’Haiti to damp, gray clouds. “This is the same way the Haitian community has been feeling. Unfortunately, there has not been that much progress.”

Because if officers smell the pot from the outside, think the occupants are trying to get rid of it and burst in without a search warrant to prevent evidence from being destroyed, some justices indicated they would approve.

The discussion arose during the court’s consideration of a case about when the police can enter a home without a search warrant, which the Constitution normally requires.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said state District Judge Kevin Fine was “acting beyond the scope of his lawful authority” when he decided to hold the two-week hearing, which began last month but was temporarily stopped after two days at the request of prosecutors.

Last spring Fine declared the Texas death penalty statute unconstitutional after granting a pre-trial motion in a capital murder case he is presiding over. Under heavy criticism, Fine clarified his ruling, saying the procedures the state follows to get a death sentence are unconstitutional. He then rescinded his ruling and ordered the hearing, saying he needed to hear evidence on the issue.

During opening statements in the trial of Luis Posada Carriles, a defense attorney countered that the Cuban militant “substantially told the truth” during naturalization hearings in 2005 and that the government’s case is built on an unreliable paid informant.

Posada, 82, faces 11 counts of perjury, obstruction and naturalization fraud. He is accused of making false statements during immigration interviews in 2005 in El Paso about how he got into the U.S. and about his role in a string of 1997 bombings that rocked Havana hotels and killed an Italian tourist.

Less than three weeks after the first snowfall of the season – more than 2 feet in places – paralyzed New York for days, streets were clear and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s reputation was on the mend as the city deftly responded to the latest winter blitz.

“Last time, we could barely get down the street,” said Rosalie Casciorizzo, a resident of south Brooklyn, where many blocks were neglected after the Dec. 26 blizzard. “Now, it’s no problem. They did a much better job.”

It wouldn’t charge at a California airport, either, where special parking spaces have been set aside for years to charge electric vehicles.

And because an extension cord is a no-no with the Volt and the power cord that came with the car was too short, I was unable to charge the car from power outlets in my home.

The cricket paralysis virus killed 60 million of the insects at an operation in Canada, forced a Florida farmer to declare bankruptcy and prompted a Michigan grower to close until spring.

The virus led Elizabeth Payne to declare bankruptcy in June, and a bank foreclosed on her property in Leesburg, Fla., in November. She and her husband, who died three years ago, bought their farm in 1987 and built up sales to a million crickets a week, but it was ruined by the virus.

The Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. says the plan is to restart the pipeline and warm things up to prevent ice and wax from building in the line.

The company says state and federal regulators gave the green light Tuesday afternoon to do what is being described as an “interim restart.” Alyeska spokeswoman Michelle Egan says the restart will allow some oil to begin flowing again.

“Leadership that is not there,” U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said after returning to Miami International Airport.

Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the magnitude-7 earthquake that killed more than 230,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless.

In a Capitol already ringed by concrete stanchions and armed guards, members of Congress struggled to come up with new ways to ensure their safety in a democracy suddenly shaken by an assassin’s bullets. Republican and Democratic leaders signaled that closer coordination with local law enforcement was a practical first step after the Arizona shootings that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded.

Beyond that, talk centered on legislation that would make it a crime to carry a weapon within 1,000 feet of elected or high-ranking federal officials at publicly announced events and a proposal to install a Plexiglas enclosure to protect the House floor from gallery spectators – two ideas unlikely to get much traction in the new Congress. Democrats also called for rolling back a 5 percent, GOP-engineered cut in congressional spending and redirecting the money to security.

Speaking after talks with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Biden said: “We’re not leaving if you (Afghans) don’t want us to leave”.

But he also emphasised that the planned handover of responsibility for security from international troops to Afghan forces in four years, agreed at a NATO summit in November, was on track.

Misseriya Arab tribesmen killed 10 south Sudanese civilians and wounded 18 near the border as they were returning from the north, southern internal affairs minister Gier Chuang said on Tuesday.

“A convoy of returnees coming from the north to the south were ambushed yesterday (Monday) at about 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) by armed Misseriya. Ten were killed and 18 were wounded,” Chuang told a news conference in the southern regional capital Juba.

Lawyers for the Australian released documents outlining their case after a brief court appearance in London during which a judge ruled that Sweden’s bid to extradite him would be heard in full on February 7-8.

Swedish authorities want to question Assange about allegations made by two women that he sexually assaulted them, but the 39-year-old insists the extradition attempt is politically motivated and linked to WikiLeaks’ activities.

“Renault is making very serious accusations against me which I totally refute. The facts were outlined to me and I refute them as well,” Michel Balthazard told reporters.

He made the denial after he was summoned to a meeting with Renault bosses along with two other senior managers suspected of industrial espionage, reportedly involving the company’s electric car programme.

“Two years ago almost 70 percent of clubs were in the red,” said Gianni Infantino, secretary general of European football’s governing body.

“At present there are still 56 percent – that means more than half of all professional football clubs are in the red,” Infantino told journalists as UEFA unveiled its club licensing report for 2009.

The three face charges of spot-fixing during Pakistan’s tour of England last year in a scandal that rocked the sport. It is alleged that they conspired in the bowling of deliberate no-balls in the Lord’s Test — claims they all deny.

They were provisionally suspended by the ICC in September, with the world governing body’s code of conduct carrying a minimum five-year ban if corruption charges are proved.

More violence was reported overnight in the main central town of Kasserine where locals alleged gunmen on rooftops had shot at protesters in the worst unrest in the tightly controlled country in 23 years.

The government shut schools and universities until further notice as tensions mounted in the capital after students called for mass protests on Facebook pages that showed the Tunisian flag stained in blood.

Chinese state media carried images of the purported debut flight of the J-20 warplane just as US Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with President Hu Jintao — who heads to Washington next week — and other officials.

The timing of the flight appeared to be a snub to Washington, following carefully choreographed statements from both governments designed to smooth over tensions that flared over US arms sales to Taiwan and maritime disputes.

Portugal has been beset by speculation that its eurozone peers want it to accept a bailout so as to avert a wider crisis that could drag down others, including neighbour Spain, after Greece and Ireland sought help in 2010.

The pressure has mounted, through official denials and repeated rumours that a rescue was imminent, as Lisbon goes to the markets on Wednesday in what could be a crunch test of its ability to continue raising fresh funds.

Portugal, widely seen at risk of being the next eurozone country to need rescuing after Greece and Ireland, intends to make a critical issue of debt on Wednesday but the rates it has to pay have risen sharply.

Carlos Costa, the governor of the Bank of Portugal, rejected late on Monday suggestions that the country would require financial aid.

The increase in the forex holdings, already the world’s largest, highlighted imbalances in global trade and the challenge Beijing faces in stemming a flood of liquidity into the country.

China’s foreign exchange reserves expanded 18.7 percent from a year earlier to $2.847 trillion at the end of December, the central bank said in a statement, amid strong demand for Chinese exports.

Goldman disclosed how much it earned from trading on its own behalf for the first three quarters of 2010, and will release that information for future periods, too.

The disclosure changes were part of a 63-page report that the bank issued on Tuesday regarding how the bank will change its business practices after reviewing them for more than eight months.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement and filed a civil lawsuit charging two Schwab executives, Kimon Daifotis and Randall Merk, with violating securities fraud laws over how the Schwab YieldPlus fund was marketed.

Schwab, a discount brokerage and fund company, expects a $97 million fourth-quarter after-tax charge for its settlement, which it said resolves related proceedings by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Illinois regulators.

The top U.S. wireless operator ended months of speculation and anticipation from impatient consumers on Tuesday by announcing that it would begin selling a version of the iPhone on February 10 at the same prices as AT&T Inc.

“I’m going to switch right away. I’m going to go back to Verizon,” said Raheem Noble, 24, a New York City rapper, who was on his way to buy the device before being told that preorders would not begin until February 3.

Portugal, the latest euro zone member in the market’s firing line, continued to fend off pressure to seek an EU-IMF bailout. Prime Minister Jose Socrates said his country had beaten its goal for reducing the 2010 budget deficit and did not need outside help.

Lisbon faces a crucial test on Wednesday of its ability to fund itself on the market at affordable rates after Greece, which sought a financial rescue last May, cleared its first funding hurdle of 2011, selling six-month money on Tuesday at just under the rate of its bailout loans.

The White House oil spill commission said in its final major report that the U.S. government needs to expand its drilling regulations, as well as set up an independent drilling safety agency.

Many of the recommendations would require Congressional approval and Republicans have been critical of extensive new regulations, saying they would further slow the exploratory pace following last year’s drilling moratorium that was imposed in response to the spill.

The attack on a convoy of people returning to the south for the referendum was the latest reported violent incident to mar the week-long vote, which is expected to see the south emerge as a new nation.

Vote organizers told Reuters the big turnout so far meant the total was almost guaranteed to reach the 60 percent of voters needed to make the poll valid.

The possibility of boosting the actual capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to a full 440 billion euros, from around 250 billion now, could be part of moves aimed at boosting market confidence.

“I think this increase of the capacity of the EFSF is something that will definitely be on the table next week,” said one source with knowledge of the preparations for the meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates told a news conference that Lisbon had no plans to seek aid after what he said were “excellent” budget execution results for 2010.

But the Bank of Portugal forecast the economy would shrink 1.3 percent this year as austerity measures crushed internal demand — in sharp contrast to the government’s projection that exports would help gross domestic product (GDP) to grow 0.2 percent.

Economists and the country’s top supermarket chains said new, torrential flooding and rains across farmlands in southeastern Queensland in the past day had damaged crops and cut roads, preventing moving goods to market.

Unlike some previous natural disasters, which affected a smaller geographic area and a narrow range of foods, many vegetables are likely to be affected. In 2006, Cyclone Larry caused a spike in banana prices and this alone helped to lift the overall inflation rate.

At the same time, a record $199 billion surge in foreign exchange reserves in the fourth quarter pushed China’s stockpile, already the world’s biggest, to $2.85 trillion, highlighting that money streaming in from abroad was complicating policy efforts at home.

Chinese banks issued 7.95 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) in new loans last year, the central bank said on Tuesday, more than the 7.5 trillion yuan that the government wanted for the full year. The broad M2 measure of money supply grew 19.7 percent, also topping the official target of 17 percent.

Senior Judge Pat Priest sentenced DeLay, 63, to a five-year sentence for money laundering and three years for conspiracy for a scheme to illegally funnel money to Republican candidates in Texas in 2002.

DeLay’s sentence caps a downward spiral for the flamboyant Texas dealmaker and former pest exterminator who had sought to rehabilitate his battered image by competing on the television show “Dancing with the Stars” last year.

But Alcoa shares, which hit a 12-month high last week, dropped 1.3 percent to $16.24 in after-hours trade on the New York Stock Exchange, with some analysts questioning whether the company’s bullish forecast was realistic. Others suggested some profit-taking by investors.

“Pretty much every one of our end markets is improving,” Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld told analysts on a conference call when asked about his projection for a 12-percent global increase in aluminum demand.

This city’s once beleaguered automakers dominated the first day of this year’s Detroit auto show, one of the industry’s premier events, as it opened for press previews on Monday.

Not only did General Motors and Ford Motor Co walk off with the top car and truck awards, and have plenty of fresh, new models to display, but they also struck a more confident tone than some of their foreign rivals as they talked about the industry’s prospects.

The unit, known internally as process driven trading, will be named PDT Advisers and will be run by Morgan Stanley’s proprietary trading chief, Peter Muller.

Analysts said while Morgan Stanley will lose the proprietary trading units’ lucrative returns, the arrangement of PDT Advisers’ spin off will minimize the impact.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart, who voted for the controversial program on November 3, said he remained comfortable with that decision.

Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, both of whom become voting members of the Fed’s interest-rate policy committee this year, said the U.S. central bank was unlikely to cut short its bond-buying plan.

That claim, regarded by many legal experts as extremely unlikely, is part of a preliminary defense argument released by Assange’s attorneys ahead of a court hearing next month.

The Australian computer expert is wanted in Sweden to answer sex-crimes allegations. American officials also are trying to build a criminal case against WikiLeaks, which has published a trove of leaked diplomatic cables and secret U.S. military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The National Oil Spill Commission unanimously endorsed 15 recommendations to the oil industry, Congress and the Obama administration for preventing another large-scale oil spill. Most require action by Congress, but some could be done independently by the Obama administration, commissioners said.

The 380-page report provides an opening for Democrats to rekindle legislative efforts that failed after last year’s oil spill, the largest offshore incident in U.S. history. But they’ll face an even tougher road to passage this year, with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives set on cutting spending and reducing the government’s regulation of business. Adding to their burden, rising gasoline prices are prompting calls for more domestic energy production.

In the 20,000-word document, F. Lee Bailey tells of four people who could have bolstered Simpson’s case but never testified. He also gives an overview of the sensational trial from his own perspective.

Simpson was found not guilty. Most Americans are convinced that he is guilty, Bailey said, but the document might persuade some doubters that he is innocent.

The new information from the Census Bureau highlights the extreme pressure that the sluggish economy is putting on people in this country, especially those in some of the hardest hit groups.

“It is truly a Great Depression for young adults,” said Andrew Sum, an economics professor and the director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. “Young adults are working at lower rates than they ever worked before since World War II. As a result, you would expect migration to fall because they have nowhere to go to.”

The judges have been candid as they’ve filmed early rounds of the contest, Lopez said.

“We’re both very spontaneous with how we critique each and every person who walks in. … We’re very honest and in the moment,” said the singer-actress.

Without specifically mentioning the Tucson shooting, the proposed law would prohibit protests at or near funeral sites.

Dozens of lawmakers co-sponsored the bill, and legislative action was completed within 90 minutes. The Senate’s committee hearing took just three minutes.

In a Capitol already ringed by concrete stanchions and armed guards, members of Congress struggled to come up with new ways to ensure their safety in a democracy suddenly shaken by an assassin’s bullets. Republican and Democratic leaders signaled that closer coordination with local law enforcement was a practical first step after the Arizona shootings that left six dead and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded.

Beyond that, talk centered on legislation that would make it a crime to carry a weapon within 1,000 feet of elected or high-ranking federal officials at publicly announced events and a proposal to install a Plexiglas enclosure to protect the House floor from gallery spectators – two ideas unlikely to get much traction in the new Congress. Democrats also called for rolling back a 5 percent, GOP-engineered cut in congressional spending and redirecting the money to security.

New Yorker Wes Moe can’t wait. He has wanted one to accompany his iPad and Mac, but held back because he shares a Verizon plan with his wife, a BlackBerry user.

“I’m super happy with all those other Apple devices, and I want that phone in my hands,” said Moe, 32.

But the 22-year-old had no trouble buying the Glock semiautomatic pistol that authorities say he used in the Tucson rampage Saturday that left six dead and 14 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Loughner’s personal history did not disqualify him under federal rules, and Arizona doesn’t regulate gun sales. His criminal charges were ultimately dismissed, the Army information was private and Pima Community College isn’t saying whether it shared its concerns about Loughner with anyone besides his parents.

“I don’t know how loud they were,” Officer Catherine Massey said, but the argument around 9 p.m. Monday at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa led to a disturbance report.

“It was minor. Both parties were angry but there were no signs of visible abuse,” Massey said Tuesday. She said Ted Williams and his daughter “were brought in, calmed down, talked to and released” and she did not know the nature of the argument.

The church attack on worshippers leaving a New Year’s Mass in the Mediterranean port of Alexandria touched off three days of riots and demonstrations by furious Christians who criticized the government for failing to protect them and vented over what they see as persistent discrimination.

All of the casualties in the latest attack were Christians – four of them women – raising concerns it will ignite a new wave of protests by a community still traumatized by the suicide bombing.

The Canucks and the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks commanded the spotlight Tuesday when each club had multiple players picked to the All-Star game roster. In all, 36 players along with 12 rookies, who will only participate in the skills competition during All-Star weekend, were chosen by the league’s hockey operations department.

Chicago was already well represented for the All-Star festivities later this month in Raleigh, N.C., as captain Jonathan Toews and defenseman Duncan Keith were among six players voted into the game in fan balloting. They were joined Tuesday by forwards Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp.

Hold on.

No whistle. No ref raising his hand.

The newly unsealed detention request underscores the federal government’s unease about Jeffrey Sterling, claiming his “underlying selfish and vindictive motivations” could spur him to disclose more government secrets now that he faces a 10-count indictment in Virginia.

“The cost to national security and the danger posed to lives of certain individuals is simply too high not to require the defendant’s detention in this matter,” according to the filing, which was unsealed late Monday.

Tapped in 1998 to become the Atlanta school’s first female president, Cross left in shame in 2002, facing accusations she had stolen from the 129-year-old institution. In a new memoir “Beyond the Wall,” and her first public comments since her conviction, Cross attempts to understand and explain what led to her ruin.

She was accused of misappropriating millions of dollars and indicted on 27 charges, but in 2006 pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement – essentially admitting she swindled about $11,000 in federal loans to cover administrative costs at the college. Yet she still believes she didn’t commit a crime.

DeLay was sentenced this week to three years in prison and 10 years of probation for scheming to illegally influence Texas elections. Unlike in most money laundering cases, prosecutors argued he stood to benefit not financially but through political power.

The creative use of the statute – the first time it was ever applied in such a case – was key to his convictions on money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering charges.

Sandeen was the only transgender person among the six veterans arrested in April while protesting the military’s ban on openly gay troops. But when she watched President Barack Obama last month sign the hard-fought bill allowing for the ban’s repeal, melancholy tinged her satisfaction.

“This is another bridesmaid moment for the transgender community,” the 51-year-old San Diego resident said.

Now two-thirds of American pet owners say they can relate – their pets have a sixth sense about bad weather. Forty-three percent say the same about bad news, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll.

Seventy-two percent of dog owners said they’ve gotten weather warnings from their pets, compared with 66 percent of cat owners.

In the best of times, it spends as little as possible providing aid to the unemployed, the sick and the injured. Texans have consistently elected lawmakers who will add to the public safety net only when threatened with a federal lawsuit.

Now that the state must overcome a $15 billion budget shortfall, life for those who rely on the state for employment or support is likely to get even tougher.

By the end of the long day, Obama had secured plans to travel on Wednesday to the site of the shooting rampage, Tucson, Ariz., to attend a memorial service. Senior administration officials confirmed the trip to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been formally announced.

It was many hours earlier, on a frigid winter’s morning in Washington, that Obama led a national moment of silence for the 19 people shot outside a grocery store in Arizona on Saturday, including Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She was the target of the attack and, remarkably, was fighting for recovery despite being shot in the head from close range. Six other people were killed, including a young girl.

Arnold Fields’ decision to step down comes after key members of Congress urged President Barack Obama to dismiss him for incompetence and mismanagement. His critics claimed he failed to aggressively oversee the more than $56 billion the U.S. has poured into Afghanistan since 2002 to rebuild schools, roads and other facilities.

Fields was appointed by President George W. Bush as the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction in June 2008 after the job was created by Congress. His resignation is effective Feb. 4.

Shelly announced Monday that he and his vice president had reached settlements with a special prosecutor, in which they would repay the money they’re accused of stealing from the tribal government in exchange for having criminal charges against them dropped.

A Window Rock judge approved the settlement regarding Rex Lee Jim, but a tribal judge in another district did not issue an immediate ruling in Shelly’s case. Crownpoint, N.M., District Judge Irene Toledo instead asked for additional briefs on how the court would enforce the agreement, staff attorney Patrick Dooley said.

Gov. Jay Nixon said in a statement that he was commuting the sentence for Richard Clay, 45, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Clay was convicted of killing Randy Martindale of New Madrid in 1994 but has maintained his innocence. Nixon’s statement did not explain why the governor decided to commute the sentence, and in fact said that after an exhaustive review, the governor is “convinced of Richard Clay’s involvement in the senseless murder of Randy Martindale” and finds “the evidence clearly supports the jury’s verdict of murder in the first degree.”

The rampage, he said, grew in part from extreme political rhetoric, bigotry and hatred, especially in his home state of Arizona. Dupnik said he was angry and heartbroken over the tragedy, and was simply speaking his mind as an American, not a law enforcement official.

But in the midst of a national media pressure cooker, his comments raised the question: Did he overstep his authority in making the comments that he did?