News

AP - The U.N. human rights chief expressed concern Wednesday at recent U.S. legislative and judicial actions that she said leave hundreds of detainees without any way to challenge their indefinite imprisonment.

AP - House Democratic leaders are developing an anti-war proposal that wouldn’t cut off money for U.S. troops in Iraq but would require President Bush to acknowledge problems with an overburdened military.

AP - Republican Sen. John McCain will officially enter the presidential race — his second run after a bitter loss to George W. Bush in 2000 — with a formal announcement in early April after a trip to Iraq.

AP - A car bomb ripped through a bustling shopping district in a religiously mixed neighborhood of western Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding about 20 as the U.S.-Iraqi security operation entered its third week.

AP - Abuse of prescription drugs is about to exceed the use of illicit street narcotics worldwide, and the shift has spawned a lethal new trade in counterfeit painkillers, sedatives and other medicines potent enough to kill, a global watchdog warned Wednesday.

AP - Although gasoline prices have dropped sharply from last summer, 79 lawmakers sought to send a message Wednesday, introducing a bill that would impose stiff penalties on oil and gas companies for price gouging.

AP - Consumer Reports’ latest auto reliability and survey rankings find overall domination by Japanese automakers, strides from the Detroit Three and stumbles from Europe. The findings, released Wednesday and featured in the magazine’s April issue, are based on more than 250 tested vehicles and data collected from 1.3 million subscribers’ vehicles.

Reuters - U.S. stocks rebounded on Wednesday
after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy
was set to grow moderately, calming investors’ anxiety a day
after the Dow industrials had its worst slide since the
September 11, 2001, attacks.

AP - Prince Charles suggested Tuesday on a visit to the United Arab Emirates that banning McDonald’s fast food was crucial for improving people’s diets, a British news agency reported.

AP - Stocks had their worst day of trading since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Tuesday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down more than 400 points on a worldwide tide of concern that the U.S. and Chinese economies are stumbling and that share prices have become overinflated.

AP - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego said Tuesday that it planned to file for bankruptcy protection to put off going to trial in more than 140 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.

AP - Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in his first live comments since falling ill more than six months ago, declared on Tuesday that he feels “more energetic, stronger” and said his country is running smoothly without him at the helm. Calling in to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s radio talk show, Castro said, “I feel good and I’m happy.”