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Piracy charge with mandatory life penalty looms (AP) April 21, 2009 at 7:17 pm AP - The sole survivor of a pirate attack on an American cargo ship off the Somali coast will be tried as an adult after he was portrayed Tuesday as the brazen ringleader of a band of pirates who shot at the ship's captain and bragged about prior acts of piracy. Obama open to torture memos probe, prosecution (AP) April 21, 2009 at 7:16 pm AP - Widening an explosive debate on torture, President Barack Obama on Tuesday opened the possibility of prosecution for Bush-era lawyers who authorized brutal interrogation of terror suspects and suggested Congress might order a full investigation. Obama urges citizens to undertake national service (AP) April 21, 2009 at 7:16 pm AP - Calling on Americans to volunteer, President Barack Obama signed a $5.7 billion national service bill Tuesday that triples the size of the AmeriCorps service program over the next eight years and expands ways for students to earn money for college. "What this legislation does, then, is to help harness this patriotism and connect deeds to needs," said Obama, a former community organizer in Chicago. Police: Med student targeted women on Craigslist (AP) April 21, 2009 at 7:06 pm AP - Philip Markoff seemed to have a good life: The handsome, clean-cut, 23-year-old medical student was planning a lavish beachfront wedding this summer to a beautiful woman. But authorities say his computer and surveillance video paint a picture of a suspected serial criminal who targeted women offering erotic services through Craigslist. Now he's accused of killing one and suspected of robbing and tying up another. Senator McConnell blasts plan to close Guantanamo (AP) April 21, 2009 at 7:05 pm AP - President Barack Obama came under fire Tuesday for including $80 million to close Guantanamo in a massive funding request to fight America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The $83.4 billion request to Congress was submitted on April 9, when lawmakers were on break over the Easter holidays. AP Exclusive: Fed tests harder on regional banks (AP) April 21, 2009 at 6:28 pm AP - The government is giving Wall Street banks a helping hand. But this time it's not a handout. Iran sends mixed signals to US by jailing reporter (AP) April 21, 2009 at 6:19 pm AP - The Obama administration is reaching out to Iran. In return, Iran is — well, it's complicated. The Islamic republic sentenced an American journalist to eight years in prison and launched a fervent new campaign to brand U.S. ally Israel as racist. And in the middle of all that, it said it was ready for a new beginning in relations with the U.S. after three decades of diplomatic stalemate. `Desperate Housewives' death draws no crowd (AP) April 21, 2009 at 6:18 pm AP - The death of Edie Britt didn't draw much of a crowd to ABC's "Desperate Housewives." Police say mom ordered daughters out, drove off (AP) April 21, 2009 at 6:18 pm AP - Usually, it's an empty threat: "If you kids don't stop fighting, I'm going to stop this car right now and leave you here!" But a mother from an upper-crust New York suburb went through with it, ordering her battling 10- and 12-year-old daughters out of her car in White Plains' business district and driving off, police said Tuesday. Scientists discover a nearly Earth-sized planet (AP) April 21, 2009 at 6:17 pm AP - In the search for Earth-like planets, astronomers zeroed in Tuesday on two places that look awfully familiar to home. One is close to the right size. The other is in the right place. European researchers said they not only found the smallest exoplanet ever, called Gliese 581 e, but realized that a neighboring planet discovered earlier, Gliese 581 d, was in the prime habitable zone for potential life. Helmsley estate: $136M to charity, $1M to dogs (AP) April 21, 2009 at 5:54 pm AP - Real estate baroness Leona Helmsley's estate gave away $136 million Tuesday to hospitals, foundations and the homeless and left $1 million to animal charities, prompting one advocate to accuse the estate of failing to honor the hotel tycoon's wishes. Unresolved debate in DOJ memos: Does torture work? (AP) April 21, 2009 at 5:50 pm AP - Interrogators have centuries of experience extracting information from the unwilling. Medieval inquisitors hanged heretics from ceilings. Salem magistrates used fire to elicit witchcraft confessions. And CIA officers waterboarded terrorism suspects in clandestine prisons. Russia moves troops closer to Georgia's capital (AP) April 21, 2009 at 4:31 pm AP - At a military checkpoint between Georgia and its breakaway region of South Ossetia, the word "Russia" is hand-painted in pink on a concrete security barrier. Is There a Longevity Personality? (Time.com) April 21, 2009 at 4:20 pm Time.com - More outgoing, more active and less neurotic -- those are some of the traits that can lead to a ripe old age Julie Chen of CBS' `The Early Show' is pregnant (AP) April 21, 2009 at 3:05 pm AP - Julie Chen of CBS' "The Early Show" has announced that she and her husband, Les Moonves, are expecting their first child together. FBI's newest 'Most Wanted' terrorist is American (AP) April 21, 2009 at 2:50 pm AP - A fugitive animal rights activist believed to be hiding outside the United States has become the first domestic terror suspect named to the FBI's list of "Most Wanted" terrorists. Breakdancing is a high-risk activity: study (Reuters) April 21, 2009 at 1:53 pm Reuters - Breakdancers suffer a relatively high rate of injury and many fail to give themselves time to heal, a new study suggests. Spring is here, violence is down: Time to marry (AP) April 21, 2009 at 1:46 pm AP - Three cars bedecked in flowers and ribbons swerve around blast walls and honk through police checkpoints, before screeching to a halt outside a Baghdad hotel. A brass band runs up to a shining sedan as the bride, struggling with her gown, emerges. Hubble Photographs Cosmic Fountain (SPACE.com) April 21, 2009 at 9:48 am SPACE.com - To commemorate almost two decades of photographing the wonders of the universe, the Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a peculiar group of interacting galaxies that contains a "cosmic fountain" of stars, gas and dust that stretches over 100,000 light years. 5.5 million Americans paralyzed, study finds (Reuters) April 21, 2009 at 8:42 am Reuters - Nearly 2 percent of the U.S. population, more than 5.5 million people, have some kind of paralysis, according to a survey published on Tuesday. The Starting Point: Cyberspies, terrorists and the Red Baron (The Yahoo! Newsroom) April 21, 2009 at 8:15 am The Yahoo! Newsroom - The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news stories that occurred overnight. Look for updates throughout the day on Yahoo! News and in the news box on Yahoo.com. Sri Lanka rebels: 1,000 civilians die in govt raid (AP) April 21, 2009 at 8:07 am AP - Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels said Tuesday that 1,000 civilians died in a government raid on their territory that the military says freed thousands of noncombatants from the war zone. The military denied the accusation. Somali pirate arrives in NYC, awaits court hearing (AP) April 21, 2009 at 7:46 am AP - A Somali teenager arrived to face what are believed to be the first piracy charges in the United States in more than a century, smiling but saying nothing as he was led into a federal building under heavy guard. Oversight panel has bailout questions for Geithner (AP) April 21, 2009 at 7:43 am AP - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner faces a slew of questions about his plans to shore up banks while a watchdog agency warns that Obama administration initiatives could increasingly expose taxpayers to losses. DA calls Craigslist slaying suspect a 'predator' (AP) April 21, 2009 at 6:12 am AP - The man accused of fatally shooting a woman who placed an ad on Craigslist was someone who was "preying on people who were in a vulnerable position," the police commissioner said. Justices hear arguments over school strip search (AP) April 21, 2009 at 3:05 am AP - A 13-year-old girl says she will never be able to forget the humiliation of school administrators searching her underwear for prescription-strength ibuprofen pills. Now the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the search went too far. Girl Is Eager To Defend Kids Ridiculed For Being Different (Dear Abby) April 21, 2009 at 2:16 am Dear Abby - DEAR ABBY: I am a 12-year-old girl and have a 10-year-old brother with autism. At school there are many kids who have special needs, and I try my best to befriend them. U.S. to give Chrysler, GM new aid (Reuters) April 21, 2009 at 1:57 am Reuters - The Obama administration will make about $500 million available to Chrysler LLC through the end of this month as it seeks to reach an alliance with Fiat, and up to $5 billion through May to help General Motors Corp restructure outside of bankruptcy, an independent oversight report on the Treasury Department's corporate rescue fund said on Tuesday. GM Spent $2.8 Million on Lobbying in Quarter While on U.S. Aid (Bloomberg) April 21, 2009 at 12:10 am Bloomberg - April 21 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., surviving on $13.4 billion in government aid, spent $2.8 million on lobbying during the first three months of 2009, according to disclosures filed yesterday with the U.S. House and Senate. No word on paparazzi in police log on Madonna fall (AP) April 20, 2009 at 11:16 pm AP - A police report on Madonna's fall from a horse in the Hamptons is silent on whether paparazzi scared the animal, as her spokeswoman has said.