The News

AP - President Barack Obama said Tuesday he'll bring in high-tech bounty hunters to help root out health care fraud, grabbing a populist idea with bipartisan backing in his final push to overhaul the system.

AP - The government sent investigators Tuesday to examine a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway, and Toyota said it wanted to interview the driver as the besieged automaker dealt with a high-profile new headache that raised questions about the safety of its beloved hybrid.

AP - Vice President Joe Biden condemned an Israeli plan to build hundreds of homes in disputed east Jerusalem on Tuesday — a disagreement that tarnished a high-profile visit that had been aimed at repairing ties with the Jewish state and kickstarting Mideast peace talks.

AP - Former Rep. Eric Massa, who resigned from Congress amid sexual harassment allegations, offered contradictory explanations for his behavior Tuesday, acknowledging he groped a male staffer in a non-sexual way but later denying any groping.

AP - An Ohio State University janitor who was about to lose his job walked into a maintenance building for his early morning shift Tuesday and shot two supervisors, killing one of them and fatally shooting himself. No students were hurt.

AP - The pope's brother said in a newspaper interview published Tuesday that he slapped pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s. He also said he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir but did nothing about it.

AP - A suburban woman "desperate to do something" to help suffering Muslims has been accused of using the Internet to recruit jihadist fighters and help terrorists overseas, even agreeing to move to Europe to try to kill a Swedish artist, prosecutors said Tuesday.

AP - Hundreds of construction workers raised a rallying cry of "Build it now!" on Tuesday, gathering with elected officials at the World Trade Center site to urge a quick rebuilding of the complex.

AP - The executive director of the film academy said Tuesday that Farrah Fawcett wasn't included in the Academy Awards' In Memoriam segment because the actress was better known as a TV star.

AP - Mike Dunleavy and the Los Angeles Clippers parted company for good Tuesday, barely a month after he relinquished his head coaching duties to focus solely on being general manager.

Reuters - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned Israeli plans to build 1,600 more homes on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood, announced in the middle of his visit to help revive peace negotiations.

Reuters - U.S. safety regulators and Toyota dispatched teams on Tuesday to inspect a Prius that sped out of control on a California freeway a day earlier, as the automaker struggled to reassure consumers shaken by its recall crisis.

Reuters - Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday they would soon be part of a "decisive phase" in the war -- an operation to impose control over the Taliban heartland of Kandahar province.

Reuters - President Barack Obama, making a final push for healthcare reform, will back bipartisan plans to stamp out waste in government-run medical programs for the old and needy, the White House said on Tuesday.

Reuters - Nigeria must prosecute those behind a weekend massacre and address underlying issues of poverty and discrimination if it is to end a cycle of violence in the zone between its Muslim north and Christian south, rights groups and diplomats said.

Reuters - United Nations human rights investigators called on the Obama administration on Tuesday to prosecute the accused September 11 masterminds in a civilian court, declaring that U.S. military tribunals would not be fair.

AFP - Indonesia's president confirmed Wednesday that a suspected Bali bombing mastermind with a 10-million-dollar bounty on his head had been killed, as Australia lauded Jakarta's drive to fight extremists.

AFP - Fresh gunfire has sent Christian villagers in Nigeria fleeing as a senior official accused the country's military chiefs of having ignored warnings about last weekend's massacre.