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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jaime Alas scored in stoppage time and El Salvador ousted the United States from Olympic qualifying Monday night with a 3-3 tie. The Americans had to win to reach Saturday's semifinals in Kansas City, Kan., and they led 3-2 on Joe Corona's goal in the 68th minute. But Alas scored his goal off the hands off keeper Sean Johnson to stun the Americans, who missed the Olympics for the second time since 1976.

DETROIT(AP) Ford's new Fusion model earned high marks from both Consumer Reports testers and consumers who rated its reliability, the magazine said in its 2007 new car preview, showing that U.S. automakers may be making strides in initial quality. Asian automakers once again dominated the closely watched reliability ratings, but U.S. automakers are steadily improving, David Champion, senior director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports, said Thursday. "You're almost chasing a moving target," said Champion, who presented the findings from the magazine's annual reliability survey and testing in Detroit. "The quality of cars has improved dramatically." The Fusion and the...

July 18, 2006, 8:45AM Toyota recalls 418,570 vehicles By HIROKO TABUCHI Associated Press TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. said today it was recalling 418,570 vehicles globally, including some Echo and Prius models sold in the U.S., over a faulty engine part. The faulty part is the latest in a string of problems requiring recalls by Toyota, raising doubts over whether the automaker can maintain quality standards amid booming sales. The recall affects 268,570 vehicles sold in Japan across 12 models manufactured in 2001, including Corollas, the compact cars Vitz and Platz and the hybrid Prius, the company said in a...

[QUOTE]CORPUS CHRISTI -- The Corpus Christi Caller-Times is asking Democrat John Kerry to apologize for what it says was the unauthorized use in a Kerry campaign commercial of photos copyrighted by the newspaper. Editor Libby Averyt said Thursday that the ad, which is not running in Texas, appeared to use photos from South Texas Heroes, a book on veterans published by the newspaper. "No request was made to the Caller-Times for any of the photos," Averyt said. A Kerry spokesman said Thursday that the appropriate apologies have been made. The Spanish-language commercial began airing May 28 in six states --...

Mitsubishi Motors Cuts Jobs, Closes Japan Plant By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press TOKYO -- Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will cut nearly 11,000 jobs, or 22 percent of its global work force, close an assembly plant in Japan and receive a $4 billion infusion from the Mitsubishi group and other investors under a revival plan its chief executive described as its "last chance." Under the plan announced today, Mitsubishi Motors will keep open its U.S. plant in Normal, Ill., but will shutter an engine plant in Australia while keeping a passenger car plant there. The company will close a passenger...

Web Sites Offer Help Beating Drug Tests Put 30 drug testing workers in a room together for a few hours and it isn't long before they start trading strange and somewhat indelicate tales of urine collection. Stories of specimens doctored to the most vivid hues of blue, green and purple, and others spiked with bleach or diluted with chewing tobacco. Talk of false penises, and synthetic urine formulated in separate his and hers versions. And accounts of mystery concoctions ingested or added to try to ensure that urine does not betray the drug use of its provider. "It's just amazing,"...

Toyota says Ford is still No. 2 By Alan Ohnsman / Bloomberg News Toyota Motor Co.p., Asia’s largest automaker, didn’t pass Ford Motor Co. in total car and truck sales in 2003 if its sales are calculated on the same basis, Toyota President Fujio Cho said. Toyota said in January that it sold 6.78 million vehicles worldwide last year, including those of subsidiaries Hino Motors Ltd. and Daihatsu Motor Co., exceeding Ford’s 6.72 million. Last week, the Japanese company announced a modified total of 6.49 million, excluding sales of joint ventures in China and Indonesia. “If you use exactly the...

By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Astros owner Drayton McLane has done it again, persuading future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens to put off retirement for a year. McLane acknowledged the deal, but he preferred to withhold further comment. The deal will be announced at a press conference on the field today at 2 p.m. "Out of fairness to everybody, let's just wait until we make the announcement," McLane said. "The fairest way is to wait until the announcement." Asked if he was excited, McLane chuckled and decided to withhold comment until the official announcement. A month...

Surfrider Foundation is a non-partisan organization. This is why it is hard to address what seems to be a growing estrangement between our mission at Surfrider Foundation and the Grand Old Party. Surfrider Foundation is made up of members, volunteers, staff, and directors on our board who are registered Democrats and registered Republicans. Heck, we even have a few Greens and others in the mix. But, this isn’t about our Party registration, it’s about our respect for the environment; and the environment itself is non-partisan. So, we cannot stand by and watch the current Administration dismantle or weaken laws designed...

Filling Bentsen's shoes Bell is high on ambition, low on Capitol savvy By KAREN MASTERSON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- As Rep.-elect Chris Bell finished up a weeklong boot camp for new lawmakers, outgoing Rep. Ken Bentsen on Tuesday gave his farewell speech on the House floor. The speech enumerated the Houston Democrat's accomplishments and demonstrated that even a lawmaker in the minority can move policy. But while Bentsen arrived on Capitol Hill with several years of experience under his belt -- he worked on the coveted House Appropriation Committee prior to running for office -- Bell...