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LOS ANGELES (CNS)- A person possibly suspected of threatening the White House led police on a chase from Westchester to West Los Angeles today then holed up inside a car near the Westwood federal building, prompting a standoff that forced the evacuation of a nearby apartment building. Citing an anonymous law enforcement official, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site that the person was wanted for questioning by federal authorities for allegedly making an unspecified threat against the White House. Broadcast reports also indicated that the person may have been wanted on a misdemeanor warrant.

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives paused for a moment of silence Friday to mark entertainer Michael Jackson's death. Lawmakers briefly interrupted a debate on a global warming bill to stand in silence and honor the "King of Pop." Rep. Diane Watson of California rose during the debate to suggest the House "pay tribute to the culture that he has left behind, his legacy." Watson said the lawmakers send their condolences to Jackson's family, friends and his fans worldwide. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois said the singer changed the world and he wants to "thank God for letting all...

---------------snip----------------- In an interview with The Associated Press, Palin defended her decision to step down after a year in which she has been bombarded with a series of ethics complaints that have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to investigate. "You would be amazed at how much time and resource my staff and I, the Department of Law especially, spend on this every day," she said. "It is a waste. We are spending these millions of dollars not on teachers and troopers and roads or fish research and other things that are needed in Alaska." Palin stunned the political world...

Obama opened with the greeting "salaam aleikum" in Arabic and immediately received a storm of applause. He spoke at length about the glories of Islam since the dawn of its history, relieving Muslims' concerns about America's attitude toward them. "I've come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims," he said. "As the Holy Koran tells us ... 'speak always the truth.' That is what I will try to do." After praising Islam and attacking al-Qaida, he moved on to the most charged issue as far as his audience was concerned - the Palestinians. He spoke...

The struggling U.S. economy is getting a $787 billion shot in the arm from a stimulus package designed to keep people working and money flowing. In the Chicago area, we're likely to see the effects of the plan when we maneuver past roadwork and when we look at our paychecks. Two months after President Barack Obama signed the stimulus bill, the package is beginning to take shape. More than $50 billion in grants and projects have been approved, said a White House official who declined to be identified.

A lawyer lobbying the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Supreme Court for a review of Barack Obama's qualifications to be president says a key conservative justice has hinted that another conservative justice has been voting against hearing the dispute.

Armed to the hilt, they came from land and air, determined to restore order to Mexico's most violent city. Nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers and armed federal police poured into the border town of Ciudad Juarez last weekend. The city - just across from El Paso in Texas - has been ravaged by drug gangs. Just this month 250 people were killed there by hitmen fighting for lucrative smuggling routes.

Regional air pollution regulators have again cited TXI Riverside Cement for allowing plumes of potentially harmful dust to escape its century-old plant north of Riverside. "Riverside Cement will continue to get notices of violations until they solve their dust problem," Sam Atwood, spokesman for South Coast Air Quality Management District, said Saturday. A recent air district investigation found that dust from the plant contains hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing substance that is a byproduct of cement-making. The plant, located just south of the border between Riverside and San Bernardino counties, was cited for producing dust clouds longer than 100 feet and...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The distillers of Sweden's Absolut vodka have withdrawn an advertisement run in Mexico that angered many U.S. citizens by idealizing an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as Mexican. The billboard ad has the slogan "In an Absolut World" slapped over a pre-1848 map showing California, Arizona and other U.S. states as Mexican territory. Those states were carved out of what had been Mexican lands until that year. Although it was not shown in the United States, U.S. media outlets picked up on the ad, and after a barrage of complaints, Absolut's...

What started as a small, online grassroots effort now appears to have the potential for something bigger. Dan Little, the owner/operator of a livestock hauling company in Carrollton, Mo., estimated Tuesday that at least 1,000 other truckers from across the United States have committed so far to joining him in a strike on April 1. At issue is the rising cost of diesel fuel, which has reached or exceeded $4 per gallon in at least 17 states. But Little does not expect his strike to bring down the per-gallon price of gas, nor does he expect to have any effect...

Under the weight of a national uproar, two Berkeley City Council members want to rescind an official statement that the U.S. Marines and their recruiting station are "uninvited and unwelcome intruders." Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli, however, did not move to rescind three other items the council passed last week: giving the protest group Code Pink a free weekly parking space and sound permit; calling on residents to impede the work of any military recruiting station in the city; and asking the city attorney to investigate whether the Marines violate city laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. The item...

Hey-hey, ho-ho, the Marines in Berkeley have got to go. That's the message from the Berkeley City Council, which voted 6-3 Tuesday night to tell the U.S. Marines that its Shattuck Avenue recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders." In addition, the council voted to explore enforcing its law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation against the Marines because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. And it officially encouraged the women's peace group Code Pink to impede the work of the...

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush voiced support for abortion opponents attending this year's March for Life rally in Washington. Tens of thousands of abortion protesters gathered on the National Mall on Tuesday for the annual event. In remarks being broadcast to demonstrators, Bush said biology confirms that from the start, each unborn child is a separate individual with his or her own genetic code.

The 2008 Dakar Rally has been cancelled because of safety concerns in the African republic of Mauritania. Four French tourists were murdered in Mauritania on 24 December, which led to the French government advising against any travel to the country. Eight of the rally's 15 stages were due to pass through Mauritania. The event's organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation, said there had been "direct threats against the race issued by terrorist groups". The annual car and motorcycle marathon had been due to start in Lisbon on 5 January with the finish coming in Dakar on 20 January. "Following several consultations...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday ordered tougher oversight of private guards in Iraq, including tighter rules on the use of force, following deadly shootings involving U.S. security contractor Blackwater. The State Department said other measures included improved training and clearer rules of engagement, better coordination with the U.S. military as well as cultural sensitivity training for guards and more Arabic speakers. Rice made the move following recommendations by a panel of experts she appointed to look into the work of private security contractors after the September 16 shooting incident in Baghdad that killed at...

JURIST] A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit [order, PDF] Monday alleging that vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases [EPA backgrounder] have contributed to global warming constituting a "public nuisance" that has cost the state of California millions of dollars. Judge Martin J. Jenkins of the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] wrote that the case "presents a non-justiciable political question" and said that courts lack jurisdiction to decide injury lawsuits based on global warming, noting that the issue needs to be addressed on a nationwide scale by Congress. Jenkins added that he did not...

In response to public outcry, Orange County's Superior Court is halting the processing of traffic tickets in Nogales, Mexico. Court officials on Monday amended the contract with the company that handles the tickets, Cal Coast Data Entry. Beginning Friday, Cal Coast will process all of the court's tickets at its Cerritos and Phoenix locations. The brouhaha erupted last week, when KFI radio's fiery conservative "John & Ken Show" attacked the outsourcing and urged listeners to complain. Hundreds called and e-mailed the court and county supervisors. Uecker said that critics had two primary concerns – security of the personal information once...

Convincing evidence that corroborates NewsMax.com's accounts of the Haditha insurgent ambush has compelled the prosecution to take extraordinary steps to bolster their crumbling case. The stunning announcement that all charges are being dropped against Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz, formerly accused of murder in the Haditha incident where 24 Iraqis were killed during an insurgent ambush against the Marines, is indication that the prosecutors have a very weak case against all the defendants, lawyers for the some of the accused say. Crumbling Case "Dela Cruz provided several sworn statements to the government," Mark Zaid said. Zaid is one of the...

WASHINGTON They weren't exactly walking on sunshine at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The Washington Post reports Sheryl Crow, producer Laurie David and Karl Rove exchanged some heated words about global warming -- an issue of contention between them. Crow and "Inconvenient Truth" producer David walked over to the presidential adviser's table, where David suggested that Rove "take a new look at global warming." David says Rove was rude with her. Rove says David came over to insult him and succeeded. Crow tried to calm things down but was instead drawn into the debate with Rove.

LONDON (AFP) - Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens before he became a Muslim in the 1970s, has released his first commercial album for nearly three decades -- but reviewers seemed unimpressed. "An Other Cup" went on sale in along with a single, "Heaven/Where True Love Goes", while the album was to be released in the United States on Tuesday. With his telegenic, part-Greek good looks, Stevens scored international hits in the 1960 and 1970s with songs like "Wild World", "Moonshadow" and "My Lady d'Arbanville". But in 1977 he decided to hang up his guitar -- changing...