Baucus unveiling health bill without GOP on board

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Max Baucus' decision to release his long-awaited health care overhaul bill with no Republicans on board dims the chances for a bipartisan compromise on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. The Senate Finance Committee chairman insisted Tuesdaythat he'll keep negotiating with the three Republicans and two fellow Democrats who've been in closed-door talks with him for months on the bill he was to reveal Wednesday. Baucus, D-Mont., said he hopes that by the time the committee votes on the bill, as early as next week, Republicans will be there.

Technician in custody in Yale grad student slaying

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Police have taken a Yale University animal research technician into custody to collect DNA samples and searched his apartment for evidence that might link him to the death of a graduate student who worked in the same lab. More than 20 police officers and FBI agents searched the apartment of 24-year-old Raymond Clark III Tuesday night and led him away him as neighbors leaned over the building's iron railing and cheered.

Consumer prices expected to have remained in check

WASHINGTON (AP) - A report due out Wednesday is expected to show that inflation remained in check last month, as the weak economy prevents retailers and manufacturers from raising prices. The report comes after the Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail sales jumped in August by the largest amount in more than three years. Labor Department data also showed that excluding volatile energy and food costs, core inflation posted a modest 0.2 percent increase, as measured by the Producer Price Index.

Japan's new prime minister announces Cabinet

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has announced his Cabinet lineup, picking a veteran lawmaker and party ally as finance minister and a fellow party leader as his foreign minister. Hatoyama, who took office Wednesday, namedKatsuya Okada as foreign minister and Hirohisa Fujii as finance minister. Though Okada has never held a Cabinet post, Fujii was finance minister under a coalition government in 1993-94, the only time in its 55-year history that the outgoing Liberal Democrats had previously been ousted from power.

US envoy pressing for settlement curtailment

JERUSALEM (AP) - Washington's special envoy to the Mideast will press Israel on Wednesday for further concessions on settlement construction, having failed a day earlier to reach an accommodation palatable to the U.S. and the Palestinians. U.S. official George Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were holding a previously unscheduled meeting because of the continued stalemate.

Analysis: Al-Qaida death a blow to terror group

WASHINGTON (AP) - The death of a key al-Qaida leader in a daring helicopter assault in Somalia caps more than a decade-long hunt by U.S. authorities and strikes a blow to the terror group's operation there, but it could also trigger a new spate of attacks on Western targets. Senior U.S. officials and other experts said the commando raid Monday afternoon left six dead, including Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, one of the most wanted al-Qaida operatives in the region. Saleh's body and those of at least three other foreign fighters were taken away by U.S. special operations forces for forensic testing, after the raid in a southern village near Barawe, the officials said.

Home of suspected Calif. kidnapper searched again

ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP) - The search for clues into the disappearances of two girls in the 1980s has led authorities to a now-familiar address:the Northern California home of the couple charged with kidnapping an 11-year-old and holding her captive in their backyard for 18 years. Police scoured Phillip and Nancy Garrido's property and a site next door Tuesday for any possible links tying them to the abductions of Michaela Garecht in 1988 in Hayward and Ilene Misheloff in 1989 in Dublin.

Governor delays Ohio execution after vein troubles

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) - Problems finding a usable vein during an attempt to execute an Ohio inmate have halted his lethal injection for a week, but one death penalty scholar says possible legal challenges could further delay his return to the death chamber. Gov. Ted Strickland on Tuesday issued a one-week reprieve to Romell Broom, 53, who spent more than two hours awaiting execution as technicians searched for a vein strong enough to deliver the three-drug lethal injection. The issue arose three years after Ohio revised its lethal injection protocol due to problems with another inmate's IV.

President's opinion of Kanye West sparks debate

NEW YORK (AP) - President Barack Obama's candid thoughts about Kanye West are provoking a debate over standards of journalism in the Twitter age. ABC News says it was wrong for its employees to tweet that Obama had called West a "jackass" for the rapper's treatment of country singer Taylor Swift. The network said some of its employees had overheard a conversation between the president and CNBC's John Harwood and didn't realize it was considered off the record.

Zito strikes out 9 as Giants beat Rockies 10-2

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Barry Zito struck out a season-high nine in his biggest win yet as a Giant, Juan Uribe drove in three runs and San Francisco shaved another game off Colorado's hold on the NL wild card with a 10-2 victory over the Rockies on Tuesday night. San Francisco won its third straight after a four-game skid and pulled within 2½ games of the wild-card leading Rockies, who dropped their fourth straight following an eight-game winning streak.

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