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AP Top News at 2:42 p.m. EDT -Friday, March 19, 2010

Strike looms as talks between BA, union collapse

LONDON (AP) - A three-day strike by British Airways cabin crew affecting thousands of travelers is going ahead Saturday after last-ditch talks between the airline's management and union leaders collapsed. The walkout has forced BA to cancel thousands of flights, but it still hopes to operate around 65 percent of its international schedule over the period.

NCAA: Xavier, Cornell advance to weekend with wins

Xavier hasn't missed a step since former coach Sean Miller left for Arizona. The Musketeers have made it out of the first round of the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year, beating No. 11 seed Minnesota 65-54. Xavier reached the round of 16 last year, the final eight in 2008 and the second round in 2007. The Musketeers will get Pittsburgh or Oakland on Sunday.

Obama, Democrats push hard ahead of health vote

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders lobbied intensively for historic health care legislation Friday, striving to resolve a last-minute dispute over Medicare while gaining another precious "yes" 48 hours ahead of a climactic vote. With a showdown set for Sunday on the House floor, Democratic leaders still didn't command the 216 votes they needed, so every undecided lawmaker was the focus of personal attention from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House, and every "no"-to-"yes" conversion was trumpeted by party leaders.

Obama rallies support for final health care votes

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - President Barack Obama described the stakes of this weekend's health care vote in stark terms Friday, using words uttered so rarely out of the White House that they seem all but banned: "If this vote fails." What then? "The insurance industry will continue to run amok," the president declared, pointing to rising rates, denials of coverage and limits on care.

Little fanfare for 7th anniversary of war in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) - Seven years after the first bombs in the war to oust Saddam Hussein, Iraqis went about their business Friday with little observance of the anniversary, looking to the future with a mixture of trepidation and hope. Perhaps more important in the minds of many was the ongoing wait for final results from the country's second nationwide parliamentary election. The milestone will determine who will oversee Iraq as U.S. forces go home, but could also point the direction the fragile democracy will take down the road - deeper into the sectarian divide that followed Saddam's fall, or toward a more secular, inclusive rule.

World diplomats urge resumption of Mideast talks

MOSCOW (AP) - International diplomats on Friday called on Israel and the Palestinians to return to peace negotiations with the goal of creating an independent Palestinian state within two years. They reiterated their condemnation of Israel's latest move to add Jewish housing in disputed east Jerusalem but did not escalate criticism of the Jewish state. The so-called Quartet group of Mideast negotiators met in the Russian capital to set the stage for peace talks in which the United States would be a go-between. Those indirect talks, also called proximity talks, would be the first under the Democratic Obama administration and the hawkish Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Dutch fuming at retired US general's gays comment

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch prime minister Friday denounced as "irresponsible" a claim by a retired U.S. general that gay Dutch soldiers were partly to blame for allowing Europe's worst massacre since World War II. Dutch officials, from the Cabinet to the military, were outraged by retired Gen. John Sheehan's remarks at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Heavy rains swamp camps holding Haiti's homeless

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - One of the heaviest rainfalls since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake swamped homeless camps Friday, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands. The overnight downpour sent water coursing down the slopes of a former golf course that now serves as a temporary home for about 45,000 people.

Pakistan arrests halt UN contacts with Taliban

KABUL (AP) - The arrests of top Taliban figures in Pakistan abruptly halted secret U.N. contacts with the insurgency at a time when the efforts were gathering momentum, the U.N.'s former envoy to Afghanistan said Friday. Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat who just stepped down from the U.N. post here in the Afghan capital, said the discussions that he and others from the U.N. had with senior Taliban members began in the spring of 2009 and included face-to-face conversations in Dubai and elsewhere.

Demi Moore's Twitter account part of suicide help

CASSELBERRY, Fla. (AP) - Actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos were linked to an online chain of Twitter posts that ultimately led to Florida authorities intervening Friday when an 18-year-old man threatened to commit suicide. Moore's Twitter account, mrskutcher, was among those responding to a message from a young man threatening to hang himself in his front yard in Casselberry, north of Orlando. Moore - with more than 2.5 million followers - and husband Ashton Kutcher are both active on the social network.

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