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AP Top News at 9:07 a.m. EDT -Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Obama to sign health bill, celebrate with allies

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's yearlong health care overhaul drama featured dozens of speeches, contentious debate and a televised summit with lawmakers before a divided Congress passed the bill. An elaborate White House signing ceremony kicks off the next act: selling the sweeping changes to a skeptical public. House and Senate Democrats who backed the bill as well as lesser-known people whose health care struggles have touched Obama were expected to join him Tuesday for the ceremony in the East Room. Afterward, Obama and much of that audience were heading to the Interior Department for an even larger celebration.

UK to expel Israeli diplomat over Dubai case

LONDON (AP) - Britain will expel an Israeli diplomat on Tuesday to rebuke Israel for its alleged use of forged British passports in the assassination of a Hamas operative in a suspected Mossad hit, a U.K. government official said. Foreign Secretary David Miliband was scheduled to address Parliament over the issue, following an investigation into the use of 12 fake U.K. passports in the incident.

ACORN disbanding because of money woes, scandal

CHICAGO (AP) - The once mighty community activist group ACORN announced Monday it is folding amid falling revenues - six months after video footage emerged showing some of its workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute. "It's really declining revenue in the face of a series of attacks from partisan operatives and right-wing activists that have taken away our ability to raise the resources we need," ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said.

Former Nazi hit man convicted over WWII murders

AACHEN, Germany (AP) - A German court on Tuesday convicted an 88-year-old of murdering three Dutch civilians as part of a Nazi hit squad during World War II, capping six decades of efforts to bring the former Waffen SS man to justice. Heinrich Boere, number six on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most-wanted Nazis, was given the maximum sentence of life in prison for the 1944 killings.

Google's action angers China, divides Web users

BEIJING (AP) - Google Inc.'s partial withdrawal from the China market brought swift condemnation from the government Tuesday while leaving Chinese Web surfers to wonder whether they would be able to access a new offshore search engine site or be blocked by censors. Google's decision to move most of its China-based search functions to Hong Kong opened a new phase in a two-month-long fracas pitting the world's most powerful Internet company against a government that tightly restricts the Web in the planet's most populous market.

Witness: Michael Jackson doctor interrupted CPR

LOS ANGELES (AP) - As Michael Jackson lay dying in his bedroom in a rented mansion, his doctor stopped CPR on him and delayed calling paramedics so he could collect drug vials at the scene, according to an employee of the pop star who called 911. Alberto Alvarez, who worked as Jackson's logistics director, told investigators that after receiving a distress call from another worker June 25, he rushed up the stairs of Jackson's home and entered a bedroom to find the singer lying on a bed with his arms outstretched and his eyes and mouth open.

Report: Catholic clergy abuse claims drop in US

While the Roman Catholic church in Europe reels from a widening sex abuse crisis, the scandal that has plagued the U.S. church for nearly a decade is tapering off, a report released Tuesday says. The number of abuse victims, allegations and offending clergy in the U.S. dropped in 2009 to their lowest numbers since data started being collected in 2004, the report said.

Indian military to weaponize world's hottest chili

GAUHATI, India (AP) - The Indian military has a new weapon against terrorism: the world's hottest chili. After conducting tests, the military has decided to use the thumb-sized "bhut jolokia," or "ghost chili," to make tear gas-like hand grenades to immobilize suspects, defense officials said Tuesday.

Jerry Springer hosts new GSN dating game show

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jerry Springer is reinventing himself again, this time as host of a dating game series. "Baggage," debuting next month on the Game Show Network, gives three contestants the chance to win the eye of a prospective date. The hitch: Contestants have to reveal their faults and foibles.

Magic beat 76ers to reach 50 wins again

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Rashard Lewis scored 24 points, Dwight Howard added 23 points and 15 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic notched their third straight 50-win season with a 109-93 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night. Vince Carter contributed 17 points and Matt Barnes had 14 for the Southeast Division-leading Magic (50-21), who won 50 games in three straight seasons for the first time since 1993-96. The Magic have won three straight and 10 of 11. Mickael Pietrus and Jason Williams had 10 apiece.

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