AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine motor vehicle officials say the state is shifting to a new motorcycle registration system. The changes are the result of a law enacted last year that requires motorcycle inspection stickers to be displayed on the vehicle’s registration plate. The changes started in March and will be phased in over the next […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House Homeland Security panel is holding a hearing today on why a suspect in an alleged bomb plot against the U.S. Capitol had been living illegally in the United States for 12 years. Amine El Khalifi was arrested last month in a parking lot. He was wearing what he thought was […]

INDIANAPOLIS An Indiana woman who saved her two children by binding them together with a blanket and shielding them with her body as a tornado ripped apart their house lost parts of both her legs, which were crushed by the falling debris, her husband says. Stephanie Decker, a 36-yearold sleep specialist, lost one leg above […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is improving faster than economists had expected. They now foresee slightly stronger growth and hiring than they did two months earlier — trends that would help President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes. Those are among the findings of an Associated Press survey late last month of leading economists. The economists […]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. military investigators have recommended that four more American troops be court-martialed in connection with the suicide of their fellow infantryman who shot himself in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said today. The four are among eight U.S. soldiers charged in the death of Pvt. Danny Chen, […]

BEIRUT (AP) — China’s special envoy to Syria is expected to press authorities for a cease-fire to end the country’s crisis today even as Beijing remains firmly opposed to any foreign intervention in the Mideast country. Li Huaqing, a former Chinese ambassador to Syria, will meet with government officials during his two-day visit. He is […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U. S. commander in the Middle East will warn Congress today against efforts to scale back the Navy’s presence in the embattled region, saying threats from Iran and elsewhere will require more ships and maritime missile defense capabilities. Marine Gen. James Mattis, head of U. S. Central Command, also said […]

WASHINGTON ( AP) — President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended two days of public posturing on Iran right where they began. Obama wants Israel to refrain from attacking Iran now, and Netanyahu pointedly refused to make that promise. Obama never made a direct, public appeal to Israel’s visiting leader, but his […]

ATLANTA — Mitt Romney is angling to solidify his front-runner status and Rick Santorum to keep it a two-man race as voters in 10 states put Super Tuesday’s imprint on the Republican presidential race. Newt Gingrich just hopes to keep his struggling campaign alive with a strong showing in Georgia. Voters who turned out early today […]