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AP News in Brief

(AP)

Snow piles up, paralyzing nation's capital, suburbs; 2-plus feet could set modern-day record

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A blizzard battered the Mid-Atlantic region on Saturday, quickly dumping large amounts of snow on that piled up on roadways and toppled trees onto apartment buildings and cars.

Officials urged people to huddle at home for the weekend, out of the way of crews trying to keep up with a storm that forecasters said could be the biggest for the nation's capital in modern history. A father and son were killed in Virginia when a tractor-trailer struck and killed them after they stopped to help another driver.

A record 2 1/2 feet or more was predicted for Washington. As of early Saturday, 10 inches of snow was reported at the White House, while parts of Maryland and West Virginia were buried under more than 20 inches. Forecasters expected snowfall rates to increase, up to 2 inches per hours through Saturday morning.

Blizzard warnings were issued for the District of Columbia, Baltimore, parts of New Jersey and Delaware and some areas west of the Chesapeake Bay.

"Things are fairly manageable, but trees are starting to come down," said D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer, whose agency responded to some of the falling trees. No injuries were reported.

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European crisis highlights challenges G-7 faces in promoting global recovery

IQALUIT, Nunavut (AP) _ A crisis in Europe over unsustainable government debts that sparked renewed global market turmoil leapt to the top of the agenda Saturday for global financial leaders meeting half a world away in the Canadian Arctic.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven major industrial countries are also thrashing out differences on banking industry changes amid warnings that unilateral action like U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to break up big banks will further hamper the fledging economic recovery.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, the host of the gathering, is hoping that his choice of the remote town of Iqaluit, population 7,000, where temperatures can dip to 40 degrees below zero in February, would concentrate officials on the task ahead.

The United States was represented by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The G-7 consists of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.

The discussions were focusing Saturday on developments in the global economy, banking reform and proposals to grant further debt relief for earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

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Japanese media criticize Toyota chief over recall explanation, slowness to apologize

TOKYO (AP) _ Japanese media sharply criticized Toyota's president Saturday for what they called a delayed and unconvincing explanation for the massive car recall that has sullied the world's biggest automaker, a Japanese corporate icon.

Akio Toyoda, the founder's grandson appointed to lead Toyota Motor Corp. last June, emerged late Friday to apologize and address criticism that the company mishandled a crisis over sticking gas pedals. But he stopped short of ordering a recall for Toyota's iconic Prius hybrid over separate braking problems.

Toyoda's appearance before reporters at a company office in the central Japanese city of Nagoya made front pages of the country's leading newspapers _ but won no praise.

"Words are not enough," the top Nikkei business daily commented in an editorial. "The company's crisis management ability is being subjected to severe scrutiny."

"Utterly too late," the nationwide Asahi newspaper said of Toyota's delayed reaction since the crisis arose Jan. 21 with a global recall of millions of vehicles. "The entire world is watching how Toyota can humbly learn from its series of recent failures and make safe cars."

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SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK: Alito's gripe: Obama said high court reversed 100 years of law

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Still wonder exactly why Justice Samuel Alito shook his head and mouthed the words "not true" during President Barack Obama's State of the Union address? He objected to the president's saying the ruling reversed a century of law.

The president touched off a controversy when he broke with tradition _ and decorum, his critics said _ by criticizing the court's recent campaign finance decision in his speech with six justices in attendance and bound by their own tradition of not reacting to what is said. (Justice Antonin Scalia once said he no longer goes to the annual speech because the justices "sit there like bumps on a log" in an otherwise highly partisan atmosphere.)

"With all due deference to the separation of powers," Obama said, "the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests _ including foreign corporations _ to spend without limit in our elections."

It seems clear from Alito's questioning when the court heard argument in the case that he was taking issue with the president's assertion that the court reversed 100 years of law, rather than with Obama's reference to foreign influence, which also has generated some legal debate.

At the September argument, Alito suggested to attorney Seth Waxman that 20 years was the appropriate time frame, encompassing two high court decisions that upheld limits on corporate spending in campaigns.

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E-mails show Sarah Palin's husband was close to matters of Alaska state government

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ E-mails shed new light on Todd Palin's role while his wife was Alaska's governor, showing that the one-time oil field worker's advice was sought on board appointments and suggesting he was close to matters related to state government, his wife's image and politics.

Relatively few of the messages obtained as part of a public records request were sent by Todd Palin himself.

Rather, his personal e-mail address is included on messages sent by administration staff, top aides to then-Gov. Sarah Palin and Palin on topics ranging from use of the state plane to day-to-day governing issues and oil and gas legislation that Palin made a hallmark of her 2 1/2 years in office.

But the e-mails, first reported by MSNBC.com, together provide fresh insight into what many had suspected was a highly influential role played by the self-proclaimed "First Dude." They also reflect the at-times fierce loyalty that Todd Palin and others close to the former governor felt, particularly amid tensions with lawmakers and criticism in the media.

"Have Meg take the news miner off the press release address list for a few days,see how long it takes them to realize their not on the list," Todd Palin wrote to his wife in an e-mail, dated June 21, 2007, after the governor questioned the fairness of an editor in Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

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US missionary heads home 6 weeks after North Korea detained him for crossing border to protest

BEIJING (AP) _ Looking pale and drawn, an American missionary headed home Saturday after North Korea released him from six weeks' detention for crossing its border on Christmas Day to protest religious suppression in the totalitarian regime.

Robert Park, his eyes almost closed, made no comment as U.S. consular officials guided him to a transit area in Beijing's airport after his morning arrival from North Korea.

He was to leave later in the day for the United States, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said. "We welcome North Korea's release of Robert Park," Stevenson said.

Park, 28, crossed the frozen Tumen River from China into North Korea carrying letters calling on leader Kim Jong Il to close the country's notoriously brutal prison camps and step down from power _ acts that could have risked execution in the hard-line communist country.

North Korea disclosed nothing about Park during his 43 days in custody before announcing Friday that he would be freed and crediting elaborate remarks to Park about how he now viewed North Korea favorably on religious freedom and human rights.

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Afghan police say border patrol fatally shot 7 civilians it mistook for insurgents

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) _ Afghan border police mistook a group of villagers gathering wood near the Pakistan border as insurgents and opened fire, killing seven civilians, a police official said Saturday.

All six officers involved in Friday's pre-dawn shooting have been arrested and the incident is under investigation, said Gen. Abdul Raziq, the commander of the border police of southern Afghanistan.

The Afghan-Pakistan border area is a common transit route for both Taliban militants and smugglers, and border police regularly are attacked in the area.

The officers were driving through Kandahar province's Shorabak district before sunrise Friday when they spotted the group of seven men and thought they were about to be ambushed, Raziq said. They started shooting from about 400 yards (meters) away and only discovered when they went to recover the bodies that none were armed, he said.

The officers then confirmed with local residents that the dead were not militants, he added.

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Obama sounding resigned on health care, says Congress may decide 'we're not going to do it'

WASHINGTON (AP) _ No, maybe he can't. President Barack Obama, who insisted he would succeed where other presidents had failed to fix the nation's health care system, now concedes the effort may die in Congress.

The president's newly conflicting signals could frustrate Democratic lawmakers who are hungry for guidance from the White House as they try to salvage the effort to extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and hold down spiraling medical costs. Obama's comments Thursday night came hours after Republican Scott Brown was sworn in to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy, leaving Democrats without their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and Obama's signature health legislation with no clear path forward.

"I think it's very important for us to have a methodical, open process over the next several weeks, and then let's go ahead and make a decision," Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

"And it may be that ... if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," the president said. "And that's how democracy works. There will be elections coming up, and they'll be able to make a determination and register their concerns."

It appeared to be a shift in tone for the issue the "Yes we can" candidate campaigned on and made the centerpiece of his domestic agenda last year. In a speech to a joint session of Congress in September, Obama declared: "I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. ... Here and now we will meet history's test."

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LA police say Charlie Sheen's vehicle reported stolen, found crashed in ravine near his home

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A Mercedes that Charlie Sheen reported stolen from his Sherman Oaks home was found overturned hundreds of feet down a nearby cliff early Friday, but there's no evidence anyone was in the car when it went into the ravine, police said.

A Bentley was later found off the same road nearby Friday afternoon, and police said three other cars reportedly were broken into in the same area. Police were investigating if the incidents were linked.

Police got an emergency call around 4 a.m. from an OnStar-style alert system that calls emergency officials when there is a problem with the vehicle that may require assistance, Officer Wendy Reyes said. At about the same time, Sheen called police to say his four-door Mercedes-Benz had been stolen, Officer Bruce Borihanh said.

Police and firefighters found the car 300 to 400 feet down a cliff, upside-down in the brushy ravine. They searched the area on foot and with an infrared-equipped helicopter but found nobody in or around the car, Borihanh said.

"They've looked all around the hillside. There's nobody in the car, nobody around (and no) evidence of anybody being around at the moment of impact," he said.

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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hopes players' union is wrong about lockout in 2011

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) _ The only thing certain about pro football for the rest of this year is that either the Colts or Saints will win Sunday's Super Bowl.

After that, the NFL likely will enter its first season since 1993 without a salary cap. What effect an uncapped year will have on the 32 teams is uncertain.

What is certain is that by this time next year, a lockout could be imminent if there's no contract between the league and its players.

"I don't think anybody wants to see a work stoppage," commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday at his annual Super Bowl-week news conference. "There are no benefits to that. If it comes to anything like that, we would all have failed."

Failure is not a familiar word in the NFL, which has enjoyed soaring television ratings in a season filled with intriguing story lines. But a lack of progress on a new collective bargaining agreement casts a shadow over the nation's most popular and prosperous sport.