News Cycles: Top Stories

Early Iraq results: PM battling secular challenger (AP)

AP - Partial vote results in Iraq's historic election released Thursday showed a tight contest between the nation's prime minister, who had the lead in two provinces in the mainly Shiite south, and a secular challenger who appeared to be drawing on Sunni support north of Baghdad.

More quakes hit Chile as new president takes over (AP)

AP - A series of strong aftershocks from last month's devastating quake rocked Chile on Thursday as a new president was sworn into office and immediately urged coastal residents to move to higher ground in case of a tsunami.

Americans' net worth up for 3rd straight quarter (AP)

AP - American households saw their wealth increase at the end of last year, mainly because the healing economy boosted stock portfolios.

Democrats, White House close in on health bill (AP)

AP - House Democratic leaders on Thursday worked to rally their rank-and-file members around last-minute agreements on insurance taxes and prescription drug coverage that could move President Barack Obama's overhaul of the nation's health care system a step closer to reality.

Greece hit by strikes, riots over austerity plan (AP)

AP - Serious street clashes erupted between rioting youths and police in central Athens Thursday as some 30,000 people demonstrated during a nationwide strike against the cash-strapped government's austerity measures.

KC superintendent says school closings are painful (AP)

AP - Kansas City School Superintendent John Covington says the decision to close almost half the district's schools was difficult and painful but "unquestionably the right thing to do."

Mexico's Slim becomes 'world's richest' person (AP)

AP - Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the first man from a developing nation to become the world's richest person — a shift that underlines the loosening of America and Europe's stranglehold on the top spots in the billionaires' club.

Conan O'Brien will take his show to theaters (AP)

AP - Without a TV show to do every night, Conan O'Brien is taking his act on the road.

Pink Floyd wins battle with EMI over online sales (AP)

AP - In a victory for the concept album, Britain's High Court on Thursday ordered record company EMI Group Ltd. to stop selling downloads of Pink Floyd tracks individually rather than as part of the band's original records.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen dies at 69 (AP)

AP - Pro Football Hall of Famer and former television actor Merlin Olsen has died. He was 69.

Chile aftershock measured at 7.2 magnitude (Reuters)

Reuters - A 7.2 magnitude aftershock struck near Chile's capital Santiago on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Financial reform deal fails, Dodd to move ahead (Reuters)

Police clash with protesters as Greeks fight cuts (Reuters)

Reuters - Police clashed with stone-throwing youths in Athens on Thursday as tens of thousands protested draconian cutbacks aimed at pulling Greece out of a debt crisis shaking the euro zone.

Biden appeals for Mideast peace talks without delay (Reuters)

Reuters - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Thursday for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to start without delay despite Palestinian insistence that Israel first cancel a settlement project condemned by Washington.

Obama presses China on currency in trade speech (Reuters)

Secularist list ahead in two Iraqi provinces (Reuters)

Reuters - A cross-sectarian, secularist alliance headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is ahead in two Iraqi provinces north of Baghdad, early results from the country's electoral commission showed Thursday.

Ukraine's Yanukovich gets close ally as PM (Reuters)

Reuters - Ukraine's new prime minister, Mykola Azarov, declaring state coffers were empty, promised on Thursday to meet all obligations to the International Monetary Fund and push through a realistic 2010 budget.

Jobless claims fall, trade gap narrows on oil (Reuters)

Reuters - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell only slightly last week, indicating that rapid job growth would probably continue to elude the economy for a while.

Quake, tsunami alert hit Chile as new leader sworn in (AFP)

AFP - A 7.2-magnitude aftershock and four other tremors rocked disaster-hit Chile Thursday, triggering a tsunami alert just minutes before billionaire Sebastian Pinera was sworn in as the new president.

Israel seeks to patch up row over settlement plans (AFP)

AFP - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a public apology to the visiting US vice president on Thursday, hoping to defuse a row over settlements that prompted a Palestinian boycott of indirect peace talks.