USA

After a round of 45-minute sessions in Washington Thursday with John McCain, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was scheduled to discuss "coordinated action" to shore up the global economy with President Bush.

For the second time since December, a judge declared a mistrial in the case of six men from Miami's impoverished Liberty City neighborhood accused of plotting attacks on Chicago's Sears Tower and FBI offices. During the first trial, one member of the so-called "Liberty City Seven" was acquitted. Both times, a hung jury and a lack of evidence that the men had taken concrete steps to carry out the plot led to deadlocks. Prosecutors will announce April 23 whether they will pursue another trial.

During a workplace raid carried out in five states Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 300 employees of Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the nation's largest chicken producer, on charges of identity theft and immigration violations. The Pittsburg, Texas-based company, which supplies KFC restaurants, worked with ICE agents ahead of the operation and said it has terminated all those in custody.

The US government will greatly expand its DNA database, adding information on more than 1 million people per year, including noncitizens for the first time, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Currently, DNA samples are collected only from those convicted of federal crimes, but in the still-unannounced initiative, anyone arrested on federal charges will be genetically identified.

Authorities arrested Roger Bergendorff Wednesday and charged him with possession of ricin, a deadly toxin, upon his release from a Las Vegas hospital, where the substance was found in his motel room in February. Investigators allege that Bergendorff possessed ricin as part of a scheme to hurt unspecified enemies.

Yahoo Inc., which has been seeking alternatives to an unsolicited takeover offer from Microsoft that Yahoo says undervalues the company, has completed a successful trial run of outsourcing its Web search advertising to market leader Google. The Wall Street Journal, however, indicates that Yahoo could pull out of a partnership with Google if a merger with Microsoft proceeds.

After 20 years of legal wrangling, the city of Houston has reached a deal with Clear Channel Outdoor to dismantle 831 small- and medium-sized billboards within nine months. In exchange, Clear Channel can continue using two dozen larger billboards for up to 20 more years.

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