USA
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois captured the Wyoming Democratic caucuses Saturday, seizing a bit of momentum in his hard-fought race with rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York for the party's presidential nomination. Obama has now won 13 caucuses to Clinton's three and has 1,578 delegates to her 1,478, with a total of 2,025 needed to win the nomination.
Federal authorities, including the FBI and Justice Department, are in the early stages of investigating Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, for securities fraud, according to media sources. The inquiry is part of a larger probe of 15 companies at the center of the subprime mortgage crisis. A Countrywide spokeswoman said the company wasn't aware of the investigation.
Cleanup crews in Ohio continued Sunday to shovel out Columbus after the state capital was buried under 20.4 inches of snow, five inches more than ever fell on the city.
In a special election in Illinois to fill the unexpired term of former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Democrat Bill Foster (above, hugged by his daughter) defeated Republican Jim Oberweis Saturday in a longtime Republican district. Hastert resigned last year after Democrats took control of Congress. The scientist and businessman serves only through this year, and then will square off again with Oberweis for a full term.
Too much coziness between the Federal Aviation Administration and the airlines has led to lax enforcement, according to Rep. James Oberstar (D) of Minnesota, who heads the congressional committee investigating airline safety inspections. Late last week, reports surfaced that 117 Southwest Airlines planes were flying past inspection deadlines.
Japanese automaker Nissan has begun to show off its new 50-acre "green" US headquarters in a restored wetland south of Nashville, Tenn. The 10-story building, to open in July, has reflective sun shades outside and heating and air-conditioning controls at each work station inside designed to cut energy consumption 35 percent.
Tests of treated drinking water in 24 major metropolitan areas reveal the presence of at least one pharmaceutical, according to an Associated Press survey based on independent research.
Chester Santos, a software engineer from San Francisco, won the USA Memory Championships in New York Saturday by recalling the correct order of an entire deck of playing cards in 2 minutes, 27 seconds. Santos (above) said he spends several hours a night honing his memory.
