Obama to go over to do list with congress

President Barack Obama will urge congressional leaders Wednesday to agree to his economic agenda, one day after House Speaker John Boehner drew a line in the sand over what could be another bitter showdown between the White House and Congress later this year.The president will focus on his to do list for Capital Hill a five step plan of fiscal policies the White House says is aimed at building economic growth. Along with Boehner Obama will sit down with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid  House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.Asked about the meeting in a news conference Wednesday morning boehner said he willl press the president on his plan to tackle our  debt crisis as well as scheduled cuts to the defense Department  cuts to which Republicans strongly disagree with and tax votes slated for the end of the year.Its time for us to deal with the big issues that are affecting our country and our society Boehner said. Weve spent enough time playing small ball he said.

gunfire shelling leave 9 dead in syria

activists say government shelling and gunfire killed at least nine people across Syria on Wednesday most of them in the Idlib province region where violence erupted this week. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least five people were killed after security forces launched raids in the provinces town of Khan Sheikhoun where a mass shooting and the roadside bombing of a U.N convoy occurred on Tuesday.The London based group says three more people were killed at a Daraa province refugee camp on Wednesday after government forces opened fire and one person died in government shelling in the Homs region.
Meanwhile a U.N monitoring team was evacuated from Khan Sheikhoun on Wednesday a day after a roadside bomb damaged vehicles in their convoy. The blast occurred shortly after Syrian security forces opened fire on mourners at a funeral in the town killing at least 24 people according to anti government activists.The monitoring team is part of a larger group of U.N observers who have went out across Syria to assess compliance by the government and opposition to a fragile cease fire brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan.

giants get super bowl rings

Winning Super Bowl XLVI has earned the New York Giants rings with plenty of bling The white gold rings from Tiffany & Co. were designed with input from GM jerry reese. head coach tom coughlin and team captains QB eli manning and DE justin tuck and long snapper zac deossie.The diamond ncrusted face of the ring features the Giants amiliar NY logo surrounded by four Lombardi Trophies each has a  diamond to represent the football atop the trophy acknowledging the franchises four Super Bowl victories.Tiffany came up with several different options that they showed us and you kind of picked from there manning said. We wanted it to be little different than the last ring.In addition to the numerous diamonds that adorn the ring it has 37 blue sapphires.I think all of us wanted to have some blue in the ring from the ownership down Tuck said. We wanted to make the ring different from the ring we had earlier. The 08 ring had no color in it  it was just white diamonds. We wanted those to sparkle a little bit more and stand out a little bit more.

adam mayes believe two kidnapped kids are his

the mother in law of suspected murderer adam mayes believes he killed a mother and daughter and then ran away with the woman's two youngest daughters because he believed the girls were his own children.
Josie Tate the mother of Mayes wife Teresa told ABC News associate WTVC that her daughter and Mayes fought often over whether Mayes was actually the father of JoAnn Bains two youngest children.Bain and her eldest daughter, Adrienne, were killed in their tennesee house on April 27, and then taken with the two youngest daughters to Mayes home in Mississippi according to police stff. Teresa and Mayes have both been charged with murder but Mayes remains at large and on the run. The FBI has placed Mayes on its Top Ten Most Wanted fugitives list. The reasons they were arguing so much was because there were two little girls that he was absolutely obsessed with. He was claiming those two children were his someone said.Neighbors tell a close story that Mayes was a close family friend of the Bain family and told people that he was the father of the two youngest girls.

mortgage rates hit low

Cheap mortgage rates have made home-buying and refinancing more affordable than ever for those who can qualify mortgage buyer freddie mac said Thursday that the average rate on 30-year loans ticked down to 3.83%. Thats the lowest since long term mortgages began in the 1950s. And its below the previous record rate of 3.84% reached last week.The 15 year mortgage a popular option for refinancing, dropped to an average 3.05%, also a record. Thats down from last weeks old record of 3.07%.The average oneyear adjustable interest rate was 2.73% last week down from 2.7% the previous weekLow mortgage rates haven't done much to boost home sales. Rates have been below 4% for all but one week since early December. Yet sales of both previously lived in homes and new homes fell in March.There have been some positive signs in recent months. January and February made up the best winter for sales of previously occupied homes in five years.

syrian suicide bomber kills 55

Two suicide car bombs ripped through the Syrian capital Thursday killing 55 people and tearing the facade off a military intelligence building in the deadliest explosions since the countrys uprising began 14 months ago the Interior Ministry said.Residents told an Associated Press reporter that the blasts happened in quick way during morning rush hour with an initial small explosion followed by a larger bomb that appeared aimed at people and rescue crews arriving at the scene. Paramedics wearing rubber gloves collected human remains from the pavement as heavily damaged cars and pickup trucks burned.There was no claim of responsibility for Thursdays blasts. But an alQaida inspired group has claimed responsibility for several past explosions making fears that terrorist groups are entering the zone and makin the chaos.In addition to the 55 dead the ministry also said there were 15 bags of human remains meaning the death toll was likely to rise.
More than 370 people also were wounded in the attack, according to the ministry, which is in charge of the countrys internal security. It said the explosives weighed more than  2,200 pounds.

Cole Hamels admits to intentionally hitting bryce harper

Cole Hamels got a five game suspension for the way he welcomed Bryce Harper to the big leagues.The 2008 World Series MVP was suspended for intentionally throwing at the Washington rookie in the Philadelphia Phillies 9-3 win over the Nationals on Sunday night.Major League Baseball announced the penalty Monday, Hamels also was fined.Hamels wasnt available to reporters before the Phillies opened a three game series against the New York Mets. But he already admitted that he deliberately threw at Harper.

I was trying to hit him the twot ime All Star lefty said Sunday . Im not going to deny it. Im not trying to injure the guy. Theyre probably not going to like me for it but Im not going to say I wasnt trying to do it. I think they understood the message and they threw it right back. Thats the way and I respect it.Hamels began serving his suspension Monday night.  Cliff Lee is expected to come off the disabled list and start Wednesday coupled with Thursdays day off Hamels really wont miss a turn in the rotation.Roy Halladay will likely pitch on regular rest Saturday and Hamels would then start Sunday against the San Diego Padres.

hostage tells obama :my life is in your hands

Al- Queda has released a video that a american hostage Warren Weinstein says he will be killed unless President Obama meets the terrorist groups demands."My life is in your hands, Mr. President," Weinstein says. "If you accept the demands I live if you don't accept the demands then I die."Those are demands a stop of U.S airstrikes in Afghanistan Pakistan Somalia and Yemen as well as release of all al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners.Weinstein also says  its important you accept the demands and act quickly and don't delay.Therell be no benefit in delaying it will just make things more difficult for me he said.In what may have been a speech written by his captors Weinstein says that if Obama complies "then I will live and hopefully rejoin my family and also enjoy my children, my two daughters, like you enjoy your two daughters.

us soldier dies during skype chat with wife

US Army investigators have found no bullet wound and have no evidence of foul play in the death of a soldier in Afghanistan during a Skype video chat with his wife.Captain Bruce Kevin Clarks wife said her husband fell forward during the video session last week and that she saw a bullet hole in the closet behind him raising the question of whether he had been shot.But Christopher Grey, a spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command said today that no bullet wound was found in Capt Clarks body.A post examination is being conducted to find out  the cause of death and the investigation is still under way Mr Grey said.But they said the most important thing is that there was no bullet wound or trauma except that Capt Clarks nose was possibly broken when he fell on his desk Mr Grey said.Capt Clarks family released a statement describing what his wife saw in the video feed recording her husbands death in Tarin Kowt Afghanistan.The closet behind him had a bullet hole in it the statement said adding that others individuals including a member of the military who rushed to the Texas home of Capt Clark’s wife also believed it was a bullet hole.The statement said the Skype link remained open for two hours on April 30 as family and friends in the US and Afghanistan tried to get help.After two hours and many frantic phone calls by Mrs Clark two military personnel arrived in the room and appeared to check his pulse but provided no details about his condition to his wife the statement said.

dinasour flatulence may have warmed earth

In a major new climate finding, researchers have calculated that dinosaur flatulence could have put enough methane into the atmosphere to warm the planet during the hot, wet Mesozoic era.Like gigantic, long-necked, prehistoric cows, sauropod dinosaurs roamed widely around the Earth 150 million years ago, scientists reported in the journal Current Biology on Monday.And just like big cows, their plant digestion was aided by methane-producing microbes."A simple mathematical model suggests that the microbes living in sauropod dinosaurs may have produced enough methane to have an important effect on the Mesozoic climate, researcher Dave Wilkinson of Liverpool John Moores University said in a sentence.Calculations suggest that these dinosaurs could have produced more methane than all modern sources  both natural and man made  put together Wilkinson said Methane is a bad greenhouse gas with as much as 25 times the climate warming potential as carbon dioxide.This gas is enough of a factor in modern global warming that scientists have worked to figure out how much methane is given out by cows  sheep and other plant eating animals.The discovery raised questions about whether the same thing could have happened in the distant past.

Terrell Suggs injury gives huge opportunity to courtney upshaw

Last weekend, the Ravens drafted Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw to complement Terrell Suggs, the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. But after todays  news, Upshaw might have to try to replace him  if not at his position then at least in terms of impact.Suggs has sustained an injury to his achilles tendon reportedly while playing basketball in Arizona. It could be a tweak or a partial tear. Or it could also be a full tear which would likely sideline him for all of 2012. Suggs will get checked out in a few days and the Ravens asked for caution as they await an answer.We are in contact with Terrell. He will see a specialist early next week and well know more at that time the team said in a news release. At the sun newsmaker forum Ravens director of player personnel Eric DeCosta said Its hard for rookies to play right away but he also added that given the draft status of Upshaw the teams first pick  who was taken early in the second round he was the rookie most likely to contribute right away.And as Ravens coach John Harbaugh obviously pointed out at a news conference Saturday You are always one play away from being a starter anyway. If the injury to Suggs is as serious as the Ravens fear they might have no choice but to rush Upshaw into the starting lineup. He was expected to compete with Paul Kruger for the starting strong-side linebacker job that used to belong to Jarret Johnson. Albert McClellan who played well as an undrafted rookie in 2011 and Sergio Kindle who is not guaranteed a roster spot for this season were also supposed to be in the mix.