AP Top News at 4:14 a.m. EST

Round 2: Snow slams Mid-Atlantic, points north

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Plows that have been rolling around the clock for days in the nation's capital, Philadelphia and Baltimore won't be heading for the garage any time soon as a second major storm in a week moved into the snowbound region Wednesday. Snow was falling from northern Virginia to Connecticut by early Wednesday. The storm started in the Midwest, where it was blamed for three traffic accident deaths in Michigan on Tuesday.

Obama, Palin trade telling jibes over crib sheets

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The jokes about Barack Obama's close relationship with his teleprompter have been constant since he became president. Rush Limbaugh's poked fun at it on the radio. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi bantered about it during an international summit. Obama himself skewered his affinity for the speaking crutch in an appearance before reporters.

Doctor says vendor may have been in rubble 27 days

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - The tale seems dubious: that a rice vendor survived 27 days trapped under the rubble of a flea market following Haiti's devastating earthquake. Skeptical health workers said no one could live that long without water and the last confirmed survivor found was a 16-year-old girl removed from rubble 15 days after the Jan. 12 quake. The only sources for the story were the two Haitian men who showed up at a clinic carrying the vendor, dehydrated and malnourished with rail-thin legs.

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Honda adds 437,000 cars to global air bag recall

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TOKYO (AP) - Honda Motor Co. is adding 437,000 vehicles to its 15-month-old global recall for faulty air bags in the latest quality problem to hit a Japanese automaker. The company will replace the driver's side air bag inflator in the cars because they can deploy with too much pressure, causing the inflator to rupture and injure or kill the driver.

New report: Consumers spent modestly in January

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NEW YORK (AP) - Americans backed off from holiday spending in January, but retail sales rose for a third month in a row compared with a year earlier, largely because of gas price hikes, according to figures released Wednesday by a key data service. Including goods from food to clothing to gasoline - but excluding cars - U.S. retail sales rose 3.6 percent from January 2009, according to MasterCard Advisor's SpendingPulse, which offer an estimate of spending in all forms including cash.

Iran rewards Basij militia with political clout

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - During an Iranian government meeting late last month, a top adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brought a proposal to expand the political voice of a group more known for its street muscle: the civilian militia corps called the Basij. The motion passed easily, according to pro-government Web sites.

Space shuttle Endeavour pulls in at space station

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Shuttle Endeavour arrived to a warm welcome at the International Space Station early Wednesday, delivering a new room and observation deck that will come close to completing construction 200 miles above Earth. The midnight rendezvous occurred as the two spacecraft sailed over the Atlantic, just west of Portugal. It took longer than normal to lock the shuttle and station together because of the relative motion between the two. The space station's five residents filled the time, before their guests came aboard, by trying out camera angles and interviewing one another.

AP sources: FAA eyes hefty fines for American
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration is close to wrapping up a two-year investigation of safety violations at American Airlines that could result in one of the largest fines in the agency's history, according to government and industry officials familiar with the investigation. Separately, the Transportation Department's inspector general is due to release an audit in the next several days that criticizes FAA for lax oversight of aircraft maintenance at American, the officials said Tuesday.


Fans delighted by DeGeneres' 'Idol' debut

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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ellen DeGeneres hit the right notes with "American Idol" viewers. Fans took to the Internet to express their pleasant surprise over the 52-year-old funnylady's debut as the singing competition's fourth judge. DeGeneres assumed her judging panel post for Tuesday's episode chronicling the first round of "Hollywood Week," the cutthroat post-audition phase in which 181 contestants will be narrowed down to 24 semifinalists.

Carmelo returns to help Nuggets beat Mavs, 127-91

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DENVER (AP) - Carmelo Anthony scored 19 points in his return from an ankle injury and the Denver Nuggets had their biggest win of the season, routing the Dallas Mavericks 127-91 on Tuesday night. Anthony, the NBA's second-leading scorer, returned after missing eight consecutive games with a left ankle sprain. However, the Nuggets were without Kenyon Martin, who missed the game because of tendinitis in his left knee.

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