BEIJING (Reuters) - China's parliament passed a landmark property rights bill on Friday as its annual session closed after debates centered on Premier Wen Jiabao's drive to limit growth with energy saving and spending on the countryside.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Takafumi Horie, the 34-year-old Internet entrepreneur who rattled corporate Japan with his celebrity lifestyle and brash takeover bids, was found guilty and sentenced to two years and six months in jail on Friday for his role in a securities fraud at his former company Livedoor.

AP - FBI agents raided the North American headquarters of Japan's All Nippon Airways on Thursday, authorities said.

AP - Actor-comedian Sinbad had the last laugh after his Wikipedia entry announced he was dead, the performer said Thursday. Rumors began circulating Saturday regarding the posting, said Sinbad, who first got a telephone call from his daughter. The gossip quieted, but a few days later the 50-year-old entertainer said the phone calls, text messages and e-mails started pouring in by the hundreds.

Reuters - China's parliament passed a landmark property rights bill on Friday as its annual session closed after debates centered on Premier Wen Jiabao's drive to limit growth with energy saving and spending on the countryside.

Reuters - Takafumi Horie, the 34-year-old Internet entrepreneur who rattled corporate Japan with his celebrity lifestyle and brash takeover bids, was found guilty and sentenced to two years and six months in jail on Friday for his role in a securities fraud at his former company Livedoor.

AFP - US negotiator Christopher Hill said Friday that a dispute over financial sanctions against North Korea had been resolved, clearing the way for progress in dismantling its nuclear weapons drive.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's parliament passed a landmark property rights bill on Friday as its annual session closed after debates centered on Premier Wen Jiabao's drive to limit growth with energy saving and spending on the countryside.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli army will investigate allegations its soldiers used Palestinian civilians as human shields during an operation in the West Bank town of Nablus two weeks ago, the army said on Friday.

AP - New sanctions agreed on by the major powers at the U.N. are unlikely to hurt Iran much, serving more as a signal to Tehran that worse could come, analysts say.

AP - The White House is being pulled further into the intensifying probe over federal prosecutor firings amid new questions about top political adviser Karl Rove's role and as GOP support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales erodes.

AP - Duke's decade-long domination in the NCAA tournament has come to an end. In the opening round.

Reuters - The Israeli army will investigate allegations its soldiers used Palestinian civilians as human shields during an operation in the West Bank town of Nablus two weeks ago, the army said on Friday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Nuclear negotiators gathering in Beijing will turn their focus to implementing a disarmament agreement with North Korea, the chief U.S. envoy said on Friday, seeking to bury a rift with China over a small Macau bank.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear fuel cycle, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday, a day after the United Nations agreed on new sanctions against Tehran over its atomic program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - This has been the world's warmest winter since record-keeping began more than a century ago, the U.S. government agency that tracks weather reported on Thursday.

AP - Six major powers sent a strong signal to Iran that they remain united in seeking to rein in its nuclear ambitions, compromising on a sanctions package to step up pressure on the Islamic republic to suspend uranium enrichment.

AP - The top U.S. nuclear envoy said Friday a dispute on North Korean funds held in a Macau bank has been resolved, potentially removing a key stumbling block that has bedeviled progress on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

AP - Israeli leaders criticized the new Palestinian unity government Friday, charging that the Hamas-Fatah coalition did not meet international conditions, including recognizing the Jewish state's right to exist.

AP - Democratic lawmakers are eager to hear from outed CIA operative Valerie Plame as they try to make political fodder out of the 2003 leak scandal.

AP - A week of searching for a missing 6-year-old in coastal Georgia ended with heartbreak for the boy's father and dozens of police and volunteers who looked for the youngster.

Reuters - Nuclear negotiators gathering in Beijing will turn their focus to implementing a disarmament agreement with North Korea, the chief U.S. envoy said on Friday, seeking to bury a rift with China over a small Macau bank.

Reuters - Iran will not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear fuel cycle, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday, a day after the United Nations agreed on new sanctions against Tehran over its atomic program.

Reuters - This has been the world's warmest winter since record-keeping began more than a century ago, the U.S. government agency that tracks weather reported on Thursday.

AFP - Disgraced dotcom tycoon Takafumi Horie was released on bail Friday pending an appeal, hours after he was convicted in a fraud scandal, a court said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Nuclear negotiators gathering in Beijing will turn their focus to implementing a disarmament agreement with North Korea, the chief U.S. envoy said on Friday, seeking to bury a rift with China over a small Macau bank.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The mayor of Sadr City, a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad, was wounded when gunmen opened fire on his car and a senior police officer was killed, Iraqi and U.S. officials said on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - The death of a British soldier mistakenly killed by a U.S. air strike in Iraq four years ago was 'unlawful and criminal' and 'entirely avoidable', a British inquest found on Friday, media reports said.

AP - JetBlue canceled 215 flights Friday because of a winter storm on the East Coast, aiming to avoid the days of cancellations and criticism that followed a storm last month, an airline spokesman said.

AP - The White House is being pulled further into the intensifying probe over federal prosecutor firings amid new questions about top political adviser Karl Rove's role and as GOP support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales erodes.

AP - U.S. stock futures pointed to a moderately lower opening early Friday as investors awaited further data on inflation and as overseas markets fell.

Reuters - Nuclear negotiators gathering in Beijing will turn their focus to implementing a disarmament agreement with North Korea, the chief U.S. envoy said on Friday, seeking to bury a rift with China over a small Macau bank.

Reuters - The mayor of Sadr City, a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad, was wounded when gunmen opened fire on his car and a senior police officer was killed, Iraqi and U.S. officials said on Friday.

Reuters - The death of a British soldier mistakenly killed by a U.S. air strike in Iraq four years ago was "unlawful and criminal" and "entirely avoidable," a British inquest found on Friday, media reports said.

AFP - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai left hospital in a wheelchair on Friday after being treated for head injuries sustained at the hands of President Robert Mugabe's security services.

AFP - Disgraced dotcom tycoon Takafumi Horie was convicted of fraud Friday and sentenced to two and a half years in prison over a scandal that put Japan's new generation of free-wheeling capitalists on trial.

BOSTON (Reuters) - The home loan for Thomas Hilchey and fiancee Robin Crevier started with a 'teaser' -- an attractive interest rate for two years with a monthly payment of $1,692 that was well within their budget.

AP - Consumer inflation spurted higher in February, reflecting rising costs for gasoline and big jumps for food, while industrial output rebounded sharply, in large part because of the biggest jump in utility production in 17 years.

Reuters - The home loan for Thomas Hilchey and fiancee Robin Crevier started with a "teaser" -- an attractive interest rate for two years with a monthly payment of $1,692 that was well within their budget.

AFP - Disgraced dotcom tycoon Takafumi Horie was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison over a fraud scandal that also put Japan's new generation of free-wheeling capitalists on trial.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA officer at the heart of the criminal probe that reached deep into the White House told U.S. lawmakers on Friday that senior officials at the White House and State Department 'carelessly and recklessly' blew her cover to discredit her diplomat husband.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Nuclear talks in Beijing over coming days will focus on ensuring an initial disarmament deal with North Korea maintains momentum, the chief U.S. envoy said on Friday, seeking to set aside a rift with China.

LONDON (Reuters) - A British coroner ruled on Friday that a U.S. friendly fire air strike that killed a British soldier was 'criminal', a scathing verdict in a case that has exposed rifts between the Iraq allies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Winter returned to the northeastern United States on Friday after a period of spring-like weather with snowstorms forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.

AP - Valerie Plame, the CIA operative at the heart of a political scandal, told Congress Friday that senior officials at the White House and State Department 'carelessly and recklessly' blew her cover to discredit her diplomat-husband.

AP - The U.S. will approve Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's request for a visa so he can visit the U.N. as the Security Council moves to impose additional sanctions against his country for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

AP - Some 2,600 soldiers from a combat aviation unit will go to Iraq ahead of schedule, part of the support troops the Pentagon has said are needed to back the extra combat units President Bush is sending there.

AP - China's legislators on Friday passed a law providing the most sweeping protection for private businesses and property since the nation's move toward a more capitalist-style economy beginning in the late 1970s.

AP - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is dropping its bid to establish a bank after months of heated debate over whether the world's largest retailer should be allowed to gain the added financial power of a federally insured bank.

AP - Richard Hatch, who won $1 million on 'Survivor,' says being in prison for failing to pay taxes on his reality TV prize and other income is no day at the beach.

Reuters - The CIA officer at the heart of the criminal probe that reached deep into the White House told U.S. lawmakers on Friday that senior officials at the White House and State Department "carelessly and recklessly" blew her cover to discredit her diplomat husband.

Reuters - Nuclear talks in Beijing over coming days will focus on ensuring an initial disarmament deal with North Korea maintains momentum, the chief U.S. envoy said on Friday, seeking to set aside a rift with China.

Reuters - A British coroner ruled on Friday that a U.S. friendly fire air strike that killed a British soldier was "criminal," a scathing verdict in a case that has exposed rifts between the Iraq allies.

Reuters - Winter returned to the northeastern United States on Friday after a period of spring-like weather with snowstorms forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.

AFP - Pakistan riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters and arrested dozens of people Friday as they tried to contain angry protests over the sacking of the nation's top judge.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it will handle a visa request from Iran's president to appear at the United Nations quickly and hoped he would use any trip to open talks with the West on Iran's nuclear program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ex-CIA spy at the heart of a scandal that snared Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide said on Friday her undercover career was cut short when Bush administration officials revealed her identity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday said no decision had been made on whether to let top political strategist Karl Rove testify to Congress in the flap over U.S. prosecutor firings that is prompting calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' ouster.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is sending an additional Army brigade of 2,600 troops to Iraq, raising the number of soldiers approved for President George W. Bush's security plan to nearly 30,000, a senior defense official said on Friday.

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Adm. William Fallon took over on Friday as new U.S. commander for the region that includes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and said the situation in Iraq was critical.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged his followers on Friday to oppose occupying troops, raising the pressure on U.S.-backed Iraqi forces conducting a security crackdown in Baghdad.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The federal judge who sanctioned cigarette makers last year for violating U.S. racketeering laws ruled on Friday that some marketing restrictions she imposed should apply outside the United States.

AP - Members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said 'parents and children have nothing to fear.'

AP - The U.S. is ready to defend its interests in the Middle East for decades to come, even though the Iraq war has been tougher than expected, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

AP - Women seeking abortions in South Carolina would be required to view an ultrasound image of their fetus before the procedure under a proposal gaining support from lawmakers. If enacted, it would be the first law of its kind in the nation.

AP - Kelly Ripa says Regis Philbin, her co-host on 'Live With Regis and Kelly,' is in good shape after having heart bypass surgery this week.

AP - The French Open will award equal prize money to male and female players throughout the tournament, falling in line with the three other Grand Slam tournaments.

Reuters - The United States said on Friday it will handle a visa request from Iran's president to appear at the United Nations quickly and hoped he would use any trip to open talks with the West on Iran's nuclear program.

Reuters - The White House on Friday said no decision had been made on whether to let top political strategist Karl Rove testify to Congress in the flap over U.S. prosecutor firings that is prompting calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' ouster.

Reuters - The Pentagon is sending an additional Army brigade of 2,600 troops to Iraq, raising the number of soldiers approved for President George W. Bush's security plan to nearly 30,000, a senior defense official said on Friday.

Reuters - Radical Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged his followers on Friday to oppose occupying troops, raising the pressure on U.S.-backed Iraqi forces conducting a security crackdown in Baghdad.

Reuters - The federal judge who sanctioned cigarette makers last year for violating U.S. racketeering laws ruled on Friday that some marketing restrictions she imposed should apply outside the United States.

AFP - Zimbabwe's opposition have vowed to finish off its campaign to topple President Robert Mugabe as its leader left hospital in a wheelchair on Friday, following his beating at the hands of the security services.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Friday accepted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's request to defend his country's nuclear program when the 15-nation body votes on arms and financial sanctions against Tehran.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Please be advised that the story reporting a meeting between Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and President Bush on Saturday is wrong. The two leaders met on Friday. There will be no substitute story.

AP - Valerie Plame, the CIA operative at the heart of a political scandal, told Congress Friday that senior officials at the White House and State Department 'carelessly and recklessly' blew her cover to discredit her diplomat-husband.

AP - A grand jury Friday indicted at least three of the five police officers whose 50-shot barrage killed an unarmed man on his wedding day, lawyers for the officers said. It was not immediately disclosed if the other officers were also charged.

AP - Two senators who watched Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confess to planning the Sept. 11 attacks and other plots said Friday that his allegations of mistreatment by U.S. captors should be taken seriously and investigated.

AP - How tough could this be? That's what Fox reality show guru Mike Darnell thought when the people pitching 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?' asked him to answer six questions they would use on the game. Three wrong answers later, a hit show was born.

AP - Say what you want about Memphis not beating anyone. John Calipari's team just keeps winning. With the shooting of Chris Douglas-Roberts and the inside presence of Joey Dorsey and Robert Dozier, the Tigers made it 23 straight wins Friday by beating North Texas 73-58 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Reuters - The U.N. Security Council on Friday accepted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's request to defend his country's nuclear program when the 15-nation body votes on arms and financial sanctions against Tehran.

Reuters - The ex-CIA spy at the heart of a scandal that snared Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide said on Friday her undercover career was cut short when Bush administration officials revealed her identity.

Reuters - Adm. William Fallon took over on Friday as new U.S. commander for the region that includes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and said the situation in Iraq was critical.

AFP - UN atomic chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Friday that he hoped an April 13 deadline could be met for starting to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program despite the current stalemate.

AFP - Shiite protesters Friday demanded the removal of a US military base from Sadr City in east Baghdad as US commanders reported a surge of attacks on troops in a province near the capital.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday no decision had been made on whether to let political strategist Karl Rove testify to Congress over the firing of U.S. prosecutors that is prompting calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ex-CIA spy whose unmasking led to the conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide broke her silence on Friday to accuse the Bush administration of destroying her career for political reasons.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York police officers will be indicted on Monday on criminal charges for firing 50 shots at three unarmed black men, killing one of them on his wedding day, police sources said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Big U.S. airlines and their affiliates canceled more than 2,000 flights on Friday as a late-winter storm hit the Northeast's biggest cities, airline and government officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has decided to leave the door open to some contact with the proposed Palestinian finance minister even if the government he plans to join fails to recognize Israel, renounce violence and respect past peace deals, two U.S. officials said on Friday.

AP - Valerie Plame put a glamorous face and a personal story to Democrats' criticism of the Bush administration Friday, telling a House committee that White House and State Department officials 'carelessly and recklessly' blew her CIA cover in a politically motivated smear of her husband.

AP - The White House dropped its contention Friday that former Counsel Harriet Miers first raised the idea of firing U.S. attorneys, blaming 'hazy memories' as e-mails shed new light on Karl Rove's role. Support eroded further for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

AP - Three of the five policemen whose 50-bullet barrage killed an unarmed man on his wedding day were indicted Friday in a case that heightened racial tensions and renewed allegations that the city's officers are too fast on the trigger.

AP - Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, 'Parents and children have nothing to fear.'

AP - A federal judge ruled Friday that a former escort service owner cannot sell phone records and other company records, saving about 15,000 clients from possible public embarrassment.

AP - Chest compression — not mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — seems to be the key in helping someone recover from cardiac arrest, according to new research that further bolsters advice from heart experts.

AP - Wall Street slumped Friday after another reading on inflation deflated hopes the Federal Reserve will start moving toward an interest rate cut when it meets next week. The major indexes suffered moderate losses for the week.

AP - Wisconsin looked liked the NCAA tournament rookies, at least at the start. Flustered for most of the first half, the Badgers overcame an 18-point deficit to beat 15th-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 76-63 Friday in the opening round of the Midwest Region.

Reuters - The White House said on Friday no decision had been made on whether to let political strategist Karl Rove testify to Congress over the firing of U.S. prosecutors that is prompting calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down.

Reuters - The ex-CIA spy whose unmasking led to the conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide broke her silence on Friday to accuse the Bush administration of destroying her career for political reasons.

Reuters - Three New York police officers will be indicted on Monday on criminal charges for firing 50 shots at three unarmed black men, killing one of them on his wedding day, police sources said on Friday.

Reuters - Big U.S. airlines and their affiliates canceled more than 2,000 flights on Friday as a late-winter storm hit the Northeast's biggest cities, airline and government officials said.

Reuters - The United States has decided to leave the door open to some contact with the proposed Palestinian finance minister even if the government he plans to join fails to recognize Israel, renounce violence and respect past peace deals, two U.S. officials said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York police officers will be indicted on Monday on criminal charges for firing 50 shots at three unarmed black men, killing one on his wedding day, the head of a detectives' union said on Friday.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Defense lawyers want the word 'terrorist' banned as too inflammatory in the U.S. trial of Jose Padilla and two other men charged with conspiring to aid Islamist extremists overseas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Friday thanked Saudi King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for participating in a recent conference on Iraq and discussed Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, the White House said.

AP - The White House dropped its contention Friday that former Counsel Harriet Miers first raised the idea of firing U.S. attorneys, blaming 'hazy memories' as e-mails shed new light on Karl Rove's role. Support eroded further for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

AP - Like a bloodsucking mosquito, the hemlock woolly adelgid plunges its needle-like mouth deep into the branches of hemlock trees and slowly sucks out the nutrients. The pest's telltale sign is the touch of frost-like wool it produces near tree needles, but the real signal of its wrath comes when the evergreen trees die about a decade later.

AP - Wisconsin seemed in a daze, almost like jittery rookies playing in their first NCAA tournament. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the newcomer to college basketball's biggest event, looked like the veterans — at least at the start.

Reuters - Three New York police officers will be indicted on Monday on criminal charges for firing 50 shots at three unarmed black men, killing one on his wedding day, the head of a detectives' union said on Friday.

Reuters - Defense lawyers want the word "terrorist" banned as too inflammatory in the U.S. trial of Jose Padilla and two other men charged with conspiring to aid Islamist extremists overseas.

AP - Outraged Colombians called Friday for the United States to extradite American banana executives after the Cincinnati-based fruit giant Chiquita acknowledged paying money for protection to illegal groups that carried out killings.

AP - SkyWest Airlines apologized to a passenger who said he wasn't allowed to use the restroom during a one-hour flight and ended up urinating in an air-sickness bag after two 'really big beers.'

AP - No first-round exit for Kansas this time. The fast-breaking and top-seeded Jayhawks took care of that early Friday night, running out to a 25-point halftime lead and routing Niagara 107-67 in the West Regional.

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea's chief nuclear envoy said on Saturday his country would not stop its nuclear development program until the United States first lifted financial curbs on North Korean accounts in a Macau bank.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators who observed the military hearing of an Al Qaeda suspect at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said on Friday the man's allegations of mistreatment should be investigated.

AP - A jury finds a soldier guilty of three counts of negligent homicide in the deaths of three Iraqi detainees.

AP - The Florida Gators waited all season for the NCAA tournament. They waited an extra 20 minutes to show up once it started. The top-seeded Gators responded from a lackluster first half with the best half in school history and routed Jackson State 112-69 in the opening round Friday night.

Reuters - North Korea's chief nuclear envoy said on Saturday his country would not stop its nuclear development program until the United States first lifted financial curbs on North Korean accounts in a Macau bank.

Reuters - Two U.S. senators who observed the military hearing of an Al Qaeda suspect at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said on Friday the man's allegations of mistreatment should be investigated.

AFP - North Korea will not shut down its nuclear facilities until the United States releases all funds frozen in a Macau bank, the communist state's chief nuclear negotiator said Saturday.