Relentless fighting continues in Lebanon’s Tripoli

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Gunbattles between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad continued unabated in Tripoli, north Lebanon, Friday with the sound of explosions rocking many parts of the city.

There were no overall casualty figures immediately available, but at least nine people were wounded, including six Lebanese Army soldiers, in the fighting that has continued sporadically well into Thursday.

Fighting intensified after midnight as the warring sides traded mortar bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and B-10 recoilless rifles.

According to security sources, a roadside bomb wounded several soldiers patrolling the Tripoli neighborhood of Bab al-Raml.

More to follow ...

With health law, workers ponder the I-Quit option

By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press

CHICAGO -- For uninsured people, the nation's new health care law may offer an escape from worry about unexpected, astronomical medical bills. But for Stephanie Payne of St. Louis, who already had good insurance, the law could offer another kind of escape: the chance to quit her job.

At 62, Payne has worked for three decades as a nurse, most recently traveling house to house caring for 30 elderly and disabled patients. But she's ready to leave that behind, including the job-based health benefits, to move to Oregon and promote her self-published book. She envisions herself blogging, doing radio interviews and speaking to seniors groups.

"I want the freedom to fit that into my day without squeezing it into my day," she said.

One of the selling points of the new health care plan, which has a March 31 enrollment deadline, is that it breaks the link between affordable health insurance and having a job with benefits. Payne believes she'll be able to replace her current coverage with a $400- to $500-a-month plan on Oregon's version of the new insurance exchange system set up under the law.

Federal experts believe the new insurance option will be a powerful temptation for a lot of job-weary workers ready to bail out. Last month, congressional budget analysts estimated that within 10 years, the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time workers could be working less because of the expanded coverage.

But is the new option a gamble? That's a matter of debate, not only among the politicians who are still arguing furiously over the law's merits, but among economists and industry experts.

"We don't know what the future of exchange insurance will be," said economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a center-right public policy institute. Premiums should remain stable if enrollment picks up and broadens to include younger, healthier people. But if older, sicker people are the vast majority of customers, prices eventually could spike.

For Mike Morucci, 50, the idea of leaving his information technology job and its health benefits is "terrifying," he said.

But he decided to take the plunge after reviewing the range of coverage available at different price points. Tax credits will help those with moderate incomes pay their insurance premiums. And coverage is guaranteed even for those with pre-existing conditions. Twenty-five states also agreed to expand their Medicaid programs, providing health care for more low-income people.

"It definitely freed up my thinking when I thought, 'Do I want to give this a go?'" Morucci, of Ellicott City, Md.

Morucci has been writing scripts at night and on weekends for four years and is on a team of writers for a web-based comedy series titled "Click!" launching this spring. Before giving notice at the job he had held for 18 years, he made a spreadsheet of health plans available on the Maryland exchange and found one for $650 a month to cover him and his 23-year-old daughter.

"I turned 50, so for me it's time to focus on my passion instead of my paycheck," he said.

The United States has been unique among industrialized nations in tying insurance and employment closely, said labor economist Craig Garthwaite of Northwestern University, who co-authored a frequently cited study on how the health law may break what's known as "job lock." Even in Germany and Japan, where insurance remains private, people who can't afford it get public assistance and coverage is guaranteed.

Job lock "forces people to work at jobs that are not suited to their talents just to get benefits," Garthwaite said. "Economists tend to think that's a bad thing."

In congressional testimony this month, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that "people will have some choices that they don't have today" including farm families who "will have the choice of not having to have an off-farm job to get health insurance for the family."

However, one rub may be the cost. The insurance on the new marketplace is often more expensive than what a worker has now because employers often make large contributions to premiums.

The average annual premium paid by an employee is $999, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey. In the new markets, the average annual premium is $5,558 for a 50-year-old and $8,435 for a 60-year-old, according to an analysis run for The Associated Press by HealthPocket.

But some employers are cutting back on their contributions, narrowing the gap.

At this point, Americans over age 50 are most likely to take advantage of the new freedom, Garthwaite said. They're ready for a career change and may have enough savings to take a risk.

Pamela Mahoney, 50, of Los Gatos, Calif., decided to leave a job in corporate communications when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the health care law.

"I about did cartwheels down the hall," she said of hearing the court's decision. In January, she joined her husband full time in the communications company, BlueChair Group Inc., they co-founded. They recently chose an insurance plan for $1,100 a month on the California marketplace.

She was able to get coverage despite having asthma, a pre-existing condition that might have made her uninsurable before the new law guaranteed coverage.

"Prior to the Affordable Care Act, I felt bound to be an employee rather than a small business owner," she said. "There's something to be said for having your own business and being in control of your own destiny."

Associated Press Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson can be reached at http://bit.ly/1ikVWmM

Air search expands in remote south Indian Ocean

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- The first plane sent Friday to fly over one of the remotest places on Earth returned empty handed from its hunt through rough seas for objects that may be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, Australian officials said.

Another three planes were still in the area trying to help solve the nearly 2-week-old aviation mystery, and another was on the way to look for two large objects a satellite detected floating off the southwest coast of Australia about halfway to the desolate islands of the Antarctic.

The area in the southern Indian Ocean is so remote is takes aircraft longer to fly there — four hours — than it allows for the search.

The satellite discovery raised new hope of finding the vanished jet and sent another emotional jolt to the families of the 239 people aboard.

A search Thursday with four planes in cloud and rain found nothing, and so far efforts Friday were the same, with a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion plane flying back to Australia.

Two more Orions and an ultra-long-range Bombardier Global Express were still scouring the area 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) from western Australia, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. A U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft also was in the air, but like the other planes, once it arrives it will have enough fuel for only two to three hours of search time before returning to Perth.

Lisa Martin, spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, said weather conditions were getting better as the day wore on, with moderate seas and some cloud cover, and improving visibility.

Mike Yardley, an air commodore with New Zealand's air force, said the search Thursday was hampered when an Orion was forced to duck below thick clouds and fog to a very low altitude of 60 meters (200 feet).

But Yardley was optimistic that the searchers will find the objects. "We will find it — I'm sure about that piece of it. The only reason we wouldn't find it was that it has sunk," he said of the large unidentified object spotted by the satellite.

"I've been on these missions before when it's taken a few days to come across it," he said.

Speaking at a news conference in Papua New Guinea, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, "We've been throwing everything we've got at that area to try to learn more about what this debris might be."

He said that the objects "could just be a container that's fallen off a ship — we just don't know."

Abbott spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he described as "devastated." Of the 227 passengers on the missing flight, 154 were from China.

"It's about the most inaccessible spot that you could imagine on the face of the earth, but if there is anything down there we will find it. We owe it to the families of those people to do no less," Abbott said.

One of the objects on the satellite image was 24 meters (almost 80 feet) long — which is longer than a standard container — and the other was 5 meters (15 feet).

The Norwegian cargo vessel Hoegh St. Petersburg, with a Filipino crew of 20, arrived in the area and used lights to search overnight before resuming a visual search Friday, said Ingar Skiaker of Hoegh Autoliners, speaking to reporters in Oslo.

The Norwegian ship, which transports cars, was on its way from South Africa to Australia, he said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said another commercial ship and an Australian navy vessel were also en route to the search area.

Three Chinese naval ships were heading to the area, along with the icebreaker Snow Dragon, China's state television reported. The icebreaker was in Perth following a voyage to the Antarctica in January, but it wasn't clear when the other ships would get there.

There have been several false leads since the Boeing 777 disappeared March 8 above the Gulf of Thailand en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and one analyst cautioned against rising hopes the objects are from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

"The chances of it being debris from the airplane are probably small, and the chances of it being debris from other shipping are probably large," said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

The development also marked a new phase for the anguished relatives of the passengers, who have been critical of Malaysian officials for what the relatives say has been the slow release of timely information.

The hunt has encountered other false leads. Oil slicks that were seen did not contain jet fuel. A yellow object thought to be from the plane turned out to be sea trash. Chinese satellite images showed possible debris, but nothing was found.

Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation for what happened to the jet, but have said the evidence so far suggests it was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.

Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board.

Gelineau reported from Sydney, Australia. Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk and Todd Pitman in Kuala Lumpur; Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand; and Julia Gronnevet in Oslo, Norway, contributed to this report.

Mt. Gox finds 200,000 missing bitcoins

Bankrupt bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox said it found 200,000 bitcoins, which were previously thought stolen, in disused electronic wallets. Another 650,000 bitcoins still remain unaccounted for.

The Tokyo-based company said in a statement posted on its website Thursday that the 200,000 bitcoins were identified Mar. 7 after "old format" wallets were searched as part of Mt. Gox's bankruptcy proceedings.

The online exchange for the virtual currency was unplugged in late February as rumors of its insolvency swirled, adding to doubts about the viability of bitcoins overall.

It then filed for bankruptcy protection in Tokyo and said nearly all its 850,000 bitcoins were missing, most likely as a result of theft. About 750,000 of the bitcoins belonged to people who used the Mt. Gox exchange.

At current prices, the rediscovered bitcoins have a market value of about $120 million.

Mt. Gox's problems have been a setback for bitcoin, a virtual currency that has grown in popularity since its 2009 creation as a way to make transactions across borders without third parties such as banks.

The restoration of some of the missing virtual currency is potentially good news for bitcoin enthusiasts who invested at Mt. Gox but also raises further questions about the running of the exchange.

Mt. Gox's statement said the 200,000 bitcoins had been moved to offline wallets. It didn't specify the type but offline wallets include USB sticks and paper documents.

Group challenges New England energy coordination

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A Boston environmental group is challenging how energy policy is coordinated by New England's six governors.

The Conservation Law Foundation has submitted public records requests in the region's six states. It says a plan by the governors "appears to be the product of backroom deal-making rather than sound public policy informed by open dialogue."

The governors in January announced a plan to expand natural gas use. They asked the region's grid operator, ISO-New England, for technical help to seek proposals to build transmission equipment and public works to deliver electricity to up to 3.6 million homes. They also asked ISO to figure out how to finance the project.

Connecticut and Vermont energy officials said the governors have been transparent in coordinating a policy and that their efforts are only beginning.

Soaring Lime Prices Put Squeeze On Restaurants, Food Lovers

Audio for this story from Tell Me More will be available at approximately 3:00 p.m. ET.

The price of limes in the U.S. is skyrocketing, and that could have something to do with Mexico's drug war. Gustavo Arellano explains why. He writes the syndicated column "Ask a Mexican."

Silverdome seats, signs and more up for auction

PONTIAC, Mich. -- Seats, signs and even urinals from the Detroit Lions' former home will be going up for auction.

The Pontiac Silverdome is owned by Triple Investment Group, which says the auction will be held May 12-16.

Plymouth-based RJM Auctions will oversee the auction. A pre-auction sale of Silverdome seats began this week, with prices starting at $100 each.

RJM Auctions facilities manager Jim Passeno tells the Detroit Free Press that if buyers are willing to pay, then every seat will be sold.

The Silverdome had 80,000 seats, although some are thought to have weather damage after much of the stadium's roof was shredded by a winter storm early last year.

The Silverdome opened in 1975. It has been used only sporadically since 2002, when the Lions moved to Ford Field downtown.

US envoy: Cyprus peace may ease Europe gas fears

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- The U.S. ambassador to Cyprus says an agreement to reunify the ethnically split island could ease the supply of newly-found offshore gas to Europe by allowing it to go through Turkey.

John Koenig says that easier access to eastern Mediterranean gas deposits after a peace accord would help diversify Europe's energy sources and feed the needs of energy-hungry Turkey.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Koenig said a peace deal could also boost bailed-out Cyprus' ailing economy, years before the Mediterranean island nation starts reaping its potential gas rewards.

Turkey doesn't recognize Cyprus as a sovereign country. Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Airbus boss calls for improved aircraft tracking

PARIS -- The head of European jet maker Airbus has added his voice to calls for improving the systems used to track and locate aircraft and their data recorders, following the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.

Fabrice Bregier says Airbus is working to develop deployable black boxes or other systems that could help investigators find the recorders following an accident or disappearance.

Bregier said Thursday: "We have to be able to find the black boxes, it's indispensable." He said increasing the frequency of automated messaging between aircraft and the ground would also help, and is possible with existing technology.

Airbus participated in the nearly two-year hunt for the A330 that crashed in the mid-Atlantic in 2009. Flight 370 was a Boeing 777.

Baton Rouge spending little changed in January

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Despite severe winter storms that shut down some local stores and kept shoppers away from others for several days, spending in East Baton Rouge Parish by consumers and businesses was basically unchanged in January from a year ago.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1iiPAEs ) sales tax collection figures released by the city-parish Finance Department show businesses and consumers spent $602 million in January. That compares with nearly $603.4 million in spending in January 2013.

Sales were down in most categories, including retail trade and food stores, which account for more than half of all collections in the parish. Manufacturing and dining also were down. But spending on services was up by 9 percent.

Stocks slip as investors anticipate higher rates

NEW YORK -- Stocks are slightly lower in early trading as investors anticipate higher interest rates.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell five points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,855 in the first few minutes of trading Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 59 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,163. The Nasdaq composite fell 16 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,290.

Guess fell after the apparel maker reported lower quarterly income and forecast a loss for its current quarter.

ConAgra Foods reported that its quarterly income nearly doubled as the company continues to benefit from the acquisition of private-label food maker Ralcorp.

Bond prices fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.78 percent from 2.77 percent.

US stocks edge higher in early trading

NEW YORK -- U.S. stock futures a falling as investors digest the prospect of interest rates rising faster than they had expected.

KEEPING SCORE: Dow Jones industrial average futures are down 43 points at 16,095 shortly before the market open. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures gave up four points to 1,847 and Nasdaq futures are down 10 points to 3,6663.

THE YELLEN EFFECT: Fed Chair Janet Yellen set the stage for a possible interest rate hike by the middle of next year. The Fed also backed away from its previous stance tying interest rates to falling unemployment, which is still hovering at 6.7 percent. Because the unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high, investors had settled in for longer run on record-low, short-term interest rates.

JOBS PICTURE: The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose 5,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 320,000, The Labor Department said. That's close to pre-recession levels and suggests a stable job market.

TREASURIES AND COMMODITIES: The yield on the 10-year government bond rose to 2.78 percent from 2.77 percent on Thursday. The price of oil fell 70 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $98.50 a barrel. Gold dropped $17, or 1.3 percent, to $1,324.30 an ounce.

4,100 W.Va. taxpayers could be owed 2010 refunds

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Internal Revenue Service says more than $3 million in federal income tax refunds for 2010 haven't been claimed in West Virginia.

The IRS estimates 4,100 taxpayers in the state could be owed refunds.

Half of the potential refunds are estimated at $626.

The IRS says in a news release that some people might not have been required to file tax returns because they didn't earn enough income. Taxes were still withheld from their wages, or quarterly estimated payments were made.

Taxpayers must file a return for 2010 no later than April 15 in order to collect the refunds.

The IRS says refunds might be held if these taxpayers also haven't filed returns for 2011 and 2012.

Dubai port firm announces $604 million 2013 profit

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Dubai-based port operator DP World announced Thursday that its profits rose nearly 11 percent to $604 million in 2013 as the company opened new ports in Britain and Brazil and expanded its operations at home in the United Arab Emirates.

The gains reported Thursday came despite a 1.5 percent drop in revenue to $3.07 billion last year.

DP World, which is one of the world's largest seaport operators, credited last year's profits to its focus on fast growing markets alongside its operations in developed markets.

The company invested more than $1 billion in a range of new long-term assets last year, launching new projects in Brazil's Embraport and London's Gateway port. The company says it plans to expand its capacity this year at its main Jebel Ali port in the United Arab Emirates and its Rotterdam port in the Netherlands.

DP World Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem told reporters that the company has good liquidity to be selective about where it wants to be. He said the profits were helped by increased productivity and efforts to contain costs.

"We always look for emerging markets. We look for markets that will give us the best return or better return. And definitely deploying the proceeds into Africa, into Latin America, into areas where we know we are performing very well," he said.

The board of DP World is recommending a total dividend of $190.9 million, or a 10 percent increase, to 23 cents per share.

Sulayem said that the company faced some challenging market conditions in the first half of 2013 and that capacity was constrained within a number of its key locations.

DP World had lower reported gains from the previous year when separately disclosed items were taken into account. DP World reported separately disclosed items of $48 million, mostly relating to a $158 million profit on sale of businesses and $99 million on impairment of assets.

When factoring those in, DP World's profits last year were down 13.4 percent to $640 million from the $738 million the company reported in 2012.

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Online:

DP World: http://bit.ly/OArb32

House approves changes to failing school law

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Alabama House late Wednesday approved alterations to a GOP-championed program that provides scholarships and tax credits to help move students from failing public schools to private ones.

The existing Alabama Accountability Act provides tax credits estimated at $3,500-per-year that families zoned for failing schools can use to help pay tuition at a private school. The program also gives tax credits for donations to scholarship programs that help bridge the gulf between the $3,500 and private school tuition.

The bill approved Wednesday night increases the tax break that individuals get for scholarship donations and changes when leftover scholarship money can be given to low- and middle-income families not zoned for a failing school. It also alters the definition of a failing public school.

Lawmakers approved the bill in a 63-39 vote that split largely along party lines, mirroring the partisan divisions that occurred last year when the program was first approved. The bill now goes to the Alabama Senate.

Rep. Chad Fincher, the sponsor of the original law, said the program so far has awarded more than 1,000 scholarships, and 88 private schools across the state have signed on to participate.

The bill seeks to do away with the $7,500 cap on the tax credit that individuals could get for contributions to the scholarship program. Fincher believes the change would encourage individuals to donate and help them reach the cumulative $25 million cap on the tax credits each year.

The bill also would change the date, from Sept. 15 to May 15, for when leftover scholarship funds could go to middle- and low-income students who are not currently zoned for a private school. Fincher said the current Sept. 15 deadline is too late.

"Schools can't make plans. Parents can't make plans," Fincher said.

Fincher said families at failing schools would have exclusive access to the scholarship funds until May 15 to cover tuition for the upcoming school year. After that, money would go to parents making less than 150 percent of the state's median household income, or about $64,000, no matter where their children have been enrolled.

"These are families that are struggling, just grasping and hoping for an opportunity," Fincher said.

Democrats argued that the program was designed to help families who already plan to send their children to a private school.

"It emphasizes more the Republican supermajority's intent about abandoning public education and investing in private schools and charter schools," House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said.

The bill also seeks to change how a failing school is defined. Current law defines a failing school as one that has been listed three or more times in the previous six years in the lowest 6 percent of schools in the state's standardized assessment in reading or math. The bill would change that to two or more times over the previous four years.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said she thought a six-year period was too long and would not reward schools that had made recent improvements.

After June 1, 2017, failing schools will be determined by new school report cards issued by the state. Any school that gets an "F" during the last three years or a "D" for three consecutive years during the previous four years would be listed as failing.

Wednesday's Sports In Brief

BASEBALL

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman broke bones above his left eye and nose when he was hit by a line drive Wednesday night, the latest frightening injury to a pitcher struck in the head by a batted ball.

Chapman was undergoing further testing at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, where he was set to spend the night for observation, according to a statement from the Reds.

The hard-throwing left-hander was struck by Salvador Perez's liner with two outs in the sixth inning — the pitch was clocked at 99 mph. Chapman crumbled to the ground, face down, his legs flailing. The ball caromed into the third base dugout. Medical personnel, including Royals Dr. Vincent Key, rushed onto the field. Blood could be seen on the mound.

First-year manager Bryan Price said Chapman was conscious and talking as he was taken off the field during Cincinnati's spring training game against the Kansas City Royals.

The exhibition was called after an 8-minute delay with Kansas City leading 6-3.

SYDNEY (AP) — Right-hander Zach Lee, who is 1-0 in one start with a 5.79 ERA in two games in spring training, will be the starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday against Team Australia in the first exhibition baseball game at the revamped Sydney Cricket Ground.

SYDNEY (AP) — Top prospect Archie Bradley will get the start for the Arizona Diamondbacks against Team Australia in an exhibition game Friday with a potential spot in the starting rotation following a serious injury to Patrick Corbin.

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PRO BASKETBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points and the New York Knicks opened the Phil Jackson era by beating the Indiana Pacers 92-86 for their season-high seventh straight victory.

With their new team president watching from a midcourt seat, the Knicks dominated the first half, then pulled away after the Eastern Conference leaders finally got untracked in the second half.

Fans stood to cheer Jackson in the first quarter and were on their feet again in the final minute to watch the Knicks beat the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year.

BOSTON (AP) — LeBron James sat out Miami's game against Boston with back spasms.

His absence against the Celtics came a day after he scored 43 points in the Heat's 100-96 win at Cleveland. He had 25 points in the first quarter when he made 10 of 11 shots and five 3-pointers.

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said his son's surgery to remove a thyroid tumor went as planned, and the coach later flew back from Iowa City to Dayton to lead the Hawkeyes in the NCAA tournament.

McCaffery said his son Patrick was in "good spirits" after Wednesday morning's operation.

Doctors will continue with tests in the coming days to determine further treatment for Patrick, who turns 14 on Thursday.

The Hawkeyes lost to Tennessee 78-65.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Police confirmed that they are investigating an allegation that two Providence College basketball players sexually assaulted another student on campus in November.

Providence police Maj. David Lapatin told The Associated Press that the complaint was filed about two weeks ago by a female student against two men who were on the basketball team at the time of the assault. He would not name the players, but a defense lawyer says unsubstantiated sex assault allegations were made against players Rodney Bullock and Brandon Austin when they were suspended from playing in games in the fall.

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PRO FOOTBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL owners likely will consider expanding the playoffs by two teams, beginning in 2015, when they hold their spring meetings in Orlando next week, but a vote on the subject is uncertain.

A groundswell for raising the number of playoff qualifiers to seven in each conference figures to get plenty of support from the 32 owners.

The current format of four division winners and two wild-card teams has existed since 2002, when Houston joined the league as an expansion team, bringing the membership to 32.

Also on the agenda will be alterations to extra points, changing who oversees video replay reviews, and further clamping down on the use of racial slurs by players during games.

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona authorities say they won't seek to extradite former NFL All-Pro safety Darren Sharper on rape charges until his sexual assault case in California is resolved, but Sharper isn't waiting for officials in Arizona to act.

Sharper's lawyers asked a court in Phoenix to hold a hearing to determine whether their client can be granted bail in Arizona, arguing that the former player is being deprived of due-process in not getting such a hearing.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Eric Winston was elected president of the NFL Players Association on Wednesday, three years after he was active for the union during the lockout.

The 30-year-old offensive lineman was the Arizona Cardinals' starting right tackle last season, his eighth in the league. He is currently a free agent.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former NFL player Troy Vincent has been promoted to executive vice president of football operations for the league.

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SOCCER

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United still has a chance to win a trophy in David Moyes' tumult-filled first season as Alex Ferguson's successor.

Robin van Persie scored a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Olympiakos that advanced United into the Champions League quarterfinals on 3-2 aggregate.

Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at home to Zenit St. Petersburg in the night's other match but advanced on 5-4 aggregate.

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American defender Steve Cherundolo, nicknamed "Mayor of Hannover" during a 15-year career that saw him play for just one club and rise to become Hannover's captain, is retiring because of persistent knee injuries.

Cherundolo said Wednesday that several knee injuries in the last 15 months made it impossible to continue playing and that he was becoming assistant coach of Hannover's under-23 team.

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PRO HOCKEY

Rich Peverley was released from an Ohio hospital after having surgery to correct an abnormal heart rhythm, just more than a week after the Dallas Stars forward collapsed on the bench during a game.

Stars general manager Jim Nill said Peverley was released from the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday. The surgery was Monday.

Peverley, who is out for the season, is expected to return Thursday to Dallas. He will be monitored closely and may require further treatment.

TORONTO (AP) — Maple Leafs defenseman Paul Ranger was "stable, conscious and alert," according to the team, after his head hit the boards on a hit from Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn.

Ranger, who left the ice on a stretcher, was taken to the hospital for what the team called a "precautionary assessment." Toronto announced the update on Ranger's condition on its Twitter account.

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TENNIS

BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — Lauren Davis defeated Zhang Shuai of China 6-2, 6-3 at the Sony Open, and former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro withdrew with a left wrist injury.

Jet mystery unfolds as Asian air travel booms

HONG KONG -- The transfixing mystery of the Malaysia Airlines jet that went missing with 239 people on board has unfolded in a region where air travel is undergoing supercharged growth after decades of being beyond the reach of most people.

The still unknown fate of Flight 370, which vanished from civilian radar on a nighttime flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, has riveted the flying public and baffled experts. The backdrop is also compelling even if far removed from the headlines.

Air travel in Asia is surging as the middle class gets bigger, discount airlines proliferate and business ties with the rest of the world deepen. Airports are scrambling to expand as they bulge with passengers and an upstart Indonesian carrier has given Boeing and Airbus their biggest jet orders ever.

The region's economic boom, seeded in the early 1990s by China's embrace of market style reforms, is the underlying reason.

"When you're poor you can't afford to fly," said Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. "The big development of the demographics of Asia in the past 20 years has been the sheer number of people who have been lifted out of poverty into that middle income segment" of $10-$100 of disposable income a day.

The International Air Transport Association has forecast airline passengers to grow by 31 percent worldwide between 2012 and 2017. For Asia, that will mean the number of passengers increases an average of 6.3 percent each year, nearly three times as fast at the U.S.

Routes within or connected to China will be the single largest driver of growth, accounting for nearly a quarter of the additional 300 million passengers during those six years.

Whether the Malaysia Airlines jet succumbed to a sudden catastrophe, hijacking or malicious pilot action, it is unlikely to change a two decade trend of ever more travelers, routes and planes.

"People become cautious about a particular airline for a while but you don't see travel patterns change," said Herdman.

Asian demand is a big reason why airlines are on the largest jet-buying spree in aviation history, ordering more than 8,200 new planes from Airbus and Boeing in the past five years. There are now 24 planes rolling off assembly lines each week, up from 11 a decade ago. And that rate is expected to keep climbing.

The bulk of the planes are going to new or quickly-growing airlines that serve the expanding middle class in China, India and Southeast Asia.

In Asia alone, Airbus has 1,375 unfilled airplane orders or about a quarter of its worldwide order book.

The low cost carriers are the hungriest buyers. Malaysia-based AirAsia and its affiliate AirAsia X together have orders for 385 new planes. Those new planes alone have enough seats to put an additional 60,000 passengers in the sky at the same time. Many of those planes will make multiple flights a day, sending that figure even higher.

Indonesia's Lion Air has an order for 234 jets from Airbus and another 301 from Boeing. That's in additional to the 107 Boeing jets it currently flies.

They're just two of the numerous low budget airlines that have opened up in the past decade, mostly in Southeast Asia, to service the growing demand for affordable air travel.

Even China, which for years has enforced restrictive policies aimed at supporting the three dominant state-owned carriers, is starting to give budget airlines a chance.

Last month, China's aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said it would lower barriers for setting up a low cost airline, simplify approval procedures, cut charges for airports in lower-tier cities and encourage older airports to revamp terminals for budget carriers.

"The reins are loosened," said Will Horton, an analyst at CAPA The Center for Aviation.

To keep up, Asian governments are scrambling to build new terminals and runways.

Singapore, a wealthy city-state off the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia, expects additions to its airport will within a decade more than double the number of passengers it can handle yearly to 135 million.

Airport construction is most rampant in China, with authorities in the world's second-biggest economy authorizing the construction of dozens of new airports and the expansion of others.

"It is clear that airport infrastructure must be expanded to accommodate demand," said Campbell Wilson, CEO of Singapore-based budget carrier Scoot.

He said several airports in the region are already operating near or at capacity including Hong Kong, Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi, Manila, Jakarta and Beijing.

"Many more airports will soon reach their limits," said Wilson.

AP Airline Writer Scott Mayerowitz contributed to this report.

Boston mayor seeks say in nearby casino proposals

BOSTON -- Boston Mayor Martin Walsh says the city deserves to have a say in casino proposals in neighboring Revere and Everett.

In letters to the state gambling commission Wednesday, Walsh says the city should be considered a host community under state gambling law, and thus should be able to negotiate for millions of dollars in compensation from developers, and even block a casino from being built.

The letters say Boston is a "core attraction" and "crucial component" to both proposals and neither proposal would be accessible without use of Boston streets.

Mohegan Sun has proposed a casino for the Suffolk Downs horse track in Revere. Wynn Resorts is pitching a casino on a former industrial site in Everett.

A gambling commission spokeswoman says the letters will be discussed at Thursday's meeting.

Geagea: M14 should not bow out of presidential battle

BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said he would do everything within his power ensure that the next president of Lebanon is a March 14 candidate.

“We will do our best to prevent anyone from the March 8 coalition becoming president, and to ensure that a March 14 candidate will fill this post,” Geagea told the Lebanese Forces website in an interview published Thursday, a day after MP Michel Aoun announced his likely candidacy.

“I am saying this candidly and frankly.”

Geagea refused to confirm whether he would run for president this spring, saying “this is not what really matters. What matters is that the March 14 coalition, which is struggling in the greater national battle, cannot stand aside in the battle for the presidency.”

The constitutional period to elect a new head of state begins on March 25, two months prior to the expiration of President Michel Sleiman’s mandate.

For his part, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai also demanded Thursday that the presidential election be held on time.

“The presidential election is a national duty that should be respected,” The cardinal told a delegation from the Syndicate of Editors.

“It is shameful for us to wait for foreign powers to nominate a president for us,” said Rai. “We may ask these powers for their opinions on a candidate, but we should not ask them who they prefer.”

“The new president should be strong and must adhere to national principles,” he added. “He should also enjoy good ties with the international community.”

US fine to settle probe delivers relief for Toyota

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp., headed to a record profit, can afford the $1.2 billion fine levied by the U.S. government for hiding information about defects in its cars. If anything, the settlement may even deliver relief for Toyota shareholders and customers as a sign the automaker has put the four-year recall debacle behind it.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda declined to comment directly Thursday on the U.S. settlement, in which the Japanese automaker said it hid information about defects that had caused unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, resulting in injuries and deaths.

All that Toyoda told reporters was what he has repeatedly said before: "We have returned to basics and are putting customers first."

He said he had nothing to add to a company statement that reiterated it had changed its operations to become more responsive.

The recall fiasco has prompted Toyota to take measures, including empowering regional management, speeding up checks into complaints and taking more care and time with product development.

Starting in 2009, Toyota announced one recall after another for a variety of problems, spanning sticky gas pedals, faulty brakes and ill-fitting floor mats that eventually covered more than 14 million vehicles. The $1.2 billion fine is the largest of its kind ever imposed on an auto company.

"Toyota can now bring the curtain down on the whole affair and focus on its real business," said Shigeru Matsumura, analyst with SMBC Friend Securities Co. "Its momentum is back in the U.S."

When the recall mess began, Toyota was still reeling from the hit it took from the global economic slowdown after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

More recently, Toyota was badly hurt by the earthquake and tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan in 2011, which destroyed suppliers of components and disrupted car production.

These days, Toyota is on a roll. It has been helped by a weakening of the yen, which boosts the value of overseas earnings for Japanese exporters.

Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid, Corolla subcompact and Lexus luxury models, is expecting a record profit of 1.9 trillion yen ($19 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 31, a doubling of profit from the previous fiscal year.

Sales are doing so well that Toyota, the No. 1 automaker in the world in vehicle sales for the last two years, says it's on its way to selling more than 10 million vehicles a year — a feat never accomplished in auto history.

There is also a chance Toyota could benefit from the U.S. government investigation into General Motors Co., which is beginning as Toyota's ends, allowing Toyota to grab market share in the U.S., although manufacturers such as Ford Motor Co. that make models similar to GM are the more likely beneficiaries.

The U.S. market is still a big money-maker for the world's automakers. But they are all trying to grow in other markets, such as China. Toyota may face unexpected obstacles in other markets, even as it gets over the U.S. crisis.

Toyota suffered a sales drop in China in 2012, when anti-Japanese sentiment exploded over a territorial dispute.

Toyota officials are still banking heavily on China, where a government decision to support hybrid vehicles to counter epic pollution could work as a plus for Toyota. Toyota is a world leader in hybrid technology.

Potholes wait elsewhere in the world as shown in the lockout of workers at Toyota's India plants, outside Bangalore, which began this week over a wage dispute.

Even good fortune can prove frightening.

Toyota is doing so well some superstitious pessimists are pointing to the 10 million-vehicle mark as a possible omen, Matsumura said jokingly.

It was right after then-president of Toyota, Katsuaki Watanabe, announced a sales target of 10 million vehicles that quality lapses began to skyrocket

Satoru Takada, analyst at Toward the Infinite World Inc., a research firm in Tokyo, laughs at the idea, noting the global pie is growing as sales expand in emerging markets and 10 million vehicles no longer sound highly ambitious.

"That will just be another passing milestone for Toyota. Next, it's going to be 20 million vehicles," he said. "What counts for Toyota is that it avoided further criminal consequences. It's over. I am sure it feels totally refreshed."

Toyoda, the grandson of the automaker's founder, has acknowledged afterward that he had headed to the 2010 grilling by U.S. Congress over unintended acceleration problems, prepared to have his career ended. Toyoda had become Toyota president a few months earlier.

When the Congressional ordeal was over, he cried at a meeting of American dealers selling Toyota cars. Four years later, he has emerged one of the most successful Toyota presidents in recent history.

He has said the automaker had grown too quickly. But today it is still growing and as fast as ever.

ConAgra continues to benefit from Ralcorp in 3Q

OMAHA, Neb. -- ConAgra Foods' fiscal third-quarter net income nearly doubled as it continues to benefit from the acquisition of private-label food maker Ralcorp.

Its adjusted profit topped analysts' estimates. The stock rose in Thursday premarket trading.

The food company, which owns brands such as Chef Boyardee and Marie Callender's, earned $234.3 million, or 55 cents per share, for the period ended Feb. 23. That's up from $120 million, or 29 cents per share, a year ago.

Stripping out certain items, earnings were 62 cents per share.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 60 cents per share.

Shares of ConAgra gained 41 cents to $30 before the market open.

Revenue for the Omaha, Neb., company climbed 15 percent to $4.39 billion from $3.83 billion thanks in part to the $5 billion Ralcorp acquisition in January 2013. In the consumer foods segment, sales improved for brands including Reddi-wip, Slim Jim and Swiss Miss.

Wall Street expected revenue of $4.43 billion.

ConAgra Foods Inc. still anticipates full-year adjusted earnings between $2.22 and $2.25 per share. Analysts predict $2.23 per share.

Its shares rose 41 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $30 in premarket trading.

Putin calls on billionaires to pay taxes in Russia

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on billionaires to pay taxes at home amid fears that a new wave of western sanctions against the country over the annexation of Crimea may hit businessmen.

At a meeting Thursday with Russia's richest men in Moscow, Putin said businesses "ought to register on Russian territory and pay taxes in our motherland."

The call has come in the wake of Western threats to impose another round of sanctions.

On Monday, the U.S. and the European Union announced sanctions against a limited number of individuals they say were involved in the unlawful referendum in Crimea over joining Russia. Most of those targeted, however, were not businessmen but political figureheads, who mocked the sanctions and said they had no assets abroad that were at risk.

Con Ed pays nearly 90 victims following NYC blast

NEW YORK -- Con Edison has made compensation payments to nearly 90 survivors and residents displaced by the fatal explosion last week in New York City.

According to The Wall Street Journal (http://on.wsj.com/1eV2pRD ), the payments came a day after federal investigators found a leak in the gas main near one of the two East Harlem apartment buildings that were leveled.

Eight people were killed and more than 60 people were injured. The cause of the blast has not been determined.

Con Ed spokesman Robert McGree says the company made 87 payments to people who were injured or lost their homes. He declined to provide the average amount paid for each victim.

He says the payments were made after "one-on-one" meetings with the victims.

Hess selling north Jersey 'tank farms'

EDGEWATER, N.J. -- The Hess Corp. is in negotiations to sell its three former terminals in northern New Jersey.

Real estate developers are eying the waterfront properties that house tank farms in Edgewater, Secaucus and Bogota (ba-GOH'-tah) as premium locations for redevelopment.

Hess spokesman Denny Moynihan tells The Record (http://bit.ly/1l6mP1x ) newspaper the company is selling the properties because it's leaving the retail end of the oil business. Hess announced last year that it planned to divest its gas stations.

Moynihan says there's no resolution yet with any potential buyers.

EU mulls further sanctions on Russia over Crimea

KIEV, Ukraine -- Russia faces further sanctions from the European Union on Thursday over its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula as tensions in the region remained high despite the release of a Ukrainian naval commander.

In an address to the German Parliament in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU was readying further sanctions and that the G-8 forum of leading economies had been suspended indefinitely. Russia holds the presidency of the G-8 and President Vladimir Putin was due to host his counterparts, including President Barack Obama, at a summit in Sochi in June.

"So long as there aren't the political circumstances, like now, for an important format like the G-8, then there is no G-8," Merkel said. "Neither the summit, nor the format."

Earlier this week, the EU and the United States slapped sanctions on certain individuals that were involved in what they say was the unlawful referendum in Crimea over joining Russia. Moscow formally annexed Crimea earlier this week in the wake of the poll. The Black Sea peninsula had been part of Russia for centuries until 1954 when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine.

Russian forces effectively took control of Crimea some two weeks ago in the wake of the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russia president, Viktor Yanukovych, after months of protests and sporadic violence. The crisis erupted late last year after Yanukovych backed out of an association deal with the EU in favor of a promised $15 billion bailout from Russia. That angered Ukrainians from pro-European central and western regions.

Merkel said EU leaders would increase those "level 2" sanctions against Russia when they meet later Thursday in Brussels to widen the list of those whose assets are being frozen and who are banned from traveling.

She also reiterated that if things worsen, the EU is prepared to move to "level 3" measures, which would include economic sanctions.

"The European Council will make it clear today and tomorrow that with a further deterioration of the situation we are always prepared to take level 3 measures, and those will without a doubt include economic sanctions," she said.

Merkel's tough approach came as the commander of Ukraine's navy was freed after being held by Russian forces and local Crimean militia at the navy's headquarters.

Rear Adm. Sergei Haiduk and an unspecified number of civilians were held for hours after the navy's base in Sevastopol was stormed Wednesday. Early reports said the storming was conducted by a self-described local defense force, but Thursday's statement by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov, which confirmed the release, said Russian forces were involved.

Attempting to face down the unblinking incursion, Ukraine on Wednesday said it would hold joint military exercises with the United States and Britain, signatories, along with Russia, of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum — a document designed to guarantee Ukraine's territorial integrity when it surrendered its share of Soviet nuclear arsenals to Russia after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

Just how many retreating troops Ukraine will have to absorb in what amounts to a military surrender of Crimea was unclear. Many servicemen have already switched sides to Russia, but authorities said they were prepared to relocate as many as 25,000 soldiers and their families to the Ukrainian mainland.

With thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and sailors trapped on military bases, surrounded by heavily armed Russian forces and pro-Russia militia, the Kiev government said it was drawing up plans to evacuate its outnumbered troops from Crimea back to the mainland and would seek U.N. support to turn the peninsula into a demilitarized zone.

At Belbek airbase in the wine-growing country near Crimea's southwestern coast, airmen were leaving Thursday morning toting plastic shopping or garbage bags filled with their personal belongings.

They weren't evacuating, they said, just transferring their things to a safe place. They were worried that pro-Russian mobs might loot the facility, as they heard happened the day before in nearby Sevastopol.

Since the Russian forces took charge in Crimea, Ukrainian-enlisted personnel and officers have been bottled up in barracks and other buildings at one end of the Belbek base, with the Russians in control of the airfield.

"We're waiting for what Kiev, our leadership, tells us," said one major, who declined to give his name. The major said he expected about half of the personnel still at the base to accept the Russian offer to stay and join the Russian armed forces since they are Crimea natives.

Humbled but defiant, Ukraine lashed out symbolically at Russia by declaring its intent to leave the Moscow-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose alliance of 11 former Soviet nations. The last nation to leave the group was Georgia, which fought a brief war with neighboring Russia in 2008 and ended up losing two separatist territories.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is visiting Moscow on Thursday and is to come to Ukraine on Friday.

"We are working out a plan of action so that we can transfer not just servicemen, but first of all, members of their family who are in Crimea, quickly and effectively to mainland Ukraine," said Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.

Rising contributed from Berlin. John-Thor Dahlberg in Belbek, Crimea also contributed to this report.

Plans for beach green space unveiled

BILOXI, Miss. -- Land south of U.S. Highway 90 where Harrah's Entertainment planned to build the original Margaritaville Casino would become green space under a proposal presented this week to Biloxi officials.

Jason Wald, a project manager with Yates Construction, met this week with members of the city's development review committee. Wald said Harrah's officials want the area to be open to the public.

Community Development Director Jerry Creel said once the new green space is up and running, it could lead to more economic development in East Biloxi

Wald said Harrah's plans to use the area for concerts and other events

At one point, a $700 million Margaritaville Casino was being built on the site, but construction stopped after the recession of 2008. Since that time, the construction site has fallen into disrepair and is being called an eyesore by city officials.

Yates' workers are dismantling thousands of tons of concrete and steel to make room for the new green space. Officials are hoping the park will be available and open sometime in late summer.

Wald parking will be in the Grand Casino parking garage and people will access the beach by the two crossovers above U.S. 90. He said those crossovers will be refurbished.

IRS says 26,300 refunds for 2010 unclaimed in Va.

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Internal Revenue Service says an estimated 26,300 taxpayers in Virginia could be owed federal tax refunds for 2010.

The IRS says in a news release that it's holding more than $22 million in unclaimed refunds for Virginians who didn't file a federal tax return in 2010.

Half of the potential refunds are estimated at $568.

The IRS says some people might not have been required to file tax returns because they didn't earn enough income. Taxes were still withheld from their wages, or quarterly estimated payments were made.

Taxpayers must file a return for 2010 no later than April 15 in order to collect the refunds.

The IRS says refunds might be held if these taxpayers also haven't filed returns for 2011 and 2012.

Tax-cut bill could reach final stage after rush

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The final rush is on to deliver an election-year tax cut.

The Minnesota Senate was primed to vote as soon as Thursday afternoon on a $434 million tax relief plan that also puts $150 million into a state budget reserve. By day's end, the House could face a decision on whether to accept it or demand additional talks.

Gov. Mark Dayton's administration says it wants a tax package soon because some new deductions and credits could be available to people filing tax returns now. An administration estimate is that 300,000 or more people could qualify for at least one new exemption.

The bill would consume almost half of the state's projected $1.2 billion surplus.

Port engages agency in India

NEW ORLEANS -- The Port of New Orleans has engaged an Indian agency to represent its interests there.

Port President Gary LaGrange says Samsara Shipping Pvt. Ltd. will work with the port to develop business ties, which are expected to initially focus on steel and oil and gas products.

Other areas of interest for the port include apparel, furniture, machinery and other retail merchandise.

LaGrange says the state-run port offers an array of container and breakbulk services to and from Indian ports.

Samsara has 54 offices in India.

India's imports from Louisiana include forest products, synthetic rubber and chemicals. The country is a major exporter of steel to U.S. markets.

Dutch ruling coalition slammed in local elections

AMSTERDAM -- Parties in the Netherlands' centrist ruling coalition have suffered major losses in local elections.

Perhaps most dramatically, junior member Labor lost its grip on power in Amsterdam for the first time in 65 years.

Although Wednesday's municipal elections focused on local issues, the results released Thursday reflect dissatisfaction with the austerity policies of conservative Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Labor Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Major winners included the centrist D-66 party, which took Amsterdam, and the far right Freedom Party of populist Geert Wilders, which is anti-European and anti-immigration.

Rutte said he had a "dirty taste" in his mouth after Wilders led his supporters Wednesday in chanting they want "fewer" Moroccans in the Netherlands.

IRS says 17,500 Alabamians may qualify for refunds

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Internal Revenue Service says millions in refunds may be waiting for 15,700 Alabamians who did not file a tax return for 2010.

To claim a refund, a person has one month left to file a return for 2010. The deadline is April 15.

The IRS says there is no penalty for filing a late return, but taxpayers seeking refunds may have their checks held if they have not filed returns for 2011 and 2012. The IRS says some people may not have filed because they made too little income to require filing a tax return, but they may qualify for a refund because taxes were withheld from their wages.

The IRS estimates nearly $12.5 million in refunds may be available to Alabamians.

Oil edges higher on signs of stronger US demand

The price of oil extended gains Thursday, a day after rising for the first time in a week on signs of increased U.S. demand for gasoline and other fuels.

Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was up 27 cents to $100.64 a barrel at 0745 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract, which expires Thursday, gained 67 cents to $100.37 the day before. Most trading has moved to the May contract, which was up 11 cents at $99.28 a barrel.

The U.S. Energy Department said that demand for gasoline rose 1.5 percent over the four-week period ended March 14 compared with the same period last year. Supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, fell by 3.1 million barrels, more than three times the decline analysts were expecting. Both figures were seen as signs of strengthening demand.

Oil also got a boost from the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to further reduce bond purchases aimed at stimulating economic growth. Traders saw that as a sign the Fed is more confident the U.S. economy can grow on its own.

Brent crude, used to set prices for international varieties of crude, was up 16 cents at $106.01 a barrel.

In other energy futures trading in New York:

— Wholesale gasoline was almost unchanged at $2.862 a gallon.

— Natural gas was down 4.3 cents at $4.441 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Heating oil rose 0.2 cent to $2.893 a gallon.

Toyota payment could be glimpse into GM's future

DETROIT -- General Motors, beware.

Wednesday's announcement that Toyota will pay $1.2 billion to avoid criminal prosecution for hiding information in a recall case could be a glimpse into your future. It's also a warning to anyone selling cars in the U.S.: Although the federal government's road-safety watchdog doesn't have big fangs, the Justice Department does.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's maximum fine for hiding information is $35 million, a pittance to automakers. But the Justice Department can reach deeper into your wallet and hurt your reputation with damning public statements.

Shortly after the announcement, Attorney General Eric Holder issued an apparent warning to GM and other automakers, saying the Toyota deal was "not necessarily the only time we will use this approach."

General Motors Co., which is facing a federal criminal probe over delays in recalling small cars with a deadly ignition switch problem, has many parallels to the Toyota case.

Toyota got into trouble for withholding information from NHTSA about floor mats that can trap gas pedals and make cars accelerate wildly, and for concealing a problem with sticky gas pedals that can cause unwanted acceleration. According to court records, the company recalled some models for the floor mats while knowing that others had the same problem.

At GM, the company has admitted knowing about the ignition-switch problem for more than a decade, yet it failed to recall 1.6 million small cars until last month. During the wait, at least a dozen people died in crashes because the faulty switches moved out of the run position, disabling power steering and brakes. Air bags also didn't inflate.

"We now see what GM may be facing," said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and a former Justice Department prosecutor. "If you have comparable conduct inside the company, the government is going to come down hard."

The Toyota payment changes the model for regulating auto safety in the U.S. Before Wednesday, safety issues had been almost the exclusive domain of NHTSA. Now, the government has raised the stakes with criminal actions, Henning said.

"GM has to be concerned what kind of a hit there is going to be to the bottom line," said Henning, who predicted that GM's penalty could rise toward $2 billion because its recall delays lasted longer than Toyota's.

The Toyota penalty is a "game changer" that will force automakers to take notice, said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety. "Until today, automakers faced insignificant fines and no criminal penalties," he said.

Even with a $1.2 billion penalty, the bigger issue for both GM and Toyota is damage to reputations.

Before a highly publicized 2009 unintended acceleration crash that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and three family members, Toyota was known by all for reliability, and it was gobbling up sales and market share in the U.S.

The crash triggered the recall of more than 10 million vehicles and raised suspicions about Toyota's safety. From 2010 through 2012, NHTSA fined the company a total of $66 million for safety-related violations, further harming its reputation.

Since the California crash, Toyota's U.S. market share has dropped more than four percentage points, to 13.3 percent last month. Today, a single point of market share equals more than 150,000 cars and trucks, the equivalent of millions in profits every year.

And Wednesday's statements from the Justice Department likely will raise further suspicions about Toyota.

In court documents, prosecutors said Toyota misled customers by assuring them that it had addressed the root cause of the acceleration problems, while knowing that cars outside the recall had the same problems. Toyota did this to defend its brand image after the California crash, the documents said.

"In other words, Toyota confronted a public-safety emergency as it if were a simple public-relations problem," Holder said Wednesday at a news conference.

Toyota says it has put reforms in place to make sure this doesn't happen again.

But statements like Holder's must have GM worried about damage to its brand image and a hit to its stock price.

The company has tried to portray itself as transparent, submitting to NHTSA two chronologies admitting mistakes. Its new CEO has apologized several times to families of those injured or killed in crashes. The company has also placed safety in the hands of a single executive and hired outside legal counsel to investigate its conduct.

Still, in just one day last week, GM's stock value fell 5 percent, reducing the total value of the company by $3.2 billion, according to Barclays analyst Brian Johnson.

Itay Micheli, an analyst for Citi Research, wrote that only about one percentage point of Toyota's market share slide came from the recall crisis. Toyota blames the drop on an artificially high market share in 2009 due to high gas prices that boosted sales of its fuel-efficient models.

"The GM situation is far from an easy call, but we think the risk of Toyota-like share losses would only come into play if the headline situation materially worsens," Micheli wrote.

GM's brands also aren't as strong as Toyota's were at the time of the recalls. Before bankruptcy, GM cars had a reputation for poor reliability, although the company has made great strides toward erasing that.

GM's recalls, at 1.6 million worldwide, are far smaller than Toyota's, so the cost to the company will be far less. GM said Wednesday it would take a $300 million charge this quarter for the small-car recall and several others.

Also, Toyota had to recall models that were on sale at the time. GM has tried to distance itself from the recalled cars, saying they were made years ago by the old GM, the one that went into bankruptcy protection.

Even with the settlement, the ordeal isn't over for Toyota, and it's just starting for GM. Both companies still face lawsuits over the recalls, and they will see bad publicity every time there's a verdict. GM, though, is not liable for legal claims from crashes that occurred before it left bankruptcy in July 2009. Such claims would go to a trust formed to settle claims against the pre-bankruptcy company.

However, lawyers are researching whether they can prove that GM knew about the ignition-switch problem during the bankruptcy but did not disclose it to the judge. In that case, the new GM might be liable for older claims.

Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

Aldermen reverse demo decision

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Oxford Board of Aldermen has reversed a decision by the local Historic Preservation Commission to allow the demolition of a cabin and three other outbuildings on the historic Shaw property.

The Historic Preservation Commission's 5-2 decision from last week would have allowed the destruction of a cabin and other outbuildings sharing the property with the Shaw House, a deteriorating home built before the Civil War.

The board of aldermen voted 7-0 Tuesday to reverse the decision, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/1gGH42f).

The Shaw house was built by brick maker Dave Kennedy and has been in the Shaw family since 1929. It has seven bedrooms, three bathrooms and has more than 6,500 square feet of living space. The house and property were a working farm in the city of Oxford when it was first constructed in 1848.

Louisiana-based Brian Development had proposed buying the property, restoring the house and building from 12 to 18 townhouses and free-standing condominiums on the remainder of the property.

Developer Sid Brian asked to demolish the outbuildings to make room for a condominium development on five acres surrounding the Shaw house.

Brian's attorney, George Haymans, told aldermen that if the developer could not raze the outbuildings, plans for development would stall.

"Ultimately, the property is tied up, and the (Shaw house) will not be restored," he said.

The Wheeler family, whose home adjoins the Shaw property, appealed the preservation commission's decision to the board of aldermen.

Parliament resumes meeting over Cabinet policy debate

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parliament Thursday resumed the second day of deliberations over the Cabinet’s policy statement, with the government almost certain to win a sweeping majority vote of confidence in the upcoming legislative session.

Eight lawmakers from the March 8 and March 14 rival camps registered their names to speak during the session dedicated to debate the statement, on the basis of which Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s 24-member Cabinet will seek a vote of confidence in Parliament.

Twenty-five MPs, mostly from the March 14 coalition, spoke during the previous session, with speeches focusing mostly on the deteriorating security situation in Lebanon, which is seen as spillover of the Syria crisis.

Cabinet is expected to secure the votes of at least 110 MPs out of 128 given that the majority of political parties are taking part in the government.

More to follow...

Obama's Surgeon General Nominee Stuck In Limbo

Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.

President Obama's nominee for surgeon general has a medical degree and an MBA, but his confirmation is being held up in the Senate because of special-interest politics and Democrats facing tough re-election campaigns.

China Mobile profit hit by competition, 4G costs

BEIJING -- China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, says its profit last year fell 5.9 percent due to higher spending and intense competition.

The Beijing-based company said Thursday it earned 121.7 billion yuan ($20.3 billion). Revenue rose 5.4 percent to 590.8 billion yuan ($98.5 billion) and the number of customer accounts rose 8 percent to 767 million.

China Mobile is spending heavily to roll out fourth-generation service and faces higher costs because it was assigned China's home-grown mobile standard, which limits its ability to draw on foreign technology.

IRS says Tennesseans owed $12.8 million for 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Internal Revenue Service says more than 16,000 Tennesseans who didn't file their tax returns in 2010 are due refunds totaling more than $12.8 million.

The IRS says those who are owed refunds have a deadline of April 15 to file their 2010 tax return in order to collect the money.

There is no penalty for filing late for a refund. However, in order to get the money, taxpayers have three years to file a return to claim a refund.

Nationwide, more than 900,000 people who did not file a tax return in 2010 are due almost $760 million in refunds.

If the refund is not claimed within the three-year window, the money becomes the property of the U.S. Treasury.

Fresh Syrian airstrike hits Arsal outskirts

HERMEL, Lebanon: A fresh Syrian airstrike hit the outskirts of Lebanon’s border town of Arsal Thursday morning, security sources told The Daily Star, adding that no casualties were reported.

The sources said the strike hit the area of Wadi Ajram, around five kilometers away from the border, and that it may have been a barrel bomb because of the size of the explosion.

The sources said the airstrike is likely targeting rebels fleeing the Qalamoun area in Syria where the Syrian government troops have taken control.

The outskirts of Arsal have been subject to dozens of Syrian airstrikes since the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah, retook the rebel bastion Yabroud in Qalamoun.

Asian stocks fall on Fed interest-rate message

TOKYO -- Asian stocks fell Thursday after comments from the new head of the Federal Reserve suggested U.S. interest rates could rise sooner than financial markets were anticipating.

Janet Yellen's comments after the Fed's first policy meeting since she replaced Ben Bernanke sent Wall Street lower and the dollar higher on Wednesday.

The Nikkei 225, the benchmark for the Tokyo stock market, fell 1.7 percent to 14,224.23 and South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.9 percent to 1,919.52.

Hiromichi Tamura, chief strategist at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo, said higher U.S. interest rates were expected to come eventually, but there was "a surprise element" in Yellen's remarks.

At a press conference, Yellen implied that the Fed's time frame for raising interest rates was closer to the first half of 2015, sooner than many had expected. The Fed also voted to cut its monthly bond purchases from $65 billion to $55 billion as part of its ongoing winding down of the extraordinary monetary stimulus.

The dollar on Wednesday had its biggest one-day gain since August because of the higher interest rate talk.

The next market-moving factor players are watching in Japan is a consumption tax hike effective April 1. Opinion is divided on whether some stocks will drop as a result of the tax, while others may rise, Tamura said. He believes the effects will be small.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 114.02 points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,222.17 on Thursday. The Dow fell as much as 209 points before erasing some of its loss. The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 11.48 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,860.77 and the Nasdaq composite lost 25.71 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,307.60.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 13 cents at $100.50 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 67 cents to $100.37 on Wednesday. Most trading has shifted to the May contract as the April contract expires Thursday. Oil for May delivery was up 20 cents to $99.37 a barrel.

The euro rose to $1.3841 from $1.3825 late Wednesday. The dollar fell to 102.30 yen from 102.46 yen.

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