2012 presidential candidates `friend' social media

NEW YORK – Republican Tim Pawlenty disclosed his 2012 presidential aspirations on Facebook. Rival Mitt Romney did it with a tweet. President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election bid with a digital video emailed to the 13 million online backers who helped power his historic campaign in 2008.
Welcome to The Social Network, presidential campaign edition.

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China raises bank reserves again

BEIJING (Reuters) – China raised banks' required reserves on Sunday for the fourth time this year, extending the fight against excessive liquidity and stubbornly high inflation in the world's second-largest economy.
The reserve rate rise, which followed an increase in benchmark bank interest rates on April 5, was the seventh since China stepped up efforts against inflation in October and underscored the government's determination to keep the economy on an even keel.

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Assad pledge fails to quell Syria anger; troops fire

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters at a funeral on Sunday, witnesses said, and an announcement that President Bashar al-Assad would lift 48-years of emergency rule failed to quell fury on the streets.
Two witnesses said security forces killed three mourners when they opened fire on a funeral for a man killed the day before, which turned into a demonstration on a highway outside the town of Talbiseh, north of the central city of Homs.

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Palin: Wis. gov doing the right thing with unions

MADISON, Wis. – Sarah Palin defended Wisconsin's governor at a tea party tax day rally Saturday, telling hundreds of supporters that his polarizing union rights law is designed to save public jobs.
Braving snow showers and a frigid wind outside the state Capitol building, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate told tea partyers she's glad to stand with Gov.

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Christians mark Palm Sunday in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM – Thousands of Christians from around the world, beating drums and holding green palm fronds, marked Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, celebrating the time when, according to the New Testament, Jesus Christ arrived in the city two millennia ago.

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Actor Nicolas Cage arrested in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS – Actor Nicolas Cage was arrested after he got drunk in the city's French Quarter and argued in the street with his wife over whether a house they were in front of was theirs, police said Saturday.
The couple was in front of a home that Cage insisted they were renting, police said. When she said it wasn't theirs, Cage grabbed her arm, according to a police news release.

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FAA gives tired controllers an extra hour to rest

WASHINGTON – The government said Sunday it is giving air traffic controllers an extra hour off between shifts so they don't doze off at work, a problem that stretches back decades. But officials rejected the remedy that sleep experts say would make a real difference: on-the-job napping.
"On my watch, controllers will not be paid to take naps. We're not going to allow that," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

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