In their push to pass a sweeping health care overhaul this weekend, House Democrats unveiled a package of legislative fixes to lure undecided or opposed members of their party to the "yes" category.

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The "Quartet" of peacemakers from the U.S., Russia, the European Union and special representative Tony Blair call for negotiations with a goal of reaching a final settlement that would create an independent Palestinian state within 24 months.

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President Obama promised to make overhauling immigration laws a top priority in his first year as president, but the odds that it will happen even in his second year seem long. Thousands of activists plan to converge on Washington, D.C., in hopes of prodding him to action.

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Dodgers Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully was admitted to a hospital Thursday night after he got up from bed too quickly, fell and bumped his head. Scully, 82, was taken from his Hidden Hills home to West Hills Hospital and Medical Center as a precaution and would stay overnight for observation, Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said.

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The FDA has issued the first regulations since Congress gave the agency power to regulate tobacco. The regulations clamp down on the marketing of cigarettes to children and teenagers. The new rules prohibit a number of ad strategies like giving way hats and T-shirts with tobacco logos. Plus, no more selling of cigarettes in certain vending machines where kids can get at them.

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On Capitol Hill, a few dozen House members are trying to decide how to vote on health care — while hundreds of advocates and thousands of e-mails are trying to sway them one way or the other. The House is expected to vote on its health care overhaul legislation on Sunday.

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Activists are arriving in Washington D.C. for this weekend's rally to push for an overhaul of immigration laws. Arizona has some of the toughest laws in the nation targeting illegal immigrants. Churches and advocacy groups from the state are sending delegates to Washington to march for changes at the federal level.

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The tension is high and the stakes are even higher, as Republicans and Democrats near the decisive moment of the health care battle. The language of the final bill was released Thursday. Along with Congressional Budget Office numbers that show it would cost $940 billion over 10 years, it would also reduce the deficit in the long run.

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As the men's basketball tournament began, major underdogs Murray State, Ohio University, Washington and Old Dominion were too much for more highly regarded opponents. St. Mary's, Northern Iowa and Wake Forest also turned the tables on the oddsmakers.

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President Obama is making a final frenzied push before the health care bill comes up for a vote in the House on Sunday. If the bill fails, he will be severely weakened. He will have failed to deliver his signature initiative, and his Democratic Party will look incapable of governing.

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This weekend, Ben Zimmer will take over The New York Times Magazine column William Safire originated in 1979 and continued to write until his death last year. Zimmer's first column will be on the word "no."

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Thanks to specials like zero percent financing and price cuts, Toyota sales have risen sharply. A recent Edmunds.com dealer survey finds that so far this month, Toyota has regained the same market share of sales it had before the gas pedal recall.

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Western nations have long criticized Afghanistan's failure to curtail opium production, a main source of income for the Taliban. But counterterrorism officials say the problem is far more complex than just drug money, including diverted charity payments and "protection money" from convoys seeking to resupply U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

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During the peak of the housing market, the value of the mortgages that got stuffed into those complicated mortgage bonds known as toxic assets was more than $3 trillion. But now the market has stalled, in part because many sellers are waiting for the economy to improve.

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Simin Behbahani, Iran's most prominent poet, was about to board a flight to Paris when police seized her passport. Behbahani, 82 and nearly blind, has not been charged with any crime. Many fear her treatment may signal a rise in repressive tactics by Iran's government.

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The South by Southwest music festival bills itself as "the premier destination for discovery." It's also the destination for truckloads of cash, as music and art fans flock to Austin, Texas, each March. Last year's event brought nearly $100 million to the city, according to one analyst.

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The problems with Toyota's gas pedals have been front page news for weeks now, but what about the people in front of the pedals? Earlier studies have found that the majority of car-surging incidents were actually the fault of the driver. But the recent problems with cars continuing to accelerate haven't been studied yet.

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House leaders had predicted that the financial analysis of the health care bill released Thursday, coupled with the unveiling of the bill's fix-it language, would "go a long way" to win over undecided Democrats. But so far, that group appears in no rush to commit.

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David Coleman Headley admitted in a signed plea agreement that he made surveillance videos and conducted other intelligence gathering for the 2008 attack, which left 166 dead. He could have been sentenced to death if convicted of the most serious charges, but under the deal he will not be executed as long as he continues to cooperate with prosecutors.

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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Iran's new Russian-built nuclear reactor will begin operating this summer, even as the United States called for Russia to delay the startup. Clinton, in Moscow on an official trip, urged Russia not to start up the plant until Tehran proves that it's not developing atomic weapons.

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