Aaron's Daily WWW Newspaper

BISMARCK, N.D. - With record amounts of water feeding into the Missouri River from swollen tributaries on top of a blizzard, state officials urged evacuations along the river and were considering using helicopters to dynamite an ice jam to ease flooding around Bismarck.

BAGHDAD - The streets are calmer now. The fighting between Shiites and Sunnis has largely ceased. But this is not a sign of normalcy in the Iraqi capital. It's fear that keeps the peace.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is planning an online town hall-style meeting on the White House's Web site this Thursday.

LOS ANGELES - She may be the girl next door, but Holly Madison's reality star status was what kept her in the competition on "Dancing With the Stars." Denise Richards earned extra points for her samba during Tuesday's results show, but it didn't help the 38-year-old actress compete with Madison's viewer votes and Richards was cast out of the ballroom.

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Mia Johnson scored 17 points and Lauren Aitch had 15, lifting ninth-seeded Michigan State to a 63-49 win Tuesday night over the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils and former coach Joanne P. McCallie in the second round of the women's NCAA tournament.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was seeing signs of progress in his drive to lead the United States out of economic crisis as he sought to reassure recession-weary Americans he was on the right track.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government would be a "partner for peace" with the Palestinians, but made no mention of their U.S.-backed quest for statehood.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage applications jumped last week as record low interest rates spurred a surge in demand for home refinancing loans, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The detention of hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year in the United States represents a violation of human rights, Amnesty International USA said in a report on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's economy, the world's eighth largest, will struggle through a worse than expected recession and will not begin to recover until next year, with normal growth resuming late in 2010, a UCLA Anderson Forecast report released on Wednesday said.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexicans desperate for an end to drug gang murders, abductions and extortion saw a glimmer of hope on Tuesday as the United States vowed to tighten security on the increasingly violent border.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. court began considering on Tuesday whether to uphold a lower court ruling allowing about 2 million current and former female Wal-Mart workers to sue the firm for sexual discrimination as a group.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama is preparing for one of the toughest fights of his young presidency as Congress begins work on a budget that may trim his spending plans but back his healthcare, energy and education proposals.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli premier-designate Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to pursue peace talks with the Palestinians after its staunch ally Washington said such efforts were "critical".

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday told his crisis-weary nation he sees signs of economic progress but pleaded for time to navigate out of the worst economic maelstrom in decades.

BELGRADE (AFP) - Air-raid sirens wailed and church bells tolled Tuesday as Serbia marked the 10th anniversary of NATO's air war to halt a violent crackdown on Kosovo by the then president Slobodan Milosevic.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama Tuesday announced extra agents for the southern US border and vowed to staunch narcotics demand, as officials pledged full support for Mexico's battle against drug cartels.

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's centre-left Labour party voted on Tuesday to join a government being formed by right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu in a major boost for the premier-designate who can now form a broad coalition.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - YouTube confirmed Tuesday its website was being blocked in China, although the California firm offered no explanation for why Chinese authorities had barred access to the popular video-sharing service.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Treasury and Federal Reserve chiefs asked Congress Tuesday for unprecedented powers to seize financial firms outside the banking system if needed to maintain economic stability.