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Azure Dynamics Corp., a producer of electric delivery vans and a partner of Ford Motor Co., said on Tuesday that it is in talks with customers and suppliers to resume production following a bankruptcy reorganization filing in Canada. The company, which was founded in British Columbia but makes its headquarters in Oak Park, Mich., has halted production of electrified Ford Transit Connect vans. Ford markets the vans through some North American and European dealers. The reorganization is the latest sign of trouble among electric-vehicle makers. Sales of electric cars such as Nissan Motors Co.'s Leaf have fallen short of expectations,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has a PR problem when it comes to Afghanistan, to say the least. Once the must-fight war for America, the decade-long mission has spiraled into a series of U.S. missteps and violent outbreaks that have left few ardent political supporters. After NATO detained a U.S. soldier Sunday for allegedly killing sleeping Afghan villagers, Republicans and Democrats alike pointed to the stress on troops after years of fighting and reiterated calls to leave by the end of 2014 as promised, if not sooner. "It's just not a good situation," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 70 percent of students involved in school-related arrests or cases referred to law enforcement were Hispanic or African-American, according to a report to be released Tuesday by the Education Department that raises questions about whether students of all races are disciplined evenhandedly in America's schools. In addition, black students are more than three times more likely than their white peers to be suspended or expelled, according to an early snapshot of the report released to reporters. The findings come from a national collection of civil rights data from 2009-2010 of more than 72,000 schools serving...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) -- International lenders will give $65 million in concessionary loans to 18 Caribbean nations to help the islands defend their coasts and fragile economies from the impact of climate change. The European Investment Bank will channel its lending through the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank, which announced the initiative Monday. The program will provide low-cost funds for public and private sector projects that deal with climate change adaptation or help reduce carbon emissions.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats are playing defense in governors' races in 2012, protecting eight seats - some in conservative states like North Carolina and Montana - while Republicans are safeguarding just four. But one of those is in Wisconsin, where a recall effort against incumbent Scott Walker has emerged as a national test of the confrontational measures many GOP governors have taken to balance state budgets. Both parties agree the landscape is quite different than in 2010, where 37 states elected governors at the height of the economic downturn and amid roiling voter anger over government spending and debt. Republicans...

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- After getting her nose bloodied in a fight with another girl near their Southern California elementary school, 11-year-old Joanna Ramos told her mother on the way home she felt sick. Hours later, she was dead. "My daughter started complaining, saying she doesn't feel good, let's go home, so we went to home and I changed her clothes, and she go to sleep, that's the only thing that I know," Joanna's mother, Cecilia Villanueva told KNBC-TV. "We took her to the hospital but it was too late. She was in a coma." Ramos died at a...

Just a little light humor!

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Officials at an Ohio university have ordered radios on campus shuttle buses be locked into one station and volume restricted after a student complained a driver was a playing a "far-right Christian political" channel at high volume. The Blade newspaper reports the policy was suggested by the University of Toledo's manager of transit services and gives drivers only an on/off option. In a memo, the manager, Steven John Wise, describes the selected station as "nonoffensive, work place type music, helpful weather info." Radio volume also is being restricted as a safety measure. The student made the...

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. (AP) -- Newt Gingrich slammed his Republican rivals Friday for refusing to appear in a nationally televised debate from his home state of Georgia, a state the former House speaker has made central to his strategy of getting his struggling presidential bid back on track. Gingrich made his remarks at a rally in the congressional district he represented for 20 years, speaking to a few hundred supporters. He planned several campaign stops across Georgia on Saturday with Herman Cain, a fellow Georgian and former contender for the GOP nomination who has since endorsed Gingrich. CNN was forced...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Republican lawmakers in a handful of states are opening another front in the war against President Obama's health care overhaul, seizing on the hot-button issue of birth control with bills that would allow insurance companies to ignore new federal rules requiring them to cover contraception. Measures introduced recently in Idaho, Missouri and Arizona would go beyond religious nonprofits and expand exemptions to secular insurers or businesses that object to covering contraception, abortion and sterilization. "In its present state, the health care bill is an affront to my religious freedoms," said Idaho Republican Rep. Carlos Bilbao, who...

ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said on Wednesday that Occupy organizers have created a "relatively successful" movement because they focused national discussion on wealth disparity despite lacking leadership and a unifying set of goals. The Georgia Democrat said at an event in Atlanta that Occupy organizers have succeeded in forcing the media and Congress to realize the "chasm is getting greater than leaps and bounds" between the rich and the poor. "It's been relatively successful even acknowledging there's no leadership, there's no coherence and there's no single list of issues they want to succeed," the former president said...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic Party has picked Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to chair its national convention this summer in Charlotte, N.C. The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, says in an email to DNC members that Villaraigosa will be nominated to chair the September convention. Chairing the national convention, where Democrats are expected to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term, will place Villaraigosa in a national spotlight. Overseeing the gathering will also place the Latino mayor front and center as Democrats woo Latino support for Obama and other candidates.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum is exploring Secret Service protection following a rowdy rally in Washington state earlier in the week. Santorum says it's "a sad state of affairs," especially after he spent several weeks campaigning in a supporter's pickup truck. But for his family's sake, he says, he's in discussions with the Secret Service. Santorum hosted an outdoor rally adjacent to the campsite of Tacoma, Wash., Occupy protesters Monday night. They chanted and yelled during most of the event. Two protesters were dragged away by police.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- The Washington state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, setting the stage for the state to become the seventh to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to approve it. Gov. Chris Gregoire supports the measure and has said she will sign it into law, though opponents have promised to challenge it at the ballot with a referendum. The packed public galleries burst into applause as the Senate passed the measure on a 28-21 vote Wednesday night after nearly an hour...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010. Romney's tax returns show most of his $21.7 million income came from his investments. He also gave nearly $3 million combined to charitable causes and the Mormon Church, helping reduce his effective tax rate to about 14 percent. The former Massachusetts governor has been under pressure in recent weeks to release his tax returns. Rival Newt Gingrich made public his returns on Saturday, showing he paid almost $1 million in income taxes. Romney's taxes were first reported early Tuesday morning in The...

JAIPUR, India (AP) -- Oprah Winfrey says she is confident that President Barack Obama will win another four-year term in this year's U.S. election. The talk show host was addressing a literary festival Sunday in the northwestern Indian town of Jaipur. Winfrey praised Obama's handling of the presidency. She said his next four years would be even more successful, with people able to get back to work. Winfrey backed Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign in her first-ever political endorsement. She was among the biggest crowd pullers at the annual Jaipur Literary Festival, which brings together top writers, poets and...

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A 65-year-old lawyer was arrested Wednesday for carrying a loaded handgun aboard an American Airlines jet at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Judith Kenney was released later Wednesday on her own recognizance, said her attorney, Dallas lawyer David Finn. Kenney carries a handgun for protection but had forgotten that it was in a computer bag she carried on board the plane, he said. She has no criminal history, he said. Screeners at a security checkpoint had detected a gun in a woman's carry-on bag but she "picked up the bag and left the checkpoint before the...

NEW DELHI (AP) -- An official says a stampede during a religious ceremony in central India has left at least 10 people dead. Senior police officer Rajesh Vyas says the stampede occurred early Saturday when a large number of people surged forward to gain entry into a Muslim shrine, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Vyas says some pilgrims fell down and were crushed to death. The shrine is near Ratlam, a town in Madhya Pradesh state nearly 480 miles (760 kilometers) southwest of New Delhi. Police in the region could not be immediately reached for details.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea says late leader Kim Jong Il's body will be permanently laid in state in a memorial palace in the capital. Kim's body will be displayed at Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace, where his father and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung's embalmed body has been lying since his death in 1994. Kim Jong Il's son and successor, Kim Jong Un, has been solidifying power since his father died of a heart attack on Dec. 17. The official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that North Korea will also erect a statue of Kim Jong...

BEEBE, Ark. (AP) -- Blackbirds have fallen dead from the sky in a central Arkansas town for the second New Year's Eve in a row. KATV showed a radar image that it said showed a large mass over Beebe a few hours before midnight Saturday. The Little Rock television station reported that hundreds of birds had died. Beebe animal control worker Hearst Taylor told KATV the reason for the bird deaths isn't yet known. Last year, fireworks were blamed for the deaths of thousands of birds. It wasn't immediately clear if year-end celebrations are again to blame. :snip: Biologists said...