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AP - A $20 cab ride to the airport skyrocketed to the "snow rate" of $100 in the nation's capital, and those travelers who could get to the airport or train station still had to haggle or wait in long lines to escape the snowbound Mid-Atlantic.

AP - Rep. John Murtha, the tall, gruff-mannered former Marine who became the de facto voice of veterans on Capitol Hill and later an outspoken and influential critic of the Iraq War, died Monday. He was 77. The Pennsylvania Democrat had been suffering from complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., with his family at his bedside, the hospital said.

AP - Michael Jackson's doctor pleaded not guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of the pop star at a brief hearing that had all the trappings of another sensational celebrity courtroom drama.

AP - Authorities launched a criminal investigation Monday into the cause of an explosion that killed five people at a power plant under construction, saying they couldn't rule out negligence.

AP - New York Gov. David Paterson on Monday lashed back at what he called a "callous and sleazy" assault on his character in statehouse rumors and media reports that include accusations about womanizing and drug use, allegations he flatly denied.

AP - Days before a former suburban Chicago police officer's fourth wife vanished in 2007, she told a divorce attorney that her husband thought she suspected he had killed his previous wife and suggested extorting money from him to keep quiet, the lawyer testified Monday.

AP - Mexican federal police arrested two suspected gang leaders Monday, delivering another big blow to a brutal drug cartel that terrorized the border city of Tijuana for several years.

AP - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted a threat assessment of local pro- and anti-abortion rights activists before an expected rally last year, even though they did not pose a threat to national security.

Bloomberg - Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, said Republican congressional leaders learned on Christmas night about the interrogation of terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and called subsequent criticism “a bit of an outcry after the fact.�

Reuters - President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser on Sunday lashed out at U.S. lawmakers, accusing them of using national security issues as a "political football" for their own gains.

AP - An exasperated White House newly committed to preaching partisan peace slammed Republicans for playing politics on national security and making ignorant allegations about the investigation into the Christmas airliner plot.

AFP - The United States faces "serious and significant" threats within cyberspace, the White House's top counter-terrorism advisor said Sunday, adding it was an issue of national security.

AFP - Sri Lanka's former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka will face a court martial for "military offences", an official said Tuesday.

AP - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il assured a high-level envoy visiting from Beijing that Pyongyang is committed to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, China's state news agency reported Tuesday.

AP - Iran pressed ahead Monday with plans that will increase its ability to make nuclear weapons as it formally informed the U.N. nuclear agency of its intention to enrich uranium to higher levels.

AP - Mexican federal police arrested two suspected gang leaders Monday, delivering another big blow to a brutal drug cartel that terrorized the border city of Tijuana for several years.

AFP - As Estonia edges closer to adopting the euro, the prospect is causing jitters in neighbouring Latvia as it tries to climb out of a deep economic crisis and risks fragmenting the Baltic trio on the eastern edge of the European Union.

AP - A Chinese court Tuesday sentenced an activist who investigated the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in the country's massive 2008 earthquake to five years in jail for inciting subversion of state power, the man's lawyer said.

Reuters - China plans to crack down on the online gambling industry, including the banks and websites that support it, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement posted on its website.

AFP - US videogame giant Electronic Arts was unable to fight its way out of the red over the Christmas holidays, and has posted a net loss for the 12th consecutive quarter.

AFP - US technology titans IBM and Intel have rolled out powerful new computer chips designed for businesses continually demanding more from networks and data centers.

AP - Google Inc. has lowered by $200 the fee it charges customers who break a standard two-year contract for its new Nexus One phone on the T-Mobile USA Inc. network.

AP - Speech-recognition software maker Nuance Communications Inc. said Monday it narrowed its loss in the fiscal first quarter as revenue in the company's two largest divisions, health care and dictation, and mobile and enterprise, increased.

PC World - Last week I wrote about reports that some Windows 7 users are experiencing anomalies with battery life, or at least how Windows 7 reports remaining battery life. The issue seemed worthy of exploring, but not big enough to cause any significant damage to Microsoft's flagship desktop operating system.