Police shot a man upset with the Discovery Channel network's programming who took three people hostage at the company's headquarters Wednesday, officials said. All three hostages escaped safely.

Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said he did not know whether police killed the gunman, who was upset about the network's programming. Police spent several hours negotiating with him after he burst into the suburban Washington building about 1 p.m. waving a handgun and with canisters strapped to his body.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. manufacturing sector grew faster than expected in August but private employers unexpectedly cut jobs, showing the economic recovery still faces headwinds.

The 13th straight month of manufacturing expansion calmed fears that U.S. economy may head back into recession, but the drop in employment and a slump in construction spending to a 10-year low in July kept concerns about slow economic growth alive.

Powerful Hurricane Earl hurtled toward the US East Coast on Tuesday, amid warnings it may cause catastrophic damage after dumping heavy rain and wind on Caribbean islands.

Packing fierce winds of up to 135 miles (215 kilometers) an hour, Earl, now a powerful Category Four storm, brushed past Puerto Rico and churned toward the Atlantic, as experts forecast it may reach North Carolina by midweek and travel northward from there.

If the forecasts are accurate, Earl will likely wreck plans for vacationers this Labor Day weekend, prompting them to desert area beaches.

The US State Department said Monday that Xe, the controversial private security firm formerly known as Blackwater, has agreed to pay 42 million dollars in fines to settle alleged export violations.

It said the civil settlement was reached on Wednesday for 288 violations "involving the unauthorized export of defense articles and provision of defense services to foreign end-users" in a number of countries between 2003 and 2009.

"These violations did not involve sensitive technologies or cause a known harm to national security," the State Department said in a statement.

Philly tax upsets bloggers; city says it applies to all businesses, not just online scribes

Bloggers in Philadelphia are upset over a city business fee that they say is an unfair tax on their Internet musings.

The city's so-called business privilege license costs $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime.

If a blog takes money for advertising, or sells photographs or other goods, it's a business and must pay for a license — no matter how little it makes — plus taxes on profits.

A declawed, defanged bear is chained to a stake as hunting dogs bark and snap, trying to force the bear to stand on its hind legs. The training exercise called bear baying is intended to make the bears easier to shoot in the wild and it's only allowed in South Carolina.

Armed with new undercover video of four such events, the Humane Society of the United States is pressuring state officials to explicitly outlaw the practice, which the organization says is effectively banned in every other state. Animal rights advocates say it's cruel to the nearly defenseless bears and harms them psychologically.

Nine months after Tiger Woods caught in adultery, his marriage ends in divorce

Tiger Woods and his Swedish-born wife officially divorced Monday, nine months after his middle-of-the night car crash outside their home set off shocking revelations that the world's most famous athlete had been cheating on her through multiple affairs.

"We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future," Woods and Elin Nordegren said in a joint statement released by their lawyers.

The divorce was granted in Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Fla., about 375 miles away from their Isleworth home outside Orlando. The couple had married in October 2004 in Barbados and have a 3-year-old daughter, Sam, and a 19-month-old son, Charlie.

NEW YORK - The King's College has named former White House policy analyst and best-selling author Dinesh D'Souza as the school's new president. D'Souza previously served as John M. Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the Robert and Karen Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Located in the Empire State Building, The King's College is a Christian liberal arts college that educates students to bring firm Christian conviction and strong moral character to positions of leadership in the institutions of government, civil society, media, law, education, business, the arts and the church.

by Jim Kouri

Each year, millions of visitors, foreign students, and immigrants come to the United States. Foreign visitors may enter on a legal temporary basis -- that is, with an authorized period of admission that expires on a specific date -- either with temporary visas (generally for tourism, business, or work) or, in some cases, as tourists or business visitors who are allowed to enter without visas.

The majority of visitors who are tracked depart on time, but others overstay -- and since September 11, 2001, the question has arisen as to whether overstay issues might have an impact on domestic security.

Significant numbers of foreign visitors overstay their authorized periods of admission. Based in part on its long-standing I-94 system for tracking arrivals and departures, the Department of Homeland Security estimated the overstay population at 2.3 million. But this estimate excludes an unknown number of long-term overstays from Mexico and Canada, and by definition and it excludes short-term overstays from these and other countries.

A salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds and led to the recall of hundreds of millions of eggs from one Iowa firm will likely grow, federal health officials said Thursday.

That's because illnesses occurring after mid-July may not be reported yet, said Dr. Christopher Braden, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control.

Almost 2,000 illnesses from the strain of salmonella linked to the eggs were reported between May and July, about 1,300 more than usual, he said. No deaths have been reported. The CDC is continuing to receive information from state health departments as people report their illnesses.

by Jim Kouri

On the heels of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents' 258-0 "vote of no confidence" against their superiors, U.S. Border Patrol agents are slamming President Barack Obama's administration especially Attorney General Eric Holder.

"We are receiving reports... that Eric Holder and DOJ have signaled that they [will continue to] challenge SB1070. If this development wasn't so sad, it would be funny," according to the membership of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544, which represents U.S. Border Patrol agents in Tucson, Arizona.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A nationwide recall of eggs linked to an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened hundreds of people in three U.S. states has been expanded and now covers 380 million eggs.

The eggs all came from a farm in Iowa linked to salmonella cases in California, Colorado and Minnesota over the last three months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.

Affected by the recall are eggs packaged under brand names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps.

Housing conference likely to focus on continued government role in mortgage market

Talk of shrinking the government's involvement in the mortgage market is growing. Just don't expect action any time soon.

A conference Tuesday at the Treasury Department is the first of many steps toward restructuring the nearly $11 trillion mortgage market. So far, rescuing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has cost the government more than $148 billion. That number is expected to grow.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pledged "fundamental change" to the structure of Fannie and Freddie, which profited tremendously during good times but burdened taxpayers with losses when the housing market went bust. He said the two companies weren't the only cause of the financial crisis, but made it worse.

U.S. support for the 9-year Afghanistan war is slipping and the death toll is climbing.

As the fighting intensifies, the Pentagon and White House are hoping that political support for the war can hold at least through year's end to give Army Gen. David Petraeus time to make headway.

Progress in Afghanistan only began this spring and needs time to take root, Petraeus said in comments broadcast Sunday that were aimed at shoring up American support for the war.

STAFF REPORTS

WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced on Friday that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Cpl. Roy Stewart, U.S. Army, of Jackson, Miss. His funeral will be held Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Representatives from the Army’s mortuary office met with the next-of-kin of Stewart to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

After skirting the controversy for weeks, President Barack Obama is weighing in forcefully on the mosque near ground zero, saying a nation built on religious freedom must allow it.

"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama told an intently listening crowd gathered at the White House Friday evening to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."

President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law a $600 million border security that will put more agents and equipment along the Mexican border.

Obama signed the bill in the Oval Office alongside Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The measure will fund the hiring of 1,000 new Border Patrol agents to be deployed at critical areas along the border, as well as more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It also provides for new communications equipment and greater use of unmanned surveillance drones.

WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said Thursday his organization is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents it has on file. The Pentagon warned that would be more damaging to security and risk more lives than the organization's initial release of some 76,000 war documents.

That extraordinary disclosure, which laid bare classified military documents covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010, has angered U.S. officials, energized critics of the NATO-led campaign, and drawn the attention of the Taliban, which has promised to use the material to track down people it considers traitors.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week to the highest level in close to six months, the latest evidence the economy's recovery is faltering.

Thursday's data came two days after the Federal Reserve spooked investors by downgrading its assessment of the economy. The increase in jobless claims added to worries in the stock market, which has failed to make any gains this year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Immigrants in New York City have a lower unemployment rate and participate in the labor force at a higher rate than native-born Americans, a divergence from the national trends that may reflect optimism about the recovery.

The economic recession didn't hit New York City as badly as other parts of the country. The city lost proportionally fewer payroll jobs than the nation as a whole.

A report by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a think tank, shows that in the first five months of 2010 the unemployment rate for immigrants in New York City was 8.8 percent while the rate for native-born residents was 10.9 percent. The city average was 9.9 percent.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors Co has secured a $5 billion credit facility, two people briefed on the bank deal said on Wednesday, marking the return of the top U.S. automaker to the capital markets a year after it emerged from a landmark bankruptcy.

GM now plans to file a registration for its IPO on Friday, a day after it reports what is expected to be its second consecutive quarterly profit, two people with direct knowledge of the process said.

After more than a week of silence, jurors in the corruption trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich threw the courtroom into confusion Wednesday when they sent a note to the judge suggesting they may be deadlocked on at least some counts.

In their 11th day of deliberations, the jurors told Judge James B. Zagel that they had made "a reasonable attempt" to reach a unanimous decision, but asked for guidance if they can't reach a unanimous decision on any given count.

Zagel, who read their note aloud in court, said he would send a reply asking jurors to be clearer about what they meant so that he could advise them. He said he would tell them it was OK to agree on some counts but not others.

Former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, the Chicago Democrat who became the leading architect of congressional tax policy in the Reagan era but later went to federal prison for corruption, died Wednesday, a family friend said. He was 82.

Rostenkowski, who served 18 terms before losing in 1994, died surrounded by family at his home in Lake Benedict, Wis., friend Ellen Tully told The Associated Press. He had been treated for prostate cancer in the 1990s.

A plane carrying nine people crashed amid southwest Alaska's remote mountains and lakes, killing five people on board, authorities said Tuesday. Former Sen. Ted Stevens and ex-NASA chief Sean O'Keefe were believed to be aboard.

It was unclear if the longtime Republican senator and O'Keefe were among the dead.

Rescuers arrived on helicopter early Tuesday and were giving medical care to survivors, Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said. He offered no additional details, except that there were potential fatalities.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Brooke Mueller, the wife of actor Charlie Sheen, feared for her life as the Hollywood star pinned her to their bed and put a knife to her throat during a Christmas Day argument last year, according to a newly released police report.

Last week, Sheen pleaded guilty to assaulting Mueller during the argument in Aspen, Colorado, and he was ordered to serve 30 days in drug and alcohol rehabilitation in California. The police report details the extent to which Mueller was hurt and tells how Sheen, star of hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men," reacted when being questioned by police.