Senate passes financial overhaul

Senate passes financial overhaul

WASHINGTON

The Senate has passed a sweeping overhaul of how the government regulates banks and Wall Street.

The legislation is aimed at preventing a repeat of the financial meltdown two years ago that plunged the nation into a deep recession.

The Senate passed the bill on a 59-39 vote, giving President Barack Obama a major policy victory.

The bill now must be merged with a House version. A key House negotiator predicts the bill will reach Obama’s desk by the Fourth of July.

US agrees to announce launches

VIENNA

The United States has agreed to notify other nations before it launches most ballistic-missile tests or satellites, in a measure that builds on a landmark arms agreement with Russia and is meant to encourage Moscow to reciprocate.

The American decision was contained in a confidential note made available Thursday to The Associated Press and confirmed by three diplomats familiar with the issue.

The move is less far-reaching — or binding — than the treaty signed last month by the U.S. and Russian presidents that outlines cuts in both nations’ massive nuclear arsenals. But it is significant in reflecting Washington’s determination to build on the success of that agreement.

Plane wreck spotted in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan

Search craft on Thursday spotted the torn-apart wreckage of a commercial airliner that disappeared Monday while flying over Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains with 44 people on board, including six foreigners, officials said.

Also Thursday, the Pentagon announced that one colonel and two lieutenant colonels were among five American soldiers killed Tuesday by a suicide car bomber in Kabul. Deaths of so many senior officers in a single attack are rare.

Cancer screening shows promise

Doctors may be getting closer to having a way to screen healthy women for signs of ovarian cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

The method uses a blood test for a protein that often is high in women with ovarian tumors. Women with high scores then are given ultrasound exams and surgery to look for cancer if the ultrasound finds a problem.

Researchers tested this method in more than 3,000 American women. Only eight needed to have an operation, and three of them turned out to have deadly tumors.

This screening approach needs more testing before it goes into wide use.

Balloon causes scare at Liberty Bell

PHILADELPHIA

A white powder found inside a balloon near the Liberty Bell prompted the evacuation of the area for a few hours Thursday before tests showed it was flour.

The Liberty Bell Center building and National Park Service land around it, including Independence Hall, were evacuated, and part of a street was closed to traffic after a guard found the balloon at the visitors entrance around 2:30 p.m.

Bret Michaels has hole in his heart

LOS ANGELES

Bret Michaels is back in the hospital.

The rocker and reality TV star’s website reports that Michaels suffered what doctors call a “warning stroke” and has been diagnosed with a patent forum ovale, or hole in the heart. Michaels’ publicist, Joann Mignano, confirmed the report.

The condition is operable and treatable but likely unrelated to the brain hemorrhage the 47-year-old suffered last month.

Associated Press