U.S. News Headlines

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Oil prices are approaching last year's highs as tensions increase over Iran's nuclear program.

HAVANA - A senior U.S. senator met with imprisoned American Alan Gross and discussed the man's case in a long sit-down with Cuban President Raul Castro, but told The Associated Press on Friday that Gross was not likely to be released any time soon.

WASHINGTON - In the year 2000, Republican strategist Karl Rove boasted of a "permanent political realignment" that would bring large swaths of the country's evangelicals into the Republican fold, changing the electoral makeup of the United States for generations to come.

SINGAPORE - Zecotek Photonics Inc. (TSXV:ZMS) has filed suit in the United States accusing a French company and Dutch-based Philips of patent infringement involving chemical fomulations for products typically used in medical scanning devices.

CALGARY - Enerplus Corp. (TSX:ERF) cited a big non-cash impairment charge on its Canadian natural gas operations Friday for hampering 2011 earnings that included a fourth-quarter loss of almost $300 million.

TUNIS, Tunisia - The United States, Europe and Arab countries were set Friday to back a proposal for Syria's president to step aside and allow in humanitarian assistance to end a brutal crackdown against opponents.

DAKAR, Senegal - Senegal's presidential candidates prepared to hold their final rallies Friday, as a respected African statesman shuttled between the opposition and the government to broker a solution to this country's growing political divide.

FRANKFURT - Rising raw materials prices and weaker demand in a slowing economy held back fourth-quarter profits at German-based chemical, plastics and oil company BASF SE.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The tour company chosen to take over the famous boat rides at the base of Niagara Falls said Thursday it plans to build customized new boats and upgrade amenities while maintaining the things that have made the attraction a must-do for tourists for more than 100 years.

INDIANAPOLIS - For Southern California left tackle Matt Kalil, football success runs in the family.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - A Nevada judge said Thursday she was willing to let a Quebec truck driver nabbed in a big Interstate 15 cocaine bust serve his six-to-15 year prison sentence in Canada.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Adult fans of J.K. Rowling can rejoice: She has a new novel coming, for grownups.

BEIJING, China - The United States and North Korea resumed talks Thursday delayed by the death of North Korea's longtime leader Kim Jong Il two months ago, with the U.S. envoy saying he and his counterpart covered U.S. food aid and other topics.

KABUL - President Barack Obama apologized to Afghans on Thursday for the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base, trying to assuage rising anti-American sentiment as an Afghan soldier gunned down two American troops during another day of angry protests.

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper insists the Conservative party had nothing to do with a dirty tricks campaign aimed at discouraging opposition supporters from voting in last spring's election.

FORT MEADE, Md. - An Army private declined to enter a plea Thursday to charges he engineered the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history.