A bipartisan group of Colorado lawmakers trying to regulate the state's medical marijuana industry is calling on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to stop raids of medical marijuana operations.

President Barack Obama ratcheted up his attacks against insurance companies Monday in a last-ditch attempt to get a reluctant public and skittish Democrats behind his health overhaul legislation.

Iraqis defied insurgents who lobbed hand grenades at voters and bombed a polling station Sunday in an attempt to intimidate those taking part in elections that will determine whether their country can overcome deep sectarian divides as U.S. forces prepare to leave.

Regulators on Friday shuttered banks in Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Utah, boosting to 26 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year following the 140 brought down in 2009 by mounting loan defaults and the recession.

China's central bank governor acknowledged Saturday that Beijing is using its controversial exchange-rate controls to cope with the global economic crisis and said it will be cautious about retreating from the policy.

The unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent in February as employers shed 36,000 jobs, fewer than expected. The figures suggested the job market is slowly healing but that significant hiring has yet to occur.

A California man killed in a shootout with Pentagon police drove cross-country and arrived at the military headquarters' subway entrance armed with two semiautomatic weapons, authorities said Friday.

A gunman coolly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at a security checkpoint into the Pentagon on Thursday in a point-blank attack that wounded two police officers before the suspect was critically shot.

Abdul Qayyum is also seen as a leading candidate to be the next No. 2 in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy, said the officials, interviewed last week by The Associated Press.

President Barack Obama urged Congress Wednesday to vote "up or down" on sweeping health care legislation in the next few weeks, endorsing a plan that denies Senate Republicans the right to kill the bill by stalling with a filibuster.

Greece will announce more major spending cuts Wednesday, after the country's prime minister warned of "catastrophic" consequences unless markets are persuaded to lower lending rates.

Senate negotiators closed in on a deal on Wall Street regulations Monday, proposing a new entity inside the Federal Reserve to oversee consumer financial products ranging from credit cards to mortgages.