WASHINGTON (AP) - Days away from critical decisions on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, Republicans assailed...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Debate is heating up within the Federal Reserve over how and when to signal that the days of record-low interest rates are numbered.

A rate hike isn't imminent. But at their meeting, which started Tuesday morning, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues will likely focus on how to telegraph that higher rates are

coming once the economic recovery is more deeply rooted. Eventually, Fed policymakers will need to start bumping up rates to head off inflation.

It will be a challenging maneuver. Fed officials will want to signal a move to higher rates in advance so borrowers and investors aren't jarred. And they will need to send a signal that isn't confusing.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Even in death, Michael Jackson is breaking new records.

The King of Pop's estate has signed the biggest recording deal in history: a $200 million guaranteed contract with Sony Music Entertainment for 10 projects over seven years, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The record-breaking contract through 2017 could be worth up to $250 million if certain...

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - A 38-year-old father of two was jogging and listening to his iPod when he was hit from behind and killed by a small plane making an emergency landing on the beach, officials said Tuesday.

Robert Gary Jones of Woodstock, Ga., died instantly Monday evening when he was hit by the single-engine plane, which had lost its propeller, said Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen. The pilot's vision was blocked by oil on the windshield.-

Jones apparently did not see or hear the plane, which was "basically gliding," the coroner said.

FAA records show the Experimental Lancair IV-P plane was registered to Edward I. Smith of Chesapeake, Va.

Smith was on the beach with his plane Tuesday and confirmed he was the pilot. He said he didn't want to talk about the crash and offered few details.

"I've got a lot of issues going on right now. I've got a plane that's all torn up. And I've got a young man that I killed," he said.

Authorities said there was also a passenger on board...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, too.

U.S. law enforcement agents

are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy and crime-fighting.

Think you know who's behind that "friend" request? Think again. Your new "friend" just might be the FBI.

The document, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, makes clear that U.S. agents are already logging on surreptitiously to exchange messages with suspects, identify a target's friends or relatives and browse private information such as postings, personal photographs and video clips.

-Among other purposes: Investigators can check suspects' alibis by comparing...

BEIJING (AP) - China without Google - a prospect that looks increasingly likely - could mean no more maps on mobile phones. A free music service that has helped to fight piracy might be in jeopardy. China's fledgling Web outfits would face less pressure to improve, eroding their

ability to one day compete abroad.

The extent of a possible...