Obama tells Dems to be flexible in budget talks

President Barack Obama told Senate Democrats on Wednesday not to adopt unyielding positions in budget talks with Republicans and to stay unified even as more painful spending cuts lie ahead before lawmakers and the White House can reach a deal on deficit reduction.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave details to reporters at the White House after Obama met with nearly all Senate Democrats. The president is to meet Thursday with Senate Republicans.

Maori head returns to New Zealand after 136 years

A French museum has returned the mummified and tattooed head of a Maori to New Zealand officials after spending 136 years in a Normandy museum, a belated gesture to restore dignity to the first of 16 such human heads once displayed as exotic curiosities.

Representatives of New Zealand's native Maori people sang traditional songs during an elaborate ceremony at Rouen City Hall to hand over the head to New Zealand diplomats, the first to be returned from of a total of 16 in France.

"It's truly a solemn and symbolic day," New Zealand ambassador Rosmary Banks said. "We are very happy at the return" of the tattooed head after so many years in Rouen, Banks said.

Softbank reports robust earnings on smartphones

Softbank Corp., the only Japanese mobile carrier offering the hit iPhone, said annual profit nearly doubled despite suffering damage from the March 11 quake and tsunami that battered northeastern Japan.

Softbank, which did not break down quarterly numbers, reported Monday that profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 swelled to 189.71 billion yen ($2.37 billion) from 96.72 billion yen the previous year.

It said the increase was driven by a booming smart phone business that offset a special loss of 14 billion yen ($175 million) caused by the disasters.

Gov't warns kids' tabletop chairs not safe

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government warned Friday that tens of thousands of tabletop feeding chairs for babies and toddlers are not safe.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says children could be hurt in certain versions of the "metoo" clip-on tabletop chairs imported by Colorado-based phil&teds USA Inc. The CPSC says numerous children - believed to be about a dozen - have been injured.

The chairs have metal clamps that attach to most table tops, such as a restaurant table. The CPSC says those clamps can easily come loose, causing the chair to detach and sending the child plummeting to the floor.

Rising big river poses threat to La. oyster trade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Just a year after the BP oil spill crippled Louisiana's oyster industry, the fishermen face a new problem. Freshwater is set to be diverted from the mighty Mississippi River into the salty waters where the shellfish grow, potentially killing them.

To protect people, homes and businesses along the big river, the Army Corps of Engineers plans to open at least one spillway, sending water out of the river. The tactic may ease the pressure on levees, but it will almost certainly kill the shellfish, too.

Fourth-generation oysterman Shane Bagala spent months skimming oil to make money. Earlier this week, though, he embarked on his first oyster run, returning with a healthy catch. But he became worried when he heard the corps was considering opening a spillway.

Buzz builds at word of a British royals' CA visit

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- They could visit a movie set, grab a surfboard and shoot the curl at Malibu, sample a winery or two, even take in a baseball game at Dodger Stadium.

And, if baseball didn't seem too strange a sport to people raised on cricket and soccer, maybe Prince William and his new bride, the former Kate Middleton, could buy the team afterward. There is a rumor it might soon be up for sale.

The point is, there will be plenty to do when Britain's new hot young royal couple arrives in California on July 8. And, if the titters of excitement already emanating across the state are an indication, they will be welcomed with open arms by throngs of people. Not that there won't be a downside to that as well.

Pentagon: No firm evidence of Pakistani complicity

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. has no "definitive evidence" that Pakistan knew Osama bin Laden had been living in the compound where Navy SEALs killed him, but the Pakistanis must now show convincingly their commitment to defeating the al-Qaida terrorist network, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday.

Michele Flournoy, the top policy aide to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, told reporters that the Pakistani government should, for example, help the U.S. exploit the materials the SEALs collected inside bin Laden's lair during their raid on Monday.

Lloyds Bank posts Q1 loss of $4 billion

Lloyds Banking Group PLC reported a loss of 2.43 billion pounds ($4 billion) for the first three months of the year after booking a 3.2 billion pounds charge for potential costs of compensating buyers of payment protection plans.

Provisions related to exposure in bailed-out Ireland also contributed to the quarterly loss, reported Thursday, which contrasted with a profit of 204 million pounds a year earlier.

The scale of the provisions was unexpected and sent the company's share price plunging. By early trading in London, Lloyds shares were down 5 percent at 55.1 pence.

News Corp. fiscal 3Q profit falls, below Street

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said Wednesday that net income for its latest quarter fell 24 percent as the afterglow of its blockbuster movie "Avatar" faded.

A boost from the Super Bowl, broadcast by the company's Fox network this year, wasn't enough to make up for it, even though the football game ranked as the most-watched TV program in U.S. history.

Net income for the fiscal third quarter, which ended in March, dropped to $639 million, or 24 cents per share. That compared with earnings of $839 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.

Suit against PC renter raises privacy questions

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- You didn't pay your bill. We need our computer back. And here's a picture of you typing away on it, the computer rental company told a client as it tried to repossess the machine.

Those allegations appear in a federal lawsuit alleging that the firm, Atlanta-based Aaron's Inc., loaded computers with spyware to track renters' keystrokes, make screenshots and even take webcam images of them using the devices at home. The suit filed by a Wyoming couple Tuesday raises anew questions of how invasive custodians of technology should be in protecting their equipment.

APNewsBreak: VA to expand caregivers program

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Veterans Affairs Department reversed course Tuesday and said it will make sure more caregivers of severely disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans can receive the support they need to help their wounded relatives.

President Barack Obama signed a law in May of last year that provided a monthly stipend, mental health help and health insurance to family members who provide around-the-clock care to these veterans.

But when the VA announced earlier this year how the caregivers program would work, advocates and congressional members said it helped fewer families than they had expected. Among those who likely were not eligible were Sarah and Ted Wade, who stood with Obama at the bill signing. Ted Wade lost his right arm and sustained a traumatic brain injury in a roadside bombing in Iraq in 2004 while serving with the 82nd Airborne Division.