Police sergeant lied about being shot

A white city police sergeant made up a story about being shot by a black man while on patrol last month and actually intentionally shot himself for unknown reasons, Philadelphia's police commissioner said Tuesday.

Sgt. Robert Ralston, 46, confessed to making up the story and will have to pay the costs of the massive manhunt that followed, Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

Ralston has been suspended from the police force with intent to dismiss, but will not face criminal charges because granting immunity was the only way to obtain his confession, Ramsey said at a news conference.

The …

State leads nation in number of mine lobbyists: Group's report says companies have 14 lobbyists in state

West Virginia has more lobbyists representing the mining industrythan any state in the nation, according to a report released by theCenter for Public Integrity.

All 14 mining lobbyists that registered in the state in 2000, whenthe study was conducted, were either coal companies or industryassociations. West Virginia is the nation's second-largest coalproducer behind Wyoming, which had four registered coal industrylobbyists.

"That's part of the coal culture in this state," said NormSteenstra, executive director of the West Virginia Citizen ActionGroup. "They've got money and they've got influence, and they'llspread it around."

Coal came in second to the health …

Marleau scores twice in Sharks' 3-1 win over Wild

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Patrick Marleau scored two power-play goals in the second period, and the San Jose Sharks snapped Minnesota's five-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory over the Wild on Thursday night.

Torrey Mitchell also scored in the second period for the Sharks, who have won eight of nine. Antii Niemi stopped 21 shots and remained undefeated in four games against …

Metra cuts bathrooms to add seats

Here's a little irony for your commute: Metra is reducing the number of bathrooms on trains, while the number of passengers, including seniors riding free, is on the rise.

To add more seating, Metra will cut the number of diesel cars equipped with bathrooms to 50 percent from 65 percent over the next four to five years. Metra will take out the tiny bathrooms, which aren't handicapped accessible, as it rehabs cars, to add six seats. New cars also will keep to the 50 percent ratio.

"Frankly, I have the feeling that the customers will hardly notice," executive director Philip Pagano said after a Metra board meeting Wednesday. The decision was prompted by increased crowding on …

Norway's oil field strike ends

OSLO, Norway (AP) The end of a three-week strike that shut downoutput from Norway's North Sea oil fields could mean production willresume this weekend, oil company officials said yesterday.

Market reaction was mixed over the end of the strike, which hadkept an estimated 900,000 barrels a day of Norwegian oil and liquidnatural gas out of the glutted world petroleum market.

Analysts estimate the world oil surplus already is at 2 …

Russia Questions Kosovo's U.N. Envoy

MOSCOW - Russian officials suggested Friday that Kosovo's U.N. envoy is biased, questioning his ability to settle the breakaway province's dispute with Serbia over independence, and called for more changes in a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Kosovo.

In Belgrade, visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned that delays would reignite Kosovo's ethnic tensionsand called for "flexibility and restraint" from Serbia and Russia.

Scheffer added that the latest U.N. draft is "probably the last chance" for a controlled political solution for Kosovo.

In talks with Scheffer, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica reiterated Serbia's rejection of …

Europe clears several Malaysian seafood exporters

Six Malaysian shrimp and fish exporters resumed trading with the European Union Friday after complying with European safety standards that ended a one-year suspension of their business.

The Health Ministry said six processors of fishery products were restarting trade with the EU as a "first step to enable the resumption of exports."

Prior to the suspension, 46 companies sent seafood to Europe worth 102 million euros in 2007, according to EU statistics.

It wasn't clear why only six companies were cleared, or how what percent of exports they accounted for.

Malaysia says the EU is the largest importer of the country's …