GRENOBLE, France -- Workers at a Caterpillar plant in France said they were holding five executives hostage Tuesday in a dispute over severance packages. The executives, who were not harmed, were being held at a plant in Grenoble to pressure Caterpillar to restart negotiations, said Nicolas Benoit, a union representative. Officials at Caterpillar's headquarters in Peoria, Ill., said they could not immediately comment, CNN reported. It was at least the third time in recent weeks that French workers ... [full story]

BASRA, Iraq -- Britain turned over command in the Basra area of Iraq to the United States Tuesday, a prelude to the country withdrawing its remaining troops in the country. At one point, British military personnel in Iraq numbered greater than 40,000, The New York Times reported. Most British troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by July. At a ceremony in Basra, Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon of Britain's Royal Marines turned over control of forces in the ... [full story]

CHICAGO -- Federal grand jurors investigating former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich questioned witnesses about his wife's real estate transactions, defense sources said. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday the investigation focused on the deals between Patti Blagojevich's former firm, River Realty, and those with political ties to Blagojevich, as well as with convicted businessman Tony Rezko. The deadline for a federal indictment against the ex-governor is April 7, but one could come as early as Thursday when ... [full story]

DALLAS -- A Dallas police officer says he regrets detaining Ryan Moats for a traffic violation while the NFL player's mother-in-law was dying. "If I were in that situation again, I would take them inside and let them be with their mother, which is where they needed to be," Officer Robert Powell, who has been placed on leave from the department, told The Dallas Morning News. Moats, who plays for the Houston Texans, told police he rolled ... [full story]

MANILA, Philippines -- Islamic militants holding three Red Cross workers hostage in the Philippines have extended a deadline they set to behead one of them, sources say. Militants belonging to the Abu Sayyaf group Tuesday lengthened the deadline by three hours for Philippine military authorities to remove troops from several villages in the southern island-province of Sulu, an unnamed government source told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The source said the extension was issued after Sulu Vice Governor ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- More than 8-in-10 Americans said they think Barack Obama will represent the country well in his first overseas trip as president, a CNN poll indicated. The CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday also indicated 7-in-10 respondents said they thought leaders of other countries respect Obama, a difference from survey results concerning former President George W. Bush's standing in the world, when 49 percent said they believed foreign leaders respected Bush. "Except for the period following ... [full story]

CHICAGO -- A Chicago lawyer and former Playboy columnist says she is suing the company for more than $4.5 million in damages for alleged sexual harassment. Corrie Fetman, 45, a divorce lawyer who posed nude for Playboy and wrote the "Lawyer of Love" column, alleges she was harassed by Thomas Hagopian, an executive of Playboy Enterprises who since has left the company, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday. In a lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Prosecutors say the business manager of the Islamic Center of Washington stole $430,000 from a high-profile U.S. mosque in a complex financial scam. After a D.C. Superior Court trial jury deadlocked last year on the charges against Iranian-born Farzad Darui, U.S. prosecutors are seeking to retry him in a case that has harmed the reputation of the center as a prominent symbol of Islam in the United States, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The key ... [full story]

TEHRAN -- An Iranian official, responding to U.S. President Barack Obama's call for better relations, said the offer is promising, but old wounds must be treated, too. "Mr. Obama has talked about his commitment to creating constructive diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Iran," wrote Ali Akbar Javanfekr, presidential press adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a commentary published in the Los Angeles Times. "He must first begin dressing the deep and old wounds inflicted ... [full story]

NEW YORK -- Police say they want to know if two men found slain in New York were killed in the Long Island luxury condo owned by NFL linebacker Jonathan Vilma. Vilma, who plays for the New Orleans Saints, is trying to sell the condo and is not a suspect in the killings, The New York Post reported Tuesday. However, police want to talk to Vilma about who had access to the property. A resident of a ... [full story]