Health Insurer Will Pay Claims, Provide Coverage to Policyholders during Transition SALEM, Ore. — Preferred Health Plan Inc., a Klamath Falls-based health insurer, will withdraw from the Oregon insurance market because of financial problems, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) announced yesterday. Preferred Health Plan is looking for another insurer to pick up its business. In the meantime, DCBS is monitoring the company on a daily basis to ensure it has the ... [full story]

YICHANG, China -- Rescuers searched for victims Wednesday following an explosion and landslide that killed seven workers at a quarry in central China's Hubei Province. The accident occurred Tuesday evening when the workers were setting off explosives at the Diaoxiyan Quarry, a local government spokesman told China's Xinhua news agency. The news agency reported at least 50 rescue workers searched throughout the night for three of the victims still missing and feared dead in the landslide. "Rescuers ... [full story]

TOKYO -- A Japanese marine science museum is selling clown fish for $25.28 to stop people from capturing the species popularized by the animated movie "Finding Nemo." The museum at Tokai University has bred 11 of the 28 kinds of clown anemone fish that originally came from the coral reefs of Australia, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported Wednesday. The university hopes people who want the fish for their aquariums will buy them from the science museum rather ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. stimulus funds approved as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act appear to be hitting their mark in the early going, a survey indicates. A survey performed by USA Today showed most of the early spending from the $787 billion bill has, as promised by U.S. President Barack Obama, gone to "shovel-ready" projects, creating jobs which otherwise wouldn't have happened this year, the newspaper reported Wednesday. The investigation indicated that hiring on those ... [full story]

PORT HURON, Mich. -- Federal agents in eastern Michigan announced Wednesday they had begun rounding up members of the Devil's Disciples Motorcycle Club. FBI agents were serving arrest warrants in the Port Huron and Clinton Township areas in the latest in a series of operations against Detroit-area biker gangs. The Detroit News said as many as 22 suspects were expected to be picked up Wednesday. The pending charges were not immediately known. The newspaper said the FBI was ... [full story]

PYONGYANG, North Korea -- North Korea warned Wednesday it will shoot down any U.S. spy aircraft in its airspace, ripping aerial surveillance over the area of a planned rocket launch. North Korea's state-run radio said the U.S. and South Korea conducted at least 190 aerial spy missions over its territory, including flyovers of Musudan-ri, the coastal launch site, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported. "Should the U.S. imperialist racketeers dare to perpetrate aerial espionage, interfering with our ... [full story]

LONDON -- The United States and Russia agreed to "new and verifiable" reductions in arsenals, beginning with a new treaty, the countries' leaders said Wednesday. U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed nuclear arms control and reduction, both pledging to fulfill their obligations under a non-proliferation agreement and "demonstrate leadership in reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world." The two, meeting in advance of Thursday's Group of 20 summit, agreed to ... [full story]

LONDON -- Group of 20 summit protesters flooded into London's financial district Wednesday, engaging in a standoff with police at the Bank of England, witnesses said. Eleven arrests were reported outside Britain's central bank, targeted by protesters to illustrate anger over the role bankers played in the global economic crisis, The Times of London reported. Witnesses said phalanxes of baton-wielding police standing on the front steps of the central bank were pelted with fruit and police ... [full story]

BOSTON -- Lawyers declined to discuss their strategy Wednesday as they headed for a Boston federal court hearing on the planned deportation of President Obama's aunt. Attorneys representing Zeituni Onyango met behind closed doors with U.S. Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro to discuss the case, which the Boston Globe says is being closely watched as a test of the new president's commitment to immigration laws. Onyango is the half-sister of Obama's late Kenyan father. She lost a bid ... [full story]

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai is being pressured to rescind a new law the U.N. says legalizes spousal rape and severely limits women's rights, ministers said. Scandinavian foreign ministers attending a conference on Afghanistan at The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday challenged Afghan leaders to respond to a published report on the new law, while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked privately with Karzai on the issue, The Guardian reported Wednesday. During a news conference ... [full story]