WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is asking Congress for a short-term deficit reduction package of spending cuts and tax revenue that will delay the effective date of steeper automatic cuts now scheduled to kick in on March 1. Obama said the looming cuts would be economically damaging and must be avoided.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Slumping personal computer maker Dell is bowing out of the stock market in a $24.4 billion buyout that represents the largest deal of its kind since the Great Recession dried up the financing for such risky maneuvers.

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — For six anguished days, people in this small Alabama town asked just one question about the 5-year-old boy being held hostage in an underground bunker by a menacing, unpredictable neighbor: "Is he free yet?"

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The Iraq War veteran charged with gunning down two men on a Texas shooting range — including a highly decorated former Navy SEAL sniper — had been taken to a mental hospital twice in recent months and told authorities he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to police records.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is accusing the debt rating agency Standard & Poor's of fraud for giving high ratings to risky mortgage bonds that helped bring about the financial crisis.

YUCAIPA, Calif. (AP) — Gerardo Barrientos and his girlfriend Lluvia Ramirez wanted a week away from the suffering they see every day at a government hospital in Tijuana, Mexico. Looking for a break, they paid $40 apiece for a day trip to the snowy mountains of Southern California.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Business leaders and labor union officials are delving into high-stakes negotiations over a particularly contentious element of immigration reform — a guest worker program to ensure future immigrants come here legally.