Shanghai surprise

Though today's Chinese-sourced MG TF is little different to theold British version, it's still a fun steer if you're looking for anaffordably-priced roadster.

The original version offered here looked pricey but that's beenrectified by the additional availability of this identically-engined TF 135 entry-level model. Can it still take on more modernalternatives? Let's find out.

Whichever MG TF you buy, it'll have the same 134bhp Rover KSeries engine, a unit that has quite a history having found its wayinto some diverse cars down the years. Everything from Rover saloonsto trackday specials from Lotus and Caterham. There's stillsomething to be said for it …

Wall Street Falls As Earnings Eyed

NEW YORK - Wall Street moved lower in an erratic session Tuesday as investors weighed the impact of lower oil prices, and remained wary about corporate earnings after Sprint Nextel Corp. issued a profit warning.

Investors lost some of their recent ebullience going into the earnings season, worried that 18-straight quarters of double-digit growth in Standard & Poor's 500 members might be coming to an end.

With Alcoa Inc. due to report after the closing bell, Wall Street was skittish after Sprint Nextel warned 2007 results will miss analyst projections. Some half-dozen other companies on Monday warned that fourth-quarter results will come up short.

Investors …

Obama heads to California for town-hall meetings

President Barack Obama heads to California today, where he will preside over a couple of town hall-style meetings and become the first incumbent chief executive to appear on "The Tonight Show." The visit comes at a time when California is being hit hard economically.

The state that is home to one in eight Americans has been ravaged by recession, a housing meltdown and double-digit unemployment. The public is seething over $165 million in post-bailout bonuses paid to executives at American International Group Inc. _ an issue certain to overshadow the two-day visit.

His first appearance as president in a state that was a getaway for his predecessors …

Bill & Gil's breakup at the Geographic

LOVETTSVILLE When the news from Seventeenth and M about Gil andBill reached the foot of the Short Hill Mountain last week, it leftthe Master of Mouse Trap Farm in a state of shock. It was as thoughthe Bobbsey Twins, Chang and Eng (the original Siamese duo), orLaurel and Hardy had decided to part company.

By way of background, Seventeenth and M is an intersection indowntown Washington, D.C., five blocks from the White House thatdefines the northwest corner of a most unusual empire over which Giland Bill have presided brilliantly for a decade: the NationalGeographic Society.

Suddenly it was all over. A tight-lipped announcement fromSociety headquarters on …

US prosecutor to probe Kosovo organ trafficking

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A U.S. prosecutor will investigate claims that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci allegedly led a criminal network that sold organs of civilian captives during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, the EU's mission in Kosovo said Monday.

John Clint Williamson was named lead prosecutor in a task force set up to investigate allegations raised in a report last year by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, the mission said in a statement.

Marty has alleged that Thaci and other rebel commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army ran detention centers in Albania's border with Kosovo, where civilian captives, including Serbs, were killed and their organs sold on the black market …

US Says More Pressure Needed on Myanmar

A senior U.S. official urged the international community Monday to put more pressure on Myanmar's military rulers, saying the junta has made no progress in opening a dialogue with the pro-democracy opposition.

Last week, the U.N. Security Council said its envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, should return to Myanmar, also called Burma, to help push for national reconciliation. Gambari wanted to visit later this month, but received a letter from Myanmar's government requesting that he come in April.

Scot Marciel, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, told reporters in Hanoi that the U.S. has asked China to try to help push for Gambari's visit to …

'Garfield 2' points clause at Murray

Bill Murray is in negotiations to reprise his role as the voice ofthe comics-page cat in the sequel "Garfield 2."

Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt have signed on to return,though Hewitt's role will be reduced …