It is often said that crises beget opportunities. This statement is nowhere truer than in the realm of U.S.-Israel relations.

Israel's approval of 1,600 new housing units for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden's recent visit has sparked the most significant crisis in U.S.-Israel relations in nearly 20 years. Some observers have suggested that the Netanyahu government's actions underscore a growing U.S. impotence with respect to the peace process. Yet if history is any guide, the present crisis might have left President Obama in a fairly strong position to advance peace.

Ladies' night, as Ryan called, delivered a happy surprise - or two!

Didi Benami, who had her head handed to her on a plate by the judges last week, sang the Fleetwood Mac classic "Rhiannon" - and had a hit! Her phrasing was lovely, her tone was floatingly dreamy-sad, and she looked more than ever like Ugly Betty's Becki Newton! Randy thought it was good enough to merit her staying in the race, and Kara called it one of her favorite moments of the season.

IBM and Stanford University this week will outline a green chemistry breakthrough that may lead to biodegradable and biocompatible plastics.

In a nutshell, IBM and Stanford have applied 'organocatalysis' to green polymer chemistry. The general theme is to make more environmentally friendly and degradable plastics.

The breakthrough could mean that disposable plastic bottles can be recycled beyond two generations. Typically, recycled plastic bottles wind up in items like carpet and playground that can't be reused again and ultimately wind up in a landfill. By using organic catalysts it's possible to create biodegradable molecules from renewable sources.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 8 (UPI) -- University of Copenhagen researchers report vitamin D is crucial to activating immune defenses to fight off serious infections in the body.

Carsten Geisler said when specialized immune cells -- T cells -- are exposed to a foreign pathogen, it extends a signaling device or "antenna" known as a vitamin D receptor, with which it searches for vitamin D.

"T cell must have vitamin D or activation of the cell will cease," Geisler said in a statement. "If the T cells cannot find enough vitamin D in the blood, they won't even begin to mobilize."

Reporting from Los Angeles and New York - A week of brinkmanship ended Sunday when Walt Disney Co. and Cablevision Systems Corp. settled their dispute over a new contract, a breakthrough that allowed viewers in 3.1 million homes in the New York area to watch the Academy Awards -- starting 13 minutes into the telecast.

The post-deadline tentative accord came after the two companies spent a week exchanging barbs that led to Disney stripping its ABC signal from Cablevision's systems early Sunday. Many Cablevision customers spent the day trekking to electronics stores to buy digital rabbit ears so they wouldn't miss the Oscars.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - When Peter Mueller's looping shot from the blue line somehow eluded Jonas Hiller, the Colorado Avalanche's newest forward had trouble believing he could celebrate.

For a guy who felt he hadn't got a break all season in Phoenix, Mueller's goal was a breakthrough - and a key reason Colorado was able to break the longest home winning streak in the Ducks' history.

Matt Duchene scored the go-ahead goal with 11:51 to play, Chris Stewart had a goal and two assists, and the Avalanche ended the Ducks' 11-game home roll with a 4-3 victory Wednesday night.

* Shelby proposes less independence for consumer unit

* Shelby offer signals shift in his view of Fed

* Shelby closer to Dodd's thinking on consumer unit (Adds comment, background)

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Key Senate Republican Richard Shelby is open to placing a consumer financial protection division within the Federal Reserve, people familiar with the senator's thinking said on Wednesday.

Shelby's willingness to give the Fed some oversight of consumer protection signals a shift in his view and could be a breakthrough for Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd's financial reform bill.

WASHINGTON - A proposal to give the Federal Reserve the primary responsibility for protecting consumers from abusive and deceptive financial products emerged on Tuesday as a potential breakthrough after months of partisan gridlock in the Senate over the terms of a broad overhaul of financial regulations.

But the plan, which would represent a fundamental shift in the role, if not the authority, of the central bank, still faced significant hurdles. Members of both parties, while not rejecting the idea outright.

Ernests Gulbis didn't mind being a birthday spoiler at the Delray Beach International Championships on Sunday.

So what if it was the second-seeded Ivo Karlovic's 31st birthday. There was no time for being sentimental; the 21-year-old Gulbis had history to make.

He became the first Latvian to win an ATP title when he dominated Karlovic 6-2, 6-3 to win his debut career final Sunday.

``Everything I do, it's the first time for my country,'' said Gulbis, one of only four Latvian players ranked in the top 1,000. ``I was first one in top 300, first one in top 200, first one in top 100.''

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the president would make an announcement next week about the 'way forward' on health care, following the bipartisan meeting Thursday that made clear there was little room for bipartisan compromise.

The White House wasn't quite ready to declare defeat in the GOP outreach, though aides say privately they do not expect a breakthrough. Gibbs said Friday there are areas of possible agreement with Republicans, such as imposing limits on malpractice lawsuits and curbing waste, fraud and abuse. And he suggested it is not yet clear whether any Republicans will want to work with Democrats on their legislation.

Press reaction to the talks has been far from positive

Indian newspapers have extensively covered the first formal official talks between India and Pakistan since the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks of 2008.

No breakthrough was expected from the talks in Delhi between Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir.

And there was none, the papers said.

"New round, old story", headlined the Hindustan Times newspaper.

NEW DELHI - They came, they met, they disagreed. The first formal meeting Thursday between India and Pakistan since the terrorist attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, also known as Bombay, 15 months ago saw no breakthrough, as expected, although both sides termed it a first step in building confidence.

"I would not characterize these talks as successful or unsuccessful," Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said afterward. "We must pick up the pieces where this process was interrupted and try to rebuild trust."

ORLANDO, Fla. - On a sunny afternoon last June, Dr. Keith Flaherty stood before a large room packed with oncologists from around the world and described the extraordinary recovery of the melanoma patients in the experimental drug trial he was leading.

It was a moment he had looked forward to for months. Beyond a breakthrough for melanoma, the results were a promising sign for an approach to treatment for all forms of cancer that he and others had championed as more effective and less toxic than standard chemotherapy.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With only one segment of the ice dancing competition left at these Olympics, three North American teams find themselves in an unprecedented position: all are in reach of a medal - with some even close to the gold.

The Canadian team of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the original dance Sunday, prying away the spotlight usually focused on Europeans in this sport.

Virtue and Moir's sexy, sultry flamenco, which they said was the best one they had ever performed, received 68.41 points. That victory, which elicited deafening cheers by the home crowd, gave them a 2.6-point lead going into the free dance Monday. They scored 111.15 points over all.

WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) - Russia's Evgeny Ustyugov finally won a medal at the Vancouver Games, capturing the men's 15-kilometer mass start biathlon race.

The World Cup leader shot cleanly to finish in 35 minutes, 35.7 seconds, beating Martin Fourcade of France by 10.5 seconds Sunday. Pavol Hurajt of Slovakia won the bronze, finishing 16.6 seconds behind Ustyugov.

Tim Burke, hoping to make a biathlon breakthrough at the Olympics for the United States, finished 18th.

One of the main rebel groups in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement has signed a ceasefire agreement with Khartoum.

The agreement will be followed by further talks on the division of natural resources and the security of refugees.

The deal is believed to include a temporary ceasefire and a framework agreement for future talks.

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has said the death sentence against the JEM fighters convicted of attacking Omdurman had been quashed and 30 per cent of them had been released as a goodwill measure .

tim burke's chances of cracking america's biathlon barrier are down to a precious few. there's the 20-kilometer individual race thursday and the 15-kilometer mass start sunday. the americans aren't considered a legitimate threat in the relay, the fifth and final race. "i've been on the podium in both of the events coming up this year on the world cup," burke said. "right now i'd have to say i have a better chance in the individual.

WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Lindsey Vonn required 45 World Cup races before she managed a top-10 finish. Alice McKennis needed only three.

No wonder McKennis was selected alongside Alpine veterans Vonn, Julia Mancuso and Stacey Cook to start for the U.S. in Wednesday's Olympic downhill.

"You can see when she skis she wants it," Vonn said. "She wants to go fast and she likes the speed, but she's also really calm and smooth on her skis."

no breakthrough in pune blast probe pune/mumbai: even as a breakthrough in the saturday's blast at the german bakery in pune eluded the police, the maharashtra government on sunday reviewed the security arrangements in nagpur, aurangabad and nashik

the white house on thursday dismissed iran's boasts of a nuclear breakthrough, as pro- and anti-regime demonstrators massed on the streets of tehran during the 31st anniversary of iran's revolution. responding to president mahmoud ahmadinejad's