VANCOUVER - These are the American Olympics now, and by American we do not mean North American. We mean the can-do, fire-in-the-belly USA, with its gung-ho attitude, its dull but earnest chants, its overachieving athletes and its almost embarrassing treasure trove of prizes.

Welcome to our personal playgrounds, on half-pipe and Alpine slopes and slippery ice rinks. Gaze upon our medals, Canada. For the podium will never be yours to own.

Government safety regulators officially launched an investigation Thursday into possible problems with power steering in 2009 and 2010 Toyota Corollas, while a House committee preparing to grill the automaker next week subpoenaed what it hopes will be a treasure trove of secret safety documents held by a former Toyota lawyer.

Adding to the drama, Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda unexpectedly said Thursday he will testify at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing next Wednesday. He previously said he wouldn't testify at that or two other hearings.

With the death of J.D. Salinger, the world has lost one of the greatest - and most publicity-shy - authors of the 20th century.

Salinger's passing has, however, caused many of his admirers to wonder if they will soon be gaining access to a treasure trove of his unpublished works.

Salinger, who is most famous for his quintessential New York novel "The Catcher in the Rye," died yesterday in New Hampshire.

LONDON (Sept. 24) - An amateur treasure hunter prowling English farmland with a metal detector stumbled upon the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure ever discovered, a massive collection of gold and silver crosses, sword decorations and other items, British archaeologists said Thursday.

One expert said the treasure would revolutionize understanding of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people who ruled England from the fifth century until the Norman conquest in 1066. Another said the find would rank among Britain's best-known historic treasures.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - An amateur treasure-hunter searching in a farmer's field has discovered the largest Anglo-Saxon hoard of gold artifacts ever found in Britain, a haul described by archaeologists as unparalleled.

Terry Herbert, a 55-year-old metal detectorist, came across the hoard in a field in Staffordshire, central England in July.

Much of it was lying close to the surface or even scattered on top of the plowed soil.