WASHINGTON, D.C.

NRA creating news company

The nation’s gun lobby is creating an “NRA news” company that will produce a daily talk show for the Internet, buy a radio station and seek a television deal to spread its gun-rights message nationwide.

Looking for the same legal recognition as mainstream news organizations, the National Rifle Assn. says it already has hired its first reporter, Cam Edwards, a conservative talk radio host from Oklahoma. NRANews.com plans to start online broadcasts today.

The NRA is taking the step to operate free of political spending limits, hoping to use unlimited donations known as soft money to focus on gun issues and candidates’ positions despite the law’s restrictions on soft money-financed political ads within days of the election.

JERUSALEM

Israel orders first freeze on funds for settlements

Israel’s attorney general imposed an unprecedented freeze on all settlement construction funds Thursday, accusing settlers of illegally diverting money to build up unauthorized West Bank outposts that Israel is supposed to be taking down.

Palestinian leaders were scrambling for international support after President Bush suggested Israel would not have to give back all the West Bank or accept Palestinian refugees as part of a final peace deal. Palestinians saw those statements as a new U.S. Mideast policy favoring Israel.

Dozens of settlement outposts — often no more than a trailer on a hilltop — have received paved roads and electrical power lines in recent months even though Israel had promised to dismantle them under the U.S.-backed “road map” peace plan.

BOSTON

Governor asks for special counsel to stop gay marriage

Gov. Mitt Romney made a long-shot bid Thursday to block the nation’s first legally sanctioned gay marriages next month, asking lawmakers for permission to take his case directly to the state’s highest court.

Legal experts said the move represented an unprecedented request that appeared unlikely to go anywhere.

The Republican governor proposed legislation that would let him appoint a special counsel to argue against gay marriage in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Romney wants justices to halt gay weddings for another 2 1/2 years, until voters can weigh in on a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage while legalizing civil unions. The weddings are scheduled to start May 17.