New York: Olympic committee investigating Clinton

The U.S. Olympic Committee is investigating whether Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton improperly discussed New York City’s bid to host the 2012 games with an Olympic official.

The committee is looking into a meeting between Clinton and Anita DeFrantz on Sept. 6, when Clinton played host to DeFrantz for a special session of Congress at Federal Hall. DeFrantz, a representative of the Olympic selection committee, has publicly stated that she discussed New York’s bid with Clinton.

A spokeswoman for Clinton, a Democrat, denied any wrongdoing.

“We have not been apprised of any constraints on senators when it comes to promoting their states,” Karen Dunn said.

Washington: Regulation defines fetuses as children

The Bush administration on Friday issued a final regulation defining human fetuses and embryos as children, saying it would allow states to offer prenatal health care to greater numbers of poor women.

But abortion-rights advocates, noting that states already can cover pregnant women under Medicaid and, with federal permission, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, called the regulation a thinly disguised attempt by the administration to weaken abortion rights.

Administration officials rejected such criticism, saying the regulation was simply intended to make the benefits of prenatal care available to more unborn children.

“This is a common-sense, compassionate measure to make sure that all children born in this country come into the world as healthy as possible,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said.

The regulation, which will take effect 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register on Wednesday, comes more than a year after officials first floated the idea and eight months after it officially proposed the change.

Detroit: FBI report reveals little about Hoffa

The FBI shed little light on the 25-year disappearance of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa in a report made public after a decadelong legal battle.

The report the FBI turned over to Oakland County prosecutor David Gorcyca earlier this year told largely the same account that agents pieced together at the time, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday.

The newspaper obtained the report Thursday after seeking access for 10 years. Gorcyca said last month no state criminal charges would be filed and only a death-bed confession or cooperation of a witness would solve the mystery.

At least 91 pages of the 349-page report consisted of transcripts of old media interviews with family friend Chuckie O’Brien. Federal agents have pursued him for years, trying to tie him to the disappearance.

O’Brien’s name was stricken from the report, though it’s clear certain references are to him, the newspaper said.

The cover sheet of the report, dated May 13, described the case as murder or conspiracy to commit murder.

Hoffa vanished July 30, 1975.