World Trade Center tower surpasses Empire State

(CBS/AP) The new One World Trade Center - under construction on the site of the original World Trade Center, destroyed in the 9/11 terror attacks - has surpassed the height of the Empire State Building to become New York City's tallest building.

Workers erected steel columns that make the unfinished frame of the building a little more than 1,250 feet high - the level of the Empire State Building's highest observation deck.

The tower still isn't as high as the antenna that sits on the Empire State Building, but when complete will stand at 1,368 feet, beating out the midtown skyscraper that was for decades the world's tallest. When counting a 408-foot-tall antenna spire that will sit on its roof, the "Freedom Tower" will measures 1,776 feet.

Discounting the antenna, it will still be the second-highest building in the U.S., after the Willis Tower in Chicago. (Experts usually don't count antennas or flagpoles when measuring building height.)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Third baseman Brandon Inge has agreed to sign with the Oakland Athletics, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Sunday.

Inge gives Oakland experience at a position that has been mix-and-match so far — and some versatility considering he can also play several other spots.

The deal was pending a physical and final paperwork, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because nothing had been finalized and the A's were yet to make a formal announcement.

Inge was released by the Tigers on Thursday after batting .100 (2 for 20) with one home run and two RBIs in nine games this season. Inge, who turns 35 on May 19, joins his first new team in his 12th major league season. In Detroit, he played mostly third base, but he has also caught, played the outfield and second base.

He'll try to fill a huge void at third, where the A's lost projected starter Scott Sizemore to a season-ending knee injury in the first full-squad workout of spring training Feb. 27. Oakland manager Bob Melvin has tried Josh Donaldson, Eric Sogard and Luke Hughes in the spot so far. That trio left for the current road trip batting a combined .111 with eight errors.

"We have who we have," Melvin said last week.

It's a far cry from the sure-handed play the A's used to get from six-time Gold Glove winner Eric Chavez at third. Oakland thought it had the answer in Sizemore, who also came from the Tigers in a trade last May.

ATLANTA -- Talk about a tough playoff opener for the Boston Celtics.

One game, possibly two big losses.

There was the score, of course, which went in

NEW YORK -- Three generations of a family died in a horrifying crash just a few miles from home when the SUV they were traveling in plunged more than 50 feet off a highway overpass and into a ravine on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, killing all seven aboard, including three children.

"Sometimes you come upon events that are horrific and this is one of them," FDNY deputy Chief Ronald Werner said shortly after the crash. seatbelt

Authorities were trying to determine what caused Sunday's accident that killed Jacob Nunez, 85, and Ana Julia Martinez, 81, both from the Dominican Republic, their daughters, Maria Gonzalez, 45, and Maria Nunez, 39, and three grandchildren. Police say Gonzalez was driving, and all the victims were wearing seat belts.

The children were identified as Jocelyn Gonzalez, 10, the daughter of the driver, Niely Rosario, 7, and Marly Rosario, 3, both daughters of Nunez.

"They were a good, wholesome family," a Bronx neighbor, Felicia Lee, 29, told the Daily News.

"The mother always kept an eye on her children. They were typical little girls. They were gorgeous. They were so pretty," Lee said.

The accident was the second in the past year where a car fell off the same stretch of the Bronx River Parkway.

Werner said the crash scene, less than five miles from Gonzalez's Bronx home, was difficult to see, with contents of the van, including a pink schoolbag, strewn about.

"When you see young kids that have been hurt or injured or lose their life, it's always harder than if you find someone that's an elder age," Werner said. "It affects all our units."

Obama mocks scandals, Republicans at White House Correspondents Dinner

At a time when the Obama administration is reeling from a pair of high-profile scandals, the president paused Saturday night to thoroughly mock them before a crowd of dressed-up journalists and celebrities at the White House Correspondents Dinner. 

Few topics were off limits as President Obama roasted his own administration officials, while reserving a stinging string of punch-lines for targets ranging from Mitt Romney to Newt Gingrich to Donald Trump. 

His closing line poked fun at the Secret Service, which for weeks has been embroiled in a prostitution scandal after agents were found carousing with women in Colombia ahead of the president's visit. 

"I had a lot more material prepared, but I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew," Obama said, referencing the agency's new rules of conduct. 

The president also ripped the General Services Administration, over the agency's now infamous 2010 conference in Las Vegas. 

"I mean, look at this party.  We've got men in tuxes, women in gowns, fine wine, first-class entertainment," he said. "I was just relieved to learn this was not a GSA conference." 

The dinner was far from a campaign-free zone. The president pointed out his similarities with the presumed Republican nominee, Mitt Romney. 

"We both think of our wives as our better halves, and the American people agree to an insulting extent," the president said. 

"We both have degrees from Harvard. I have one, he has two. What a snob." 

The crack drew a thumbs up from former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who was in the audience. Santorum dropped out of the presidential primary campaign earlier this month. He had called Obama a snob for encouraging young Americans to attend college. 

Obama also teased Newt Gingrich, who is expected to formally drop out of the Republican presidential race this coming week. 

"Now, I know at this point many of you are expecting me to go after my likely opponent, Newt Gingrich," Obama said. "Newt, there's still time, man." 

The president turned to make fun of recent stories about his childhood experience eating dog -- which he wrote about in his memoir. 

"Even Sarah Palin is getting back into the game, guest hosting on The Today Show -- which reminds me of an old saying: What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?  A pit bull is delicious," Obama said, adding: "A little soy sauce." 

He later joked: "My stepfather always told me, it's a boy-eat-dog world out there." 

Even the entrance to his speech was part of his schtick. The president walked off stage just before he took the podium with an alleged "hot mic," making fun of getting caught last month on an open microphone with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

France's Hollande says his ideas winning in Europe

(Reuters) - France's Socialist presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande welcomed Germany's call for growth measures on Saturday as a sign Europe was accepting his warnings of the risk of austerity.

Obama Campaign Trots Out Bin Laden, Spikes the Football (Updated: Romney Responds) 

The narrator in the ad is former President Bill Clinton.

This latest ad contradicts President Obama's own pledge after he took out bin Laden. "You know, we don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama told CBS soon after the terrorist mastermind had been taken out. He added: "Americans and people around the world are glad that he's gone. But we don't need to spike the football."

With the Obama campaign's latest ad, it's pretty safe to say that the president is now OK with "trot[ting] out this stuff" and "spik[ing] the football," as long as it helps him get reelected.

UPDATE: Mitt Romney's campaign responds with this statement from press secretary Andrea Saul: “The killing of Osama bin Laden was a momentous day for all Americans and the world, and Governor Romney congratulated the military, our intelligence agencies, and the President. It's now sad to see the Obama campaign seek to use an event that unified our country to once again divide us, in order to try to distract voters' attention from  the failures of his administration. With 23 million Americans struggling for work, our national debt soaring, and household budgets being squeezed like never before, Mitt Romney is focused on strengthening America at home and abroad.”