U.S.-JAPAN . . . CALLING IN THE TOKYO CAVALRY

Japan's trade minister unexpectedly announced travel plans for an 11th-hour trip to Washington to avert sanctions against his country that could be levied as early as Friday. Ryutaro Hashimoto's D.C.-bound mission, scheduled for tomorrow, could signal a breakthrough in talks. The two sides are currently in a hostile standoff over America's ever-expanding trade deficit with Tokyo.

Quotes of the Day »

RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
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