Sony chairman credited with developing CDs dies

TOKYO (AP) -- As a young man, aspiring opera singer Norio Ohga wrote to Sony to complain about the quality of its tape recorders. That move changed the course of his life, as the company promptly recruited the man whose love of music would shape the development of the compact disc and transform the Japanese electronics maker into a global software and entertainment empire.

Sony's president and chairman from 1982 to 1995, Ohga died Saturday in Tokyo of multiple organ failure, the company said. He was 81.

Ohga's connection to music steered his work. The flamboyant music connoisseur insisted the CD be designed at 12 centimeters (4.8 inches) in diameter to hold 75 minutes worth of music - in order to store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in its entirety.

Afghan banker: 5 percent of Kabul Bank loans paid

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghanistan has stepped up efforts to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent loans made by the embattled Kabul Bank, but so far just 5 percent of the $909 million being sought has been recouped, the nation's top banker said Wednesday.

Afghan officials have been under heavy international pressure to resolve the problems at Kabul Bank, the nation's largest private financial institution, which nearly collapsed last year because of mismanagement and questionable lending practices. Its shareholders once included the brother of President Hamid Karzai.

Palin: Wis. gov doing the right thing with unions

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Sarah Palin defended Wisconsin's governor at a tea party tax day rally Saturday, telling hundreds of supporters that his polarizing union rights law is designed to save public jobs.

Braving snow showers and a frigid wind outside the state Capitol building, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate told tea partyers she's glad to stand with Gov. Scott Walker. Hundreds of labor supporters surrounded the rally, trying to drown Palin out with chants of "Hey-hey, ho-ho, Scott Walker has got to go!" and "Recall Walker!"

Clinton visits Tokyo in show of support for Japan

TOKYO (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that America would stand by Japan, saying she was confident the country will fully recover from its tsunami and nuclear disasters.

"We are very confident that Japan will recover and will be a very strong economic and global player for years and decades to come," Clinton told Prime Minister Naoto Kan during a brief visit to Tokyo intended as a morale boost to the crucial U.S. ally.

Kan thanked Clinton for U.S. help with the crises triggered by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake on March 11 that unleashed a massive tsunami, wrecking cooling and power systems at a nuclear plant that has been leaking radiation ever since.

A Consumer's Guide to Health Care Overhaul

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