The archdiocese sent a subpoena to President Barack Obama's administration in February asking for documents from White House staff, including Obama himself, for use in a church lawsuit against the contraception mandate.

Citing the burden involved and calling a subpoena of the president's office inappropriate, the White House asked a federal judge to toss out the subpoena on April 4.

A notice filed in U.S. District Court in Washington late on Monday said the archdiocese agreed to withdraw its subpoena. It did not say why.

A lawyer for the archdiocese declined to comment on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, which represented the White House in court, had no immediate comment.

The archdiocese is continuing its lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court challenging the Obama administration's health policy requirement that employers generally include coverage of birth control in health insurance plans they offer workers.

The Catholic Church teaches that artificial birth control is sinful because it violates natural law.

Part of the 2010 healthcare law championed by Obama and congressional Democrats, the birth control mandate has some exceptions for religious employers but the New York archdiocese said it expected to incur nearly $200 million each year in penalties if it refuses to comply.

(Reporting by David Ingram; editing by Andrew Hay)

Two NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn ventured outside the football field-size orbital complex to investigate , which uses liquid ammonia to transfer heat away from electronic power systems. Although they found no signs of damage that might explain the leak, the , which appeared to halt the flow of ammonia for now.

It will be weeks, or even months, though, before it's clear if the leak has fully stopped. []

"The crew looked and watched for any obvious signs of leaks and didn't see anything," Joel Montalbano, deputy space station program manager, said during a press conference after the spacewalk today at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We're very happy."

Engineers on the ground will continue to study the troubled area in hopes of understanding what caused the leak.

"We'll see if anything becomes obvious," said NASA flight director Ed Van Cise. "From what we saw during the EVA [extravehicular activity, or spacewalk] itself, nothing really stood out in terms of what may have been the culprit."

NASA officials said they don't yet know if the problem is related to a leak that was spotted in the same coolant channel in 2007. That leak was so slow it posed no immediate problem, and athat replaced a radiator for the system appeared to stop it.

On Thursday (May 9), the six-man crew of the space station's Expedition 35 mission noticed the leak had worsened, with visible white snowflakes of frozen ammonia floating out into space.

"It was just two days ago that the slight leak we were observing in the thermal control system took a change to where it was a pretty dramatic leak," Van Cise said.

The urgency of the problem caused NASA to "pretty much bring everyone to the table" to address the situation and , he added. "Space station is a very large, complicated and complex vehicle built all across the world. There are going to be engineers and very smart people all over the place that need to help us address these situations. We draw upon that when we have to and when the vehicle throws something at us that we need all those resources."

For now, mission managers are breathing a sigh of relief, though only time will tell if the issue is truly resolved.

"It's going to take the teams a few weeks to go ahead and watch the system, understand the system before they're ready to tell us that we were 100-percent successful," Montalbano said.

In the meantime, the crew is preparing for a change of command ceremony tomorrow (May 12), where current Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency will pass the duty over to Expedition 36 commander Pavel Vinogradov of the Russian Federal Space Agency. Hadfield, Marshburn, and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko will depart the space station Monday evening at 7:08 p.m. EDT (2308 GMT) on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and land about three hours later, at 10:31 p.m. EDT (0231 GMT Tuesday), in Kazakhstan.

A new crew of three spaceflyers is due to arrive at the space station later this month to round out the Expedition 36 team.

Follow Clara Moskowitz onand . Follow us,and . Original article on.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is still exerting a permit power that chicken growers contend it doesn't have, so a federal judge said he won't dismiss a lawsuit by a West Virginia farmer the agency had accused of polluting the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The EPA argued Lois Alt's lawsuit was rendered moot in December, when it withdrew violation notices and proposed fines against her Eight is Enough farm in Hardy County. But Alt, the West Virginia Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau want their day in court, claiming the EPA's actions in her case have implications for farmers throughout the region.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey agreed last week, denying EPA's motion to dismiss. The agency had not yet filed a response as of Tuesday.

In his ruling, Bailey said the EPA hasn't changed its underlying position that some chicken farms are concentrated animal feeding operations and are now required to obtain permits they've never previously needed under the Clean Water Act.

The EPA has also issued orders to two other farmers in West Virginia and Virginia that were virtually identical to the one issued against Alt, Bailey said.

"EPA's adherence to its underlying position ... demonstrates that the agency's challenged assertion of authority not only can be 'reasonably expected to recur,' but in fact is ongoing even now," Bailey wrote.

"EPA plainly has not withdrawn, rescinded, repudiated or otherwise altered its legal position that despite the statutory exemption for agricultural storm water farmyard storm water must be regulated through a federally mandated permit," he wrote.

Although EPA did send a letter withdrawing Alt's violations, Bailey noted, it did not explain the basis for its change of heart. Nor is Alt's mere compliance with the agency's demands enough to make the case moot.

"Otherwise, a defendant could engage in unlawful conduct, stop when sued to have the case declared moot," Bailey wrote, "then pick up where he left off, repeating this cycle until he achieves all his unlawful ends."

The EPA said dust, feathers, and fine particles of dander and manure from Alt's chicken farm could land on the ground, come into contact with storm water and flow into ditches, eventually reaching Chesapeake Bay tributaries.

The EPA is focused on protecting the watershed, which encompasses parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and all of the District of Columbia.

Alt acknowledged there is waste-tainted runoff from her farm but argued it was agricultural storm water, not "process wastewater" that would be subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act.

Here he was, perhaps the most popular player in the NFL, in New York as a member of the Jets and maybe the biggest thing to hit Broadway since Joe Namath himself.

There were billboards outside the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey welcoming Tebow, and sandwiches named after him at Manhattan delis. He also had a legion of fans who followed him because of his strong Christian beliefs, and in New York, he would be able to take advantage of countless media and marketing opportunities.

And then, it all went terribly wrong.

Or, more like it, the whole idea was completely flawed from the start. For Tebow. And for the Jets.

Tebow was waived Monday morning, the end of an embarrassingly unsuccessful one-season experiment in New York that produced more hype and headlines than production on the field. And it all ended quietly, with a three-paragraph news release.

"Unfortunately," coach Rex Ryan said in a statement, "things did not work out the way we all had hoped."

It also left Tebow's football future very much in doubt.

A year after he threw a TD pass to win a playoff game in overtime for Denver, the Heisman Trophy winner with two college national titles at Florida and a nationwide following may have suited up for the last time.

Tebow took to Twitter a few hours after being waived, citing a bible verse: "Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding," Tebow wrote, "in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

No NFL team has made a pitch to get him. The only nibble so far came from the Montreal Alouettes. They hold his rights in the Canadian Football League and said he could come compete for a job as a backup.

"Had this happened back in February, he might have had a chance to at least participate in free agency," said 2002 NFL MVP quarterback Rich Gannon, now an analyst for CBS Sports and SiriusXM NFL Radio. "I don't think there would have been a strong market for him, but at least he would've had that opportunity."

Gannon added that it's an even tougher situation for Tebow now because more than 20 quarterbacks were either drafted or signed as undrafted free agents in the last few days.

"Look, it's a two-way street, though," Gannon said. "It's a business. The Jets were trying to find somebody, a dance partner. Sometimes that goes into the draft and teams are calling around. I'm sure the Jets were trying to shop Tebow, and I'm sure they kept getting denied."

This is the same guy who led the Broncos to the postseason in 2011, but became expendable when Denver signed Peyton Manning as a free agent. The popular backup quarterback was acquired by the Jets in March 2012 for a fourth-round draft pick and $1.5 million in salary. He was introduced at the Jets' facility to plenty of fanfare at a lavish news conference, with Tebow repeatedly saying he was "excited" to be in New York.

It turned out to be one of the few high points in Tebow's stay with the Jets. Along with his shirtless jog from the practice field in the rain during training camp, of course.

The Jets never figured out a way to use Tebow effectively, and he never forced the issue by being a good enough player in practice to make Ryan and his coaches put him on the field more in games.

"If he were to happen to call me, I would say, 'Look, you're starting over,'" former NFL GM Ted Sundquist said. "Tim Tebow needs to redefine who Tim Tebow is, in my opinion. He's no longer a first-round quarterback."

Even recently retired Jets special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff labeled the way the team used Tebow an "absolute mess."

It all cost Tebow his job, along with former general manager Mike Tannenbaum and former offensive coordinator Tony Sparano both fired in part because of their roles in what was one of the NFL's messiest quarterback situations in recent memory. It also seriously clouds Tebow's NFL future, which might be extended only, in some people's opinion, if he considers a position change.

"I don't see any team giving him a chance because teams don't want to deal with the following that comes with Tebow," ESPN analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Damien Woody said. "Maybe Canada."

Added Gannon: "I don't know. He's just in a bad spot."

Tebow was brought to New York to be a dynamic addition to the offense, a complement to Mark Sanchez and a merchandising touchdown for the Jets. Instead, he attempted just eight passes for 39 yards and rushed 32 times for 102 yards and stunningly had no touchdowns.

Through it all, Tebow tried to hide his frustration, but acknowledged late in the season that things didn't turn out quite how he expected in New York.

"I think it's fair to say," Tebow said, "that I'm a little disappointed."

It's an amazing fall for a player whose No. 15 Broncos jersey ranked second in national sales to Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers in 2011.

"He seems like a great kid," Sundquist said, "and it seems like he could bring some positives to a club if he can just bury this whole thing about him being in your quarterback mix and just let him be No. 39 on your roster, one of your back-end guys who can go somewhere and help you win."

The Jets and new general manager John Idzik drafted former West Virginia star Geno Smith in the second round of the NFL draft Friday, giving New York six quarterbacks on its roster and creating uncertainty about Sanchez's future as well.

Tebow, who dropped about 15 pounds in the last few months, arrived at the team's facility in Florham Park, N.J., early Monday and was told he had been cut.

"Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason," Ryan said. "We wish him the best moving forward."

But, where to next for Tebow?

The Jacksonville Jaguars have already ruled themselves out of giving Tebow a happy homecoming. But maybe the Chicago Bears, whose new head coach Marc Trestman tutored Tebow before the NFL draft in 2010, could give him a look as their backup.

Perhaps the San Diego Chargers would take a chance on him, adding to the circus-like atmosphere they'll likely have because they drafted Manti Te'o. New coach Mike McCoy was Tebow's offensive coordinator in Denver during the 2011 season, when the quarterback took over the offense and led the Broncos to comeback after comeback.

What about Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots? They're no strangers to turning discarded players Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead, even Randy Moss into big-time playmakers, and it would give Belichick another chance to tweak the Jets.

Then, there's always the Canadian Football League, but whether Tebow would even be open to a move north of the U.S. border is uncertain.

"If you can find a club that's mature enough to handle it as an organization, then you're going to find the right spot for him," Sundquist said. "What I mean by that is all the media mania and that sort of thing. The club says, 'Look, this is the reason we're bringing him on. We feel he can bring X, Y, Z and A, B, C to the table.' Explain it to Tim, explain it to the media, explain it to your fan base and explain it to your organization."

KYOTO, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese author Haruki Murakami made his first public appearance in his homeland in 18 years on Monday, describing his newest novel, which was an instant-best seller, as a story that takes place in the real world, unlike many of his other novels.

"Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" has attracted positive reviews, with readers spotting familiar Murakami themes such as people bonding through pain.

Publisher Bungeishunju made the rare decision to print 1 million copies within a week of its April release in Japan.

The novel is about a lonely 36-year-old engineer named Tsukuru Tazaki, who embarks on trips in Japan and Finland to overcome his most painful experience - broken friendships.

"Usually things are divided into the real and unreal, but I was wondering how it will be if I bring all of that into the stage of the real world," Murakami told an audience of about 500 fans in Kyoto.

"People get hurt and close their minds, but as time passes, they gradually open up, and they grow as they repeat that. This novel is about growth."

The fans who won a lottery to attend the event were surprised that the 64-year-old, whose fiction is often surreal and who has made a handful of speeches overseas in recent years but none in Japan, was actually speaking to the public.

"I am a fan of his novels but I have never seen him in person nor heard his voice. Is he a normal person?" Hiroko Yamada, 40, asked as she waited for the event to start.

Murakami said he decided to speak in public to honor his friend Hayao Kawai, a psychologist who died in 2007.

"It's not like I get purple dots all over myself when I am in front of many people. I like to go around on the bus and the subway and live a normal life," he joked.

"I want you to think of me like an endangered species - it's fine to look at me from far away, but be careful because I may bite if you come near and talk to me or touch me."

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

The late filing penalty is usually 5 percent of the unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month a return is late. That can add up quickly if you owe additional taxes. But what if the unpaid taxes are zero? Five percent of zero is ... zero!

However, if you wait more than three years to file, you forfeit your refund. So maybe it's better to file by Monday, after all. Besides, if you're getting a refund, why wait?

The IRS got a late start on tax season this year, thanks to a last-minute tax law passed by Congress on Jan. 1. But the deadline for filing returns didn't change, so if you owe money, it's time to settle up with the government.

In all, the IRS expects to process 149 million returns from individuals this year, including returns from people who file for 6-month extensions. About a quarter of returns are usually filed in the last three weeks before Tax Day. This year the IRS received more than 10 million electronically filed returns from Friday through Sunday.

A look at this year's filing season, through April 5:

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Returns filed so far: 96.6 million.

Share of taxpayers getting a refund: 81 percent.

Total amount of refunds issued so far: $214 billion.

Average refund: $2,755.

Average refund in 2012: $2,794.

The rise of computers: 89 percent of returns have been filed electronically.

Clinging to the past: That leaves 11 percent still filing paper returns.

These people are getting a refund: 29 percent of Americans in a Pew Research Center poll said they like doing their taxes.

These people are getting a big refund: 5 percent said they love doing their taxes.

These people are not getting a refund: 26 percent said they hate doing their taxes.

As of March 9, the IRS detected 220,821 fraudulent returns.

Number of fraudulent returns involving identity theft: 85,385.

Amount of fraudulent refunds stopped by the IRS: $1.8 billion.

Ever wonder why tax laws are so complicated? Number of lobbyists registered to lobby Congress on taxes: 6,503.

Number of organizations that pay lobbyists to lobby Congress on taxes: 2,221.

Value of tax breaks enjoyed by corporations in 2011, as measured by the Government Accountability Office: $181 billion.

Amount of corporate income tax revenue collected in 2011: $181 billion.

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Sources: IRS; Pew Research Center; Treasury inspector general for tax administration; Sunlight Foundation.

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Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

It has since eased those worries.

On Wednesday the world's biggest social networking company said nearly a third of its advertising revenue came from mobile in the first three months of the year, helping to push total revenue up 38 percent to surpass Wall Street's expectations.

"They are making the transition to mobile faster than anyone anticipated," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. "It seems like they are delivering."

Facebook Inc. said Wednesday that its net income was $219 million, or 9 cents per share, in the January-March period. That's up from $205 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year ago, when it was still private.

Revenue grew to $1.46 billion from $1.06 billion, above analysts' expectations of $1.44 billion.

Excluding special items, mainly related to stock compensation expenses, Facebook earned 12 cents per share, matching the average of analyst expectations, according to FactSet.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook said that its mobile advertising revenue was 30 percent of its total ad revenue in the first quarter, amounting to $375 million. That's up from 23 percent, or $306 million, in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter the first time it disclosed such figures the company generated 14 percent, or $153 million, of its advertising revenue from mobile.

Investors had been worried about Facebook's ability to grow mobile revenue since before its initial public offering in May 2012. That's because although the number of people who access Facebook on smartphones and tablet computers has been growing quickly, Facebook didn't begin showing ads to those users until last year.

David Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer, said most advertisers did not specify that their ads be shown only on desktop computers or only on mobile devices, "rather they put their ads into our system and allow us to show the ads on whatever device where the ads will perform best."

Bhatia thinks Facebook will fare even better on mobile devices once Zuckerberg firms up its plan to make money from the growing audience checking into Instagram, a photo-sharing service that the company bought last year for $521 million. The analyst believes Instagram will play a bigger role in Facebook's business next year.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the results are likely to quiet skeptics who doubted Facebook's ability to mine its growing mobile traffic for revenue. He was particularly impressed by the 23 percent increase in Facebook's mobile ad revenue, even though the company's overall ad revenue for the period dipped 6 percent from the final three months of last year.

"Their mobile business is probably bigger than any mobile business on the planet other than the (wireless telecommunications) carriers and Google," Pachter said.

Facebook started showing mobile advertisements in early 2012. In the third quarter of last year, the company generated 14 percent, or $153 million of its advertising revenue from mobile. In the fourth quarter mobile ads represented to 23 percent, or $306 million.

Research firm eMarketer says Facebook's share of the U.S. online advertising market is growing. This year, the company is expected to take a 6.5 percent share of U.S. online ad spending, up from 5.9 percent in 2012. Still, that figure is far behind Google Inc.'s 41.6 percent.

On the mobile front, eMarketer expects Facebook to take a 13.2 percent share of U.S. ad revenue, up from 9.5 percent in 2012, the first year it made any money from mobile ads. Though Facebook is No. 2, it is far behind Google in U.S. mobile advertising. EMarketer expects the online search leader to take a 54.7 percent share of U.S. mobile advertising revenue this year.

The company also grew its user base during the quarter. This has also been an area of some concern to investors amid chatter of "Facebook fatigue," especially among younger users, surfacing in recent months. But Facebook said its monthly user base grew to 1.11 billion accounts as of the end of March, up 5 percent from 1.06 million at the end of December.

The number of users who access Facebook every day, on average, grew 8 percent to 665 million in March, from 618 million in December.

Gartner Inc. analyst Brian Blau said the ongoing growth of daily users suggests that the service is a tough habit to break.

"The network remains in full force," Blau said. "You have to give them a lot of credit."

That doesn't mean there won't be concerns about some Facebook users, especially teenagers, migrating to other mobile applications and digital outlets to hang out with friends and share slices of their lives, said Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott.

"There is always going to be something new in social," Elliott said. "The question is how much of it is a threat to Facebook? All Facebook can do is keep those users coming back and make money off those users. And Facebook seems to be doing both of those things reasonably well."

Instagram now has 100 million monthly users, up from 22 million when Facebook agreed to buy the company in April 2012.

Facebook's stock rose 12 cents to $27.55 in after-hours trading. The stock closed down 34 cents on Wednesday. It is up 3 percent since the beginning of the year compared with an 11 percent increase for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Facebook went public on May 18, 2012, at $38 per share, a price it hasn't hit since.

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AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this story.

The toxic waste would outlive every one of us, and may last forever. 

The EPAs revised draft assessment, which considered independent scientific review as well as 233,000 public comments, found that Pebble Mine would devastate the natural habitat of the 37.5 million sockeye salmon that spawn annually in the Bristol Bay watershedthe largest remaining wild salmon population on the planet. 

Fishermen, environmentalists, and Native communities in Alaska are largely united in opposition to the mine, citing the sustainable salmon fishery in Bristol Bay that generates 480 million in annual economic impact and supports 14,000 fishing and processing jobs.

The bureau posted photographs of the three people and said they may be able to provide information to help in the investigation of the attack.

"We need your help to solve this crime," the FBI said in releasing the photographs.

The attack on the Benghazi compound on Sept. 11, 2012, killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

In a posting on the FBI's website, the law enforcement agency urged anyone with information to text or e-mail BenghaziTips(at)ic.fbi.gov or to submit information confidentially at https://forms.fbi.gov/benghazi-en .

Congressional Republicans are continuing to pepper the Obama administration with questions about the attack.

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Online:

FBI notice: http://tinyurl.com/cmdqnvx

Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4 percent from 3.99 percent. Six weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 3.31 percent from 3.30 percent. Six weeks ago, it hit a record low of 3.26 percent.

Rates have been below 5 percent for all but two weeks this year. Yet this year could be the worst for home sales in 14 years.

Mortgage applications fell 10 percent this week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many Americans don't want to sink money into a home that could lose value over the next three to four years. And most homeowners who can afford to refinance already have.

The low rates have caused a modest boom in refinancing, but that benefit might be wearing off. Most people who can afford to refinance have already locked in rates below 5 percent. Refinancing fell 12.2 percent last week, according to the mortgage bankers group.

The average rates don't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fees for the 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages were unchanged at 0.7.

The average rate on the five-year adjustable loan fell to 2.97 percent from 2.98 percent. The average rate on the one-year adjustable loan increased to 2.98 percent from 2.95 percent.

The average fees on the five-year and one-year adjustable loans were both unchanged at 0.6.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week.