Reid, a longtime gun-rights advocate from Nevada, recently indicated he would not permit a vote because the Republican-led House of Representatives was unlikely to go along with such a prohibition.

But after a weekly meeting with fellow Senate Democrats, Reid told reporters he expects "to have a free amendment process" on gun legislation.

That process could result in other Democrats proposing a possible resurrection of a 10-year ban on semi-automatic assault weapons that expired in 2004.

A series of shootings in the last two months, including one at an elementary school in Connecticut in which 20 children and six staff were killed, has triggered a renewed debate on gun control.

President Barack Obama proposed a package of measures last week to combat gun violence that includes a ban on assault weapons, limits on high-capacity ammunition clips, expanded mental health treatments and improved school security.

Powerful gun-rights groups oppose a ban on assault weapons and could seek to unseat any lawmaker who backs it, as they have tried to do in the past.

Reid said he expects the Senate Judiciary Committee, which opens hearings next week on proposals by Obama and others, to produce a bill. It is unclear if the measure will include a ban on assault weapons.

"It may not be everything everyone wants. But I hope it has stuff that is really important," Reid told reporters.

In a speech in Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday night, Wayne LaPierre, executive director of the National Rifle Association gun lobby, accused Obama of trying to take away fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed to Americans under the U.S. Constitution.

"They are God-given freedoms. They belong to us in the United States of America as our birthright. No government gave them to us and no government can ever take them away," he told a hunting and conservation convention.

"That means we believe in our right to defend ourselves and our families with semi-automatic firearms technology. We believe that if neither the criminal nor the political class and their bodyguards and their security people are limited by magazine capacity, we should not be limited in our capacity either."

LaPierre also repeated opposition to expanded background checks for purchases of firearms proposed by Obama.

(Reporting By Thomas Ferraro and David Brunnstrom; editing by Fred Barbash and Christopher Wilson)

Rick Champagne, a Phoenix-area logistics company owner, came away with the black, futuristic two-seater featured in the "Batman" series starring Adam West and Burt Ward from 1966 to 1968, following a flurry of spirited bidding at the Scottsdale, Arizona, auction.

"I really liked Batman growing up and I came here with the intention of buying the car," Champagne, 56, told Reuters in a brief interview moments after he bought the car. "Sure enough, I was able to buy it. That was a dream come true."

The Barrett-Jackson auction was the first time the car was put up for public sale. In addition to the $4.2 million bid price, the buyer will have to pay an additional roughly $420,000 in premiums.

The Batmobile is based on a 1955 Lincoln Futura, a concept car built in Italy by the Ford Motor Co.

In 1965, the concept car was bought for a nominal $1 by noted customizer George Barris, who had a mere 15 days and $15,000 to transform the vehicle for the show. He has owned it ever since.

Barris told Reuters he had supplied vehicles for movies and television shows before, but this one had to be markedly different than the others.

"With every pow, bang, wow, wee, I wanted the car to do something just like the actors," said Barris, 87, in an interview before the auction. "The car had to be a star on its own. And it became one."

The car has a V-8 engine and instruments in the steering wheel, plus innovative items like a push-button transmission.

But generations may remember it best for Bat gadgets added for the series, including a car phone and the ability to deploy such things as oil, smoke and nails to thwart villains - not to mention twin rear parachutes for quick Bat turns.

Barris said the vehicle toured the country after the series and a movie and then was housed in a private showroom in California. He said it was time to part with the popular car and let a new owner have the Bat keys.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Beech)

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Wal-Mart's stricter measure, along with other changes to its policy, comes amid increasing calls for better safety oversight after a deadly fire at a Bangladesh factory that supplied clothing to Wal-Mart and other retailers. The fire in late November killed 112 workers at a factory owned by Tazreen Fashions Ltd. Wal-Mart has said the factory wasn't authorized to make its clothes.

In a letter sent Tuesday to suppliers of its Wal-Mart stores as well as Sam's Clubs in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, the company says it will adopt a "zero tolerance" policy on subcontracting without the company's knowledge, effective March. 1. Previously, suppliers had three chances to rectify mistakes.

Wal-Mart also said it plans to publish on its corporate website a list of factories that haven't been authorized to manufacture goods for Wal-Mart.

Also, starting June 1, suppliers must have an employee stationed in countries where they subcontract to ensure compliance, rather than relying on third-party agents.

"We want the right accountability and ownership to be in the hands of the suppliers," said Rajan Kamalanathan, Wal-Mart's vice president of ethical sourcing in an interview with The Associated Press. "We are placing our orders in good faith."

Wal-Mart will be holding a meeting for clothing suppliers from the U.S. and Canada on Thursday to explain the new policy changes.

Wal-Mart ranks second behind Swedish fast fashion retailer H&M in the number of clothing orders it places in Bangladesh. Before the fatal fire there, Wal-Mart had taken new steps to address the growing problem of safety such as mandating fire safety training for all levels of factory management. Building fires have led to more than 600 garment work deaths in Bangladesh since 2005, according to research by the advocacy group International Labor Rights Forum.

Kamalanathan said the company is looking to create a fund that factories can use to improve safety standards, but that is still in discussion. He also said local governments and other suppliers and retailers have to do their part in boosting work safety in factories.

Biden is scheduled to meet with video game representatives Friday as the White House explores cultural factors that may contribute to violent behavior.

The vice president, who is leading a task force that will present recommendations to President Barack Obama on Tuesday, met with other representatives from the entertainment industry, including Comcast Corp. and the Motion Picture Association of America, on Thursday.

Friday's meeting comes a day after the National Rifle Association rejected Obama administration proposals to limit high-capacity ammunition magazines and dug in on its opposition to an assault weapons ban, which Obama has previously said he will propose to Congress. The NRA was one of the pro-gun rights groups that met with Biden during the day.

NRA president David Keene, asked Friday if the NRA has enough support in Congress to fend off legislation to ban sales of assault weapons, indicated it does. "I do not think that there's going to be a ban on so-called assault weapons passed by the Congress," he said on NBC's "Today."

In previewing the meeting with the video game industry, Biden recalled how the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York lamented during crime bill negotiations in the 1980s that the country was "defining deviancy down."

It's unclear what, if anything, the administration is prepared to recommend on how to address the depiction of violence in the media.

White House press secretary Jay Carney last month suggested that not all measures require government intervention.

"It is certainly the case that we in Washington have the potential, anyway, to help elevate issues that are of concern, elevate issues that contribute to the scourge of gun violence in this country, and that has been the case in the past, and it certainly could be in the future," Carney said then.

In a statement, a half dozen entertainment groups, including the Motion Picture Association of America, said they "look forward to doing our part to seek meaningful solutions."

On gun control, however, the Obama administration is assembling proposals to curb gun violence that would include a ban on sales of assault weapons, limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines and universal background checks for gun buyers.

"The vice president made it clear, made it explicitly clear, that the president had already made up his mind on those issues," Keene said after the meeting. "We made it clear that we disagree with them."

Opposition from the well-funded and politically powerful NRA underscores the challenges that await the White House if it seeks congressional approval for limiting guns and ammunition. Obama can use his executive powers to act alone on some gun measures, but his options on the proposals opposed by the NRA are limited without Congress' cooperation.

Obama has pushed reducing gun violence to the top of his domestic agenda following last month's mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman slaughtered 20 children and six adults before killing himself. The president put Biden in charge of an administration task force and set a late January deadline for proposals.

"I committed to him I'd have these recommendations to him by Tuesday," Biden said Thursday, during a separate White House meeting with sportsmen and wildlife groups. "It doesn't mean it's the end of the discussion, but the public wants us to act."

The vice president later met privately with the NRA and other gun-owner groups for more than 90 minutes. Participants in the meeting described it as an open and frank discussion, but one that yielded little movement from either side on long-held positions.

Keene told NBC there is a fundamental disagreement over what would actually make a difference in curbing gun violence.

Richard Feldman, the president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association, said all were in agreement on a need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. But when the conversation turned to broad restrictions on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, Feldman said Biden suggested the president had already made up his mind to seek a ban.

"Is there wiggle room and give?" Feldman said. "I don't know."

White House officials said the vice president didn't expect to win over the NRA and other gun groups on those key issues. But the administration was hoping to soften their opposition in order to rally support from pro-gun lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Biden's proposals are also expected to include recommendations to address mental health care and violence on television, in movies and video games. Those issues have wide support from gun-rights groups and pro-gun lawmakers.

As the meetings took place in Washington, a student was shot and wounded at a rural California high school and another student was taken into custody.

During his meeting with sporting and wildlife groups, Biden said that while no recommendations would eliminate all future shootings, "there has got to be some common ground, to not solve every problem but diminish the probability that our children are at risk in their schools and diminish the probability that firearms will be used in violent behavior in our society."

Several Cabinet members have also taken on an active role in Biden's gun violence task force, including Attorney General Eric Holder. He met Thursday with Wal-Mart, the nation's largest firearms seller, along with other retailers such as Bass Pro Shops and Dick's Sporting Goods.

The president hopes to announce his administration's next steps to tackle gun violence shortly after he is sworn in for a second term. He has pledged to push for new measures in his State of the Union address.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.89 percent. That's below the previous record of 3.91 percent reached three weeks ago.

Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 3.16 percent. That's down from a record 3.21 percent three weeks ago.

Mortgage rates are lower because they track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 2 percent. They could fall even lower this year if the Fed launches another round of bond purchases, as some economists expect.

Average fixed mortgage rates hovered around 4 percent at the end of 2011. Yet many Americans either can't take advantage of the rates or have already done so.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don't want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Mortgage applications have fallen slightly on a seasonally adjusted basis over the past four weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said that until hiring picks up and unemployment drops significantly, the impact of lower mortgage rates will remain muted.

Previously occupied homes are selling just slightly ahead of 2010's dismal pace. New-home sales in 2011 will likely be the worst year on records going back half a century.

Builders hope that the low rates could boost sales next year. Low mortgage rates were cited as a key reason the National Association of Home Builders survey of builder sentiment rose in December to its highest level in more than a year.

But so far, they have had little impact on the depressed housing market.

To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week. 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 fee for the 30-year loan fell to 0.7 from 0.8; the average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 0.8.

For the five-year adjustable loan, the average rate declined to 2.82 percent from 2.86 percent. The average on the one-year adjustable loan fell to 2.76 percent from 2.80 percent.

The average fee on the five-year adjustable loan rose was unchanged at 0.7; the average on the one-year adjustable-rate loan was unchanged at 0.6.

The Grammy winner will serve 90 days of deferred adjudication under a plea he entered on Friday in a municipal court in Plano, a Dallas suburb, the CBS-affiliated station in Dallas/Forth Worth reported.

Deferred adjudication lets a defendant plead "guilty" or "no contest" in exchange for meeting requirements such as probation during the period. The defendant may avoid a formal conviction or have his case dismissed once the requirements are met.

Police said Travis assaulted a man in the parking lot of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano on August 23 while attempting to intervene in a disagreement between a woman, who is now his fiance, and her estranged husband.

Travis pleaded not guilty to the charge last month. He filed a lawsuit in a Collin County court against the man he was charged with assaulting, saying the incident was an attempt to injure and embarrass Travis, the TV station reported.

Attempts to contact Travis' attorney on Saturday were unsuccessful.

The 53-year-old singer still faces charges of driving while intoxicated in an August 7 incident near his hometown of Tioga, about 60 miles north of Dallas.

Authorities are still investigating alleged threats he made to troopers who took him to jail, and no charges have been filed.

(Reporting by Marice Richter; Writing Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)

The screening tests, which find small amounts of DNA from the fetus in the blood of pregnant women, can help diagnose a few genetic disorders starting late in the first trimester.

Women at higher risk include those who are 35 and older, have a family history of genetic disorders or have abnormalities spotted on their ultrasounds.

"This test is a great test in high-risk women, but it tests for very limited numbers of disorders," said Dr. Nancy Rose, chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee on Genetics and a reproductive genetics researcher at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"This is a very exciting time for this kind of technology," she added. "We believe it will soon be more expansive and cover more disorders."

Babies with Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, have three copies of their 21st chromosome instead of two and develop slower than other kids, both physically and mentally.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to 12 out of every 10,000 babies born in the U.S. in 1999 through 2003 had Down syndrome.

Other genetic disorders that can be spotted on the blood tests occur when there's an extra copy of the 13th or 18th chromosome.

In its new committee statement, ACOG says there is not enough evidence to recommend the non-invasive tests for all women, but they seem to be effective for at-risk mothers-to-be.

The tests have been available in the U.S. for about a year, and have caught on quickly for that higher-risk group.

Ob-gyns say the blood tests can pick up about 98 percent of Down syndrome cases with a false positive rate of 0.5 percent - meaning one in 200 babies without Down syndrome will mistakenly get a positive result.

For all women who screen positive for Down syndrome or trisomy 13 or 18, ACOG recommends referral to a genetic counselor as well as more invasive follow-up testing, such as with amniocentesis.

"It's a screening test - it doesn't tell you for certain that you have a baby with one of these disorders," Rose told Reuters Health.

Her committee's statement is published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

One of the main advantages of the blood tests is they often all but rule out Down syndrome and make more invasive testing unnecessary, according to Dr. Diana Bianchi, head of the Mother Infant Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

"The invasive procedures have some very small, but real risks of miscarriage," said Bianchi, who is also on the clinical advisory board of Verinata Health, which offers a version of the DNA test.

Both Bianchi and Glenn Palomaki, who has studied the technique at Women & Infants Hospital and Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, told Reuters Health they agreed with the new statement.

"Although this is a really good test, it still isn't perfect," said Palomaki, who, like Bianchi, wasn't on the ACOG committee.

He said with more research - and once the price of the tests goes down - they may be offered to all pregnant women. Palomaki also said companies are developing more uses for them, such as to identify gender and other genetic disorders like Turner syndrome.

Running the blood tests now costs $1,200 to $2,700 each, according to Bianchi, but the majority of that is typically covered by insurance.

SOURCE:http://bit.ly/S9eRFfObstetrics & Gynecology, December 2012.

The three were indicted over changes of conspiring with American clients to hide more than $420 million from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan had said on Wednesday.

The indictment did not identify the bank concerned but named Stephan Fellmann, Otto Hueppi and Christof Reist, who it said were all former client advisers for the unnamed institution.

None of the bankers had been arrested, authorities said.

Banking secrecy is enshrined in Swiss law and tradition but has recently come under pressure as the United States and other nations have moved aggressively to tighten tax law enforcement and demand more openness and cooperation.

U.S. authorities are investigating at least 11 banks, including Julius Baer , Credit Suisseand other Swiss regional banks, along with UK-based HSBC Holdingsand Israel's Hapoalim, Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltdand Bank Leumi .

In February, Wegelin & Co, Switzerland's oldest private bank, was indicted.

UBS AG , the largest Swiss bank, in 2009 paid a $780 million fine as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities who charged the bank helped thousands of wealthy Americans hide billions of dollars in assets in secret Swiss accounts.

ZKB said in a statement it was cooperating with U.S. authorities. The bank said it could give no details about the employees due to the ongoing investigation and did not confirm what they had been changed with.

ZKB bankers Fellmann and Reist could not be reached for comment. Hueppi declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Caroline Copley and Martin de Sa'Pinto; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and David Holmes)

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive, man-made substance that may cause brain damage after just one use.The use of meth causes an enormous release of dopamine in the brain which causes an intense rush of initial pleasure that can last 6 to 12 hours. At the same time it destroys the neurons that produce this chemical in the brain, making it impossible for the user to ever feel that intensity again. The user chases that feeling and the addiction begins. Over time the brain loses the ability to feel pleasure or pain as it begins to crave more and more of the substance.

There are treatment facilities that specialize in detox to help the body get clean of the drug, andfacilities where the meth user can learn the coping and life skills that they need to get drug free and remain drug free.There are outpatient facilities that can help monitor and provide support to deal with the stresses in life that can lead you to be tempted to relapse. The important thing is to find help and begin the process. This hotline can direct the user to one or more facilities that can provide the help they need.

About Meth Hotline

This hotline provides both a toll free telephone number and a website where those suffering from addiction to methamphetamine can learn about meth addiction and the different treatment options available to them. They can begin to confront their addiction and break the cycle to begin to live a drug free life. The toll-free number is answered 24 hours a day to discuss available treatment options so that everyone can successfully fight their drug addiction.Anyone interested can visit their website for more information.

Ann PremazonPremazon, Inc.1-877-273-4224