Major business groups, usual GOP allies, have implored Congress to act on the tax credits, many which expired at the end of last year or will run out at the end of this year. But for many Republicans, it's a matter or principle and politics: many oppose what they say are new tax increases to pay for parts of the package and nearly all say the Senate's only business now is acting on an energy bill that promotes drilling and other measures to boost domestic oil supply.

The White House, citing new taxes and other objections to the bill, threatened a presidential veto. The vote Wednesday was 51-43, nine short of the 60 needed to begin floor debate.

The criminal complaint charges state Sen. James Marzilli with two counts of indecent assault and battery alleging he groped a woman after an arts fundraiser April 6.

The charges were issued by Cambridge District Court Clerk-Magistrate Robert Moscow after the accuser made a citizen's request for criminal charges, a rarely used step allowed under state law. Her attorney, Wendy Murphy, said the woman swore under oath that her statement was true.

Clerk-magistrates have to find probable cause to believe a crime occurred, a lower standard than proof than beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard prosecutors must use during a trial. After the arraignment, the district attorney still can decide to dismiss the charges.

In a separate case, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone is prosecuting Marzilli for allegedly sexually harassing four women in a single day in Lowell in June. He pleaded not guilty to those charges. His lawyer later said he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and Marzilli has said he won't seek re-election.

In this case, Leone has said there wasn't enough evidence to prove the woman's claim. A spokesman, Corey Welford, said Leone plans to review a transcript of Wednesday's hearing to determine whether any new evidence was disclosed. If not, the case would not move forward.

Neither Marzilli, 50, nor his lawyer, Terrence Kennedy, attended the hearing. Kennedy said he believed the charges eventually would be dropped.

Michael Hayward and Michael Stern were convicted in July 2006 after they were accused of stealing $1 million apiece. Prosecutors said they had skimmed small amounts of money from stocks they were entrusted to oversee.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals notes that the government had already conceded that the conduct of the men was not manipulative. The court says their conduct was not deceptive either.

Hayward and Stern had worked for Van der Moolen Specialists USA LLC.

Hold those giant catamarans just a minute, you bickering billionaires.

The America's Cup appears to be headed away from a rare one-on-one showdown between American and Swiss crews and back to its traditional multichallenger format following a ruling by a New York appeals court Tuesday that went against a San Francisco yacht club that backs Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison.

In the latest 180-degree turn in a yearlong court fight, the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division ruled 3-2 that Spain's Club Nautico Espanol de Vela should be the Challenger of Record, giving it the right to negotiate terms of the next competition with the current America's Cup holder, Alinghi of Switzerland.

The decision, based on what the court said was "ambiguous" language in the Deed of Gift, the century-old document that governs the America's Cup, reversed a lower-court ruling that made the Golden Gate Yacht Club the Challenger of Record.

Although Golden Gate Yacht Club can file a last-chance appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, Tuesday's ruling leads the way for a return to the traditional format in which the winner of a challenger elimination series races the defending champion for the oldest trophy in international sports.

BMW Oracle Racing, backed by the GGYC, and Alinghi have been preparing for an expected one-on-one match in 90-foot multihull boats, the result of a lower-court ruling that GGYC was the Challenger of Record.

GGYC said it will consider the implications of Tuesday's ruling before deciding its next step.

Most German state smoking laws permit larger venues to provide smoking rooms for their patrons, but the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled this is unconstitutional.

Ruling on appeals brought by owners of one-room pubs in the states of Baden Wuerttemberg and Berlin, the court said smoking bans with exceptions discriminate against the smaller venues.

The court ordered states to review their laws, giving parliaments until the end of next year either to ban smoking in all establishments entirely or to revise the exceptions allowed in their laws.

Germany has banned smoking nationwide in government buildings but leaves jurisdiction of bars, restaurants and other public places to the nation's 16 states — all of which have enacted their own varying restrictions.

Ramiro Vanoy Murillo, 60, and Javier Lindo, 38, are among 14 paramilitary members who were extradited to the U.S. in May. Authorities say they men, who entered their pleas Tuesday, were wanted for their alleged roles in a large-scale cocaine smuggling operation dating to the late 1990s.

Sentencing is set for October. Vanoy Murillo faces up to 19 years and Lindo over 17 years behind bars.

Colombian officials said they decided to extradite the men because they were still committing crimes from Colombian prisons and had failed to pay restitution to victims of atrocities blamed on the paramilitary group.