President Obama held a brief but wide-ranging news conference Thursday. He began with a brief statement criticizing Senate Republicans for blocking his nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also responded to questions talked about Iran, Plan B, a proposed extension of unemployment insurance benefits and Osama bin Laden.

That the Central Intelligence Agency had a so-called "black site" in Romania was well known. It was known that it was in one of those secret prisons that intelligence officials conducted harsh interrogations with major Al-Qaida operatives, including Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammad.

Today, the result of a joint investigation with German public television, the AP reports it has found the site where Mohammad was held and interrogated. And it's not where you would think it is. The AP reports on the prison in Bucharest known as "Bright Light":

Newt Gingrich once called himself "the most seriously professorial politician since Woodrow Wilson."

But that was 1995, and the "Contract with America" co-author had just helped to propel Republicans into power in the House for the first time in 40 years, and Gingrich himself into the speaker's role. Even the rarely modest Gingrich had reason to gloat.

Just two years later, of course, he had become the first speaker ever punished by the House for ethics violations, and the end was in sight for both his leadership and congressional career.

Calling someone a "rat" is no compliment, but a new study shows that rats actually are empathetic and will altruistically lend a helping paw to a cage-mate who is stuck in a trap.

Not only will rats frantically work to free their trapped cage-mate, they will do so even when there's a tempting little pile of chocolate chips nearby, the study reveals. Instead of leaving their pal in the trap and selfishly gobbling the candy all by themselves, rats will free their cage-mate and share the chocolate.

Attorney General Holder got a bruising reception from the Republican-dominated House Judiciary Committee that put the Justice Department on the defensive.

Holder answered questions about the botched gun trafficking operation known as "Fast and Furious" in which federal agents tried to build cases against drug cartels. Instead, they lost track of hundreds of weapons that turned up at crime scenes along the Southwest border.

In archaeology, you get special bragging rights when you can lay claim to the oldest specimen of something.

Scientists in South Africa may now qualify for what they say is the world's oldest bed. Well, not a bed exactly, but more like a mattress made of grass.

What Lyn Wadley, an archaeologist at the University of Witswatersrand, found were mats of grass and sedge piled half an inch thick on the floor of a cavelike rock shelter in South Africa.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union and the Sumner County Board of Education have settled a law suit claiming educators there were promoting Christianity.

Under a consent decree announced yesterday, schools officials are not allowed to proselytize, religious symbols and items have to be kept out of sight, course material must have a clear educational purpose and school officials can’t encourage or solicit prayer at school functions.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s international exports are way up and the state wants to push them still higher.

A new government initiative to boost exports called TNTrade was announced yesterday. TNTrade is designed to help small and medium businesses increase their exports.

Under the program, eligible businesses will receive a reimbursement equal to half of any one-time export-related expense such as consultant fees or trade show participation. The maximum reimbursement amount is $5,000 per company.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP/WMOT)  A Nashville-area woman has been honored as an inspiration for her work with needy children in Africa.

Beliefnet, an online site focusing on spirituality, chose Katie Davis of Brentwood for its Editor's Choice Award. 

After traveling to Uganda in 2006 when she was just 16, Davis started a ministry two years later that matches children there with sponsors worldwide who donate funds to pay for their schooling.

Virginia Tech has advised everyone on campus to "seek shelter or stay where you are" because of reports about shots being fired there.

It adds that:

"[A] suspect described as white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backback" was seen "on foot towards McComas" — the university's athletics facility.