A screenshot of the eBay ad for President Obama's former car, a 2005 Chrysler 300C that he drove when he announced he was running for president. The car is being auctioned off on eBay for a minimum bid of $1 million. eBay.com

President Obama is on cruise control toward his party’s nomination to run for reelection, but Tim O’Brien is hoping to capitalize on Obama’s old cruise-mobile — a 2005 Chrysler 300C.

Yeah, it’s got a Hemi in it. That’s probably what led aspiring presidential candidate Obama to ditch the muscle car in favor of a Ford Escape hybrid to shore up his green credentials back in 2008.

These days Obama travels in a very un-green armored Cadillac for security reasons (cast aside like a forgotten girlfriend is the Chrysler). But Tim O’Brien has the car and hopes that an Obama enthusiast or history buff is willing to pay a million dollars for it on eBay. (I think you have to say “million” like Dr. Evil when you are talking about that much money for a car.) » Read more: President Obama’s Chrysler on eBay — yours for $1 million

(AP) — A 16-year-old Utah student who shared a suspicious text message with a school administrator foiled plans by two schoolmates who apparently were plotting to set off a bomb during a school assembly and run away in a stolen airplane, police said.

Roy High School sophomore Bailey Gerhardt told The Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/wNs3xE ) she received the text from a friend, one of the suspects, and told one of the administrators, which led to the arrest of the two teens. Roy is about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Gerhardt said Thursday the text from the 16-year-old boy asked: “If I told you to stay home on a certain day, would you?”

That boy, whom The Associated Press isn’t naming because he’s a minor, and Dallin Morgan, 18, were pulled out of school Wednesday.
» Read more: Utah girl credited with outing school bombing plot

President Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Saul Loeb / Associated Press / January 24, 2012)

By using his State of the Union speech to draw sharp contrasts with Republicans on such high-profile issues as taxes and the housing market, President Obama opened an election-year debate on the role of government that could be more intense than any in decades.

Warning Congress that “I intend to fight obstruction with action,” he painted a confrontational picture that stands in sharp contrast with the conciliatory approach taken by the last Democrat to seek a second term, Bill Clinton. » Read more: State of the Union 2012:President Obama’s Address

Papua New Guinea – (AP) — A landslide has struck villages in central Papua New Guinea. Local media reports say 40 bodies have been recovered and 20 people remain missing.

The South Pacific island nation’s National Disaster Center director Martin Mosi says several villages are close to where the landslide occurred early Wednesday near the town of Mendi and that fatalities are likely but unconfirmed.

Local lawmaker Francis Potape told Radio Australia’s indigenous language service that the landslide completely covered two villages while people slept.
Three agents from the Disaster Centre are heading to Mendi today, where they will be flown by helicopter to join police at the site. » Read more: 60 people are killed in a massive landslide

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) – Salvage crews expect to begin pumping thousands of tons of fuel from the wrecked Costa Concordia by Saturday, officials said, as divers found a 16th body on the giant Italian cruise liner, which capsized off the Tuscan coast over a week ago.

Preparations began on Tuesday for the complex task of extracting more than 2,300 tons of diesel oil from the giant liner’s 17 fuel tanks with divers beginning the work of installing external fuel tanks to hold the oil pumped out.

As the salvage preparations began on Tuesday, divers found the body of an elderly woman wearing a life jacket, bringing the total number of bodies recovered so far to 16.

At least 16 more people are missing on the 290-meter long vessel, which lies half-submerged on its side just outside the tiny island port of Giglio. Nine victims have been identified and the identities of seven others are so far unknown. » Read more: New body found on ‘wrecked’ Italian ship

(AP) — A mass-stranding of whales on a New Zealand beach has left 36 of the creatures dead and threatens 40 more.

Department of Conservation area manager John Mason said 99 pilot whales stranded themselves Monday on Farewell Spit on the South Island. By Tuesday, 36 whales had died and another 40 remained stranded and were still in danger.

Mason said conservation staff and volunteers had successfully refloated 17 whales, which had swum out to deeper water. Another six whales remained unaccounted for.

The 40 beached whales were briefly swimming in shallow water early Tuesday afternoon but became stranded again by the evening as the tide went out. Mason said volunteers would try to keep the whales cool and wet until dark. He said after that, all they could hope for was that the whales would swim away on the next high tide during the night.

Pilot whales grow to about 20 feet (6 meters) and regularly strand themselves in large numbers during the New Zealand summer months.
» Read more: New Zealand whale stranding kills 36, threatens 40