UPI NewsTrack TopNews

Lentz confident in Toyota's solutions

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President James Lentz said the company was confident it had identified the problem causing sudden acceleration in some cars.

In a statement prepared for an appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday, Lentz specifically said Toyota was "confident that no problems exist with the electronic throttle control system in our vehicles."

The statement contradicts a letter made public Monday in which committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and subcommittee chair Bart Stupak, D-Mich., asserted that Toyota had been dismissive about the point that acceleration problems were far more common in cars with electronic throttle systems than in cars with manual systems, The New York Times reported.

Lentz's statement also says Toyota was slow to "come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues."

"In recent months, we have not lived up to the high standards our customers and the public have come to expect from Toyota," the statement says.

Jayson Williams sentenced to five years

SOMERVILLE, N.J., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams was sentenced in Somerville, N.J.,Tuesday to five years in prison for the 2002 shooting death of his driver.

Per the agreement in which Williams pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for the Feb. 14 shooting death of Costas Christofi, the first 18 months of his term will be served without chance of parole.

Williams, who turned 42 Monday, wept as he told Somerset County Superior Judge Edward Coleman: "I am not a bad man, but I acted badly on Feb. 14."

A spokeswoman read a letter from Christofi's sister, Andrea Adams, in which she asked Williams be forced to serve the entire five years, citing his lack of remorse and failure to reach out to the victim's family.Williams earlier settled the family's wrongful death suit, paying out $2.5 million.

A jury in 2004 found Williams innocent of aggravated manslaughter and weapons charges in Christofi's death, but convicted him of orchestrating a cover-up after the shooting. The jury could not reach a verdict on a charge of reckless manslaughter and if the plea agreement had not been reached, Williams could have faced another trial.

After sentencing, the handcuffed Williams was taken to the county jail to await transfer to the state prison.

"What you do with the rest of your life is totally in your hands, Coleman said in pronouncing the sentence. "You will pay the price for whatever path you choose."

Weather hampers Madeira rescue efforts

FUNCHAL, Portugal, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Rescue teams on the Portuguese island of Madeira Tuesday cleared mud and rock carried down from mountains by deadly torrential rains, officials said.

Help was arriving on the Atlantic island about 600 miles from the Portuguese coast, but more heavy rain hampered rescue efforts in isolated communities in the mountains surrounding Funchal, the island's capital, the BBC reported.

One operation was focused on an underground parking garage near Funchal's commercial center, where divers have been searching for missing people feared trapped, officials said. A war ship with troops was en route to help restore infrastructure and communications.

Government officials have been warning that number of dead, now at 25, could rise, the British broadcaster said.

"They're getting on with the clear-up, but there's a kind of darkness hanging over the city, it's so sad," one woman told the BBC.

Man offers new claim in missing teen case

NEW YORK, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The chief suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba five years ago has claimed for the second time that he disposed of her body, CBS reported.

Joran Van der Sloot, in a statement caught on camera last year by a friend in the Netherlands, said he chucked Holloway's body in a marsh on the Dutch Caribbean island, the U.S. network reported. In 2007, the Dutch suspect said he dumped her body at sea.

The 18-year-old Alabama cheerleader went missing after a night of partying May 30, 2005 during a high school graduation trip. She was last seen leaving a bar with three men.

Van der Sloot's recent statement offered details similar to his 2007 statement that came during an undercover operation by a Dutch news reporter. Prosecutors in Aruba said they dismissed the 2009 statement, telling CBS News "what Van der Sloot said was not credible."

On CBS's "The Early Show" Tuesday, legal analyst Jack Ford said it isn't enough for someone to say, "Yes, I did this, and here's where we got rid of the body."

"(In) most places," Ford said, "you need more than somebody just saying, 'I did something wrong. Here's what I did.' The law says you have to be able to prove that there was a crime to start with before you can use somebody's words as a basis for a prosecution."

If investigators "had proof of a murder, something that could tie him (Van der Sloot) into it, then this might be more significant," Ford said. "But apparently they just don't."

Consumer confidence index fell in February

NEW YORK, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply in February after an increase in January, the Conference Board said Tuesday.

The monthly Consumer Confidence Index that uses 1985 as a base year with an assigned value of 100, dropped from 56.5 in January to 46 in February, the Conference Board said.

In February, in a survey of 5,000 households, the number of respondents indicating economic conditions were "good" fell from 8.5 percent to 6.2 percent. The number of respondents indicating conditions were "bad" rose from 44.7 percent to 46.3 percent. Consequently, the Present Condition Index, an assessment of current conditions fell to its lowest point in 27 years, from 25.2 to 19.4.

The Expectation Index measuring consumer forecasts for six months down the road also fell, sliding from 77.3 to 63.8 in February.

"Consumers ... remain extremely pessimistic about their income prospects. This combination of earnings and job anxieties is likely to continue to curb spending," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.