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Death toll at 700 in shaken Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The death toll in the aftermath of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile has risen to more than 700, the country's president said.

In addition, about 2 million people were hurt or without homes, and chaos reigned in some of the worst-hit areas, the Los Angeles Times said in a report from Bogota, Chile, Sunday.

To make matters worse, a spray of about 30 aftershocks hit the country Sunday, some registering at least 6.0 magnitude, the Times reported.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said the death toll jumped to 708 Sunday as crews reached outlying areas, but untold numbers were missing following one of the worst earthquakes on record this century, the report said.

Tsunami warnings were lifted Sunday, with waves not reaching expected heights across the Pacific, including the shores of Japan, Hawaii and Southern California.

The Times report said looting broke out Sunday in some of the most heavily damages areas, and crowds overran supermarkets in the port city of Concepcion. The crowds made off with food, water and diapers -- but also television sets. Several banks were also looted, the report said.

Police sprayed looters with water cannons from armored vehicles, the Times reported, and arrested several people.

Bachelet held an emergency meeting of her Cabinet Sunday, then said she would send army troops into the Concepcion area, about 70 miles south of the quake's offshore epicenter. The troops would restore order, assist in recovering bodies and search for survivors.

In the coastal town of Constitucion alone, 350 people were killed, state television reported.

In Concepcion, dozens of people were trapped in a flattened 14-story apartment building. A biochemical lab at the University of Concepcion caught fire and cars lay smashed and upended on streets littered with utility cables, The New York Times reported Sunday.

In Santiago, about 200 miles from the quake's center, about 600 travelers escaped from the terminal at the main airport when much of the roof collapsed. The runways were intact but the airport was closed because of the internal damage, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

GOP, Democrats gird for healthcare fight

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Leading U.S. Republicans Sunday said the Obama administration faces a messy fight if it tries to enact healthcare legislation through reconciliation tactics.

"This is a car that can't be recalled and fixed. There are too many things wrong with it," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said of the administration's healthcare plan.

With Republicans unified against the plan, Democrats mostly likely will try to use a process called reconciliation that is designed for budget-related bills and needs only a simply majority vote in the Senate, Alexander said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

That tactic, however, has never been tried on "anything of this size and magnitude and complexity," Alexander said.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Democrats lack the votes to move the Obama plan though the House because the plan would fail to lower insurance premiums and end up costing taxpayers more than they pay now.

"It's a cost nightmare," Ryan said on "Fox News Sunday.

The healthcare bill stalled in Congress after Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts race to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. The bill, however, gained some momentum after President Obama's bipartisan summit Thursday, leading Democrats said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said the Obama administration's plan would lower costs and give millions of uninsured Americans access to affordable, quality healthcare.

Speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation," Hoyer sidestepped questions about whether there were enough votes in the House to pass the plan, saying once specific legislation had been introduced "then Democrats will start counting votes for that bill."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said lawmakers in the House need to assure the public of an affordable bill, see what the Senate offers and then vote.

"We all agree that the present system is unsustainable," Pelosi told ABC News. "What's the point of talking about it any longer?"

Obama 'fit for duty,' but is he smoking?

BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama passed a routine physical Sunday and met with wounded service members at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

The physical found Obama in "excellent health" and "fit for duty," the New York Daily News reported, but doctors also included a recommendation that the president "continue smoking cessation efforts."

There was no immediate official word on the physical's results, but the White House released a statement saying, "At no time was it necessary to temporarily transfer presidential authority under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment."

Section 3 says when a president sends a written declaration to the president pro tempore of the U.S.. Senate and the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives saying he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the presidency, the vice president takes over as acting president until the president sends a written message he or she is able to resume his or her duties.

A pool report said the president arrived by helicopter at the facility at about 6:40 a.m. EST, and left the hospital a little before 9:30 a.m. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama's physical was performed by Dr. Jeff Kuhlman, a Navy captain and head of the White House medical unit.

With some preliminary testing gotten out of the way earlier, the physical lasted about an hour and a half, the pool reported.

Kuhlman recommended the president get his next physical when he turns 50 in August 2011, Gibbs said.

While at Bethesda, Obama also visited with 12 service members who were injured in Iraq or Afghanistan, Gibbs added.

Police: Hamas leader drugged, suffocated

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Suspected Mossad agents injected Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh with a sedative before he was suffocated, Dubai police in the United Arab Emirates allege.

Police released the results of a toxicology report Sunday showing the Hamas commander was paralyzed by a fast-acting muscle relaxant, then suffocated with a pillow in his hotel room, The Times Online reported.

Maj. Gen. Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, deputy commander of Dubai police, said the drug would have caused "immediate and temporary paralysis," the report said.

"The assassins used this method so that it would seem that his death was natural. There were no signs of resistance shown by the victim," he said, The Times reported.

Al-Mabhouh was killed in his room at the al-Bustan Rotana hotel Jan. 19, but his body was not found by staff until the following day, the report said.

Dubai police say they plan to name a new suspect in the case, bringing the total number of named agents to 27. Police alleged last week that 12 of the suspects were carrying British passports. Several British citizens living in Israel had their identities stolen, the report said.

Meanwhile, three Palestinians are also being held in Dubai in connection with the killing.