By ANNE GEARAN and MATTHEW PENNINGTON

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday declared a new chapter in U.S. relations with Burma (also known as Myanmar), easing an investment ban and naming the first U.S. ambassador to the former pariah state in 22 years to reward it for democratic reforms.

Burma’s reforms over the past year or so have seen it emerge from decades of authoritarian rule and diplomatic isolation, although it remains dominated by its military. Obama pointed to the parliamentary election of opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi as a prominent example of progress in the Asian nation.

After meeting Burma’s Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the U.S. was suspending sanctions on American investment across all sectors of the Burma economy and export of financial services. She described it as the most significant action Washington has taken so far to reward Burma for its reforms.

“Today we say to American businesses, invest in Burma, and do it responsibly,” she told a joint news conference after talks with the foreign minister at the State Department. She said U.S. companies would be expected to conduct due diligence to avoid any problems, including human rights abuses.

Despite the easing of restrictions, U.S. companies would still be barred from doing business with firms associated with the country’s powerful military, and the White House announced it was keeping its framework of hard-hitting sanctions in place for now, saying Burma’s democratic reforms are still “nascent.”

“We continue to have concerns, including remaining political prisoners, ongoing conflict and serious human rights abuses in ethnic areas,” said a notification issued to Congress Thursday, signed by President Barack Obama.

Clinton described that as an “insurance policy.”

The move was welcomed by two Republican senators influential on Burma policy, John McCain and Mitch McConnell, who both met with Wunna Maung Lwin Thursday.

They said in a statement that it struck “an appropriate balance between encouraging the process of reform now unfolding in Burma, while maintaining sufficient leverage to continue pressing the Burmese government for additional progress.”

They also welcomed the nomination of Derek Mitchell, who will become the first U.S. ambassador to the country since 1990. Clinton urged his quick confirmation by the Senate. The U.S. is currently represented by a lower-level diplomat.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

By STEVE PEOPLES

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney and his party raised $40 million in April.

The strong haul in the first month of the general campaign suggests Republicans are rallying behind Romney. The showing also threatens President Barack Obama’s cash advantage in his push for a second term.

In just one month, Obama’s 10-to-1 cash edge has shrunk to 2-to-1.

That’s in part because Romney has spent most of his time courting donors since becoming the presumptive GOP nominee. He’s also getting help from pro-Romney outside groups, which are spending millions on TV ads.

Romney raised nearly as much as the $43.6 million Obama raised for himself and his party.

Overall, Romney’s side reported has $61.4 million in the bank. Obama’s side had $124 million on hand at the end of March.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Less than a week after President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, a small group of homosexual Biola University students came out on the La Miranda, Calif., campus. Flyers posted around the campus lawn announced the presence of the previously underground group, which does not have official recognition at the Christian school.

School officials had the flyers removed almost immediately. But the next day, officials issued a statement clarifying the school’s stance on human sexuality and assuring students struggling with same-sex attraction that they are welcome in the Biola community.

“In the coming academic year, we will have focused dialogue and campus-wide educational forums on human sexuality,” Biola President Barry Corey wrote in a letter to students, faculty, and alumni. “Biola sees this as an opportunity to live out what it means to be a learning community of grace and love.”

School administrators decided to write the statement a year and a half ago, but only released it after The Biola Queer Underground—an anonymous group that claims to have a few dozen members—posted its flyers and made its website public. The site, which includes the stories of the group’s members, although they are not named, questions the school’s views on homosexuality.

Biola students are required to sign a contract affirming their agreement with the university’s belief that “sexual relationships are designed by God to be expressed solely within a marriage between husband and wife.” The new statement goes into more detail, looking at God’s design for marriage, offering help for those struggling with issues of sexuality, and encouraging discussion on campus.

“Our marriages on earth model the relationship between Christ and His bride, the church (Ephesians 5:31-33),” the statement reads. “God’s design for marriage and sexuality is the foundational reason for viewing acts of sexual intimacy between a man and a woman outside of marriage, and any act of sexual intimacy between two persons of the same sex, as illegitimate moral options for the confessing Christian.”

The statement also says the school is a safe place for those struggling with same sex issues: “We pledge to extend compassion and care, providing accountability and assistance as we support all members of our community—students, staff, and faculty—in their desire to live consistently with Christian teaching.” … COMPLETE STORY >>

Read Angela Lu’s complete report at WORLD California.

By AMY TEIBEL

JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.S. has plans in place to attack Iran if necessary to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, Washington’s envoy to Israel said, days ahead of a crucial round of nuclear talks with Tehran.

Dan Shapiro’s message resonated Thursday far beyond the closed forum in which it was made: Iran should not test Washington’s resolve to act on its promise to strike if diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Tehran to abandon its disputed nuclear program.

Shapiro told the Israel Bar Association the U.S. hopes it will not have to resort to military force.

“But that doesn’t mean that option is not fully available. Not just available, but it’s ready,” he said. “The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it’s ready.”

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, like energy production. The U.S. and Israel suspect Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, but differences have emerged in how to persuade Tehran to curb its program.

Washington says diplomacy and economic sanctions must be given a chance to run its course, and is taking the lead in the ongoing talks between six global powers and Iran.

Israel, while saying it would prefer a diplomatic solution, has expressed skepticism about these talks and says time is running out for military action to be effective.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney is discouraging supporters from going forward with an advertising strategy that would highlight President Barack Obama’s ties to his controversial pastor.

Romney said Thursday he would “repudiate” efforts by a super PAC to spend at least $10 million to dredge up the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary statements. Romney says he would prefer his allies focus on the economy, on getting people back to work and on seeing rising incomes and growing prosperity.

The likely Republican presidential nominee says Obama’s campaign has been focused on “character assassination” but that he would prefer to campaign on records.

Romney spoke in an interview with Townhall.com.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

By HOPE YEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service is moving ahead with plans to close dozens of mail processing centers, saying it can no longer wait for Congress to decide how to cut postal costs.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says postal operations are simply too big given declining mail volume. The agency will consolidate 140 mail processing centers within the next year, including 48 this August. Most will occur next January and February, after the busy election and holiday mail season.

Another 89 closings would occur in 2014.

The Postal Service had previously planned to close 252 mail processing centers beginning this summer but was awaiting congressional action.

With Congress stalled over a bill, the mail agency say it is moving forward, but now over a longer time frame.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

By ANNE GEARAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mapping the way out of an unpopular war, the United States and NATO are trying to build an Afghan army that can defend the country after 130,000 international troops pull out. The alliance’s plans for arm’s-length support for Afghanistan will be a central focus of the summit President Barack Obama is hosting Sunday and Monday in Chicago.

The problem with the exit strategy is that someone has to pay for that army in an era of austerity budgets and defense cutbacks.

The problem for the United States is how to avoid getting stuck with the check for $4.1 billion a year.

“This has to be a multilateral funding effort,” said Pentagon spokesman George Little. “We think there should be contributions from other countries.”

That’s partly why so many non-NATO nations are getting invitations to the summit. About 60 countries and organizations are expected to be represented, including nations such as Japan that are far removed from the trans-Atlantic defense pact’s home ground.

More than 20 nations have already agreed to help fund the Afghan army and more are expected to announce their commitments at the Chicago summit. U.S. and other NATO leaders claim that fundraising is on track, although the totals publicly announced so far are small.

A senior Obama administration official said the U.S. and its partners would seek to set targets at the summit for the size and scope of the Afghan security forces after 2014, when foreign forces pull out. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to preview the upcoming summit, would not detail pledges expected in Chicago.

That force is now projected to be smaller – and cheaper – than NATO had planned only a year ago. The decision to trim the goal for an Afghan force from about 350,000 to roughly 230,000 was driven more by economic reality than a shift in thinking about Afghanistan’s security needs after 2014, U.S. military officials and NATO diplomats said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning. The larger force had been projected to cost $7 billion a year.

Obama is unlikely to say so, but outside estimates of the U.S. share of the bill for Afghan defense after 2014 range from a quarter to well more than half the total bill. The U.S. will also be on the hook for other support to Afghanistan, but the amount is unclear. The United States is the richest and best-equipped nation in the NATO alliance and long Afghanistan’s largest patron.

Obama signed a pledge with Afghan President Hamid Karzai this month that would obligate the U.S. for a decade. Several other nations have signed similar long-term deals, and NATO is to sign one with Afghanistan at the Chicago meeting. The agreements cover a range of assistance to Afghanistan, but underwriting the military is the largest line item.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

By HOPE YEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the children born in the U.S., capping decades of heady immigration growth that is now slowing.

New 2011 census estimates highlight sweeping changes in the nation’s racial makeup and the prolonged impact of a weak economy, which is now resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the U.S.

“This is an important landmark,” said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is now a sociologist at Howard University. “This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders.”

Minorities made up roughly 2.02 million, or 50.4 percent of U.S. births in the 12-month period ending July 2011. That compares with 37 percent in 1990.

In all, 348 of the nation’s 3,143 counties, or 1 in 9, have minority populations across all age groups that total more than 50 percent. In a sign of future U.S. race and ethnic change, the number of counties reaching the tipping point increases to more than 690, or nearly 1 in 4, when looking only at the under age 5 population.

According to the latest data, the percentage growth of Hispanics slowed from 4.2 percent in 2001 to 2.5 percent last year. Their population growth would have been even lower if it weren’t for their relatively high fertility rates – seven births for every death. The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 27.6 years.

Births actually have been declining for both whites and minorities as many women postponed having children during the economic slump. But the drop since 2008 has been larger for whites, who have a median age of 42. The number of white births fell by 11.4 percent, compared with 3.2 percent for minorities, according to Kenneth Johnson, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire.

Asian population increases also slowed, from 4.5 percent in 2001 to about 2.2 percent. Hispanics and Asians still are the two fastest-growing minority groups, making up about 16.7 percent and 4.8 percent of the U.S. population, respectively.

Blacks, who comprise about 12.3 percent of the population, have increased at a rate of about 1 percent each year. Whites have increased very little in recent years.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, suggesting modest but steady gains in the job market.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly unemployment aid applications stayed at a seasonally adjusted 370,000, the same level as the previous week. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell from roughly 380,000 to 375,000.

Applications for benefits surged in April to a five-month high of 392,000. They have fallen back since then and are near the lowest levels in four years.

The decline suggests hiring could pick up in May after slumping in the previous two months. When applications drop below 375,000 a week, it generally suggests hiring is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate.

“Although another decline would have been preferred, the results weren’t that bad,” said Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, in a note to clients. “It does raise the possibility that we may see a pickup in hiring in May.”

The unemployment rate has fallen from 9.1 percent in August to 8.1 percent last month. Part of the reason for the drop is that employers have added a million jobs over the past five months. But it has also declined because some people gave up looking for work. The government only counts people as unemployed if they are actively looking for a job.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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