USA

Federal agents were seeking a warrant Sunday to search the Utah home of Roger Von Bergendorff, who was hospitalized in critical condition several days earlier when deadly ricin was found in his Las Vegas motel room. Officials said there was no apparent link to terrorist activity and no spread of the deadly substance.

The Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies will begin implementing a water-sharing plan among Alabama, Florida, and Georgia after White House efforts to coax the states to hammer out their own comprehensive strategy failed, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Saturday. A long feud over water rights has been exacerbated by drought conditions.

Navy training exercises that begin off southern California this month must abide by limits on sonar training within 12 nautical miles of the coast because of potential harm to marine mammals, a federal appeals court ruled late last week.

The Navy christened a new amphibious assault ship, the USS New York, that incorporates scrap steel from the ruins of the World Trade Center during a ceremony (above) Saturday at the Avondale, La., shipyard. Many of the workers on the vessel lost their homes in hurricane Katrina. The Navy normally only names nuclear submarines after states but made an exception because of the symbolism involved.

The pace at which the US admits Iraqi refugees into the country has only modestly increased, according to figures released Saturday by the State Department. They show 444 were admitted in February, up from 375 in January, but well below what's needed to reach an annual target of 12,000.

New Jersey became the first state, on Saturday, to make text-messaging while driving a primary offense, meaning that police don't need another reason to pull over a driver in order to issue a $100 fine.