Los Angeles  - US President Barack Obama has offered a "moving, sincere" apology for a wisecrack in which he compared his notoriously bad bowling skills to those of handicapped participants at the Special Olympics, the chairman of the US Special Olympics board said Friday.

Tim Shriver told Good Morning America that the president called to apologize even before his taped remarks on the Jay Leno show were broadcast Thursday night.

Washington  - The final solar panel at the space station began unfurling, as planned, on Friday, the final event in the years- long expansion of the energy capacity of the orbiter.

The panel, installed Thursday during a spacewalk by astronauts from the Discovery shuttle, started unfolding at 1506 GMT.

"Everything looking good so far," said a NASA official in Houston in the live webcast on NASA TV. She said the process would take some time, and be halted midway to allow the device to "warm in the sun" - necessary to avoid sticking.

London - A 21-year-old British soldier shot dead by terrorists in Northern Ireland was given an emotional farewell by his family and army superiors in London Friday.

Patrick Azimkar was one of two British soldiers mowed down with more than 60 shots outside the British Army's Massereene barracks near Belfast on March 7.

The forthcoming Palm Pre and Web OS might just bring Palm some kind of a turnaround of fortunes, especially after the struggling company reported a 72 percent plunge in the smartphone revenue in the most recent quarter!

The Sunnyvale, California-based company reportedly generated $77.5 million in revenue, after a 42 plunge in the total sales of its smartphone devices to 482,000 units. The company's total revenue figures of $90.6 million also fell short of analysts' expectations of $105 million.

Washington, Mar. 20 : Former President George W. Bush has said that his goal is to bring the reader inside the Oval Office for the most consequential moments "of my personal and political life," through his autobiography.

In a statement Thursday issued by Crown Publishing, Bush said. "I look forward to painting a vivid picture of the information I had, the principles I followed, and the decisions I made."

Washington, Mar. 20 : US First Lady Michelle Obama remembers being ridiculed for trying to be educated and getting good grades in school in Chicago's South side.