Washington

Ban on interstate tolls targeted

Drivers on the nation's interstates could soon be paying more to travel. A transportation proposal sent to Congress by the Obama administration on Tuesday would remove a prohibition on tolls for existing interstate highways, clearing the way for states to raise revenue on roads that drivers currently use at no cost. Congress banned tolls on interstates in 1956 when it created the national highway system under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The administration said lifting the toll ban would help address a shortfall in funding to pay for highway repairs. The tolls, along with other changes, could provide an additional $87 billion for aging roadways, tunnels and bridges, the administration said.

Italy

Court says Knox struck mortal blow

The Italian appeals court that reinstated the conviction against Amanda Knox in her British roommate's 2007 murder said in a lengthy reasoning made public Tuesday that Knox herself delivered the fatal blow.

Presiding Judge Alessandro Nencini concluded in a 337-page document that the evidence "inevitably leads to the upholding of the criminal responsibility" against Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of Meredith Kercher in the university town of Perugia. Knox, who has been in the United States since 2011, said the finding was unsupported by evidence or logic.

Elsewhere

Washington: House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that he still thinks that a major impediment to comprehensive immigration reform is a lack of public trust in President Barack Obama, and not an unwillingness by his Republican caucus to take up the legislation.

Malaysia: The countries searching for the missing Malaysian jet are assessing a claim by a resource survey company that it found possible plane wreckage in the northern Bay of Bengal, Malaysia's defense minister said Tuesday. The location is far from where the underwater and surface search has been concentrated.

Times wires