Mark Memmott

There's a dramatic scene unfolding in Toulouse, France, where police have surrounded an apartment building in which the suspect in the recent high-profile killings of at least seven people is said to be barricaded.

To "strengthen our ability to continue providing the world's most insightful and investigative reporting in journalism," The New York Times says that starting in April it will limit non-paying NYTimes.com visitors to 10 free articles per month, down from the current 20.

The Times adds that:

Update at 3:35 p.m. ET: It's official. Peyton Manning is indeed joining the Denver Broncos. He's talking with reporters in Denver right now.

Our Original Post:

"And they have a deal," The Denver Post reports. "An NFL source confirmed Tuesday morning the Broncos and quarterback Peyton Manning have agreed to a five-year, $96 million deal."

George Zimmerman's statement to police about what 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was up to on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., "is completely contradicted" by the boy's cellphone records, an attorney for Martin's family just said during a news conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

A grand jury in Florida is going to investigate the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a case that has grabbed national attention because of concern that the young man may have been a victim of racial profiling and that local police haven't been aggressive enough about looking into his death.

Orlando's WESH-TV reports that:

The "horrific killings" this month of 16 Afghan civilians, allegedly by a U.S. Army staff sergeant, will be fully investigated and "justice will be done," a top Pentagon official just told the House Armed Services Committee.

Along with the latest news about the U.S. Army staff sergeant who allegedly murdered 16 Afghan civilians on March 11, we want to note this heart-breaking quote from a man who says he lost almost all his family in that massacre:

Here are some of the latest developments in a story that has captured attention across the nation and raised again the issue of race relations in America — the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., last month:

Another wave of bombings in Iraq killed dozens of people today and wounded about 200 in more than a dozen cities and towns.

According to The Associated Press, it's the kind of violence "officials had dreaded in the run-up to a Baghdad meeting of the Arab world's top leaders, which the government hoped would showcase the nation's stability." That summit is scheduled for next week. As the AP adds:

This week the action in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination is in Illinois, which holds its primary Tuesday.

In advance of that contest, Public Policy Polling is out with a new survey that it says shows "Mitt Romney is headed for a blowout victory." It has the former Massachusetts governor ahead of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum 45 percent to 30 percent (with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul trailing far behind).

Peyton Manning, one of the two or three best quarterbacks in recent years and one of the greatest ever, is close to signing a contract to play for the NFL's Denver Broncos, according to multiple reports.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter say the deal is done "barring a snag during intensified contract negotiations" between the team and Manning's agent, Tom Condon. They cite "multiple sources."

There's somebody like him in every workplace.

The know-it-all who just has to show how smart he is about the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

So, if you're like us and don't have a lot of time to pay attention to March Madness, might we suggest a proactive approach now that the field is down to the "Sweet 16?"

Pick one of these teams — North Carolina State, Ohio or Xavier.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Killing Of Fla. Teen Trayvon Martin Becomes National Story About Race.

-- Apple To Buy Back $10B In Shares; Pay Dividend Of $2.65 Per Share.

The Associated Press just moved this alert:

"Apple says it will use its cash to start paying dividend of $2.65, buy back $10B in shares."

Here are some of the latest developments concerning the March 11 killings of 16 civilians in southern Afghanistan and the U.S. Army staff sergeant, Robert Bales, who is suspected of carrying out the massacre:

-- Defense attorney John Henry Browne will today "have his first face-to-face meeting with the 10-year Army veteran, who is being held in an isolated cell at Fort Leavenworth's military prison in Kansas," The Associated Press reports.

Now that 911 recordings show how a white Florida man continued to follow a 17-year-old black boy even after police advised him not to — and captured the sound of the man killing the unarmed youth with a shot to the chest — Trayvon Martin's family wants the FBI to take over the investigation into his killing.

The gunman says it was an act of self defense during a Neighborhood Watch patrol.

There are fears in France today that the killings of at least four people outside a Jewish school in the city of Toulouse are linked to earlier murders of three soldiers and that the victims were targeted because they belonged to ethnic or religious minorities.

The "family friend" who told The Oregonian that its editorial page editor was in his car on Saturday when he died of a heart attack turns out to have been another editor at the newspaper. She says she was trying to protect Caldwell's family from the public embarrassment that would come with the truth: that he had been in the apartment of a young woman with whom he was allegedly having sex.

Some of the documents seized last May after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan show that the al-Qaida leader "boldly commanded his network to organize special cells in Afghanistan and Pakistan to attack the aircraft of President Barack Obama and Gen.

Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student "accused of using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's love life has been convicted of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when the victim of the snooping committed suicide" in September, 2010, The Associated Press writes.

The 20-year-old "could face 10 years in prison when he's sentenced," the AP adds.

The student council at the University of California Irvine approved a resolution Thursday demanding that Dr. Hazem Chehabi, Syria's honorary consul in Southern California, be removed from the post of chair at the UC Irving Foundation, which supports the school and is trying to raise $1 billion for it.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Karzai At 'End Of The Rope,' Says Witnesses Dispute U.S. Account Of Killings.

-- Soldier Accused Of Massacre 'Just Snapped,' Official Says.

Saying that Sunday's murders of 16 civilians has him at "the end of the rope," Afghan President Hamid Karzai "lashed out at the United States" today, The Associated Press reports.

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in February from January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported. The increase — the largest in the past 10 months — was mostly fueled by higher prices for gasoline.

Excluding the food and energy sectors, prices rose 0.1 percent. That's a sign that the so-called core rate of inflation remains in check.

According to BLS:

-- Gas prices spiked 6 percent last month and were up 12.6 percent from February 2011.

While American sports fans focus on college basketball, there's big cricket news that's making headlines in much of the rest of the world:

"Sachin Tendulkar Scores his 100th International Century For India." (BBC News)