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Friday, May 3, 2013

Hill aides: White House recalculates spending cuts

Hill aides: White House recalculates spending cuts

Hill aides: White House recalculates spending cuts

Posted: 03 May 2013 01:08 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House budget office is recalculating how to apply automatic spending cuts for a handful of agencies, freeing up almost $4 billion for the Pentagon and another $1 billion or so for Homeland Security Department and NASA.

Nursing sore knee, Wade returns to practice court

Posted: 03 May 2013 01:03 PM PDT

MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade has returned to the practice court and says he's encouraged about how his troublesome right knee feels, with the Miami Heat still three days away from starting the second round of the playoffs.

Obama begins quick visit to Costa Rica

Posted: 03 May 2013 01:03 PM PDT

US President Barack gestures as he speaks at the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, Friday, May 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — President Barack Obama is opening a two-day trip to Costa Rica, his first stop in the Central American nation as president.

Usher gets ready for role as Sugar Ray Leonard

Posted: 03 May 2013 01:03 PM PDT

FILE - This Nov. 17, 2011 file photo shows singer Usher Raymond at the "Pencils Of Promise" inaugural gala in New York. Usher is stepping into the boxing ring to portray Sugar Ray Leonard in the new film "Hands of Stone." Usher says he has spent more than a year preparing to play Leonard, who was known for his fast hands, quick feet and wide smile. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Grammy-winning singer Usher believes his dancing skills will help him in his upcoming role as Sugar Ray Leonard in "Hands of Stone," a new boxing film about the great brawler Roberto Duran.

CNN: Media critic Kurtz to address his own issues

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:59 PM PDT

FILE - This April 25, 2012 file photo shows journalist Howard Kurtz at the world premiere of "Knife Fight" during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Kurtz has left online news and commentary site The Daily Beast, a day after the website retracted one of his blog posts about the coming out of NBA player Jason Collins. Both Kurtz and Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown confirmed his departure over Twitter. Kurtz did not acknowledge any link between the retraction and his departure. He tweeted that NEW YORK (AP) — CNN says Howard Kurtz will address his mistaken story on gay basketball player Jason Collins on "Reliable Sources," the weekly media criticism show he hosts on the news network.

Winds ease but Calif. wildfire threat remains

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:57 PM PDT

A firefighter from Huntington beach works to extinguish a brush at Point Mugu Friday, May 3, 2013. A Southern California wildfire carving a path to the sea grew to more than 15 square miles and crews prepared Friday for another bad day of gusting winds and searing weather. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — A huge Southern California wildfire carved a path to the sea and burned on the beach Friday, but firefighters got a break as gusty Santa Ana winds turned into breezes.

US Cellular embraces iPhone after rejecting it

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:54 PM PDT

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Cellular, the only major U.S. wireless carrier to resist the iPhone, says it's going to start selling it this year.

Steelers rookie LB Jarvis Jones settling in

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:53 PM PDT

Pittsburgh Steelers first round draft choice, linebacker Jarvis Jones, out of Georgia, catches a ball during a drill at the NFL football rookie minicamp on Friday, May 3, 2013 in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jarvis Jones is not James Harrison. For one thing, there's the hair.

Anti-militia protest attacked in Libya

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:50 PM PDT

FILE - In this March 13, 2013 file photo, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan speaks during a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department in Washington. Over the past three days, militiamen stormed the headquarters of the Interior Ministry and state-run TV and besieged the Foreign Ministry while publicly calling for the removal of Gadhafi-era officials from government posts and the passage of the so-called "isolation law," which would bar from political life anyone who held any position —even minor— under the ousted autocrat's regime. However, analysts and democracy advocates believe militiamen are using the isolation law as a way to get rid of Zidan, who has vowed to restore the authority of the state and disband the armed groups that have become a power unto themselves in Libya. Many of the militias have an Islamist ideology, while Zidan is seen as more secular and liberal.. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Hundreds of Libyan pro-democracy advocates marched in Tripoli on Friday, denouncing militias' recent blockade of government buildings and coming under attack briefly by supporters of the armed groups, in the latest sign of the turmoil that threatens the country's first elected authorities.

SAfrica: officials suspended over wedding scandal

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:46 PM PDT

In this photo supplied by The New Age newspaper of South Africa and taken Thursday May 2, 2013, guests watch as the bridal couple, Vega Gupta, centre right, and Aakash Jahajgarhia, are pulled across a pool on a float at Sun City's Palace of the Lost City, South Africa, during their wedding ceremony. The self-proclaimed "wedding of the century" has become a public relations disaster for the government since a private jet appears to have received diplomatic courtesies, allegedly bypassing customs procedures, when the jet landed the wedding party at the military Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria, South Africa. The jet landed Tuesday angering many South Africans who see the scandal as a case of cronyism linking big business and government and igniting accusations that security laws were breached. (AP Photo/The New Age)JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Five South African officials, including police and military commanders, have been suspended after a chartered plane carrying about 200 guests from India to a lavish family wedding was allowed to land at a South African air force base, the government said Friday.

NRA official: 'Culture war' more than gun rights

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:44 PM PDT

NRA attendee Janet Bero waits to have her German Luger appraised during the NRA's Antiques Guns and Gold Showcase during the National Rifle Association's 142 Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Houston. NRA's Antiques Guns and Gold Showcase is a television show that runs on the Sportsman Channel.The 2013 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits runs from Friday, May 3, through Sunday, May 5. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson)HOUSTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association kicked off its annual convention Friday with a warning from its incoming president that its members are engaged in a "culture war" that stretches beyond gun rights, further ramping up emotions surrounding the gun control debate.

Proposed SC budget says no junk food for governor

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:44 PM PDT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Lawmakers in South Carolina are trying to keep junk food out of the governor's mansion.

AP Newsbreak: Utah soccer league to hire security

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:37 PM PDT

Johana Portillo, center, and her sister Ana Portillo hold hands while Dr. Shawn Smith looks on during a news conference Thursday, May 2, 2013, at Intermountain Medical Center, in Murray, Utah. Ricardo Portillo, a Utah soccer referee, is in a coma after being punched by a teenage player unhappy with one of his calls _ and his family says their only hope is for a miracle. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)MURRAY, Utah (AP) — The Utah soccer league that saw one of its referees punched by a teen player and sent into a coma will continue holding games but with security present, its president said Friday.

South Carolina center stage in early 2016 talk

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:34 PM PDT

FILE - In this April 20, 2013 file photo, Vice President Joe Biden speaks in Detroit. Mere months after the 2012 election, South Carolina is a buzz of political activity with a slate of potential presidential candidates already looking ahead to the state's "first in the South" primary _ still three years away. Vice President Joe Biden and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz arrive to whip up their parties' faithful before Tuesday's special congressional election featuring the high-profile former governor. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski, File)CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Mere months after the 2012 election, South Carolina is a buzz of political activity with a slate of potential presidential candidates already looking ahead to the state's "first in the South" primary — still three years away.

Revival of 'Jekyll & Hyde' to close May 12

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:29 PM PDT

This theater publicity image released by The Hartman Group shows Constantine Maroulis, left, and Deborah Cox during a performance of "Jekyll & Hyde" playing at the Marquis Theatre in New York. Producers announced Friday, May 3, 2013, that the Broadway production will play the final performance of its limited Broadway engagement on Sunday, May 12, 2013. (AP Photo/The Hartman Group, Chris Bennion)NEW YORK (AP) — The revival of "Jekyll & Hyde" won't last nearly as long as the original on Broadway.

APNewsbreak: States fear loss of health care aid

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:28 PM PDT

FILE - In this April 30, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama answers questions during his new conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. State officials say thousands of people with medical problems are in danger of losing coverage as the Obama administration winds down one of the earliest programs in the federal health care overhaul. At risk is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, a transition program that has turned into a lifeline for the so-called WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people with serious medical problems are in danger of losing coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul because of cost overruns, state officials say.

Stocks surge to new highs after hiring climbs

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:27 PM PDT

Specialist Frank Masiello wears a "Dow 15,000" hat as he works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, May 3, 2013. A big gain in the job market is lifting the stock market to a record high. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) — A big gain in the job market is pushing the stock market past new milestones.

US factory orders down 4 percent in March

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:23 PM PDT

In this March 1, 2013 photo, a truck drives past stacks of containers that were unloaded from a ship at the Port of Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore. Orders to U.S. factories fell in March by the largest amount in seven months but a key category that signals business investment plans managed a small increase, according to the Commerce Department, Friday, May 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories fell in March by the largest amount in seven months, but a key category that signals business investment plans increased.

Pastrana captures first career Nationwide pole

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:22 PM PDT

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — X Games star Travis Pastrana won his first career pole on the Nationwide Series at Talladega Superspeedway.

Job market resilience eases growth concerns

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:20 PM PDT

People wait in line to meet a job recruiter at the UJA-Federation Connect to Care job fair in New YorkBy Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employment rose faster than expected in April and hiring was much stronger than previously thought in the prior two months, a sign of resilience that should help the economy absorb the blow from belt-tightening in Washington. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 165,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent, the lowest level since December 2008, the Labor Department said on Friday. The job counts for February and March were revised up by a net 114,000. "This bolsters the case that the U.S. ...

Experimental Air Force aircraft goes hypersonic

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:19 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An experimental unmanned aircraft developed for the U.S. Air Force has flown at more than five times the speed of sound in a test off California.

Fire shuts down Labor Dept. building in DC

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:14 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An overnight fire at the Labor Department's headquarters shut the building down for most employees early Friday, but the agency's monthly employment report was released as scheduled.

Solar plane leaves Calif. on cross-country trip

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:11 PM PDT

The Solar Impulse plane takes off on a multi-city trip across the United States from Moffett Field NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., Friday, May 3, 2013. Solar Impulse, considered the world's most advanced solar-powered plane, will stop for seven to 10 days at major airports in each city, so the pilots can display and discuss the aircraft with reporters, students, engineers and aviation fans. It plans to reach New York's Kennedy Airport in early July — without using a drop of fuel, its creators said. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — A solar-powered airplane left Northern California on Friday for the first leg of a planned cross-country trip that its co-pilot described as a "milestone" in aviation history.

Sectarian killings reported in Syrian village

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:08 PM PDT

In this citizen journalism image released on Thursday, May 2, 2013 by a group that calls itself The Syrian Revolution Against Bashar Assad, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Syrian man, center, identifies dead bodies, who were killed according to activists by Syrian forces loyal to Bashar Assad, in Bayda village, in the mountains outside the coastal city of Banias, Syria. Syria's main opposition group on Friday accused President Bashar Assad's regime of committing a "large-scale massacre" in a Sunni village near the Mediterranean coast, killing scores of people, according to activists. (AP Photo/The Syrian Revolution Against Bashar Assad)BEIRUT (AP) — The bodies of the Syrian boys and young men in jeans and casual shirts were strewn along a blood-stained pavement, dying apparently where they fell. Weeping women moved among the dead, and one of them screamed, "Where are you, people of the village?"

Kobe Bryant battles mom, NJ business over auction

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:07 PM PDT

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, right, and his wife Vanessa Bryant arrive at "An Unforgettable Evening" benefiting EIF's Women's Cancer Research Fund at The Beverly Wilshire on Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP)TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Kobe Bryant is in a court battle to try to keep his mother from auctioning off mementoes from his high school days in Pennsylvania and his early years with the Los Angeles Lakers.

IAAF says 2 Turkish athletes charged with doping

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:07 PM PDT

LONDON (AP) — Olympic 1,500-meter champion Asli Cakir Alptekin of Turkey was charged with doping and could be stripped of her gold medal. Another female Turkish athlete, hurdler Nevin Yanit, also was charged with doping violations and could lose her European indoor title.

5 things to know Saturday at the Kentucky Derby

Posted: 03 May 2013 12:05 PM PDT

Trainer Todd Pletcher watches morning workouts at Churchill Downs Wednesday, May 1, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Derby is Saturday at Churchill Downs. Here are five things you should know:

Kazakh man linked to Boston suspect 'normal teen'

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:58 AM PDT

Deputy principal Yuri Dovgal speaks to The Associated Press in his office in a school in Almaty, the largest Kazakhstan city on Friday, May 3, 2013. At the Kazakh school where Dias Kadyrbayev who was arrested in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings attended when he was 14 and 15, Dovgal said Friday: ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — Former teachers of one of the students from Kazakhstan arrested in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings described him on Friday as an easygoing teenager who distinguished himself mainly by his failing grades in math and science.

US employers add 165K jobs; rate falls to 7.5 pct.

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:56 AM PDT

In this Thursday, April 11, 2013 photo, people wait in line before the Dr. King Career Fair at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany, N.Y. U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in April, and hiring was much stronger in the previous two months than first thought, the Labor Department reports, Friday, May 3, 2013. The gains trimmed the unemployment rate to a four-year low of 7.5 percent. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy showed last month why it remains the envy of industrialized nations: In the face of tax increases and federal spending cuts, employers added a solid 165,000 jobs in April — and far more in February and March than anyone thought.

ATP chairman Brad Drewett dies at 54

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:52 AM PDT

FILE - Australian Brad Drewett, CEO of Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) International and Tournament Director at the ongoing Tennis Masters Cup, in this file photo dated Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008, at Qi Zhong Tennis Center in Shanghai, China. On Friday May 3, 2013, the ATP announced that 54-year old chairman Brad Drewett has died at his home in Sydney, Australia, after a battle with motor neurone disease. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, FILE)LONDON (AP) — Brad Drewett, a former tour player who led the ATP as executive chairman and helped increase prize money at Grand Slam tournaments, died Friday. He was 54.

US orders new visa reviews for arriving students

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:49 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department ordered border agents "effective immediately" to verify that every international student who arrives in the U.S. has a valid student visa, according to an internal memorandum obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The new procedure is the government's first security change directly related to the Boston bombings.

Saudi Arabia reports 3 cases of SARS-like virus

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:49 AM PDT

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry has confirmed three more cases of a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 10 the number of cases it reported this week, including five deadly ones.

Fishermen want humpback whales off endangered list

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:46 AM PDT

FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2005 file picture, a humpback whale leaps out of the water in the channel off the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Hundreds of Hawaii fishermen are asking the federal government to take North Pacific humpback whales off the endangered species list in recognition of the rebound the population has experienced since the international community banned commercial whaling decades ago. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)HONOLULU (AP) — A group of Hawaii fishermen is asking the federal government to remove northern Pacific humpback whales from the endangered species list, saying the population has steadily grown since the international community banned commercial whaling nearly 50 years ago.

US military plane carrying 3 crashes in Kyrgyzstan

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:43 AM PDT

CHALDOVAR, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — An American military refueling plane carrying three crew members crashed Friday in the rugged mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian nation where the U.S. operates an air base key to the war in Afghanistan.

App lets amputees program their own bionic hands

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:43 AM PDT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Double-amputee Jason Koger used to fly hundreds of miles to visit a clinician when he wanted to adjust the grips on his bionic hands.

Calif. considers speeding up inmate releases

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:33 AM PDT

FILE -- In this Aug. 3, 2006 file photo, inmates are housed in three-tier bunks, in what was once a multi-purpose recreation room, at the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, Calif. Crowding in state prisons has been reduced under a two-year-old state law that is sending less serious offenders to county jails instead of state prisons. Gov. Jerry Brown faces a midnight deadline of May 2, to say how the state will further reduce its inmate population. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is considering speeding up the release of some inmates while allowing other inmates with a violent history to become firefighters, under a proposal to cut crowding in state prisons Gov. Jerry Brown filed late Thursday night.

Drought across the West spurs resurgence of faith

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:32 AM PDT

This April 19, 2013 photo shows Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church parishioners Albert Lucero, left, and Nick McGovern, center, leading a prayer procession for rain in Bernalillo, N.M. From the heart of New Mexico to West Texas and Oklahoma, the pressures of drought have resulted in a resurgence of faith from Christian preachers and Catholic priests encouraging prayer processions to American Indian tribes using their closely guarded traditions in an effort to coax Mother Nature to deliver some much needed rain. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)BERNALILLO, N.M. (AP) — Along the irrigation canal that cuts through this centuries-old New Mexico town, a small group of churchgoers gathers to recite the rosary before tossing rose petals into the water.

Critics' Circle names 'Matilda' top musical

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:32 AM PDT

This theater publicity image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows the cast of "Matilda The Musical," during a performance in New York. The New York Drama Critics' Circle has voted NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Drama Critics' Circle has voted "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" as best play and "Matilda: The Musical" as best musical.

Lindsay Lohan enters rehab at Betty Ford Center

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:30 AM PDT

FILE - This April 11, 2013 file photo shows actress Lindsay Lohan, a cast member in "Scary Movie V," at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. Lohan's lawyer Mark Jay Heller told a judge at a May 2, 2013 hearing that Lohan had checked into a rehab facility per a judge's orders. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lindsay Lohan has checked into a rehab and will not face a probation violation for leaving another treatment facility after a few minutes, a prosecutor said Friday.

Lawyer for Jodi Arias makes closing arguments

Posted: 03 May 2013 11:25 AM PDT

Defendant Jodi Arias listens to prosecutor Juan Martinez makes his closing arguments during her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix on Thursday, May 2, 2013. Arias is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)PHOENIX (AP) — Jodi Arias' lawyer implored jurors on Friday to take an impartial view of the case and his client — even if they don't like her — as the murder trial neared an end after four months of testimony.
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