| 2 critically hurt in Manhattan high-rise fire Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:32 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say two men were critically injured in a three-alarm high-rise apartment fire in midtown Manhattan.
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| Selling social media clicks becomes big business Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:31 PM PST SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Celebrities, businesses and even the U.S. State Department have bought bogus Facebook likes, Twitter followers or YouTube viewers from offshore "click farms," where workers tap, tap, tap the thumbs up button, view videos or retweet comments to inflate social media numbers. |
| One dead as private jet crashes at Aspen Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:29 PM PST  One person was killed when a private jet crashed and burst into flames Sunday while landing at the airport that serves the exclusive Colorado skiing resort of Aspen, officials said. Pitkin County Sheriff's Office confirmed one person was killed and two were injured, one seriously, after the plane carrying them smashed into the runway at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport. "Three on board: one fatality, one serious and one minor injuries," Pitkin County Undersheriff Ron Ryan told AFP in an email. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the plane was believed to be a Bombardier Challenger 600.
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| Chargers rally for 27-10 win over Bengals Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:24 PM PST  CINCINNATI (AP) — San Diego took advantage of Andy Dalton's three turnovers in the second half on Sunday, pulling away to a 27-10 victory that extended the Cincinnati Bengals' streak of playoff misery to 23 years and counting.
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| Deep freeze puts chill in tailgating in Green Bay Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:23 PM PST  GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jeff Giardinelli embraced the cold outside Lambeau Field dressed in a No. 8 Steve Young jersey, red San Francisco 49ers knit cap and Candlestick Park-themed scarf.
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| Congress to begin 2014 with jobless benefits battle Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:21 PM PST  By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress begins what promises to be another highly combative year on Monday with a showdown over a White House-backed bid to renew unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans. The battle will kick off a 2014 drive by President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats to stem a growing gap between rich and poor. The Democrat-led Senate plans to escalate the fight in coming weeks by bringing up for a vote a bill to increase the federal minimum wage, which has stood at $7.25 an hour since July 2009. Democrats want the minimum wage to rise over three years to $10.10 and then be indexed to inflation in the future.
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| Factbox: Key issues that will help define Congress in 2014 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:21 PM PST The U.S. Congress begins its legislative year on Monday with an emphasis on economic and fiscal affairs, including legislation to fund the government beyond January 15 and the likely confirmation of Janet Yellen as the first woman to head the Federal Reserve. But with members of Congress jockeying for position in advance of the November elections, it will be difficult for them to avoid the partisanship that marked last year's session and find common ground to do much of anything in the new year. As a result, the Democrat-controlled Senate and Republican-controlled House of Representatives may be hard-pressed to do much beyond funding the government and raising the U.S. debt ceiling. Here are the top issues facing Congress this year: YELLEN NOMINATION Just hours after the Senate begins its work on Monday, it is expected to confirm Janet Yellen as the first woman chair of the Federal Reserve. |
| Dream season for Chiefs ends in nightmare fashion Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:20 PM PST  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — In many ways, it was a dream, going from 2-14 and the first overall pick in the NFL draft to 11-5 and a spot in the playoffs. Yet it ended in just about the most nightmarish way possible, a second-half collapse and another round of postseason heartache.
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| Kerry says Saudis back his Mideast peace moves Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:13 PM PST  US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday said he had won Saudi support for his efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, in a day of whistlestop diplomacy to key Arab allies. The top US diplomat, on the fourth day of his 10th visit to Israel and the West Bank, promised any agreed plan would be "fair and balanced." "In the end all of these core issues fit together like a mosaic, like a puzzle and you can't separate out one piece or another," Kerry said early Sunday before flying to Amman, and later to Saudi Arabia. Kerry briefed the key Jordanian and Saudi stakeholders about his intense shuttling between Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas over the past few days.
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| Strong says he's excited to take over Texas Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:09 PM PST  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Charlie Strong left a Louisville program that needed to punch its way into the national spotlight for the Texas Longhorns, who live smack in the middle with their enormous wealth, swagger, political intrigue and championship expectations.
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| Sanchez hat-trick puts Barca back on top Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:03 PM PST  Barcelona moved back to the top of La Liga on goal difference with a comfortable 4-0 win over Elche on Sunday thanks to a hat-trick from Alexis Sanchez. The Catalans are tied with Atletico Madrid on 49 points with the two set to meet for the first time in the league this season next weekend at the Vicente Calderon. Lionel Messi was once again watching from the sidelines as he nears a comeback from a hamstring injury and Neymar was left on the bench having recently returned from a Christmas break in Brazil. However, Sanchez and Pedro Rodriguez once again proved able deputies as they slotted home inside the opening 15 minutes.
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| Deep freeze dampens tailgates before Packers game Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:01 PM PST  GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A deep freeze has settled over Wisconsin for the 49ers-Packers wild-card game.
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| Syrian rebels clash with al-Qaida-linked fighters Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:51 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition fighters battled rival rebels from an al-Qaida-linked faction across parts of northern Syria on Sunday, as deep fissures within the insurgency erupted into some of the most serious and sustained violence between groups opposed to President Bashar Assad since the country's conflict began.
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| Disney's 'Frozen' freezes out 'Paranormal' spinoff Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:50 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — On a wintry weekend, Disney's "Frozen" retook the box-office top spot with $20.7 million, freezing out the horror spinoff "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones."
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| Saudi King backs Israeli-Palestinian push, Kerry says Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:40 PM PST  By Arshad Mohammed RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah offered his "enthusiastic support" to U.S. efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. The U.S. diplomat made the comment after some two hours and 40 minutes of talks with the Arab monarch, who in 2002 floated a plan to try to bring peace to the Israelis and Palestinians. "I want to thank his majesty for ... his enthusiastic support for the efforts that are being made with respect to the peace process," he told reporters after seeing Abdullah at a desert palace outside Riyadh under a winter rainfall. Kerry has previously asked Israel to reconsider the 2002 Arab peace plan, originally proposed by King Abdullah, which offers Israel full recognition in return for giving up land it captured in 1967 and a "just" solution for Palestinian refugees.
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| Egypt convicts activists in one case, opens probe into another Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:38 PM PST  Twelve Egyptian activists were given one-year suspended jail terms on Sunday in a case brought over an attack on the campaign headquarters of defeated presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik during the 2012 election. The activists include siblings Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mona Seif, leading figures in the protest movement that triggered the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The movement has been targeted in a widening crackdown by the army-backed authorities. In a move that could open the way to more legal measures against prominent dissidents, the authorities opened an investigation into allegations that six activists took part in the storming of Egypt's domestic spying agency in 2011 - an important moment in the revolt against Mubarak's order.
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| Sex offender seeks admission to Kentucky bar Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:35 PM PST  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Guy Padraic Hamilton-Smith graduated in the top third of his law school class at the University of Kentucky, but the state Supreme Court blocked him from taking the bar exam because he is a registered sex offender.
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| Fighting between Iraqi troops, al-Qaida kills 34 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:09 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi military tried to dislodge al-Qaida militants in Sunni-dominated Anbar province Sunday, unleashing airstrikes and besieging the regional capital in fighting that killed at least 34 people, officials said. A series of bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, meanwhile, killed at least 20 people.
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| Below-zero temps push into Midwest, Northeast Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:04 PM PST  CHICAGO (AP) — Snow-covered roads, high winds and ice were creating dangerous driving conditions Sunday from the Dakotas to Missouri to Delaware ahead of a "polar vortex" that'll bring below-zero — and possibly record-breaking — temperatures not seen in years to much of the nation.
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| Celski loses 1st race at US short track trials Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:55 AM PST  KEARNS, Utah (AP) — Chris Creveling edged J.R. Celski by less than half a skate blade to win the first 1,000 meters final at the U.S. Olympic short track speedskating trials, handing Celski his first loss of the competition.
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| Kidnapped Turkish journalist freed in Syria Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:49 AM PST A NKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's state-run news agency says a Turkish photographer who had been kidnapped in Syria has been freed. |
| Gunfire erupts in South Sudan capital, talks delayed Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:48 AM PST  By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Gunshots rang out in South Sudan's capital, Juba, for about an hour on Sunday as peace talks between rebels and the government to hammer out a ceasefire deal faced further delay in neighboring Ethiopia. The gunfire came from the direction of the military headquarters of the SPLA government forces, towards the northern outskirts of the city. Three weeks of fighting, which began in Juba but spread beyond, often along ethnic faultlines, have killed more than a thousand people, forced a cut in oil output and left the world's newest state on the brink of civil war. Western and regional powers, many of which supported the negotiations that led to South Sudan's secession from Sudan in 2011, are pressing for a peace deal, fearing the latest fighting could destabilize east Africa.
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| Plane slides off runway at NYC's JFK; no injuries Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:45 AM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — A plane from Toronto slid into snow as it turned onto a taxiway after landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday, halting flights at the airport for two hours and causing residual delays.
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| Taiwan's HTC back to profit in Q4 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:42 AM PST  Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC said Sunday that it had swung to profit in the three months to December after a quarterly net loss, the first since listing in 2002. The company reported a net profit of Tw$310 million ($10.3 million) in the fourth quarter despite an operating loss of Tw$1.56 billion, buoyed by its non-operating income, it said in a statement without giving details. Analysts say the income was from its decision in September to sell its remaining 24.84 percent stake in US headphone maker Beats Electronics LLC back to the firm for $265 million. The company reported a net loss of Tw$3 billion in the third quarter as it struggled to increase its foothold in the highly competitive smartphone market dominated by rivals Samsung and Apple.
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| Bangladesh ruling party set to win poll hit by violence, boycott Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:38 AM PST  By Ruma Paul and Tony Munroe DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's ruling Awami League was poised on Sunday to win a violence-plagued parliamentary election whose outcome was never in doubt after a boycott by the main opposition party. Low voter participation could pile new pressure on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to find a compromise with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for holding new elections. Hasina is expected to form a new government sometime this month. Either Hasina or BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia has been prime minister for all but two of the past 22 years.
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| Jurich: Louisville coaching search is wide open Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:37 AM PST  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich says he will move quickly to pick his next football coach, and he hopes the new hire will stay for the long term.
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| Senator Paul wants light punishment of Snowden for NSA leaks Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:28 AM PST  The public debate over the fate of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden intensified on Sunday with conservative Senator Rand Paul calling for a light prison term as punishment for Snowden's disclosure of information on government surveillance programs. Paul, a Republican, said in an interview on ABC's "This Week" that Snowden does not deserve the death penalty or life in prison for the leaks, which have rattled the U.S. intelligence community, not to mention an American public that had been unaware of the extent of NSA data collection. Instead, Paul spoke favorably of "some penalty of a few years in prison" if Snowden were to return to the United States from Russia, where he currently is living, to face trial. Paul, a freshman senator from Kentucky and a Tea Party favorite who has his eye on running for president in 2016, made his remarks a few days after a New York Times editorial said Snowden had done the United States "a great service" in divulging details of NSA surveillance.
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| Iraq officials say fighting with al-Qaida kills 34 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:24 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials in Iraq's western Anbar province say fighting between the army and al-Qaida militants has killed 34 people.
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| Pope to travel to Holy Land in May amid peace push Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:23 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis says his upcoming trip to the Holy Land aims to boost relations with Orthodox Christians. But the three-day visit in May also underscores Francis' close ties to the Jewish community, his outreach to Muslims and the Vatican's longstanding call for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
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| Ex-oil tycoon Khodorkovsky travels to Switzerland Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:21 AM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky got a three-month Swiss visa and traveled there Sunday with his wife to bring their sons back to school, his spokesman said.
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| Syria rebels push al Qaeda back; U.S. open to Iran role Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:36 PM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Arshad Mohammed AMMAN/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syrian rebel fighters loyal to al Qaeda ceded ground near the Turkish border to rival Islamists on Sunday, activists said, in what seemed to be a tactical withdrawal to end clashes between Syrian- and foreign-led opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. As Syria's civil war gets ever more complex amid a broad regional confrontation between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, the United States raised the prospect of Assad's sponsor Iran, the Shi'ite power long at odds with Washington and its Sunni Arab allies, playing some role in this month's Syrian peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tehran still should not take formal part in the peace conference scheduled to start on Lake Geneva on January 22 because it had not endorsed a 2012 accord calling for a new Syrian leadership. But he said there might be ways that Iran could "contribute from the sidelines".
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| Swansea dump Man United out of FA Cup Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:05 AM PST  Wilfried Bony snatched a dramatic last-minute winner as Swansea City heaped fresh misery on Manchester United with a shock 2-1 success in the FA Cup third round on Sunday. Eleven points off the pace in the Premier League, where they have already lost six games, United crashed out at the first hurdle in the FA Cup to give beleaguered manager David Moyes even more problems. To compound matters, United's injury list swelled further after Rio Ferdinand had to go off with a knee injury, while Fabio da Silva was sent off shortly after coming on to replace him.
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| Magma clue to Earth's super-volcanoes Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:59 AM PST  The buoyancy of molten rock, or magma, is the key explanation as to why these monsters blow their stack, according to the report in the journal Nature Geoscience. Super-volcanoes include Yellowstone, in the US state of Wyoming, which spewed out more than 1,000 cubic kilometres (240 cubic miles) of ash and rock when it last erupted about 600,000 years ago. By comparison, the biggest volcanic eruption of the last quarter-century was that of the Philippines volcano Pinatubo in 1991, which discharged a relatively puny 10 cubic kilometres (2.4 cubic miles). Seeking to understand why volcanoes can be so different, a team from Switzerland, France and Britain built a computer model of volcanic activity, basing the age of eruptions on a telltale mineral, zircon, found in volcanic rocks.
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| Eusebio, Portugal's beloved soccer giant, dies Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:56 AM PST  LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A half century later, Eusebio's goals are still a source of wonder in the country where he stood above all others in his sport.
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| African migrants march in Israel demanding rights Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:52 AM PST  TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — About 10,000 African migrants marched in Israel's financial center of Tel Aviv Sunday and gathered in front of City Hall in their largest demonstration yet to demand work rights and better treatment from the Israeli government.
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| Last BCS title game matches Domination & Destiny Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:49 AM PST  NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Florida State's Jimbo Fisher and Auburn's Gus Malzahn have held their final news conferences leading up to the last BCS championship game.
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| Election-year politics shape congressional agenda Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:48 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress returns to work Monday with election-year politics certain to shape an already limited agenda.
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| Italian politician Bersani has brain hemorrhage Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:32 AM PST ROME (AP) — Doctors say Pier Luigi Bersani, a longtime Italian center-left leader who tried but failed to form a government after Italy's inconclusive 2013 election, has suffered a brain hemorrhage. |
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