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Friday, February 21, 2014

An early gain fades for US stocks; S&P 500 slips

An early gain fades for US stocks; S&P 500 slips

An early gain fades for US stocks; S&P 500 slips

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:15 PM PST

Trader Jonathan Corpina, left, and specialist Fabian Caceres work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. U.S. stocks are inching higher in early trading, putting the Standard & Poor's 500 index on track for its third straight week of gains. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ending broadly lower as investors assess corporate earnings reports, leaving the Standard & Poor's 500 index down slightly for the week.

US bans bidis made by Indian tobacco company

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:13 PM PST

A sidewalk stall displays packs of bidis for sale in New Delhi May 8, 2002US regulators on Friday banned four types of small cigarettes known as bidis made by an Indian company, marking the Food and Drug Administration's first-ever oversight action against a tobacco product. Bidis are small, hand-rolled cigarettes that contain tobacco wrapped in leaves from a tendu tree, and may come in various flavors. The FDA move applies to four varieties made by Jash International, which a regulatory spokeswoman described to AFP as an Indian company with headquarters in Illinois. The ban came about because the products were found to be substantially different from existing tobacco products on the market as of 2007, and did not meet new regulatory requirements, the FDA said.

UAW appeals Volkswagen workers' rejection in Tenn.

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:10 PM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United Auto Workers on Friday challenged last week's close vote by workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee that rejected the UAW's bid to represent them.

Child porn found at coach's home in girl's killing

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:07 PM PST

CORRECTS LAST NAME OF VICTIM'S MOTHER TO BARFIELD INSTEAD OF OWENS - Stacey Barfield, mother of Hailey Owens, kneeling, and family members Sara Wells, left, and Teri Nord arrange flowers left by well wishers Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 near the site where the 10-year-old girl was abducted just blocks from the Springfield, Mo., home. Prosecutors have charged Craig Michael Wood with first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed criminal action in their girls death. Prosecutors says the fourth-grader's body was found stuffed in two trash bags inside plastic storage containers in the basement of Wood's Springfield home. She had been shot in the head. (AP Photo/Alan Scher Zagier)SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Police say they have found child pornography at the southwest Missouri home of a middle-school football coach accused in the kidnapping and killing of a 10-year-old girl.

Cellphone calls on planes? Don't ask the feds

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:07 PM PST

FILE - This Oct. 31, 2013 file photo shows a plane passenger checking her cell phone before a flight in Boston. While one government agency considers allowing cellphone calls on passenger planes, another now wants to ban them. The Transportation Department signals that it wants to impose a ban on inflight cellphone calls, just two months after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to pursue lifting the current ban. The FCC regulates wireless communications, while the transportation department regulates issues affecting airline passengers. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — It looks like the government is more conflicted about cellphones on planes than most travelers. Even as one federal agency considers allowing the calls, another now wants to make sure that doesn't happen.

Armani urges political action to preserve fashion

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:06 PM PST

MILAN (AP) — Milan and Rome are Italy's yin and yang: fashion capital, political capital, their fates entwined.

APNewsBreak: Railroads confront crude safety

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:05 PM PST

FILE - In this Dec. 30, 2013 file photo, a fireball goes up at the site of an oil train derailment in Casselton, N.D. Railroads that haul volatile crude shipments have reached an agreement with U.S. transportation officials to adopt wide-ranging voluntary safety measures after a string of explosive and deadly accidents. A copy of the agreement between the U.S. Transportation Department and the Association of American Railroads obtained Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 by The Associated Press calls for railroads to slow down oil trains through major cities, increase track inspections and bolster emergency response planning along routes that see trains that can haul up to three million gallons of oil each. (AP Photo/Bruce Crummy, File)BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Railroads that haul volatile crude shipments have reached an agreement with U.S. transportation officials to adopt wide-ranging, voluntary safety measures after a string of explosive and deadly accidents.

Venezuela's Ivy League radical eyes prison as political springboard

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:03 PM PST

By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has started down a well-worn path toward building a profile in this politically volatile country: defying the government and going to jail. The Harvard-educated, former mayor of the Chacao district of Caracas revived an opposition movement that had stalled, kickstarting anti-government protests that have left at least six dead and landed him behind bars. It certainly helped late socialist president Hugo Chavez, who served two years in jail for a failed 1992 coup, and it also helped opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who was jailed for four months after being accused of being involved in a siege of the Cuban embassy in Caracas in 2002. Lopez, who was barred from public office by a national comptroller's ruling after he was accused of corruption, has won support among hardliners who have said creeping authoritarianism by President Nicolas Maduro has made a democratic change of government impossible.

18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin wins Olympic slalom

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:03 PM PST

Gold medal winner Mikaela Shiffrin skis past a gate in the women's slalom at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Normally so composed, so in control, so not-very-teenlike on and off the slopes, Mikaela Shiffrin suddenly found herself in an awkward position halfway through the second leg of the Olympic slalom.

9 attackers dead: Somalia president palace attack

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:00 PM PST

Somalis gather near the wreckage of one of the vehicles used for a car bomb, following a militant attack on the presidential palace in Mogadishu, Somalia Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. Nine al-Shabab militants wearing military fatigues and carrying guns and grenades died after attacking the presidential palace with two car bombs on Friday, in an assault the president called a "media spectacular" by a "dying animal." President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was unharmed, but two government officials were killed, the interior ministry said. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Nine al-Shabab militants wearing military fatigues and carrying guns and grenades died after attacking the presidential palace with two car bombs on Friday, in an assault the president called a "media spectacular" by a "dying animal."

Colorado prison director seeks isolation reform

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:00 PM PST

This undated photo provided by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows Corrections Department Executive Director Rick Raemisch, who is promising to reform solitary confinement policies after spending the night in an isolated cell on Jan. 23, 2014, an experiment he said left him "feeling twitchy and paranoid." In an opinion letter to the New York Times published Thursday, Feb. 20, Raemisch said he suffered mental anguish after spending only 20 hours in solitary confinement on Jan. 23 to see what it was like. (AP Photo/Colorado Department of Corrections)DENVER (AP) — Colorado's new Corrections Department director is promising to reform solitary confinement policies after spending the night in an isolated cell, an experiment he said left him "feeling twitchy and paranoid."

Colorado, Utah move to hike smoking age to 21

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:57 PM PST

A high school student, who preferred not to be identified, smokes a cigarette in a de facto smoking area just off the property of Lewis-Palmer High School, in Monument, Colo., Thursday Feb. 20, 2014. A proposal to raise the tobacco age to 21 in Colorado is up for its first review in the state Legislature. The bipartisan bill would make Colorado the first with a statewide 21-to-smoke law. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)DENVER (AP) — Two Western states with some of the nation's lowest smoking rates are considering cracking down even more by raising the tobacco age to 21.

Mexico to trump Japan as No. 2 car exporter to US

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:56 PM PST

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2013 file photo, Volkswagen Jettas produced in Mexico for export are parked at the port terminal in the Gulf city of Veracruz, Mexico. Mexico is on track to replace Japan as the second-largest exporter of cars to the United States by the end of 2014, and is expected to surpass Canada for the top spot by the end of 2015. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez, File)CELAYA, Mexico (AP) — Mexico is on track to become the United States' No. 1 source of imported cars by the end of next year, overtaking Japan and Canada in a manufacturing boom that's turning the auto industry into a bigger source of dollars than money sent home by migrants.

Syria submits new 100-day plan for removal of chemical weapons

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:54 PM PST

A U.N. chemical weapons expert holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Ain TarmaBy Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria has submitted a new 100-day plan for the removal of its chemical weapons after failing to meet a February 5 deadline, but the international mission overseeing the operation believes it can be done in a shorter time frame, diplomats said on Friday. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons executive committee met on Friday in The Hague to discuss the joint OPCW and U.N. mission amid growing international frustration at Syria falling behind on its commitments. The Syrian government, locked in a three-year-old war with rebels seeking President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow, failed to meet the February 5 OPCW deadline to move all of its declared chemical substances and precursors out of the country. The final deadline under the OPCW plan is for all of Syria's declared chemical materials to be destroyed by June 30.

California lawmaker indicted on bribery, corruption charges

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:50 PM PST

File photo of California State Senator Ron Calderon in SacramentoBy Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California state senator has been indicted on federal charges that he accepted some $100,000 in cash bribes from a businessman and undercover FBI agents in connection with legislation, prosecutors said on Friday. Democrat Ron Calderon, 56, has agreed to turn himself in on Monday to face charges including mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery, conspiracy, money laundering in the 24-count indictment, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. Calderon's brother, Tom Calderon, a former member of the California State Assembly, was also named in the U.S. District Court indictment and charged with money laundering. Tom Calderon has already surrendered to authorities and was expected to face an arraignment later on Friday, Mrozek said.

Police: Oregon teens planned out swastika attack

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:49 PM PST

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say four Oregon teenagers accused of shooting a fellow high school student with a BB gun and carving a swastika into his forehead had spent an evening sketching out ideas for torturing him.

W.Va. chemical spill firm winding down operations

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:45 PM PST

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The company at the center of West Virginia's chemical spill that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 people is selling the rest of its chemicals, helping its 51 employees find new jobs and winding down operations.

Obama to award Medal of Honor to 24 Army veterans

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:44 PM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Honor to 24 Army veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. All but three will be awarded the medal posthumously.

Canada down US to set-up final clash with Swedes

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:41 PM PST

Canada's Jamie Benn (R) and Canada's Corey Perry celebrate after scoring against US goalkeeper Jonathan Quick (R) during the Men's Ice Hockey semi-finals at the Bolshoy Ice Dome during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 21, 2014Sochi (Russia) (AFP) - Defending champ Canada reached their second-straight Olympic final, spoiling the USA's perfect record and smothering their high-powered offence at the Sochi Games to set up a gold medal clash with Sweden. Jamie Benn scored early in the second period and goaltender Carey Price stopped all 31 shots he faced for the shutout as Canada defeated the United States 1-0 in a re-match of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic final. Canada's semi-final victory in the men's ice hockey tournament means they will face Sweden in Sunday's championship game after the Swedes topped Finland 2-1 in an all-Nordic semi.

Police: Tribal shooting suspect killed 3 relatives

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:40 PM PST

Modoc County Sheriff and Coroner Mike Poindexter ducks under crime scene tape Friday, Feb. 21, 2014 outside the tribal headquarters of the Cedarville Rancheria in Alturas, Calif., where local media reports quote police saying a former tribal leader allegedly killed four people and wounded two others in a gun and knife attack Thursday during an evictiion hearing. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)ALTURAS, Calif. (AP) — A former tribal leader killed her brother, nephew, niece and a worker at the headquarters of a small Indian tribe that was evicting the suspect and her son from its land in far Northern California, police said on Friday.

California lawmaker charged with corruption

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:40 PM PST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Federal law enforcement authorities on Friday announced multiple charges of bribery and cover-ups against a Democratic state lawmaker and his brother, the result of a long-running corruption investigation that has tarnished the state's majority party.

AP PHOTOS: Olympic flame at center stage in Sochi

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:39 PM PST

The Olympic flame is lit during a test in the Olympic Park for the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/David Goldman)The Olympic flame has been the backdrop for numerous tourist photos during the Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

How Ukraine's economic decay fueled protests

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:38 PM PST

View on Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's current unrest, Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Fierce clashes between police and protesters in Ukraine's capital have shattered the brief truce Thursday and an Associated Press reporter has seen dozens of bodies laid out on the edge of the protest encampment. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)The battle in Kiev is, in large part, a fight for the country's economic future — for better jobs and prosperity.

Rapid changes in Ukraine: What they mean

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:38 PM PST

Ukrainian lawmakers celebrate after voting new laws in parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. In a fast-moving day that could change Ukraine's political destiny, opposition leaders reached a deal Friday with the country's beleaguered president, and parliament changed the constitution and opened the way for the release of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.(AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko, pool)KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A frenzy of shuttle diplomacy and hard compromises produced what may be a breakthrough in Ukraine's 3-month-old political standoff, a crisis that this week prompted the deadliest violence in the country's modern history.

Ukraine peace deal signed, opens way for early election

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:37 PM PST

An aerial view shows the anti-government protesters camp in Independence Square in central KievBy Sabine Siebold and Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's opposition leaders signed an EU-mediated peace pact with President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday, winning a raft of concessions in a delicate deal to end violence that killed at least 77 people and turned the capital into a battle zone. By nightfall, opposition leaders who signed the deal were addressing peaceful crowds from a stage in Independence Square, which for the past 48 hours had become an inferno of blazing barricades, where protesters were shot dead by police snipers. But the crowd was still defiant, holding aloft open coffins of slain demonstrators and making speeches denouncing the opposition leaders for shaking hands with Yanukovich. If it holds, the deal - hammered out with the mediation efforts of the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland - would mark a victory for Europe in a tug-of-war with Moscow for influence in the divided ex-Soviet state of 46 million people.

A star's downfall at historically black Alcorn

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:34 PM PST

In this Feb. 19, 2014 photograph, Alcorn State University students take a break from playing cards on the Lorman, Miss., campus, to express their support for former President M. Christopher Brown II. Some also expressed concern for lack of information about his resignation and questioned the expenditures made at the on campus residence of the president. Amid an investigation of the spending by the board that oversees the university, Brown and two others resigned in December. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)LORMAN, Miss. (AP) — M. Christopher Brown II was regarded as a rising star in the world of historically black universities and a transformational leader at Mississippi's Alcorn State University. Hired at just 38, he and the university were winning awards and Alcorn's profile was on the rise.

NYC mayor in hot water on dangerous driving

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:28 PM PST

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks after being sworn in on the steps of City Hall in Lower Manhattan January 1, 2014 in New YorkNew York mayor Bill de Blasio has driven head on into accusations of hypocrisy after his SUV repeatedly violated traffic rules two days after he ordered a crackdown on dangerous driving. The Democrat, who has promised to curb New York's massive social inequality, was accused of presiding over the injustice of one set of traffic rules for him and another for ordinary people. Just two days earlier an enthusiastic de Blasio had ordered a crackdown on dangerous driving designed to slash traffic deaths.

Ukraine win emotional gold, Canada beat US in hockey semi

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:28 PM PST

From L: Gold medalists Ukraine's Vita Semerenko, Juliya Dzhyma, Olena Pidhrushna and Valj Semerenko celebrate during the Women's Biathlon 4x6 km Relay Flower Ceremony during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 21, 2014, in Rosa KhutorSochi (Russia) (AFP) - Ukrainian athletes won an emotional first gold of the Sochi Games for their violence-wracked nation on Friday as defending champions Canada saw off the United States in a tight ice hockey semi-final. Ukraine's victorious women's biathlon team dedicated their triumph to a nation grieving over violence that has claimed dozens of lives. The president of Ukraine's Olympic Committee, former pole vault great Sergey Bubka, said the gold medal could help unite his country and bring peace after days of clashes between security forces and protesters. The team led from the start in the 4x6 km relay race, finishing in 1hr 10min 2.5sec, defeating second-place Russia by 26.4 seconds.

Officials: Crew hit by train wasn't to be on track

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:28 PM PST

JESUP, Ga. (AP) — A movie crew was working on train tracks without permission from the railroad when a freight train crashed into the production team and its equipment, killing one and injuring seven others, a sheriff's investigator said Friday.

FDA to boost India staff overseeing drug imports

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:26 PM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration says her agency will add more inspectors in India to better monitor drugs from the country's burgeoning pharmaceutical industry, even as her agency also seeks closer cooperation with Indian regulators.

UN chief counting on Bloomberg's help on climate

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:26 PM PST

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that former mayor Michael Bloomberg helped reduce carbon emissions in New York and he is now counting on the billionaire philanthropist "to work for humanity" in his new job as United Nations Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change.

40 hours later, tie basketball game finally ends

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:24 PM PST

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Joshua Linson finished what he started, breaking a 40-hour tie game by knocking down a go-ahead 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to lift Johnson C. Smith over Winston-Salem State 89-86 in overtime Friday in the completion of a bizarre game.

Canada beats US 1-0 to reach gold-medal game

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:21 PM PST

Canada forward Benn Jamie, center, celebrates his goal against the USA with teammates Jay Bouwmeester, left, and Corey Perry, right, during the second period of the men's semifinal ice hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 21, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)SOCHI, Russia (AP) — For the rematch, Canada skipped the overtime and shelved the theatrics.

Transcripts show Fed at times slow to grasp crisis

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:18 PM PST

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, file photo, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks on housing and housing finance, at the Federal Reserve in Washington .Federal Reserve officials agonized throughout 2008 over how far they could go to stop a financial catastrophe that threatened to pull the economy into a deep recession, transcripts of the Fed's policy meetings that year show. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve agonized in 2008 over how far to go to stop a financial crisis that threatened to cause a recession and at times struggled to recognize its speed and magnitude.

Matteo Renzi formally accepts Italy PM post

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:13 PM PST

Newly appointed Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's gives a press conference to announce the names of the ministers of his new government after a meeting with the Italian president on February 21, 2014Matteo Renzi formally accepted the role of Italian prime minister Friday, kicking off hopes for a revival in the eurozone's third-largest economy and a fresh approach to the country's ills. "I am aware of the responsibility, delicacy and extraordinary honour which comes from creating a government capable of bringing hope," the former mayor of Florence told journalists after nearly three hours of talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. "I will do everything possible to deserve the trust of deputies, senators and millions of Italians who are waiting for this government to provide concrete answers," he said. The 39-year-old has became Italy's youngest-ever prime minister at the head of a coalition government, after helping engineering the downfall of his predecessor Enrico Letta, blamed for failing to carry out promised reforms.

NASA suspends space capsule recovery test in ocean

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:12 PM PST

This Wednesday Feb. 19, 2014 photo released by NASA shows a test version of the Orion spacecraft, tethered inside the well deck of the USS San Diego prior to testing between NASA and the U.S. Navy. NASA and the Navy suspended the test Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 off the coast of San Diego after a problem was discovered. (AP Photo/NASA)SAN DIEGO (AP) — A training exercise designed to showcase the government's ability to recover a space capsule at sea was scrubbed after NASA ran into trouble off the Southern California coast, the space agency said Friday.

Friday's Highlights at the Sochi Olympics

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:12 PM PST

FRIDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS AT THE SOCHI OLYMPICS:

Clarification: US-Fentanyl-Heroin story

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:12 PM PST

POINT PLEASANT, N.J. (AP) — In a story Feb. 16, The Associated Press reported that more than 80 people have died in recent weeks from injecting heroin laced with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate. The number included 25 fentanyl-related deaths in Rhode Island, and the story should have made clear that health officials in that state are unsure how many of those cases also involved heroin.

US home sales plunged 5.1 percent in January

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:11 PM PST

In this Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, photo, a for sale sign hangs in front of a house in Mount Lebanon, Pa. The National Association of Realtors reports on existing-home sales in January on Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of existing U.S. homes plummeted in January to the worst pace in 18 months. Cold weather, limited supplies of homes on the market and higher buying costs held back purchases.
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