| Malaysian plane presumed crashed; questions over false IDs Posted: 08 Mar 2014 01:14 PM PST  By Anuradha Raghu and Nguyen Phuong Linh KUALA LUMPUR/HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuters) - A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew was presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast on Saturday, and European officials said two people on board were using false identities. There were no reports of bad weather and no sign of why the Boeing 777-200ER would have vanished from radar screens about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. "We are not ruling out any possibilities," Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a news conference. But the passenger manifest issued by the airline included the names of two Europeans - Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi - who, according to their foreign ministries, were not in fact on the plane.
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| Top seed Li into Indian Wells third round Posted: 08 Mar 2014 01:11 PM PST  Indian Wells (United States) (AFP) - Australian Open champion Li Na overcame familiar foe Zheng Jie 6-1, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the third round of the Indian Wells hardcourt tennis tournament. Li, women's top seed in the combined ATP Masters and WTA tournament, breezed through the opening set in just 29 minutes, but found the going tougher in the second when she was broken twice to trail 2-4. Li's current world number two ranking is the highest ever for an Asian player on the WTA Tour. "Because we know so much about each other, me and Zheng Jie," she said.
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| West Virginia beats No. 8 Kansas 92-86 Posted: 08 Mar 2014 01:05 PM PST  MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Its NCAA chances all but gone, West Virginia showed it still has some fight left in a lackluster season.
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| Zirkle retakes lead in Iditarod in run to coast Posted: 08 Mar 2014 01:03 PM PST  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A runner-up from the last two years and a four-time champion continued to play leapfrog Saturday at the head of the pack in the 2014 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
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| AP Exclusive: Counties undermine prison efforts Posted: 08 Mar 2014 01:02 PM PST  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California counties are confounding the state's court-ordered efforts to sharply reduce its inmate population by sending state prisons far more convicts than anticipated, including a record number of people with second felony convictions.
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| Russia reinforces military presence in Crimea Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:52 PM PST  SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens of military trucks transporting heavily armed soldiers rumbled over Crimea's rutted roads Saturday as Russia reinforced its armed presence on the disputed peninsula in the Black Sea. Moscow's foreign minister ruled out any dialogue with Ukraine's new authorities, whom he dismissed as the puppets of extremists.
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| Oil slicks spotted in hunt for jet with 239 aboard Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:51 PM PST  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Vietnamese air force planes spotted two large oil slicks Saturday in the region where a Malaysia Airlines jetliner disappeared, the first sign that the Boeing 777 with 239 people aboard had crashed.
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| Warning shots fired to turn monitors back from Crimea Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:45 PM PST By Peter Graff and Andrew Osborn KIEV/SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Shots were fired in Crimea to warn off an unarmed international team of monitors and at a Ukrainian observation plane, as the standoff between occupying Russian forces and besieged Ukrainian troops intensified. Russia's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula, which began 10 days ago, has so far been bloodless, but its forces have become increasingly aggressive towards Ukrainian troops, who are trapped in bases and have offered no resistance. President Vladimir Putin declared a week ago that Russia had the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to change the law to make it easier to annex territory inhabited by Russian speakers. Tempers have grown hotter in the last two days, since the region's pro-Moscow leadership declared it part of Russia and announced a March 16 referendum to confirm it. |
| Tee time part of Obama's Florida family vacation Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:42 PM PST  KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — President Barack Obama got out on a Florida golf course Saturday with two former professional athletes and the cousin of one of his top advisers.
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| Boeing 777 plane had strong safety record Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:37 PM PST  The Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing Saturday on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was a Boeing 777, a model which up to now has seen only one fatal crash. The planes are often used in flights of 12 hours or longer, across wide stretches of ocean from one continent to another, and have largely replaced the older Boeing 747 models. In the sole fatal crash involving the planes, a Boeing 777-200 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway upon landing at San Francisco's international airport in July 2013. In the days after the crash aviation experts publicly praised the Boeing 777's safety features for preventing further loss of life.
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| California election season starts with Democrats convention Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:22 PM PST  By Sharon Bernstein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Democrats on Saturday vowed to restore their two-thirds majority in the legislature and push their statewide success eastward in an effort to retake a majority in Congress. The pledge at the state's annual Democratic convention came a week after the legislative session ended as two state senators were forced to go on leave under criminal indictments or convictions. The convention, which effectively kicks off election season, showcased Democratic stars such as California Governor Jerry Brown and the state's Attorney General Kamala Harris as well as featured former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom party leaders are hoping may be able to return to her old job. "Where else but Los Angeles could you go to find a million registered Democrats?" Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti asked in opening remarks.
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| Kerry urges Russia to exercise utmost restraint in Ukraine's Crimea Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:19 PM PST By Arshad Mohammed and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON/KEY LARGO, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia on Saturday that any steps to annex Ukraine's Crimea region would close the door to diplomacy, a U.S. State Department official said. Kerry's latest telephone call with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, came as the standoff between occupying Russian forces and besieged Ukrainian troops intensified in Crimea. "He made clear that continued military escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine, along with steps to annex Crimea to Russia would close any available space for diplomacy, and he urged utmost restraint," the official said. |
| GOP targets Clinton, courts women as summit ends Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:16 PM PST  OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — She was not on the speaking program, but Hillary Rodham Clinton had presence at the nation's largest annual gathering of conservative activists on Saturday, as high-profile Republicans launched a dual effort to attack the prospective Democratic presidential candidate and improve the GOP's longstanding struggle with women voters.
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| Shaq: Texas high school title started his dreams Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:10 PM PST  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Shaquille O'Neal won four NBA championships and an Olympic gold medal in a career that likely will land him in the Hall of Fame.
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| Kansas City-area spelling bee finally ends Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:07 PM PST  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A marathon spelling bee between two Kansas City-area students who exhausted the initial word list last month ended after 29 more rounds Saturday when the eventual runner-up stumbled over the word "stifling."
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| Gunfire keeps monitors from Crimea as Russia ups threats Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:05 PM PST  Simferopol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Pro-Kremlin militia fired warning shots as unarmed foreign observers tried to enter Crimea on Saturday while Russia stepped up its standoff with the West over Ukraine by threatening to keep Washington from checking on its nuclear arms. The dangerous escalation in the Black Sea peninsula that Russia effectively seized last week saw 40 gunmen in balaclavas and military fatigues fire shots above a convoy with 54 civilian and military observers from 29 countries of the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It was the third successive day that the OSCE buses attempted to enter the tension-wracked peninsula to check on the frozen conflict that has pitted overpowered Ukrainian troops against Russian forces and Kremlin-backed militias. Ukraine's border guards service added to the tinderbox atmosphere by reporting that one of its light patrol planes came under fire from "extremists" in the same area but was unscathed.
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| Central Europeans want U.S. gas to cut dependence on Russia Posted: 08 Mar 2014 12:02 PM PST By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Four central European countries have asked the U.S. Congress to make it easier for them to import natural gas from the United States and reduce their dependence on supplies from Russia, the Czech Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. The Visegrad 4 group including Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia is looking to diversify supplies to eliminate the danger Russia could use its control of gas and oil flows to exert political pressure on the former Soviet satellite states. Supplies were briefly disrupted in 2009 during a dispute between Russia and Ukraine, through which much of the Russian gas is piped, and central Europeans fear they could be under threat again due to an escalation of tensions between Russia and the West over Russia's seizure of Crimea. |
| Sheila MacRae of 'The Honeymooners' dies at 92 Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:57 AM PST  ENGLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Sheila MacRae starred on the Broadway stage and in films, yet it was her small-screen role as the tolerant and brassy wife of a Brooklyn bus driver for which she is most remembered.
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| NBA suspends Mayo 1-game for punch Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:55 AM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks guard O.J. Mayo has been suspended one game for punching New Orleans Pelicans center Greg Stiemsma in the throat.
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| Ailing Tymoshenko may get back operation in Berlin Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:54 AM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's former prime minister, has begun medical treatment at Berlin's Charite hospital, but the doctors caring for her said Saturday it's too soon to say how long the treatment will take and what lasting damage the 53-year-old might have from three slipped discs she suffered while in prison.
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| No. 1 Florida routs Kentucky, goes 18-0 in SEC Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:45 AM PST  GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Patric Young scored 18 points in his final home game and No. 1 Florida routed 25th-ranked Kentucky 84-65 on Saturday, becoming the first team in Southeastern Conference history to go 18-0 in league play.
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| 2 Yemen soldiers killed in attack on army base Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:40 AM PST SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Suspected al-Qaida militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machineguns at a military base in southern Yemen on Saturday, killing two soldiers guarding its gate, a senior military official said. |
| Italy challenges US gun ad using Michelangelo's David Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:39 AM PST  Italy's Culture Minister Dario Franceschini Saturday called for a US guns dealer to withdraw an advertisement using an image of Michelangelo's David -- but with the famed statue holding a bolt-action rifle. "The image of David, armed, offends and infringes the law. We will take action against the American company so that it immediately withdraws its (advertising) campaign," Franceschini tweeted in the afternoon. His comments come after the Historical Heritage and Fine Arts Board in Florence condemned the image by Illinois-based ArmaLite, which uses Michelangelo's statue to promote the huge, $3,000 rifle with the tagline "a work of art".
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| Syrian forces wrest border town from rebels Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:36 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces seized a town from rebels near the Lebanese border on Saturday, their latest attempt to cut off opposition fighters' fluid supply lines from the country, state media and activists said.
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| Network says signal of Egyptian satire show jammed Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:34 AM PST  CAIRO (AP) — The signal of a Saudi-based television network was deliberately jammed while airing the show of Egypt's top satirist, the broadcaster's spokesman said Saturday, the latest disruption to hit the popular program.
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| Libya threatens to bomb N.Korean ship over 'illegal' oil Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:31 AM PST  Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Libya threatened on Saturday to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker at an oil terminal held by militants in the restive east, saying it was being loaded illegally. Separatists blockading Al-Sidra facility attempted to load crude aboard the Morning Glory in the latest challenge to central government control. "The attorney general has given the order for the ship to be stopped," Prime Minister Ali Zeidan told a news conference. The self-proclaimed government of Cyrenaica in the east, the political wing of the separatists, said oil exports from Al-Sidra had now begun.
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| Kilpatrick has 24, No. 15 Cincinnati beats Rutgers Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:28 AM PST  PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Sean Kilpatrick scored 24 points and No. 15 Cincinnati clinched at least a share of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title with a tough 70-66 win over Rutgers on Saturday.
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| Obama reassures Baltic leaders on NATO defense amid Ukraine tensions Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:26 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, speaking to Baltic leaders on Saturday amid rising tensions in Ukraine, told them that the United States supports them and is committed to its NATO defense commitments, the White House said. "The President reaffirmed the United States' unwavering commitment to our collective defense commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty and our enduring support for the security and democracy of our Baltic allies," the White House said in a statement about the telephone call Obama held. ... |
| Timeline: Political crisis in Ukraine and Russia's occupation of Crimea Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:25 AM PST KIEV (Reuters) - Here is a timeline of the fall of Ukraine's government and Russia's subsequent incursion into Ukraine's Crimea region. The crisis began in November when Ukraine's then president, Viktor Yanukovich, under Russian pressure, turned his back on a trade deal with the EU and accepted a $15 billion bailout from Moscow. That prompted three months of street protests, leading to the overthrow of Yanukovich on February 22. Moscow denounced the events as an illegitimate coup and refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities. ... |
| 2 on missing Malaysia jet used stolen EU passports Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:25 AM PST  MILAN (AP) — Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirmed Saturday that names of two nationals listed on the manifest of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight match passports reported stolen in Thailand.
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| Combined king Eaton left gasping in heptathlon title defence Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:13 AM PST  Sopot (Poland) (AFP) - US combined events master Ashton Eaton was left gasping for air after cruelly failing to better his own world record when retaining his world indoor heptathlon title on Saturday. Eaton, whose Canadian wife Brianne Thiesen Eaton won silver in the women's pentathlon on Friday, was overnight leader after the first four events (60m - 6.66sec, long jump - 7.78m, shot put - 14.88m, high jump - 2.06m). Leading from the front, Eaton pushed himself all the way, roared on by a capacity crowd at the Ergo Arena in the Polish Baltic Sea resort of Sopot. But he left himself needing to run a final 200 metres in 28 seconds, something that fell 1.18sec beyond an athlete who is also the current world and Olympic decathlon champion and world record holder.
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| Libya threatens to bomb North Korean tanker if it ships oil from rebel port Posted: 08 Mar 2014 11:10 AM PST  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya threatened on Saturday to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker if it tried to ship oil from a rebel-controlled port, in a major escalation of a standoff over the country's petroleum wealth. The oil dispute is just one facet of the deepening turmoil in the North African OPEC member, where the government is struggling to control militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons and now challenge state authority. A local television station controlled by protesters showed footage of pro-autonomy rebels holding a lengthy ceremony and slaughtering a camel to celebrate their first oil shipment. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan appeared hours later on television to warn the tanker's crew.
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| Mother of Italian listed on Malaysia plane says passport stolen Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:48 AM PST  The mother of an Italian falsely listed as a passenger on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight said her son's passport had been lost, presumed stolen, in Phuket in 2013. "He lost his passport in Thailand, and he reported it to the authorities... Maybe the one who stole it came to a bad end, we don't know, they have to investigate," Renata Lucchi, the mother of 37-year-old Luigi Maraldi, told Reuters. An Austrian man falsely listed as a passenger had also had his passport stolen.
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| Cardinals sign Carpenter to rich six-year deal Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:44 AM PST  St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter has signed a six-year contract extension, the Major League Baseball team announced Saturday, in a deal worth $52 million. The contract runs through the 2019 season and gives the Cardinals an option for the 2020 campaign on the 28-year-old American, who helped the Cardinals win the 2011 World Series in his rookie year. Carpenter led Major League Baseball with 199 hits, 126 runs and 55 doubles last season and this year the All-Star makes a fielding position switch from playing at second base to guarding third. "We are pleased to have reached an agreement that insures Matt will remain a Cardinal on a long-term basis," said Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt.
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| Plea for peace and Ukraine's independence in Sochi Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:40 AM PST  SOCHI, Russia (AP) — In the fading light in the mountains above Sochi, the athletes and flags from Russia and Ukraine appeared side by side Saturday, united by success on the opening day of action at the Paralympics as the discord between their nations deepens.
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| Iraqi women protest against proposed Islamic law in Iraq Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:37 AM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - About two dozen Iraqi women demonstrated on Saturday in Baghdad against a draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers. The group's protest was on International Women's Day and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shi'ite Islamic jurisprudence, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and inheritances. "On this day of women, women of Iraq are in mourning," the protesters shouted. "We believe that this is a crime against humanity," said Hanaa Eduar, a prominent Iraqi human rights activist.
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| JP Morgan Chase's sale of private equity arm stalls Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:31 AM PST  By Chris Witkowsky NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters-peHUB) - The auction of JP Morgan Chase's private equity business, One Equity Partners, in the market since at least November, has hit an impasse, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. A spokesperson for JP Morgan Chase declined to comment. The bank announced last July it was spinning off One Equity, its last remaining private equity operation, because the unit was not core. JP Morgan Chase was not under regulatory pressure to sell: One Equity would not be affected by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which restricts the ability of bank holding companies to own and operate private equity groups, sister news service Reuters reported last year.
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| Ukraine's 1st medalist at Sochi appeals for peace Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:28 AM PST SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Ukraine's first medalist of the Sochi Paralympics dedicated her achievement Saturday to Ukrainian independence and appealed for peace with Russia. |
| Domestic violence cases spark protests in Lebanon Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:26 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Nada Sabbagh received a brief, chilling telephone call from her son-in-law last month telling her: "Come to your daughter. I am going to kill her."
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| Network: Signal jammed in Egypt during comedy show Posted: 08 Mar 2014 10:12 AM PST CAIRO (AP) — A Saudi-owned satellite network says the signal of its Egyptian affiliate deliberately was jammed while it aired the country's top satirical program. |
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