| Strong effort by Tanaka in Yankees' triumph Posted: 22 Mar 2014 01:05 PM PDT  Fort Myers (United States) (AFP) - Masahiro Tanaka struck out six and walked only one batter over 5 2/3 innings for the New York Yankees in a Major League Baseball pre-season matchup Saturday against Minnesota. Tanaka gave up a run in the first inning when Minnesota's Brian Dozier doubled and advanced home on back-to-back ground outs. Tanaka was chased from the mound in the sixth inning after Kurt Suzuki singled and scored on a Jason Kubel double and Trevor Plouffe grounded out to bring in another Twins run.
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| Guinea confirms fever is Ebola, has killed up to 59 Posted: 22 Mar 2014 01:05 PM PDT By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Guinea has received confirmation that a mysterious disease that has killed up to 59 people in the West African country, and may have spread to neighboring Sierra Leone, is the hemorrhagic fever Ebola, the government said on Saturday. It has never before been recorded in Guinea. "It is indeed Ebola fever. A laboratory in Lyon (France) confirmed the information," Damantang Albert Camara told Reuters. |
| No. 1 seed Florida tops Pitt 61-45, makes Sweet 16 Posted: 22 Mar 2014 01:04 PM PDT  ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Scottie Wilbekin sat on the bench for the final minute, holding a bag of ice against his left knee.
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| Pro-Russian forces storm Ukrainian base in Crimea Posted: 22 Mar 2014 01:03 PM PDT BELBEK AIR BASE, Crimea (AP) — Ukraine's armed forces took what may prove to be one of their final stands Saturday in Crimea, as pro-Russian forces stormed and seized control of an air force base amid a barrage of gunfire and explosions. |
| Wawrinka wins opening match at Key Biscayne Posted: 22 Mar 2014 01:01 PM PDT  KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — Stanislas Wawrinka bounced back from his first loss of the year with a victory Saturday at the Sony Open.
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| Gay couples marry in Michigan after ban lifted Posted: 22 Mar 2014 01:01 PM PDT  MASON, Mich. (AP) — Dozens of gay Michigan couples rushed to recite vows one day after the state's ban on same-sex marriage was lifted, even though their joy Saturday was tempered by fear that a higher court could set aside the judge's ruling.
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| Pope taps women, victims for sex abuse commission Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:56 PM PDT VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis named the initial members of a commission to advise him on sex abuse policy Saturday, signaling an openness to reach beyond church officials to plot the commission's course and priorities: Half of the members are women, and one was assaulted by a priest as a child. |
| Tens of thousands bring month-long 'march for dignity' to Madrid Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:53 PM PDT  Tens of thousands descended on Madrid on Saturday, some having trekked from the furthest corners of Spain, at the end of a month-long "march for dignity" to protest draconian austerity policies. "Rise! Rise! We will fight!" cried protesters gathered at Atocha station before heading down the broad avenues of Madrid's city centre. Eight columns converged on the capital -- carrying flags from Andalucia in the south, Catalonia in the east, or the Asturias in the northwest -- at the culmination of nearly a month of walking for some of the protesters. The "march for dignity" comes after two years of bruising austerity measures, forced on Spain as part of a 40 billion euro ($55 billion) international bailout after a huge housing bubble almost destroyed its banking system.
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| German minister praises Kiev, Ukraine seeks EU energy Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:46 PM PDT By Sabine Siebold and Alastair Macdonald KIEV/DONETSK (Reuters) - Germany's foreign minister pledged to help the new Ukrainian government on Saturday and heard an appeal from the prime minister in Kiev that it will need energy from the European Union to secure it against Russia cutting supplies. Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised premier Arseny Yatseniuk for statements aimed at reassuring Russian-speakers in the east of the country. Later, after visiting eastern business leaders, the German minister said he believed they backed Ukrainian unity and would oppose secession of the kind seen last week in Crimea. In Kiev, Yatseniuk said Ukraine would need energy from the European Union to protect it from repercussions of its standoff with Moscow, on which it depends for over half its oil and gas. |
| DePaul women earn 104-100 win over Oklahoma Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:43 PM PDT  DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Megan Rogowski scored 24 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40.5 seconds left to help DePaul beat Oklahoma 104-100 on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
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| US appeals court seeks response on gay marriages Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:35 PM PDT MASON, Mich. (AP) — A federal appeals court order makes it unlikely Michigan's same-sex marriages will be quickly halted. |
| Bayern made to wait for league title Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:35 PM PDT  Bayern Munich are poised to have their Bundesliga title confirmed in the next three days after Saturday's 2-0 win at Mainz 05 kept them 23 points clear. Bayern would have been German champions for the 24th time if rivals Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 had both failed to win. But Dortmund kept the Bavarians waiting with a 3-0 win at Hanover, while Schalke cruised to a 3-1 win at home to Eintracht Braunschweig. Bayern left it late at Mainz with midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger striking with a header on 82 minutes.
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| Arsenal drubbing lets Liverpool, City pounce Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:32 PM PDT  Arsenal risk being cut adrift in the Premier League title race after a humiliating 6-0 defeat at leaders Chelsea in Arsene Wenger's 1,000th match as manager on Saturday. Wenger described the result as "one of the worst days" of his career and his misery was compounded by handsome victories for Liverpool and Manchester City that saw his side slump to fourth place in the table. Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick as Liverpool won 6-3 at Cardiff City to move to within four points of Chelsea, while City are two points further back -- but with three games in hand -- after Yaya Toure also claimed a treble in a 5-0 win over Fulham. Meanwhile, Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney scored an astonishing 58-yard lob in a 2-0 win at West Ham United.
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| Unbeaten Notre Dame routs Robert Morris 93-42 Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:29 PM PDT  TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Michaela Mabrey scored 11 of her 16 points in the first half, and top-seeded Notre Dame breezed to a 93-42 victory Saturday in its NCAA tournament opener against 16th-seeded Robert Morris.
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| Key Ukraine base stormed in Russia's Crimea march Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:29 PM PDT  Belbek (Undefined) (AFP) - Armoured vehicles backed by troops pointing guns at unarmed soldiers stormed a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea on Saturday as Russia's defiant march across the rebel peninsula rolled on despite sanctions and growing global isolation. The show of Russia's unbridled might came as the chill in East-West relations intensified with a charge by Germany -- a nation whose friendship Russian President Vladimir Putin had nurtured -- of a Kremlin attempt to "splinter" Europe along Cold War-era lines. Europe's most explosive security crisis in decades will now dominate a nuclear security summit that kicks off in The Hague on Monday and will include what may prove the most difficult meeting to date between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The diplomats' encounter will come with Russia facing the loss of its coveted seat among the G8 group of leading nations and Putin's inner circle reeling from biting sanctions Washington unleashed for their use of force in response to last month's fall of a pro-Kremlin regime in Kiev.
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| Turkey: Twitter allows 'character assassination ' Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:26 PM PDT  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's government on Saturday accused Twitter of allowing "systematic character assassinations" a day after social media users easily evaded a government attempt to block access to the network.
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| U.S. forces hand over seized oil tanker to Libya Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:18 PM PDT  By Ulf Laessing ZAWIYA PORT, Libya (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy handed over to Libyan authorities on Saturday an oil tanker carrying crude that had been loaded at a port controlled by armed rebels in defiance of Tripoli's government. The Morning Glory tanker was due to arrive later on Saturday at a government-controlled port after being seized by U.S. commandos and escorted back through international waters by the U.S. Navy, Libyan officials said. Anti-aircraft gunfire and explosions were heard overnight and after dawn on Saturday in Ajdabiya, the hometown of rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran, whose fighters seized the ports last summer to demand a greater share in Libya's oil resources. The struggle for control of Libya's vital petroleum resources is one of the key challenges facing the weak central government, which has still failed to secure the North African country three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
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| Vietnamese American communities, at a glance Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:16 PM PDT —Population: 1.9 million |
| Unique camera from NASA's moon missions sold at auction Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:15 PM PDT  The only camera to return from NASA's moon missions in 1969-1972 was sold at an auction in Vienna Saturday for 550,000 euros ($760,000), far outdoing its estimated price. The Hasselblad model was one of 14 cameras sent to the moon as part of NASA's Apollo 11-17 missions but was the only one to be brought back. A small plate inside is engraved with the number 38, the same number that appears on Irwin's NASA snapshots.
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| Gunmen searched twice before Afghan hotel attack Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:14 PM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A closed-circuit security video shows security guards searching four attackers twice before allowing them to enter an Afghan hotel where the young men proceeded to the restaurant and killed nine diners, including four foreigners and two children. |
| EU's Ashton says 'biggest fear' is over Ukraine's economy Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:14 PM PDT By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced deep concern on Saturday over the fragility of Ukraine's economy and urged the rest of the world to rally round to support it. "We have to make sure that Ukraine, economically, does not fall over ... My biggest fear right now is the state of economy and the need for us all to offer the support that they need," Ashton told an event organized by the German Marshall Fund think tank. "How do we make sure this economy holds together?" Ukraine's new government, which took power when pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich was ousted after months of street protests, has said it desperately needs cash to cover expenses including gas imports and avert a possible debt default. |
| Guinea confirms Ebola as source of deadly epidemic Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:13 PM PDT  Guinea identified the Ebola virus Saturday as the source of a highly contagious epidemic raging through its southern forests, as the death toll rose to 59. Experts in the west African nation had been unable to identify the disease, whose symptoms -- diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding -- were first observed six weeks ago, but scientists studying samples in the French city of Lyon confirmed it was Ebola, the Guinean health ministry said. "The Ebola fever epidemic raging in southern Guinea, including the prefectures of Gueckedou and Macenta, since February 9 has left at least 59 dead out of 80 cases identified by our services on the ground," said Sakoba Keita, the ministry's chief disease prevention officer. To date, no treatment or vaccine is available for Ebola, which kills between 25 and 90 percent of those who fall sick, depending on the strain of the virus, according to the World Health Organisation.
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| Rhode Island speaker faces steep political test Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:10 PM PDT  PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — House Speaker Gordon Fox summed up his unlikely rise to become one of the most powerful figures in Rhode Island government this way: "I'm a biracial gay kid that wasn't supposed to be speaker," he said in 2012 at a candidate forum.
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| US senator wants decision on Afghan troop levels Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:10 PM PDT  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. senator leading a bipartisan delegation to Afghanistan called on President Barack Obama Saturday to announce a decision on his plans for future troop levels in the country on the assumption a much-delayed security pact eventually will eventually be signed with Kabul.
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| US schools add Vietnamese to dual immersion Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:09 PM PDT  GARDEN GROVE, California (AP) — When Thuy Vo Dang came to the U.S. as a young girl, her English took off. Her parents sent her to Vietnamese school on the weekends to learn her native language, but she eventually had to study it in graduate school to become fully literate.
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| Word lovers rejoice as OK celebrates 175 years Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:04 PM PDT  Whatever you're doing this Sunday, wherever you might be, take a moment to reflect on the most popular word in the English language, OK? It will be 175 years since OK -- or, as some prefer, okay -- first appeared in print, on page two of The Boston Morning Post, then one of the most popular newspapers in the United States. "I think OK should be celebrated with parades and speeches," Allan Metcalf, an English professor in Illinois who is the world's leading authority on the history and meaning of OK, told AFP.
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| Report: NSA targeted Chinese tech giant Huawei Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:00 PM PDT BERLIN (AP) — U.S. intelligence agencies hacked into the email servers of Chinese tech giant Huawei five years ago, around the time concerns were growing in Washington that the telecommunications equipment manufacturer was a threat to U.S. national security, two newspapers reported Saturday. |
| Clinton appeals to idealism of college students Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:00 PM PDT  TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Looking out to a theater full of motivated college students, Hillary Rodham Clinton said their generation showed great promise as "open-minded and tolerant" Americans ready to step forward for an important cause.
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| Libya's guns free-for-all fuels region's turmoil Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:59 AM PDT  TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — At the heart of the Libyan capital, the open-air Fish Market was once a place where residents went to buy everything from meat and seafood to clothes and pets. Now it's Tripoli's biggest arms market, with tables displaying pistols and assault rifles. Ask a vendor, and he can pull out bigger machine guns to sell for thousands of dollars.
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| Some Ukrainians flee Crimea after Russia's annexation Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:51 AM PDT By Aleksandar Vasovic SIMFEROPOL, UKRAINE (Reuters) - As jubilant ethnic Russians celebrate Russia's annexation of Crimea, Ukrainian residents are mostly staying behind closed doors and some are packing their bags to leave the Black Sea peninsula. In a small cafe in the old quarter of the regional capital Simferopol on Saturday, a group of Ukrainians gathered to watch Ukrainian news over the internet and to discuss their future. "We are ready, packed and we can even leave tomorrow if we decide so," said Sergey, a 64-year-old Ukrainian businessman who has been selling kitchen appliances across Crimea. A native of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Sergey moved to Simferopol three decades ago where he got married. |
| Libyan official: US navy hands oil tanker to Libya Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:47 AM PDT  ZAWIYA, Libya (AP) — American sailors handed over control of a captured North Korean-flagged oil tanker to Libyan forces while in international waters Saturday, a spokesman for the Libyan navy said.
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| Venezuela protest death toll rises to 33 Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:45 AM PDT  By Diego Ore CARACAS (Reuters) - Two Venezuelans died from gunshot wounds during protests against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, witnesses and local media said on Saturday, pushing the death toll from almost two months of anti-government protests to 33. Opposition demonstrators complaining of soaring prices and product shortages have vowed to remain in the streets until Maduro resigns, although there are few signs that the country's worst unrest in a decade will force him from office. Argenis Hernandez, 26, was shot in the abdomen as he was demonstrating near a barricade in the central city of Valencia and died early on Saturday in a nearby hospital, according to local media reports. A motorcyclist attempted to cross the barricade and opened fire on demonstrators when they would not let him through, wounding Hernandez.
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| Obese Texas girl who had tumor has surgery in Ohio Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:41 AM PDT CINCINNATI (AP) — A 12-year-old girl with a rare case of medically induced obesity that pushed her weight past 200 pounds is recovering after weight-loss surgery. |
| 3 Palestinians killed in clash with Israeli army Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:37 AM PDT  JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Israeli troops killed three Palestinians in an early morning raid that was followed by a clash with angry protesters in a West Bank town on Saturday, the military and Palestinian security officials said, in the deadliest incident in months.
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| Pole running to Rome for Polish pope sainthood Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:37 AM PDT  Borki (Poland) (AFP) - A Polish marathoner is running the whole 2,000 kilometres to Rome in time for next month's canonisation of his countryman Pope John Paul II. On his way to celebrating the sainthood of the late Polish pontiff, Piotr Kurylo will also pray for world peace, notably in neighbouring Ukraine. "Others will go to Rome by bus, train or plane. Clad in a pope T-shirt, Kurylo set out on March 15 from the northern village of Studzieniczna, a lake-rich area where Karol Wojtyla spent holidays kayaking before he became pope in 1978.
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| Millions of kids to test new education assessments Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:37 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — What's on the new Common Core-based exams? More than 4 million kids in U.S. schools soon will have a clue.
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| Obama's Europe ties get new test in Russia dispute Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:34 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's complex relationship with Europe faces new challenges during a weeklong trip as he tries to persuade allied leaders to hold firm in efforts to punish Russia for its incursion into Ukraine.
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| Syrian troops and rebels clash near Turkish border Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:27 AM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops launched a counteroffensive Saturday in an attempt to regain a border crossing point with Turkey a day after it fell in the hands of rebels led by members of an al-Qaida-linked group, activists and state media said.
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| Bitterness over Exxon Valdez lingers, 25 years on Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:24 AM PDT  On a cold March night 25 years ago, the supertanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef off the coast of Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into the sea. Images of oil-soaked birds and fouled beaches horrified the United States, leading to tighter regulation and greater environmental consciousness. The Exxon Valdez grounding on March 24, 1989, has since been replaced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as the worst oil spill in US history. Yet local communities in the formerly pristine Prince William Sound are suffering.
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| Shots fired as Russian troops force their way into Ukrainian base in Crimea Posted: 22 Mar 2014 11:23 AM PDT  Russian troops forced their way into a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea with armored vehicles, automatic fire and stun grenades on Saturday, injuring a Ukrainian serviceman and detaining the base's commander for talks. Colonel Yuliy Mamchur, the commander of the base, said a Ukrainian serviceman had been injured and that he himself he was being taken away by the Russians for talks at an unspecified location. For now we are placing all our weapons in the base's storage." Belbek was one of the last military facilities in Crimea still under Ukrainian control following Russia's armed takeover and subsequent annexation of the peninsula, which has a majority ethnic Russian population and is home to one of Russia's biggest naval bases.
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