Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Large, powerful storm heads east; at least 6 dead

Large, powerful storm heads east; at least 6 dead

Large, powerful storm heads east; at least 6 dead

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:36 PM PST

A street sign is bent at a severe angle from a Christmas Day tornado as residents clean up and assess the damage Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 in Mobile, Ala. With only a handful of injuries and no deaths reported statewide from the storms, the head of the state's emergency response said it was difficult to fathom how the toll wasn't worse. (AP Photo/G.M. Andrews)CINCINNATI (AP) — A powerful winter storm system pounded the nation's midsection Wednesday and headed toward the Northeast, where people braced for the high winds and heavy snow that disrupted holiday travel, knocked out power to thousands of homes and were blamed in at least six deaths.

Stranded by winter storm? Tips for fliers

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:30 PM PST

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, file photo, a passengers reacts as she talks on her phone at Midway airport in Chicago. A massive winter storm is disrupting travel plans for tens of thousands of fliers trying to get home after Christmas on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Snow, thunderstorms, sleet, tornados and high winds have grounded planes in the nation's midsection and are expected to slow operations on the East Coast. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)NEW YORK (AP) — A massive winter storm is disrupting travel plans for tens of thousands of fliers trying to get home after Christmas. Snow, thunderstorms, sleet, tornados and high winds have grounded planes in the nation's midsection and are expected to slow operations on the East Coast.

Cliff looms: Kicking the Can, Washington-style

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:29 PM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — When it comes to the nation's budget challenges, congressional leaders are fond of saying dismissively they don't want to kick the can down the road.

Newspaper's handgun-permit map draws criticism

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:29 PM PST

NEW YORK (AP) — A newspaper's publication of the names and addresses of handgun permit holders in two New York counties has sparked online discussions — and a healthy dose of outrage.

Cowboys' Brent indicted in crash killing teammate

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:28 PM PST

DALLAS (AP) — A grand jury in Texas has formally indicted Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent on one count of intoxication manslaughter.

New laws address gays, children, immigration

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:21 PM PST

Measures on gay rights and child safety are among the top state laws taking effect at the start of 2013, along with attempts to prevent identity theft and perennial efforts to restrict abortion and illegal immigration.

South Africa's Mandela discharged from hospital: government

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:16 PM PST

Former South African president Nelson Mandela looks on as he celebrates his birthday at his house in QunuJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been discharged from hospital, ending a nearly three-week stay during which he was treated for a lung infection and had surgery to remove gallstones, the government said on Wednesday. The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been moved to his Johannesburg home. He has been in frail health for several years. "He will undergo home-based high care at his ... home until he recovers fully," the government said in a statement issued by the presidency. ...

Police union seeks more help for Newtown officers

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:16 PM PST

From left, Town of Ridgefield, Conn., Det. Durling, and Town of Greenwich, Conn., Officer Rivera stand near a memorial in Newtown, Conn. Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012. Regional police agencies arrived in Newtown to relieve the local police force for the Christmas holiday. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Some of the police officers who responded to the school shooting in Newtown are so traumatized they haven't been working, but they have to use sick time and could soon be at risk of going without a paycheck, a union official said Wednesday.

Retailers pull stocks lower on poor holiday sales

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:13 PM PST

Barclays Specialist Geoffrey Friedman looks at his computer screen at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)NEW YORK (AP) — For the stock market, this week hasn't been the most wonderful time of year.

Bush spokesman says ex-president's fever rising

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:07 PM PST

FILE - In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, former President George H.W. Bush, and his wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, arrive for the premiere of HBO's new documentary on his life near the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday, Dec. 26. 2012 that doctors at the Houston hospital where Bush has been treated for a month remain HOUSTON (AP) — A "stubborn" fever that kept former President George H.W. Bush in a hospital over Christmas has gotten worse, and doctors have put him on a liquids-only diet, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Fees undermine fliers' ability to compare fares

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:05 PM PST

FILE - This Dec. 21, 2012 file photo shows travelers walking to a ticketing desk at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. For many passengers, air travel is only about finding the cheapest fare. But as airlines offer a proliferating list of add-on services, from early boarding to premium seating and baggage fees, the ability to comparison-shop for the lowest total fare is eroding. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — For many passengers, air travel is only about finding the cheapest fare.

More meth labs showing up in cities, suburbs

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 12:03 PM PST

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Methamphetamine lab seizures are on the rise in the nation's cities and suburbs, raising new concerns about a lethal drug that has long been the scourge of rural America.

Mother, 4 kids found dead after Oklahoma City fire

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:57 AM PST

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Officials in Oklahoma are identifying the woman and four children killed in a predawn blaze at a home in Oklahoma City.

Egypt's contentious Islamist constitution becomes law

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:48 AM PST

A view shows the Shura Council during its meeting in CairoCAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi admitted on Wednesday that Egypt's economy faces serious problems after he enacted a new, bitterly contested constitution that is supposed to help end political unrest and allow him to focus on the financial crisis. The president said the economy also had great opportunities to grow, but earlier the Egyptian pound tumbled to its weakest level in almost eight years as ever more people rushed to buy dollars and withdraw their savings from banks. ...

Cuba has much to lose as ally Chavez fights cancer

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:38 AM PST

FILE - In this Feb. 22, 2012 file photo, a mural featuring Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, and Cuba's Fidel Castro, adorns a wall in Caracas, Venezuela. Under Chavez's leadership, Venezuela has sent billions of dollars a year to Cuba through trade and petro-aid, supplying about half of the island's energy needs at greatly subsidized rates. The Venezuelan president regularly calls Fidel Castro his ideological father and has followed much of the Communist legend's governance and foreign relations playbook. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)HAVANA (AP) — Cubans who were tuned in to the nightly soap opera on a recent Saturday received a sudden burst of bad news, from the other side of the Caribbean.

South Africa: Mandela released from the hospital

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:38 AM PST

FILE This May 16, 2011 file photo supplied by the South African Government Communications and Information Services, GCIS, shows former South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel after they cast an early ballot in upcoming local elections at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. South Africa's president has visited former leader Nelson Mandela in a hospital, and the presidency says Mandela continues to respond to treatment. The office of President Jacob Zuma says he saw Mandela on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, in Pretoria, the capital, and assured the anti-apartheid icon that he has the support of all South Africans and the world. Mandela, who is 94, has been hospitalized since Dec. 8. He was diagnosed with a lung infection and also had gallstone surgery. (AP Photo/Elmond Jiyane-GCIS, File)JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Former South African President Nelson Mandela was released Wednesday from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. But the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon will continue to receive medical care at home.

Red Sox get All-Star closer Hanrahan from Pirates

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:32 AM PST

BOSTON (AP) — The Red Sox have acquired All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a six-player deal.

Russian parliament endorses anti-US adoption bill

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:29 AM PST

A protester argues with police officers outside the Federation Council on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Several protesters were detained Wednesday morning outside the upper chamber of Russia's parliament as it prepared to vote on a controversial measure banning Americans from adopting Russian children. The poster held by the protester reads: MOSCOW (AP) — Defying a storm of domestic and international criticism, Russia moved toward finalizing a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, as Parliament's upper house voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of a measure that President Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign into law.

Egypt's Morsi: Constitution sets up a new republic

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:29 AM PST

Essam el-Erian vice chairman of the Freedom And Justice party, speaks during a session at the Shura Council building in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. The official approval of Egypt's disputed, Islamist-backed constitution Tuesday held out little hope of stabilizing the country after two years of turmoil and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi may now face a more immediate crisis with the economy falling deeper into distress. (AP Photo/Mohammed Asad)CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president said Wednesday that the disputed constitution just approved in a referendum establishes a new republic and he called on the opposition to join a dialogue to heal rifts over the charter and shift the focus to repairing the economy.

Minn. soda shop rebuked for stocking candy smokes

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:28 AM PST

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Owners of an old-school soda shop in St. Paul, Minn., are being warned to kick the habit and stop stocking novelty candy cigarettes.

US: Russian bill to halt adoptions 'misguided'

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:17 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is criticizing an effort by Russian lawmakers to halt adoptions of Russian children by American parents.

Shoppers disappoint retailers this holiday season

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:15 AM PST

In this Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, photo, a holiday shoppers reflected in a ornament handing from a large Christmas tree at Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach, Calif. Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. U.S. holiday retail sales this year are the weakest since 2008, after a shopping season disrupted by storms and rising uncertainty among consumers. A report out Tuesday that tracks spending, called MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, says holiday sales increased 0.7 percent. Analysts had expected sales to grow 3 to 4 percent. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. holiday sales so far this year have been the weakest since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. That puts pressure on stores that now hope for a post-Christmas burst of spending.

US storm's toll up to 6 dead; system heads east

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:04 AM PST

Motorists travel slowly on a snow-covered Interstate 24 during a winter storm Wednesday, December 26, 2012, in Paducah, Ky. The storm dumped several inches of snow making travel hazardous. (AP Photo/Stephen Lance Dennee)CINCINNATI (AP) — A powerful winter storm system pounded the nation's midsection Wednesday and headed toward the Northeast, where people braced for the high winds and heavy snow that disrupted holiday travel, knocked out power to thousands of homes and were blamed in at least six deaths.

Snow, rain soak eastern U.S. in post-Christmas storms

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 11:04 AM PST

NASA handout image shows storm clouds on the east coast of the United StatesWINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - The severe winter weather that hit parts of the central and southern United States on Christmas Day moved eastward on Wednesday, causing flight delays and dangerous road conditions in the Northeast and Ohio Valley. Flights headed for New York, Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey, were experiencing delays of more than an hour due to the inclement weather, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Nearly 900 U.S. flights had been canceled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware.com. ...

In polarized nation, Iowa finds itself oddly split

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:57 AM PST

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans and Democrats in state capitals across the country are talking ambitiously about what they'll do next year with the unchecked power they amassed in the fall elections. In more states than not, one party now has full control of government.

Iraq: New protests break out in Sunni stronghold

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:44 AM PST

Iraq's Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi is carried by his supporters during a demonstration in Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Thousands of Iraqi demonstrators massed in a Sunni-dominated province west of Baghdad Wednesday, determined to keep up the pressure on a Shiite-led government that many accuse of trying to marginalize them. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)RAMADI, Iraq (AP) — Large, noisy demonstrations against Iraq's government flared for the third time in less than a week Wednesday in Iraq's western Anbar province, raising the prospect of a fresh bout of unrest in a onetime al-Qaida stronghold on Syria's doorstep.

Ticket rush: Film fans hand Hollywood record cash

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:41 AM PST

FILE - In this publicity film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America, in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal, File)LOS ANGELES (AP) — The big deal for Hollywood is not the record $10.8 billion that studios took in domestically in 2012. It's the fact that the number of tickets sold went up for the first time in three years.

Colleges help students scrub online footprints

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:40 AM PST

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Samantha Grossman wasn't always thrilled with the impression that emerged when people Googled her name.

Review: Making Facebook a warmer, smaller space

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:31 AM PST

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011, file photo, a Facebook User Operations Safety Team worker looks at reviews at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Curating your facebook news feed, and other practices that can help personalize a user's facebook activity can be burdensome process, but the result: Less tabloid magazine, more personal messages and cute pictures from people who are actually your friends. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)NEW YORK (AP) — A woman I haven't spoken to in six years is pregnant with her second son. Another college acquaintance reads the Bible a lot. A high school classmate likes to rant about politics. A college dormmate thinks he works too much.

Marvel's Peter Parker in perilous predicament

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:28 AM PST

This undated photo provided by Marvel Comics shows the cover of the 700th and final issue in the comic book series PHILADELPHIA (AP) — After 50 years of spinning webs and catching a who's who of criminals, Peter Parker is out of the hero game.

In Syria, "father of martyrs" speaks of revenge

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:20 AM PST

AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - After losing three sons and two grandsons, 70-year-old Abdelhalim Haj Omar has no doubt about the fate he wants for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "I hope Bashar, God willing, doesn't die until they slaughter his whole family in front of him and they bring him here so that all of Syria can get their revenge from him," he says in the Syrian town of Azaz, on the border with Turkey. "He destroyed the country and killed its people," he adds, speaking in his carpentry workshop where stacks of wood are piled up next to finished wooden door frames. ...

Sandy-flooded inland towns in NJ see no solutions

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:13 AM PST

In this Dec. 8, 2012 photo, the Richard P. Kane Wetland Mitigation Bank, a long barrier wall made of large baskets filled with sand and dirt, runs through the Meadowlands in Moonachie, N.J. The barrier was built primarily to control the movement of tidewaters in and out of the wetlands area and not for flood protection. But since the tidal surge from Superstorm Sandy washed over it and damaged more than 2,000 homes and other buildings, attention has turned to what can be done to prevent similar river flooding in future storms. Unfortunately, however, no one seems to own the problem. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)MOONACHIE, N.J. (AP) — Images of New Jersey's devastated shoreline captivated the nation in the days after Superstorm Sandy.

New laws at a glance: Eyedrops, brakes, Facebook

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:11 AM PST

As 2013 begins, many states are enacting new laws dealing with gay rights, child safety, abortion, immigration and other perennial concerns. Some other topics states are dealing with in new laws:

Colleges help students put best Web foot forward

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:09 AM PST

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Samantha Grossman wasn't always thrilled with the impression that emerged when people Googled her name.

Syria minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:08 AM PST

In this image made from video broadcast on Al Arabiya TV late Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012, Syrian Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal makes remarks saying he is joining "the people's revolution." The general who heads Syria's military police has defected and joined the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, one of the highest walkouts by a serving security chief during the country's 21-month uprising, a pan Arab TV station has reported.(AP Photo/Al Arabiya via AP video)TV OUT NO SALESBEIRUT (AP) — Syria's wounded interior minister rushed home from a Beirut hospital on Wednesday for fear he would be arrested after some Lebanese called to put him on trial for his role in a 1986 crackdown by Syrian troops in Lebanon.

Bush spokesman says ex-president's fever is gone

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 10:00 AM PST

FILE - In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, former President George H.W. Bush, and his wife, former first lady Barbara Bush, arrive for the premiere of HBO's new documentary on his life near the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday, Dec. 26. 2012 that doctors at the Houston hospital where Bush has been treated for a month remain HOUSTON (AP) — A spokesman says the fever that kept former President George H.W. Bush in the hospital over Christmas is gone.

GOP shows signs of bending after election defeat

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 09:59 AM PST

FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 file photo, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's annual birthday fundraiser in Altoona, Iowa. Rubio and other prominent Republicans are calling for a sweeping review of how to prevent tragedies like the Newtown, Conn., massacre. For years, Republicans have adhered fiercely to their bedrock conservative principles, resisting Democratic calls for tax hikes, comprehensive immigration reform and gun control. Now, seven weeks after an electoral drubbing, some party leaders and rank-and-file alike are signaling a willingness to bend on all three issues. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For years, Republicans have adhered fiercely to their bedrock conservative principles, resisting Democratic calls for tax hikes, comprehensive immigration reform and gun control. Now, seven weeks after an electoral drubbing, some party leaders and rank-and-file alike are signaling a willingness to bend on all three issues.

New turmoil hits Egypt's tourism

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 09:57 AM PST

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012 file photo, Tourists ride in horse carriages past one of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt. The past month saw a drop in tourists to Egypt, scared off by scenes of protests and clashes over the constitution, in new pain to a crucial industry gutted the past two years by turmoil. Tourism workers worry things won't get any better even now that the charter has been passed: Egypt's power struggles threaten to erupt into more unrest at any time, and some fear Islamists will eventually try to rein in alcohol and beach tourism. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)CAIRO (AP) — At Egypt's Pyramids, the desperation of vendors to sell can be a little frightening for some tourists.

Fireworks warehouse in Nigeria explodes, killing 1

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 09:52 AM PST

Residents look as a fire burns out a residential homes and a warehouse on Lagos Island in Lagos, Nigeria, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. An explosion ripped through a warehouse Wednesday where witnesses say fireworks were stored in Nigeria's largest city, sparking a fire. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone was injured in the blast that firefighters and locals struggled to contain. (Ap Photos/Sunday Alamba)LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A massive explosion ripped through a warehouse full of fireworks in Nigeria's largest city on Wednesday, sparking a fire that threatened surrounding city blocks and sending a plume of thick smoke high into the sky. At least one person died and 15 others were wounded, emergency officials said.

Grim limbo for NYC's nursing home evacuees

Posted: 26 Dec 2012 09:51 AM PST

In this Monday, Dec. 24, 2012, photo, an unidentified man leaves the Bishop Henry B. Hucles Episcopal Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in New York. The facility, located in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, is one of several New York city facilities that took in hundreds of elderly and disabled New Yorkers evacuated from seaside nursing homes and assisted living residences after Superstorm Sandy. The nursing facility is swollen to nearly double its licensed capacity. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of elderly and disabled New Yorkers who were hurriedly evacuated from seaside nursing homes and assisted living residences after Superstorm Sandy are still in a grim limbo two months later, sleeping on cots in temporary quarters without such comforts as private bathrooms or even regular changes of clothes.
Posted by Harshad at 1:02 PM

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