| Police: Escaped Mich. prisoner captured Posted: 03 Feb 2014 05:05 PM PST  Convicted killer Michael David Elliot's brazen escape caught officials off guard.
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| Fatal heart woes tied to sugar use equal to 2 cans of soda Posted: 03 Feb 2014 03:06 PM PST  CHICAGO (AP) — Could too much sugar be deadly? The biggest study of its kind suggests the answer is yes, at least when it comes to fatal heart problems.
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| Former 2nd lady Joan Mondale dies at age 83 Posted: 03 Feb 2014 03:56 PM PST  ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Joan Mondale, who burnished a reputation as "Joan of Art" for her passionate advocacy for the arts while her husband was vice president and a U.S. ambassador, died Monday. She was 83.
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| 'Barrel bomb' raids kill at least 26 in Syria Posted: 03 Feb 2014 12:47 PM PST  Regime helicopters dropped controversial weapons on Aleppo neighborhood, observers say.
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| Web companies give first look at secret gov't data requests Posted: 03 Feb 2014 01:57 PM PST  Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google on Monday began publishing details about the number of secret government requests for data they receive, hoping to show limited involvement in controversial surveillance efforts. The tech industry has pushed for greater transparency on government data requests, seeking to shake off concerns about their involvement in vast, surreptitious surveillance programs revealed last summer by former spy contractor Edward Snowden. The government said last month it would relax rules restricting what details companies can disclose about Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court orders they receive for user information. Several companies, including Google and Microsoft, sued the government last year, seeking the ability to disclose more of that data.
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| 'Black Death' likely wrote its way into modern DNA Posted: 03 Feb 2014 12:05 PM PST  The Black Death of the 14th century may be written into the DNA of survivors' descendants, new research finds. The study reveals that Roma people (sometimes known as gypsies, although this is considered a derogatory term) and white Europeans share alterations to their genetic code that occurred after the Roma settled in Europe from northwest India 1,000 years ago. "We show that there are some immune receptors that are clearly influenced by evolution in Europe and not in northwest India," said study leader Mihai Netea, a researcher in experimental internal medicine at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands. "India did not have the medieval plague, as Europe had," Netea told Live Science.
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| Rare school shooting rattles nerves in Russia Posted: 03 Feb 2014 10:59 AM PST  By Ian Bateson and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - A teenager described as a model student shot a teacher and a police officer dead and took more than 20 of his schoolmates hostage in a Moscow classroom on Monday, days before Russia hosts the Winter Olympics under tight security. The suspect was disarmed and detained about an hour after the shootings after talking to his father, the owner of the two rifles with which he forced his way into the school in northern Moscow at midday. The incident rattled nerves in a country on high alert for Islamist militant violence as athletes and spectators arrive for the Sochi Games, a prestige project that will help shape President Vladimir Putin's legacy. It is almost unheard-of for a student to attack a school in Russia.
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| Popular hotels named in 2013 data hacking Posted: 03 Feb 2014 05:34 AM PST  Fraud alert linked to Ind. managers of some Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, Westin properties.
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| New details on Philip Seymour Hoffman death Posted:  Police sources say roughly 50 bags of heroin found at Oscar winner's apartment.
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| U.S. denies senators' claims Kerry said Syria policy is failing Posted: 03 Feb 2014 02:01 PM PST  The US administration Monday stood by its policy on Syria denying that Secretary of State John Kerry had called for a change of strategy and to arm opposition rebels. Quoting influential Republican senators, some US media claimed that in a meeting on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich the top US diplomat had said US policy in Syria was failing and it was time for a change.
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| Senators: Kerry says Syria plan is failing, sees new al Qaeda threat Posted: 03 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST  In a closed-door meeting, two senators say, the Secretary of State admitted to them that he no longer believes the administration's approach to the crisis in Syria is working.
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| Car-to-car communication may soon be required in new vehicles Posted: 03 Feb 2014 01:55 PM PST  By Elvina Nawaguna WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are crafting a rule that would require all new vehicles to be able to "talk" to one another using wireless technology, which the Department of Transportation said would significantly reduce accidents on U.S. roads and alleviate traffic congestion. A proposed rule mandating so-called vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology should be put in place before President Barack Obama leaves office in early 2017, DOT officials said on Monday. "When these technologies are adapted across the fleet, the results could be nothing short of revolutionary for roadway safety," said David Friedman, acting administrator of the DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Mandating the use of technology once thought to be science-fiction will "pave the way for market penetration of vehicle-to-vehicle safety applications," the DOT said in a statement.
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| Obama to travel to Saudi Arabia to discuss security, tensions Posted: 03 Feb 2014 09:43 AM PST  The White House said on Monday that President Barack Obama will travel to Saudi Arabia in March to meet with King Abdullah to discuss a range of security issues in the Middle East that have caused some strains in the bilateral relationship. The rare visit, which comes at the end of an Obama trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, will include discussions about "Gulf and regional security, peace in the Middle East, countering violent extremism, and other issues of prosperity and security," the White House said in a statement. King Abdullah met Secretary of State John Kerry in November and discussed concerns about the unwillingness of the United State to intervene in Syria and recent overtures to its arch-rival, Iran. Saudi Arabia turned down a seat on the United Nations Security Council in October, in a display of anger at the failure of the international community to end the war in Syria.
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| U.S. default could happen quickly, Lew warns Posted: 03 Feb 2014 09:16 AM PST  Washington is due to reinstate a limit on its borrowing at the end of this week and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the administration can use accounting measures to stay under the new cap until the end of February. After that time, "very soon it would not be possible to meet all of the obligations of the federal government," Lew said at an event hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a prominent Washington think tank. Washington has danced perilously close to the edge of default several times since 2011, and this year some Republicans pledge to extract policy concessions from Democrats before they allow the debt limit to rise. Federal debt ballooned during the 2007-09 recession and most analysts think Washington's obligations to pay for health care for the elderly will stress the budget more as U.S. society ages.
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| No investigation of Woody Allen pending, Connecticut says Posted: 03 Feb 2014 08:56 AM PST State prosecutors in Connecticut do not have an open investigation of Woody Allen, a spokesman said on Monday, after the filmmaker's adult adopted daughter renewed allegations that he sexually abused her at age 7. A prosecutor decided after an investigation in 1993 not to charge Allen, who has denied the allegations. "We have no pending investigation. If we were to receive a complaint, we would review it, as we do with any complaint, and take the appropriate action," Mark Dupuis, a spokesman for Connecticut's Division of Criminal Justice, told Reuters. |
| Super mess: Fans complain of mass transit chaos Posted: 03 Feb 2014 07:26 AM PST  For thousands of fans attending the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., getting there — and getting home — was a nightmare.
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| Mandela leaves $4M estate to family, staff Posted: 03 Feb 2014 07:26 AM PST  The anti-apartheid hero's will is expected to set off another round of family squabbling.
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| Feds consider car-to-car technology to reduce crashes Posted: 03 Feb 2014 07:48 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials are planning to announce Monday whether automakers should be required to equip new cars and light trucks with technology that enables vehicles to communicate with each other to prevent collisions. Such vehicle-to-vehicle communication could transform traffic safety.
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| Sept. 11 'truther' reveals how he got past Super Bowl security Posted: 03 Feb 2014 05:57 AM PST  The 30-year-old man who interrupted Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith's postgame news conference to demand an investigation into 9/11 says he used an old festival credential to get past what was supposed to be air-tight security at MetLife Stadium.
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| Hoffman among thousands of addiction victims Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:55 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Philip Seymour Hoffman suffered from a chronic medical condition that required ongoing treatment. An admitted drug addict who first sought professional help more than two decades ago, Hoffman apparently succumbed to his illness with an overdose despite a return to rehab last March.
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| First of a one-two winter punch socks eastern US Posted: 03 Feb 2014 03:31 PM PST  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A winter storm dumped several inches of wet, heavy snow on parts of the eastern United States on Monday, snarling commutes and Super Bowl fans' trips home, closing schools and government offices, and cutting power.
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| Educator charged with sexual abuse in YouTube case Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:52 PM PST RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A California educator who was confronted by a former student on a YouTube video seen hundreds of thousands of times was charged Monday with 16 counts of sexual abuse, prosecutors said. |
| Judge says Chris Brown should remain in treatment Posted: 03 Feb 2014 03:29 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge turned down a prosecutor's motion Monday to send Chris Brown to jail, citing the R&B singer's continued good behavior and progress in a rehabilitation program.
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| Ratings: another record for Super Bowl Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:11 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — For the fourth time in five years, the Super Bowl has set a record for the most-watched television event in U.S. history, drawing 111.5 million viewers even though the Seattle Seahawks' 43-8 victory over the Denver Broncos wasn't really competitive.
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| Syrian airstrikes kill at least 18 in Aleppo Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:50 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government extended its intense aerial campaign against rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, conducting a series of airstrikes that killed at least 18 people, including five children, activists said.
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| Convicted murderer escapes from Michigan prison Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:17 PM PST  IONIA, Mich. (AP) — An intense manhunt was underway Monday for a convicted killer who peeled a hole in two fences with his hands to escape from a Michigan prison before abducting a woman and fleeing to Indiana where the victim and her vehicle were safely recovered, authorities said.
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| Man says he ate birds, turtles in 13 months adrift Posted: 03 Feb 2014 03:43 PM PST  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It's a story that almost defies belief: A man leaves Mexico in December 2012 for a day of shark fishing and ends up surviving 13 months on fish, birds and turtles before washing ashore on the remote Marshall Islands thousands of miles (kilometers) away.
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| Leno: 2nd 'Tonight exit' is quits for late-night Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:14 AM PST  BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Jay Leno, as affably efficient backstage as he is in front of the camera, avoids waxing poetic about his 22-year "Tonight Show" run that draws to a close Thursday.
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| Official: Heroin in packets in Hoffman's apartment Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:37 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — Tests have confirmed there was heroin in at least some of the scores of plastic packets in the New York City apartment where Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead, a law enforcement official said Monday, and authorities are working to determine whether the drug was mixed or tainted with anything else.
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| Seattle Super Bowl win buoys a city used to losing Posted: 03 Feb 2014 03:15 PM PST SEATTLE (AP) — For a city accustomed to losing not just games, but teams, the Seattle Seahawks' dominant Super Bowl win provided a long overdue catharsis, buoying the spirits of a fan base that hasn't always had much to cheer about. |
