| Obama: A 'new approach' to data collection Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:17 AM PST  President clips NSA's wings, but argues phone data must be held to protect America.
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| Drought emergency declared for California Posted: 17 Jan 2014 09:31 AM PST  California governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency on Friday, a move that will allow the parched state to seek federal aid as it grapples with what could turn out to be the driest year in recorded state history. "We can't make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California's drought now threatens, including dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas," Brown said in a statement.
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| Cybercrime firm uncovers six active attacks on U.S. merchants Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:37 AM PST  The cyber security firm IntelCrawler said on Friday it has uncovered at least six ongoing attacks at merchants across the United States whose credit card processing systems are infected with the same type of malicious software used to steal data from some 40 million credit cards at Target Inc. Andrew Komarov, the firm's chief executive, told Reuters that his firm has alerted law enforcement, Visa Inc and intelligence teams at several large banks about the findings. The report from IntelCrawler is the latest evidence to suggest that disclosures from Target Inc and upscale department store Neiman Marcus about cyber attacks that resulted in the theft of payment cards and other customer data may only be the tip of the iceberg.
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| Kerry: World won't be fooled by Assad regime Posted: 17 Jan 2014 07:39 AM PST  US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the Syrian regime Friday it would fail to divert next week's peace talks away from the aim of installing a new government. Accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of funding and even ceding territory to extremists in order to fuel fears of militant groups, Kerry said "nobody is going to be fooled." "They can bluster, they can protest, they can put out distortions, the bottom line is we are going to Geneva to implement Geneva I, and if Assad doesn't do that he will invite greater response," he said. Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have led moves to bring together the divided Syrian opposition and the Assad regime for the first time since the conflict erupted in March 2011.
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| Obama wants limits on NSA spying Posted: 17 Jan 2014 08:37 AM PST  The president calls for end of government's control of phone data from Americans.
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| Inspired by Mandela, Serena Williams rethinks tournament boycott Posted: 17 Jan 2014 08:12 AM PST  World number one Serena Williams Friday said she could end her 13-year boycott of the Indian Wells tournament after being inspired by Nelson Mandela. The American 32-year-old and her sister Venus have not played the event in the California desert since being booed in 2001. The capacity crowd was livid and made their feelings clear during the final against Kim Clijsters, booing Venus and her father Richard as they entered the stadium and Serena throughout the match.
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| First lady status, in doubt in France, not global Posted: 17 Jan 2014 05:22 AM PST  PARIS (AP) — France's unmarried president — and the reported love triangle involving the companion he installed into the Elysee palace and a French actress supposedly down the street — have led the country into a delicate debate over whether it needs a first lady at all. Many countries lack official status for the spouse or companion of a leader, turning up some complicated situations, even when the public is willing to turn a blind eye.
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| Ohio executions face criticism after unusual death Posted: 17 Jan 2014 06:16 AM PST  LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's capital punishment system is likely to face new challenges following an unusually long execution in which the condemned man appeared to gasp several times.
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| Crews chase flare-ups in California fire Posted: 17 Jan 2014 08:48 AM PST  GLENDORA, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters were chasing flare-ups Friday morning in a damaging wildfire that was largely tamed but kept thousands of people from their homes in the foothill suburbs northeast of Los Angeles.
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| Cuban travel in record numbers a year into reform Posted: 17 Jan 2014 08:37 AM PST HAVANA (AP) — Last February, Amalia Reigosa Blanco experienced for the first time the rush of an airplane taking off. She browsed the clothing shops of Italy's fashion capital, and strolled cobblestone streets echoing with an unfamiliar tongue. She learned what snow feels like. |
| Djokovic, Williams into 4th round in Australia Posted: 17 Jan 2014 05:47 AM PST  MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak to 27 matches and stayed on track for a fourth consecutive Australian Open title with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 win Friday over Denis Istomin.
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| Explosion hits Bangkok protesters, wounding dozens Posted: 17 Jan 2014 06:29 AM PST  BANGKOK (AP) — Dozens of people were wounded in Thailand's capital Friday when a grenade blast ripped through a crowd of marching anti-government demonstrators, an ominous development that raises tensions in the country's political crisis and the specter of more bloodshed to come.
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| Google contact lens could be option for diabetics Posted: 17 Jan 2014 12:34 AM PST  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Brian Otis gingerly holds what looks like a typical contact lens on his index finger. Look closer. Sandwiched in this lens are two twinkling glitter-specks loaded with tens of thousands of miniaturized transistors. It's ringed with a hair-thin antenna. Together these remarkable miniature electronics can monitor glucose levels in tears of diabetics and then wirelessly transmit them to a handheld device.
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| Pa. couple advertises home as 'slightly haunted' Posted: 17 Jan 2014 03:12 AM PST  DUNMORE, Pa. (AP) — Between the mysteriously banging doors, the odd noises coming from the basement, and the persistent feeling that someone is standing behind them, homeowners Gregory and Sandi Leeson are thoroughly creeped out by their 113-year-old Victorian.
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| AP Source: NSA phone data control may come to end Posted: 17 Jan 2014 04:24 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday will call for ending the government's control of phone data from millions of Americans, a senior administration official said. The move marks a significant change to the National Security Agency's controversial bulk phone record collection program.
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| 10 Things to Know for Today Posted: 17 Jan 2014 03:35 AM PST  Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
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| SKorea jails hundreds for refusing military stints Posted: 17 Jan 2014 12:35 AM PST  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The young dentist was uncuffed and led to his seat in the courtroom. A few rows back, his mother watched motionlessly, her hands gently clasped together as if in prayer.
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| Ohio executions face obstacles after unusual death Posted: 17 Jan 2014 12:32 AM PST LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's capital punishment system likely faces new challenges following an unusually long execution in which the condemned man appeared to gasp several times. |
| California fire burns in dry windy week, arid year Posted: 17 Jan 2014 04:16 AM PST  GLENDORA, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters had largely tamed a tower of flame and smoke that obscured the sun and drove thousands from their homes in the foothill suburbs northeast of Los Angeles, but a week of dangerously windy wildfire conditions and a year of historic dryness meant that this blaze and inevitable ones to come remained a major threat.
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| Hefty price: New federal budget bill cost $3 million per word Posted: 17 Jan 2014 08:02 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Talk about words more costly than gold.
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| Prince Harry ends role as helicopter pilot Posted: 17 Jan 2014 05:14 AM PST  LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry is ending his role as a helicopter pilot and taking up a new job with the army in London, royal officials said Friday.
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| Record number of rhinos poached in South Africa in 2013 Posted: 17 Jan 2014 05:52 AM PST  By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More than 1,000 rhinos were poached for their horns in South Africa in 2013, a record number and an increase of over 50 percent from the previous year, the country's department of environmental affairs said on Friday. The data is sure to ring conservation alarm bells about a downward population spiral in a country that is home to almost all of Africa and the world's rhinos, and it may bring renewed pressure on the government to do something to halt the slayings. In 2013, 1,004 of the massive animals were illegally killed in South Africa, compared with 668 the previous year and 448 in 2011. Most of the killings are taking place in South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park, which lost 606 rhinos last year and 425 in 2012.
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| Surgeon general adds to list of smoking's harms Posted: 17 Jan 2014 12:32 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — It's no secret that smoking causes lung cancer. But what about diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, erectile dysfunction? Fifty years into the war on smoking, scientists still are adding diseases to the long list of cigarettes' harms — even as the government struggles to get more people to kick the habit.
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| Conservative group targets Hispanics Posted: 17 Jan 2014 05:09 AM PST  The effort includes a seven-figure ad campaign against Democratic lawmakers.
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| Player in NJ bridge scandal will talk for immunity Posted: 16 Jan 2014 11:33 PM PST  TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The former appointee of Gov. Chris Christie who directed lane closures that backed up traffic for hours in one New Jersey town is reiterating that he is ready to share more information if he can be granted immunity from prosecution.
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| Japan WWII soldier who hid in jungle until 1974 dies Posted: 17 Jan 2014 02:42 AM PST  A Japanese soldier who hid in the Philippine jungle for three decades, refusing to believe World War II was over until his former commander returned and ordered him to surrender, has died in Tokyo aged 91. Hiroo Onoda waged a guerilla campaign in Lubang Island near Luzon until he was finally persuaded in 1974 that peace had broken out, ignoring leaflet drops and successive attempts to convince him the Imperial Army had been defeated. He and three other soldiers continued to obey that order long after Japan's 1945 defeat. Their existence became widely known in 1950, when one of their number emerged and returned to Japan.
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| 'Seeds of genocide' in Central African Republic, U.N. warns Posted: 16 Jan 2014 04:57 PM PST  By Emmanuel Braun and Tom Miles BANGUI/GENEVA (Reuters) - A senior U.N. official warned of the risk of genocide in Central African Republic without a more robust international response to communal bloodshed in which at least 20 more people were killed on Thursday. More than a million people have been displaced by the violence since Seleka installed their leader Michel Djotodia as interim president. Over 1,000 people were killed last month alone in the capital Bangui, prompting neighboring countries to evacuate more than 30,000 of their citizens. There has been relative calm since Djotodia resigned last week under intense international pressure, but sporadic violence has persisted in Bangui.
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| L.A.-area wildfire partly contained Posted: 16 Jan 2014 06:09 PM PST Authorities plan to reopen evacuated neighborhoods after winds die down. |
| Senate easily passes $1.1 trillion spending bill Posted: 16 Jan 2014 07:06 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress sent President Barack Obama a $1.1 trillion government-wide spending bill Thursday, easing the harshest effects of last year's automatic budget cuts after tea party critics chastened by October's partial shutdown mounted only a faint protest.
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| Driver cited for wearing Google Glass beats ticket in court Posted: 16 Jan 2014 05:44 PM PST  SAN DIEGO (AP) — A San Diego traffic court threw out a citation Thursday against a woman believed to be the first motorist in the country ticketed for driving while wearing a Google Glass computer-in-eyeglass device.
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| Gov't shares data breach tricks with retailers Posted: 16 Jan 2014 03:01 PM PST  Details of confidential Target investigation released to thwart, identify ongoing attacks.
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| Family plans lawsuit over Ohio killer's nearly 25-minute execution Posted: 16 Jan 2014 04:09 PM PST  LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An attorney for the family of a killer whose Ohio execution by lethal injection was marked by several minutes of unprecedented gasping and unusual sounds plans to sue the state over what happened.
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