| Lawmakers seek redo on Endangered Species Act Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:36 AM PST  Environmentalists have abused the law in the name of animals, its critics say.
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| An expensive tip: Gratuity leads to job loss for NYC sanitation worker Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:31 AM PST  A New York City sanitation worker with 24 years experience was forced out of his job after he was caught accepting a $20 tip, the New York Daily News reports.
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| U.S. ambassador to Russia stepping down Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:38 AM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, the architect of President Barack Obama's effort to reset relations with Russian, announced on Tuesday that he is stepping down after two turbulent years in Moscow.
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| Target takes steps to protect customer data Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:15 AM PST  The retailer will implement a $100 million chip-enabled smart-card program by early 2015.
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| Blast in Pakistan kills nine near Shiite mosque Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:53 AM PST  ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani official says a bomb blast in the northwestern city of Peshawar has killed nine people near a mosque belonging to the Shiite Muslim minority sect.
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| Kidnapping, carjacking charges filed against escaped Mich. killer Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:09 AM PST  IONIA, Mich. (AP) — A convicted killer captured in a stolen car in Indiana after a daring one-day escape from a Michigan prison has been charged with kidnapping and other crimes, officials said Tuesday.
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| 'SNL' alum Victoria Jackson files for political office Posted: 04 Feb 2014 06:47 AM PST  THOMPSON STATION, Tenn. (AP) — Former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Victoria Jackson has filed to run as an independent candidate for a seat on a county commission outside Nashville, Tenn.
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| Budget deficit drops to $514 billion Posted: 04 Feb 2014 07:19 AM PST  It's a substantial decrease and the lowest by far since Obama took office, a new report says.
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| Microsoft names Nadella as next CEO, Gates to advise on technology Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:29 AM PST  By Bill Rigby SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp named 22-year company veteran Satya Nadella as its next chief executive officer on Tuesday and said co-founder Bill Gates would step down as chairman and advise the new CEO on technology, marking an epochal change of control at the company that drove the PC revolution. Nadella, a 46-year old born in India who led the creation of Microsoft's Internet-based, or "cloud" computing services, is only Microsoft's third CEO in 39 years, taking over from Steve Ballmer, who inherited the job from Gates in 2000. But the uphill battle continues for Microsoft on its path to growth." Microsoft's new chairman John Thompson, who led the search for a CEO, said the process went as planned. "We aimed to complete the process within four to six months, and we met that goal," Thompson said in a video statement on Microsoft's website.
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| APNewsBreak: Changes sought for endangered act Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:40 AM PST BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Republicans in Congress on Tuesday called for an overhaul to the Endangered Species Act to curtail environmentalists' lawsuits and give more power to states, but experts say broad changes to one of the nation's cornerstone environmental laws are unlikely given the pervasive partisan divide in Washington, D.C. |
| 5 things to know about speedskating, short track Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:22 AM PST  Speedskating has been on the Olympic program since the first Winter Games in 1924, while its unpredictable offshoot, short track, became an official sport in 1992.
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| Klitschko warns Ukrainian tempers are heating up Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:11 AM PST  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian opposition leaders warned Tuesday that tempers are heating up and the president must take action to resolve the country's protracted political crisis.
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| Senate set to send farm bill to Obama Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:27 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is poised to send a massive, five-year farm bill that provides food for the needy and subsidies for the nation's farmers to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature.
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| Hero or traitor? Pope's aide in Polish controversy Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:35 AM PST  WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles are divided between praise and condemnation of John Paul II's secretary for publishing the late pope's personal notes — against his last will and testament.
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| Putin, Persian leopard in pitch-perfect photo-op Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:36 AM PST  SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Stroking a Persian leopard sprawled on his lap, tough-guy President Vladimir Putin showed his softer side Thursday as he prepared to welcome the world to his budget-busting Winter Olympics that open later this week.
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| A look back at the allegations against Woody Allen Posted: 04 Feb 2014 10:03 AM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — "Cries and Whispers: The Ugly Explosion of an Unconventional Family," announced the August 31, 1992 cover of Time magazine, which bore Woody Allen's bespectacled face. The sordid saga involving Allen and erstwhile romantic partner Mia Farrow had indeed exploded into the public consciousness days earlier. The most sensational part: an allegation that the celebrated director had taken their adopted daughter Dylan, 7, into an attic-like space at Farrow's Connecticut home and molested her.
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| Excerpts from John Paul II's published notes Posted: 04 Feb 2014 10:04 AM PST WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Here are translated excerpts from "Very Much in God's Hands. Personal Notes 1962-2003," a collection of John Paul II's personal notes that his closest confidant is publishing — in defiance of the pope's will. The book comes out in Polish on Wednesday. |
| Amid protests, Ukraine more divided than ever Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:40 AM PST  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of a western city warned that his police would fight any troops sent in by the president. The governor of an eastern region posted an image of an opposition lawmaker beaten bloody, saying he couldn't contain his laughter.
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| Problems persist at US church-run Haiti orphanage Posted: 04 Feb 2014 09:25 AM PST  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A troubled Haitian orphanage run by a small and apparently well-funded U.S. church has made cosmetic changes in the two months since an Associated Press report exposed squalor and neglect, but has not done enough to address staffing problems and other issues that could put children at risk, according to two people helping the organization improve.
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| US church working to regain Haiti orphanage permit Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:49 AM PST PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A troubled Haitian orphanage run by a small and apparently well-funded U.S. church has made cosmetic changes in the two months since an Associated Press report exposed squalor and neglect, but has not done enough to address staffing problems and other issues that could put children at risk, according to two people helping the organization improve. |
| U.K. admits to role in deadly 1984 India raid Posted: 04 Feb 2014 05:45 AM PST  The Golden Temple attack was one of the most violent episodes with Sikh separatists.
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| Afghanistan's Karzai in secret talks with Taliban Posted: 04 Feb 2014 06:56 AM PST  By Hamid Shalizi KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been holding secret talks with Taliban officials in the hope of persuading them to make peace with his government, his spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday, confirming a New York Times report. "I can confirm that ... Taliban are willing more than ever to join the peace process," Aimal Faizi said. "Contacts have been made and we are also in touch with them." A member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council also confirmed that talks had taken place, but was measured in his assessment of their success. "Talks took place in Dubai three weeks ago between government officials and Taliban who flew from Doha, but we are still waiting to see the result," he told Reuters.
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| Britain admits role in deadly 1984 Golden Temple attack in India Posted: 04 Feb 2014 08:55 AM PST  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Britain secretly helped India plan a deadly assault on Sikh separatists holed up in the Golden Temple at Amritsar in 1984, the government said on Tuesday, saying London's influence was limited and there was therefore no need for an apology. Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a review into the matter last month after the government inadvertently released official papers suggesting that Margaret Thatcher, then prime minister, had sent an officer from the elite SAS special air service to advise India on the raid. The unplanned release upset British Sikhs, whom Cameron is courting ahead of a national election in 2015, and in India it triggered nationalist criticism of the dynastic ruling Congress party, which faces an uphill struggle to be re-elected in a national vote due by May. Congress, under then-prime minister Indira Gandhi, was in power at the time of the raid on the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine.
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