| Obama: 'No excuse' for excessive force by Ferguson police Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:19 AM PDT  The president appeals for "peace and calm" in Ferguson, Missouri.
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| Ebola: US orders embassy families out of Sierra Leone Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:06 AM PDT  The United States on Thursday told the families of its diplomats in Sierra Leone to leave the country to avoid exposure to the deadly Ebola epidemic. "The embassy recommended this step out of an abundance of caution," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, citing "a lack of options for routine health care services at major medical facilities due to the Ebola outbreak." Harf said that the State Department was also "reconfiguring" its staff at the embassy in Freetown to "be more responsive" to the crisis ravaging the country. "We remain deeply committed to supporting Sierra Leone and regional and international efforts to strengthen the capacity of the country's health care infrastructure and system -- specifically, the capacity to contain and control the transmission of the Ebola virus and deliver health care," Harf said in a statement.
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| Jersey casino heist could be script for 'Ocean's 8' Posted: 14 Aug 2014 09:58 AM PDT  ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A recently fired casino security guard used his knowledge of when and where large sums of money would change hands to help plan and pull off a daring robbery that netted more than $180,000, authorities said Thursday.
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| Police: Man strangled 2 after caught taking porno pictures Posted: 14 Aug 2014 08:03 AM PDT  FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say a New Jersey man strangled his cousin and her foster daughter after he was caught taking pornographic photos of the 10-year-old girl.
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| '#HandsUpDontShoot' Posted: 14 Aug 2014 07:25 AM PDT  Students at Howard University, a traditionally black college, respond to Ferguson, Mo., shooting.
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| Man who beat girlfriend's 3-year-old, then took vacation, faces sentencing Posted: 14 Aug 2014 09:03 AM PDT  BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — Prosecutors are recommending 30 to 60 years in prison for a man who beat his girlfriend's 3-year-old son and then went to the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida.
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| Surprising social media warning from Wa. state's police Posted: 14 Aug 2014 06:25 AM PDT  SEATTLE (AP) — Police in Washington state are asking the public to stop tweeting during shootings and manhunts to avoid accidentally telling the bad guys what officers are doing.
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| Severe sentence for 'Bandit Queen' killer Posted: 14 Aug 2014 06:03 AM PDT  NEW DELHI (AP) — The upper-caste killer of India's "Bandit Queen" was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for gunning down the outlaw-turned-legislator who was idolized as a champion of the lower castes.
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| 2 Amish girls feared abducted in NY Posted: 14 Aug 2014 09:07 AM PDT  OSWEGATCHIE, N.Y. (AP) — Police have received "numerous leads" concerning two Amish girls abducted at a roadside stand in northern New York, where searchers scoured the countryside near the Canadian border for the missing children, authorities said Thursday.
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| Yezidi 'genocide' avoided on mountain Posted: 14 Aug 2014 06:17 AM PDT  Downplaying US special forces role, Pentagon says air strikes, aid drops helped Yezidis.
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| Pope to Koreas: Enough saber-rattling Posted: 14 Aug 2014 08:04 AM PDT  'Greeted' by N. Korea rocket salvo, Pope Francis opens 5-day visit with reconciliation message.
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| Outside concert to promote peace in Philly, man shot dead Posted: 14 Aug 2014 06:13 AM PDT  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man was fatally shot outside a Philadelphia concert being held to promote peace and stem violence in the city, police said Thursday.
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| Obama: FBI, DOJ to investigate Ferguson shooting Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:32 AM PDT  Police used tear gas and smoke bombs to repel crowds who threw Molotov cocktails during another violent night on the streets of a St. Louis suburb in the wake of the shooting of the unarmed 18-year old Michael Brown.
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| 127 victims of MH17 identified Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:30 AM PDT  Dutch forensic experts have identified a total of 127 victims of downed flight MH17, with 20 new names being released to families on Thursday, the Dutch national broadcaster said. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 exploded over insurgent-held east Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 on board, 193 of them Dutch, with the West accusing Russia-backed separatists of shooting it down and Moscow blaming Kiev. The search for bodies was called off a week ago because of rising clashes between Kiev and the pro-Moscow rebels but the Dutch government hopes to return should the situation improve. On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte vowed justice for MH17's victims, saying investigations are to continue to find those responsible.
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| AP source: Brosnan withdraws from MLB vote Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:29 AM PDT  BALTIMORE (AP) — Major League Baseball Chief Operating Officer Rob Manfred and Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner were left as the remaining candidates to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner after MLB Executive Vice President Tim Brosnan withdrew before the start of voting Thursday.
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| Coming Attractions: Momofuku D.C. Will Have Dishes From Toronto, New York, and Sydney Restaurants Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:28 AM PDT  Here are some more details regarding chef David Chang's expansion of the Momofuku empire to D.C. According to Eater DC, Momofuku put out an official statement today that reveals that the upcoming restaurant will serve "some of our favorite...
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| Orwell rep accuses Amazon of doublespeak Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:28 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The literary executor of George Orwell's estate is accusing Amazon.com of committing an Orwellian crime: doublespeak.
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| Global stocks up on Putin comments, bond yields fall Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:27 AM PDT  By Herbert Lash NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity markets edged higher on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin of Russia sounded a conciliatory note over the crisis in Ukraine, while bond yields in Europe fell to record lows as the euro zone's recovery stalled in the second quarter. Putin told Russian ministers and members of parliament in Crimea that Russia would stand up for itself but not at the cost of confrontation with the outside world, easing off months of tough rhetoric over Ukraine. Stocks on Wall Street rose, following gains in Europe, where equity markets have tumbled in past weeks on fears of an escalation of tensions between the West and Moscow over Ukraine. "The situation in Ukraine will only become a problem if it gets much worse, and right now it doesn't seem like that's going to be the case, which is helping the market hang in there," said Brian Battle, director of trading at Performance Trust Capital Partners in Chicago.
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| 'Butler' director Daniels faces $25 million suit by hip-hop mogul Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:24 AM PDT  Director Lee Daniels is facing a $25 million lawsuit over claims he failed to pay back hip-hop mogul-turned-fashion entrepreneur Damon Dash, or give him production credits, after Dash invested millions of dollars in his projects. Dash claims he helped fund the production of several films and television projects, including "The Butler," "Precious" and "The Paperboy." Daniels "attempt(ed) to deprive (Dash) of the monetary benefits and producer and executive producer credits owed to Mr. Dash as per the parties' agreements," the summons said. Dash is seeking $25 million in damages from Daniels and $1 million from producer Simone Sheffield, who is credited as a co-producer in several of Daniels's films, according to the Internet Movie Database. Dash's attorney, Natraj Bhushan, said he would file a more detailed complaint once the summons was served, and that Daniels and Sheffield had a chance to respond to the claims.
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| Obama: 'We broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar' Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:24 AM PDT  Martha's Vineyard (United States) (AFP) - President Barack Obama declared Thursday that US air strikes had broken the siege of an Iraqi mountain sheltering civilian refugees and that troops conducting reconnaissance there would be withdrawn. Because of these efforts, we do not expect (there) to be an additional operation to evacuate people off the mountain and it's unlikely we're going to need to continue humanitarian air drops on the mountain," Obama said. Obama said that the United States would still carry out air strikes along with stepping up military assistance to Iraqi government and Kurdish forces battling ISIL.
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| Igor Strelkov: mysterious Russian who led Ukraine rebels Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:35 AM PDT  An alleged Russian intelligence colonel with an obsession for reenacting historical battles, Igor Strelkov, who quit as a key rebel chief on Thursday, was a driving force behind the brutal pro-Moscow insurgency tearing apart east Ukraine. The Russian citizen -- whose real name is Igor Girkin -- is a fierce nationalist and Orthodox Christian believer who reportedly honed his skills fighting in conflicts from Bosnia to Moldova's breakaway territory of Transdniestr and Chechnya, before helping Moscow seize Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March. Normally dressed in military fatigues with a pencil moustache and a wave of oily hair, the secretive commander, 43, was accused of overseeing what the United Nations described as a "reign of fear and intimidation" across rebel-held areas that involved the abduction, torture and even murder of opponents.
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| The fashion world looks back on Lauren Bacall Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:23 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — Lauren Bacall had one condition when the Fashion Institute of Technology wrote recently to ask if it could turn hundreds of personal garments she donated into an exhibition about her style.
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| Thousands on the road in Pakistan opposition rally Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:22 AM PDT  LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Thousands of opposition protesters on Thursday joined large convoys headed to Pakistan's capital Islamabad for a mass rally to demand the ouster of the prime minister over allegations of vote fraud.
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| Obama appeals for calm over Missouri police shooting Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:21 AM PDT  Martha's Vineyard (United States) (AFP) - President Barack Obama called Thursday for "peace and calm" in the Missouri town where the police shooting of an unarmed black youth has sparked angry protests.
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| Why there’s no accountability for the police in Ferguson Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:20 AM PDT  As the nation's attention is on the aggressive, militarized police response to protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, there's a lot of clamoring for accountability. On Thursday morning, the St. Louis County Police Department, which was in charge of the response to the protests on the night of Wednesday, August 13, was pulled out of Ferguson, and Governor Jay Nixon said that he would be "reframing" the "chain of command" in the city. But you can't understand the police actions in Ferguson — and how much Nixon would need to change in order to keep the situation from continuing to escalate — without understanding this: there are still multiple agencies currently working in Ferguson, and none of them is in charge. Prior to this morning, there were at least four different police departments on the ground in Ferguson at any given time: the Ferguson police themselves, the St. Louis County police (where Ferguson is located), police from the City of St. Louis, and police from the Missouri Highway Patrol.
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| Putin foe Navalny pleads innocent in latest fraud trial Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:18 AM PDT  One of the most popular critics of President Vladimir Putin, Alexei Navalny, pleaded innocent at the start Thursday of a trial for defrauding French cosmetics company Yves Rocher out of more than half a million euros. I consider the charges to be nonsense," Navalny said after a prosecutor read out in court accusations against him and his brother Oleg that could put them both behind bars for up to 10 years. Navalny and his brother have been accused of swindling Yves Rocher out of nearly 27 million rubles ($750,000, 550,000 euros), plus more than 4 million rubles from another company, from 2008 to 2013. Prosecutors have previously said that Navalny and his brother formed a company that provided Yves Rocher shipping services at inflated prices, and that the money was laundered via companies linked to them and relatives.
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| YouTube's redesigned TV app puts focus on channels and playlists Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:17 AM PDT  Today YouTube announced it's rolling out a new TV interface that's specifically been "designed for the big screen." The updated app is already available on Xbox One, and should be available for other set-top boxes in the very near future. Based on a quick glance, it's a bit strange for YouTube to say the new look was specifically designed for the television; Underneath the sidebar, YouTube still looks very similar to what was there before.
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| World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor arrives Nov. 13 Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:17 AM PDT  World of Warcraft's fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, will launch Nov. 13, Blizzard announced today.
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| Pakistan anti-government protest marches begin Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:16 AM PDT  Thousands of protesters on Thursday began a march from the Pakistani city of Lahore to the capital in a bid to unseat the government, which they claim was elected by fraud. Supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and populist preacher Tahir-ul-Qadri massed separately in Lahore before announcing the start of their 300-kilometre (190-mile) journey to rally in Islamabad. Both Khan and Qadri say the May 2013 general election was rigged and want Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign and hold new polls. The two groups, travelling in motorised convoy to Islamabad on the anniversary of Pakistan's independence from Britain, made slow progress in setting off and by late evening had not even left Lahore.
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| Governor vows change in Ferguson police response Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:16 AM PDT  FLORISSANT, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says "operational shifts" are ahead for law enforcement in the St. Louis suburb where a police officer fatally shot an unarmed black teenager.
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| US stocks creep higher following earnings news Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:15 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market crept higher Thursday following a mixed batch of corporate news. In Europe, investors brushed aside more worrying news on the economy and nudged markets up.
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| Chateau Me the Money: Bonafide French Chateau From the 1700s is Yours for $6.7M Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:15 AM PDT  In a world clobbered with heavy-handed faux chateaux in Beverly Hills, Chicago, and every other corner of the U.S. of A., coming across the real deal is like a thick gulp of...
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| Panty Raid: Man Used Women's Underwear as Disguise While Robbing a Long John Silver's Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:14 AM PDT  It's unlikely that they provided much in the way of coverage.
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| The one reason you should consider buying a Chromebook over a Windows or Mac laptop Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:14 AM PDT  When Google first announced its plans to offer a lightweight, browser-like operating system, pundits had a field day. Why go up against Windows? Why not use Android? Fast-forward to today, and you'll find that sales of inexpensive Chromebooks are climbing faster than almost anyone expected, particularly in schools. It makes sense, of course – why should a school spend twice as much on a Windows machine when a cheap Chromebook can get the job done? For personal use, Windows notebooks and Apple's MacBook laptops are seen by many as the obvious choice over Chromebooks because they are so much more powerful and flexible. As it turns out, however, Chromebooks' biggest weakness might also be their greatest strength. In a recent
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| Day hikes as Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park turns 100 Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:13 AM PDT  ESTES PARK, Colo. (AP) — No adjectives can do Rocky Mountain National Park justice. The jagged snow-draped peaks, rocky tundra, green valleys, and roaring waterfalls render exclamation points inadequate.
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| All eyes turn to ECB as eurozone recovery stalls Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:11 AM PDT  With data on Thursday showing that the eurozone's tentative economic recovery is already stalling, eyes are once again back on the European Central Bank to come to the region's rescue. Throughout Europe's seemingly chronic crisis, the ECB has never hesitated to take on the role of firefighter, even though it has never let up in its insistence that governments must do their homework, too, get their finances in order and push through -- potentially unpopular -- economic reforms. Since November 2011, the ECB has cut its key interest rates six times, lowering its key refi refinancing rate from 1.50 percent to an all-time low of 0.15 percent in June. ECB chief Mario Draghi warned last Thursday that "general uncertainty" about the unwillingness of certain countries to press ahead with much-needed structural reforms was deterring investment in the region and thereby hampering recovery.
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| UK police search singer Cliff Richard's house Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:11 AM PDT  LONDON (AP) — British police on Thursday searched a house belonging to veteran rock star Cliff Richard in connection with sexual allegations dating back to the 1980s.
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| Protests turn violent in St. Louis suburb Posted: 13 Aug 2014 08:56 PM PDT  Police and protesters clash in town where white police officer killed unarmed black teen.
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| The chickens that could flip the Senate Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:40 AM PDT  Inside a dispute between a member of Congress from Iowa and four chickens that could endanger his campaign for the United States Senate.
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| In Mt. Sinjar, U.S. boots back on Iraqi ground Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:15 AM PDT  The arrival of U.S. troops at Mt. Sinjar, where American airstrikes have broken a siege of Iraqi Yazidis and Christians by International State of Syria and Iraq, marks a dramatic escalation of American involvement in the fight for the future of Iraq. For the first time since ISIS advanced toward the outskirts of Baghdad, American troops were in a combat zone where their lives were directly as risk from the ISIS threat. The first hint that President Obama was considering more than airstrikes to help the stranded Yazidi refugees came Tuesday, when State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that the president was considering creating a "humanitarian corridor" to get refugees off Mount Sinjar. Prior to Wednesday, it was not clear that airstrikes alone would be able to end the ISIS siege and create this corridor.
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