| Officers shoot and kill man with knife in St. Louis suburb, police say Posted: 18 Apr 2015 08:55 AM PDT  A 23-year-old man who barricaded himself in his mother's house in a St. Louis suburb and spoke of a "black revolution" was shot and killed by police when he rushed at them with a knife, authorities said on Saturday.
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| New Hampshire clash of Republican presidential contenders Posted: 18 Apr 2015 08:44 AM PDT  The Republican Party's most ambitious have stormed into New Hampshire for an early state showdown that highlighted the diversity, political challenges and sheer size of the GOP's 2016 presidential class.
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| President Ghani: IS claims responsibility for deadly Afghan bombing Posted: 18 Apr 2015 08:10 AM PDT  The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Afghanistan Saturday that killed 33 people and wounded more than 100 others, President Ashraf Ghani said, in what appears to be the first major attack by the jihadists in the country. Ghani's government has repeatedly raised the ominous prospect of IS making inroads into Afghanistan, though the group that has captured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq has never formally acknowledged having a presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban have seen defections to the group in recent months, with some self-styled IS insurgents voicing their disaffection with their one-eyed supreme leader Mullah Omar, who has not been seen since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
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| TV: Russia's Putin says ready to work with United States Posted: 18 Apr 2015 07:36 AM PDT  Russia has key interests in common with the United States and needs to work with it on a common agenda, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday in a television interview. In his comments to the state-run Rossiya channel, Putin appeared to soften his anti-American rhetoric after being highly critical. Relations between Moscow and Washington and other Western powers have soured over the conflict in Russia's neighbor Ukraine, sinking to an all-time low. We have a common agenda." Putin has in the past fiercely attacked the United States and the West in general, blaming them for the Ukraine crisis, which Russia says was the result of a Western-backed "coup" against Ukraine's former leader Viktor Yanukovich.
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| Gas-line blast at California shooting range injures 11 Posted: 18 Apr 2015 01:21 AM PDT  FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A natural gas pipeline explosion at a California sheriff's gun range shot flames well over 100 feet into the air, left 11 people injured and brought traffic on a busy highway to a halt, authorities and witnesses said.
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| California gas pipeline explosion, fire injure up to 15 people Posted: 17 Apr 2015 08:23 PM PDT  By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A construction crew on Friday accidentally ruptured a natural gas transmission line in Fresno, California, sparking an explosion and fire that injured up to 15 people, four of them critically, officials said. The 12-inch (30-cm) pipeline, belonging to Pacific Gas & Electric Corp , was struck by a backhoe near state Highway 99, unleashing a fireball that injured members of the construction team and a jail inmate crew nearby, Fresno Fire Department spokesman Peter Martinez said. One worker in critical condition was flown to hospital by helicopter, and 13 or 14 others were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment of injuries after the pipeline was ruptured at about 2:30 p.m., Martinez added. Four of the injured were taken to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, and two more were taken to the burn unit there, said hospital spokeswoman Mary Lisa Russell, adding that four were in critical condition and two serious.
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| Torrential rain floods Houston before heading toward New Orleans Posted: 18 Apr 2015 10:27 AM PDT Torrential rain triggered flooding on the streets of Houston and sent spectators fleeing from a circus south of the Texas city, officials said on Saturday, as the storm system headed east toward Louisiana and neighboring states. The heavy rainfall followed a front that built up along the Gulf Coast, causing moisture to accumulate along it, said Mark Paquette, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com. Up to five inches of rain fell in some parts of Houston on Friday and into early Saturday. Water accumulated in streets with poor drainage and caused flooding, Paquette said. |
| U.S. urges Greece to reach debt deal Posted: 18 Apr 2015 10:55 AM PDT  Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warns default would create "hardship" for Greece.
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| Clinton faces early test on trade deal fight Posted: 17 Apr 2015 03:07 PM PDT  Less than a week after formally launching her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton is already being tested on a thorny issue for Democrats: free-trade deals and their impact on workers. On Thursday, the debate rose to a full boil when members of Congress from both parties announced legislation that would give President Barack Obama the "fast-track" trade negotiating authority he needs to complete a massive Asia-Pacific free-trade deal. Over two days of campaigning in Iowa this week, where she discussed economics, Clinton, who is the commanding front-runner to be the Democratic nominee for the 2016 election, uttered not a word about the potential Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries.
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| Suicide bomber kills 33 in bloody attack outside Afghan bank Posted: 18 Apr 2015 01:53 AM PDT  A suicide bomber killed at least 33 people and wounded 100 others in an attack Saturday outside a bank in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, according to officials. "Thirty-three dead bodies and more than 100 wounded were brought to the hospital," Dr Najeebullah Kamawal, head of the provincial hospital, told AFP. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, provincial government spokesman, confirmed the attack -- the deadliest since November -- but put the death toll slightly lower at 30. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the attack, which saw children among those killed, his office said in a statement.
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| Man gets 100-year term in murder of teacher in oil boom town Posted: 17 Apr 2015 05:14 PM PDT  A man was sentenced to 100 years in prison Friday in a Montana teacher's murder — a case that local officials say robbed the victim's rural hometown of its innocence amid an oil boom that's swept across ...
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| Gas-line blast closes California highway, 3 critically injured Posted: 17 Apr 2015 10:41 PM PDT  FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A large explosion closed both directions of a major highway in Central California and injured at least three people, authorities said Friday.
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| Obama calls delay of his attorney general nominee 'crazy' Posted: 17 Apr 2015 01:45 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday said it was "crazy" and "embarrassing" the way the Republican-led Senate has held up confirmation of his attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch.
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| Chicago schools chief to take temporary leave amid probe Posted: 17 Apr 2015 03:15 PM PDT  CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett will take a paid leave of absence amid a federal investigation over a roughly $20 million no-bid contract the district awarded to a training academy where she once worked as a consultant, officials announced Friday.
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