jeudi 31 juillet 2014

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines


Libya Islamic militias declare control of Benghazi

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 12:46 PM PDT

Tunisian custom officers check the luggage of a man fleeing from Libya at the Ras Ajdir border post between Libya and Tunisia, southern Tunisia, Thursday, July 31, 2014. Up to 6,000 people a day have fled Libya into neighboring Tunisia this week, the Tunisian foreign minister said Wednesday, the biggest influx since Libya's 2011 civil war in a sign of the spiraling turmoil as rival militias battle over control of the airport in the capital Tripoli. (AP Photo/Ali Manssour)BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Islamic hard-line militias, including the group accused by the United States in a 2012 attack that killed the ambassador and three other Americans, claimed control of Libya's second largest city, Benghazi, after overrunning army barracks and seizing heavy weapons.


Ebola-infected doctor lauded for 'heroic and sacrificial service'

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 12:32 PM PDT

Even from his own sickbed, Dr. Kent Brantly continues to put the well-being of others before his own.

Investigators reach Ukraine jet wreckage site

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 12:05 PM PDT

A pro-Russian rebel throws a hat to his comrade to keep uniform formality as the convoy of the OSCE mission in Ukraine approaches to a check-point near the village of Rassipne, near the scene of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, July 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) — Two weeks after a missile brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, an international team of investigators Thursday reached a wreckage site in eastern Ukraine that remains bitterly contested between government forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels.


Divided House abandons vote on border bill

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 11:34 AM PDT

Border Patrol officers guard the US Border Patrol facility in Murrieta, California on July 3, 2014, where tension is rising over the arrival of undocumented immigrantsThe House has abandoned a vote on legislation to address the immigration crisis on the border after tea partyers withdrew their support in a dispute over a separate measure on deportations.


Co-sponsor of Bush impeachment bill: Dems never tried to impeach Bush

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 11:17 AM PDT

Sheila Jackson Lee in charge of Homeland Security?!Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said Democrats had never moved to impeach former President George W. Bush, but she co-sponsored a bill to do just that in 2008.


U.S. issues travel warning for 3 Ebola-hit countries

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 11:03 AM PDT

This photo provided by the CDC shows an ebola Virus. U.S. health officials are monitoring the Ebola outbreak in Africa but say the risk of the deadly germ spreading to the United States is remote. (AP Photo/CDC)U.S. health officials are warning Americans not to travel to the three African countries hit by an outbreak of Ebola.


In San Francisco real estate, $1M won't buy much

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 10:32 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco Association of Realtors President Betty Taisch has two words of advice for anyone who wants to live here and thinks $1 million will buy them their dream house: think again.

San Francisco million-dollar home sales hit record

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 10:16 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A record number of million-dollar homes were sold in the San Francisco Bay Area during the second quarter, a research firm said Thursday, another sign that affording a place to live is a growing challenge for anyone who isn't tied to the booming technology economy.

Mudslide swallows Indian village; at least 41 dead

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 10:01 AM PDT

Indian villagers watch rescue operations at the site of a massive landslide in Malin village in Pune district of western Maharashtra state, India, Thursday, July 31, 2014. Two days of torrential rains triggered the landslide early Wednesday, killing more than two dozen people and trapping more than 150, authorities said. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)MALIN, India (AP) — Rescuers using earth-moving equipment and their bare hands dug through heavy mud and debris Thursday after a landslide engulfed an entire village in western India, killing at least 41 people and leaving about 100 missing and feared dead.


CIA director apologizes to Senate for improper computer searches

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 09:44 AM PDT

What Keeps CIA Director John Brennan Awake At NightWASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director John Brennan is apologizing to Senate intelligence committee leaders after his inspector general found that CIA employees acted improperly when the CIA searched Senate computers earlier this year.


Homeowner who fought off Trump is moving on

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 08:58 AM PDT

Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino towers over Vera Coking's three story rooming house Wednesday, July 23, 2014, in Atlantic City, N.J. The decrepit boarding home owned by the Atlantic City woman who has been turning down multi-million dollar offers for the building in the shadow of Trump Plaza since the 80's is now up for auction. With a reserve price of only $199,000, the fate of the house has gone down along with the city's casino industry. On July 31, the property, at 127 South Columbia Place, will go up for auction. As recently as eight years ago, Donald Trump was willing to pay at least 10 times that amount so he could expand Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)She once called Donald Trump "a maggot, a cockroach and a crumb." This week, he remembered her as "an impossible person."


Twitter twister over 'Sharknado 2' debut

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 08:25 AM PDT

'Sharknado 2' Debuts and Rules the Twitterverse"Sharknado 2," the sequel to the 2013 B-movie hit "Sharknado," premiered on the Syfy channel on Wednesday. And, judging by the reaction on Twitter, it was likely the most-watched movie about a tornado of sharks in the history of television.


Investigators make it to Ukraine jet crash site

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 08:08 AM PDT

The head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission, acting Chief Observer Paul Picard, right, walks with Vadim Artyomov, deputy governor of Rostov region, left, while visiting the Gukovo border checkpoint at Russia-Ukraine border in a small town of Gukovo, 120 kms (75 miles ) from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. The mission will be based in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, in the Rostov-on-Don region. (AP Photo/Sergei Pivovarov)ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) — As fighting raged in eastern Ukraine, an international team of investigators on Thursday reached the crash site of the Malaysia Airline Flight 17 and got a first look at where it was brought down by a missile two weeks ago.


VIDEO: UN official breaks down on camera discussing Gaza crisis

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 07:53 AM PDT

VIDEO: UN official breaks down on camera discussing Gaza crisisUN official Chris Gunness broke down in tears while filming an Al-Jazeera Arabic interview on July 30, after a UN school, sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians, was shelled. Gunness is a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and was discussing the "appalling" denial of rights for Palestinians when he broke down in tears. Gunness's appearance has struck a chord with many viewers, perhaps because, as he tweeted himself, "There are times when tears speak more eloquently than words." Credit: Al-Jazeera


Consequential ruling for Wisconsin same-sex couples

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 07:22 AM PDT

Rose Grindrod, center, gets married to Meghan Hamilton, as she hold their son Harry Hamilton, outside the City-County Building the day after the ban on same-sex marriage was struck down in Wisconsin, in Madison, Wis., Saturday, June 7, 2014. Dozens of gay couples married Saturday at courthouses in Milwaukee and Madison, taking advantage of what most believed would be a small window in which to get hitched before a judge's decision overturning the state's same-sex marriage ban was put on hold. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, Amber Arnold)The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 2009 law that establishes a registry for same-sex couples, saying it does not violate an amendment to the state's constitution banning gay marriage. The same-sex marriage ban was approved by Wisconsin voters in 2006. It now has more than 2,000 couples on it, according to Fair Wisconsin, a gay-rights organization based in Madison. Wisconsin Family Action, an anti-gay rights group, argued in a 2010 lawsuit that the registry violated the amendment because it resembles marriage under state law.


Ebola outbreak death toll rises: 729

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 07:05 AM PDT

Will Ebola Be The Next Pandemic? - TestTube Daily ShowNigerian authorities identified 59 people who had contact with U.S. citizen who died in Lagos last week.


The impending death of Libya's dream to be a democracy

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 06:18 AM PDT

A masked Libyan gunman stands on a street in the eastern city of Benghazi, early on July 29, 2014, as violence flaresSince then, a chaotic welter of regional militias has been competing for riches and influence. No ordinary turf war, the latest fighting could define Libya's future and perhaps end its dream of democracy. The violence is most likely a calculated attempt at politics by other means, says Karim Mezran at the Atlantic Council, a think-tank in Washington. Libya's political landscape has polarized sharply in recent months between Islamists who have dominated the interim parliament and their non-Islamist rivals.


Gaza crisis overwhelms United Nations, leaves it broke

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 05:45 AM PDT

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike hit the offices of the Hamas movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 31, 2014. Israel said Thursday it has called up another 16,000 reservists, allowing it to potentially widen its Gaza operation against the territory's Hamas rulers in a war that has killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and more than 50 Israelis. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Noah Browning GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United Nations in Gaza is struggling to withstand a flood of almost a quarter of a million refugees into shelters that have repeatedly come under Israeli fire. Out of cash, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main U.N. body in the impoverished enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians, says it can barely handle the humanitarian crisis unleashed by more than three weeks of fighting between militants and Israel. Asked to explain the scale of the civilian suffering to an Arab news station, an UNRWA spokesman simply burst into tears. Mine pale into insignificance compared with Gaza's," Chris Gunness said.


Investigators reach Ukraine jet crash site

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 04:57 AM PDT

The head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission, acting Chief Observer Paul Picard, right, walks with Vadim Artyomov, deputy governor of Rostov region, left, while visiting the Gukovo border checkpoint at Russia-Ukraine border in a small town of Gukovo, 120 kms (75 miles ) from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. The mission will be based in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, in the Rostov-on-Don region. (AP Photo/Sergei Pivovarov)ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) — An international team of investigators in eastern Ukraine on Thursday reached the crash site of the Malaysia Airline Flight 17 for the first time.


Investigators reach Ukraine crash site

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 04:26 AM PDT

The head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission, acting Chief Observer Paul Picard, right, walks with Vadim Artyomov, deputy governor of Rostov region, left, while visiting the Gukovo border checkpoint at Russia-Ukraine border in a small town of Gukovo, 120 kms (75 miles ) from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. The mission will be based in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, in the Rostov-on-Don region. (AP Photo/Sergei Pivovarov)ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) — An international team of investigators in eastern Ukraine on Thursday reached the crash site of the Malaysia Airline Flight 17 for the first time.


Investigators say they reach Ukraine crash site

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 04:10 AM PDT

The head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission, acting Chief Observer Paul Picard, right, walks with Vadim Artyomov, deputy governor of Rostov region, left, while visiting the Gukovo border checkpoint at Russia-Ukraine border in a small town of Gukovo, 120 kms (75 miles ) from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. The mission will be based in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, in the Rostov-on-Don region. (AP Photo/Sergei Pivovarov)KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — An international team of investigators in eastern Ukraine has for the first time reached the crash site of the Malaysia Airline Flight 17.


Ukrainian parliament votes to keep PM Yatsenyuk

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 03:23 AM PDT

The head of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission, acting Chief Observer Paul Picard, right, walks with Vadim Artyomov, deputy governor of Rostov region, left, while visiting the Gukovo border checkpoint at Russia-Ukraine border in a small town of Gukovo, 120 kms (75 miles ) from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. The mission will be based in the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy, in the Rostov-on-Don region. (AP Photo/Sergei Pivovarov)KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's parliament has voted not to accept the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.


Mudslide swallows Indian village; at least 30 dead

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 02:34 AM PDT

An Indian village woman cries as she watches a rescue operation at the site of a landslide in Malin village, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a remote village in western India on Wednesday, killing more than a dozen people as it swept away scores of houses and possibly trapping many more people under debris, officials said. (AP Photo)MALIN, India (AP) — Rescuers using earth-moving equipment and their bare hands dug through heavy mud and debris Thursday after a landslide engulfed an entire village in western India, killing at least 30 people and leaving about 100 missing and feared dead.


AP Exclusive: Study blames lost calves on panthers

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 02:18 AM PDT

FILE- In this Jan. 30, 1997 file photo, An adult male Florida panther growels as he leaves his shipping container to enter his new home at Big Cypress National Preserve, Fla. A University of Florida study has found that as the Florida panther population has rebounded, ranchers are loosing more cattle to panther attacks. The study will help determine how to compensate ranchers for their losses. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith, File)IMMOKALEE, Fla. (AP) — Since Florida's frontier days when cattlemen drove their herds through the state's vast fields and forests, ranchers and native panthers have been natural enemies.


Matt Bai: Why is Rand Paul reaching out to black voters?

Posted: 31 Jul 2014 02:01 AM PDT

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul talks to attendees at the National Urban League Annual Conference in Cincinnati Friday July 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Tom Uhlman)You've got to give this much to Rand Paul: Kentucky's junior senator is willing to do something almost unheard of in modern presidential politics, which is to make arguments that not everyone in his party already cares about. For this reason alone, Paul is probably the most interesting presidential hopeful out there, if not the most likely to succeed.


mercredi 30 juillet 2014

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines


House set to take up VA overhaul bill

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 01:04 PM PDT

House Veterans' Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., joined by Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio, left, and incoming Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., right, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 29, 2014, about a compromise bill to help veterans avoid long waits for health care, hire more doctors and nurses to treat them, and make it easier to fire executives at the Veterans Affairs Department. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) — With a new Veterans Affairs secretary in place and an August recess looming, Congress is likely to move quickly to approve a compromise bill to refurbish the VA and improve veterans' health care.


3 Putin allies among 8 hit with new EU sanctions

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 12:47 PM PDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Three long-time Putin associates are among eight people who have been hit with new European Union sanctions, an official EU document showed Wednesday.

Insanity plea mulled for prom stabbing suspect

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 12:32 PM PDT

Christopher Plaskon, 17, third from left, appears in Superior Court in Milford, Conn., on Wednesday, June 4, 2014. Plaskon, charged with stabbing a classmate to death in school on their prom day, pleaded not guilty to murder Wednesday as his attorney said he was investigating a possible mental health defense. From left, are attorney Edward Gavin, Plaskon's uncle and guardian Paul Healy, Plaskon and attorney Richard Meehan Jr. (AP Photo/New Haven Register, Arnold Gold, Pool)Lawyers for a Connecticut high school student accused of murdering a female classmate hours before their junior court began talks on Wednesday on whether to amend his plea to not guilty based on insanity or on related grounds. Christopher Plaskon, 17, pleaded not guilty in June to the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Maren Sanchez. At a pretrial hearing at Connecticut Superior Court in Milford on Wednesday, his attorney, Richard Meehan, began discussions with Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti on which variant of the plea to enter. Plaskon has been charged with stabbing Sanchez in the chest, neck and face with a kitchen knife in a stairwell at Jonathan Law High School on April 25, the day of the school prom.


Dissent quieted with most Israelis behind Gaza war

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 12:16 PM PDT

FILE - In this Monday, July 14, 2014 photo, a right-wing Israeli holds a flag and wears a Star of David patch resembling the one Jews were forced to wear in the Nazi Germany period, during a demonstration in Jerusalem. The demonstrators chanted JERUSALEM (AP) — Despite Israeli casualties and world criticism, a near-consensus in Israel supports the government's conduct of the Gaza war, views Hamas as the aggressor and considers outsiders' moralizing as hypocritical, ignorant or both. And in an echo-chamber fed by ubiquitous updates on Hamas rocket and tunnel attacks, the minority of local voices that do agonize over Gazans' suffering are being silenced in a way rarely seen in a country long proud of its spirited, democratic debate.


UCLA wades through damage caused by flooding

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 11:44 AM PDT

Worker Ruben Monter mops up the floor at Pauley Pavillion Wednesday July 30, 2014 in Los Angeles. A ruptured 93-year-old water main on Tuesday left the UCLA campus awash in 8 million gallons of water in the middle of California's worst drought in decades, stranding people in parking garages and flooding the school's storied basketball court less than two years after a major renovation. (AP Photo/ Nick Ut)LOS ANGELES (AP) — A ruptured 93-year-old water main left the UCLA campus awash in 8 million gallons of water in the middle of California's worst drought in decades, stranding people in parking garages and flooding the school's storied basketball court less than two years after a major renovation.


Feds investigating for fraud in D.C. building projects

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 11:14 AM PDT

An F.B.I. evidence response team collects evidence at Building 197 at the Washington Navy YardFederal investigators looking for fraud in the nation's capital are scrutinizing a program meant to give local contractors a share of major construction projects, people familiar with the probe have told The Associated Press.


Argentine football chief Grondona dies

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 10:58 AM PDT

Argentina Football Association (AFA) president Julio Grondona walks along the pitch before the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 South American qualifier football match against Venezuela at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, on March 22, 2013Julio Grondona, the veteran president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and FIFA vice-president, died on Wednesday at the age of 82 in a Buenos Aires clinic, AFA sources reported. The all-powerful figure, who had been in charge of Argentine football since 1979, had been taken to hospital suffering from heart problems and died while undergoing emergency surgery. Earlier this week he had held meetings with Alejandro Sabella, who decided not to continue as Argentina coach after leading the team to the World Cup final in Brazil recently.


Probe exposes flaws behind HealthCare.gov rollout

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 10:26 AM PDT

FILE - This Nov. 29, 2013, file photo shows a part of the HealthCare.gov website, photographed in Washington. If you have health insurance on your job, you probably don't give much thought to each year's renewal. But make the same assumption in one of the new health law plans, and it could lead to costly surprises. Insurance exchange customers who opt for convenience by automatically renewing their coverage for 2015 are likely to receive dated and inaccurate financial aid amounts from the government, say industry officials, advocates and other experts. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)Officials tell The Associated Press that a nonpartisan investigative report concludes that management failures by the Obama administration set the stage for the computer problems that paralyzed the HealthCare.gov website last fall.


Strike on crowded Gaza area kills 16, wounds 150

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 10:10 AM PDT

Palestinians help carry injured men following an Israeli Strike in Shijaiyah neighborhood, eastern Gaza City, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike hit a crowded Gaza shopping area on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 150, hours after Israeli tank shells slammed into a U.N. school sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing 15 people, Gaza health officials said.


A more vigorous US economy appears to be emerging

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 09:55 AM PDT

In this July 17, 2014 photo, construction workers build a commercial complex in Springfield, Ill. The government issues its first of three estimates of how fast the U.S. economy grew in the April-June quarter on Wednesday, July 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy has rebounded with vigor from a grim start to 2014 and should show renewed strength into next year.


Senate reprieve for highly contested border bill

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 09:24 AM PDT

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, arrives for a meeting of the Republican Conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 29, 2014. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill to deal with the immigration crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border has won a temporary reprieve in the Senate.


Dubai, European airlines divert flights over Iraq

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 09:08 AM PDT

BAGHDAD (AP) — European and Dubai-based airlines have begun rerouting flights over Iraqi airspace as a security precaution, though Iraq says its skies are safe.

Israeli strike on Gaza market kills 15, wounds 150

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 08:52 AM PDT

A Palestinian girl cries while receiving treatment for her injuries caused by an Israeli strike at a U.N. school in Jebaliya refugee camp, at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. Several Israeli tank shells slammed into the crowded U.N. school used as shelter for refugees in the Gaza war early on Wednesday, a Palestinian health official and a U.N. official said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza health officials say 15 people have been killed and more than 150 wounded by an Israeli airstrike in a crowded shopping area.


Ukraine: Clashes prevent visit to jet debris site

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 08:36 AM PDT

Alexander Hug, deputy head of the OSCE mission to Ukraine, left, his colleagues and a pro-Russian rebel, 2nd left, examine a map as they try to estimate security conditions outside the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Wednesday, July 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Almost two weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 went down, clashes on Wednesday between Ukrainian forces and separatist rebels again prevented international experts from reaching the crash site to recover remains still baking in midsummer heat in farm fields — deepening frustration for victims' relatives and the governments whose citizens died.


Landslide hits Indian village, killing at least 17

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 08:20 AM PDT

Mud and slush surround a building after a mudslide in Malin village, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a remote village in western India Wednesday, sweeping away scores of houses and possibly trapping more than 150 people, officials said. (AP Photo/Press Trust of India) INDIA OUTNEW DELHI (AP) — Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a remote village in western India on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people as it swept away scores of houses and possibly trapping many more people under debris, officials said.


2 women survive ordeal along Indiana rail bridge

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 07:49 AM PDT

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A video camera captured the terrifying plight of two women who became trapped on an 80-foot-high railroad bridge in Indiana when a freight train surprised them as they walked along the tracks.

Russia counts cost of new economic sanctions

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 07:33 AM PDT

Russian President Vladimir Putin heads the Cabinet meeting in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence, outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. The meeting focused on measures to encourage Russian companies to pull their assets back from offshores. The United States and the European Union on Tuesday announced a raft of new sanctions against Russian companies and banks over Moscow's support for separatists in Ukraine. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service)MOSCOW (AP) — Russia blasted the West's new economic sanctions on Wednesday, accusing the U.S. of being "prosecutorial" in its drive to impose penalties on the country's key energy and finance sectors.


US economy grew at strong 4 percent rate in spring

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 07:01 AM PDT

In this July 17, 2014 photo, construction workers build a commercial complex in Springfield, Ill. The government issues its first of three estimates of how fast the U.S. economy grew in the April-June quarter on Wednesday, July 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)WASHINGTON (AP) — After a dismal winter, the U.S. economy sprang back to life in the April-June quarter, growing at a fast 4 percent annual rate on the strength of higher consumer and business spending.


Yes, we do negotiate with terrorists

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 06:15 AM PDT

An image taken on April 16, 2014 from a video released by Al-Malahem Media, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), allegedly shows AQAP jihadists arriving at a meeting with their chief Nasser al-Wuhayshi, in YemenNYT: al-Qaeda now funds terror operations via $125 million ransom paid by European governments.


Bolt upset over report he criticized Glasgow Games

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 05:59 AM PDT

Double Olympic champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica, centre, watches the women's pool A netball match between Jamaica and New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014, in Glasgow, Scotland, Wednesday, July, 30, 2014. Bolt is the center of attention at the Commonwealth Games after mingling with British royalty on Tuesday and being quoted in a British National newspaper saying that he was GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Even before stepping on the track, Usain Bolt is causing a stir at the Commonwealth Games.


VIDEO: Narrow escape from death on Indiana train bridge

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 05:44 AM PDT

VIDEO: Narrow escape from death on Indiana train bridgeTwo trespassers narrowly escaped death on a rail bridge, according to the Indiana Rail Road Company, as a 14,000-ton freight train approached.


15 killed at Gaza UN school; Israel holds fire

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 05:29 AM PDT

A Palestinian girl cries while receiving treatment for her injuries caused by an Israeli strike at a U.N. school in Jebaliya refugee camp, at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. Several Israeli tank shells slammed into the crowded U.N. school used as shelter for refugees in the Gaza war early on Wednesday, a Palestinian health official and a U.N. official said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli tank shells slammed into a crowded U.N. school sheltering Gazans displaced by fighting on Wednesday, killing 15 and wounding 90 after tearing through the walls of two classrooms, a spokesman for a U.N. aid agency and a health official said.


Israel says it will hold Gaza fire for 4 hours

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 05:13 AM PDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military has declared a four-hour cease-fire in some areas of the Gaza Strip, saying it's for humanitarian reasons.

Ukraine official: Rebels lay mines near crash site

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 04:26 AM PDT

Alexander Hug, deputy head of the OSCE mission to Ukraine, left, his colleagues and a pro-Russian rebel, 2nd left, examine a map as they try to estimate security conditions outside the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Wednesday, July 30, 2014. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — International observers turned back Wednesday after making another attempt to reach the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 went down in eastern Ukraine, and a government official said the area near the zone had been mined by pro-Russian separatists who control it.


How high-level Chinese officials are taken down

Posted: 30 Jul 2014 04:10 AM PDT

In this photo taken Wednesday Nov. 14, 2012, Zhou Yongkang, then Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of security, raises his hand to show approval for a work report during the closing ceremony for the 18th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. China's ruling Communist Party announced Tuesday, July 29, 2014 an investigation into the former security chief, a move that usually paves the way for criminal prosecution. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)BEIJING (AP) — The investigation into China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang could pave the way for him to stand trial as the most senior politician ever prosecuted for graft. It's hard to predict how his case will be handled in the opaque, secretive world of Chinese politics, but here's how such prosecutions tend to play out, though not necessarily always in this sequence: