mercredi 31 décembre 2014

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines


U.S. drone rules remain in the hangar in 2014

Posted: 31 Dec 2014 11:51 AM PST

By Alwyn Scott and Roberta Rampton NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States missed a year-end deadline for publishing new rules on remote-control aircraft, delaying an eagerly awaited step toward using drones in everything from farming to package delivery. Businesses have been clamoring for rules to allow commercial drone flights, fearing the United States is falling behind other countries in developing a multibillion-dollar industry. The Federal Aviation Administration turned a draft of the rules - the first major overhaul of the regulations - over to the White House on Oct. ...

Two dead, more than 100 drivers stranded amid Southern California winter storm

Posted: 31 Dec 2014 10:46 AM PST

(Reuters) - Two people, including a harbor patrolman, died on a wind-beaten Southern California coastal island and emergency crews rescued more than 100 drivers trapped in the snow-caked mountains outside Los Angeles as a fierce winter storm crept over the region, officials said on Wednesday. A harbor patrolman was killed in a boating accident in the City of Avalon on wind-battered Catalina Island, off the southern California coast, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Local broadcast footage showed wind-whipped ocean waters pushing two boats up onto the beach. ...

Beach parties, fireworks: World rings in new year

Posted: 31 Dec 2014 10:12 AM PST

Fireworks explode over the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge during New Years Eve celebrations in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. Thousands of people crammed into Lady Macquaries Chair to watch the annual fireworks show. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)After a turbulent year marred by terror woes, Ebola outbreaks and a horrific series of airline disasters, many could be forgiven for saying good riddance to 2014 and gratefully ringing in a new year.


New laws OK wine shipments, ban tiger selfies

Posted: 31 Dec 2014 07:44 AM PST

'Tiger Selfie Ban' Will Actually Protect Tiger CubsNew state laws taking effect Thursday give livestock in California more living room, approve direct-to-consumer wine shipments in Massachusetts and levy the ultimate punishment on wannabe teen drivers in Nevada by denying them licenses if they skip too much school.


Head of Baltimore Ravens security charged with sex offense: report

Posted: 31 Dec 2014 01:08 AM PST

(Reuters) - The senior director of security for the Baltimore Ravens was charged late on Tuesday with a sex offense, according to the Baltimore Sun newspaper and online court records. Baltimore police issued a summons charging Darren Sanders with a sex offense in the fourth degree stemming from an incident on Dec. 14, according to online court records. The address listed for Sanders in the court record is that of the Ravens' training facility and headquarters in Owings Mills, Maryland. ...

Exclusive: CDC to hire lab safety chief after Ebola, bird flu mishaps

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 10:23 PM PST

A general view of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in AtlantaBy Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to hire a chief of laboratory safety, a new post that has taken on more urgency after a CDC scientist was possibly exposed to Ebola in a laboratory last week. Creating a new high-level safety position was a key recommendation of a months-long internal investigation into the mishandling of anthrax and bird flu in CDC labs this past summer, according to an internal CDC memo obtained by Reuters. ...


U.S. releases 5 Guantanamo prisoners, sends them to Kazakhstan

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 09:50 PM PST

FILE - In this March 1, 2002 file photo, a detainee is escorted to interrogation by U.S. military guards at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba. The U.S. government announced Tuesday Dec. 30, 2014, that five men who were held for a dozen years without charge at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been sent to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan for resettlement. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton, File)MIAMI (AP) — Five men who were held for a dozen years without charge at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been sent to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan for resettlement, the U.S. government announced.


Police kill Pennsylvania man as he tried to run down officers

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 09:34 PM PST

(Reuters) - Police in Pennsylvania shot and killed a man on Tuesday who tried to use his car to run over officers as they attempted to arrest him on charges of making online terroristic threats against law enforcement, officials said. Police in Upper Darby Township, a suburb of Philadelphia, were trying to serve an arrest warrant on the 52-year-old man when the late afternoon shooting occurred on a well-traveled intersection, a department official said. As officers approached, the suspect put his car in reverse, stepped on the gas, and rammed a police vehicle, a police report said. ...

U.S. sends five Guantanamo prisoners to Kazakhstan for resettlement

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 09:02 PM PST

The interior of an unoccupied communal cellblock is seen at Camp VI, a prison used to house detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo BayWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three Yemenis and two Tunisians held for more than a decade at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo have been flown to Kazakhstan for resettlement, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, the latest in a flurry of prisoner transfers aimed at closing the facility. The transfer of the five men followed a recent pledge by President Barack Obama for a stepped-up push to shut the internationally condemned detention center where most prisoners have been held without being charged or tried. ...


Penny for her thoughts: Puppy heads home after 2,400-mile U.S. road trip

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 08:12 PM PST

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A puppy called Penny could be reunited with her worry-stricken U.S. owners by week's end after she went on a nearly 2,400-mile road trip that took her to an Iowa truck stop and a Pennsylvania pet hospital, her family said on Tuesday. The floppy-eared Vizsla has one more stop before returning home to Washington state. She has to travel from Pennsylvania, where she has been in foster care, to the District of Columbia for a free ride home from U.S. carrier Alaska Airlines, her owners said in a message on Saturday on a Facebook page devoted to finding her. ...

Official: 6 bodies recovered from AirAsia crash

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 07:23 PM PST

Searchers resume hunt for bodies from AirAsia jetPANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's Search and Rescue chief says six bodies lost in the AirAsia crash have so far been recovered from the Java Sea, including a woman wearing a flight attendant's uniform.


Tensions remain after New York City mayor meets police unions

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 04:44 PM PST

Blasio speaks with Bratton on stage during the New York City Police Academy Graduating class ceremony in New YorkBy Jonathan Allen and Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Reuters) - Police union leaders said their grievances with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio remained unresolved after meeting with him on Tuesday, 10 days after they said he was partly to blame for a gunman's deadly attack on two policemen. The meeting came after a marked drop in arrests across the city last week. One city newspaper said the decline was evidence of a "virtual work stoppage", but city officials were unable to say on Tuesday whether or not a police slowdown was under way. ...


Reports: 9 dead from linked homicides in in Canada

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 03:24 PM PST

Police investigate multiple homicides in EdmontonNine people have been killed in three related incidents in the western Canadian city of Edmonton, Canadian media reported on Tuesday. CBC TV said seven people were killed in a home in the Albertan city while two others were killed in two separate homes. The Edmonton Journal newspaper said some of the victims are believed to be children. Edmonton police said they were investigating "a multiple homicide scene." Police did not state the number of people killed nor whether the incidents were connected. ...


mardi 30 décembre 2014

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines


House Speaker John Boehner lends support to Whip Steve Scalise over speech scandal

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 12:06 PM PST

In this Nov. 18, 2014 file photo, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., right, with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., left, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, following a House GOP caucus meeting. Scalise acknowledged that he once addressed a gathering of white supremacists. Scalise served in the Louisiana Legislature when he appeared at a 2002 convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization. Now he is the third-highest ranked House Republican in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)House Speaker John Boehner issued a statement of support for Rep. Steve Scalise who appeared at a 2002 convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization.


Police say officer in Berkeley, Missouri, shooting acted in self-defense

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 11:32 AM PST

Toni Martin, mother of Antonio Martin, who was fatally shot, attends a prayer vigil in Berkeley, MissouriBy Mark Guarino (Reuters) - An 18-year-old man fatally shot by police in Berkeley, Missouri, last week was pointing a gun at an officer, according to a police investigation of the incident. Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall told a news conference on Tuesday that Antonio Martin "was armed and pointing a weapon at the officer" before he was shot outside a gas station convenience store on Dec. 23. The killing sparked protests, with demonstrators saying the shooting was unjustified and that race was a factor. Martin was black and the officer is white. ...


Judge accepts former South Carolina sheriff's guilty plea for bribery

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 11:15 AM PST

By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A former South Carolina county sheriff pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants in a deal that federal prosecutors said could land him in prison after a judge rejected a similar deal that had called for only probation. James Metts, 68, was the state's longest-serving sheriff, having worked for Lexington County from 1972 until this year. He was suspended from office in June after being indicted on 10 criminal counts and resigned earlier this month. ...

New York City mayor to meet police unions to defuse tensions

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 10:56 AM PST

Blasio speaks with Bratton on stage during the New York City Police Academy Graduating class ceremony in New YorkBy Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was to meet on Tuesday with the leaders of police unions who accused him of having blood on his hands after two policemen were shot dead in an ambush 10 days ago. De Blasio, whose turbulent relationship with his police department has become the gravest crisis of his year-old mayoralty, called the meeting to "foster constructive and responsible dialogue," his press secretary, Phil Walzak, wrote in an e-mail. ...


Former U.S. President Bush, 90, released from Houston hospital: spokesman

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 10:23 AM PST

Former President George H. W. Bush applauds during an event to honor the winner of the 5,000th Daily Point of Light Award at the White House in Washington in this file photoAUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, 90, was released from a Houston hospital on Tuesday after a weeklong stay brought on by breathing difficulties, his spokesman said. "President Bush was released from the Houston Methodist Hospital today," spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement. "He is now resting at home, grateful to the doctors and nurses for their superb care." Bush was taken by ambulance to Houston Methodist Hospital the night of Dec. 23 and admitted for observation after experiencing shortness of breath, McGrath said. ...


Iran sets date for nuclear talks

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 09:16 AM PST

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif arrives at the Iranian embassy for lunch with former European Union foreign policy chief Ashton in ViennaDUBAI (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers are set to resume low-level talks on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva on Jan 15, with wide gaps remaining in their positions, the Iranian foreign minister said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the lead negotiator for Iran with the six powers known as "P5+1," made the remarks in a closed-door session with members of the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee, according to state news agency IRNA. "We have stood firm and demand lifting of all sanctions at once," Zarif said. ...


Boehner comments on Grimm's resignation

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 08:27 AM PST

File photo of U.S. Representative Michael Grimm of New York at a news conference after his guilty plea at the Brooklyn federal court in New YorkWASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that N.Y. Rep. Michael Grimm made the right decision by resigning from Congress after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges.


Wreckage, bodies reveal jet's fate days after it disappeared

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 08:11 AM PST

Wreckage, bodies reveal jet's fate days after it disappearedImages of debris and a bloated body flash across Indonesian television screens.


Lawyer says U.S. offered prisoner swap for ex-Marine held in Iran

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 07:54 AM PST

The armed forces identification card of Iranian-American Amir Mirza Hekmati, who has been sentenced to death by Iran's Revolutionary Court on the charge of spying for the CIA, is seen in this undated still image taken from videoDUBAI (Reuters) - A lawyer for an Iranian-American former U.S. Marine jailed in Tehran was reported on Tuesday as saying the United States had sought his release through a prisoner swap, but officials in Washington denied any proposed exchange. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, attorney for former Marine Amir Hekmati, told Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency that the United States had made the request and it had been put to Iran's judiciary, which has not yet responded. "The US has submitted the request via its interest section in Iran," Tabatabai was quoted by Tasnim as saying. ...


Texas woman pleads guilty in revenge murder of prosecutors

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 07:37 AM PST

DALLAS (Reuters) - A woman charged with helping her husband kill a Texas district attorney, his wife and an assistant district attorney pleaded guilty to murder on Tuesday. Kim Williams, 48, accepted a plea deal to three counts of first-degree murder and will serve 40 years in prison, court officials said. Her husband, Eric Williams, was convicted and sentenced to death earlier this month for the murder of Cynthia McLelland. He is also charged with murdering District Attorney Mike McLelland, who was Cynthia's husband, and Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse. ...

What is the 'Car of the Year'?

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 06:32 AM PST


Gun deaths for U.S. officers rose by 56 percent in 2014: report

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 06:16 AM PST

Combination image shows mourning bands placed over different police badges at the funeral of slain NYPD officer Rafael Ramos at Christ Tabernacle Church in the Queens borough of New York(Reuters) - Gun related deaths of U.S. law enforcement officers rose by 56 percent in 2014 compared to the previous year, with about one-third of officers killed in an ambush, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said on Tuesday. Across the country, 50 officers were killed by guns in 2014 compared to 32 in 2013, according to the website of the non-profit fund, which aims to increase safety for law enforcement officers. The most deadly states were California, Texas, New York, Florida and Georgia, the group said. ...


Cargo vessel carrying migrants sent distress signal

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 04:53 AM PST

Greek PM on victims of burning ferry: ATHENS (Reuters) - A vessel that called for help off Greece is a Moldovan-flagged cargo ship believed to be carrying migrants, Greece's shipping ministry said on Tuesday. Greek state television earlier reported a passenger ship issued a distress signal because of armed people on board. The "Blue Sky M" was sailing off the island of Corfu, a shipping ministry spokesman said. The vessel was carrying hundreds of migrants, Greek television stations reported. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Andrew Heavens)


Health worker with Ebola transferred to London hospital

Posted: 30 Dec 2014 02:31 AM PST

An Ebola patient is put on a Hercules transport plane at Glasgow AirportLONDON (Reuters) - A health worker who was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in Britain arrived at a London hospital from Scotland early on Tuesday for treatment after contracting the disease in West Africa. The woman arrived at the capital's Royal Free hospital, Britain's designated Ebola treatment center, in an ambulance accompanied by several police vehicles, a Reuters witness said. ...


Representative Grimm to step down following guilty plea, reports say

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 07:38 PM PST

U.S. Representative Michael Grimm of New York at a news conference after his guilty plea at the Brooklyn federal court in New YorkBy Victoria Cavaliere (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Michael Grimm of New York, who pleaded guilty last week to a federal felony tax charge, is expected to resign from office in coming days, published reports said Monday. Grimm spoke privately on Monday with Republican leaders about the decision, sources told the Washington Post and Politico. Grimm could hand in his resignation as early as next Tuesday, the reports said. Following his guilty plea, Grimm said publicly he had no intention of stepping down. Daniel Rashbaum, one of Grimm's lawyers, declined to comment on the reports. ...


Three New York City fur vendors charged with tossing bleach on protesters

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 06:15 PM PST

(Reuters) - Three New York City fur vendors have been charged with throwing a mixture of bleach and ammonia from the roof of a Manhattan building onto anti-fur protesters and pedestrians on the street below, authorities said on Monday. The incident occurred on a crowded street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood during the late afternoon of Dec. 20, when at least four people and a baby stroller were hit by the chemical mixture in an area crowded with holiday shoppers, police said. There were no reports of injuries. ...

House GOP leader once addressed white supremacists

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 04:19 PM PST

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2014 file photo, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., right, with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., left, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, following a House GOP caucus meeting. Scalise acknowledged that he once addressed a gathering of white supremacists. Scalise served in the Louisiana Legislature when he appeared at a 2002 convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization. Now he is the third-highest ranked House Republican in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)As Republicans struggle to attract more votes from minorities heading into the 2016 presidential election, a House GOP leader has acknowledged that he once addressed a gathering of white supremacists, though his office denies any association with the group's social views.


L.A. police officers shot unarmed black man three times: autopsy

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 04:00 PM PST

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck speaks to the media after the Los Angeles County Coroner released an autopsy report on the LAPD's shooting of Ezell Ford in Los AngelesBy Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An unarmed 25-year-old black man slain by Los Angeles police officers in August suffered three gunshot wounds, including one to his back, a long-awaited autopsy report into the killing showed on Monday. Police have said two officers shot Ezell Ford, described by a family lawyer as mentally challenged, on Aug. 11 after he struggled with one of them and tried to grab the officer's holstered gun. ...


British patient being treated for Ebola

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 01:29 PM PST

File - April 7 2008 file photo of the Gartnavel Royal Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland. Scottish authorities say a health care worker who has just returned from Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in a Glasgow hospital. The Scottish government says the patient flew to Glasgow via Casablanca and London's Heathrow Airport, arriving late Sunday Dec. 28, 2014 and was admitted to the hospital on Monday Dec. 29 2014. (AP Photo / Danny Lawson,PA File) UNITED KINGDOM OUT, NO SALES, NO ARCHIVEA female health care worker had just returned from Sierra Leone, officials say.


lundi 29 décembre 2014

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines

Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines


Lost plane's request to change course was denied

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 10:59 AM PST

In crowded skies, lost plane's request for new path deniedThe plane sought permission to climb above threatening clouds. Air traffic control couldn't say yes immediately — there was no room. Six other airliners were crowding the airspace, forcing AirAsia Flight 8501 to remain at a lower altitude.


Census puts U.S. population at 320.09 mln, up 0.7 percent from year-ago

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 08:44 AM PST

People sit on the beach at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New YorkWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. population is seen at 320.09 million people as of Jan. 1, up 0.73 percent from a year earlier, the Census Bureau said on Monday. The Census Bureau said in a statement that the figure represents an increase of about 11.35 million people, or 3.67 percent, since the last population count on April 1, 2010. "In January 2015, the U.S. is expected to experience a birth every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds. Meanwhile, net international migration is expected to add one person to the U.S. population every 33 seconds," the Census Bureau said. ...


Texas police investigate deaths of four people in Fort Worth area home

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 07:35 AM PST

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Police in Texas responding to a possible suicide at a home in suburban Fort Worth found the bodies of a man, two women and a girl inside the residence, officials said on Monday. A 9-year-old boy found alive in the home has been placed in protective custody and is being interviewed about the incident that took place on Sunday, police said. The boy called a relative, saying there was a man inside who was trying to kill himself. That relative then called police who went to the house in Crowley, south of Fort Worth. ...

Missing AirAsia plane may be at 'bottom of sea'

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 06:43 AM PST

Family members of passengers onboard missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 cry at a waiting area in Juanda International Airport, SurabayaBy Gayatri Suroyo and Fergus Jensen SURABAYA, Indonesia/JAKARTA (Reuters) - A missing AirAsia jet carrying 162 people could be at the bottom of the sea after it was presumed to have crashed off the Indonesian coast, an official said on Monday, as countries around Asia sent ships and planes to help in the search. The Indonesia AirAsia plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday. ...


FDA approves Roche Ebola test for emergency use

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 04:25 AM PST

The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside the Shanghai Roche Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. headquarters in ShanghaiZURICH (Reuters) - Roche Holding AG said U.S. health regulators have approved its Ebola test for emergency use in response to the world's worst outbreak of the disease in West Africa. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Roche's LightMix Ebola Zaire rRT-PCR Test for use on patients with signs and symptoms of Ebola Zaire virus infection, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement. Roche said the LightMix test can generate results in just over three hours, helping to detect the virus quickly so treatment can start as soon as possible. ...


Italy's Renzi says four more dead recovered from ferry

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 04:08 AM PST

Passenger is helped as he leaves from the ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Monday that four more bodies had been recovered from the car ferry that caught fire off the coast of Greece, bringing the death toll to five. Renzi said during an end-year press conference that about 60 passengers remained on board more than 24 hours after the fire started and they would be brought to safety within "a few hours". Rescue efforts of the more than 470 passengers originally aboard the ship have been hampered by high winds and rough seas. (Reporting by Steve Scherer)


Sony: PlayStation back online after 3-day outage

Posted: 29 Dec 2014 02:11 AM PST

FILE- This March 8, 2012 file photo shows attendees walking past the Sony PlayStation PS Vita console on display in the Sony PlayStation booth at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Sony says its PlayStation Network is back online after three days of disruptions that began on Christmas. But heavy traffic might continue to cause problems for customers seeking to play their favorite games, the company said Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)Sony says its PlayStation Network is back online after three days of disruptions that began on Christmas.


Italy says 265 rescued from ferry, more than 200 still stranded

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 10:46 PM PST

Handout video grab showing a person being lifted on an Italian Navy helicopter as the car ferry Norman Atlantic burns in waters off GreeceROME (Reuters) - Rescue teams working through the night have pulled 265 people off a stricken car ferry which caught fire off the coast of Greece but more than 200 are stranded on board, the Italian navy said on Monday. Helicopter crews have been slowly airlifting passengers from the upper deck of the Norman Atlantic, which caught fire in the early hours of Sunday and began drifting in rough seas between Greece and Italy. A medical team and a flight operator are on the vessel to assist the 213 passengers and crew who remain aboard as the rescue continues, the navy said. ...


Hundreds still awaiting airlift on stricken Italian ferry

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 10:31 PM PST

Handout video grab showing a person being lifted on an Italian Navy helicopter as the car ferry Norman Atlantic burns in waters off GreeceBy Renee Maltezou and Gavin Jones ATHENS/ROME (Reuters) - Italian and Greek helicopter crews worked into the night to airlift passengers off a burning ferry adrift in the Adriatic Sea, battling darkness and bad weather that hampered rescue efforts by other ships throughout Sunday. Helicopters were plucking passengers off the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic and transferring them to a nearby vessel, after a dramatic day that began when a fire broke out on its lower deck in the early hours. ...


Tensions with New York City police go beyond racial issues: commissioner

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 08:07 PM PST

Law enforcement officers turn their backs on a live video monitor showing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has he speaks at the funeral of slain New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Rafael Ramos in New YorkBy Frank McGurty NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tensions between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the police are rooted in issues that go beyond racial relations, the police commissioner said on Sunday, a day after the funeral of one of the two officers slain a week ago in their patrol car. The tensions "involve labor contracts. They involve a lot of history in the city that's really different from some of what's going on in the country as a whole," Bill Bratton said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "You need to understand this isn't just about policing," he said. ...


Woman plans guilty plea in triple Texas murders: prosecutor

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 05:24 PM PST

Kaufman County Sheriff's Office booking photo of Kim WilliamsBy Kevin Murphy (Reuters) - A woman charged with helping her husband kill a Texas district attorney, his wife and an assistant district attorney has reached a tentative agreement to plead guilty to murder, the special prosecutor in the case said on Sunday. Kim Williams is charged with three counts of capital murder in the 2013 shooting deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia McLelland, and Mark Hasse, an assistant district attorney. A jury earlier this month convicted her husband, Eric Williams, of killing Cynthia McLelland and sentenced him to death. ...


Search resumes for missing AirAsia jet

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 04:51 PM PST

Indonesia's vice-president Jusuf Kalla monitors progress in search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501 during a visit to the National Search and Rescue Agency in JakartaThe plane carrying 162 people disappeared over stormy waters en route to Singapore.


Woman plans guilty plea in triple Texas murders, prosecutor says

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 03:30 PM PST

Kaufman County Sheriff's Office booking photo of Kim WilliamsBy Kevin Murphy (Reuters) - A woman charged with helping her husband kill a Texas district attorney, his wife and an assistant district attorney has reached a tentative agreement to plead guilty to murder, the special prosecutor in the case said on Sunday. Kim Williams is charged with three counts of capital murder in the 2013 shooting deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia McLelland, and Mark Hasse, an assistant district attorney. A jury earlier this month convicted her husband, Eric Williams, of killing Cynthia McLelland and sentenced him to death. ...


Ferguson police spokesman suspended after 'pile of trash' remark

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 02:58 PM PST

(Reuters) - The spokesman for the police department in Ferguson, Missouri, has been suspended without pay after admitting he referred to a roadside memorial to an unarmed teenager killed by police as a "pile of trash," the city announced over the weekend. After insisting he had been misquoted, Officer Timothy Zoll later admitted he made the remark to a Washington Post reporter who called him on Friday about reports that a motorist had driven over the flowers and signs left in tribute to 18-year-old Michael Brown. ...

US commander lauds progress as NATO ends its Afghan war

Posted: 28 Dec 2014 02:09 PM PST

Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Gen. John Campbell, left, and Command Sgt. Maj. Delbert Byers open the The US commander of international forces in Afghanistan on Sunday hailed the achievements of 13 years of fighting against the Taliban, as NATO formally ended its war at a ceremony in Kabul.