| North Korea says uncle of leader Kim Jong Un dismissed Posted: 08 Dec 2013 02:16 PM PST  North Korea confirmed on Monday the dismissal of Jang Song Thaek, the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un who was previously considered the second most powerful man in the secretive state, for committing "criminal acts". "Jang and his followers committed criminal acts baffling imagination and they did tremendous harm to our party and revolution," the North's KCNA news agency said in a report following a ruling Workers' Party politburo meeting on Sunday. (Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park. Editing by Dean Yates)
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| Storm along East Coast dumps snow, snarls traffic Posted: 08 Dec 2013 02:59 PM PST  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A powerful storm that crept across the country dumped a mix of snow, freezing rain and sleet on the Mid-Atlantic region and headed northeast Sunday, turning NFL playing fields in Pennsylvania into winter wonderlands, threatening as much as a foot of snow in Delaware and New Jersey and raising concerns about a messy morning commute.
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| Drones, Taliban on agenda as Hagel heads to Pakistan Posted: 08 Dec 2013 02:25 PM PST  Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel heads to Pakistan on Monday for talks as Washington seeks to defuse tensions over controversial US drone strikes and Islamabad's role in Afghanistan. In the first visit by a US defence secretary in nearly four years, Hagel will fly from Kabul to Islamabad to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other top officials, including the country's new army chief.
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| Old Man Winter frosts NFL gridirons with snow, ice Posted: 08 Dec 2013 04:40 PM PST  Winter weather hit NFL gridirons in the East on Sunday, blanketing some playing fields with snow and causing sloppy conditions for players.
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| Senators: Put cameras on train tracks, engineers Posted: 08 Dec 2013 04:47 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — A week after four people died in a New York commuter train derailment, two federal lawmakers proposed Sunday that trains nationwide be outfitted with cameras pointed at engineers and at the tracks. |
| North Korea purges Kim Jong Un's powerful uncle Posted: 08 Dec 2013 04:47 PM PST  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Monday acknowledged the purge of leader Kim Jong Un's influential uncle for alleged corruption, drug use, gambling and a long list of other "anti-state" acts, apparently ending the career of the country's second most powerful official.
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| Seizure of nuns stokes Syrian Christian fears Posted: 08 Dec 2013 09:31 AM PST  DAMASCUS (AP) — Syrian Christians offered prayers Sunday for a group of more than a dozen nuns and orphanage workers held by rebels for nearly a week, fueling fears in the minority community that they are being targeted by extremists among the fighters seeking to oust President Bashar Assad.
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| Florida St-Auburn title game to usher out BCS era Posted: 08 Dec 2013 01:32 PM PST  As college football prepares for the final Bowl Championship Series, featuring a Florida State-Auburn championship game, it's easy to see why the coming four-team playoff won't solve all the postseason problems.
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| As wine fakers get sharper, industry fights back Posted: 07 Dec 2013 11:41 PM PST  SAINT-EMILION, France (AP) — An FBI agent recently showed Arnaud de Laforcade a file with several labels supposedly from 1947 bottles of Chateau Cheval Blanc, one of France's finest wines. To the Saint-Emilion vineyard's CFO, they were clearly fakes — too new looking, not on the right kind of paper.
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| Survivors recall Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Posted: 08 Dec 2013 01:55 AM PST  PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — For the first time since the war, Alvis Taylor returned to Pearl Harbor and recalled the surprise Japanese air attack that plunged America into World War II.
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| Friend: Mandela not on life support in final hours Posted: 08 Dec 2013 11:34 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela wasn't on life support and had many family members and doctors close by in his final hours, a family friend who was at his bedside said Sunday.
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| North Korea says Kim's uncle removed from power Posted: 08 Dec 2013 03:22 PM PST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Monday acknowledged the purge of leader Kim Jong Un's influential uncle for alleged corruption, drug use, gambling and a long list of other "anti-state" acts, apparently ending the career of the country's second most powerful official. |
| UN: Afghanistan slow to enforce law on women Posted: 08 Dec 2013 02:52 AM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United Nations complained Sunday that Afghan authorities have been slow in enforcing a law protecting women against forced marriages, domestic violence and rape.
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| Sleet, ice, deep freeze hit large swath of US Posted: 08 Dec 2013 12:27 PM PST  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A winter storm delivered a sloppy smorgasbord of snow, freezing rain and sleet to the southern Mid-Atlantic region and other states Sunday, with parts of Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey seeing more than 3 inches of accumulation, making driving dangerous for millions of residents nationwide.
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| Kim's uncle removed from NKorean state documentary Posted: 08 Dec 2013 02:09 AM PST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's uncle have been removed from an official state TV documentary, a disappearing act that appears to lend credence to Seoul's claim that Pyongyang's second most powerful official may have been purged by his nephew. |
| Madiba, father, troublemaker - Mandela's names Posted: 08 Dec 2013 09:30 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans of all races often referred to Nelson Mandela as simply "Madiba" or "Tata," terms of endearment that promoted a sense of familiarity for a towering figure who was widely revered.
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| Afghanistan, Iran plan cooperation pact Posted: 08 Dec 2013 09:53 AM PST  Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on a cooperation pact with Iran on Sunday, an Afghan official said, while continuing to resist signing a long-term security agreement with the United States. Karzai struck the deal with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran in a move that will be greeted with suspicion by his U.S. ally, which is trying to convince him to sign the security accord governing any post-2014 U.S. presence in Afghanistan. "Afghanistan agreed on a long-term friendship and cooperation pact with Iran," Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faizi said. "The pact will be for long-term political, security, economic and cultural cooperation, regional peace and security." He said a formal document would be prepared and signed soon.
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