| Ukraine protesters look past deal Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:31 PM PST  Opposition leaders face mixed reaction amid unwavering calls for president's ouster.
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| Florida lawmakers vote to expand ‘stand your ground’ law Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:09 PM PST  Less than a week after Michael Dunn was not convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager, a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers passed a bill out of committee on Thursday that would expand the state's controversial "stand your ground" law.
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| Australian police X-ray suspected pink diamond thief Posted: 21 Feb 2014 07:00 AM PST  Australian police said Friday they had arrested and X-rayed a British man over the theft of a pink diamond worth more than Aus$200,000 (US$180,000), with fears he had swallowed the rare jewel. The 29-year-old, reported by Australian media to be British tourist Matthew Osborne, was arrested as he attempted to board an international flight in Melbourne. "He is expected to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court tomorrow charged with entering premises and stealing property," police said. The pink diamond, from Rio Tinto's exclusive Argyle mine and valued at more than $200,000, was stolen Saturday from a jewellery store at Cairns, in northern Queensland.
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| Gov't: Not enough water to help Calif. farmers Posted: 21 Feb 2014 04:09 PM PST  Growers on front lines of historic drought won't get federal irrigation aid this year.
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| Tornadoes, strong thunderstorms threaten East Coast Posted: 21 Feb 2014 09:35 AM PST  Just a week after being buried by snow and ice, a number of states along the East Coast are dealing with the threat of thunderstorms and tornadoes on Friday.
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| Ugandan president: I don't even dare kiss my wife in public Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:09 AM PST  Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has made an impassioned defence of his decision to crack down on gays, saying his tough stance on immorality meant he would not even dare kiss his wife in public. The statement from the president, carried by local media on Friday, was widely seen as swipe against US President Barack Obama, who has been fiercly critical of Uganda's anti-gay law and who celebrated his own re-election win with a public embrace of his wife Michelle. "If I kissed my wife of 41 years in public, I would lose elections in Uganda," said Museveni, who has led Uganda since 1986 and has been seeking support for another term in office. However, he said that advice from scientists in Uganda's Department of Genetics, School of Medicine and the Ministry of Health showed a "unanimous conclusion.. that homosexuality, contrary to my earlier thinking, was behavioural and not genetic" -- and therefore it should be punished.
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| Teen U.S. slalom skier displays nerves of steel in big Olympic run Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:18 AM PST  Rosa Khutor (Russia) (AFP) - American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin showed nerves of steel to add Olympic gold to her world slalom title under floodlights at Rosa Khutor on Friday. The 18-year-old, in pole position after the first run, clocked a combined total of 1min 44.54sec over two runs to finish 0.53sec ahead of Marlies Schild of Austria, who won her fourth Olympic medal in three different Games. Another Austrian, Kathrin Zettel, claimed bronze at 0.81sec, denying fourth-placed German Maria Hoefl-Riesch another podium finish in her Olympic swansong. "This has been a dream of mine for a very long time," said Shiffrin, who at the age of 18 years and 345 days became the youngest Olympic slalom champion.
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| Rebels attack Somalia presidential palace Posted: 21 Feb 2014 09:24 AM PST  Fierce gun battle with al-Qaida-linked militants leaves officials and guards dead.
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| Ukrainian parliament approves new charter Posted: 21 Feb 2014 07:39 AM PST  An ambitious agreement could be a major breakthrough in the crisis over Ukraine's future.
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| Detroit plans to cut pensions in bankrupty debt plan Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:13 AM PST  DETROIT (AP) — Detroit's emergency financial manager filed a plan Friday that would bring the city out of bankruptcy, providing for the first time a detailed look at what the Motor City would look like when it finally sheds its financial burdens.
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| Obama throws support behind Dalai Lama, Tibet rights Posted: 21 Feb 2014 01:48 PM PST  US President Barack Obama on Friday offered his "strong support" for the protection of Tibetans' human rights in China as he defied protests from Beijing to meet the Dalai Lama. With China warning that the meeting would derail ties between the world's two largest economies, Obama took care to avoid any trappings of an official visit, receiving the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in the Map Room of the White House residence and not the Oval Office where he usually talks to dignitaries. The Dalai Lama, usually chatty and playful with foreign audiences, was nowhere to be seen at the White House, which did not allow in reporters. In Beijing, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned the US charge d'affaires, Daniel Kritenbrink, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
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| Internet a crucial Venezuela battleground Posted: 21 Feb 2014 10:05 AM PST  SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (AP) — The battle for Venezuela is being fought as vigorously online as in the streets, with authorities cutting off Internet service to a strife-torn university city and blocking selected websites and a "walkie-talkie" service widely used by protesters.
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| Slain beauty queen mourned in Venezuela Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:46 PM PST  VALENCIA, Venezuela (AP) — A university student beauty queen was mourned Friday in the provincial Venezuelan city where she was slain this week during a political protest, a victim of what government opponents say is indiscriminate violence used by President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters to stifle dissent across the country.
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| Renzi will be Italy's youngest premier Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:31 PM PST  ROME (AP) — Matteo Renzi will be sworn in as Italy's youngest prime minister ever Saturday after he cobbled together a government he says will change the face of the country's politics and economy.
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| Ukraine takes gold, US hockey falls to Canada Posted: 21 Feb 2014 04:47 PM PST  SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Four Ukrainian women gave their politically torn country some good news at the Sochi Games on Friday, and Canada delivered more bad news to the United States — yet another Olympic hockey defeat.
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| AP PHOTOS: Olympic flame at center stage in Sochi Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:39 PM PST  The Olympic flame has been the backdrop for numerous tourist photos during the Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
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| For Obama, a new sense of purpose in acting alone Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:29 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — This week, President Barack Obama promoted tougher fuel efficiency standards for trucks. He touted progress on initiatives to strengthen the U.S. patent system. And he signed an executive order intended to speed up the process for approving import or export cargo.
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| Detroit draws first map to get out of bankruptcy Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:37 PM PST  DETROIT (AP) — Detroit presented its first full road map for leaving bankruptcy Friday, outlining an elaborate plan to restructure $18 billion in debt, demolish thousands of blighted homes and invest in the broken-down infrastructure that has made the city a symbol of urban decay.
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| Arizona governor asked to nix bill angering gays Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:57 PM PST  PHOENIX (AP) — Four years after igniting a national uproar over immigration, the Arizona Legislature has jumped into the battle over gay rights with a piece of legislation that had opponents on Friday predicting business boycotts against the state.
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| Transcripts show Fed at times slow to grasp crisis Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:12 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve agonized in 2008 over how far to go to stop a financial crisis that threatened to cause a recession and at times struggled to recognize its speed and magnitude.
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| Good news for Ukraine; More bad news for US hockey Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:10 PM PST SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Four Ukrainian women gave their politically torn country some good news at the Sochi Games on Friday, and Canada delivered more bad news to the United States — yet another Olympic hockey defeat. |
| Cellphone calls on planes? Don't ask the feds Posted: 21 Feb 2014 04:54 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — It looks like the government is more conflicted about cellphones on planes than most travelers. Even as one federal agency considers allowing the calls, another now wants to make sure that doesn't happen.
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| Obama pitches minimum wage hike with Dem governors Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:06 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Barack Obama pushes for a minimum wage increase, the real action is in the states.
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| Ukraine's president buckles but protesters split Posted: 21 Feb 2014 11:44 AM PST  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — In a fast-moving day that aimed to reshape Ukraine's political destiny, protest leaders and the beleaguered president agreed Friday to form a new government and hold an early election. Parliament slashed the powers of President Viktor Yanukovych and voted to free his rival, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, from prison.
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| Canada beats US 1-0 to reach gold-medal game Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:20 PM PST  SOCHI, Russia (AP) — For the rematch, Canada skipped the overtime and shelved the theatrics.
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| Colorado, Utah move to hike smoking age to 21 Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:57 PM PST  DENVER (AP) — Two Western states with some of the nation's lowest smoking rates are considering cracking down even more by raising the tobacco age to 21.
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| Zimbabwe orders deportation of former U.S. congressman Posted: 21 Feb 2014 07:34 AM PST  By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE (Reuters) - A Zimbabwean court dismissed pornography charges against former congressman Mel Reynolds on Friday but ordered his deportation after he pleaded guilty to staying in the southern African country on an expired visa. Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe agreed with Reynolds' lawyer, Arthur Gurira, that state prosecutors had not sought written authority from the prosecutor general to put the former Illinois congressman on trial. Reynolds will still be held in prison while immigration authorities process his deportation papers.
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| 4 dead, 2 injured in shooting at Calif. tribal office Posted: 21 Feb 2014 12:58 AM PST  ALTURAS, Calif. (AP) — An eviction hearing at an American Indian headquarters in Northern California turned deadly as a woman who once served as a tribal leader allegedly opened fire, killing four people and critically wounding two others in a gun and knife attack, authorities said.
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