| First AirAsia funeral as bad weather hampers search Posted: 01 Jan 2015 05:29 AM PST  Relatives held the first funeral for a victim of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Thursday as bad weather hampered efforts to locate the wreckage of the plane which crashed into the Java Sea off Borneo with 162 aboard. Nine bodies have so far been retrieved in the search for the Airbus A320-200, which disappeared from radar during a storm Sunday en route from Indonesia's second city of Surabaya to Singapore. "The problem we faced today is unfriendly weather conditions," search and rescue agency chief Bambang Soelistyo told a press conference. He said a National Transport Safety Committee team was in Pangkalun Bun, a town on Borneo island with the nearest airstrip to the crash site.
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| Greece, Italy vary wildly on ferry missing numbers Posted: 01 Jan 2015 10:14 AM PST  BRINDISI, Italy (AP) — Greece and Italy have issued widely different figures for how many people are still not accounted for in the ferry fire that killed at least 11 people in the Adriatic Sea.
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| Five ways to know you’re speaking to white supremacists Posted: 01 Jan 2015 02:38 AM PST There was a simpler time in America, a time when racists wore white hoods and carried torches, when Nazis wore swastikas and a skinhead could shave his scalp without being mistaken for a metrosexual. But those days are long behind us. Now, apparently, white supremacists hold conferences with guest speakers and video hookups to their colleagues overseas, kind of like a Davos for the intellectually vacant. |
| North Korean leader open to summit with South Posted: 01 Jan 2015 12:27 AM PST  PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a New Year's speech Thursday that he is open to more talks or even a summit with his South Korean counterpart, a statement welcomed by Seoul, which in turn urged the North to take concrete steps toward normalization of relations.
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| Shanghai NYE stampede kills 36 after fake money thrown from building Posted: 01 Jan 2015 07:33 AM PST  By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A stampede killed at least 36 people during New Year's Eve celebrations in Shanghai, authorities said, but police denied reports it was caused by people rushing to pick up fake money thrown from a building overlooking the city's famous waterfront. The government in China's gleaming business capital said large crowds started to stampede on Chen Yi Square, in the riverside area known as the Bund, just before midnight. It was the worst disaster in the cosmopolitan city since 58 died in an apartment building fire in 2010. ...
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| NY Governor Cuomo vows to rebuild trust in police in second term Posted: 01 Jan 2015 12:09 PM PST  By T.G. Branfalt (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo kicked off his second term on Thursday, saying he is governing in "troubled times" and that education, the economy and rebuilding public trust in law enforcement would top his agenda over the next four years. He lauded his first term as a success, saying the state now has a record 7.6 million jobs, a $5 billion budget surplus, effective and smart gun control laws, marriage equality and expanded healthcare that reaches 1.5 million people. ...
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| Federal judge allows gay marriages to begin across Florida Posted: 01 Jan 2015 04:47 PM PST  By Bill Cotterell TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Reuters) - A federal judge in north Florida on Thursday ordered the start of gay marriages in all parts of the state after Jan. 5, when a stay expires on his earlier ruling that found the state's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. In an emergency order, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle of Florida's Northern District in Tallahassee addressed confusion among court clerks about the reach of his Aug. 21 ruling, and whether it applied beyond Washington County and the two men named as plaintiffs in the case. ...
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| Enbridge oil facility in North Dakota catches fire; damage unclear Posted: 01 Jan 2015 04:41 PM PST By Ernest Scheyder WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - An Enbridge Inc crude oil storage and pipeline facility just south of Williston, N.D., has caught fire, eyewitnesses said. The facility serves as a key gathering and distribution hub for crude oil produced in North Dakota, the second-largest crude oil producer in the United States. It was not immediately clear if the blaze had been contained. It was also not clear if the fire was affecting crude oil storage tanks or other parts of the complex. An Enbridge spokeswoman was not available to comment. ... |
| 1st of 9 bodies from AirAsia crash identified Posted: 01 Jan 2015 05:01 AM PST  SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) — A passenger aboard AirAsia Flight 8501 became the first victim of the crash to be returned to her family Thursday, one of many painful reunions to come, as search crews struggled against wind and heavy rain to find more than 150 people still missing.
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| N. Korea's Kim moots summit with South Posted: 31 Dec 2014 04:03 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un proposed the "highest-level" talks with South Korea Thursday, opening the way to a historic summit as his communist country battles to fend off UN prosecution over its human rights record. The sudden move, made during Kim's traditional New Year message, would clear the path for the first inter-Korean leaders' meeting since a 2007 summit in Pyongyang. Seoul welcomed the overture as "meaningful", coming after the North's state media had previously used sexist and personal language in attacks on South Korea's first female president, Park Geun-Hye. President Park has repeatedly said the door to dialogue with Pyongyang is open, but insists the North must first take tangible steps towards abandoning its nuclear weapons programme.
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| 2014 New Year's Eve in NYC's Times Square Posted: 31 Dec 2014 11:43 AM PST  Bruce Li, left, and his girlfriend Phyllis Zhong, of Toronto, kiss just after midnight in New York's Times Square, Thursday Jan. 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg) |
| 10 who might have an impact on 2016 campaign Posted: 01 Jan 2015 12:09 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — In the year that will pass before the 2016 campaign for president formally kicks off with the votes in the Iowa Caucus, any number of candidates, donors, political operatives — and people who have nothing to do with American politics — will shape the race for the White House. Here's a look at 10 people (OK, 12 people) who will be worth watching in the next year.
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| Taylor Swift, crystal orb usher in 2015 in New York Posted: 31 Dec 2014 10:13 PM PST  As many as a million revelers braved frigid weather and poured into New York's Times Square for America's annual New Year party, which this year featured Taylor Swift. Revelers in the Big Apple, wearing red traditional festive top hats, kissed and snapped selfies as a giant illuminated crystal ball slid down a pole, touching ground at precisely the stroke of midnight. TV celebrity Ryan Seacrest hosted a televised live show ahead of the countdown to 2015, and several musical acts including Taylor Swift and singer-songwriter Idina Menzel are set to perform. "We made it!" he told the New York Daily News, sporting an American flag across his shoulders and a pair of 2015 glasses.
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