Venezuelans obsess: Will Chavez live or die?

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- He's getting better. He's getting worse. He's already dead. The whole thing is a conspiracy and he was never sick in the first place.

The obsessive, circular conversations about President Hugo Chavez's health dominate family dinners, plaza chit-chats and social media sites in this country on edge since its larger-than-life leader went to Cuba for emergency cancer surgery more than two weeks ago. The man whose booming voice once dominated the airwaves for hours at a time has not been seen or heard from since.

His lieutenants have consistently assured Venezuelans over the last week that Chavez is slowly on the mend and will be back at the helm of the country he has dominated for 14 years. But when will he be back? Will he be well enough to govern? What type of cancer does he have? Is it terminal? If so, how long does he have to live?

Atty: Hobby Lobby won't offer morning-after pill

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An attorney for Hobby Lobby Stores said Thursday that the arts and crafts chain plans to defy a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill, despite risking potential fines of up to $1.3 million per day.

Hobby Lobby and religious book-seller Mardel Inc., which are owned by the same conservative Christian family, are suing to block part of the federal health care law that requires employee health-care plans to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency contraception pills.

Mayor: Keep 2 NY subway push deaths in perspective

NEW YORK (AP) -- For New York City, it wasn't an unusual sight: a possibly mentally ill woman pacing and mumbling to herself on an elevated subway station platform.

The woman eventually took a seat on a bench Thursday night, witnesses later said. Then, without any warning or provocation, she sprang up and used both hands to shove a man into the path of an oncoming train.

As police sought on Friday to locate the unidentified woman, Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged residents to keep the second fatal subway shove in the city this month in perspective. The news of the horrific death of 46-year-old Sunando Sen, who was from India and lived in Queens, came as the mayor touted drops in the city's annual homicide and shooting totals.

Former Braves player arrested on battery charge

DULUTH, Ga. (AP) -- Former Atlanta Braves star center fielder Andruw Jones was free on bond after being arrested in suburban Atlanta early Tuesday on a battery charge, according to jail records.

Around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call for a domestic dispute between Jones and his wife in Duluth.

Gwinnett County Detention Center records say Jones was booked into the jail around 3:45 a.m. and was released on $2,400 bond by 11 a.m.

Durning, king of character actors, dies in NYC

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Charles Durning grew up in poverty, lost five of his nine siblings to disease, barely lived through D-Day and was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge.

His hard life and wartime trauma provided the basis for a prolific 50-year career as a consummate Oscar-nominated character actor, playing everyone from a Nazi colonel to the pope to Dustin Hoffman's would-be suitor in "Tootsie."

Durning, who died Monday at age 89 in New York, got his start as an usher at a burlesque theater in Buffalo, N.Y. When one of the comedians showed up too drunk to go on, Durning took his place. He would recall years later that he was hooked as soon as he heard the audience laughing.

Obama has long work list to tackle when he returns

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's hardly a secret that Barack Obama, like every president no doubt, muses about his ultimate legacy and spot in the presidential pantheon. He approaches his second term confronting tough and shifting challenges that will play big roles in shaping the rest of his presidency and his eventual place in history.

In the coming months, Obama will have to decide where to be ambitious, where to be cautious, and where to buy time.

He draws political strength from his surprisingly easy re-election in a bad economy. It's partly offset, however, by Republicans' continued control of the House, plus their filibuster powers in the Senate.

The Book of Barely Imagined Beings by Caspar Henderson - review

Gavin Francis is enchanted by a digressive modern-day bestiary

As Leonardo da Vinci was approaching old age, he amused himself by composing and inventing a bestiary, one of those early works of natural history that trace their origins to Aristotle's Historia Animalium and an anonymous Alexandrian work produced about five hundred years later, the Physiologus. In the middle ages the genre flourished: illuminated manuscripts combined what was known about various creatures – both extant and fabulous – with moralising tales designed to edify the reader. Leonardo's bestiary enlisted the partridge as a lesson in truth: "Although partridges steal one another's eggs, the young always return to their true parents." The fox is recruited to illustrate deception: "When the fox sees a flock of birds, he plays dead with his mouth open. When the birds come to peck at his tongue, he snaps off their heads." The creator of the Vitruvian Man was one of the last great visionaries for whom the distinction between "art" and "science" was meaningless, and so he was capable of creating one of the last great bestiaries in the medieval tradition.

The truth about Zero Dark Thirty: this torture fantasy degrades us all

Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal's film claims to be 'based on a true story' but no non-fiction writer could take such liberties

Zero Dark Thirty is a dreary and predictable movie (predictable even beyond that we know Osama bin Laden's fate). Also, it's a bit copy-cat. It's Homeland without the character quirks. ("OK… picture this… Homeland… but the girl isn't nuts – just super-focused. What about that?" is something like how the screenwriter, Mark Boal, must have pitched it.)

Two firefighters shot dead and two injured in upstate New York

Neighbourhood in Webster evacuated and Swat teams called in after first responders are targeted by 'one or more shooters'

Two volunteer firefighters are reported to have been shot dead and two more injured while responding to a house blaze in upstate New York on Monday.

A neighbourhood on the shore of Lake Ontario in Webster was evacuated and Swat teams deployed after the gunman opened fire, local television news reported.

Emergency services were called to the fire at 6am. On arrival, they were targeted by "one or more shooters", local police chief Gerald Pickering told the Associated Press. Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said: "When they got there, they stated to take on rounds and the initial responders were struck."

Few tests done at toxic sites after superstorm

OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (AP) -- For more than a month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that the recent superstorm didn't cause significant problems at any of the 247 Superfund toxic waste sites it's monitoring in New York and New Jersey.

But in many cases, no actual tests of soil or water are being conducted, just visual inspections.

The EPA conducted a handful of tests right after the storm, but couldn't provide details or locations of any recent testing when asked last week. New Jersey officials point out that federally designated Superfund sites are EPA's responsibility.

Why this atheist celebrates Christmas

Whether you are commemorating the birth of Jesus or marking all that's positive about humanity, this is a time to rejoice

We tend to wish people a happy Christmas in Britain as a cultural nicety without checking whether the person we're addressing actually celebrates Christmas. There are plenty of people who won't be doing anything special on 25 December, whether for cultural, ideological or economic reasons, but I am not aware of anyone, from any background, who takes offence at this offhand, heartfelt well-wishing. Christmas is, after all, no longer regarded by the majority of our mostly non-religious society as a religious festival, but rather as a public holiday when we get together with our nearest and dearest to exchange gifts, squabble, eat too much and watch Miracle on 34th Street again.

Olympic voice of plain old Humphrey – the boy who sang to 1bn people

No formal training, no nerves, no problem: the tale of Humphrey Keeper who sang solo at the 2012 opening ceremony

The name of Humphrey Keeper, beyond his family and community in south-east London, may not be immediately familiar, but a sizeable chunk of the planet has heard him sing.

Before 27 July, Humphrey was just a normal 11-year-old boy from Forest Hill, who liked playing football and computer games and was enjoying his last summer holidays before starting senior school. But as the world's attention turned to Stratford, expectant to see how Danny Boyle would launch London's Olympics, the director chose to hush the clamorous expectancy with a moment of genuinely memorable stillness.

I love not driving, and instinct tells me I'm a safer man for it

I'm pleased that society is tackling sexism by starting with the things that unfairly benefit women, like car insurance

At last I can learn to drive. The inherent sexism of the car insurance system has been removed. Finally there's a non-discriminatory marketplace in which I can assert my timid and cautious nature without needing a womb to prove it. And may I add that I'm very pleased with the way our society is tackling sexism: by starting with the things that unfairly benefit women. Maybe they can all be eradicated in my lifetime – and then once I'm dead everyone can move on to removing the stuff that unfairly benefits men. It's only fair.

BP settlement over Deepwater Horizon oil spill approved by federal judge

Company estimates it will pay $7.8bn to 100,000 people and business who lost money because of April 2010 well blowout

A federal judge gave final approval to BP's settlement with businesses and individuals who lost money because of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP PLC has estimated it will pay $7.8bn to resolve economic and medical claims from more than 100,000 businesses and individuals hurt by the nation's worst offshore oil spill. The settlement has no cap; the company could end up paying more or less.

Country diary: Anses Wood, New Forest: Days of heavy rain have left the ancient woodland sodden

Anses Wood, New Forest: Blackbirds reveal their presence by flicking fallen leaves into the air as they search for insects

The first coal tit flies down to inspect us within seconds of the car door opening as we park at Cadmans Pool. Perched on a holly branch less than two metres away, it surveys us carefully, pivots to examine us from a different angle, and then moves to another branch to repeat the routine. By then it is being joined by more coal tits, great tits, and blue tits. All come to examine us, but only briefly. The chaffinches keep their distance, a nuthatch puts in a fleeting appearance before vanishing into the throng of birds within the margins of Anses ancient pasture woodland. A cock blackbird calls in alarm and, as we watch, he and others reveal their presence by flicking fallen leaves into the air as they search for insects.

Military contractors wary as Defense Department prepares for fiscal cliff

Unhappy about implementing 'sequestration' Leon Panetta had largely avoided talking about the planned reductions in spending

Robert Lutts, the president of Cabot Money Management, held on to one defense related-stock in his portfolio for nine years: the shares of FLIR systems, a maker of infrared technology. He liked the company's management, and its prospects. He will still happily bend your ear about the company's bright future.

Still, he sold the last share of stock in 2011, shortly after Congress agreed that it would scale back the Pentagon budget by 10% in 2013.

Afghan, Taliban Officials Discuss Country's Future

Afghan officials are meeting with the Taliban and other militant groups to discuss the country's future as NATO forces prepare for a 2014 withdrawal.

France is hosting the two-day closed-door session which begins on Thursday near Paris.

The meeting marks the first time that Taliban officials, senior leaders of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and members of the country's High Peace Council have held face-to-face talks on the country's future.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai set up the Peace Council in 2010 in a bid to start dialogue with Taliban militants and persuade them to end violence and join the political reconciliation process.

And Man Created God by Selina O'Grady - review

How did Christianity go from radical folk religion to elite doctrine? By Stuart Kelly

Selina O'Grady's expansive and intelligent book addresses a problem that vexed thinkers as different as Edward Gibbon and Friedrich Nietzsche: how did an apocalyptic sect in first-century Judaea turn into an imperial power that dominated the west, politically and philosophically, for two millennia? Her method is primarily comparative, and although the book comes emblazoned with a theist-baiting endorsement from AC Grayling, the questions she raises are far more problematic and interesting than that suggests.

Cassadee Pope wins Season 3 of 'The Voice'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Cassadee Pope, who was country singer Blake Shelton's protege on the third season of NBC's "The Voice," has won the show's competition.

The 23-year-old singer is stepping out into a solo career after performing with a band called Hey Monday. Her victory over Scottish native Terry McDermott and long-bearded Nicholas David was announced at the end of a two-hour show Tuesday.

Kodak sells digital imaging patents for $525M

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Eastman Kodak is selling its digital imaging patents for about $525 million, money the struggling photo pioneer says will help it emerge from bankruptcy protection in the first half of next year.

Apple Inc., Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Research In Motion Ltd., Microsoft Corp., China's Huawei Technologies, Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are among the 12 companies paying to license the 1,100 patents, according to court filings. Patents have become very valuable to digital device makers, who want to protect themselves from intellectual property lawsuits. But Kodak, which has been trying to make the sale happen for more than a year, wound up receiving substantially less money than had been expected.

Analysts: Egyptian Troubles at Home Hinder Diplomacy Abroad

CAIRO, EGYPT — Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's first months in office have descended into a profound sense of internal division, overshadowing what began as an attempt to forge new international alliances.

Egypt's domestic troubles have eclipsed what some saw as a promising start for President Mohamed Morsi on the world stage.

Just a day before he kicked off a crisis by granting himself extraordinary powers, Egypt basked in its resurgent role as a diplomatic player, brokering a truce between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.

Foreign affairs efforts

Polish people are Britain's invisible minority | AM Bakalar

As the second-largest foreign community, Polish people have a unique identity but are integrating into British society

The 2011 census confirmed Poles as the second-largest foreign community in Britain. Some Poles living in Britain are still coming to terms with their own identity and whether they want to remain here or go back to Poland, but for many Britain has become their home and they are not going back.

Ania Ready, who came to Oxford nine years ago and runs evenings with Polish authors for English-speaking audience in independent bookshops, told me: "In my experience Poles … mix well in British society and they don't tend to live or function in ghettos."

China, US School Attacks Highlight Difference in Gun Control

Near simultaneous attacks on elementary schools in both the United States and China have prompted many to examine the very different approach each nation takes on gun control laws.

Armed with a rifle and two handguns, 20-year-old Adam Lanza was able to carry out one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history on Friday, killing 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Henan attack

Just hours earlier, a disturbed 36-year-old Chinese man, armed with a kitchen knife, walked into an elementary school in central Henan province and allegedly began attacking students. Although police say he was able to injure 23 children and an elderly villager, none of the injuries were severe and he was subdued a short time later by police and teachers.

South Africa Authorities Arrest Suspects Planning ANC Attack

JOHANNESBURG — South African police have arrested four right-wing extremists on suspicion of plotting an attack on a conference of the ruling African National Congress Party.
Local media report that at least two of the men arrested belong to the Federal Freedom Party which claims to be fighting for self-determination for the white Afrikaner minority.
Police did not give many details on the alleged plot, and could not be reached Monday for more information.

ANC spokesman Keith Khoza says the situation is worrying, but that the five-day conference will continue as planned, albeit under heavy security.

Cerberus to sell gunmaker Freedom Group after US school shooting

Private equity firm will begin selling investment as pressure grows following killings in Connecticut

US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management has said it will begin selling its investment in gunmaker Freedom Group in the light of last week's school shooting in Connecticut.

Cerberus acquired Bushmaster in 2006 and later merged it with other gun companies to create Freedom Group, which reported net sales of $677.3m (£418m) for the nine months ending September 2012, up from $564.6m in the same period a year ago.

Khan rematch with García on cards

• García impressed by Briton's stoppage win over Carlos Molina
• Philadelphian first set to fight Zab Judah in February

Danny García, the man who left Amir Khan a wrecked shell on the floor of a Las Vegas ring in the summer, travelled halfway across America to witness his rehabilitation on a crisp winter's night in Los Angeles and reckoned Khan's thrashing of Carlos Molina was enough to justify a rematch.

Months of tedious negotiations and trash talk await, of course. Khan, also, will want time to let his fractured hands heal, the price he was willing to pay for pounding Molina with 156 power punches over 10 one-sided rounds in front of 6,109 Angelenos on Saturday night until the referee, Jack Reiss, decided the local fighter's cut and butchered face could take no more.

Big price for inaugural pomp; much private money

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The pomp surrounding the inauguration of the president of the United States can carry a hefty price tag, from the glitzy galas to all those inaugural balls.

Think of it this way: It can cost about the same as 150 Bentley cars, several dozen yachts or some $20 million shy of the cash needed for a Boeing 737.

But taxpayers aren't on the hook for the fun stuff - the balls and other celebratory events - and this inauguration won't be as big as the last one for President Barack Obama.

A solid chunk of the tab for the 57th inauguration next month will be picked up by loyal supporters and other private donors, as it has been for years. In 2009, Obama raised $53 million in private money for his inauguration, when a record 1.8 million people braved the winter chill to see him take his place in history as America's first black president.

Hospitals to offer more weekend operations under NHS plans

GPs will also be expected to open surgeries more often as part of moves towards seven-day healthcare

Moves to force hospitals to provide routine surgery and scans over weekends are expected to accelerate this week when NHS medical chiefs outline policies to ensure more seven-day cover.

GPs will also be expected to open surgeries for appointments rather than leaving patients to wait or use out-of-hours services.

Moves towards 24/7 healthcare have been trailed for some time but Sir Bruce Keogh, one of its chief proponents, now holds the purse strings as medical director of the NHS commissioning board, which determines how health service funds are spent.

Ulster 9-10 Northampton | Heineken Cup Pool 4 match report

Ulster 9-10 Northampton

A week is a long time to plot revenge in rugby. Northampton, shredded in front of their own supporters by Ulster eight days ago, not only reversed the result but became the first team to defeat the RaboDirect Pro12 leaders this season, turning the group into a three-way tussle with Castres in one of the best victories by an English club in Europe for several years.

Northampton, who succeeded at the most inhospitable of venues despite not scoring a point in the final hour, needed to win to avoid going out at the group stage for the second successive season. Saints had lost six of their previous 10 matches in all competitions and if it were unfair to make comparisons with the bulldozers at both ends of Ulster's ground, which is being redeveloped to increase its capacity to 18,000 by August 2014, there is a need for some rebuilding at Franklin's Gardens, never mind Saturday night's result.

Nelson Mandela has gallstones removed

Former South African president undergoes surgery after recovering from lung infection, government says

South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela has undergone successful surgery to remove gallstones as he recovers from a lung infection.

Doctors treating Mandela waited to perform the endoscopic surgery as they wanted to first attend to his lung ailment, the presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement on Saturday.

"The procedure was successful and Madiba is recovering," Maharaj said, using Mandela's clan name.

Chicano rock pioneers Los Lobos marking 40 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- They are seen as the progenitors of Chicano rock `n' roll, the first band that had the boldness, and some might even say the naiveté, to fuse punk rock with Mexican folk tunes.

It was a group called Los Lobos that had the unusual idea of putting an accordion, a saxophone and something called a bajo sexto alongside drums and Fender Stratocaster guitars and then blasting a ranchera-flavored folk tune or a Conjunto inspired melody through double reverb amps at about twice the volume you'd normally expect to hear.

Schools eye plans, calm parents after Conn. attack

The mass killing inside a Connecticut elementary school has educators across the country reviewing their security measures, reassuring parents and asking, "What if?"

"Every principal will be going through their own protocols, the things they do on a daily basis to protect their students and staff," said Dr. Will Keresztes, associate superintendent for student support in the school system in Buffalo, N.Y.

Amid grief and condolences for the 20 children fatally shot Friday by a gunman in Newtown, Conn., school leaders nationwide sent emails and text messages and phone recordings assuring parents and children their schools are safe, while acknowledging the difficult balancing act in keeping that promise.

Russia Denies Change in Stance on Syria

Russia's foreign ministry says Moscow's policy on Syria has not changed, after a top diplomat was quoted as saying Syria's opposition may win its battles against President Bashar al-Assad.

The ministry, on Friday, said Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov had not made any statements or conducted "special interviews" with journalists over the past few days regarding Syria. 

On Thursday, Russian media quoted him as saying Assad was increasingly losing control of his country's territory, and that an opposition victory could not be ruled out.  It was seen as the first time Russia, a powerful Syrian ally, had acknowledged the Syrian government was beginning to crumble in its nearly two-year battle against anti-government forces.

Tearful Obama calls for action after shooting

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A tearful President Barack Obama said Friday he grieved first as a father about the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, declaring, "Our hearts are broken today." He called for "meaningful action" to prevent such shootings but did not say what it should be.

"The majority of those who died were children - beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old," Obama said.

At that point he had to pause for several seconds to keep his composure, and he wiped his eyes.

Transgender college hoops player keeps head high

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- The women's basketball team at Mission College expected the bleachers to be full and the hecklers ready when its newest player made her home court debut.

In the days leading up to the game, people had plenty to say about 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound Gabrielle Ludwig, who joined the Lady Saints as a mid-season walk-on and became, according to advocates, the first transsexual to play college hoops as both a man and a woman.

Coach Corey Cafferata worried the outside noise was getting to his players, particularly the 50-year-old Ludwig.

GM gives its big pickups a much-needed makeover

DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors is giving its big pickups a much-needed makeover.

The company unveiled new versions of its top-selling Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra on Thursday, aiming to get them to showrooms by late spring or early summer.

The timing is good. Truck sales are growing after a five-year slump. And the new pickups replace models that were last revamped in 2007. That means GM dealers are offering pickups that are dated compared with newer Fords and Rams - and it is hurting sales.

Leading conservative says Obama will win tax fight

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A leading conservative who's resigning from the Senate is predicting that President Barack Obama will win the battle over raising taxes.

South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint calls it "a political trophy" within Obama's grasp. Appearing Thursday on "CBS This Morning," DeMint says, quote, "The president's proposal is not a plan, it's not a solution."

Google Maps return to iPhone with new mobile app

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Maps have found their way back to the iPhone.

The world's most popular online mapping system returned late Wednesday with the release of the Google Maps' iPhone app. The release comes nearly three months after Apple Inc. replaced Google Maps as the device's built-in navigation system and inserted its own maps into the latest version of its mobile operating system.

Apple's maps proved to be far inferior to Google's. The product's shoddiness prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to issue a rare public apology and recommend that iPhone owners consider using Google maps through a mobile Web browser or seek other alternatives until his company could fix the problems. Cook also replaced the executive in charge of Apple's mobile operating system after the company's maps became a subject of widespread ridicule.

Distant galaxy regains title as oldest in universe

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A galaxy once considered the oldest has reclaimed its title, scientists reported Wednesday.

Poring through Hubble Space Telescope photos, the team recalculated the galaxy's age and determined it is actually 13.3 billion years old - not a mere 13.2 billion.

The dim galaxy filled with blue stars was first noticed last year by a different group of researchers, who also used the workhorse telescope to make the previous age estimate. It reigned as the most ancient galaxy observed until last month when it was knocked off its perch by another distant galaxy.

Oil rises on Fed stimulus plan

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil traders got what they wanted Wednesday: another big move by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the slow-growing U.S. economy.

The Fed said it will spend $85 billion a month to sustain an aggressive drive to keep long-term interest rates low. It also plans to keep a key short-term rate near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent.

Stimulus measures generally weaken the dollar, which tends to direct more investors into buying commodities.

To give on the street? In cities, a daily calculus

During her two decades living in Houston, Caroline Oliver, like any urban dweller, frequently encountered people in the streets asking for money. She struggled with how to respond. She wanted to help, but in a useful way.

And so when Oliver, a consultant and mother of two who recently moved to Austin, read about the New York police officer who was photographed giving a new pair of all-weather boots to a barefoot man on a cold street, she was moved.

"He saw a need and he provided for that need," she says. "He couldn't just walk away."

Egypt judges say most will boycott referendum

CAIRO — Egypt’s judges Tuesday said that most of them would not oversee a nationwide referendum on a contentious draft constitution, as tens of thousands of opponents and supporters of the country’s Islamist president staged rival rallies in Cairo, four days ahead of the vote.

The demonstrations and judges’ boycott came hours after masked assailants set upon opposition protesters staging a sit-in at Tahrir Square, firing birdshot and swinging knives and sticks, according to security officials. They later said that five “hardened criminals” were arrested in connection with the attack.

Eleven protesters were wounded, the MENA state news agency said, citing a Health Ministry spokesman.

Russia promises tit-for-tat response to sanctions in U.S. trade bill

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia will retaliate quickly against U.S. officials after the U.S. Congress approved a bill imposing sanctions on Russian officials accused of human rights violations, the lower house’s speaker said Monday.

The legislation passed last week primarily aimed to end Cold War-era trade restrictions that have held back American businesses that want a share of the Russian market. Russian officials, however, have bristled at a section they interpret as U.S. intervention in Moscow’s domestic affairs and sought to turn the tables on the United States.

Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said the State Duma this week will consider measures against U.S. officials “who are rudely violating human rights.” The bill was submitted to the Duma on Monday.

Sudan Begins Emergency Vaccinations to Fight Yellow Fever Outbreak

GENEVA — Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health is organizing an emergency mass vaccination campaign against mosquito-borne yellow fever in the Darfur region. The latest figures from the World Health Organization put the number of suspected cases of yellow fever at 732, including 165 deaths. 

This is the worst yellow fever epidemic to strike Africa in two decades. The last outbreak 20 years ago, also was in Sudan. At that time, 604 cases, with 156 deaths were reported in South Kordofan state, the epicenter of the disease. Given the number of cases and deaths reported in Darfur, the World Health Organization notes the current epidemic already has surpassed the last one. 
WHO reports the emergency-response vaccination campaign will cover 5.5 million people. It is being conducted in three phases. The first phase of the campaign began November 21 to cover 2.2 million people in 12 districts with the highest number of cases. 

Report: Kodak gets patent bid from Apple, Google

NEW YORK (AP) -- Apple and Google, bitter rivals in smartphone technology, have joined up to make a combined bid for a bundle of patents offered by photography pioneer Kodak, according to a published report.

Bloomberg News reported Saturday that Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have abandoned competing bids for the portfolio to offer a combined $500 million. The sum is the minimum Kodak can sell the patents for and still get an $830 million loan that's crucial to getting the company out of bankruptcy.

GM's Opel to end car production at German plant

BERLIN (AP) -- General Motors Co.'s Opel unit said Monday that it plans to end car production at one plant in Germany in 2016, but a slimmed-down factory may continue to make components.

Employees at the Bochum plant in northwestern Germany, one of four in the country, were told that vehicle production will end when the company stops making the current Zafira model. That was widely expected after the company announced a turnaround plan in June, and "despite intensive efforts this situation could not be changed," Opel said.

Opel, like several other mass-market car manufacturers on the continent, has been struggling amid economic gloom in Europe and overcapacity in the auto industry. The turnaround plan envisions cost cuts, new models and efforts to win new export sales.

US Supreme Court to Consider Same-Sex Marriage

WASHINGTON — The ability of same-sex U.S. couples to legally marry and whether the federal government must recognize those unions could be decided now that the Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear two landmark cases on gay marriage.

One case concerns the constitutionality of a voter referendum banning homosexual marriage in California; the other concerns the constitutionality of a federal law that excludes same-sex couples from receiving government benefits.

Same-sex couples are getting marriage licenses in Washington state, where voters approved gay marriage in November.

Wage Growth Slows Worldwide

GENEVA — A new report finds wage growth remains far below pre-economic crisis levels around the world.  The International Labor Organization's (ILO) annual Global Wage Report finds wages in the emerging and developing world generally have been more resilient than in the developed world.

The report finds huge differences between countries and regions, with wages generally growing faster in areas where economic growth is stronger.  It describes wage growth in the developed world as anemic, where it is forecast at zero percent in 2012.

By contrast, the report sees robust wage growth in Asia, especially in China, more modest, and positive growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in Africa.  The biggest changes are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which have seen higher wage growth than in the past, but from a lower base.

Egypt opposition urges more protests

CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's opposition said Sunday it will keep up protests against a referendum on a disputed draft constitution but stopped short of advocating either a boycott or a "no" vote less than a week before the ballot.

The opposition was still pushing for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to cancel the Dec. 15 referendum, saying they reject the process entirely and refuse to call it legitimate.

The referendum over a disputed draft constitution has deeply polarized Egypt and sparked some of the bloodiest clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents since he came to power in June.

NASA Announces New Plans for Mars Exploration

The U.S. space agency has big plans for the Red Planet. NASA has announced an ambitious multi-year Mars exploration program, looking ahead to meeting President Barack Obama's challenge to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden said the seven missions, planned or already under way, will ensure America remains the world leader in the exploration of our Earth-like neighbor. Next year, NASA will send an orbiter to study the Martian upper atmosphere, and in later years, another mission will take the first look into the planet's deep interior.

Storm that killed 600 threatens Philippines again

NEW BATAAN, Philippines (AP) -- A typhoon that had left the Philippines after killing nearly 600 people and leaving hundreds missing in the south has made a U-turn and is now threatening the country's northwest, officials said Saturday.

The weather bureau raised storm warnings over parts of the main northern island of Luzon after Typhoon Bopha veered northeast. There was a strong possibility the disastrous storm would make a second landfall Sunday, but it might also make a loop and remain in the South China Sea, forecasters said. In either case, it was moving close to shore and disaster officials warned of heavy rains and winds and possible landslides in the mountainous region.

Another calamity in the north would stretch recovery efforts thin. Most government resources, including army and police, are currently focused on the south, where Bopha hit Tuesday before moving west into the South China Sea.

Marijuana legalization in Colo., Wash. complicates drug-free work policies

DENVER (AP) -- Pot may be legal, but workers may want to check with their boss first before they grab the pipe or joint during off hours.

Businesses in Washington state, where the drug is legal, and Colorado, where it will be by January, are trying to figure out how to deal with employees who use it on their own time and then fail a drug test.

It is another uncertainty that has come with pot legalization as many ask how the laws will affect them.

Hamas supporters gather for 25th anniversary

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Thousands of Palestinians are gathering in Gaza to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Hamas militant group.

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal is expected to speak at Saturday's rally in Gaza City. Mashaal entered the seaside strip a day earlier after a long exile from Palestinian territory.

Thousands of Hamas supporters, some of them flashing victory signs, were braving the rain to attend the event. Some parents brought children dressed in military uniforms.

Judge aims to resolve Apple-Samsung legal dispute

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Urging the world's largest smartphone makers to settle their differences, a federal judge said she will issue rulings aimed at resolving a multifaceted legal battle between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics.

"I think it's time for global peace," U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh told lawyers for the two electronics giants, during a court hearing Thursday in San Jose.

Koh appeared ready to trim a $1 billion jury verdict Apple won over Samsung Electronics this summer. She said over the next several weeks she would issue a series of rulings to address the many legal issues raised at the hearing.

Fla. officials consider using genetically modified mosquitoes in battle against dengue fever

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) -- Mosquito control officials in the Florida Keys are waiting for the federal government to sign off on an experiment that would release hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce the risk of dengue fever in the tourist town of Key West.

If approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it would be the first such experiment in the U.S. Some Key West residents worry, though, that not enough research has been done to determine the risks that releasing genetically modified mosquitoes might pose to the Keys' fragile ecosystem.

Debt limit gives GOP leverage, Obama demands fix

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The political fight that took the nation to the verge of defaulting on its debts last year is back, overshadowed by "fiscal cliff" disputes but with consequences far graver than looming tax hikes and steep spending cuts.

The government is on track to hit its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit later this month. And while the Treasury can keep the government functioning through early next year, President Barack Obama is bluntly insisting that any deal on the fiscal cliff include an end to brinkmanship on the debt ceiling.

Obama is demanding tax rate hikes on the rich, using the prospect of a worse alternative and the momentum of his re-election as leverage. But the debt ceiling gives Republicans a powerful weapon to extract further deficit reduction too, contributing to the current stalemate.

Big miner buys pair of energy companies for $9B

NEW YORK (AP) -- Mining company Freeport-McMoRan is buying a pair of oil and gas producers for $9 billion, creating a natural resources conglomerate with assets ranging from oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico to a huge copper mine in Indonesia.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., based in Phoenix, said Wednesday it is paying $6.9 billion in cash and stock for Plains Exploration & Production Co., and $2.1 billion for McMoRan Exploration Co. The miner also will assume $11 billion in debt in the deal.

Plains Exploration, based in Houston, produces oil in California, Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, along with natural gas in Louisiana. McMoRan Exploration, based in New Orleans, is developing natural gas resources that lie deep below shallow water regions of the Gulf of Mexico.

Michael Palin gives evidence in 'Spamalot' suit

LONDON (AP) -- Michael Palin has rejected a movie producer's claim that the producer was the unofficial seventh member of the Monty Python comedy troupe and is entitled to more royalties from the musical "Spamalot."

Mark Forstater has sued over the show, which is based on the 1975 movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

Radical Islamist sect in Nigeria grows more deadly, poses regional threat

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- The radical Islamist fighters gather around piles of weapons and ammunition they've stolen and shout praises to God as they shoot into the expanse of the African desert.

Those depicted in this video don't come from long-lawless Somalia, nor from al-Qaida North Africa branch. These extremists are from Boko Haram, the Islamist group in Nigeria that turned to wide-scale violence in 2009 over local grievances and largely focused their assaults in Maiduguri, the city where the sect started.

World Bank: Arab World hit hard by climate change

DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- The Middle East and North Africa will be especially hard hit by climate change in the coming decades, the World Bank said in a report Wednesday, saying the region will see less rainfall, more recording-breaking temperatures and rising sea levels.

Should temperatures rise as expected, the hotter conditions are likely to hit the region's $50 billion ((EURO)38.2 billion) tourism industry and further worsen its food security since many countries in the region - especially Gulf states - depend heavily on imports to feed their populations. Crop failures will also increase while yields will decrease and household incomes will fall, the report said.

Biotech company behind 'frankenfish' faces uncertain future as FDA review of salmon drags on

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Salmon that's been genetically modified to grow twice as fast as normal could soon show up on your dinner plate. That is, if the company that makes the fish can stay afloat.

After weathering concerns about everything from the safety of humans eating the salmon to their impact on the environment, Aquabounty was poised to become the world's first company to sell fish whose DNA has been altered to speed up growth.

The Food and Drug Administration in 2010 concluded that Aquabounty's salmon was as safe to eat as the traditional variety. The agency also said that there's little chance that the salmon could escape and breed with wild fish, which could disrupt the fragile relationships between plants and animals in nature. But more than two years later the FDA has not approved the fish, and Aquabounty is running out of money.

'Peanuts' creator's love letters going to auction

NEW YORK (AP) -- The late "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz was once so infatuated with a young woman 23 years his junior he sent her dozens of romantic letters and drawings of his beloved cartoon characters. Many of the themes of that correspondence made it into his daily comic strips at the time.

Now those love notes from 1970-1971 are being offered for sale at Sotheby's in New York by the family of Tracey Claudius, who the auction house says is ill at her home near Philadelphia. It's estimated the notes will fetch $250,000 to $350,000 at the Dec. 14 auction.

Coast Guardsman fired gun to avoid fatal crash that killed another crew member

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A Coast Guardsman fired several gunshots from an inflatable boat before it was slammed by another vessel in a crash that caused the first law enforcement fatality since the smuggling of drugs and immigrants by boat began spiking along the California coast several years ago.

A criminal complaint filed Monday against two Mexican nationals aboard the suspect vessel disclosed the gunshots and other measures taken by the crew to avoid getting hit early Sunday near the Channel Islands, about 180 miles northwest of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Chief Petty Officer Terrell Horne III, 34, died from head trauma after being struck by a propeller. The complaint doesn't say which boat hit him.

A billion here, a billion there; some small-bore proposals could help avert the fiscal cliff

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sure the rich may have to pay more in taxes. But a "fiscal cliff" budget deal could mean pain for nearly everyone else, too: higher airline ticket prices, for example, an end to Saturday mail delivery, fewer food stamps and lower farm subsidies.

Each of those changes would make some powerful constituency angry. And even if approved, they would be only a drop in the bucket toward reducing future deficits by trillions of dollars.

Still, all are being looked to as an immediate "down payment" on a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, a looming $500 billion combination of automatic spending cuts and tax increases in the first nine months of next year alone.

UN chief warns Syria's Assad on chemical weapons

DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Syria's regime against using its stockpile of chemical weapons, warning of "huge consequences" if Bashar Assad resorts to such weapons of mass destruction.

Ban also suggested that he would not favor an asylum deal for the Syrian leader as a way to end the country's civil war and cautioned that the United Nations doesn't allow anyone "impunity."

Exit poll: Ex-PM Borut Pahor wins Slovenia presidential election with 67.3 percent of vote

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) -- Former Slovenia Prime Minister Borut Pahor won the presidential election Sunday, calling for unity in the tiny EU nation where discontent has been mounting with government budget cuts and other austerity measures designed to avoid a bailout.

"There is a way out and we must find it together," Pahor said in his victory speech. "We must not turn against each other."

Sunday's vote came just days after anti-austerity protests in Ljubljana, the capital, erupted into clashes that left 15 people injured, triggering fears this normally placid Alpine nation of 2 million was heading into instability.

Palestinian president returns triumphantly from UN

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- The Palestinian president returned triumphantly to the West Bank on Sunday, receiving a boisterous welcome from thousands of cheering supporters at a rally celebrating his people's new acceptance to the United Nations.

An Israeli decision to cut off a cash transfer to the financially troubled Palestinian Authority, following an earlier decision to build thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements, failed to put a damper on the celebrations.

But Palestinian officials acknowledged they were undecided on what to do with their newfound status, and were waiting for upcoming Israeli elections and new ideas from President Barack Obama before deciding how to proceed.

Deals site LivingSocial cuts 400 jobs worldwide

NEW YORK (AP) -- Online deals company LivingSocial is cutting 400 jobs worldwide, or about 9 percent of its work force, as the deals market continues to face challenges.

LivingSocial spokesman Andrew Weinstein said Thursday that all but a few dozen of the cuts are in the United States. The company's sales force faced the highest number of cuts, while others are in customer service and editorial, the people paid to write up the deals. LivingSocial said it is moving its customer service operations to Tucson, Ariz., from Washington, where it has its headquarters.