Conservative party favored as Japanese vote

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese were voting Sunday in parliamentary elections that were expected to put the once-dominant conservatives back in power after a three-year break — and bring in a more nationalistic government amid tensions with big neighbor China.Major newspapers were predicting the Liberal Democratic Party, led by the hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would win a majority of the seats...

Read More..

As Conn. story unfolds, media struggle with facts

NEW YORK (AP) — The scope and senselessness of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting challenged journalists' ability to do much more than lend, or impose, their presence on the scene.Pressed with the awful urgency of the story, television, along with other media, fell prey to reporting "facts" that were often in conflict or wrong.How many people were killed? Which Lanza brother was the shooter: Adam...

Read More..

Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness."There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant...

Read More..

'Always smiling': Portraits of Connecticut victims

Most died at the very start of their young lives, tiny victims taken in a way not fit for anyone regardless of age. Others found their life's work in sheltering little ones, teaching them, caring for them, treating them as their own. After the gunfire ended Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the trail of loss was more than many could bear: 20 children and six adults at the school, the gunman's...

Read More..

Final campaign push a day before Japanese vote

TOKYO (AP) — Candidates are making final impassioned appeals to voters before parliamentary elections Sunday that are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled Japan for most of the post-war era.Polls suggest that voters will dump the ruling Democratic Party of Japan three years after it swept to power and give the most seats in the 480-member lower chamber to the opposition Liberal...

Read More..

Owner of Rivera plane being investigated by DEA

PHOENIX (AP) — The company that owns a luxury jet that crashed and killed Latin music star Jenni Rivera is under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the agency seized two of its planes earlier this year as part of the ongoing probe.DEA spokeswoman Lisa Webb Johnson confirmed Thursday the planes owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood Management were seized in Texas and Arizona,...

Read More..

Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants

ALAMO, Texas (AP) — For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick. As an illegal immigrant, she had no health insurance, and the only place she knew to seek treatment was the hospital — the most expensive setting for those covering the cost.The family's options improved somewhat a decade ago with the expansion of community health clinics, which offered...

Read More..

'Evil visited this community today': 20 children killed in shooting

Twenty children died today when a heavily armed man invaded a Newtown, Conn., elementary school and sprayed staff and students with bullets.The gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, 20, was found dead in the school.Lt. Paul Vance said 18 children died in the school and two more died later in a hospital. Six adults were also slain, bringing the total to 26.In addition to the casualties at the school, Lanza's...

Read More..

NKorea still years away from reliable missiles

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After 14 years of painstaking labor, North Korea finally has a rocket that can put a satellite in orbit. But that doesn't mean Pyongyang is close to having an intercontinental ballistic missile.Experts say North Korea is years from even having a shot at developing reliable missiles that could bombard the American mainland and other distant targets, though it did gain attention...

Read More..

Facebook, Google tell the government to stop granting patents for abstract ideas

Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG) and six other tech companies have petitioned the courts to begin rejecting lawsuits that are based on patents for vague concepts rather than specific applications, TechCrunch reported. The agreement, which was cosigned by Zynga (ZNGA), Dell (DELL), Intuit (INTU), Homeaway (AWAY), Rackspace (RAX), and Red Hat (RHT), notes the only thing these abstract patents do is increase...

Read More..

L.A. Reid not returning to 'X Factor' next season

NEW YORK (AP) — L.A. Reid will soon be an ex-judge on "The X Factor."The veteran music executive is not returning to the Fox singing competition series next season, a representative for Epic Records said Thursday. Reid is currently the chairman and CEO of Epic, a division of Sony Entertainment.Reid joined the American version of the show last year along with creator Simon Cowell. This season also...

Read More..

Study: People worldwide living longer, but sicker

LONDON (AP) — Nearly everywhere around the world, people are living longer and fewer children are dying. But increasingly, people are grappling with the diseases and disabilities of modern life, according to the most expansive global look so far at life expectancy and the biggest health threats.The last comprehensive study was in 1990 and the top health problem then was the death of children under...

Read More..

With Rice withdrawing, Kerry may get call

WASHINGTON (AP) — Susan Rice, the embattled U.N. ambassador, abruptly withdrew from consideration to be the next secretary of state on Thursday after a bitter, weekslong standoff with Republican senators who declared they would fight to defeat her nomination.The reluctant announcement makes Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry the likely choice to be the nation's next top diplomat when Hillary Rodham Clinton...

Read More..

NKorea hails launch despite risk of consequences

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea, though struggling to feed its people, is now one of the few countries to have successfully launched a satellite into space from its own soil. But leaders in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo immediately pushed for consequences over a rocket launch widely seen as a test that takes the country one step closer to being capable of lobbing nuclear bombs over the Pacific.The...

Read More..

New Flickr iPhone app to compete with Instagram and Twitter with 16 filters

Hot on the heels of its email redesign, Yahoo (YHOO) announced on Wednesday that it has completely redesigned the Flickr iPhone app. The new app borrows heavily from Instagram and focuses on what makes Flickr special: photos and communities. Yahoo’s new Flickr app also includes 16 filters with their own fancy names to go head-on with Instagram and Twitter’s recently updated app that...

Read More..

Music, comedy strike defiant tone at Sandy concert

NEW YORK (AP) — Music and comedy royalty struck a defiant tone in a benefit concert for Superstorm Sandy victims on Wednesday, asking for help to rebuild a New York metropolitan area most of them know well.The sold-out Madison Square Garden show was televised, streamed online and aired on radio all over the world. Producers said up to 2 billion people could experience the concert live."When are you...

Read More..

Congress examines science behind HGH test for NFL

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee has opened a hearing to examine the science behind a human growth hormone test the NFL wants to start using on its players.Nearly two full seasons have passed since the league and the players' union signed a labor deal that set the stage for HGH testing.The NFL Players Association won't concede the validity of a test that's used by Olympic sports and Major...

Read More..

US expert says NKorea rocket launches satellite

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — An American space expert said North Korea has succeeded in launching a satellite into space.Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said late Tuesday from Cambridge, Massachusetts, that the three-stage Unha-3 rocket launched early Wednesday morning delivered the satellite into orbit and constituted "a perfect success for North Korea."He said that...

Read More..

Indian sitar virtuouso Ravi Shankar dies at 92

Ravi Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, has died. He was 92.The prime minister's office confirmed his death and called him a "national treasure."Labeled "the godfather of world music" by George Harrison, Shankar helped millions of classical,...

Read More..