The Wire

  • 5 dead in Lebanon clash of Assad foes, backers

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:29am

    (AP) — A Lebanese security official says five people have been killed in overnight gunbattles between opponents and supporters of the Syrian regime in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.

  • Japan stocks dive as benchmark bond yield spikes

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:26am

    (AP) — Japanese stocks plummeted Thursday after a spike in government bond yields and unexpectedly weak Chinese manufacturing spooked investors sitting atop months of massive gains in share prices. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo nosedived 7.3 percent to close at 14,483.98, its worst drop since the 2011 tsunami.

  • Malaysian charged with sedition, 3 more arrested

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:20am

    (AP) — Malaysian authorities detained three anti-government figures, charged a student activist with sedition and seized hundreds of opposition newspapers Thursday, raising political tensions after recent national elections triggered claims of fraud.

  • Stricken Japan nuke plant struggles to keep staff

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:19am

    (AP) — Keeping the meltdown-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in northeastern Japan in stable condition requires a cast of thousands. Increasingly the plant's operator is struggling to find enough workers, a trend that many expect to worsen and hamper progress in the decades-long effort to safely decommission it.

  • UK emergency committee meets after attack

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:12am

    (AP) — The British government's emergency committee is set to meet Thursday after two attackers butchered a man in a brutal daylight attack in London that raised fears terrorism had returned to the capital.

  • Father of Afghanistan cricket captain abducted

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:10am

    (AP) — Afghanistan's cricket board says gunmen have kidnapped the father of its national team captain.

  • FBI arrests suspect in Wash. state ricin case

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:05am

    (AP) — The FBI has arrested a suspect in a case involving the discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin and says investigators are working "around the clock" to address any remaining risks.

  • Brown hounded for calling Manila 'gates of hell'

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:03am

    (AP) — Dan Brown's description of Manila as "the gates of hell" in the American novelist's latest book has not gone down well with officials in the Philippine capital.

  • Jury in Jodi Arias trial resumes deliberations

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:01am

    (AP) — Jurors in Jodi Arias' murder trial resume deliberations Thursday after they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or death for killing her one-time boyfriend, prompting the judge to instruct them to keep trying.

  • Colorado killer's reprieve sharply criticized

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:01am

    (AP) — Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper's decision to block the execution of convicted killer Nathan Dunlap for as long as he is governor infuriated victims' families and brought quick criticism from Republicans.

  • Taiwan's Wu confirms he'll run for IOC presidency

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:00am

    (AP) — World amateur boxing association chief C. K. Wu of Taiwan has confirmed his intention to run for president of the International Olympic Committee.

  • US, Israel raise hopes for Mideast peace restart

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 4:00am

    (AP) — The United States and Israel are raising hopes for a restart of the Middle East peace process after more than four years of hardly any talks.

  • Nixon library hosts 40th reunion for Vietnam POWs

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:53am

    Updated on May 23, 2013 at 3:54am

    (AP) — U.S. Navy Lt. Mike McGrath was just 27 years old, with a wife and two toddler sons in the U.S., when he was shot down and taken prisoner on his 179th bombing mission during the Vietnam War.

  • Bangladesh: Owners' many failings led to collapse

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:53am

    (AP) — The defects and errors that led to the world's deadliest garment-industry accident extend from the swampy ground the doomed Rana Plaza was built on, to "extremely poor quality" construction materials, to the massive, vibrating equipment operating when the eight-story building collapsed, a committee appointed by Bangladesh's government concluded.

  • Birth control coverage up for federal appeal

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:49am

    (AP) — Contraception coverage by for-profit companies faces a prominent test in Denver.

  • Debbie Reynolds: We all knew Liberace was gay

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:45am

    (AP) — In the new film "Behind the Candelabra," veteran entertainer Debbie Reynolds has just three major scenes to flesh out one of the most complicated figures in piano-playing showman Liberace's life: his loving but sometimes manipulative mother Frances.

  • Bronx 'ghetto' tours stop amid residents' outrage

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:40am

    Updated on May 23, 2013 at 3:41am

    (AP) — A company that promised sightseer tours to the Bronx that included a New York City "ghetto" has stopped the bus rides under fire from an outraged neighborhood.

  • House to vote on variable rate student loans

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:35am

    (AP) — House lawmakers are ready to pass legislation that links student loan rates to the financial markets in spite of a veto threat from President Barack Obama.

  • Youngest Okla. tornado victims remembered by kin

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:33am

    (AP) — Nine-year-old Sydney Angle was "everywhere at once" when she was out on the softball field. Kyle Davis, 8, was nicknamed "The Wall" because of his size and presence on the soccer field. JaNae Hornsby, also 9, was the life of the party.

  • IMF head Lagarde in court in fraud probe

    Posted on May 23, 2013 at 3:33am

    (AP) — International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has appeared at a special Paris court to face questioning over a controversial arbitrage deal that she oversaw as French finance minister.