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The British and Irish Lions got good and bad news on the injury front Wednesday ahead of the first test against Australia: winger George North is fit to play, but center Jamie Roberts remains doubtful. Lions assistant coach Rob Howley says North passed a fitness test on a hamstring ailment but fellow Welshman Roberts was still struggling with a hamstring strain. Roberts and Irish winger Tommy Bowe (broken hand) are likely to watch Saturday's first test from the sidelines. Center Manu Tuilagi...

The Oakland Athletics opened a three-game lead atop the American League West division by beating nearest rival Texas 6-2 in a bloody encounter on Tuesday, with Brandon Moss and John Jaso hitting homers off star Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish. In other important results, Pittsburgh inflicted the first loss of the season upon Cincinnati pitcher Mat Latos to close the gap between the teams to half a game, while Boston won both games of a double-header over Tampa Bay to extend their lead in the AL East....

Chinese property and cinema conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group said Wednesday it is buying British yacht maker Sunseeker and will develop a high-end London hotel, expanding into the luxury market as part of the latest foray abroad by a major Chinese firm. The company will acquire a 91.81 percent stake in Sunseeker, in a transaction worth 320 million pounds ($500 million). The deal enhances Wanda's international reputation and position in the global luxury, entertainment and tourism markets, while...

Republican lawmakers have a message for those who want the party to soften its emphasis on social conservatism in hopes of reaching a wider national audience: Not so fast. House Republicans flexed their cultural and conservative muscles Tuesday, passing the most restrictive abortion measure in years. They also advanced legislation to crack down on immigrants living illegally in the U.S., even as senators pursue a plan that would offer those same millions a pathway to citizenship. The actions...

NATIONAL LEAGUE BATTING_YMolina, St. Louis, .367; Tulowitzki, Colorado, .347; Scutaro, San Francisco, .335; Segura, Milwaukee, .330; Votto, Cincinnati, .323; CGomez, Milwaukee, .320; FFreeman, Atlanta, .320. RUNS_CGonzalez, Colorado, 58; Holliday, St. Louis, 54; Votto, Cincinnati, 53; MCarpenter, St. Louis, 52; Choo, Cincinnati, 49; Fowler, Colorado, 47; Goldschmidt, Arizona, 47. RBI_Goldschmidt, Arizona, 62; CGonzalez, Colorado, 56; Phillips, Cincinnati, 56; Craig, St. Louis, 52; Tulowitzki,...

AMERICAN LEAGUE BATTING_MiCabrera, Detroit, .359; HKendrick, Los Angeles, .332; CDavis, Baltimore, .332; JhPeralta, Detroit, .331; Mauer, Minnesota, .327; Machado, Baltimore, .324; Pedroia, Boston, .317. RUNS_MiCabrera, Detroit, 55; Trout, Los Angeles, 51; AJones, Baltimore, 50; CDavis, Baltimore, 49; Longoria, Tampa Bay, 47; Machado, Baltimore, 46; Pedroia, Boston, 46. RBI_MiCabrera, Detroit, 71; CDavis, Baltimore, 61; Encarnacion, Toronto, 58; Fielder, Detroit, 54; DOrtiz, Boston, 52; AJones,...

The United States and Costa Rica both closed in on place at next year's World Cup by winning their home matches in Tuesday's CONCACAF qualifiers. The U.S. had a 1-0 win over Honduras, with Jozy Altidore scoring the sole goal in the 73rd minute, while Costa Rica recorded a 2-0 victory over Panama. With six of ten games played in the six-team group, the U.S. is in top spot in the standings on 13 points while Costa Rica is second with 11 points. With the top three teams to qualify directly to Brazil...

The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying. The House Intelligence Committee hearing provided a venue for officials to defend the once-secret programs and did little probing of claims that the collection of people's phone records and Internet usage has disrupted...

Netflix Inc. got its start renting DVDs through the mail in the U.S. during the late 1990s and added Internet video streaming in 2007. It has been expanding globally with a streaming-only service. Here's a look at its international expansion so far. _ Sept. 22, 2010: Service in Canada begins, first outside the U.S. _ Sept. 5, 2011. Service in Latin America begins. _ Jan. 9, 2012: Expands to the United Kingdom and Ireland. _ Oct. 15, 2012: Netflix arrives in Sweden, followed by Denmark, Norway...

Satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp. said Tuesday it would not submit a revised bid for Sprint, leaving the path open for the wireless carrier to accept what it already considers a superior offer from Japan's Softbank. Dish said that Sprint Nextel Corp.'s decision to cut Dish's due diligence process short, among other things, made it "impracticable" to submit a revised bid. It said it will continue to focus on its bid for Clearwire, a wireless network operator in which Sprint has a majority...

Hundreds of fans greeted members of Australia's national football team at downtown Sydney's Circular Quay on Wednesday after the Socceroos qualified for next year's World Cup in Brazil with a 1-0 win over Iraq. "It's been a tough four years, teams are getting tougher ... we're just delighted that we have achieved our goal," Australia captain Lucas Neill said at a public reception in which the late Australian singer/songwriter Peter Allen's signature "I Go to Rio" was prominently featured. There...

Goals by Bryan Ruiz and Celso Borges put Costa Rica in a stronger position to qualify for next year's World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Panama on Tuesday night. The Costa Ricans have 11 points from six matches with a 3-1-2 record. That trails only the United States (4-1-1), which beat Honduras earlier in the night. Ruiz opened the scoring on a free kick in the 49th minute, and Borges clinched it just about two minutes later from long distance in a steady rain at National Stadium. Panama has...

Chinese property and cinema conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group says it is buying British yacht maker Sunseeker and will develop an upmarket London hotel, expanding into the luxury market as part of the latest foray abroad by a major Chinese firm. The company said Wednesday it was acquiring a 91.81 percent stake in Sunseeker in a deal worth 320 million pounds ($500 million). Wanda also says it plans to invest 700 million pounds ($1 billion) in a five-star, 160-room London hotel on the South Bank overlooking...

A bus carrying 36 people veered from a road in heavy fog and crashed into a valley in western China, killing at least 15 people, state media reported. The accident happened Tuesday afternoon when the bus was traveling to a tourist spot near Changji city in the Xinjiang region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. A Changji police official, who gave only his surname, Ma, confirmed the accident, but didn't have any information about casualties. Road accidents are common in China because of...

Johnny Rockets, the Southern California-based burger chain with 1950s flair, has been sold to a private equity firm that targets underperforming and specialty companies. The Orange County Register reported Tuesday that Sun Capital Partners has purchased the company, which is headquartered in Aliso Viejo. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. John Fuller, the chain's chief executive, says the new owners want to expand the chain and find ways to help it cut costs. Johnny Rockets, founded in 1986,...

Today is Wednesday, June 19, the 170th day of 2013. There are 195 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On June 19, 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y. On this date: In 1862, Congress passed, and President Abraham Lincoln signed, a measure abolishing slavery in U.S. territories. In 1865, Union troops commanded by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger...

The Cape Wind offshore wind project has secured a $200 million investment from a Danish pension fund in what the wind farm's president said Tuesday is a milestone for the long-delayed project. In a statement announcing the commitment, PensionDanmark's chief executive Torben Moger Pedersen noted the fund has already invested in two offshore wind projects in Denmark and said it was "delighted to participate in the Cape Wind project." The $2.6 billion Cape Wind project aims to be the United States'...

Jozy Altidore scored the lone goal to lead the United States past Honduras 1-0 Tuesday and a step closer to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. The United States leads the six-team CONCACAF qualifying group with 13 points, ahead of Costa Rica with 11 and Mexico on eight with four games remaining. Honduras is fourth with seven points. The top-three teams advance to the World Cup, while the fourth team goes to a playoff with Oceania-winner New Zealand. After several second-half near misses, the...

Award-winning journalist and war correspondent Michael Hastings, whose unflinching reporting ended the career of a top U.S. Army general, died early Tuesday in a car accident in Los Angeles, his employer and family said. Hastings, who was 33, was described by many of his colleagues as an unfailingly bright and hard-charging reporter who wrote stories that mattered. Most recently, he wrote about politics for the news website BuzzFeed, where the top editor said colleagues were devastated by the...

Pakistan refugee Fawad Ahmed has been included in Australia A's tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa in July, but could still play in the Ashes series. Cricket Australia's chairman of selectors John Inverarity said Wednesday that legspinner Ahmed remained in contention for the Ashes should his Australian citizenship be approved before the first test against England starting July 10. Ahmed is on Australia A's tour of Britain and Ireland and took his first wicket for the side in a win against Ireland...

Zack Wheeler lived up the hype in his major league debut, pitching six scoreless innings to lead the New York Mets to a 6-1 victory over the first-place Atlanta Braves and a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday. Wheeler gave up only four hits and struck out seven while consistently reaching the upper 90s on the radar gun. He struggled a bit with his control, walking five, but got out of every jam. It was a long day that gave New York's long-suffering NL fans hope for a brighter future, led by two of...

Oklahoma executed a 36-year-old man on Tuesday for taking part in the brutal killing of a ranching couple 13 years ago. James Lewis DeRosa was killed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, becoming the state's second inmate executed this year. At a clemency hearing last month, DeRosa took responsibility for his role in the Oct. 2, 2000, stabbing deaths of Curtis and Gloria Plummer, for whom he had previously done some ranch work. He also apologized to their family....

A U.S. immigration overhaul would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the federal deficit over the next 20 years if it gets through Congress, congressional budget analysts said. Tuesday's assessment cheered supporters of an issue that President Barack Obama has placed at the top of his domestic agenda. They said it would add to momentum behind a measure that toughens border security while holding out the hope of citizenship to millions who came to the United States illegally or overstayed...

State and local police spent hours at the home of NFL tight end Aaron Hernandez of the New England Patriots on Tuesday night as another group of officers searched an industrial park about a mile away where a body was discovered the day before. Police at the scene and prosecutors would not comment on the actions while Sports Illustrated, citing an unidentified source, reported that Hernandez was not believed to be a suspect in what was being treated as a possible homicide. Police had spoken with...

A mentally disabled woman charged with shoplifting a candy bar asked to be jailed because three people "had been mean to her" _ then went on to tell authorities about her time spent in unfathomably cruel servitude, along with her young daughter, at the hands of three people, authorities said Tuesday. On several occasions, according to an FBI affidavit, the suspects injured her and ordered her to go to an emergency room for pain medication they would then take for themselves. The 29-year-old woman...

The opening of a new airport to accommodate budget carriers has been delayed until next year because of design changes and other construction setbacks, Malaysia's airport operator says. Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad said late Tuesday that the contractors for the terminal building of the new airport, who previously said the facility would be completed this month, need additional time and set late April 2014 as a new target date for completion. Operations are to start on May 2, 2014. The airport...

The latest possible resting place of Teamsters labor union boss Jimmy Hoffa is an overgrown farm field where the normal calm of chirping crickets is being drowned out by a beeping backhoe, the chop of an overhead news helicopter and the bustle of reporters and onlookers. Over nearly four decades, authorities have pursued multiple leads into Hoffa's death that yielded nothing. Yet the mystery endures, fueled by a public fascination with mobsters and murder. "It's one of those things you've always...

A 13-year-old boy from a New Orleans suburb was charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old half-sister after investigators said he told them he repeatedly struck her with wrestling moves imitated from TV. "The 13-year-old reported he started to wrestle with the victim and practiced `WWE' style wrestling moves on the 5-year-old," Col. John Fortunato of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said in a news release Tuesday. Those moves allegedly included repeatedly slamming...

An indication of an oil filter problem prompted the crew of a Boeing 787 flying from Denver to Tokyo to divert to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, a United Airlines spokeswoman said. Flight 139 landed normally and an airline maintenance team was inspecting it, United spokeswoman Mary Ryan said in an email statement. The plane touched down in Seattle shortly after 4 p.m., a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said. United just put its 787s back in the air on May...

For the second time in as many months, a Muslim civil rights group is pursuing criminal charges on behalf of a taxicab driver who was subjected to an anti-Islamic rant caught on tape. In the most recent case, an Ashburn, Virginia, woman unleashed a string of expletives and called the police emergency dispatcher to report that she was afraid for her life because she said her cabbie, Abdikar Aden of Alexandria, Virginia, was "very Muslim." Aden says the woman also poked him repeatedly in the back...

Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler needed three stitches and had blood on his jersey after a vicious collision at home plate in Tuesday's game against Oakland. Kinsler was cut near the left side of his jaw after his face slammed into the mask of catcher John Jaso while sliding feet-first to score in the third inning. Jaso was unable to hold on to the ball after the collision that jerked Kinsler's head backward. The start of the fourth inning was delayed for several minutes while Kinsler...

Selma Blair is making a sudden exit from the Charlie Sheen TV comedy "Anger Management." In a statement Tuesday, producer Lionsgate says the actress won't be returning to the FX comedy. The company says it wishes her "the very best" but has no further comment. Blair's departure comes while the comedy is about halfway through completing its 90-episode order from FX. The actress's publicist didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Sheen's manager, Mark Burg, declined comment, as did...

Australia flanker Michael Hooper says a British and Irish Lions team packed with Welshmen will give his side some confidence heading into the first test on Saturday after the Wallabies' recent dominance of the Wales team. The Wallabies have a 6-0 record against Wales in the past 19 months, including a four-test sweep last year. Fifteen of the original 37-man Lions squad chosen by Wales coach Warren Gatland were from his side. More than half the Lions starters Saturday in Brisbane are expected...

The endangered Lakota language has lost one of its greatest supporters. Albert White Hat, who was instrumental in teaching and preserving the American Indian language and translated the Hollywood film "Dances with Wolves" into Lakota for its actors, died last week surrounded by loved ones at a South Dakota hospital. The 74-year-old had been battling prostate cancer and other health issues, according to family and friends. White Hat, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, authored several books...

Dougie Hamilton spent his 20th birthday watching the Stanley Cup finals. He'd rather be playing in them. The Bruins rookie defensemen was in street clothes when Boston defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 on Monday night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. It also was the first day of his post-teenage years. After a regular season in which he played 42 of the 48 games, and then seven of the first 11 playoff games, Hamilton hasn't suited up for any of the last eight, including the...

Serena Williams says in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine that, while not blaming the victim in the Steubenville rape case, "she shouldn't have put herself in that position." The comment is made in one paragraph of a lengthy story posted online Tuesday about Williams, a 16-time Grand Slam title winner who is ranked No. 1 heading into Wimbledon, which starts next week. Two players from the celebrated Steubenville, Ohio, high school football team were convicted in March of raping a drunken...

Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of roadways and canals, illustrating a bustling ancient city linking Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex. The discovery was announced late Monday in a peer-reviewed paper released early by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The laser scanning revealed a previously undocumented formally planned urban landscape integrating the 1,200-year-old temples. The Angkor temple complex, Cambodia's top tourist destination and...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a far-reaching anti-abortion bill that conservatives saw as a milestone in their 40-year campaign against legalized abortion and Democrats characterized as another example of what they see as Republicans' war on women. The legislation, sparked by the murder conviction of a Philadelphia late-term abortion provider, would restrict almost all abortions to the first 20 weeks after conception, defying laws in most states that allow abortions up to when the fetus...

The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission says the agency will start requiring companies and individuals to admit wrongdoing in some big settlements. Currently, under a longstanding practice, the SEC allows companies and individuals to settle charges without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Critics, including a federal judge, have complained that policy doesn't deter repeat violations. Mary Jo White says the SEC will now demand admissions of wrongdoing in cases involving serious...

Alberto Zaccheroni's first foray into international football culminated in a resounding success, and his second big tournament hinges on a meeting with his home country. Zaccheroni, a 60-year-old tactical expert from Italy who has coached several top Serie A clubs, qualified Japan for the Confederations Cup by leading the team to the Asian Cup title in 2011. But the Japanese lost to Brazil 3-0 on Saturday in the opening match of this year's World Cup warm-up tournament, putting their chances of...

`Terminator 2' star Edward Furlong has been charged with assault after a May 21 incident in which his girlfriend called police and reported he attacked her. Deputy District Attorney Linda Loftfield says Furlong pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Tuesday. Furlong already has two pending misdemeanor battery cases. He allegedly violated a restraining order when he returned to the victim's West Hollywood home. He's also accused of damaging a laptop and photo equipment. In March, the 35-year-old...

Michael Jackson's personal chef described for jurors the home lives of his children during the final months of the singer's life and their ongoing grief over their father's death nearly four years ago. Gone are the freewheeling days when the children, Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson played with their father and traded jokes at the dinner table, chef Kai Chase told jurors Tuesday. It has been replaced, Chase said, by a weight on eldest son Prince Michael Jackson's shoulders. Daughter Paris Jackson...

A Texas congressman who was choking on a piece of popcorn is thanking a fellow Republican from Arizona and a House staffer who is also a doctor for stepping in to help. A spokeswoman for Rep. Ted Poe said the five-term congressman from the state's 2nd District was eating dinner at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington Thursday when he began choking. Poe spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon was eating nearby and he and another bystander jumped into action and began doing the Heimlich...

For Daniele De Rossi, Italy's national team is a sort of personal oasis. It's a squad where he can simply be a highly dependable midfielder and push aside the immense pressure he plays under at his club, Roma. Born in Rome and bred in Roma's system where his father remains the club's youth coach, De Rossi has long been seen as the successor to Roma great Francesco Totti as the squad's next captain. That's no sure thing anymore, though. Not after a season to forget. De Rossi didn't score a single...

American hurdler and bobsledder Lolo Jones' attempt at humor in a video that's gone viral received a chilly reception from some members of the bobsledding community. Jones posted a Vine video in which she pokes fun at a check she received for $741.84 in prize money from the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. In the spoof, she picks up the phone and says, "I'm going to be a little bit late on my rent." And now, instead of concentrating on the U.S. athletics championships this week in her...

British bankers could soon be facing harsher penalties for behaving badly. After a year which has seen major scandals involving rate-rigging, money-laundering and rogue-trading rock the UK's financial industry, an influential parliamentary committee recommended Wednesday that senior bankers should be held more accountable for their bank's actions. One measure, it said, should be a new criminal offense of "reckless misconduct" _ one that could carry a prison sentence. "The health and reputation...

A Brazilian congressional human rights committee on Thursday approved legislation that would allow psychologists to treat homosexuality as a disorder or pathology. The commission is led by evangelical pastor Marco Feliciano of the Social Christian Party, who has been accused of homophobia and enraged activists by calling AIDS a "gay cancer" in a tweet. His appointment as head the Commission for Human Rights and Minorities in the lower house of Brazil's Congress was fiercely opposed by gay and...

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the studio behind "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda," said Tuesday that a new deal to provide original TV shows to Netflix will help it double the revenue it gets from TV shows to $200 million by 2015. The extra $100 million represents a 13 percent increase over the $750 million in revenue that DreamWorks as a whole posted last year. The company said the figure, which it announced on a conference call with analysts Tuesday, will remain at that level in the long run. It...

Scientists in Michigan and Louisiana are predicting a big summer "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico unless a tropical storm hits the area shortly before or during the annual measurement. In the Chesapeake Bay, scientists expect a smaller-than-average area where there's too little oxygen to support fish, shellfish and other aquatic life. The hypoxic zone in the Gulf is likely to be the largest since annual measurements began in 1985, covering 8,561 square miles _ about the size of New Jersey, according...

Activist investor Carl Icahn on Tuesday proposed a $16 billion share buyback in his latest effort to thwart Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell's effort to take the struggling computer maker private. Icahn, now the company's second-largest shareholder after buying 72 million shares from fellow activist investor Southeastern Asset Management Inc., wants the company to buy back up to 1.1 billion Dell shares at $14 apiece to boost shareholders' return on their investment. The price of the buyback would...

In a bid to kick start Jamaica's chronically stagnant economy, the Caribbean country is wooing its citizens living abroad to invest in the island of their birth. On Tuesday, hundreds of entrepreneurs and other Jamaican expatriates mingled with government officials and local business leaders, brainstorming ways to boost growth and development. The sessions were part of a four-day "Jamaica Diaspora" conference aimed at tapping into the wealth, education and know-how of the island's expatriates....

The top U.N. envoy to Libya warned Tuesday that the country faces urgent challenges as it struggles to instill democracy after decades of dictatorship, including growing political polarization, weak institutions that can't deal with escalating security problems and thousands of conflict-related detainees waiting to be charged or released. Tarek Mitri told the U.N. Security Council that nearly two years after the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, "the Libyan people will continue to endure...

Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj will take the stage at the BET Awards. BET announced Tuesday that India.Arie and Ciara will join the former "American Idol" judges as performers at the June 30 show. Previously announced performers include Chris Brown, Miguel, R. Kelly and Kendrick Lamar. Rapper-singer Drake leads with 12 nominations, while Lamar and 2 Chainz are up for eight awards each. Chris Tucker will host the BET Awards. Presenters include Paula Patton, LaLa Anthony, Angela Bassett and Gabrielle...

Lil Wayne says he wasn't intentionally stepping on the U.S. flag when shooting his latest video. Video of the rapper from his music video shoot for the song "God Bless Amerika" hit the Web on Monday. In it, he appears to be stepping on top of the flag. But he said in a Facebook post Tuesday the flag on the ground will not appear in the clip. He writes it was never his intention "to desecrate the flag of the United States of America." He says the flag will reveal a group of people behind him...

Samuel L. Jackson would have been cursing up a storm. A Texas man has pleaded guilty to smuggling snakes on several planes from South America to the United States. During a court hearing Wednesday in Tyler, William Lamar pleaded guilty to importing wildlife taken in violation of foreign law. Prosecutors say the 63-year-old eco-tourism guide bought the seven live snakes in August 2012 in a market in Lima, Peru, and smuggled them in his jacket on flights from Lima to Miami and then to Dallas....

Google on Tuesday sharply challenged the U.S. government's gag order on its Internet surveillance program, citing what it described as a constitutional free speech right to divulge how many requests it receives from the government for data about its customers in the name of national security. The move came in a legal motion filed in the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and is aimed at mending Google's reputation after it was identified this month as one of nine U.S. Internet companies...

With great crowds, violent protests and some organizational setbacks, the Confederations Cup is underway in Brazil. The first round of matches ended on Monday with favorites Brazil, Italy and Spain winning their matches and the host nation getting an idea of what it will have to improve on for the rest of the tournament and especially the World Cup a year from now. There is still a lot of unfinished work in the six host cities across Brazil and there have been mistakes by organizers and a lack...

The Los Angeles Kings have reached agreement on terms of a new six-year, $25 million contract with Russian defenseman Slava Voynov. The 23-year-old Voynov contributed six goals and 13 points during the Kings' playoff run, which ended with a loss to Chicago in the Western Conference finals. He set a Kings single-season playoff record for most goals by a defenseman (6) and most game-winning goals (4). Voynov totaled new career highs for points (25) and assists (19) during the regular season, with...

Defense officials say four U.S. troops have been killed at or near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Officials said Tuesday the four were killed by indirect fire, likely a mortar or rocket, but they had no other details. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details on the deaths. The attack comes as U.S. and allied forces formally handed over control of the country's security to the Afghan army and police in a ceremony in Kabul. The transition...

Next week marks four years that Justin Rose first began working on his swing with Sean Foley. But in the moments after winning the U.S. Open for his first major championship, Rose referred to him as more than just a swing coach. He gave credit to Foley for improvements each year, particularly being able to hit the ball a little longer and a little straighter. Rose also mentioned a text that Foley sent him on Sunday morning before he closed with an even-par 70 for his two-shot win. "He said something...

Mario Balotelli is so unpredictable that even his coach has trouble keeping tabs on the prized Italy striker. Balotelli's winning goal in the Azzurri's 2-1 win over Mexico at the Confederations Cup was a prime example. The goal showed off Balotelli's combination of brute strength and sheer athleticism. But the AC Milan striker immediately took away some of the moment's luster by stripping off his shirt, earning a yellow card. If Balotelli picks up another yellow in Wednesday's match against...

Today is Wednesday, June 26, the 177th day of 2013. There are 188 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 1541 - Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conqueror of Peru, is slain in Lima by rival conquistadors. 1549 - The 17 provinces of the Netherlands are declared independent of the Holy Roman Empire. 1714 - Spain and Holland sign Peace of Utrecht. 1848 - Artillery blasts apart the barricades put up by rebelling workers in Paris, ending the "June Days" civil war with the loss of...

Brazil wants to use Mexico's desperation to its advantage when the teams meet in the Confederations Cup on Wednesday. While Brazil opened with a convincing win over Japan, Mexico lost to Italy and needs a good result against the hosts to keep alive its hopes of advancing in the World Cup warm-up tournament. Brazilian players are hoping the Mexicans come out attacking to try for victory at the Arena Castelao, opening up spaces for Brazil to counterattack and move closer to securing a spot in the...

Right-hander Roy Oswalt will make his first start of the season for the Colorado Rockies on Thursday at Washington. Manager Walt Weiss confirmed the move Tuesday. He said he does not expect to use a six-man rotation. The 35-year-old Oswalt hasn't pitched in the majors since Oct. 2, when he was with the Texas Rangers. He's also played for Houston and Philadelphia. A three time All-Star, Oswalt has a career record of 163-96, including a 4-0 mark and 2.25 ERA in five starts at Coors Field. He signed...

Protesters surrounding the city hall of Brazil's biggest city have clashed with police when a small group of demonstrators tried to force their way into the building. GloboNews television network showed images of protesters in Sao Paulo using metal barriers to smash windows and doors. Municipal guards with shields retreated into the building as they came under attack from some of the demonstrators. GloboNews says Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad was not in City Hall at the time. Tuesday's protest...

The U.S. Golf Association is not opposed to inflicting cruel and unusual punishment at its premier championship, so here's something it might want to consider. Award the "Phil Mickelson Medal" to the runner-up in the U.S. Open. There is precedent. The U.S. Open champion has received a gold medal ever since this brute of a tournament began in 1895, and yet the USGA tinkered with 117 years of tradition by last year changing the name to the "Jack Nicklaus Medal." An argument can be made that Nicklaus,...

A federal bank that backed a huge airplane loan for Air India will have to explain that the loan didn't hurt U.S. airlines. A lawsuit by Delta Air Lines Inc. had accused the Export-Import Bank of failing to follow a requirement that it makes sure its loans to foreign companies won't hurt U.S. competitors. The Ex-Im bank guaranteed $3.4 billion in loans in 2011 so that Air India could buy planes from Boeing Co. But Delta competes with Air India on some routes. The Court of Appeals in Washington...

A bipartisan trio of key U.S. senators is demanding that President Barack Obama take more decisive action to stem the military advance by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces. Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Carl Levin and Republican John McCain say in a joint letter to Obama that Syrian government forces are advancing so dramatically that providing weapons to the opposition alone is unlikely to shift the war back in the rebels' favor. The administration last week authorized lethal aid...

It's all about the Fed. Still. U.S. stocks moved higher Tuesday, helped by news of a pickup in home building and low inflation. But the Federal Reserve loomed large, with investors trying to guess what the central bank will say Wednesday about how long it plans to keep stimulus programs in place. For many, the market was in a holding pattern as investors waited for Wednesday's announcement. The market's gains were steady and broad. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 12.77 points, or 0.8...

The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying. The House Intelligence Committee hearing provided a venue for officials to defend the once-secret programs and did little probing of claims that the collection of people's phone records and Internet usage has disrupted...

Exploding shells set off a fire that was triggering explosions Wednesday at a military depot in southern Russia, injuring about 30 people and causing the evacuation of more than 6,000 from a nearby village, investigators and emergency workers said. No cause has yet been determined for the fire at the Chapaevsk military depot in the Samara region, which the federal Investigative Committee said was set off Tuesday by the "involuntary" explosions of shells. Russian munitions, which frequently date...

One of several Cuban dissidents recently allowed to visit Europe and the U.S. after Cuba changed its travel laws said Tuesday she decided to seek refuge in Miami after facing continued repression on the island. Rosa Maria Paya said she and her family have been the subject of threats, harassment and increased vigilance since her father's death last year and following her return to Cuba in April. "We wanted to rest a bit from the persecution we faced in Cuba," Paya said, "and continue working on...

Australia qualified for the 2014 World Cup by beating Iraq 1-0 on Tuesday, with Josh Kennedy heading home the winner in the 83rd minute to reward a bold substitution by coach Holger Osieck. Osieck made the surprising decision to take off veteran Tim Cahill and replace him with Kennedy, and the decision paid dividends when Mark Bresciano chipped a cross into the box, where the tall striker took advantage of lax marking to head past Noor Sabri in the Iraq goal. The goal sparked euphoria among the...

Alpine Bau GmbH, one of Austria's biggest construction companies, says it is insolvent. In making the announcement Tuesday, the company said it is seeking a reorganization plan that would allow parts of the conglomerate to continue functioning. A statement issued by Alpine said it was not possible to reorganize internally, "despite significant support from financing banks and intensive efforts of the owner." The company says if a feasible reorganization plan can be devised, it will be reviewed...

Physicist Kenneth Wilson, who earned a Nobel prize for pioneering work that changed the way physicists think about phase transitions, has died in Maine, where he retired to enjoy kayaking with his wife. He was 77. Wilson, who died from complications of lymphoma, was in the physics department at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., when he won the Nobel Prize in 1982 for applying his research in quantum physics to phase transitions, the transformation that occurs when a substance goes from, say,...

Regulators reached an agreement Tuesday for Deloitte Financial Advisory Services to pay $10 million and cease new consulting for one year at state-regulated banks to settle an investigation into misconduct. The probe involved Deloitte's work for the New York branch of Standard Chartered Bank in 2004 and 2005. The company said it entered the agreement voluntarily and will work with the state's regulators to establish practices intended to become the standard in New York. It concerns Financial...

U.S. safety regulators said Tuesday that they are investigating problems with air-bag sensors in the seats of some small Suzuki SUVs. The probe covers 205,000 vehicles including Grand Vitaras from the 2006 through 2011 model years and SX4s from 2007 through 2011. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on its website that 128 owners have complained about problems with sensors in the front passenger seats that should turn off the air bag when a child is sitting there. In some...

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman says a man who ranted about national security and screamed "I'm dead" during a flight from Hong Kong once worked at the agency. The spokeswoman said Tuesday that the passenger ended his time at the department in 2006. She gave no details about his job or why he no longer works there. The man started screaming nine hours into a 15-hour flight Monday to Newark Liberty Airport outside New York City. At one point, a passenger says, the man claimed people were trying...

Years of talk about building an arena capable of hosting professional sports and big-name concerts yielded an announcement Tuesday that casino giant MGM Resorts International and entertainment company AEG will build a privately financed 20,000-seat indoor venue on the Las Vegas Strip. Construction on the $350 million arena should start next summer on land that MGM Resorts owns between the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts, the two companies said in a joint announcement. Completion is expected...

A former Playboy Playmate has admitted helping her Canadian boyfriend after he illegally entered the United States in northern New York last summer. Syracuse's The Post-Standard newspaper says Colleen Shannon pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to a felony and faces a sentence ranging from no jail time to 10 months. Federal agents say the 35-year-old Los Angeles resident and her boyfriend were arrested after he illegally crossed the border and rendezvoused with her in Fort Covington. Officials...

FIFA says Nigeria's opening goal of the Confederations Cup will be ruled an own-goal by Tahiti captain Nicolas Vallar. Nigeria defender Uwa Echiejile was originally credited with the goal, which came in the fifth minute of Monday's match in Belo Horizonte. Echiejile's shot deflected off Vallar and past the Tahiti goalkeeper. FIFA says its Technical Study Group made the decision "after careful review." Nigeria won the Group B match 6-1, also getting an own-goal from Jonathan Tehau. Echiejile...

After 16 consecutive years of always showing up at Wimbledon, winning five titles along the way, Venus Williams pulled out of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament on Tuesday, citing a lower back injury. Williams, who turned 33 on Monday, never had missed Wimbledon since making her debut there in 1997, although she lost in the first round a year ago. She won the singles trophy _ it happens to be called the Venus Rosewater Dish _ in 2000-01, 2005 and 2007-08, to go with two more major championships...

Metal prices fell Tuesday as traders anticipate that the Federal Reserve may start easing its support for the U.S. economy. The price of gold for August delivery fell $16.20, or 1.2 percent, to $1,366.90 an ounce. Palladium and silver also declined. Only platinum bucked the trend and edged higher. The central bank will end its two-day policy meeting Wednesday. Until this year, the Fed's bond-buying stimulus program had helped drive gold prices to record highs. Many investors thought the Fed's...

Thiago Alcantara scored a first-half hat trick as Spain turned on the style to beat Italy 4-2 on Tuesday and win the European Under-21 championship for a second consecutive time. Italy started as the brighter side at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium but the Spanish players, captained by Thiago, soon gained control and took the lead after just six minutes. They never looked back. Spain's Under21s went on to retain their title, just as the senior side had retained its title as European champions in...

The stock market is closing higher as investors anticipate that the Federal Reserve will keep programs to support the U.S. economy in place. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 138 points, or 0.9 percent, to 15,318 Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 12 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,651. All 10 industry groups rose. The Nasdaq rose 30 points, or 0.9 percent, to 3,482. The pace of home construction rose in May and builders applied for permits to build single-family homes at the fastest...

Martes 18 de junio del 2013 AGREGA: G8-SIRIA EEUU se reunir?? con el Talib??n para tratar de poner fin a la guerra en Afganist??n Programas de espionaje frustraron complot contra Wall Street, dice director de la NSA Importante comisi??n de EEUU emitir?? su primer voto del a??o en pol??tica migratoria Miles protestan en Brasil por servicios p??blicos Brad Pitt atrae multitudes a premier de "World War Z" PRIMERA PLANA ASI-GEN AFGANISTAN KABUL _ Los talibanes y Estados Unidos anuncian que...

Nearly 120 scientists and engineers from around the world are meeting in South Dakota this week to discuss operational and technical issues with collecting images from the Landsat 8 satellite. The U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science Center north of Sioux Falls collects, archives and makes available for download more than 400 data-filled images of the Earth each day. The center also partners with a network of ground stations across the globe that help download and...

We're sorry, sir, but we don't have any cars left. That was my unpleasant welcome to Michigan by Hertz. I had a reservation. They saw the reservation. The problem: Hertz hadn't actually saved me a car. So here I was, just off a plane in Kalamazoo, suitcase in tow and no car. I wasn't the only one stranded and _ I later learned from my cab driver _ it happens somewhat regularly. After the initial shock, all that kept flashing through my head was a 1991 Seinfeld episode where a car rental firm...

U.S. Senator Bob Casey is seeking to honor Puerto Ricans who served in the U.S. military's sole all-Hispanic unit. The Pennsylvania Democrat said Tuesday that he wants to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment known as the "Borinqueneers." He said the unit endured widespread discrimination as it fought in World Wars I and II and the Korean War. At least 95 soldiers were court-martialed after they quit the unit, citing discrimination, poor leadership and an officer shortage....

The U.S. House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill to support Taiwan's bid for observer status at the International Civil Aviation Organization. The bill, passed 424-0 in a vote on Tuesday, directs the Obama administration to back the self-governing island's attendance as observer at the three-yearly assembly of the U.N. organization, which meets in September. The Senate is expected to consider the legislation soon. Taiwan is always eager for international recognition, a sore point...

Jordan stunned Oman 1-0 Tuesday to book its place in the Asian zone playoff against Uzbekistan and keep its hopes alive of reaching its first World Cup. After a scoreless first half, Jordan began pressing and was rewarded in the 57th minute when Khalil BaniAteyah sent a cross to Ahmad Hayel Ibrahim who scored with a diving header. The goal set off a frenzy in the packed stadium in Amman, with fans waving Jordanian flags and holding their children aloft in celebration. It finished third behind...

The price of oil rose above $98 Tuesday as traders awaited the latest word on both the Federal Reserve's monetary policy and U.S. oil supplies. U.S. benchmark oil for July delivery rose 67 cents to close at $98.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The focus in oil markets, as in others, was on the Fed, as policymakers began a two-day meeting. To help support the U.S. economic recovery, the Fed has been buying $85 billion in bonds every month in an attempt to keep long-term interest...

A French man who gained access to the cockpit of a plane at Philadelphia International Airport by impersonating an airline employee has been sentenced to time served and will be deported. Sixty-one-year-old Philippe Jeannard was sentenced Tuesday in federal court after pleading guilty to fraud. Jeannard is from La Rochelle, France. He's been in custody since March 21, one day after authorities say he unsuccessfully sought a seat upgrade on a Florida-bound flight and then used a fraudulent Air...

A U.S. appeals court judge Tuesday called on the president and Congress to consider a different approach to the handling of legal cases of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prisoners. Judge Harry T. Edwards made the comment at the end of a written opinion in which he reluctantly concurred with a three-judge panel's decision rejecting a Guantanamo prisoner's challenge to his detention. Edwards wrote that the prisoner's challenge fails because of the precedent established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...

Having everything to play for on Tuesday, Australia, Iran and South Korea all secured berths at the 2014 World Cup on a dramatic final day of Asian qualifying. They join Japan which was the first nation to qualify. Australia beat Iraq 1-0, waiting until the 83rd minute before Josh Kennedy headed home the winner that secured second spot in Group B. Iran booked its place with a disciplined counter-attacking game that produced a 1-0 win at South Korea. While Iran finished top of Group A, South Korea...

Yahoo is the latest company to disclose how many requests for user data it has received from U.S. government agencies, putting the number between 12,000 and 13,000 in the six months that ended on May 31. Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer and General Counsel Ron Bell said in a blog post late Monday that the most common requests concerned fraud homicides, kidnappings, and other criminal investigations. Yahoo said it plans to update the report twice a year. Later this summer, the company plans to issue...

The New York Police Department's widespread spying programs directed at Muslims have undermined free worship by innocent people and should be declared unconstitutional, religious leaders and civil rights advocates said Tuesday after the filing of a federal lawsuit. "Our mosque should be an open, religious, a spiritual sanctuary, but NYPD spying has turned it into a place of suspicion and censorship," Hamid Hassan Raza, an imam named as a plaintiff, told a rally outside police headquarters shortly...

There's one big question hanging over Spain's team at the Confederations Cup: how many goals will the World Cup champions score in their upcoming match against tiny Tahiti, the representative for Oceania. African champions Nigeria defeated the South Pacific islanders 6-1 in their opening game, and missed at least half a dozen easy chances. Spain is expected to make a few changes in Thursday's Group B match, but may stick with many of its regulars. Spanish winger Pedro was put on the spot several...

Sprint is suing to stop Dish Network's buyout of wireless data network operator Clearwire. The third-largest U.S. cellphone carrier said the proposed deal violates the rights of Sprint and other Clearwire shareholders. Dish has offered to pay $4.40 per share for Clearwire, which has recommended that its shareholders approve the offer. That reverses its earlier stance in support of a takeover bid by Sprint, its majority shareholder. Sprint, headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, has bid $3.40...

Guam senators are questioning spending $127,000 of taxpayer money to create a children's cultural television show. A bill seeks to spend the money on a nonprofit company called Duk Duk Goose Inc. to create a Chamorro children's educational series. Pacific Daily News ( http://ow.ly/m9IF6 ) reports senators on Tuesday expressed concerns including giving the money to a company without allowing others to compete for the job and whether it's reasonable to spend that much money for six hours of video....