NATIONAL NEWS
Developer: Kan. caverns could preserve human race
ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) -- After most of the world's population is wiped off the map by a wayward meteorite or hail of nuclear missiles, the survival of the human race might just depend on a few thousand people huddled in recreational vehicles deep in the bowels of an eastern Kansas mine....
Youth leagues try to rein in 'bad news parents'
BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. (AP) -- No parent here has rushed onto a playing field to jump a referee who made an unpopular call. No adult has gotten angry and slugged or pushed a coach or a young player, as has happened elsewhere. Nor have there been any of those embarrassing sideline brawls you sometimes see posted on online video sites....
House to vote on cuts to crop insurance
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House will vote Thursday on whether to cut federally-subsidized crop insurance that helps farmers when they lose crops or revenue....
Homes evacuated as wildfire flares near Denver
EVERGREEN, Colo. (AP) -- Dozens of homes were evacuated near Denver as a wind-driven wildfire flared, one of many in the western states where hot and windy conditions were making it easy for the wild land blazes to start and spread....
Birth control shots could alter life in poor areas
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A decade ago, the Rosebud Sioux Indians in South Dakota were paying people to catch and shoot wild dogs. Dogs that weren't caught were covered in mange and parasites. Some froze. Some starved. In packs, they survived be eating each other. And dog bites were 20 times worse than the national average....
Obama making plans to tackle global warming
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is planning a major push using executive powers to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming in an effort to make good on promises he made at the start of his second term. "We know we have to do more - and we will do more," Obama said Wednesday in Berlin....
James Gandolfini: He let his characters star
NEW YORK (AP) -- James Gandolfini would have hated all this fuss....
Bulger trial: The hit man of Country Club Lane
MILFORD, Mass. (AP) -- He parks his silver Mercedes-Benz sedan behind his condo, below a deck decorated with white and pink flowers, where a couple of small dogs bark at the few passers-by....
Attorneys meet to discuss Jodi Arias case
PHOENIX (AP) -- Jodi Arias returns to court Thursday for the first time since the penalty phase of her case ended in mistrial last month as lawyers discuss plans for a new trial to decide the punishment for the convicted murderer....
Men's Wearhouse ousts founder, pitchman Zimmer
NEW YORK (AP) -- Men's Wearhouse doesn't like the way its founder looks anymore....
WORLD NEWS
Italy film fest dedicates homage to Gandolfini
ROME (AP) -- Organizers of the Taormina, Sicily, Film Festival are scrambling to put together a tribute to U.S. actor James Gandolfini, who had been expected to attend the festival's closing ceremony this weekend....
AP EXCLUSIVE: Taliban offer to free US soldier
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. army soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday....
US tries saving Taliban talks after Karzai objects
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Hopes dimmed for talks aimed at ending the Afghan war when an angry President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday suspended security negotiations with the U.S. and scuttled a peace delegation to the Taliban, sending American officials scrambling to preserve the possibility of dialogue with the militants....
Analysis: Obama prods, gets share of pushback
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Over the past two weeks, President Barack Obama has argued with Chinese President Xi Jinping over cybersecurity, consulted with world leaders over Syria and trade, declared his desire to reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons, and embraced the uncertain steps toward reconciliation in Afghanistan....
In northern Iraqi city, al-Qaida gathers strength
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Al-Qaida's Iraq arm is gathering strength in the restive northern city of Mosul, ramping up its fundraising through gangland-style shakedowns and feeding off anti-government anger as it increasingly carries out attacks with impunity, according to residents and officials....
Iraqis vote in 2 Sunni-dominated provinces
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraqis in two Sunni-dominated provinces where provincial elections had been delayed over security concerns were casting ballots Thursday amid tight security measures aimed at thwarting insurgent attacks....
China sex tape official: I'm a lecher but no crook
BEIJING (AP) -- Call me a lecher but don't call me a crook, an ex-city official at the heart of a sex tape scandal has said in his unusually spirited courtroom defense against corruption charges....
AP PHOTOS: Bangladesh collapse left many amputees
SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- It was the worst disaster in the history of the garment industry. When the Rana Plaza factory building crashed down in April, 1,129 people were killed. But many others had to sacrifice their limbs to survive....
China astronauts float water blob in kids' lecture
BEIJING (AP) -- Astronauts struck floating martial arts poses, twirled gyroscopes and manipulated wobbling globes of water during a lecture Thursday from China's orbiting space station that's part of efforts to popularize the space program among young people....
India floods strand thousands; more than 100 dead
LUCKNOW, India (AP) -- Days after floods killed more than 100 people - possibly many more - rescuers used helicopters and climbed through mountain paths to reach nearly 4,000 people trapped by landslides in a narrow valley near a Hindu shrine in the northern Himalayas, officials said Thursday....
