Website of major Bitcoin exchange vanishes
Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is offline amid reports it suffered a debilitating theft.
'Secrets of the Vatican' exposes crises facing Pope Francis
The Roman Catholic Church is enjoying some of its best press in decades, and hundreds of thousands of alienated Catholics are returning, thanks in large part to the new, and in some cases revolutionary, leadership of Pope Francis.
Ukraine: No new government before Thursday
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday delayed the formation of a new government, reflecting political tensions and economic challenges after the Russia-backed president went into hiding.
Pollution worsens in Beijing as statues don masks
BEIJING (AP) — The smog is so bad even the statues wear masks. Or at least they do in pictures of a campus stunt that circulated online Tuesday as parts of northern China suffered a sixth straight day of severe pollution.
Ariz. gov. urged to veto religious freedom bill
Critics line up against bill that would allow businesses to deny service to gay patrons.
US prosecutors jockeying to try captured drug lord
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors across the United States are already jockeying over who will handle any case against Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, even though it's far from clear whether he will ever be brought to the U.S. to face charges.
Dozens of students killed in Nigerian school
DAMATURU, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Islamic militants killed dozens of students in a pre-dawn attack Tuesday on a northeast Nigerian college, survivors said, setting ablaze a locked hostel and shooting and slitting the throats of those who escaped through windows. Some were burned alive.
Vets benefits bill should win initial Senate vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sprawling Democratic bill expanding health, education and other benefits for veterans seems ready to clear an initial hurdle in the Senate. Yet the election-year measure faces an uncertain fate as Republicans try to make it smaller and find ways to pay for it.
Uganda tabloid prints list of 'top' homosexuals
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A Ugandan newspaper published a list Tuesday of what it called the country's "200 top" homosexuals, outing some Ugandans who previously had not identified themselves as gay one day after the president enacted a harsh anti-gay law.
Polio-like disease appears in California children
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — An extremely rare, polio-like disease has appeared in more than a dozen California children within the past year, and each of them suffered paralysis to one or more arms or legs, Stanford University researchers say. But public health officials haven't identified any common causes connecting the cases.
New host Seth Meyers lands at NBC's 'Late Night'
NEW YORK (AP) — The monologue jokes were mostly thin and the host seemed stiff delivering them.
Biden at center of US diplomacy with Ukraine
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two days before he fled Ukraine's capital, President Viktor Yanukovych huddled on the phone for more than an hour with Vice President Joe Biden, his primary conduit with the U.S. government throughout the political crisis consuming the former Soviet republic.
Hagel says US military must shrink to face new era
WASHINGTON (AP) — Looking beyond America's post-9/11 wars, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday proposed shrinking the Army to its smallest size in 74 years, closing bases and reshaping forces to confront a "more volatile, more unpredictable" world with a more nimble military.
Bill Clinton takes 2014 surrogate role, helps Dems
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bill Clinton, popular in territory unfriendly to President Barack Obama, is reprising his role as a super-surrogate for Democrats battling to keep their Senate majority and win other races. In the long run, Clinton could pick up political chits for his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, should she run for president in 2016.
Getting a clearer picture on Netflix-Comcast deal
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — After years of bickering, Netflix and Comcast are working together to provide their subscribers with a more enjoyable experience when they're watching movies and television shows over high-speed Internet connections.
Top Mexico cartel to keep on despite capo capture
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The powerful Sinaloa cartel is expected to go right on selling billions of dollars of illegal drugs despite the takedown of its legendary leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who leaves in place a sophisticated distribution network and business plan.
Ukraine's turmoil brings tough challenge to Putin
MOSCOW (AP) — A successful Olympics behind him, President Vladimir Putin is facing what may become the most dramatic challenge of his rule: how to respond to the turmoil in Ukraine, a country he has declared vital for Russia's interests, which is home to millions of Russian-speakers and hosts a major Russian navy base.
'Microbial Pompeii' found on 1,000-year-old human teeth
A "microbial Pompeii" has been found on the teeth of 1,000-year-old human skeletons. Just as volcanic ash entombed the citizens of the ancient Roman city, dental plaque preserved bacteria and food particles on the skeletons' teeth. Researchers analyzed dental plaque from skeletons in a medieval cemetery in Germany, and found that the mouths of these aged humans were home to many of the same bacterial invaders that cause gum disease in the mouths of modern humans. "One thing that is clear about the population we studied is that they didn't brush their teeth very often, if at all," said study leader Christina Warinner, an anthropologist at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and the University of Oklahoma in Norman.
Polar vortex redux?
Frigid Arctic air on its way to the northern U.S. could create coldest event of the season.
New link between common pain reliever and risk of ADHD
Acetaminophen, a common pain reliever considered safe for pregnant women, has been linked for the first time to an increased risk of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children, said a study Monday. More studies are needed to confirm the findings, but experts said the research points to a new potential cause for the worldwide rise in cases of ADHD, a neuro-behavioral condition which has no known cause and affects as many as five percent of US children. Women who took acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, while pregnant had a 37 percent higher risk of having a child who would be later given a hospital diagnosis of hyperkinetic disorder, a particularly severe form of ADHD, said the study in February 24 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics.
