Syrian Kidnappings Raise Fear of Expanded Conflict

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The tit-for-tat kidnappings of more than 140 people have provoked fears of expanded sectarian conflict in Syria’s northern Idlib Province in recent days, but one set of hostages was released in good condition on Saturday after negotiations between residents of two of the affected villages, according to a rebel commander. Kidnappings for money or political reasons have become...

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The Bachelor: Sean's Hometown Date with Desiree Gets Interrupted - By an Ex?

The ex who pops back into the picture has been a common storyline in recent seasons of The Bachelor. And this season is no exception. In this exclusive preview of Monday night's episode, Sean Lowe meets more of Desiree Hartsock's loved ones than he bargained for. "As Des and I are getting dinner ready for her parents, I feel like we're a couple," says Sean. "And I'm excited for her family to...

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.Edwards...

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San Bernardino County sheriff details final shootout with Dorner

Fugitive Christopher Dorner spent his final hours barricaded inside a mountain cabin armed with a high-powered sniper rifle,...

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The Lede: Spectacular Video of Meteor Over Siberia

Video posted on YouTube on Friday appeared to catch an explosion caused by a meteor streaking over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.Last Updated, 1:15 p.m. As our colleagues Ellen Barry and Andrew Kramer report, Russians recorded video of bright objects, apparently debris from a meteor, “streaking through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across...

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Looking Good! See Shakira's Post-Baby Body!

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/15/2013 at 12:30 PM ET 7pix/Face to FaceCaliente!Just three weeks after welcoming son Milan Piqué Mebarak, new mom Shakira stepped out for an appointment in Barcelona, Spain Thursday looking comfy, casual — and rocking an incredible curvy figure.With her blonde...

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Study: Fish in drug-tainted water suffer reaction

BOSTON (AP) — What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.The findings, published online Thursday in...

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Mayor who gambled away $1 billion had brain tumor

The lawyer for former San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor suggested that a brain tumor may have caused her to lose massive sums gambling on video poker games.Over a nine-year period O'Connor wagered an estimated $1 billion, including millions from a charity set up by her late husband, who founded the Jack in the Box fast-food chain.That was the portrait that emerged in court Thursday as the...

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Israel Museum’s Herod Show Draws Anger Over Use of West Bank Objects

Jim Hollander/European Pressphoto AgencyThe exhibition “Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey” includes a reconstruction of his tomb, with his sarcophagus, center. JERUSALEM — In one room sits a sarcophagus of reddish-pink limestone believed to have held the body of King Herod, painstakingly reconstructed after having been smashed to bits centuries ago. In another, there are frescoes from Herod’s...

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Oscar Pistorius's Nike Ad Calling Him a 'Bullet' Pulled from His Website

By Stephen M. Silverman 02/14/2013 at 01:30 PM EST Screen grab of Nike ad on Oscar Pistorius website as of Feb. 5, 2013 A Nike ad with Olympian Oscar Pistorius in his trademark blades – and bearing the tagline "I am the bullet in the chamber" – was yanked from...

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Morning-after pill use up to 1 in 9 younger women

NEW YORK (AP) — About 1 in 9 younger women have used the morning-after pill after sex, according to the first government report to focus on emergency contraception since its approval 15 years ago.The results come from a survey of females ages 15 to 44. Eleven percent of those who'd had sex reported using a morning-after pill. That's up from 4 percent in 2002, only a few years after the pills went...

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Coach posed as girl to get nude images of boys, police allege

An Irvine baseball coach and high school history teacher posed as a young blonde woman on Facebook to persuade boys to send him pornographic images of themselves, prosecutors alleged this week. Zachary Reeder, 30, of Orange has been charged with 110 felonies, including 34 counts each of distributing pornography to a minor, contacting a child with the intent to commit a lewd act and using...

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International Military Officials Investigate Afghan Deaths

KABUL, Afghanistan — International military officials are investigating two episodes in which as many as 11 Afghan civilians may have been killed in what appeared to be American-led military actions. In the more lethal episode, Afghan officials said 10 civilians were killed overnight in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan in a village where two known Taliban commanders were visiting family...

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Ryan Reynolds Punches Costar Scott Speedman on Set of New Film

By Maggie Coughlan 02/13/2013 at 01:50 PM EST Ryan Reynolds and Scott Speedman AKM-GSI Don't mess with Ryan Reynolds!The actor, 36, proved he knows how to pack a punch while filming a scene for Queen of the Night in Sudbury, Canada, on Tuesday. On the receiving...

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Report: Tracking system needed to fight fake drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting the problem of fake drugs will require putting medications through a chain of custody like U.S. courts require for evidence in a trial, the Institute of Medicine reported Wednesday.The call for a national drug tracking system comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration warned doctors, for the third time in about a year, that it discovered a counterfeit batch of the...

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Dorner manhunt leads to deadly standoff

Human remains have been discovered in the debris of a burned cabin in Big Bear. While authorities can't confirm the remains are those of Christopher Dorner, it appears likely they are. ...

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India Ink: In Kashmir, Clashes and Dwindling Supplies As Curfew Continues

The Kashmir Valley is on the fourth day of a government-imposed shutdown begun immediately after the hanging of the militant Muhammad Afzal, also known as Afzal Guru, who comes from the town of Sopore in Baramulla district.Many residents are running out of food and milk in Srinagar, Kashmir’s summer capital. Meanwhile, dozens have been injured and at least one killed in protests against Mr. Afzal’s...

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Julianne Hough: Ryan Seacrest Makes Valentine's Day Super Romantic

By Carlos Greer 02/12/2013 at 01:40 PM EST Ryan Seacrest and Julianne Hough Michael Buckner/WireImage Who knew Ryan Seacrest was such a romantic? His girlfriend, Julianne Hough, tells PEOPLE he likes to go all out for Valentine's Day."[He likes] surprising me and ending up at a restaurant...

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Pope shows lifetime jobs aren't always for life

The world seems surprised that an 85-year-old globe-trotting pope who just started tweeting wants to resign, but should it be? Maybe what should be surprising is that more leaders his age do not, considering the toll aging takes on bodies and minds amid a culture of constant communication and change.There may be more behind the story of why Pope Benedict XVI decided to leave a job normally held for...

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Ex-Bell officials defend themselves as honorable public servants

Less than three years ago, they were handcuffed and taken away in a case alleged to be so extensive that the district attorney...

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The Lede: Latest Updates on the Pope’s Resignation

The Lede is providing updates on Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement on Monday that he intends to resign on Feb. 28, less than eight years after he took office, the first pope to do so in six centuries. (Turn off auto-refresh to watch video...

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Tia Mowry-Hardrict: Cree 'Gets a Little Jealous' of Aden

Bret Hartman/APTia Mowry-Hardrict and her twin sister Tamera Mowry-Housley couldn’t be closer, but the siblings have to work a bit harder to get their little boys on that same level.“I will be honest, Cree [20 months] gets a little jealous [of his 3-month-old cousin],” Mowry-Hardrict, 34, tells PEOPLE Tuesday at Blushington in West Hollywood.“When I was trying to feed Aden, Cree started crying....

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What heals traumatized kids? Answers are lacking

CHICAGO (AP) — Shootings and other traumatic events involving children are not rare events, but there's a startling lack of scientific evidence on the best ways to help young survivors and witnesses heal, a government-funded analysis found.School-based counseling treatments showed the most promise, but there's no hard proof that anxiety drugs or other medication work and far more research is needed...

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Dorner's LAPD firing case hinged on credibility

 For a Los Angeles Police Department disciplinary panel, the evidence was persuasive: Rookie officer Christopher Jordan...

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India Ink: More Than Two Dozen Killed in Kumbh Mela Stampede

ALLAHABAD, Uttar Pradesh — As many as 30 people were killed Sunday in a stampede at a train station here as millions gathered for a Hindu religious festival.The stampede erupted on a platform of the main railway station in Allahabad as religious pilgrims passed through it on their way to the festival, Kumbh Mela on the banks of the Ganges River.Sunday was one of the busiest days of the 55-day...

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