New UC logo: Marketing blunder? Or is storm of criticism overblown?

The University of California – one of the most prestigious public universities in the world – redesigned its logo to stay abreast of the times and attract new students. But the move last week appears to have accomplished just the opposite, and university officials are trying to figure out what to do next. The venerable university system has been hit with a New Media revolt that includes insults...

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Parents fight for release of son jailed in Mexico

MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida family is fighting to get their son, a Marine veteran, released from a prison in a dangerous area in Mexico while facing charges that he carried across the border a shotgun with a barrel that's an inch too short. Jon Hammar and his friend were on their way to Costa Rica in August and planned to drive across the Mexican border near Matamoros in a Winnebago filled with...

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California man accused of plotting to aid al Qaeda denied bail

RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - A California man arrested in Afghanistan on charges he plotted to help al Qaeda and Taliban militants was denied bail on Tuesday despite claims by his lawyers that injuries he suffered during capture diminished any threat he posed if freed on bond. The Afghan-born defendant, Sohiel Omar Kabir, 35, is accused with three younger men arrested last month outside Los...

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Australian radio station says no wrongdoing in royal prank call

PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - The Australian radio station behind a prank phone call to a London hospital that was treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate said on Saturday it had done nothing wrong and no one could have foreseen the tragic outcome. There has been renewed soul-searching over media ethics after Jacintha Saldanha, 46, the nurse who was duped by the station's call to the King Edward...

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Police suspect LA man was lured into NYC ambush

NEW YORK (AP) — Someone wanted Brandon Lincoln Woodard dead — bad enough to apparently lure him to a midtown Manhattan block for what looked like a professional hit. But who shot Woodard in the back of the head and why remained a mystery on Tuesday as police studied security videotape of the unidentified gunman and delved into Woodard's checkered past for clues. The brazen slaying of the 31-year-old...

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Storm that killed 600 threatens Philippines again

NEW BATAAN, Philippines (AP) — A typhoon that had left the Philippines after killing nearly 600 people and leaving hundreds missing in the south has made a U-turn and is now threatening the country's northwest, officials said Saturday. The weather bureau raised storm warnings over parts of the main northern island of Luzon after Typhoon Bopha veered northeast. There was a strong possibility the...

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US-led coalition: US doctor rescued from Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An American doctor abducted by the Taliban five days ago was rescued Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S.-led military coalition said. Dr. Dilip Joseph was captured by Taliban insurgents Wednesday outside the Afghan capital, in the Sarobi district of Kabul province. He was rescued in an early morning operation ordered after intelligence showed that the doctor was in...

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North Korea considers delaying rocket launch

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea may postpone the controversial launch of a long-range rocket that had been slated for liftoff as early as this week, state media said Sunday, as international pressure on Pyongyang to cancel the provocative move intensified. Scientists have been pushing forward with final preparations for the launch from a west coast site, slated to take place as early as Monday,...

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US drones kill 3 suspected militants in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. drone strike has killed three suspected militants near the Afghan border. The two officials say four missiles struck a residential compound Sunday morning near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region. The identity of the suspected militants was not known. North Waziristan has been a frequent target of U.S....

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Pakistan's largest city rocked by wave of violence

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Bodies are piling up in Pakistan's largest city as it suffers one of its most violent years in history, and concern is growing that the chaos is giving greater cover for the Taliban to operate and undermining the country's economic epicenter. Karachi, a sprawling port city on the Arabian Sea, has long been beset by religious, sectarian and ethnic strife. Here armed wings...

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