Passenger's suspicious...

Passenger's suspicious claim diverts jet to Maine

By GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press 5/22/2012

BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A US Airways jet traveling from Paris to North Carolina was diverted to Maine on Tuesday after a French passenger handed a note to a flight attendant mentioning that she had a surgically implanted device, raising fears of a terror scenario that security officials had warned about.
There is no evidence the plane was ever in danger, officials said. An examination by two doctors aboard the plane found that the passenger, a French citizen born in Cameroon, had no scars or incisions, said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who was briefed by Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole.
The FBI and Homeland Security Department warned airlines last summer that terrorists are considering surgically hiding bombs inside humans to evade airport security.

Mariners chase Darvish early...

Mariners chase Darvish early, beat Rangers

By Geoff Baker / The Seattle Times
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 

SEATTLE — Six walks is usually something the Mariners spend two or three games trying to compile.

And yet, there they were just three-plus innings into Monday night’s clash with Yu Darvish having already piled up a half-dozen freebies. The Mariners took full advantage of the goodwill by one of baseball’s better pitchers and turned an expected mound duel into a 6-1 laugher over the Texas Rangers.

Darvish was forced from the mound just four innings into the game, leaving Felix Hernandez as the last ace standing in front of 18,672 fans at Safeco Field. Hernandez had been blown out of a prior start in Cleveland last week, but had far better command this time in notching seven strikeouts over eight innings of one-run ball for the victory.

Hernandez didn’t allow a run until Mitch Moreland led off the eighth inning with a home run to center. Ian Kinsler then singled to left on Hernandez’s 103rd pitch and his night seemed down to a final batter

Japan debt...negative

Japan debt rating cut by Fitch, outlook negative

TOKYO | Tue May 22, 2012 5:47am EDT

May 22 (Reuters) - Japan's sovereign rating was cut by one notch by Fitch on Tuesday as a political stalemate dims the chance that the country can curb its snowballing debt.

Fitch lowered Japan's long-term foreign currency rating to A plus from AA. It cut the local currency ratings to A plus from AA minus. Both were cut with a negative outlook.

Fitch warned that further downgrades are possible unless the government takes new fiscal policy

Spain Will...

Spain Will Remain In Recession Next Year, OECD Forecasts

By Angeline Benoit - May 22, 2012

Spain’s economy, the euro area’s fourth largest, won’t recover next year as government and private-sector funding conditions remain tight, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

Gross domestic product will contract 0.8 percent in 2013 after shrinking 1.6 percent this year, the Paris-based OECD said in a report today. That compares with the International Monetary Fund’s forecast for 0.1 percent growth after contracting 1.8 percent this year.

Putin Announces New Russian Cabinet

Familiar Confidants Chosen for Kremlin Posts

By ELLEN BARRY

Published: May 22, 2012

Observers have closely watched this week’s back-to-back staffing announcements for clues to whether the government will push through major political or economic changes in the coming years.

On Monday, Mr. Putin unveiled a new cabinet of ministers, replacing all but a handful of long-serving officials. State-controlled television emphasized the appearance of new faces as a signal that Russian politics is being imbued with fresh energy.

Lakers flexibility limited ...

Options, flexibility limited if Lakers look to retool

By Mike Bresnahan / Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

After another crash in the Western Conference semifinals, the Los Angeles Lakers don’t have many future alternatives after their season-ending 106-90 loss Monday in Game 5 against Oklahoma City.

Missing California Teen...

Sierra LaMar: Arrest Made in Case of Missing California Teen

By KEVIN DOLAK (@kdolak) and DEAN SCHABNER

May 22, 2012

A man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of Northern California teenager Sierra LaMar, who vanished over two months ago.

Antolin Garcia-Torres was arrested Monday and booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of murder and kidnapping, according to

Private supply ship rockets space station

Private supply ship rockets space station

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace 5/22/2012

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A first-of-its-kind commercial supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station following a successful liftoff early Tuesday, opening a new era of dollar-driven spaceflight.

The SpaceX company made history as its Falcon 9 rocket rose from its seaside launch pad and pierced the pre-dawn sky, aiming for a rendezvous in a few days with the space station. The rocket carried

sleep apnea....

People with severe sleep apnea five times more likely to die from cancer, study shows

5/21/2012By

Ryan Jaslow

 

(CBS News) Sleep apnea is a problem that goes well beyond annoying your partner with loud snoring. Research is showing it can raise risk for heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. Now, a new study finds it can make a person five times more likely to die from cancer.

Snoring, mouth-breathing tots more likely to develop behavioral problems
Sleep apnea CPAP treatment may lower heart disease, diabetes risk
Sleepless night? How to fake a good night's rest

For the study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,  researchers collaborated with Spanish scientists to examine 22-year mortality data on 1,522 people enrolled in a long-running "Wisconsin Sleep Cohort" study. The data looked at  Washington state employees since 1989.

Every four years, the subjects underwent overnight sleep studies, including a polysomnography - an all-

'Mad Men'...

'Mad Men' Spoiled Bastard: Ep. 10: 'Christmas Waltz'

A thoroughly entertaining episode gives way to lots of worry. Just like "Mad Men," there's a cost to happiness

5/21/2012 by Tim Goodman

Let’s try a little something different this week because that’s precisely what Mad Mendelivered to us. I loved "Christmas Waltz" because it made exceptional use of both Harry and Paul and Don and Joan. And had an awesome car in it.

PHOTOS: 'Mad Men' Season 5 Premiere Red Carpet Arrivals

What more could you want? It was like a Christmas present itself. People have been dying to get Don and

Maxim hot list...

Bar Refaeli tops Maxim hot list; her secrets to sexiness helped

By Amy Hubbard

May 21, 2012

Bar Refaeli, Israeli model and former beloved of Leonardo DiCaprio, may have just topped Maxim's Hot 100 list of 2012, but she's thought about what makes her sexy long before this new honor.

In 2010, she pondered her secrets to sexy success in an interview with V magazine and came up with anot-profound realization:

"Why do people think I’m sexy? Maybe it’s the fact that I have boobs." 

The Maxim list this year is a unique one -- perhaps because readers were allowed to chime in for the first time.  It includes, at No. 92, Amanda Knox.  Knox is the young woman who was convicted of murdering the woman who shared an apartment with her in Italy.  The conviction was overturned in October of last year.

At No. 87 is Paulina Gretzky, but the daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky is beaten by Lois Griffin at No. 85.  Yes, Lois Griffin, the animated character on "Family Guy."  Perhaps more surprising: Stephen Colbert made it in, at No. 69, no less.  Colbert should be honored. It's reportedly the first time a man has made the list.

Catholic groups take fight against Obama...

atholic groups take fight against Obama birth-control rules to court

May 21, 2012

Some 43 Catholic groups including Notre Dame are attempting to block rules in the new health-care law that require health insurance to provide access to birth-control services.


By Warren Richey, Staff writer
In a coordinated pushback against the Obama administration, 43 Catholic institutions filed a dozen lawsuits in federal courts across the country on Monday, charging that new federal rules requiring most religious employers to provide health insurance that includes birth-control services violates their fundamental right to religious freedom.

The lawsuits are asking federal judges to declare that new rules enacted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in January violate First Amendment protections of the free exercise of religion and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

sees EU consensus

Obama sketches four-pronged strategy for Europe, sees EU consensus

CHICAGO | Mon May 21, 2012 

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama urged Europe on Monday to strengthen its defenses against financial market turmoil and recapitalize its banks as part of a four-pronged strategy for tackling the euro zone crisis.

European leaders have shown an increased resolve to address these issues, and there is a "consensus

Introducing the Leap

How Can Leap's New Motion Controller Top Kinect PCs?

• By Mark Hachman
• May 21, 2012

On Monday, motion recognition company Leap Motion emerged from stealth mode, prepared to offer a cheap motion-sensing peripheral into a market that should, by rights, be dominated by Microsoft's Kinect peripheral.

Coincidentally, Microsoft on Monday also released the Kinect for Windows 1.5, designed to woo developers with improved skeletal tracking as well as Kinect Studio, a tool that will let

GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks

GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, oil rise as G8 leaders pledge growth

May 21, 2012 

* Stocks rebound after biggest weekly drop in 2012

* China's growth comments lift oil, risk assets

* Euro flat as investors still fear Greek euro exit

* Facebook shares fall 10 pct after Friday's debut

By Richard Leong

NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - Global stocks on Monday rebounded from lows for the year and oil prices rose for the first time in four sessions as world leaders emphasized support for growth in the euro zone, and Chinasaid priority should be given to maintaining its economic expansion.

Still, most investors and analysts see the pause in selling of stocks, oil and other commodities as temporary, given the uncertainties ahead for Greece, which holds national elections on June 17.

Risk that Greece might leave the euro zone curbed a recovery for the euro, which stabilized above its lowest level in about four months.

On Saturday, leaders of the Group of Eight nations stressed that their "imperative is to promote growth

Was Columbus...

Was Columbus secretly a Jew?

By Charles Garcia, Special to CNN

, Sun May 21, 2012

Editor's note: Charles Garcia is the CEO of Garcia Trujillo, a business focused on the Hispanic market, and the author of "Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows." A native of Panama, he now lives in Florida. Follow him on Twitter:@charlespgarcia. Lea este artículo en español/Read this article in Spanish.

(CNN) -- Today marks the 508th anniversary of the death of Christopher Columbus.

Everybody knows the story of Columbus, right? He was an Italian explorer from Genoa who set sail in 1492 to enrich the Spanish monarchs with gold and spices from the orient. Not quite.

For too long, scholars have ignored Columbus's grand passion: the quest to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims.

Not so fast

Not so fast: Coyotes avoid sweep as Shane Doan scores 2 goals, Mike Smith beats LA Kings 2-0

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, May 21, 2:46 AM

LOS ANGELES — Shane Doan has played 16 NHL seasons without ever getting this close to lifting the Stanley Cup. Although his ultimate goal is still a good distance away, Captain Coyote’s inspiring performance in the face of elimination got Phoenix’s backs off the glass in the Western Conference finals.

Doan scored two goals, Mike Smith made 36 saves in his third playoff shutout, and the Coyotes emphatically avoided playoff elimination with a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 4 on Sunday.

Ray Whitney and Antoine Vermette set up Doan’s goals for the Coyotes, who avoided the sweep by snapping the eighth-seeded

70 in Heat win

Heat Wave: James, Wade combine for 70 in Heat win

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer

Monday, May 21, 2012

 

As the clock ticked down to a precious few seconds, LeBron James threw his right arm around Dwyane Wade's neck and pulled his teammate close.

This was their moment. Together. The MVP and his superstar sidekick.

They silenced 18,000 frenzied fans, quieted armies of critics and tied a series just as it appeared to be slipping away from Miami.

The Heat's season has been saved. James and Wade came to the rescue.

Showing why he's world's best all-around player, James scored 40 points and Wade bounced back from an atrocious performance to add 30 as Miami, playing with desperation and without All-Star forward Chris Bosh, rallied for a 101-93 win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"They understand with one of our big components out, they have to step up big." Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the James-Wade tag team. "They were tremendous with their force and their will."

James was beyond a force.

We Have a Winner!

The Celebrity Apprentice 2012 Finale Recap: We Have a Winner!

Posted by Ellen Burke on May 21, 2012

he whole Celebrity Apprentice 2012 season has led up to tonight, the crowning (although no actual crownwas bestowed) of the Celebrity Apprentice 2012 winner. This season’s cast couldn’t have been more polarizing or entertaining, seeing as how it was populated with, to quote Donald Trump (the master of hyperbole), “18 of the biggest names in the business” (What business is that, Donald? The “Who used to sort of maybe but not quite was kinda famous for a while” business?) But I digress.

We started off watching Mario Andretti pulling up in front of Trump Tower in a race car, there to escort Donald Trump to the Celebrity Apprentice 2012 finale at the American Museum of Natural History. Two things stood out watching this car ride. The first is that no matter how much product Trump puts in his hair to achieve his unique look, it’s no match for the wind whipping through it while Andretti raced through the streets of Manhattan. And speaking of that, watching the overhead view (and I’m sure it wasn’t doctored or edited in any way, right?) of Andretti zipping along reminded me of the Frogger game. Maybe not the image they were trying to evoke but it’s kind of how it looked to me.

We started off with Arsenio Hall, one of the 2 Celebrity Apprentice 2012 finalists, reminded us that “I’m gonna kick Clay’s butt”. Shades of his famous – or infamous – interview in April 1992 where he threatened that his new talk show would “kick Leno’s ass”. Sadly, for us, Jay Leno is still around on the Tonight Showbut Arsenio’s promise tonight about kicking Clay’s butt had me immediately nervous on Arsenio’s behalf. Hadn’t he been down that road before and it didn’t turn out so well the

euro area bonds as crisis salve

France presses for euro area bonds as crisis salve

By Luke Baker

BRUSSELS | Mon May 21, 2012

(Reuters) - France's Francois Hollande will push a proposal for mutualizing European debt at an informal summit of EU leaders in Brussels this week, increasing pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to drop her opposition to the idea.

Senior EU and U.S. officials said the new French president raised the idea of bonds jointly underwritten by all euro zone member states during G8 talks at the weekend and would again raise it when EU leaders

in Lebanon

Syrian Unrest Sparks Gun Battles in Lebanon

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Published: May 21, 2012

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Gun battles between Lebanese factions supporting and opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad spread to Beirut on Monday in the most serious outbreak of violence in Lebanon since the Syrian uprising began, leaving several people dead and the country more tense than ever in its effort to avoid the fray next door.

The fighting overnight in Beirut resulted in the expulsion of a small pro-Syrian faction, the Arab Movement Party, from a largely Sunni Muslim neighborhood in the southern part of the city. The quarter’s streets were littered with burned cars and trash containers, but mostly calm after the military intervened.

The potential for Syria’s violence infecting Lebanon has always been considered dangerous

Bee Gees' Robin Gibb dies

Bee Gees' Robin Gibb dies after long cancer battle

GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press

 Monday, May 21, 2012

LONDON (AP) — With his carefully tended hair, tight trousers and perfect harmonies, Robin Gibb, along with his brothers Maurice and Barry, defined the disco era. As part of the Bee Gees — short for the Brothers Gibb — they created dance floor classics like "Stayin Alive," ''Jive Talkin'," and "Night Fever" that can still get crowds onto a dance floor.

The catchy songs, with their falsetto vocals and relentless beat, are familiar pop culture

Alibaba buy back a 20 percent stake in itself from Yahoo

Alibaba Said to Near Buying Stake From Yahoo for $7 Billion

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is near an agreement to buy back a 20 percent stake in itself from Yahoo! Inc. for about $7 billion and may announce a deal as soon as today, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

The purchase may pave the way for Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce provider, to pursue an initial public offering in the next 18 months, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Alibaba, helped by shareholders Temasek Holdings Pte., Digital Sky Technologies, Silver Lake, plans to finance the deal with cash and debt, the person said.

Tropical Storm...

Tropical Storm Watch Lifted For South Carolina

Posted: May 20, 2012 8:34 PM

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Tropical storm watches have been lifted for the South Carolina coast as the first storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season spins offshore.

The National Hurricane Center said that as of 5 p.m. EDT Sunday, Tropical Storm Alberto was about 130 miles (210 km) south of Charleston. It has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph).

It's currently moving southwest, but forecasters expect it to turn northeast sometime Monday. It's not expected to make landfall in the Carolinas.

A tropical storm was is in effect for the South Carolina coast from the Savannah River to the South Santee River, but all watches have been dropped as forecasters expect the storm to stay away from the coast.

Americans in Afghanistan to fight through 2014

Americans in Afghanistan to fight through 2014, top commander says

By Olivier Knox
May 21, 2012
The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan bluntly warned Sunday that American soldiers will face combat in that war-torn country right up to the time they leave, December 31, 2014. General John Allen told reporters not to buy into a "narrative" that the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces next year means US troops will be out of harm's way.

"Combat operations will continue in the country throughout the period of the remainder of the ISAF mission, which will conclude on the 31 st of December, 2014," Allen, who leads NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said at a briefing on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Chicago.

The diplomatic gathering aims to flesh out the alliance's plan to train and equip Afghan national security forces (ANSF) and given them the lead on combat efforts by mid-way through 2013. But that doesn't mean Americans won't be in the line of fire.