Hawaii House turns to gay marriage after Senate

HONOLULU (AP) — The fate of gay marriage in Hawaii is in the hands of the state House after smoothly passing in the Senate. It's already been a bumpier ride for the legislation in the House. A joint House committee involving about half the state's representatives is scheduled for Thursday, with plans to go at least 14 hours with breaks and possibly extending to Friday if enough people want to testify. Officials say about 3,000 people had submitted written testimony by midday Wednesday. The House referred the bill to a joint...

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Technology First Bitcoin ATM Installed in Vancouver Coffee Shop

Bitcoins, now valued at over $200 a piece, were seen as the currency of the black market, back when the website Silk Road was still up and running. But there are many people who want to cast off its shady past and make it a legitimate currency. Robocoin, a company based in Nevada, is looking to make that happen by installing the first bitcoin ATMs on Tuesday at a Waves Coffee House in Vancouver, Canada. Because the bitcoin currency itself is distributed among all of its users, there is no centralized bitcoin bank. Instead, people buy...

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The Jonas Brothers Have Broken Up 'For Now'

Jonas Brothers fans hoping the band would stay together just a little bit longer were splashed with cold reality on Tuesday, as the siblings announced to People that they had split up. "It's over for now," Kevin Jonas told the tabloid. (Nick and Joe Jonas also made similar statements to People.) That announcement has been a long time coming for the Jonas Brothers. At the beginning of October, two days before the JoBros were planning to head out on a fall tour, People reported that all 19 of their concerts had been canceled. "There is...

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Magic: Lakers facing 'tough season'

Magic Johnson is bracing himself for a rough season. He might be part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who just went to the National League Championship Series, but he'll always be a Lakers fan, and their prospects don't look as rosy. "Laker fans are spoiled. I don't know how they're going to react now, because this is going to be a tough season," Johnson said Tuesday afternoon during an hourlong interview on the "Max and Marcellus Show" on ESPNLA 710 radio. "This is going to be one of the roughest seasons that the Lakers have ever faced....

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NBA Tip-Off: 6 Business Stories To Watch This Season

The NBA season gets started Tuesday night with a trio of games highlighted by a clash between the Derrick Rose-led Chicago Bulls and the two-time defending champion Miami Heat. Las Vegas has the Heat favored to win a third straight title with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and Bulls among the next set of favorites. The NBA has been on a roll in recent years thanks to a bevy of stars, success by big market franchises and the international appeal of the game. Total revenues for the league were expected to approach a record...

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'X-Men: Days of Future Past' trailer released: Hugh Jackman's Wolverine makes time for two sets of teammates

Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine returns in the first trailer for ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past.’ Director Bryan Singer's mutant power is apparently blowing comic book nerds' minds. The first full trailer "Days of Future Past" arrived in our time on Tuesday from the near future - since the next installment in the superhero film franchise hits theaters on May 23, 2014. X-Men Movies via YouTube X Marks the Spot: James McAvoy and Patrick...

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Uber is delivering kittens for National Cat Day

Uber usually lets its app users order a taxi, black car or SUV to come pick them up at their current location. Tuesday's promotion added a "Kittens!" option to the list. (Yes, exclamation point included.) For $20, Uber will deliver a kitten for you to snuggle for fifteen minutes -- and even throw in a few cupcakes to add to all the sugary sweetness. The service is available for only a few hours on Tuesday in Seattle, New York and San Francisco. Uber, which partnered with Internet meme site Cheezburger for the kitten service, will donate...

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6 people, including 2 children found dead after South Carolina home shooting

Authorities in South Carolina say that six people, including two children, have been killed in a shooting at a home in the town of Greenwood. Greenwood County Sheriff Tony Davis said that deputies received a call at around 6 p.m. Tuesday from a man inside the home who said he was intent on "hurting himself," according to FoxCarolina.com. Sheriff's Department spokesman John Long said that while deputies were on their way to the...

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Lawmakers push to delay huge flood insurance hikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pressing for a four-year delay to changes to the federal government's flood insurance program that are threatening to sock thousands of people with unaffordable premium hikes. The move comes as the government is beginning to implement a significant overhaul of the much-criticized program. That overhaul passed last year with sweeping support. The revamped program was backed by both liberals and tea party conservatives but has caused a panic in places like Staten Island, N.Y., and the...

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US NSA spying: Pressure mounts on White House

The intelligence agency head and other officials are to testify before the House of Representatives later. And the chair of the Senate's intelligence committee called for a "total review" of US spying programmes. The president has spoken publicly of his intent to probe spying activities amid claims of eavesdropping on allies. An EU delegate in Washington has described the row over intelligence gathering as "a breakdown of trust". Continue reading the main story “Start Quote It is my understanding that President ...

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Healthy kids still at risk for flu deaths, study finds

Over the last decade, many children who tragically died from flu were previously healthy kids, without chronic medical conditions, a new study finds. Between 2004 and 2012, a total of 830 U.S. children died from flu, the study found. Of these, more than 40 percent did not have a medical condition such as asthma or heart disease that would put them at high risk for flu complications. What's more, previously healthy children were nearly twice...

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Spain Summons U.S. Ambassador in Spying Scandal

MADRID — Spain’s government summoned the American ambassador, James Costos, on Monday to address allegations that the National Security Agency collected data on millions of telephone calls in Spain. Adding to a spying scandal that includes France, Germany and Mexico, the Spanish news media reported Monday that the agency recently collected data on 60 million telephone calls in Spain. El Mundo and El País, two Spanish newspapers, based their reporting on documents viewed by Glenn Greenwald, an American journalist, that were provided by...

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Obama 'not told of Merkel phone bugging'

Gen Keith Alexander never discussed alleged operations involving Chancellor Angela Merkel, an NSA spokeswoman said. German media say the US has been tapping the chancellor's phone since 2002, and Mr Obama was told in 2010. The row has led to one of the worst diplomatic crises between the two countries in recent years. A report in German tabloid Bild am Sonntag claimed that Gen Alexander had told the president about the bugging himself. An NSA source told the paper that Obama had not stopped the operation, and had...

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Britain battered by hurricane-strength winds

Brighton, ENGLAND — Southern Britain was battered Monday by a powerful storm with hurricane-force winds that caused widespread delays on the nation's roads and trains, and threatened severe disruptions to airports. The Met Office said that winds reached 99 mph near the Isle of Wight at around 6:00 a.m. local time and the Environment Agency issued dozens of flood alerts for a large swathe of England and Wales. Exposed coastlines in Cornwall, Devon, East Sussex, Hampshire and Kent experienced particularly rough conditions with reports of...

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FDA OKs Drug Without Anti-Abuse Protection

When the FDA approved the powerful painkiller Zohydro last week, it did so without requiring the drug to have any built-in biochemical mechanisms aimed at curbing abuse. That "omission" makes Zohydro very different from opioids currently on the market, including OxyContin and Opana, both of which have abuse-deterrent formulations. Additionally, the FDA has been taking steps over the past year to make sure all opioid drugs brought to the market in the future would incorporate such technologies. This push follows a major criminal case in which...

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One-shot deal: Jonny Gomes' homer helps Red Sox even World Series

ST. LOUIS — Jonny Gomes does not really look the part of World Series hero. Not too tall, kind of squat, a designated hitter on a team that already has one. He is a dead pull hitter. There is nothing complicated or secret about his swing. "He's like the little guy in the pinball game," Boston Red Sox catcher David Ross said. "Just swings and comes back." ...

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Three killed as car ploughs into crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square

(Reuters) - Three people were killed and many injured on Monday, police said, when a car ploughed into pedestrians and caught fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the site of 1989 pro-democracy protests bloodily suppressed by the government. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, asked whether the government believed the incident was a terror attack, said she did not know the specifics of the case and declined further comment. Police said on their official microblog that the car veered off the road at the north of the square,...

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Wanted man surrenders after police surround barricaded house

(CNN) -- After allegedly leading police on a bullet-riddled chase and barricading himself inside a house, a wanted man in California surrendered early Saturday, authorities said. It may have been the fact that a California SWAT team had him pinned down, or that his relatives were tugging at his heart strings to come out. Or it could have been the robot police sent into the house to tell him to obey police orders. All of it may have persuaded Samuel Duran to walk unarmed out of the house in Roseville, near Sacramento, said local police...

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U.S. hires contractor to fix healthcare website

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration hired a general contractor to fix its troubled health insurance website and promised Friday that the key feature of the president's healthcare law would be running smoothly by the end of November. That target date was the first public deadline officials offered for troubleshooting the glitch-riddled website. In announcing the time frame, Jeffrey Zients, the management consultant enlisted to assess the situation,...

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Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant undamaged after quake

(Reuters) - The operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant said on Saturday there was no damage or spike in radiation levels at the station after a large earthquake struck in the ocean east of Japan, triggering a small tsunami. There were no immediate reports of damage on land from the quake, classified as magnitude 7.1 by the Japan Meteorological Agency, which struck about 370 km (230 miles) out to sea. Earlier the agency said the quake had a magnitude of 6.8. Japanese television said a 30 cm (1 foot) tsunami had reached Japan's...

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NSA denies website was hacked, cites internal error

The National Security Agency says an internal system error caused its website to go down for several hours Friday during a scheduled update. There had been speculation on the Internet that the online site had been hit with a denial-of-service attack, but the agency said that was not true. The NSA said the problem would be resolved Friday night. After the website went dark, a Twitter account affiliated with the hacker group Anonymous appeared to claim responsibility. A tweet from the handle @AnonyOps read, “Aww don’t panic about nsa.gov...

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7.3-magnitude quake rocks Japan off Fukushima coast; no reports of damage

TOKYO — A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck offshore of Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant early Saturday, triggering small tsunamis but causing no damage. An earthquake official with the Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake was an aftershock of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck the same area in 2011, killing about 19,000 people and devastating the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant. There was no damage and only one minor injury was reported, the national Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Tsunamis...

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Orlando Bloom, Miranda Kerr split after six years together, couple confirms

Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr’s three year marriage has come to an end. According to E! News, the separation was announced by a rep for Bloom. PHOTOS: CELEBRITY BREAKUPS "In a joint statement, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr have announced that they have been amicably separated for the past few months," the rep said. "After six years together, they have recently decided to formalize their separation." Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic Miranda...

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5 people injured in ride mishap at N.C. State Fair

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An accident on a ride at the North Carolina State Fair injured five people. A preliminary investigation indicates that passengers may have been injured when the "Vortex" ride started up again as they were getting off, about 9:17 p.m. Thursday, fair spokesman Brian Long said. He said an ambulance was on the scene immediately, and that two of the injuries "appear to be serious; the other three not as serious." The injured riders ranged in age from 14 to 39, Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison told a news conference. Linda...

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facebook, google, youtube are not working octomber 2013

You have problem opening facebook, youtube, google. You are facing a serious problem. Are you Scared?   Don't worry.... There are nothing wrong with internet or other. You can just login with https://www.yoururl.com and it will open as normal. I don't know what's the problem but solution is as i said.   SOLUTION : open your Website with https://www.facebook.com and so on. http://Rochellestovall.blogspot.co...

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Oprah Winfrey Regains No. 1 Slot On Forbes 2013 List Of The Most Powerful Celebrities

Everyone should know this by now: Never count Oprah out. Despite business stumbles and an $88 million earnings drop since last year, Oprah Winfrey returns to the top of Forbes’ annual Celebrity 100 ranking of the most powerful celebrities after two years in second place. She leads a female-dominated top 10 that includes Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Madonna, Taylor Swift and Ellen DeGeneres. Even without her eponymous daytime talk show, Winfrey made an estimated...

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Fall for St. Louis; Classic for Boston

BOSTON — Getting to baseball’s biggest stage had never been the Boston Red Sox’ strong suit. Generations passed without World Series appearances. Seasons were too often marred by misfortune, blunders, collapses — an 86-year curse. Even though they recently won two titles — in a span of nine years — success has been so coveted that the Red Sox still greet the World Series with what seems like an unquenchable thirst. Entering Wednesday, they had not lost in eight straight World Series games, a streak dating to 2004. They had barely even...

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Kanye West, Kim Kardashian engagement: The ring may be worth $8M

ALL HAIL, KIMYE! The happy couple are preparing to have the wedding of the celebrity century. Maybe the third time’s the charm. Kim Kardashian will walk down the aisle yet again, thanks to a giant diamond valued by one expert at $8 million and Kanye West’s Jumbrotron proposal Monday night at San Francisco’s AT&T Park. But if history is any lesson, she might not wear that bling for long. Andrew Innerarity/REUTERS...

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Boy says classmates tried to talk Nevada school shooter out of firing

SPARKS, Nev. –  Thirteen-year-old Angelo Ferro was at the Sparks Middle School playground with friends Monday when he heard a pop about 15 minutes before the morning bell rang. He said he didn't think much of it -- it could've been someone popping a plastic bag. But then he saw an injured boy clutching his wounded arm. He watched his fifth-period math teacher, Michael Landsberry, walk toward a student and fall to the ground. "When he pulled a gun, we knew what happened," Ferro told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Moments later,...

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Colleges see a slowdown in tuition price increases

Average sticker prices at the nation's four-year public universities rose 2.9% this year, the smallest annual increase in more than three decades, suggesting that the steeper increases over the past few years "did not signal a new era of accelerating prices," says a report out Wednesday. Still, the smaller rates of increase this year — across public, private non-profit and for-profit colleges — are tempered by recent declines in federal grant aid, it says. "This does not mean that college is suddenly more affordable," says economist Sandy...

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Aung San Suu Kyi collects human rights prize 23 years late

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived at the European Parliament in Strasbourg today to finally collect the Sakharov Prize she was awarded in 1990. The prize for freedom of thought named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is awarded annually to individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom. Although she won it 23 years ago in recognition of her fight for democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar (formerly Burma), Ms Suu Kyi had been unable to collect it as she was...

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