Friday, July 25, 2014

Australia's prime minister says his country is close to finalizing a deal with Ukraine to send police and a small number of troops to secure the Malaysian plane crash site as part of a multinational team.

A network of tunnels Palestinian militants have dug from Gaza to Israel - dubbed "lower Gaza" by the Israeli military - is taking center stage in the latest war between Hamas and Israel.

Marijuana has joined wacky paint colors and unsightly fences as common neighborhood disputes facing homeowners associations. Lawyers who specialize in HOA disputes say there are growing conflicts among neighbors who want to smoke pot and others who don't want to see it or smell it.

A family feud at a New England grocery store chain has sparked a workers' revolt. For the past week, about 300 warehouse workers at Market Basket stores have refused to make deliveries, leaving fruit, vegetable, meat and seafood shelves bare at many of the company's 71 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. The protesting workers aren't asking for higher pay or better benefits.

Fast food workers prepare to escalate wage demands

Baidu Inc., which operates China's most popular search engine, says its quarterly profit rose 34 percent over a year earlier as its mobile business grew. Baidu said Friday it earned 3.5 billion yuan ($571.1 million) in the three months ended June 30.

President Barack Obama and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte (RUH'-tuh) are in agreement that Russia is still working to destabilize Ukraine.

For the human stars of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," it's all about Michelangelo.

Just because "Community" is going online to Yahoo doesn't mean it's in for a lot of changes.

Nearly 300 passengers perish when their plane is shot out of the sky. Airlines suspend flights to Israel's largest airport after rocket attacks.

in his view, the utter lack thereof.

Sen. Mitch McConnell has issued a strong call for Myanmar to amend its constitution to allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (ahng sahn soo chee) to run for president and for the military to submit to civilian rule.

Bankrupt power giant Energy Future Holdings terminated its restructuring agreement and announced plans to auction its stake in the profitable power transmission business Oncor Electric Delivery Co., according to a filing Thursday with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company and its creditors "believe that the (restructuring agreement) has provided significant benefit," including obtaining billions of dollars in new financing, the filing said. In a letter to employees Thursday, Energy Future said it would maintain its approach to reorganizing the company, which centers on a tax-free spinoff of the unprofitable side, including Luminant, the state's largest power generator, and TXU Energy, the state's largest electricity retailer. With cash flows for electricity distribution and production shielded from creditors, the bankruptcy has not yet impacted consumers. The proposed auction of Oncor, which the company said would take place in the coming weeks, has already generated interest from potential bidders, including Florida-based NextEra Energy and Hunt Consolidated in Dallas. Hunt hired former Energy Future executive David Campbell as chief executive of its power utility investment arm on Monday, with Hunt spokeswoman Jeanne Phillips saying in a statement that the company is "intent" on acquiring control of Oncor. Moody's Investor Services analyst Jairo Chung says Oncor's prospects for growth are better than the industry average because of its coverage area in Northwest Texas, which is projected to see significant population growth. The auction proceeds would be allocated among Energy Future's creditors, Chung said. Energy Future filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in April in an attempt to halve a $40 billion debt load stemming from a bet that natural gas prices would rise.

President Barack Obama says the downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine "may stiffen the spine of our European partners" as they consider additional sanctions against Russia.

President Barack Obama says the Federal Aviation Administration took "prudent action" in temporarily banning U. S. flights in and out of Israel.

John Malkovich and Benedict Cumberbatch each made their Comic-Con debuts — as themselves and as their first animated characters.

In the morgue at a small Gaza hospital, the anguished cries of those who lost loved ones in Israeli airstrikes fell silent Thursday when Ahmed Jadallah began attending to the corpses, one by one, on his wooden work table.

Nearly 300 passengers perish when their plane is shot out of the sky. Airlines suspend flights to Israel's largest airport after rocket attacks. An airliner crashes during a storm, and yet another disappears. Aviation has suffered one of its worst weeks in memory, a cluster of disasters spanning three continents.