MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian officials say the artistic director of the Bolshoi ballet will need at least one more operation after an attacker threw acid in his face and that it's not yet clear if the sight in his right eye can be saved.
No arrests have been made in the Thursday night attack on Sergei Filin, which his colleagues say may have been retaliation for his selection of certain dancers for prized roles.
Filin underwent surgery on Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is featuring eight Americans as "citizen co-chairs" of his inauguration, a new role created to highlight his first-term accomplishments with examples of lives that have either been improved by his actions or inspired his presidency.
The honorees announced Thursday include a woman with a brain tumor who no longer is denied health care for a pre-existing condition; an autoworker who got her job back after the General Motors bailout; and a gay pilot-in-training kicked out of the Air Force before the president repealed the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Inauguration officials said the president has met most of the eight individuals during his first term and their inclusion in inaugural events is meant to showcase his administration's core values through real-life examples that people across the country can relate to.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- LeBron James has reached so many milestones in his NBA career it might be easy to lose track.
He hasn't.
Just a point shy of becoming the youngest player in league history to score 20,000 points, James knew exactly where he stood Wednesday night. He worked a switch off Draymond Green on the wing, dribbled past David Lee and pulled up in the lane from 12 feet to make an off-balance jumper with 2:45 remaining in the second quarter.
Swish.
"The best part about it is I was in a rhythm, too, so it wasn't one of those forced shots," James said. "I was able to get the switch on David Lee and get to the elbow and make a shot. It's pretty cool."
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Wednesday:
1. NEW YORK REACTS TO SCHOOL MASSACRE
Getting a jump on the federal government, the state enacts the toughest gun restrictions in the nation.
2. WHO'S BEING BLAMED FOR SYRIAN DEATHS
Activists say government airstrikes killed 80 people at a university in Syria's largest city. State media blame rebel rockets.
3. A WAY FOR ARMSTRONG TO GET BACK IN THE GAME
The World Anti-Doping Agency says he must confess under oath if he wants to reduce his lifetime ban from sports.
Congress has long supported anti-piracy measures like Sopa – but that hasn't stopped its employees from illegally downloading
Employees of the US Congress were found to be downloading a host of television shows and movies illegally on congressional computers, according to a report by anti-piracy service ScanEye.
The report shared by US News and World Reports showed that since early October, congressional employees have downloaded movies and television shows including The Walking Dead, The Dark Knight Rises and 30 Rock.
The report demonstrates that even though Congress has found itself at the forefront of measures to stop piracy, including the much-maligned Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa), its staff do not always follow the legislators' lead.
ADDIS ABABA — An Ethiopian court has convicted ten people of having links to al-Qaida, but did not issue life sentences as the prosecution requested. The accused say they will appeal.
Prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years were handed to nine Ethiopians and one Kenyan on Tuesday after they were found guilty of having links with the terrorist organization al-Qaida. One Ethiopian was set free.
Lawyer Temam Ababulga defended one of the Ethiopians who was convicted on charges of terrorism recruiting. He says his client, like all the others convicted, will appeal the sentence.
Ratings agency says slow recovery and fiscal consolidation leaves Britain vulnerable to fresh economic shocks
Fitch, the credit ratings agency, has warned the chancellor that Britain could be stripped of its prized AAA status if he fails to boost the country's economic situation in the spring budget
The agency said the UK remains under "significant pressure" following the autumn statement in December, when George Osborne conceded that growth would be lower over the next two years and for that reason he was likely to miss one of his two debt reduction targets.
David Riley, the head of global sovereign ratings at the agency, said Osborne's admission was a "negative event" for the UK.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday that global sales of its Galaxy S smartphones surpassed 100 million units since the first model in the series was released less than three years ago.
Samsung said it has sold more than 25 million Galaxy S smartphones, 40 million Galaxy S II smartphones and 41 million Galaxy S III smartphones.
Samsung launched the first Galaxy S model at the end of May 2010, scrambling to catch up with Apple, which was reshaping the market with the iPhone.
GENEVA (AP) -- Delegates from more than 130 nations began a final round of negotiations on Sunday that are expected to lead to the creation of the first legally binding international treaty to reduce mercury emissions.
The treaty would set enforceable limits on the emissions of mercury, a highly-toxic metal that is widely used in chemical production and small-scale mining, particularly artisanal gold production.
Swiss diplomat Franz Perrez, whose nations helped prompt the call for the treaty, told reporters on Sunday in Geneva that "we are confident that we'll be able to conclude here this week" with a final document that nations will adopt later this year.
High Pay Centre says companies 'must end fast buck culture' and take long-term view of economy
The way the bosses of FTSE 100 companies are paid encourages them to focus on making a "fast buck" rather than taking a longer view of the economy, according to research out on Monday which recommends half their pay should be linked to non-financial targets.
Research by the High Pay Centre found measures of financial performance dominated the way top bosses were paid, rather than measures linked to corporate culture or business reputation. The gauge of total shareholder return is used to calculate at least one element of pay by 74 out of FTSE 100 companies, with 96 companies using TSR or earnings per share, or a combination.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A "Death Star" won't be a part of the U.S. military's arsenal any time soon.
More than 34,000 people have signed an online petition calling on the Obama administration to build the "Star Wars" inspired super-weapon to spur job growth and bolster national defense.
But in a posting Friday on the White House website, Paul Shawcross, an administration adviser on science and space, says a Death Star would cost too much to build - an estimated $850 quadrillion - at a time the White House is working to reduce the federal budget.
GIGLIO, Italy (AP) -- Survivors of the Costa Concordia shipwreck and relatives of the 32 people who died marked the first anniversary of the grounding Sunday with the unveiling of memorials to the victims, a Mass in their honor and a minute of silence to recall the exact moment that the cruise ship rammed into a reef off Tuscany.
The first event of Sunday's daylong commemoration was the return to the sea of part of the massive rock that tore a 70-meter (230-foot) gash into the hull of the ocean liner on Jan. 13, 2012. The boulder remained embedded in the mangled steel as the 112,000-ton vessel capsized along with its 4,200 passengers and crew.
As fog horns wailed, a crane on a tug lowered the boulder onto the reef off Giglio, returning it to the seabed affixed with a memorial plaque. Relatives of the dead threw flowers into the sea and embraced as they watched the ceremony from a special ferry that bobbed in the waves under a slate gray sky.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration is requiring makers of Ambien and similar sleeping pills to lower the dosage of their drugs, based on studies suggesting patients face a higher risk of injury due to morning drowsiness.
The agency said Thursday that new research shows that the drugs remain in the bloodstream at levels high enough to interfere with alertness and coordination, which increases the risk of car accidents.
Regulators are ordering drug manufacturers to cut the dose of the medications in half for women, who process the drug more slowly. Doses will be lowered from 10 milligrams to 5 milligrams for regular products, and 12.5 milligrams to 6.25 milligrams for extended-release formulations.
The FDA is recommending that manufacturers apply these lower doses to men as well, though it is not making them a requirement.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Gangster Squad" director Ruben Fleischer was stepping out of the shower on the night of July 20 last year when he received a chilling phone call from a studio executive at Warner Bros. There had been a deadly shooting at a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo. The studio was pulling the trailer for its "Gangster Squad" movie.
The problem was that the preview, which had been scheduled to debut before some showings of the latest Batman film that weekend, featured a peek at a pivotal moment in the 1940s true-crime romp when Los Angeles mobsters ruthlessly shoot into a movie theater audience.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Too intimidated to fill out your tax return without help? Join the club.
At nearly 4 million words, the U.S. tax law is so thick and complicated that businesses and individuals spend more than 6 billion hours a year complying with filing requirements, according to a report Wednesday by an independent government watchdog.
That's the equivalent of 3 million people working full-time, year-round.
"If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States," says the report by Nina E. Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate.
The days of most taxpayers sitting down with a pencil and a calculator to figure out their taxes are long gone, Olson said. Since 2001, Congress has made almost 5,000 changes to U.S. tax law. That's an average of more than one a day.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has signed into law a $9.7 billion bill to pay flood insurance claims from Superstorm Sandy.
The law increases the borrowing authority of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA had warned that it was set to run out of money without additional dollars from Congress.
The White House said more than 100,000 flood claim payments from Sandy would be delayed without the additional money.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Every day, throngs of riders stand on the edge of danger in the nation's busiest subway system, waiting on platforms with nothing between them and the tracks.
Dozens of subway and light rail systems around the world have safety barriers with sliding doors on their platforms, but the idea hasn't gotten traction in New York. Yet transit officials are giving it a new look after two people were pushed and a third fell to their deaths on the tracks since early December.
Safety doors would be expensive and difficult additions to the sprawling, 108-year-old subway system, but some people are urging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to try it. A company has proposed to install the barriers for free in exchange for advertising revenue.
LONDON (AP) -- Three months after she was shot in the head for daring to say girls should be able to get an education, a 15-year-old Pakistani hugged her nurses and smiled as she walked out of a Birmingham hospital.
Malala Yousufzai waved to a guard and smiled shyly as she cautiously strode down the hospital corridor talking to nurses in images released Friday by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
"She is quite well and happy on returning home - as we all are," Malala's father, Ziauddin, told The Associated Press.
Malala, who was released Thursday, will live with her parents and two brothers in Britain while she continues to receive treatment. She will be admitted again in the next month for another round of surgery to rebuild her skull.
Thousands of Iraqi Sunnis again took to the streets on Friday, demanding an end to what they see as second-class treatment.
At mass demonstrations in Fallujah, Tikrit, Ramadi and Mosul, protesters called on the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to release fellow Sunnis being held as prisoners.
Sunni protesters also gathered in Baghdad, where they received a show of support from radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who prayed with Sunnis at the city's Abdul Qadir al-Gailani mosque before visiting Our Lady of Salvation Catholic church, the scene of a deadly 2010 attack blamed on extremists.
"We sympathize with demonstrators and with their demands," said the cleric, who backed Maliki following Iraq's 2010 elections, but has since joined Sunnis and Kurds in calling for his resignation. "Their demands are right and we have only one comment on de-Baathification: we don't want the Baath party to rule again."
Man to face charges of attempted murder after shots were fired at officers during disturbances following loyalist rally
Riots have broken out in Belfast after police came under gun attack for the first time in the continuing violent loyalist flag dispute.
A taxi was hijacked and there are reports that a bus was set on fire just hours after shots were fired at police lines along the Newtownards Road in the east of the city, following a loyalist rally.
Police confirmed they were investigating reports of gunshots directed at officers.
A spokesman said two men had been arrested, including a 38-year-old who will face charges of attempted murder.
• US Open champion taken to three sets by world No199
• Watson a doubt for Australian Open with elbow problem
Andy Murray narrowly avoided the wrath of his coach, Ivan Lendl, after labouring to a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 win over the Australian qualifier John Millman in his opening match at the Brisbane International.
The US Open champion ran hot but mostly cold against the world No199 in a match of wildly fluctuating tennis that lasted two hours and four minutes at the Pat Rafter Arena.
Murray revealed that the former world No1 Lendl, who was due to arrive in Brisbane on Friday, had not even considered the possibility of the Scot losing to Millman. Before the second-round match, Lendl had sent a text message to the 25-year-old's hitting partner Danny Vallverdu asking what time Murray's quarter-final against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin would be on Friday.
NEW YORK (AP) -- ESPN anchor Hannah Storm returns to the air New Year's Day, exactly three weeks after she was seriously burned in a propane gas grill accident at her home.
Storm suffered second-degree burns on her chest and hands, and first-degree burns to her face and neck. She lost her eyebrows and eyelashes, and roughly half her hair.
Storm will host ABC's telecast of the 2013 Rose Parade on Tuesday. Her left hand will be bandaged and she said viewers might notice a difference in her hair texture where extensions have been added.
"I'm a little nervous about things I used to take for granted," she said by phone this weekend from Pasadena, Calif. "Little things like putting on makeup and even turning pages on my script."
The award-winning sportscaster and producer was preparing dinner outside her home in Connecticut on the night of Dec. 11 when she noticed the flame on the grill had gone out. She turned off the gas and when she reignited it "there was an explosion and a wall of fire came at me."
Officials in Ivory Coast say at least 60 people were crushed to death during a stampede at a New Year's celebration in Abidjan.
Rescue workers say about 50 others were injured in the incident early Tuesday near a stadium in the Plateau district, where hundreds of thousands of people had gathered to watch fireworks.
Most of those killed were children and teenagers. The government says it is investigating what caused the stampede. President Alassane Ouattara calls it a national tragedy.
Ivorian journalist Landry Kohon said that two large waves of people, moving in opposite directions, bumped into each other on a narrow street.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Eric Gordon made his return to the lineup Saturday night. And for the better part of 24 minutes, he looked as if he'd never been away.
Gordon had 24 points and seven assists, helping the New Orleans Hornets overcome a 21-point first-half deficit and extend the Charlotte Bobcats' losing streak to 18 games with a 98-95 victory Saturday night.
The Bobcats are one game away from a winless December. They haven't won since Nov. 24 and are closing in on their franchise-record 23-game losing streak to close the 2011-12 season.
Gordon, who hadn't played since April 22 following arthroscopic right knee surgery, was 5 of 13 from the field and 12 of 14 from the free throw line. He had two steals and two turnovers.
"I felt pretty good, I was kind of surprised," Gordon said. "Now I'm just going to try to get better and better from here. I wouldn't have had a chance to help this team earlier with my knee, but I'm glad everything is working out now."