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Symbol(s):

Deliberations resume in 'honor' murder trial
Martin: Only Ron Paul gets Cuba
100+ arrests in Occupy Oakland protests
Russia favors adding observers in Syria
Report: U.N. nuclear team arrives in Iran
Biden tries to defuse tensions in Iraq
U.S. concerned for bin Laden informant
Yemeni president arrives in U.S.
Stars pay tribute at Etta James funeral

Gingrich says he's in 'til GOP convention

By David Espo AP Special Correspondent / January 29, 2012 PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.â??On the weekend before the pivotal Florida primary, Newt Gingrich vowed Saturday to stay in the race for the Republican presidential nomination until the national convention

St. Louis hosts big parade for Iraq War vets

Participants in a parade to honor Iraq War veterans make their way along a downtown street Saturday in St. Louis. / Jeff Roberson / Associated Press Jim Salter | Associated Press ST. LOUIS â?? Looking around at the tens of thousands of people waving

Police clash with Occupy Oakland protesters, 200

By Laird Harrison and Emmett Berg | OAKLAND (Reuters) - Riot police fought running skirmishes with anti-Wall street protesters in Oakland on Saturday, firing tear gas and bean bag projectiles and arresting more than 200 people in clashes that injured

Twister survivors help new victims

In this Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 photo, Rick Johnson, 55, cooks chicken for victims of the tornadoes that hit Alabama recently in a church parking lot in Cordova, Ala. Johnson is among the survivors of last year's April tornado outbreak who are pitching

PC Makers Should Fear Amazon's Android Gains

By Darrell Etherington Apple's iPad sold 15.4 million units during the final calendar quarter of 2011, representing a 111 percent increase over its tablet sales from the same period in 2010. Android tablets managed to increase their share of the tablet

Social-network update: Facebook up; Twitter slow?

by Michelle Meyers January 28, 2012 4:01 PM PST Turns out it's pretty much business as usual today in social-network-land, despite earlier claims hackers would take down Facebook and despite a boycott of Twitter by users accusing the company of

Facebook, Washington state sue alleged ad scammer

By Nancy Gohring IDG News Service - Washington's attorney general announced two new lawsuits against Adscend Media, a company that allegedly earns $20 million a year using a Facebook scam. It was a complicated scam that Facebook has blocked,

Recycled iPhone 5 Rumors Miss the Point

By Sascha Segan This warmed-over rumor casserole is not news. We've been through this before. All last summer, we were treated to a hysterical froth of iPhone 5 rumors before the 4S came out. It was supposed to have a 4-inch screen, a new teardrop

15-year-old boy arrested in murder of parents

 Oakland police have arrested a 15-year-old boy they said killed his own parents in a double homicide discovered Friday night.

Robert Kamin, 55, and Susan Poff, 50, were found dead in a car parked outside their home on the 200 block of Athol Avenue Friday shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday.

Police had first responded to the home around 3:30 p.m. on Friday after a concerned employer called to report that an employee had not reported to work.

Officers conducted a well-being check and spoke to an individual at the house, but nothing seemed suspicious and the officers left.

Around 9:30 p.m. police received a second call, and checked the home again. It was then that they found Kamin and Poff in a vehicle outside the home.

The two were pronounced dead at 10:46 p.m.

Rare falcon recovering at Wildlife Rescue Center

A rare falcon that was recently attacked is recovering at the Wildlife Rescue Center in Burlingame and is expected to be released back into the wild in February.

The Merlin falcon was brought to the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA's Tom & Annette Lantos Center for Compassion, at 1450 Rollins Road, earlier this month, center officials said.

Only one or two Merlin falcons are treated by the center annually.

Someone found the falcon in Palo Alto. It arrived with significant tearing on the underside of its right wing, according to the center. Wildlife staff members believe it was attacked by a large raptor.

Its wounds have been stitched up and they expect the falcon will be released by about mid-February.

Today and Sunday, the SPCA is hosting an open house for their newly completed wildlife enclosures at the Center for Compassion. There will be refreshments and crafts and projects for kids. Visitors will not, however, be able to see the injured falcon, which is being moved to a quieter space for the weekend to ensure its care is not compromised.

More information about Merlin falcons can be found at: http://www.merlinfalconfoundation.org/.  

200 arrested in daylong Occupy Oakland protests

Oakland police say they arrested a total of about 200 people Saturday as protesters spent a portion of the day trying to get into a vacant convention center, and later broke into City Hall and tried to occupy a YMCA.

Police spokesman Jeff Thomason says most of the arrests came around 8 p.m. That's when police took more than 100 protesters into custody as they marched through the city's downtown, with some entering a YMCA building.

About 19 demonstrators were arrested earlier in the afternoon, after police say they threw rocks, bottles and other objects at officers and tore down fencing.

Police say three officers were injured. Officers used tear gas and "flash" grenades on the protesters after they refused to leave.

Authorities were still tabulating the exact number of arrests late Saturday.

About 100 police officers surrounded City Hall Saturday night while others were swept the inside of the building to see if protesters broke in.

“They burned some of the flags, threw trash on the ground,” said Oakland Mayor Jean Quan in regards to protesters breaking into City Hall. “They turned over the historic model of City Hall, they destroyed the children's art exhibit on recycled art."

Members of an angry crowd also started jumping on KTVU’s livetruck Saturday night and hurled a projectile at it, breaking its windows.

More help from other police agencies was also on the way, with busloads of Alameda County sheriff's deputies arriving in the downtown area late Saturday.

The nighttime arrests came after 19 people were taken into custody in Occupy Oakland protests hours earlier.

Police used tear gas and "flash" grenades on the group Saturday afternoon after some demonstrators threw rocks and other objects at them. Police said three officers were hurt, but they released no details.

Police said the group assembled at a downtown plaza Saturday morning, with demonstrators threatening to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center. The group then marched through the streets, disrupting traffic.

The crowd grew as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 400 to 500 people.

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

Most of the arrests were made when protesters ignored orders to leave and assaulted officers, police said. By 4 p.m., the bulk of the crowd had left the convention center and headed back downtown.

The demonstration comes after Occupy protesters said earlier this week that they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a social center and political hub. They also threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.

In a statement Friday, Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana said the city would not be "bullied by threats of violence or illegal activity."

Interim police Chief Howard Jordan also warned that officers would arrest those carrying out illegal actions.

Oakland officials said Friday that since the Occupy Oakland encampment was first established in late October, police have arrested about 300 people.

The national Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces corporate excess and economic inequality, began in New York City in the fall but has been largely dormant lately.

Oakland, New York and Los Angeles were among the cities with the largest and most vocal Occupy protests early on. The demonstrations ebbed after those cities used force to move out hundreds of demonstrators who had set up tent cities.

In Oakland, the police department received heavy criticism for using force to break up earlier protests. Among the critics was Mayor Jean Quan, who said she wasn't briefed on the department's plans. Earlier this month, a court-appointed monitor submitted a report to a federal judge that included "serious concerns" about the department's handling of the Occupy protests.

81-year-old woman found beaten unconscious in Richmond

An 81-year-old El Cerrito woman was found beaten and possibly sexually assaulted Saturday at about 9:15 a.m. in Richmond,  said Richmond Police Lt. Bisa French said.

Employees at Big O Tires were opening up the store when they saw the woman and called police, French said.

Officers responded to the 10700 block of San Pablo Avenue and found the woman, who French said was in critical condition.

The Big O Tires manager, Art Ochoa, said when he first saw the woman he thought she was a homeless person sleeping outside his store.

He then discovered it was a woman in her 80s who was badly beaten.
"As soon as I called 911...the police showed up within minutes because (the station's) just down the street," Ochoa said.

Ochoa arrived at work at 7:30 a.m. but didn't discover the woman until about 9 a.m. He asked if she needed help and all she could do was nod.

"She didn't talk to me at all, because as soon as I saw her she just had blood everywhere," he said.

"Officers arrived, made contact with the female, who was able to at that point give her name and information," French said.

The manager said the woman was wearing a white coat that was bloodied allegedly from her attack and he noticed her eyes swollen shut.

Police said they weren't sure if she was robbed.

Anthony Ovitz, who works along San Pablo Avenue, came to investigate for himself after he saw police rope off part of a parking lot.

"Since it's real busy and stuff you wouldn't expect anything like this to happen," Ovitz said.

The woman lives near where the apparent attack took place. She is known to take morning walks and attend church a few blocks from where she was found.

"It's an ugly feeling when you see things like this happen as a result of bad people," Ovitz said.

Investigators said they don't know when the attack happened and they are talking to family members and neighbors.

No information on an alleged attacker was available as of Saturday afternoon.