IT News Head Lines (Yahoo News) 04/12/2012

Obama salutes entertainers taking a Washington bow Music legend Led Zeppelin was recognized on Sunday alongside entertainers from stage and screen for their contributions to the arts and American culture at the Kennedy Center Honors, lifetime achievement awards for performing artists. The eclectic tribute in Washington, alternated between solemn veneration and lighthearted roasting of honorees Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman, wisecracking late-night talk show host David Letterman, blues guitar icon Buddy Guy, ballerina Natalia Makarova and Led Zeppelin. ... Read More ...

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Tunnel collapse in Japan kills 9; rescue suspended Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a long Japanese highway tunnel, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. Read More ...

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Friend: Chiefs player, slain girlfriend 'seemed fine' Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend briefly lived apart before he killed her and then committed suicide in front of his coach and general manager, a friend of the woman said Sunday. Read More ...

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Boehner faces line in the sand in 'fiscal cliff' talks President Obama and his White House team appear to have drawn a line in the sand in talks with House Republicans on the "fiscal cliff." Tax rates on the wealthy are going up, the only question is how much? Read More ...

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Mexico's new president, opposition agree to push reforms Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Sunday signed a pact with the country's leading political parties to increase competition in the telecommunications sector and overhaul the education system. The agreement was an effort to break through years of political gridlock in Congress on Pena Nieto's second day in office. Pena Nieto, 46, took office on Saturday, returning to power his centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, after 12 years in the opposition. No party holds an outright majority in Congress. "We have to negotiate to build consensus. ... Read More ...

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Clinton in Prague to lobby for Westinghouse nuclear bid U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will seek to convince Czech leaders of the advantages of picking U.S. firm Westinghouse over a Russian rival as the contractor for a $10 billion nuclear reactor project in meetings in Prague on Monday. U.S. officials traveling with Clinton to Prague said the Temelin nuclear power project could bring as many as 9,000 jobs to the United States and would help diversify the Czech Republic's energy supply away from Russia. ... Read More ...

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L.A. port strike triggers fears, lobbying by businesses A national coalition of U.S. business groups is urging an end to a strike at the twin California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach amid fears that a prolonged stand-off will cost the American economy many billions of dollars, and could even spread to the east coast. Trade groups led by the National Retail Federation have sent letters to U.S. President Barack Obama and leading members of Congress asking them to intervene and help end the strike at America's two busiest container harbor facilities. ... Read More ...

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Indefinite strike: Egypt's anti-Morsi rebellion of judges is complete Egypt's rebellion of the judges against President Mohammed Morsi became complete on Sunday with the country's highest court declaring an open-ended strike on the day it was supposed to rule on the legitimacy of two key assemblies controlled by allies of the Islamist leader. Read More ...

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Third storm in less than week drenches Northern Calif. Residents of Northern California endured the brunt of another powerful storm that drenched the area with yet another round of pounding rain and strong winds, but damage from the storm was less than expected, officials said. Read More ...

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Syrian forces pound Damascus suburbs, flights to resume Syrian forces pounded rebel-held suburbs around Damascus with fighter jets and rockets on Sunday, opposition activists said, killing and wounding dozens in an offensive to push rebels away from the airport and stop them closing in on the capital. The army struck hard after a week of rebel advances, including the capture of two military bases near the capital. Rebels had been planning to push into central Damascus from their strongholds on the outskirts and fighting in the past week has been fierce. ... Read More ...

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News Corp executive Mockridge steps down Like we've come to expect, the latest resignation at News Corp is dramatic, political and slightly shrouded in mystery. It is not, however, at all related to phone hacking. It sounds like Tom Mockridge's exit from the Murdoch empire is just another case of your standard disgruntled executive, not happy about getting passed over for an exciting new post that does not involve managing a ticking time bomb. Read More ...

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NTSB: Conrail studied problems day before N.J. crash Conrail crews studied reported signal problems at a New Jersey railroad bridge the day before a train derailment that caused a toxic chemical leak, federal investigators said Sunday. Read More ...

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At least five dead after U.S.-Afghan base attacked Taliban suicide bombers attacked a joint U.S.-Afghan air base in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday, detonating explosives at the gate and sparking a gunbattle that lasted at least two hours with American helicopters firing down on the militants. Read More ...

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Geithner on averting cliff: 'We're going to get there' With the fiscal cliff looming--and Republicans, like House Speaker John Boehner, slamming the White House's latest proposal--U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hit the Sunday morning talk show circuit, saying the partisan posturing is a necessary part of "political theater" but that he's hopeful a deal will get done before the end of the year. "I [...] Read More ...

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Coast Guard member dies in crash off Calif. coast A U.S. Coast Guard member was killed and another was injured when their small boat was rammed by a smuggler's vessel before dawn Sunday off the Southern California coast. Read More ...

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Man charged in barista death linked to 7 killings A man charged in the death of an Alaska barista was found dead in his jail cell Sunday, and authorities announced hours later that investigators have linked him in recent months to seven other possible slayings in three other states. Read More ...

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Oysters eyed as help for polluted New York harbor They are soft to the touch, but surrounded by a hard rough shell. Known as filter feeders, many as small as your thumb, they use their tiny cilia to draw in plankton, sediment and other particles over their gills and spit out cleaner water. They... Read More ...

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Toddler's death prompts review of 2 other deaths A toddler's death during a visit with his father last month in Virginia is prompting police to also more closely investigate the suicide of the man's mother and the shooting death of a onetime girlfriend in the past decade. Read More ...

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Napoleon's coded Kremlin letter sold for $243,500 A secret code letter sent by French emperor Napoleon boasting that his multinational forces would blow up Moscow's Kremlin has sold at auction Sunday for €187,500 ($243,500) — 10 times its estimated presale price. Read More ...

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Ariz. police searching for child missing from cancer ward The welfare of a missing 11-year-old leukemia patient who was taken from a Phoenix hospital by her mother the day before she was scheduled to be discharged is the prime concern for authorities, who fear a catheter in the girl’s heart could become infected and... Read More ...

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