27 inmates killed in Sri Lanka prison shootout

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A shootout between rioting prisoners and security forces at a prison in Sri Lanka's capital killed at least 27 inmates, while police said Saturday that they arrested five prisoners who had managed to escape and were searching for others.Another 42 people were wounded in the shootout Friday between inmates and army and police commandos that broke out after the rioting prisoners...

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Walmart Moves Up Black Friday

Walmart is kicking off Black Friday shopping earlier than ever this year, opening stores at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.“In addition to offering amazing low prices on the season’s top gifts, Walmart is taking the historic step to ensure wishlist items like the Apple iPad2 are available for customers during a special one-hour event on Thanksgiving,” the...

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Madonna fan guilty in NYC resisting arrest trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A former firefighter with a crush on Madonna has been convicted of resisting arrest outside her former New York City apartment building as he spray-painted poster boards with love notes.A jury delivered its verdict Friday in Robert Linhart's trial. He could face up to a year in jail.Defense lawyer Lawrence LaBrew tells the New York Post (http://bit.ly/ZgI4jl) that Linhart will appeal.Linhart...

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Malaria vaccine a letdown for infants

LONDON (AP) — An experimental malaria vaccine once thought promising is turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease.That is a significant drop from a study last year done in slightly older children, which suggested the vaccine cut the malaria risk by about half — though that is still far below the...

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Aging former Chinese leaders retain huge influence

BEIJING (AP) — When China's ranking communists file into the Great Hall of the People, you can spot the invited guests, the retired but still-influential men in their 70s, 80s and even 90s. Most of them no longer dye their hair the requisite jet black of Beijing's working leaders.These men typically have no official posts anymore, but continue to make their preferences known and work behind the scenes...

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US video game sales drop 25 percent in October

NEW YORK (AP) — A research firm says U.S. retail sales of new video game hardware, software and accessories fell 25 percent in October.The drop marks the 11th straight month of declining sales for physical game products. Many gamers are waiting for big holiday releases such as Activision Blizzard Inc.‘s “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.” The...

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Roger Waters plays with band of wounded veterans

NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Waters honored wounded veterans in New York by performing with them at the annual Stand Up for Heroes benefit, Thursday night.The founding member of Pink Floyd took to the stage of the Beacon Theater with 14 wounded soldiers he met recently at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He rehearsed with them at the hospital, and for the past few days in New York.The...

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Calif. city plans to provide transgender surgeries

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco is preparing to become the first U.S. city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries for uninsured transgender residents.The city's Health Commission voted Tuesday to create a comprehensive program for treating transgender people experiencing mental distress because of the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. San Francisco...

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Obama breaks down while speaking to staff, volunteers

The morning after he won re-election, an emotional President Barack Obama credited his youthful staff of several hundred with running a campaign that will "go on in the annals of history.""What you guys have accomplished will go on in the annals of history and they will read about it and they'll marvel about it," said Obama told his team Wednesday morning inside the Chicago campaign headquarters,...

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Insurgents kill 8 Afghan police, soldiers

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Five Afghan soldiers and three policemen died Thursday in attacks in the south and east of the country, the latest insurgent strikes against Afghanistan's security forces, officials said.A suicide bomber struck in the southern city of Kandahar, killing the three policemen and wounding two others, said Ahmad Jawed Faisal, a provincial governor spokesman.The five troops died...

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