US Navy ship collides with oil tanker in Persian Gulf, no injuries reported on either ship
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer was left with a gaping hole on one side after it collided with an oil tanker early Sunday just outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The collision left a breach about 10 feet by 10 feet (three by three meters) in the starboard side of USS Porter. No one was injured on either vessel, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.
The collision with the Panamanian-flagged and Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan happened about 1 a.m. local time. Photos released by the Navy showed workers standing amid twisted metal and other debris hanging down from the hole.
The cause of the incident is under investigation, the Navy said, though the collision was not "combat related." There were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Otowasan, the Navy said.
Navy spokesman Greg Raelson said the destroyer now is in port in Jebel Ali, Dubai. "We're just happy there were no injuries," he said. "An investigation is under way."
___
Romney re-energized by Ryan, but seeks distance from new running mate's budget plans
HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) -- Cheered by the biggest crowds of his campaign, Republican Mitt Romney declared Sunday that 42-year-old running mate Paul Ryan is ready to be president, but said his own budget plan, not the more detailed proposals of his partner, will be the basis of his White House bid.
"I have my budget plan," he said. "And that's the budget plan we're going to run on."
Earlier, Romney walked a careful line as he campaigned with Ryan by his side in North Carolina, singling out his running mate's work "to make sure we can save Medicare." But the presidential candidate never said whether he embraced Ryan's austere plan himself, and he addressed the matter more directly in a "60 Minutes" interview, with Ryan still with him, that aired Sunday night on CBS.
Democrats weren't about to let them off that hook.
President Barack Obama, attending campaign fundraisers Sunday in Chicago, tagged Ryan as the "ideological leader" of the Republican Party.
___
A trek through the woods, a secret trip to New England -- and a running mate for Romney
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- After Mitt Romney decided on a running mate, Paul Ryan's carefully planned transition from congressman to vice presidential candidate began -- in deep secret.
Almost a week ago, Ryan snuck through Chicago's O'Hare airport in a baseball cap and sunglasses and flew to New England. A Romney adviser's 19-year-old son picked up Ryan and drove him to a private meeting in his parents' dining room where the deal was sealed.
By Friday afternoon, Ryan was cutting through the Wisconsin woods behind his home to evade a reporter on the street out front, and heading to North Carolina. By night, he was eating Applebee's takeout at a nondescript chain hotel in that state and preparing for his big debut speech, according to a top Romney campaign aide who described the furtive maneuvering to reporters late Saturday.
All this, so that no one would see it coming: A Saturday morning unveiling of the GOP ticket in Norfolk outside the USS Wisconsin, the battleship named for Ryan's home state, as the sweeping theme from the movie "Air Force One" played.
This was the culmination of a methodical, highly secretive process that involved 10 top Romney staffers, a volunteer team of attorneys, a secret secure room in Romney's Boston headquarters, and reams of paper on a long and then a short list of potential candidates.
___
Egypt's Islamist president strikes boldly to seize back powers from military
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's Islamist president ordered the retirement of the defense minister and chief of staff on Sunday and made the boldest move so far to seize back powers that the military stripped from his office right before he took over.
Mohammed Morsi has been locked in a power struggle with the military since he took office on June 30. But after militants killed 16 Egyptian soldiers a week ago at a border post with Israel in Sinai, he has sought more aggressively to assert his authority over the top generals.
He fired the nation's intelligence chief a few days ago and made two highly publicized visits to Sinai in the company of top commanders. He also chaired several meetings with the military brass and made a point of calling himself the supreme commander of the armed forces in televised speeches.
It was not immediately clear whether Morsi's surprise decisions had the military's blessing. But the appointment of outgoing Defense Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and Chief of Staff Gen. Sami Annan as presidential advisers and awarding them some of the nation's highest honors suggested they may have agreed, perhaps grudgingly, in advance.
Egypt's official Middle East News Agency, quoting an unnamed military official in a brief report, said late Sunday that Morsi's moves were "deliberated and coordinated" in advance. It said there were no "negative reactions" from within the military.
___
Bring on Rio! With a pop extravaganza, Britain closes a 'happy and glorious' Olympics
LONDON (AP) -- With a little British pomp and a lot of British pop, London brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on Sunday in a spectacular, technicolor pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun.
The closing ceremony offered a sensory blast including rock 'n' roll rickshaws, dustbin percussionists, an exploding yellow car and a marching band in red tunics and bearskin hats.
The Spice Girls staged a show-stopping reunion, and Monty Python's Eric Idle sauntered through "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" -- accompanied by Roman centurions, Scottish bagpipers and a human cannonball.
It all made for a psychedelic mashup that had 80,000 fans at Olympic Stadium stomping, cheering and singing along. Organizers estimated 300 million or more were watching around the world.
What a way to end a games far more successful than many Londoners expected. Security woes were overcome, and traffic nightmares never materialized. The weather held up, more or less, and British athletes overachieved.
___
EYES ON LONDON: London Olympics close with pomp and pop, eyes turn to Rio
LONDON (AP) -- Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:
___
RIO PREPARES
As the London Olympics closed, the next host, Rio de Janeiro, was set to kick off four years of preparations for games that some see as Brazil's entrance onto the world stage.
Many are bracing for a rocky ride as Rio -- a laid-back beach city not known for its efficiency or punctuality -- rushes to build four main Olympic sites and undertake a massive infrastructure overhaul.
___
AP PHOTOS: London offers up a raucous, rockin' closing ceremony for Olympics
London bid farewell to the 2012 Summer Games during a raucous closing ceremony Sunday, with help from the reunited Spice Girls, a Monty Python anthem and a swarm of other performers who had 80,000 fans at Olympic Stadium cheering and singing.
The ceremony had something for everyone, from tween girls to 1960s hippies. The face of John Lennon appeared on the stadium floor, assembled by 101 fragments of sculpture, and just as quickly gave way to George Michael, Fatboy Slim and Annie Lennox. Ray Davies of The Kinks sang "Waterloo Sunset" early on, and The Who performed "My Generation" in the final minutes.
"We lit the flame, and we lit up the world," said London organizing committee chief Sebastian Coe, just before the games were declared over. "When our time came, Britain, we did it right."
____________
___
Rep: Jennifer Aniston is engaged to Justin Theroux
NEW YORK (AP) -- After years of breathless anticipation -- at least on the part of the tabloids -- Jennifer Aniston is finally ready to wed again.
Her representative, Stephen Huvane, confirmed Sunday night that the actress is engaged to her boyfriend of more than a year, Justin Theroux.
"Justin Theroux had an amazing birthday on Friday, receiving an extraordinary gift when his girlfriend, Jennifer Aniston, accepted his proposal of marriage," said Theroux's rep in a statement to People, which first reported the engagement.
Theroux, 41, and Aniston, 43, have known each other for years, but started dating more than a year ago after working on the comedy "Wanderlust." Though that film disappeared quickly from movie theaters after its release earlier this year, the relationship clearly proved to have more staying power. The two moved in together and tabloids soon began predicting everything from marriage to babies for the new couple.
Aniston had been a part of such speculation for years, ever since the demise of her marriage to Brad Pitt after a five-year union in 2005. While Pitt moved on to a long-term relationship with Angelina Jolie, Aniston had high-profile relationships with the likes of John Mayer and Vince Vaughn that didn't last, leading to the common narrative: When will Jen find someone or have a child?
___
YouTube Web series focuses on difficulties military women face in reporting rapes
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The enormous obstacles and emotional torment that a female solider confronts in reporting a sexual assault in the military are the focus of the three-part Web series "Lauren" debuting Monday on YouTube's new channel WIGS, which focuses on drama for women.
Featuring "Flashdance" star Jennifer Beals and Troian Bellisario, "Lauren" gives a close-up look at the challenges women service members face in trying to find justice after being raped. It's a problem that military leaders have given unprecedented attention to this year.
The Defense Department has estimated that 86 percent of sexual assaults go unreported, an indication that some women are worried about the effect reporting an assault may have on their career and that they mistrust the military prosecution system. Nearly 3,200 sexual assaults were reported in the military last year.
Military leaders say sexual assault is not only dehumanizing to the victims but threatens operational readiness. The Pentagon has set up hotlines and has been trying to encourage service members to help victims. High-ranking Navy leaders have likened their campaign to the crusade years ago to stop rampant drug abuse, although activists say sweeping institutional changes are needed for victims to find justice.
Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, "Lauren" sets out to show viewers how unfair and unsympathetic the military can be toward the abuse of female service members. At the same time, it depicts the turmoil of many of the victims -- who have a deep love and respect for the military but often feel betrayed after coming forward.
___
Ohio hospital shooting raises specter of rise in mercy killings as boomer generation ages
CLEVELAND (AP) -- John Wise watched a tear roll down his wife's face as he stood alongside her bed in the intensive care unit. She'd been unable to speak after suffering a stroke and seemed to be blinking to acknowledge him, Wise confided to a friend who had driven him to the hospital.
The couple had been married 45 years and Wise told his friend that they had agreed long ago they didn't want to live out their years bedridden and disabled.
So a week after Barbara Wise's stroke, investigators say, her husband fired a single round into her head. She died the next day, leading prosecutors to charge the 66-year-old man with aggravated murder Wednesday in what police suspect was a mercy killing.
The shooting leaves authorities in a dilemma some experts say will happen with greater frequency as the baby boom generation ages -- what is the appropriate punishment when a relative kills a loved one to end their suffering?
More often than not, a husband who kills an ailing wife never goes to trial and lands a plea deal with a sentence that carries no more than a few years in prison, research has shown. In some instances, there are no charges.
sign out Welcome,
(edit)