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U.S. special forces rescue aid workers
Giffords 'will recover and will return'
Marine's sentence angers Iraqis
Cruise ship captain admits 'mistake'
Actor James Farentino dies
Man refuses surgery, drops 279 pounds

Obama saw window of opportunity to free hostages

By Phil Stewart and David Alexander | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama mysteriously congratulated his defense chief while making his way through the crowd awaiting the State of the Union address Tuesday night, the secret hostage

Romney Calls State of Union Speech 'Detached From Reality'

By John McCormick and Jonathan D. Salant (Updates with Romney comments starting in the second paragraph. For more campaign news, see ELECT.) Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told Florida voters today that Barack

Giffords says her goodbye to House amid tributes and tears, pleading for a ...

WASHINGTON — The applause rolled through the big chamber, growing ever louder as hundreds of Republicans and Democrats suddenly realized Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was back in the House. But this time she had come to say goodbye. Fellow lawmakers gave her

Senate Democrats promise to push Obama tax agenda, raise taxes on millionaires

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in the Senate promised Wednesday to press ahead this year with legislation drawn from his plans to require millionaires pay at least 30 percent in taxes and curb tax preferences for companies that

Apple Surges Most Since 2009 as Net Doubles on IPhone Demand

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. shares rose to a record after quarterly profit more than doubled as holiday demand for the iPhone and iPad cemented its position as the most valuable technology company. Apple's stock gained 6.2 percent to a $446.66

Motorola sues Apple for patent infringement

Motorola Mobility, which is seeking regulatory approval to be bought by Google Inc, has filed a new lawsuit against Apple Inc accusing the iPhone maker of infringing its technology patents. The case filed in a Florida federal court on

Facebook Timeline: There's no escaping it now

By Suzanne Choney Ding, ding ding! Your time is up! This is not a drill: You can no longer avoid using Timeline on Facebook, something that until now has been optional. Timeline is rolling out over the next few weeks to everyone, all 800 million users,

HP plans September open-source release for webOS

By Nancy Gohring | IDG News Service HP announced on Wednesday that it plans to release the code behind WebOS in September under the Apache License, Version 2.0. It laid out a timeline for releasing components of the software, starting with Enyo 2.0 and

Surviving son points out Ramos as shooter in triple-murder trial

A son whose father and two brothers were fatally shot in San Francisco's Excelsior District as they drove home from a picnic in June 2008 testified Wednesday that he saw alleged MS-13 gang member Edwin Ramos fire the shots.

In testimony that began that morning and continued into the afternoon, Andrew Bologna said he saw Ramos shoot his father Anthony, 48, and his brothers Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, as the family drove near Congdon and Maynard streets on the afternoon of June 22, 2008.

"I saw him," Andrew Bologna said from the witness stand, pointing at Ramos. "He was staring at my dad, mugging him, giving him a mean look, and that's when he pulled out a gun."

Bologna began crying as he recounted the shooting.

"I didn't know what was going on, it was like a movie," he said. "They shot my family like that, it doesn't make sense."

Bologna's mother Danielle, who was watching from the front row of the packed courtroom, sobbed throughout much of the testimony.

Prosecutors allege that Ramos, 25, of El Sobrante, shot the Bolognas after mistaking them for rival gang members and that the shooting was in retaliation for the shooting of a fellow MS-13 gang member earlier that day.

Ramos has admitted to driving the car used in the shooting, a gray Chrysler 300, but denies that he fired any shots.

Defense attorney Marla Zamora said in her opening statement in the trial on Monday that a second man, Wilfredo "Flaco" Reyes, was in the car and that Reyes was the shooter.

Andrew Bologna testified that he did not see anyone else in Ramos' car at the time of the shooting.

Reyes, another alleged MS-13 gang member, still remained at large Wednesday.

Occupy Oakland activists plan building takeover on Saturday

Occupy Oakland activists said Wednesday that they planned to take over a vacant building at an undisclosed location somewhere in the city on Saturday to establish a new home, social center and meeting space for the movement.

Speaking at a news conference on the steps of City Hall Wednesday morning, Occupy Oakland spokesman Leo Ritz-Barr said the action "signals a new direction for the Occupy movement: putting vacant buildings at the service of the community."

Ritz-Barr said there would be a two-day party at the seized building that will be called the "Oakland Rise Up Festival" and would include special events, speakers, music and workshops.

He said protesters plan to gather at Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall at noon on Saturday and then march to the takeover location, which was being kept secret.

Another Occupy Oakland spokesman read a letter to Mayor Jean Quan, the City Council and the Police Department that states that if the city again tries to evict Occupy Oakland activists, "we will make your lives more miserable than ours."

The spokesman said protesters could retaliate against any action by police and city officials by blocking Oakland International Airport, occupying City Hall, shutting down the Port of Oakland or calling on the activist group Anonymous for solidarity.

Ritz-Barr said, "We all know what happens when Anonymous gets involved."

Man found guilty of first-degree murder for killing friend

A man accused of shooting his friend 11 times in the head in Millbrae after a night of drinking in San Francisco in July 2008 has been found guilty of first-degree murder.

After a day and a half of deliberations, the jury handed down the guilty verdict to Teyseer "Terry" Najdawi, 28, in San Mateo County Superior Court late Tuesday for the murder of Jack Chu, 27.

The jury also found Najdawi guilty of attempted murder and assault causing great bodily injury for attacking his cellmate about two months after he was arrested for Chu's murder.

In that incident, Najdawi choked his cellmate in San Mateo County Jail to near-unconsciousness before two deputies pulled him off of the victim, according to the district attorney's office.

Najdawi pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all three crimes, citing paranoia and the ongoing delusion that someone was going to kill him.

Defense attorney Jonathan McDougall said his client's paranoia was the reason he was carrying a semi-automatic handgun on the night of July 7, 2008, when he and Chu went out for a night of heavy drinking at two bars in San Francisco.

Early the morning of July 8, the two men drove to Lincoln Circle in Millbrae, where Najdawi shot his friend 11 times in the head at close range, prosecutors said.

Chu's body was found two days later, slumped in the passenger seat of his car, which had been abandoned on a street in Burlingame within blocks of his family's home.

Najdawi was arrested by a SWAT team in Redding on July 17.

Deputy District Attorney Al Giannini dismissed any suggestion of insanity and argued that the killing was fueled by alcohol, Vicodin and the defendant's inherent tendency toward belligerence.

Najdawi was scheduled to return to court Thursday, when Judge Mark Forcum would address the sanity issue. Najdawi was facing life in prison if the court finds that he was sane during the commission of the crimes.

Road rage may have triggered deadly Highway 80 crash

The driver of a minivan was killed in an apparent road-rage crash on Interstate Highway 80 early Wednesday, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

The crash was reported around 5:40 a.m. on westbound I-80 just west of Carlson Boulevard.

CHP Officer Sam Morgan said two vehicles were involved, a 1989 Ford van and a 2000 GMC pickup truck with two occupants.

"It appears that this may have been a road rage-type incident," Morgan said.

He said a preliminary investigation indicates that just before the crash, the driver of the minivan was trying to "brake check" the driver of the pickup.

He said "brake checking" generally involves one driver accelerating to pass another driver, then getting in front of the other car and hitting or tapping the brakes.

However, in attempting the maneuver, the minivan struck the side of the pickup truck and the van's driver lost control and hit the center divider, Morgan said.

The van overturned several times and came to rest in lane No. 2, he said. The driver, who was alone in the car, died at the scene.

The driver and passenger in the pickup did not suffer any serious injuries and did not need to be taken to a hospital, Morgan said. They remained at the scene and are speaking to investigators.

The registered owner of the minivan lives in El Sobrante, but the CHP is still trying to confirm the driver's identity.

The CHP is also investigating whether the occupants of the two cars knew each other and what type of interaction may have occurred before the crash.

However, Morgan said, "It appears that the driver of the van may be at fault in this collision."

The crash initially blocked three lanes of westbound I-80, causing a "significant" traffic backup, Morgan said.

All lanes reopened just before 8 a.m.

Anyone with information on the collision is asked to call the Oakland-area CHP office at (510) 450-3821 or (800) TELL-CHP.

"These types of incidents are completely avoidable when people drive responsibly," Morgan said.