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AP Top News at 9:42 p.m. EST(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Obama calls for tougher Internet regulationWASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday embraced a radical change in how the government treats Internet service, coming down on the side of consumer activists who fear slower download speeds and higher costs but angering Republicans and the nation's cable giants who say the plan would kill jobs. Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission to more heavily regulate Internet providers and treat broadband much as it would any other public utility. He said the FCC should explicitly prohibit Internet providers like Verizon and AT&T from charging data hogs like Netflix extra to move their content more quickly. The announcement sent cable stocks tumbling. VA chief vows renewed focus on customer serviceWASHINGTON (AP) — On the eve of Veterans Day, the Veterans Affairs Department announced a reorganization Monday designed to make it easier for veterans to gain access to the sprawling department and its maze-like websites. VA Secretary Robert McDonald called the restructuring the largest in the department's history and said it will bring a singular focus on customer service to an agency that serves 22 million veterans. 10 Things to Know for TuesdayYour daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday: 1. WHO SENT CABLE COMPANY STOCKS PLUMMETING US reviewing democracy work in hostile countriesWASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Monday it was reviewing some of its secretive democracy-promotion programs in hostile countries after The Associated Press reported that the nation's global development agency may effectively end risky undercover work in those environments. The proposed changes follow an AP investigation this year into work by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which established a Twitter-like service in Cuba and secretly sought to recruit a new generation of dissidents there while hiding ties to the U.S. government. The agency's proposed changes could move some of that work under America's diplomatic apparatus. China uses APEC to boost regional roleHUAIROU, China (AP) — China is trying to boost its status as a regional power during a summit of world leaders by launching a rapid-fire series of trade and finance pacts that might dilute U.S. influence. Opening Tuesday's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the 21 economies present to push ahead with regional economic integration and other efforts to promote business ties. Escaping the wealth gap can mean fleeing hometownsDANVILLE, Ill. (AP) — This Illinois city already was struggling when Tara Holycross and her friends were kids riding their bikes to Custard Cup, swimming at the park district pool and hanging out in the Wendy's parking lot. Manufacturers that provided thousands of well-paying, middle-class jobs — General Motors, General Electric, Hyster — were closing. Neighborhoods were crumbling. By the time Holycross graduated from high school in 2004, a city best known for its massive downtown grain elevator was scrambling to create new opportunities. Obama rejects notion of breakthrough with N. KoreaBEIJING (AP) — President Barack Obama is squelching speculation that the release of two Americans held in North Korea might pave the way for a new round of nuclear talks, saying the U.S. needs more than "small gestures" before reopening a high level of dialogue with Pyongyang. Shortly after Obama arrived in China, North Korea's neighbor and chief benefactor, the president made his first extensive public comments Monday on the hand-over of Americans Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller. The timing of the Americans' release raised questions about what message North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, might be trying to send the U.S. president while he is in the region. Assailants kill 1, wound 3 in Israel and West BankJERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian assailants carried out stabbing attacks Monday in Tel Aviv and the West Bank, police said, killing an Israeli woman and a soldier as a wave of Arab unrest appeared to be gaining strength. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a harsh response — a confrontational strategy that risks deepening weeks of turmoil that has shaken the country. Rockies, Upper Midwest get blast of wintry weatherPIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A blast of wintry weather blew into parts of the Rockies and Upper Midwest on Monday, bringing a foot of snow in some areas, along with plunging temperatures. The cold weather is expected to eventually blanket the central U.S. from the Rockies to the Great Lakes region. The frigid air was pushed in by a powerful storm that hit Alaska with hurricane-force winds over the weekend, and threatened to bury several states in snow and send temperatures as much as 40 degrees below average. A look at the storm and its effects: Notorious hacktivist shares methods, motivesMANCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — Cocaine dealers, bank robbers and carjackers converge at Manchester Federal Prison in rural Kentucky — and then there is Jeremy Hammond, a tousle-haired and talented hacker whose nimble fingers have clicked and tapped their way into the nation's computing systems. Among those whose data he helped expose: the husband of the federal judge who sentenced him. "From the start, I always wanted to target government websites, but also police and corporations that profit off government contracts," he says. "I hacked lots of dot-govs." Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |