Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Top Stories

• Children among 74 dead in 2 days of Syrian turmoil (AP)

  AP - Two days of bloody turmoil in Syria killed at least 74 people, including small children, as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled residential buildings and fired on crowds in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said Friday.

  
  

• GOP insiders rise up to cut Gingrich down to size (AP)

  AP - Republican insiders are rising up to cut Newt Gingrich down to size, testament to the GOP establishment's fear that the mercurial candidate could lead the party to disaster this fall.

  
  

• Senegal's president cleared to run for 3rd term (AP)

  AP - Senegal's highest court ruled Friday the country's increasingly frail, 85-year-old president could run for a third term in next month's election, a deep blow to the country's opposition, which has vowed to take to the streets if the aging leader does not step aside.

  
  

• Twitter's new censorship plan rouses global furor (AP)

  AP - Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.

  
  

• American economy not healthy yet, but it's healing (AP)

  AP - The American economy may not be truly healthy yet, but it's healing.

  
  

• US Embassy: US citizen kidnapped in Nigeria freed (AP)

  AP - A U.S. citizen kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta has been freed after a week in captivity, the U.S. Embassy said.

  
  

• Student charged in Utah school bomb plot (AP)

  AP - The two teens had a detailed plot, blueprints of the school and security systems, but no explosives. They had hours of flight simulator training on a home computer and a plan to flee the country, but no plane.

  
  

• Need for courtroom artists fade as cameras move in (AP)

  AP - One marker in hand and one in his mouth, Lou Chukman glances up and down from a sketchpad to a reputed Chicago mobster across the courtroom — drawing feverishly to capture the drama of the judge's verdict before the moment passes.

  
  

• Friend says on 911 call Demi Moore was convulsing (AP)

  AP - Demi Moore smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and was convulsing and "semi-conscious, barely," according to a caller on a frantic 911 recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.

  
  

• Pats' line has tough job against Giants' pass rush (AP)

  AP - Tom Brady felt the power of the New York Giants' pass rushers when he was sacked five times in their first Super Bowl confrontation.

  
  

• Fading Gingrich attacks Romney in ad (Reuters)

  Reuters - Newt Gingrich struggled to regain momentum in the Republican presidential race on Friday as two new polls showed him falling behind rival Mitt Romney, who was seen as the winner of the final debate before the Florida primary.

  
  

• Fitch cuts Italy, Spain, other euro zone ratings (Reuters)

  Reuters - Fitch downgraded the sovereign credit ratings of Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Slovenia and Spain on Friday, indicating there was a 1-in-2 chance of further cuts in the next two years.

• Growth quickens, but speed bumps ahead (Reuters)

  Reuters - The economy grew at its fastest pace in 1-1/2 years in the fourth quarter, but a rebuilding of stocks by businesses and slower business spending warned of weaker growth in early 2012.

  
  

• Syria violence kills over 40 (Reuters)

  Reuters - Security forces killed over 40 people in Syria on Friday, activists and residents said, as people in Homs mourned 14 members of a family they said were slain by militiamen in one of the worst sectarian attacks in a 10-month revolt.

  
  

• Subpoenas issued to financial firms in expanded probe (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Justice Department issued civil subpoenas to 11 financial institutions as part of a new effort to investigate misconduct in the packaging and sale of home loans to investors, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday.

• Greece, creditors laboriously piece together debt deal (Reuters)

  Reuters - Greece and its private creditors head back to the negotiating table on Saturday to put together the final pieces of a long-awaited debt swap agreement needed to avert an unruly default.

• In Facebook IPO, bankers seek prestige over fees (Reuters)

  Reuters - Facebook's initial public offering is likely to set a new standard for how low investment banks are willing to go on advisory fees to win big business.

• Apple not turning "blind eye" to supply chain problems: CEO (Reuters)

  Reuters - Apple Inc has never turned "a blind eye" to the problems in its supply chain and any suggestion it does not care about the plight of workers is "patently false," Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an email to employees.

• How Pentagon budget cuts will reshape the Army (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - Military officials moved quickly Friday to counter the perception that the Army was the big loser in the new Pentagon budget unveiled Thursday.

• Obama outlines plan to cut college costs. Could it backfire on students? (+video) (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - President Obama Friday made a set of bold proposals to tie federal aid to efforts by states and colleges to keep tuition under control and provide a good value to students.