Associated Press
Latest stories
Russian Oligarchs Foot most of 2014 Sochi Olympics

The mountains of Sochi are now home to Potanin's slope, Gazprom's gondola lift and Sberbank's ski jump. The nicknames used by locals and an army of construction workers leave no doubt about who is paying for the 2014 Winter Games: Russia's business powerhouses.

Other countries that have hosted the Olympics have overwhelmingly used public funds to pay for the construction of needed venues and new infrastructure. The Russian government, however, has gotten state-controlled companies and tycoons to foot more than half of the bill, which now stands at $51 billion and makes the 2014 Winter Games by far the most expensive Olympics in history. In contrast, the much-larger 2012 Summer Olympics in London cost about $14.3 billion and the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing cost about $40 billion.

W140 Full Story
Sweden Wins Ice Hockey World Championships

Sweden ended a 27-year jinx on home teams winning the ice hockey world championships, beating Switzerland 5-1 on Sunday for its ninth title.

Vancouver Canucks star Henrik Sedin had two goals and an assist, and Buffalo Sabers goalie Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves in front of a jubilant crowd to help Sweden become the first team to win the title on home ice since the Soviet Union in 1986.

W140 Full Story
Milan Secures Champs League Spot with Dramatic Win

AC Milan secured third spot and a place in the Champions League after coming from behind to win 2-1 at Siena on Sunday in the final Serie A round of the season.

Fiorentina crushed Pescara 5-1 but remained in fourth spot and will play in the Europa League next season.

W140 Full Story
Honeybees Trained in Croatia to Find Land Mines

Mirjana Filipovic is still haunted by the land mine blast that killed her boyfriend and blew off her left leg while on a fishing trip nearly a decade ago. It happened in a field that was supposedly de-mined.

Now, unlikely heroes may be coming to the rescue to prevent similar tragedies: sugar-craving honeybees. Croatian researchers are training them to find unexploded mines littering their country and the rest of the Balkans.

W140 Full Story
1 Florida Lottery Winner Scoops $590.5-million Jackpot

One single ticket in Florida has matched all the numbers to win the highest Powerball lottery jackpot in U.S. history at an estimated $590.5 million, officials said early Sunday.

The lone winner was sold at a supermarket in Zephyrhills, Florida, according to Florida Lottery executive Cindy O'Connell. She told The Associated Press by telephone that more details would be released later.

W140 Full Story
Sea Turtle Comeback in a Corner of the Caribbean

Giant leatherback turtles, some weighing half as much as a small car, drag themselves out of the ocean and up the sloping shore on the northeastern coast of Trinidad while villagers await wearing dimmed headlamps in the dark. Their black carapaces glistening, the turtles inch along the moonlit beach, using their powerful front flippers to move their bulky frames onto the sand.

In years past, poachers from Grande Riviere and nearby towns would ransack the turtles' buried eggs and hack the critically threatened reptiles to death with machetes to sell their meat in the market. Now, the turtles are the focus of a thriving tourist trade, with people so devoted to them that they shoo birds away when the turtles first start out as tiny hatchlings scurrying to sea.

W140 Full Story
Syrian Hackers Compromise FT Blog, Twitter Feeds

A clutch of Twitter accounts and a blog maintained by the Financial Times were hacked Friday, the latest in a series of cyberattacks claimed by the Syrian Electronic Army, a pro-government group which has regularly targeted media organizations it sees as sympathetic to the country's rebels.

A few of the FT's dozens of Twitter feeds and blogs broadcast messages supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and attacking Syria's opposition. One described the Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra as terrorists and linked to a graphic video of a hooded man shooting kneeling prisoners in the back of the head.

W140 Full Story
Tableau Software Soars in Trading Debut

Tableau Software shares soared in their trading debut Friday after the company and some of its investors raised about $254.2 million in its initial public offering.

Seattle-based Tableau Software Inc. provides software that helps businesses convert data into visual presentations.

W140 Full Story
Top Officials Call to Overhaul Euro Institutions

Engineering a financial bailout for Cyprus in March was such a chaotic process that top European officials say it is time to rethink how the region manages its crisis — and who should be involved.

Officials say the International Monetary Fund, which has contributed financial expertise and billions in emergency loans, may no longer be needed as a key decision-making partner. And they say that the eurozone would be able to make decisions and take action more quickly if it wasn't bound by the need for unanimous agreement among its 17 member countries.

W140 Full Story
Report: Michael Phelps Planning Comeback

The son of the U.S. national swim team director is reporting that Michael Phelps is planning a comeback for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Peter Busch, whose father Frank oversees the American program, is a news anchor at a television station in Fort Myers, Florida. A brief story from the younger Busch posted on the station's website Friday said Phelps is plotting his return to the pool and hopes to compete at the next Olympics.

W140 Full Story